Feb 4
Last night a miracle happened. My second son was born at 8:10 PM. Named in honor of my grandfather and JPII, Jonathan Paul is 6 lbs. 13 oz. and 20 inches long. We spent a long day at the hospital awaiting his arrival. We are very blessed to have a health baby boy and a healthy mother. Thank you for all of the prayers and well wishes. They are very much appreciated!
Check out some pictures of my new bundle of joy in the picture gallery.
Jan 24
There is a chance that you may be looking for information about Puff Daddy’s son. Even though my name is Justin Combs I did not celebrate my 16th birthday recently. I thank you for visiting my site. You are welcome to read my blog about the Catholic faith. You can even read some lyrics to some of my songs. God bless you!
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Jan 10
Today I found out two things; three cups of Caribou French Roast Coffee will make me jittery and people are surprised with honesty.
To set up my experience today I first must give you a little background on the area in which I live. Just outside of a small village in Northern Ohio is where I dwell. I do not have the luxury of water that is purified and brought to my house through pipes that are supplied by a city. I do however have water at my house. It comes from a well deep under the ground. Believe it or not many people get water like this. I do not have to take my bucket to the well every morning nor do I have to have Lassie rescue Timmy from it once a month. I have a pump that bring the water to my house.
Once the water is in my house I can use it for whatever I like. I treat and purify the water in my house first. You see there is enough Iron in my water to build a skyscraper. I have a house filter, water softener and osmosis system to purify my water for use. For my softener I have to buy salt.
The need for salt has brought me to my local grocer. While I was there I asked for one kind of salt with a special additive to help get rid of the rust color that plagues my toiled, sinks, tub and clothes. This salt costs more than the regular salt. I was charged for the regular less expensive salt. I hurt my back on Christmas day so I had to have someone help me get the salt. He knew what salt I was charged for and grabbed that salt. I corrected him and told him what salt I needed. He let me know that I bought the cheeper salt. I looked at the receipt and he was right. I told him to load the correct salt and I would run in and take care of the balance that I needed to pay.
I hobbled back into the store and up to the customer service counter. I explained the situation and paid my $2.13 that I owed for the salt I needed. The woman working then said “Thank you for being honest.” I replied, “It is what I am called to be.”
This kind of situation has happened to me quite a few times. Every time I make sure that I have paid the correct amount or give back the extra change I was given the people I am working with seemed to be a little surprised that I did that. I’m sure many of you reading this have done the same thing. We wouldn’t dare cheat a store like that. After all if I were to walk away without paying the extra money I would be stealing. Isn’t that against one of the Ten Commandments?
This seems like such an easy decision for most of us to make. We often are pretty proud of our decisions when we do things like this. We usually get thanked and that makes us feel good. Are we making the sam decisions when there is no one around to acknowledge our honesty?
What are we looking at on the internet when no one is around? What kind of jokes are we telling or reading when we are with our friends? What are we thinking about other people? What is your conscience telling you? This year lets work on making the things we do in secret glorifying to God and what he is calling us to be.
I am saying a prayer for this tonight, please say one with me.
Nov 16
This past weekend I had the pleasure of speaking in Fostoria, Ohio for their “Spirit Day.” This was a Confirmation rally for the confirmation students from the area. There was nearly 200 confirmation prep students there. It was an awesome experience. I found out some of the most amazing things like, somewhere in North West Ohio there is a house with a psycho spider monkey! Evidently it was adopted because it couldn’t behave among the other monkeys. I’m not sure I would want a psycho spider monkey in my house. The things you learn at these religious events.
I was blessed to be able to share my faith and music with these students but more importantly I was blessed to be able to spend the day with them. While in one of the break-out session the students were asked what Bible character would you consider yourself to be out of the following: The Prodigal Son, Peter, Judas or Thomas. I thought this was an awesome question. It got me to look at my faith and how I lived it. Here are some thoughts about how I made my decision.
First I thought about the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). Isn’t this who a lot of us dream of being. I look at rock stars like Areosmith who spent most of their years on the road drinking, doing drugs and playing some rock and roll around there. They have now cleaned up their act and no longer drink or do drugs. I don’t know them personally and can’t say that they are truly an example of the prodigal son but they came to mind. A prodigal son is a good thing to be, not because of what happened but because of the realization that the son came to.
Peter (Matthew 16:13-20; Matthew 26:31-35; Matthew 26:69-75), the rock, our first Pope and a man who denied knowing Jesus. Peter was a strong man. He had a great faith and believed whole heartedly in Jesus. Peter was the disciple that recognized Jesus for who he was. “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Peter to me seemed like a manly man. He seemed to be a great friend and someone that you would go to if you needed help or advice. No matter how strong Peter seemed he was just like the rest of us, human. Peter had an infamous moment when he denied that he knew Jesus for fear of his life. Directly after this happened and he realized what he did he wept. Although Peter denied Jesus he didn’t give up believing in him. He continued with what Jesus commissioned him to do.
Judas (Matthew 26:14-16, 20-25, 47-50 Matthew 27:3-10), famous for his betrayal of Jesus. I don’t know exactly what was going through Judas’ mind through his decisions in handing over Jesus. He seemed to be looking out for himself, making a buck and not caring how it would affect others. Unfortunately I see Judas in our society more that I would like to see him. Do you deceive others in order to get what you want? Hopefully you wouldn’t describe yourself as a Judas.
Thomas (John 20:24-29), know for his “I’ll believe it when I see it” attitude. Some of us need to be show things in order to believe them. When it comes to my faith I don’t need to be show something to believe it. I love to read about miracles and know that they do truly happen. I don’t have to be shown anything to prove that Jesus is the Eucharist, I simply believe. This does not mean that I don’t struggle with some concepts or look for understanding. I know that there are things that are outside of my understanding in our faith but because I don’t understand something doesn’t mean it’s true. For example, the Holy Trinity, One God in three persons. How? I try not to think about it so as to keep my brain in one piece. I do however know it is true. The wonderful mysteries of our faith.
Here is my decision:
I was never a big partier, I stayed home during college, followed the rules and started growing in my faith in middle school; the Prodigal Son is not me.
I don’t take advantage of people for the betterment of myself or for riches; Judas is not me.
I sometimes need to be proven things but take my faith for what it is and believe whole heartedly; Thomas is not me.
I am solid in my faith, I don’t think I can be shaken, I love to share my faith with others, I have great intentions, mess up sometimes but try to preserver. I was never a Pope however. I think Peter fits me best.
Which one are you?
Nov 11
I have setup an e-mail newsletter that will go out monthly. In the newsletter I will give you information about my ministry, upcoming gigs, updates on my music and some of my writing on spiritual topics. If you are interested in receiving this monthly simply type your email address in the form below or type it in the form at the top of the page then click “join.”
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