The Lighted Path

If have been around since the beginning of my blog, then you may remember that some of my early posts were made about my desire to, and the process of quitting smoking.  If you are new welcome!  I am just writing today to update, since it has been so long since I have updated on this topic, that today marks 28 months since I had my last cigarette!  In the grand scheme of things 2 years and some change isn't a long time but when you started smoking at the age of 13 it is, as Ron Burgundy would say, "kind of a big deal." The one question that I always get asked is how did you do it.  Most of the time this question comes from people who have known me for some time and were witness to numerous attempts and failures, and believe me there were many!  I tried cold turkey, smoking less each day, and the patch but they all attempts...FAIL!  So how was this time different?  How did I go from failure, after failure, after failure?  Simple really, I as...

I first want to say again, please excuse the mess around here. Since it is springtime again I have decided to do some "housework" around here. I plan on adding further customizations to this template but so far I like it. It is so simple and to the point. Thank you Amanda Kennedy of bloggerbuster . com for creating this awesome template! Now that that is out of the way, we just got back from our service project with our youth and I can not be any happier with them all and the outstanding job these kids did today. They took the whole thing very seriously from start to finish. They were eager to help out with everything from the preparation of the food, organizing clothes items for donations, and serving the actual meal. Everything went so smoothly it was truly a blessing. This was the first time that our youth have Dione something like this, but I can say with certainty that it will not be the last.

" 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ " I ask for prayers today and traveling mercies as we take our youth to the city to prepare breakfast for the homeless. I hope that they understand the importance of what they are doing and the impact that it could have on these people's lives. I thank you Heavenly Father for this d...

As much as I dislike the sound of the alarm each morning I am thankful that I made it through another night. God has given me another chance to enjoy His creation and continue out His will for me here on Earth. Thank you God for the beauty of this new day. I shall rejoice and be glad in it. In Jesus Name...AMEN!

I have had this blog since 2011 and from its inception it has undergone a few changes. My primary goal with this blog is to be a source of inspiration and encouragement, but also a place to share about my faith. The one thing that I realized OK have never done is shared my faith story...at least I don't think ;-) So here is my abridged, or Cliff's Notes style, story. I was born and raised Catholic. I am the youngest seven children who spent 12 years in private Catholic school. I attended mass (church) regularly on Sunday's during my youth so I knew Jesus but not as the center of my life. After graduating high school I went away to college and enjoyed that freedom that every kid dreams of having, of living the college life as depicted in many movies. Needless to say my faith took a back seat and church was attended only on holidays and breaks. While at college a met a girl named Holly, who would later become my wife, and we started to date. On the weekends we would go ...

As I was driving into work early this morning I was listening to WordFM , a local Christian radio station.  The song “The Motions” by Matthew West came on and it really hit me.  I have heard this song plenty of times before but today it really felt relevant. I had made the comment the other day that God has been working and moving so much in my life recently and that is just the point.  I need to not just be going through the motions but I need to put my faith in action.  My wife and I and another couple at church stepped into the roles of Youth Advisors this year.  This group of kids are, not only the future of the church but they are the leaders of tomorrow.  There is no time to go through the motions anymore rather there is the need to be 100% in Him and His word as He is 100% in me. 

For those of you who have been around since the beginnings of my humble blog, you may remember that back in September of 2011 I had made the decision to quit smoking.  I am pleased to announce that today marks my 17th month of being smoke-free! When I tell others how long it has been since I quit smoking I get asked two questions.  The first is always how did you do it and that is always followed by was it tough the first couple of days.  To both of those questions I answer with prayer and putting it in the hands of God. Prior to this quit I tried many times to quit and I failed...miserably.  I didn't know why.  I always assumed that I wasn't ready to quit or that I needed to do it in my own time.  After looking back on these past 17 months I have seen (actually since day one of this quit) that that was the problem, I was relying on myself to quit.  Once I took it to God in prayer and completely submitted myself Him, the quit was nothing but smooth...

About a month or so ago while I was in the car with my family we were listening to Word FM  which we often do when we are in the car together.  The evening show was on and while I do not recall what the topic of discussion was but what the one DJ had said really hit home with me and opened my eyes even further than I they have already been opened.  I really wish I remembered which DJ it was because I would have left a nice message for them on their Facebook page.  Anyway what she had said was that Jesus does not want you to be fake with Him, He wants you to be real and true with Him.  Now it might not seem like that statement in and of itself is all that mind blowing and profound but it was the context in which she used it.  The point that she was making is that we all are human and we all fall short of the glory of the Cross.  Jesus does not want us to be untrue to ourselves or Him. We were all made to have different ideas, interests, and opinions. ...

Okay okay so I am a month late to the party but it is still the new year! I thank God for blessing my family with another year and the opportunity to grow closer to His Word. I may not be perfect, heck I am a sinner, but I rejoice and take comfort in the sacrifice that God gave in His son Jesus Christ so that I may be released from the bondage of my sin. This year is my year to be thankful. I want to forget the things that I do not have and all of the trivial things, and just stay focused on all of the things that He has blessed me with. It is in His name ALWAYS! Brian

Good morning everyone and Happy Thanksgiving !  I told you last night that I was not making any promises about an additional post or even a YouTube video for that matter.  I did hook up and install the software for my good web cam , but that is a far as I got. Thanksgiving eve service was a very refreshing and renewing service.  The scripture lesson for the evening was 2 Kings 5 .  This is the story of Naaman's healing of leprosy.  The way that the preacher delivered his sermon was two-fold.  First he spoke on how Naaman almost missed out on this blessing and healing from God because he did not think that what he was instructed to do was fitting for a man of his stature but reluctantly he did what was instructed and was healed.  Next he spoke on the prophet Elisha's servant Gehazi who was not content with what he had and had been witness to and tried to get the gift that was offered to Elisha by Naaman and because Gehazi wanted "a little bit more,"...

Back in August I set out to read through the Bible from Genesis through Revelation. In my Bible there was a reading plan that would take you through the Bible in 90 days. Well ladies and gentlemen, today was day number 90 and the mission is complete! I have grown so much in these past 90 days, that sometimes it is hard for me to even believe. I feel that my relationship with God and Jesus has deepend significantly. Over the course of these 90 days a lot of things have gone on in my life, both good and bad, but I have never felt alone. One of the most awesome things to happen is that I have quit smoking...FINALLY! It has been just under three months since my last cigarette and I only used the patch for two weeks. I can safely say that it was through Jesus where my stength came and is still coming. I hate to cut this short, but the dishes must get done before we head out to church for the Thanksgiving Eve service. I may be back later to post some more, or maybe do a YouTube vid...

Good morning everyone, and how is everyone doing on this fine Sunday morning? It has been over a month since my last posting and I gotta tell you, I have missed it. I was on a roll there with posting consistently but that roll came to a crashing halt. I am back now and hopefully more consistently again. I just wanted to put up this quick update post to let everyone know that I a well. I just ask for continued prayers for myself and my family because we are definitely going through some difficult times at the moment. I know that the Lord will get us through them so I will continue to Praise him, not to sound corny, in this storm ! Have a good day, and I hope to be back later with a much more detailed post. God Bless! Brian

Good morning everyone.  Just wanted to make a quick post to say hello and to also say thanks and praise the Lord that today is forty days since I have had a cigarette!  I have said it again and again and again, I could not have done this without God's help and guidance.  Constant prayer and reliance on the Lord have made this, by far, the best quit that I have had.  I am not trying to be cocky about it, but I feel that I do have the right to be happy about it. Time to go get ready for church and enjoy what is looking to be another beautiful day given to us by God.  Not that everyday He has given us isn't beautiful, I just like the sun...and the Son as well ;-)!  Take care everyone, may your day be filled with many blessings... GOD BLESS!

...well not completely new.  There is another " The Lighted Path " and I have this one hosted on tumblr .  For the most part, the two blogs will be and contain the same things.  I know that you may be thinking that I have a hard enough time keeping up on one, now I have another one to throw in the mix (actually this is the third ), but that is the beauty of ctrl+c / ctrl+v! You may be asking yourself why have the same thing in two places, well that answer is simple.  If you look to the right and see the lack of followers (if you are reading, follow why don't ya:)) I am hoping that maybe I can get some followers here.  I have had alright success with my other tumblr blog so I hope that these two will compliment each other well. So go now and check out the other " Lighted Path " and if you belong to tumblr as well follow me.  Thanks and GOD BLESS!

Not that I had really gone anywhere but the other day when I logged on to my blog it Google said that it found malicious content, or something along those lines, on my page and gave the "proceed anyway?" message so I stayed away to see if it became resolved.  I checked last night from my PC and got to view my blog fine, but this morning on my laptop it was the same thing.  I tried it from different browsers, I use Chrome, and it was fine.  Throughout the week I checked it from work using Chrome and it was fine so I was a bit confused.  Then this morning when I checked again from the laptop it gave me the message again.  So I decide to try clearing out all browser data and trying it again.  I typed in the blog address and wouldn't you know it, it worked message free.  You would think that since I work with PCs all day and I am a Help Desk Analyst by career that I would have tried this first!  So long story short, it feels good to be back!. I will...

Good morning everyone!  It has been a couple of days since my last post, and you better believe it has been a busy couple of days!  My wife has taken on an evening job strictly for extra money for our son at Christmas.  We are still only operating with one car so it is a constant run, run, run, and when we finally get home it is bedtime, and believe me my head welcomes the pillow.  Well at least it is Wednesday and all we have to do is make it over the hump and we'll be okay! Tonight we will be taking our Pioneer Clubs class at church to the Fields of Faith event at the high school tonight.  Fields of Faith is a student hosted and student run ministry where students can share their testimonies and share the Word of Christ with the community.  Now that is my interpretation of what Fields of Faith is all about, but if you are curious you can go here  and get the correct "what is!" I am going to wrap this up here as I started writing this at a...

Yesterday was a day of a milestones for me.  The first milestone was finishing up day 40 of my 90 day reading plan for reading through the bible.  Each day you read between three and five chapters of three different books; one from the beginning, one from the middle, and one from the end.  For instance yesterday's readings were from Joshua, Ecclesiastes, and Acts.  I can not believe the difference in myself an the impact on my life that has come from the reading the Word daily.  The past few weeks at work have been really trying and when I start to get upset I look at the Bible sitting on my desk, pray for those upsetting me and pray for calm and the frustrations leave me.  I then refocus and reflect on Colossians 3:23  and remember who my Boss really is. The second milestone of the day was reaching 28 days of being smoke-free!  Twenty-eight days ago I can honestly say that I did not think that I would see this many days of being smoke-free (wel...

Good Monday morning everyone.  I wanted to make a post about World Communion Sunday last night after my family and I returned from the service, but I was tired and knew I needed to get up early today for work.  Let me give a brief, very brief, background of World Communion Sunday for those of you who may not know what it is. World Communion Sunday  is celebrated the 1st Sunday in October by churches around the world, regardless of the denomination, to commemorate and reflect on the meaning of communion and significance of Jesus' last meal with His disciples before paying the ultimate price for us and our sins.  For " while we were still sinners, Christ died for us " (Romans5:8 TNIV). In the Brethren denomination, which is my denomination, we do not celebrate communion every Sunday like some other Denominations do.  This is usually saved for certain Sunday's of significance, weddings, and or other special events.  In our church we celebrate World Commun...

Good morning everyone!  Guess what today is???  If you couldn't tell by my post yesterday and this big banner above, it is my BIRTHDAY!   I turn thirty-two today so it is not really a landmark birthday or anything like that.  I am looking forward to going to church and spending the day with my family.  I am going to try not to do any housework today, but I did promise my wife that I would do the bathrooms and kitchen (well I want to do kitchen) yesterday but that did not happen. We will see how that works out. For my birthday yesterday, I did treat myself to a few things, and they did not cost me a thing, at least not at the present.  Last week I decided that I wanted to get a new Nintendo 3DS .  I did not have the money and when I heard that trading in my Sony PSP ,   Sony PS2 , and Nintendo DSLite would not get me there I was bummed.  I didn't take into account games and accessories that I was able to trade-in, so once again yeste...

Good morning everyone!  Wow I can not believe that October is here already!  I guess it is time to wake up   and enjoy the fresh start that comes with each new month.  My 30 day challenge is over, and I must say that while I did not hit my goal af averaging a post a day, I am quite pleased with ending the month of September with a total of 24 posts.   I was only 6 off of the mark and that isn't too shabby considering the poor performance of posting the previous months.  While the challenge is closed I still plan on continuing to try and make a post a day and so far I am off to a good start ;-) The month of October is quite important to me as both my birthday and my wedding anniversary fall in this month.  October 2nd is my birthday, this year I turn the big 32 , and October 19th is my wedding anniversary.  This year my wife Holly and I celebrate our 9-year   Anniversary!   Where does time go?  I know through out the course of thes...