My Blog will be out tomorrow before 10 a.m., we were busy assembling the backpacks.
I, Thirst
We all thirst for God, including agnostics and atheists. In the natural, our body tells us when we need to drink water. In the supernatural we all have a yearning to draw from God’s spiritual well. As humans we have a natural capacity to believe.
Wandering In The Desert
Most of us are familiar with the story of the Israelites. They wandered in the desert for 40 years.
Deuteronomy 8:2 New American Bible (Revised Edition)
My Desert
I wandered in the desert most of my young adult life. In the time of my deepest wandering, God was ever present to bring me back to His side. I was ill equipped to pray. As a babe in Christ, my only prayer was, “God, please! God, please!” With those simple words He pulled me out of the many pits I had dug throughout my young life.
Today my prayers are much more reverent because I’ve surrendered all my weaknesses and flaws to the Lord to allow the Holy Spirit to move in my life. For this reason we need to be in a state of weakness to understand that we need God.
Do not open the door to the Enemy because he knows when we are most vulnerable. Remember Satan tempted our Lord when he knew that Jesus was physically weak. So if he can tempt Jesus, we are fair game for him. He taunts us into believing that God has abandoned us. This is the two-forked road that many choose: either give it to God or give up. When you decide to give up, you’ve opened the door to Satan.
Romans 12:2 New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Satan is always there to pick up the pieces and is the first to point the finger, to blame others for your mishaps. Hence, the Enemy constantly reminds us of all the negative; that’s his job. He wants division, and when he has accomplished this, he goes in for the kill, to destroy families. Even though children are the future, they are Satan’s main target! He is the author of the transgender ideology.
Our only hope and saving grace is to find God.
Looking For God
Religion comes natural to man; it’s part of our human nature. Either a human being is religious or superstitious. With this intention, God made us for Himself! All human beings are looking for God.
In the natural, if you do not quench your thirst, you damage your mind and health. In the same way, if you don’t quench your spiritual thirst, your mind will be unsettled and you will continue on a pursuit until you find God.
What debris is cluttering your road to God? These are a few reasons why people choose to not allow God into their lives:
1. Pride – When you are prideful, you desire to be God not be like God (Is 14:13-14). You suffer from moral self-righteousness (Luke 18:11-12). You are full of your self-accomplishments (Dan 4:28-37). You suffer from an ambition to be known (Mark 10:35-45). You have an unteachable spirit because you know it all (Hebrews 13:17)
2. Ignorance – You don’t feel you have a need for God: religion is not for you.
3. Busy – Your life has no room for God because you’re too busy planning and having fun.
You Can’t Take It With You
An acquaintance of ours once told me that religion is a sign of weakness. Those words stayed with me because I knew that he was defensive. You see this man is a very successful executive, blessed with material wealth and worldly knowledge. In his life he has no need for God because he believes that all that he has accumulated was by his own efforts. But when his sister was diagnosed with cancer, he contacted me to pray for her.
Proverbs 26:12 New American Bible (Revised Edition)
This man, to this day, is not open to anything remotely about God. Pray for him.
Quenching Your Thirst
As a baby boomer, I question my life and want to be certain that spiritually I’m on the right track. Aging gracefully has been a bit of a challenge. I do not fear getting older but when I look in the mirror things are definitely happening. I smile at myself a lot more because it naturally lifts up my facial muscles.
I will continue to volunteer as long as I can be used by God. In the fall I will be teaching First Holy Communion and Confirmation classes at St. Norbert. My home Bible study, which is now in its 21st year, will resume in September. This is how I quench my thirst.
The Desire for God
Only in God will you find happiness. If you are looking for truth, you will find it in Christ. To be saved is to come to the knowledge of truth. The only thing that separates us from God is sin. Your faith can increase by learning about and trusting God. All other religions have a response answered by man, but in Christianity the answers are revealed by God.
We can pray and wait for God to respond and seek our answers by reading the Bible. So many times the Lord has led me to a specific verse to answer a quandary or when looking for direction to solve a problem. Reading the Bible is like having a personal conversation with God.
My Prayer
Dear Lord, I pray for all those who thirst for You. May they open the treasures of heaven by discovering all that You have for them.
Lord, I pray for the repose of the soul of Barbara and Zeke. May You comfort the broken hearts of those they left behind. Amen.
The Case Of The Missing Baseball Card
Back in the day, Mike and Mikos were avid baseball card collectors. Mike purchased a prized Reggie Jackson rookie card for our son for $150. This was Mikos’ pride and joy.
Safekeeping
Mikos kept all of his baseball cards in a binder with sleeves to protect his collection. But the Reggie Jackson card, he kept in a special card holder to preserve it from any damage. He had two binders filled with baseball cards that he stored on the top shelf of his closet. Occasionally, Mikos would peruse his collection. When he left for college, he knew that the cards were safe.
Sonja’s Boyfriend
If you have read my Blog about Sonja’s dating (And God Said…Mind Your Own Beeswax), it’s about all the boys she dated. When she introduced us to her Pepperdine beau, we welcomed the clean-cut young man. I will call him (Scott.) Scott was tall and lanky, but what mattered most to me was that he was free of tattoos and piercings. Finally my prayers were being answered.
While Sonja studied abroad, I thought for sure that this romance would not stand the test of oceans apart. Much to our surprise Scott continued to communicate via telephone with our daughter. Both Mike and I knew this because Sonja used our credit card to make return phone calls to Scott.
The Sleepover
Scott was welcomed to stay at our home but only under the condition that he had to sleep in Mikos’ room. How he found Mikos’ baseball card collection is still a mystery. He asked if he could look through the collection. “Of course, but make sure you put them back when you’re done,” I answered. Never would I have had any suspicion that Scott would take any of the cards. I do remember walking past Mikos’ room to discover Scott lying on the bed as he looked through our son’s cards.
The Breakup
Sonja’s sorority, Kappa Kappa Gama, had a lot of functions, formals in particular. We supported our daughter’s education but she had a part-time job to keep up with the expense of all her sorority soirees. Scott was part of this life as well; he belonged to a fraternity. They attended several formal dances and were enjoying college life.
As in many young romances, Sonja and Scott went their separate ways. It was as if Scott had fallen off the face of the earth. Sonja was over him.
Summer
When Mikos returned from school for the summer, he discovered that his Reggie Jackson card was missing. He was furious and wanted to know who stayed in his room. On several occasions we did have guests but I could not remember when they stayed. “Mom, this is serious! Where is my Reggie Jackson card? You must know, you live here! Where is it?” I don’t know,” I stuttered. “Maybe you put it in another binder. How do I know?” I added. “Mom, the card was in a special place in the binder! How is it that that is the only card missing?” Mikos was so upset. But the more I thought, I kept getting the vision of Scott’s lanky body flipping through the pages of the baseball card binder. I knew he took it. No one else knew about the cards or where they were kept.
Scott
Scott went on to become a big-time executive of a global company and was doing well for himself. He married and his wife work diligently to become a social media influencer, she wrote several self-help books and is still very active conducting seminars. Scott quit his day job to help build his wife’s empire. They both traveled around the US giving marriage advice.
During COVID Scott’s wife announced that they were getting a divorce. I would periodically check her Instagram account and was surprised that she still had so many followers. By this time Scott had authored his own self-help book and was giving motivational speeches.
My Tiny Revenge
It upset me because I knew Scott took my son’s baseball card, so I started to harass him with private messages on Instagram. “Hi, it’s Lynda Ciriza. Do you remember me? I know you took my son’s Reggie Jackson rookie baseball card.”
I could not wrap my head around how this man achieve success in his profession, knowing that he took that card. This is a systemic problem because stealing is a sin. When you steal, you lie and that adds another component to the layers of dysfunctional living. My concern was that he was giving advice and receiving money for it!
Thou Shall Not Steal
This is the eighth of the Ten Commandments. When you steal and think you are getting away with it, you open the door to more sinful behavior.
Scott’s Death
Early Saturday a few months ago I had just sent Scott another message on Instagram. “You should come clean; the truth will set you free!” Then I received a disturbing phone call from Sonja. “Mom, Scott passed away.” “What? Oh my gosh, I just sent him another message!” (In a peculiar way I felt responsible). “What happened?” I asked. “Tell me you didn’t really send him any messages!” “Oh, I have been sending him messages for a while now.” I came clean. “How did he die?” I asked again. “They found him in bed, holding his phone. I’m not sure of the cause of death,” Sonja replied.
The Proof
Sonja and one of her sorority sisters decided to pay their respects and attend Scott’s funeral. During the eulogy the confirmation came to fruition. One of Scott’s fraternity brothers mentioned that Scott’s prized possession was his baseball card collection! Sonja’s sorority sister looked over at Sonja and said, “He f***n’ took the card!”
Today the value of that card if in pristine condition is worth ($100,000)! And there is not a thing we can do about it.
Cause of Death
The saddest part of this story is that Scott died of an overdose. He left behind a beautiful family.
My Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father, I pray for the repose of Scott’s soul. And I pray for all who struggle with hidden addictions. May You expose all lies and set those who are suffering free. Amen.