The Lighted Path

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 ...

Michael W Smith's song "Place In This World" is one of my favorite inspirational songs from my youth.  Many people, including myself, have days where it seems that we are not sure what our God given purpose is here on this earth.  No matter the challenges we face or the obstacles we have to overcome, just know His light will show the way as long as our trust and hope is placed in Him.

Good Morning Everyone! It is so easy to get up on the wrong side of the bed on Monday mornings. No one likes to see the weekend come to an end. It makes for an exceptionally greater challenge when you are not really enjoying your job anymore either. Today I am going to make a conscious effort to remember and reflect on the post that author Brooke made over at Faith Blogs reminding us that "whatever you do, work at it with all of your heart, as working for the Lord, not human masters." ( Colossians 3:23 ) GOD BLESS!

Good morning everyone and Happy Sunday!  I just wanted to post up a few quick updates before I start getting ready for church.  Yesterday I made a post talking about how I wanted to have a different name for this blog.  So after some careful consideration no longer is this The Cornucopia of Goodness  but welcome to The Lighted Path.   I figured that since this blog is more or less focused on my continuing faith journey and my constantly developing relationship with God, that  Psalm 119:105  pretty much hit the nail on the head.  "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." I also updated the background to my blog.  Hopefully this freshens things up a bit.   GOD BLESS!

Over the past few weeks it is hard to explain what has been happening within me. I know that this year so far has been rough on my family in terms of our financial situation.  All of our student loans have come in, a good portion of which are still in forbearance credit card debt, down a car, and the list goes on and on and on.  At first I was fearful of what was coming to come of this, how we would make it, really just at a complete loss.  A few months ago after seeing sign after sign I realized what the problem was, and it was that I was lacking my trust in God the Father and the promises of His Son Jesus that there was no need to worry. 31  So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.   33  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.   3...

I know, I know...I have fallen behind on my 30 Day challenge. I am not too far behind so hopefully I can catch it up soon. I am past the point of feeling that I have let myself down. This month is the first month that I have had so many consecutive posts since I started this blog that I am quite pleased with myself actually. Just keep on bearing with me. Everyday I am trying to think of ways to makenhis blog a little bit better, a little less...blah. Don't get me wrong everything that I right is meaningful and true, but I need to incorporate more photos, videos, and even fonts. Again I say, just bear with me! If you happen to be reading this post an are trying to figure out what the title means, you are about to find out. When I say "One Week Down" I am just referring to my progress with becoming smoke-free. It has been one week since my last cigarette, and I am feeling really great! I can honestly tell you all that this time feels so much different. I know that the big...

I am back and back on-track for my 30-Day Challenge.  Sure I missed two days, but after this post, I will be right on schedule.  I am well aware that it does not matter how many posts that I make, but it will be nice to see a total of 30 for the month of September.  I am not sure if I will see any additional traffic or gain any followers for this, but only time will tell. Today in my neck of the words we had a surprise return appearance by Mr. Sun!  After days of rain, rain, and even more rain I actually had the chance to...ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddsnenfefeff... Okay, it is 4:14am and if you look at that last line you will see what I just woke up to, only that is a small portion there was actually like 10 pages worth of that.  It is too funny not to leave in.  I actually fell asleep right in the middle of typing this blog.  Needless to say I am not back on track but still one behind!  I didn't even realize I was that tired!!!  ...

I just woke up about an hour ago and realized that I did not make a post yesterday.  I am not quite sure why but I was really tired.  I think that I fell asleep at about 6:30pm and slept until about 3:00am.  Now it is time to get ready for work, but at least it is Friday! I am still smoke-free, and the patch is working out great.  I am really hopeful that this is the last time and will finally kick the habit.  I feel really good, my chest doesn't seem tight every morning.  I couldn't be better.  The only downside is that I think I am getting a cold.  This is pretty normal for me when I try to quit though, and that may explain why I was wiped out yesterday. I hate to cut this short, and I guess this kind of goes against what I set out for in my 30 Day Challenge, but it is a post and you better believe there will be a better post later.  It may not come out to a post for each day in September, but there will be at least 30 by month end. ...

My car is ready for the scrap yard.  I dropped the title off to the garage, and I just got back from pulling out my cd player and the remaining items from the car.  It kind of makes me sad that this was the only thing that my wife and I really own.  We finished paying it off back in 2007, but it is time to say goodbye.  My wife was the one who bought it back in 2001, but I have been driving it since 2008 and I am going to miss the old girl.  I am sure this all happened for a reason, and I know that God has a plan for me in all of this, I just have to listen and follow my heart in whichever direction He leads me.  It is time to move on. I think that this is actually going to turn out to be a good thing.  I know I still haven't the slightest idea about where a new car or the money for a new car will be coming from, but it is alright.  I have nothing to worry about.  I am actually going to look at this as just another symbol of the changes tha...

I don't know how well I will keep up with this feature on my blog, heck this blog is only a few days old!  Every Monday I will try to post up an album that I listened to that day.  I generally will listen to more than one album in a day, but I will pick the one that meant the most to me.  It may be a new album or it may be an older album.  Like that good old box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get! The album for Monday May 16, 2011 is... Bizzy Bone: A Song For You For those of you who may or may no know who Bizzy Bone is, he is 1/5 of the platinum selling, Grammy winning Bone thugs-n-harmony.  Bizzy was off and on again with the group.  He left (was kicked out, depending on the story) of the group shortly after the release of 2000's "BTNHResurrection."  He recorded quite a few solo albums in his time away from the group.  He had a string of hard times, homelessness, his battle with alcohol, just to name a couple of his "...