Playing in THE Sandbox

Forward “To live the good news so joyfully that we can’t help but proclaim it!” -St. William Parish motto This story is my proclamation. My life is joyful, filled with wonderful people, and an understanding of what I’m about and what is to be gained - eternal life. My hope is that you find something in this that allows you to share in the same joy and bring it into the lives of others. My journey in writing this has been a road of humps and bumps, detours, and countless hours of doubt and questioning. Questions not about what I’m doing and never “why am I doing this?” but always I’ve wondered why I was chosen. Sharing pieces of my life is the only way that I can frame the message that I am called to proclaim. There is only everything ordinary about me. No special talents or appearance or athletic prowess, or Hollywood stardom. I’m not a person likely to be followed on social media. What is extraordinary is that God has sent His Son, and the Holy Spirit to me in very real and personal encounters. This work is reflective of what God has said to me and done for me. It’s to draw you to Him. Possibly you’ve had some of the same life experiences whether in relationships, health, work issues or a loss of the practice of religion and will see His hand at work in you as well. If not, reading this may get you thinking about it. There is no “right time” to change your life and our world for the better. We face a hostile, selfish and angry world today. Understand that change happens one human interaction at a time. Lasting change comes from consistently doing the right thing each time a choice is presented. Find your voice, say His name, do His works!   from: 6. Playing in THE Sandbox For many years my career has been one that has taken me on the road, holding various industrial sales positions that mandate customer visits. So, while flying may seem like the quickest option, the territories I’ve covered have had customers located in drivable locations. Over the course of these years, I’ve driven an average of over 30,000 miles annually covering territory for various employers. Yes, this time in the car, spent mostly alone, can be tedious, stressful, and boring, but sometimes quite extraordinary. One fall afternoon in 2016 I was driving back to Michigan on Hwy 401 from Toronto. Driving in Toronto and on the surrounding highways was always one of those stressful drives that I mentioned, but the further away I got from the city I began to relax and look about. It was a pleasantly warm and sunny day with billowing clouds, and I was struck by the beauty of the landscape around me - rolling and lush green hills with the trees still robust and green in the early fall and the sky a perfect shade of sapphire. I wondered to myself how could anyone not see the beauty of creation?! I began thinking about my brother-in-law, a brilliant man, a good and decent husband and father, who did not believe in God. I recognized there were others out there who shared that non-belief. My mind started working backward, beginning with the glorious sights surrounding me. As I progressed, remembering what little I knew about the Big Bang Theory, I became keenly aware of an urgency to find a way to prove to others that God was the one who created our universe. Then, in a most certain way I said aloud to myself: We are playing in the sandbox. Then more properly, and understanding it was very directed to me from outside of me, we are “Playing in THE Sandbox”. GOD’s Sandbox. I was surrounded by the presence with me, and I heard Him. “You’re going to do this”, and I knew that I was going to do it. Do What? Tell the world what He had given me! . . . from: 9. Eden Lost and Salvation Found . . . For me, just having been touched by Jesus once and having heard his four reassuring but instructive words, my life became enriched, and I am called to do more. My days are impatient now, anxious to do His work, the bidding of the Holy Spirit later conferred upon me. I embrace these words in Ecclesiastes: “When you make a vow to God, delay not it’s fulfillment. For God has no pleasure in fools; fulfill what you have vowed.” Ecclesiastes 5:3 NABRE My life has moved from being only focused on a few around me to the desire to reach out to many, to cry out for change, that return to the message of God and then the new saving message of His Son Jesus the Christ. . . .