Find Jesus in the Storms

Deacon Kevin Gingras

Aug 9th, 2026

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080926.cfm

1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13a       Psalm 85:9, 10, 11-12, 13-14 

Romans 9:1-5      Matthew 14:22-33   

When I go too long without confession - I start to sink.  When I go too long without time in adoration - I start to sink.  When my prayer life is scattered and not focused - I start to sink. When I focus too much on the storms of the world around me instead of Jesus - I start to sink.  For a moment, think about what, in your life, takes your focus off of Christ and causes you to sink.

Remember, when you go to confession, the priest is in the person of Christ; in the confessional you are reaching out to Christ as Peter did and crying out “Lord, save me!”  That’s just what Jesus does through the priest as he says: “I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”  

Adoration is another life preserver that is at our disposal when we start to sink.  Remember how Elijah found the LORD.  The LORD was not in the strong and heavy wind.  The LORD was not in the earthquake.  The LORD was not in the fire; no, the LORD was in the tiny whispering sound. I find that the quiet of our adoration chapel is where I can hear that tiny whisper.  Where the noise of the world around me subsides in the true presence of Christ, even if just for an hour or so, so that I can hear the voice of the LORD speaking to me as I pray.

My prayer life always needs work; it’s another area that might cause me to sink.  There are times I feel I only give God the last few moments of my day when I’m tired and not really focused.  It’s something that I once confessed to a priest many years ago, and he knew, based on my confession, that I had a wife and kids and a full-time job.  He told me that those things are also my prayer life.  I must bring Jesus into those moments as well.  If all I did was to spend all day in prayer and adoration, I’d lose my job, my kids wouldn’t know me, and my wife would not be too pleased.  He told me to pray about ways to bring Jesus into all the areas of my life.  I needed this advice, especially when I went to work.  A month or so before this confession, a guy in the office was talking about his son getting Confirmed.  My boss said to ask Kevin; he’s “wicked” Catholic.  The man responded, “Oh, I didn’t even know he was religious!”  The words cut to my heart!  At the time, I thought I was very religious, teaching confirmation, helping with youth ministry and VBS and all that.  Clearly, I left Jesus in the car when I went into the office. I was sinking all day long! Fortunately, Jesus was my life preserver, and when I reached out to Him, He saved me.  Now I make sure that everyone in the office knows I’m “wicked religious”!

Correcting these little errors in our lives can make us spiritually strong for the big storms that will come. They will,  because life inevitably brings storms: storms of illness, grief, uncertainty, family struggles, and fear.  It is then that we really have to work hard to focus on Christ.  Back in 2015, just as I was starting the diaconate, I thought for sure it would be smooth sailing in my life as I was answering God’s call.  Alas, that wasn’t to be so!  There was a bad mental health crisis in my family, my father was dying, and my bank account was gasping for help; we were bordering on bankruptcy.  Each week as I went to put gas in my car, I pleaded with God to let my bank card work so I could fill up and drive to work.   There was even one night I went to angry adoration.  I was mad at God!  I was answering a clear calling to become a deacon; why wasn’t it smooth sailing?  I brought all those storms to some quiet time in adoration so I could hear what the Lord had to say. I went in angry with God but was soon at peace.  The peace of knowing that a sailor doesn’t learn how to sail with no wind on a calm lake.  My gaze focused back on Jesus, away from the storm for a while. Jesus calmed that storm inside of me, not the storm outside. It was exactly what I needed; I was assured all would be ok. 

A few days later, I had to pull my brothers aside to tell them why I wasn’t at the hospital by my mom’s side as much while my father was dying because of this other family crisis. They asked me how I was getting through all of this.  Jesus - that was my one-word answer.  Jesus was getting me through this storm.  

  When we hit the storms of life, we are in good company!  Saint Paul lamented to the Romans in our second reading that he had “great sorrow and constant anguish in my heart”.  Paul’s mission did not give him clear skies and calm seas!  Our storms aren’t always taken away, but with Christ and the Sacraments we can better navigate the storms, learn from them, and offer them up in prayer.  

This week, think about where we can focus our eyes better on Jesus in the storms.  Where can we find Him waiting to rescue us?  Confession?  Adoration?  Quiet prayer at home? Here at Mass? 

St Padre Pio reminds us:

The storms that are raging around you will turn out to be for God's glory, your own merit, and the good of many souls.

Fortitude calls us to demonstrate Joseph’s silent strength

 

Deacon Kevin Gingras

Dec 21, 2025

4th Sunday of Advent

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122125.cfm

Isaiah 7:10-14   Psalm 24:1-2, 3-4, 5-6

Romans 1:1-7    Matthew 1:18-24

So far in our Cardinal Virtue homily series, we have heard about Temperance - the regulating of our desires and appetites for created goods.  Next was Prudence - The ability to discern the true good and the right means to achieve it.  Last week was Justice - giving each person their due and fulfilling duties to God, others, and society. This week, we will discuss the Cardinal Virtue of Fortitude. 

Let’s start right off with what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says in paragraph 1808:

Fortitude is the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life. The virtue of fortitude enables one to conquer fear, even fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions. It disposes one even to renounce and sacrifice his life in defense of a just cause. "The Lord is my strength and my song."  "In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." 

The Catechism never says it will allow you to not have fear, but when you do have fear, fortitude helps you overcome it.

Of course, the first thing that popped into my head was in Star Wars, when Luke tried to lift his spaceship out of the swamp using the force and failed, claiming it’s too big. Yoda scolds Luke, saying,

Size matters not. Look at me; judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? And well you should not.

Well, Yoda is right, the virtue of Fortitude is not made stronger by going to Planet Fitness and pumping iron.  This virtue is strengthened by prayer and reaching out to the Holy Spirit for guidance and help.  This virtue grows most with true love of Jesus, and we can see that in our Scripture readings today.  We see three main men today: Ahaz, Paul, and Joseph.  Two illustrated extreme, but different types of Fortitude, and one failed miserably.  

Ahaz looked to his own power and not to God, so if you guessed Ahaz as our failure today, then you guessed right! In our reading from Isaiah, Ahaz was told to trust in God, and if he did, the oncoming army would not destroy the city.  God said he would give Ahaz a sign, but Ahaz didn’t want the sign; he wanted to trust in himself and perhaps try to ally with another nation.

Let’s look at some of Ahaz’s deeds:

• He allied with the pagan king of Assyria 
• Created a pagan altar just like the king of Assyria had
• Because of the pagan altar, Ahaz desecrated the true temple with sacrifices to the gods of Damascus on this new altar 
• He moved the altar of the Lord to the side to make way for this pagan altar
• Ahaz removed the royal entryway of the temple and the Sabbath canopy as well.  He also destroyed the temple furnishings
• Ahaz also sacrificed some of his VERY OWN children to these pagan gods.

I won’t go into too much detail about Paul. I think we are familiar with his writings and the fact that, after his sinful persecution of Christians, he had a change of life and turned to God, demonstrating his great Fortitude.

Lastly, Joseph, who quietly followed the will of God and is never quoted in scripture.  Joseph trusted and followed God’s will even when it was hard.

Let’s look at some of Joseph’s accomplishments:

• Scripture tells us he was a righteous man
• He sought to divorce Mary quietly so as not to subject her to a trial and the death penalty.
• He listened to the Angel of God and took Mary, the Mother of God, as his wife.
• He named the child Jesus as the angel instructed.
• He became the foster father of the Son of God!
• Joseph protected Jesus and Mary and again listened to an angel and went to Egypt when he found out Herod was looking to kill the Christ child.

What about us? Fortitude, for us, doesn’t have to be on such a grand scale as helping to raise the Son of God or martyrdom.  For us, it is simply facing life's difficulties with steadfastness, not just in great deeds, but in daily perseverance.  It can be choosing what is difficult but right; over what is easy yet wrong.  It’s our daily struggle in resisting temptations.  Our Fortitude calls us to the foot of the cross when we are suffering, staying by God’s side when enduring hardship.  Fortitude calls us to stand up for and respect life in all its stages, even as our society preaches a culture of death. Fortitude calls us to stand up for the marginalized, the poor and the destitute. 

Sometimes, especially for me, Fortitude calls us to demonstrate Joseph’s silent strength as a spouse and parent, always following the will of God.

Ask the Holy Spirit for guidance towards Fortitude this week to help us live out the words of Pope Leo:

Here is the secret of the movement of the human heart: returning to the source of its being, delighting in the joy that never fails, that never disappoints. No one can live without a meaning that goes beyond the contingent, beyond what passes away

Pray for a Clean Heart

Deacon Kevin Gingras

March 21, 2121, 5th Sunday of Lent

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032121-YearB.cfm

So quite a few years back I took my son out shopping for a gift for his mother. I told him this expedition was to purchase a gift for his mother and nothing else. NO TOYS. We went to the mall and I foolishly parked in a spot where we would have to walk past the toy store on our way to Jordan Marsh. That was enough. He began to petition me for a toy. Again, I lovingly explained what our trip was for. He didn’t stop and his petition escalated to supplication. We are now in Jordan Marsh and his petition turns to frustration and anger with my response. The more he petitioned the more I dug my feet in and would not relent to that behavior. Finally, I decide it’s best we just head back home empty-handed. As I grab hold of him and we slog through Jordan Marsh he is now exclaiming “He’s not my father, he’s not my father” over and over again. I remember the look the lady at the makeup counter gave me. I managed to eke out a small wry smile and look her in the eye and say: “If he wasn’t my son do you think I’d still be holding on to him”? She smiled back and mentioned how he looks just like me and fortunately we were able to leave without security getting involved. Sometimes we feel God is like that, don’t we? No matter how hard we pray we feel he isn’t listening to us. Rest assured, He hears our prayers, all of them. Of course, God, like a good parent, knows how our prayers should be answered, and sometimes we don’t get our petitions and supplications answered as we would like. Jeremiah is prophesying about an answer to the prayers of the Jewish people of that time. The answer will be a Messiah who, through Jeremiah says:

I will be their God, and they shall be my people - All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the LORD, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more.

For some of the Jews, especially the leaders, this prayer will not be answered in a way they want and they will put that Messiah to death in their aggravation, exclaiming like my son did that day at the mall: “He’s not my Father”! I’m glad I didn’t suffer the same outcome at the mall that day, I made it home alive! Contrary to what they wanted to believe about God - He is our father. We should have a relationship with him. One of the ways we do that is through prayer. We hear about Jesus praying all the time in the Gospels to his Father God. Our second reading from Hebrews illustrates that well as it states:

He offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.

There are several types of prayer that we can use to assist us. Prayers of Supplication/Petition/Intercession - that’s what we just heard about, prayers asking for what we need or for the needs of others. When we read today’s Psalm we hear of another type of prayer, prayers of Contrition or Repentance. King David had committed a mortal sin with Bathsheba and then doubled down on this sin when he sent her husband Uriah to his death. Now King David asks for mercy, for the forgiveness of his sin, and asks for a clean heart. Shouldn’t we ask for a clean heart as well through prayers of repentance? A perfect heart. When the original Ark of the Covenant was built it was to be covered with pure and precious gold and it held the law. The Ark of the New Covenant, who is Mary, had to be perfect as well, conceived without sin to carry Jesus. The first reading from Jeremiah says for this new covenant that God will:

place my law within them and write it upon their hearts

Prayers of Contrition should be our mantra as the Psalmist says “Create a clean heart in me, O God”. Since this new law will also be written upon our hearts we should get them as near as perfect as we possibly can just as the Ark of the Covenant was so carefully crafted and how Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant was conceived without sin? Prayer is one of the most powerful tools in our Catholic Toolbox. We just discussed prayers of Supplication or Petition and prayers of Contrition or Repentance. There are also prayers this homily won’t get into today and they are prayers of Adoration or Blessing and Thanksgiving or Gratitude. Prayer should be how we continue to evolve our relationship with God, our loving Father, and Jesus the Son. It is the Holy Spirit who motivates and guides our prayers if we simply ask. As St. Padre Pio said:

One does not win the battle without prayer. The choice is yours.

Speak Lord, Your Servant is Listening

Deacon Kevin Gingras

January 17, 2021

2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011721.cfm

Corinth was located in south-central Greece; it was a coastal town and that helped make it wealthy and that wealth helped it become one of the most immoral places of Paul’s time.  Add to that the fact that the Greeks believed that the body is irrelevant and the soul is what made a man.  They had a saying that the “body is a tomb”.  The Greek philosopher Epictetus said “I am a poor soul shackled to a corpse.”  Not a pretty image but that’s what St. Paul was up against in his first letter to the Corinthians.  He was trying to help them realize that the body and the soul are both sacred and they needed to see God in both as he wrote:

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.

This attitude in Corinth was what was keeping them from fully realizing Christ, fully understanding God.  Fulfilling their physical bodily pleasures with food, drinking, and...well “other” things were outside noise getting in the way of their prayer and devotion to the one true God.

Sometimes even with no noise, we might still miss God’s call if we are not alert to it.  Poor Samuel, in today's first reading, hadn't had his coffee yet when God decided to call upon him and he would have missed it if not for a good spiritual guide.  Of course, it might also have been that Samuel was very young.  It was Eli who realized what was going on, perhaps Eli had a cup of coffee already when we read:

Then Eli understood that the LORD was calling the youth. So he said to Samuel, “Go to sleep, and if you are called, reply, Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.” When Samuel went to sleep in his place, the LORD came and revealed his presence, calling out as before, “Samuel, Samuel!” Samuel answered, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

There was no noise in the world that could have disturbed John the Baptist from knowing Jesus.  John got it, he followed Christ and not the whims of men.  When John saw Jesus walking past, John boldly proclaimed in front of his own disciples:

“Behold, the Lamb of God.” The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus.

John didn’t care that he lost two disciples that day, his job was to proclaim and point to Christ and that day he did just that, and away went his disciples to follow Jesus instead.  

What is interesting is that the disciples literally started following Jesus and apparently from a bit of a distance. 

Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, “What are you looking for?”

Did they know what they were looking for at that moment?  Did they know they had found Jesus the Messiah or just another prophet?  Did they want a prayer life or power?  Were they just curious?  They were following Jesus but at a “safe” distance perhaps because of apprehension of what they thought the “lamb of God” would be.  Whatever the reason, Jesus turns and meets them.  They sought, they followed and Jesus met them.

They stayed with Jesus that day and it’s clear that was enough as Andrew went to his brother Simon and declared

“We have found the Messiah”

Have we found the Messiah?  Do we ever spend any time in silence, real silence, looking?  When we find him, what do we want from him?  Are we willing to let go of things to get closer to him?

If we have found the Messiah do we say speak Lord, your servant is listening?  

Your homework for this week will be to spend some time, at Church, at home, or in Adoration looking for the Messiah and listening.  Turn off your TV, radio, phone, google home, Alexa, and any other outside noise.  Listen for the Messiah and say “speak Lord, your servant is listening”.

Mother Teresa has told us:

We need to find God, and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. We need silence to be able to touch souls.

Pray for the Dead

Kevin Gingras
November 15, 2020 - 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111520.cfm

An ancient Arab proverb states: "A clever woman is never without wool".  On contemplating this first reading I realized my wife Allison doesn’t obtain much wool, maybe only in her socks and a sweater or two.  I also asked her and apparently she doesn’t know how to ply the spindle and she doesn’t even know what a distaff is!  We had to Google it. 

With that said, the first reading also states: 

When one finds a worthy wife, her value is far beyond pearls.

Now, this I can hang my hat on!  I agree with this statement wholeheartedly!  Why? Because my happiness at home depends on it!  We all know the quote “A happy wife is a happy life”!

One thing for sure, at our house we try not to waste our God-given talents even if one of those gifts isn't plying the spindle.  Now in today’s Gospel parable, Matthew is talking about talents that are a weight-based currency and its value depended on if it was made of copper, gold, or silver.  The parable has multiple lessons.  First, we are all given different gifts from God.  He gave one man five talents, another two, and another received one.  Second, when we do our work well for God then more will be expected of us, kind of like a promotion from God!  Third, if we do not use our God-given gifts properly, instead we bury them and don’t use them to multiply the kingdom - well we hear it in today’s parable in the final verse:

And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.

That sounds a bit dark.  This is where the second reading comes in - we are not meant for darkness and grinding of teeth however and St. Paul makes sure the Thessalonians know this as he writes to them:

For all of you are children of the light and children of the day. We are not of the night or of darkness.  Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober.

We have heard a lot lately about staying alert and sober and preparing for the end - that thing none of us want to talk about -  DEATH.  But it’s something we all must face eventually.  The other night, I was watching the movie the Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King. Towards the end, there is a scene where two main characters are in a castle in a kingdom called Gondor.  The enemy is about to burst in and things aren’t looking good for two of the characters, Pippin, a hobbit creature, and Gandalf the wizard.

  Their dialogue goes something like this (click here for video):

 "I didn't think it would end this way" says Pippin

Gandalf replies: "End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it."

Pippen asks: "What? Gandalf? See what?"

Gandalf explains: "White shores, and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise."

"Well, that isn't so bad" replies Pippen.

"No. No, it isn't", ends Gandalf.

November is a time that the Catholic Church uses to focus on those who have gone to the “White Shores” before us.  Those who have died.  We have All Saints day to begin and then All Souls day.  This matches with how creation works does it not?  The plants and leaves are dying as well, and the earth is going to sleep for a bit until the resurrection of Spring.

This is where Allison comes back into the homily.  Years ago she began dragging me along to cemeteries as her chauffeur while she would pray for the dead.  She learned this tradition from Susan Tassone - aka The Purgatory Lady.  Susan even calls Allison the Purgatory Lady Jr now.  

I also have become more than just a driver.  I also pray.

Why? Because we should never assume our loved ones who have died are saints in heaven.  The best thing we can do is pray for them to help them attain heaven.  If they are already in heaven those prayers will be used to help another soul in purgatory get to heaven.  We have prayed in cemeteries all around, we try to find new ones each year we have never prayed in yet.

We pray at the graves of people we knew and also never met.  We pray for those who died in 2020, 1900, or even the 1800s.  One of the talents, or gifts that we all have is that of prayer.  To some that is a great gift where the Holy Spirit really moves them and they are gifted with wonderful prayers that they can make up on the spot.  For those of us who can’t do that we all know the prayers that the Catholic Church has taught us all through our life.  Offer up fasting and sacrifices for the Holy Souls, there are also novenas you can look up and do for the Holy Souls in Purgatory.  Find those novenas.  Do them.  Pray for the Holy Souls.  

Imagine the welcome you will get from the souls you helped attain heaven when you finally reach the destination God meant for you!

Venerable Fulton Sheen has said:

As we enter Heaven, we will see them, so many of them, coming towards us and thanking us.  We will ask who they are, and they will say ‘a poor soul you prayed for in purgatory'.

Persistence in Prayer

August 16, 2020, 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/081620.cfm

Today’s Gospel from Matthew could be considered the very beginning of our salvation story.  We aren’t Jewish, most of us probably never were.  Jesus, so it was thought back then, had only come to save the Israelites, the Jews, and nobody else.

Now Jesus heads off to the regions of Tyre and Sidon, probably to get a bit of an escape.  Here comes the Canaanite woman, not a Jewish woman, but a Gentile and the scene that unfolds is quite remarkable.

There are so many perspectives to take from this but let’s focus on the persistence of the Canaanite woman.   Her faith begins by calling Jesus the Son of David, a title of earthly power.  She knew Jesus was a great man and could do marvelous things but she didn’t know who Jesus really was yet. Her faith led her to believe that Jesus, whoever He was, could do great things for her.  She was desperate.  The disciples were in her way, they didn’t want her daughter healed out of compassion and love, they looked at her like an annoying fly buzzing around their faces.

His disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.”

Whatever Jesus had to do for her, they wanted it done and wanted her gone.  Jesus finally confronts the woman and the conversation seems harsh!  

But the woman came and did him homage, saying, “Lord, help me.” He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” 

Context is everything when reading the Bible.  The word Jesus used for dogs, kunaria, means a household pet and not the scroungy street dogs from Jerusalem.  When I was growing up if I called a person a dog, especially a woman it was a major insult but in this case, it was not so bad.

The Canaanite woman doesn’t even seem phased.  She has the wit of a true Greek as she responds:

“Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.”

What faith!  She still doesn’t give up and her persistence pays off and her daughter is healed by the Master.  Jesus saw so much more in her faith at that moment to exclaim: 

“O woman, great is your faith!”.  

She has moved from seeing Jesus as a great man who can help her to see who He really is, and Jesus notices this transformation in her as well and the fact that she is a Gentile becomes irrelevant.

The second reading from St. Paul to the Romans spells it out clearly, Jesus’ salvific mission is to the whole world, not just the Jewish people, but to all, and this includes us!

I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I glory in my ministry in order to make my race jealous and thus save some of them.

The Caananite woman, a Gentile, a non-Jew, is one of the first to take advantage of this.  Her persistent prayer of petition to Jesus is what saves her daughter from the demon.  Our Psalms today echo those prayers of petition asking for pity, blessing, and salvation.  

Now we must reflect, how are we doing in our prayer life?  Are we still persistent in asking God for help and healing in whatever is troubling us no matter how long it’s been going on?  Some things are individual troubles that affect us personally.  Some things are prayers for our families.  Some things are issues in our towns, our church community, our state, our diocese, our nation, and the whole world.  I understand now why a great saint once said pray without ceasing! There really is a lot we should be asking God for help with right now and that’s ok, our God has very broad shoulders, trust Him to handle all of our issues we bring to him. 

This to shall pass and our troubles won’t last forever. Prayer should be the main tool we use to get us through these tough times.  Sure, we may not all receive the healing that the Canaanite woman’s daughter did but perseverance in prayer will at minimum make those tougher times much more tolerable.  Pray...pray and pray some more and don’t let other things get in your way like Jesus’ disciples tried to get in the way of the Canaanite woman.

I think St. Augustine put it far more eloquently than I have when he said: 

If God seems slow in responding, it is because He is preparing a better gift.  He will not deny us.  God withholds what you are not yet ready for.  He wants you to have a lively desire for His greatest gifts.  All of which is to say, pray always and do not lose heart.

It's a small matter

So the other day we were told that we have run out of pine cones for our Boy Scout Christmas wreath sale.  The scouts decorate the wreaths with pine cones and berries and a nice hand-made red bow. It's been a bad year for pine cones apparently. Who knew they go in cycles depending on the weather of the year prior.  I know that now. The bottom line was they needed pine cones to finish the decorating the wreaths.

It's a small matter.

I was going for a walk at lunch at work and there are some woods there.  I forgot to bring a bag to put any pine cones in and a quick prayer went through my head - "God, provide a bag".  It instantly reminded me of Abraham telling his son Isaac that God will provide the lamb (Genesis 22:8) but on a much smaller and less meaningful scale. That was it, my brain formed the prayer on it's own, I didn't even ask it to.  I didn't even expect to find any pine cones.  I thought nothing more of it.

Ten minutes later I'm walking down a nice tree lined path and there is a bag.  One of those reusable store shopping store bags was stuck in some brush on the side of the road.  It was a blue bag, I don't even remember the store it was from.  I laughed a bit but didn't pick it up (I doubted God I later realized!).  Further down the path there are a bunch of pine cones that had fallen to the ground.  Based on this years pickings elsewhere I would call it the motherload of pine cones.  I went back to get the bag.  In no time I had a bag filled with pine cones for the scouts.

After collecting the pine cones I noticed a few tics on me, this area is famous for having deer around it a lot so the tics are only natural.  These tics reminded me of my doubt.  I didn't grab the bag right away, I laughed it off at first.  Evil works it's way into our life like a tic.  It attaches itself to us and we become it's host.  It can make us ill.  The tic was the sin of my doubt, a lack of faith.

Again, it's a small matter and a small prayer but it was answered and that is the key to this.  Not all prayers are so obviously and immediately answered as this one and not all prayers are answered how we want them to be but this one had the desired outcome.  And to think I almost left the bag that I prayed to show up on the side of the path!

What did I learn?

• Sin comes in the form of doubt, a doubt that attaches itself to us and is difficult to get off.
• Prayers, no matter how small do matter.
• I need God.  God listens to me and I need that in my life.  
• I need to pay closer attention to these God moments since not all of them will be as obvious as a bag on the side of a path.
• I need to pay closer attention to the tics trying to attach themselves to me, trying to slowly become a part of my life.  I need to quickly remove those tics before they sink their teeth into me.
• I need to pray and pray often.  I might be praying about a small matter but it's relevant to God.
• I can't forget to thank God when prayers are answered no matter what the answer is!