who says Aggies and Longhorns can't be friends?

“You saw how the Lord, your God, carried you, as a man carries his child, all along your journey until you arrived at this place.”

                                                            ~Deut 1:31

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“Sometimes our travel takes us to the places of our dreams, and sometimes it serves to remind us of who we are and where we came from. Our family excursions have rarely taken us to exotic places, but they have reconnected us with people we adore and given us new relationships to cherish. The every day holy is real, we just have to open our eyes to appreciate it.

Whatever road life has paved for you, consider this: Forget about the destination and focus on the journey. Wherever you go, do it with intention and purpose. Travel with a heart anxious for accompaniment. And remember that the drive is always sweeter when Jesus is riding shotgun with you.”

~Kathryn Whitaker

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God has a tremendous sense of humor. 

When I first saw the title, then the book cover – with the beautifully edged cowboy boots, I was intrigued by Kathryn Whitaker’s book, “Live Big, Love Bigger: Getting Real With BBQ, Sweet Tea, and a Whole Lotta Jesus.” 

I mean, what is there not to like?  Texas, boots, BBQ, love and Jesus!

I immediately signed up to follow her on Instagram, then found her on Facebook under @TeamWhitaker

Then when I received a copy of the book, courtesy of Ave Maria Press, and browsed through the chapter titles, I smiled thinking how much my Texas-loving daughter would enjoy reading this book.

Even when I randomly opened a chapter and began reading, I chuckled, enjoying the author’s great sense of humor, and thought about several people who’d enjoy getting their hands on this one. 

So then I opened another chapter, and another one, then another one. Well, you get the picture. I loved reading this book! And I think that you will, too.

Let’s be honest, who can’t relate to the sentence, “Sometimes, you want to tell God to shove it.”

I don’t know Kathryn Whitaker, but I know we could be good friends. She is genuine, funny, insightful, intuitive, a great storyteller, honest – and did I mention humorous?

Setting aside the facts that Kathryn Whitaker and I have one major thing NOT in common (I don’t particularly enjoy Dr. Pepper) – as well as one irrevocably major distinction (I am a displaced Texas Longhorn living in central Oklahoma, and she is a displaced Texas Aggie living in Austin), after reading this book, I know that I’ve found a faith-sister.

And needless to say, we are in two very different phases of our life journey. Aka, I am much, mucholder. 

But our desire to live a whole-hearted life for Jesus is identical. The yearning to live a life with purpose and intention is the same. And the only difference in our love and prayers for our family, for our children and husbands, is that I have one more generational layer of prayer devotion – praying for my amazing Grands! 

Let me tell you a story. So an Aggie living in Austin and a Longhorn living in Oklahoma walk into a bar…

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“This life was meant for living, so I encourage you to set fear aside and love bigger. Can I get a hell yes? Let’s say it a little louder for the folks in the back, shall we?”

~Kathryn Whitaker

happy new (liturgical) year!

Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God,

the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ

with righteous deeds at his coming,

so that, gathered at his right hand,

[we] may be worthy to possess the heavenly Kingdom.

                                         ~ Collect, first Sunday of Advent

I am at the beach this week, enjoying a few days alone with my spouse at the end of his academic semester.  We began this winter tradition six years ago as a creative replacement for our anniversary, a feast that never seemed to materialize since the actual date falls between Christmas and New Year’s.

Although the specific week that we come to North Padre Island varies year to year, I am struck by how it has become a central element of our Advent preparation.

Not only do we enjoy long walks on the cool sand together, but as only God’s vision could foresee it, the act of getting away makes us stop, slow down, and pay attention to the meaning of this beginning of a new Church year in our lives.

On the drive south from Oklahoma, I became spellbound by our Texas sunset, and as you can see below, I enjoyed taking pictures of the sky with my iPhone as the light and colors progressed on the horizon:

know that he, the Lord, is God

top of chapel, Cedarbrake Renewal Center

one of countless inviting spots on the beautiful Cedarbrake grounds

LAUGHTER CAME FROM EVERY BRICK

Just these two words He spoke

changed my life,

“Enjoy me.”

What a burden I thought I was to carry—

a crucifix, as did He.

Love once said to me “I know a song,

would you like to hear it?”

And laughter came from every brick in the street

and from every pore

in the sky.

After a night of prayer, He

changed my life when

He sang

“Enjoy Me.”

~Teresa of Avila, 

from

“Love Poems by God,” Daniel Ladinsky

I got home from my roadtrip to central Texas late last night feeling abundant gratitude for my time at Cedarbrake Renewal Center--and for the amazing people I was graced to spend the weekend with. 

Being "on" and giving presentations around the clock for a whole weekend takes a lot out of me. But God not only provided me with the energy I needed, He also surprised me with joy, laughter and fellowship. How is it possible to feel both exhausted and invigorated?

el Papa Francisco, John Denver, and Angelina county, Tejas

It’s a good day for random thoughts, of which I seem to have many. 

Image from Just Call me Frank

Here are three of them:

#1, I loved the recent Catholic News Service article highlighting some favorites of el Papa Francisco, as listed in "Pope Francis: Conversations with Jorge Bergoglio" by Sergio Rubin and Francesca Ambrogetti, originally published in 2010 as "El Jesuita" ("The Jesuit")—and not yet available in English.

Tango. Soccer. Poetry by Friedrich Holderlin. Anything by Fyodor Dostoevsky and Argentine Jorge Luis Borges. Thérèse of Lisieux. And the 1987 movie "Babette's Feast."

Got to love this guy!

You can read the rest of the article here.

#2, did you know that only one county in the Lone Star state is named after a woman?  Angelina County, seated in Lufkin, is the only one of the state’s 254 counties named after a woman—a girl, really. Each of the other 253 Texas counties is named for a man or a geographical landmark.

Angelina was a Hainai Indian girl who welcomed the first Spanish explorers and priests to East Texas in 1690. They called her Angelina—“Little Angel”—and she adopted the name. Angelina National Forest and the Angelina River also bear her name. 

I married a Texan and three of my four children were born in Austin. Yes, I do love Texas trivia!

And #3, If you enjoy John Denver and remember his music as much as I do, you will love a new tribute record just out: The Music Is You, showcasing some of Denver's most beloved songs and performed by a cross-genre, cross-generational and impressive mix of musicians — including Lucinda Williams, Josh Ritter, Dave Matthews, Emmylou Harris.

You may recall that Denver died 15 years ago when the single-engine plane he was piloting crashed off the coast of California. 

It took me a bit to adjust to this collection of voices performing Denver songs, but it didn’t stop me from singing along. I can still remember the lyrics to most all of them! I also realized that taking away Denver’s familiar voice even helped me “hear” the songs with a new set of ears.

Surely, there’s a metaphor for the spiritual life in there, too?!

The Music is You: trailer #4

Alleluia!

"At daybreak on the first day of the week 

the women who had come from Galilee with Jesus 

took the spices they had prepared

and went to the tomb.

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb;

but when they entered,

they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

While they were puzzling over this, behold,

two men in dazzling garments appeared to them.

They were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground. 

They said to them,

“Why do you seek the living one among the dead?

He is not here, but he has been raised.

Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee, 

that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners

and be crucified, and rise on the third day.”

And they remembered his words.

Then they returned from the tomb

and announced all these things to the eleven

and to all the others."

Gospel of Luke

Chapter 24:1-12

"Las tres Marias at the Empty Tomb" 

(Mary Magdalene, Mary Caifas, Mary Salome)

by Angel Rodriguez-Dias

[In commemoration of the 275th Anniversary of 

San Fernando Cathedral, 

1731-2004, 

San Antonio, Texas]

the nature of hope... hope in nature

On the banks of the Río Frío, Leakey, TX

“Our life finds tongues in trees,
books in running brooks,
sermons in stone and
good in everything.”

            ~William Shakespeare in “As You Like It,” Act II, Scene 1

From the spectacular Caribbean ocean waters of my childhood, to the serene Oklahoma wheat fields of my adult life, a love of nature has been a constant in my life.

Yes, I am an island girl, a beach lover. And, undeniably, it is standing at the edge of an ocean looking out into infinity that I most clearly and intimately catch a peek into God’s eternal nature.

Walking North Padre Island, TX

I love the shifting personality of the beach—from season to season, day to day, hour to hour.  Because, as Tom Hank’s character Chuck noted in the movie “Castaway,” “Who knows what the tide could bring?”

Yet rather than confine my ability and desire to experience God, my intense experience of God at the water’s edge simply magnifies my sense of God’s presence all around me. Like a toddler, I find myself shrieking, “More, more!” with every new encounter of God’s grandeur in creation.

Sunrise on plane, between Milwaukee & Denver

This weekend as I flew home from Milwaukee via Denver, I experienced yet another stunning sunrise, although this time without my Elena to enjoy it with!  As our plane neared Denver, I was surprised and awed as the land beneath me began to turn white.

But the best part of the landscape experience that morning came two hours later, as I flew out again, this time on my way to Oklahoma. What had previously looked like a solid white blanket of snow interrupted only by rivers and roads, had now become alive with brown and green ridges noting the landscape’s topographical differences.

Previously hidden by snow, the curves on the fields – like roots – now formed an outline resembling a bouquet of circles and rectangles.

Nature, like life, is continually changing. Is there a greater source of hope?

my backyard, 2012