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I am proud of you! How is life treating you? How are your kids?Hey Michael! Did I tell you that I finally quit smoking? My last cigarette was last JUNE!!! Almost a year ago. I used Chantix to help me quit. After about three weeks of Chantix, I was smoke-free!
My gf gets my sense of humor, unlike 90% of the world!Your gf seemed like such a nice person... it's hard to believe that she would insult you by giving such a truthful tshirt....
I think his gf is almost equally full of it...My gf gets my sense of humor, unlike 90% of the world!
Your gf seemed like such a nice person... it's hard to believe that she would insult you by giving such a truthful tshirt....
The Orthodox Church, VOLUME 44 (1)
Great Lent 2008
Want should I do during Great Lent?
Most of us can readily identify what we should do
during Great Lent: pray, fast, and give alms. It’s
the hows that sometime elude us!
Turn off the TV, CD player, and the internet except
for news, weather reports, and educational programs. Use
e-mail for necessary things, period! Leave your iPod
and Blackberry at home. Like the Prophet Elijah, listen
for the Lord’s voice in life’s still, quiet moments.
Avoid engaging in outside activities for their own
sake. Keep useless talking to a minimum. Focus on
necessary business, acts of charity, your children
and family, and strengthening your relationships with
others, especially those with whom you may have
experienced conflicts in the past. Get beyond what
others do and discover who they are.
Question yourself with regard to love, truth, honesty,
purity, humility, peace, forgiveness, justice, mercy,
hungering and thirsting for God, wisdom, and knowledge.
What role do these virtues play in your life?
In the name of Jesus Christ, forgive everyone who
has offended you, and seek forgiveness from those
whom you have offended. If it will not be embarrassing or
misinterpreted as an act of self-righteousness, express
yourself as concretely – and personally – as possible.
Visit, make a phone call, send a hand-written note,
or do whatever it takes to tear down those walls that so
often separate us from others.
Set aside a sizeable portion of your resources for
others – your parish, the poor and needy, a homeless
shelter or food depository, whatever. Or transform your
“me time” into “thee time” by volunteering to help with
those ever-present tasks around your parish or a social
agency in your area. Don’t tell anyone what
you’re doing. Ask nothing in exchange – even receipts.
Fast strictly and regularly – from food, from distractions
from passions, and from sinful behaviors. Suit your
fast to your work schedule, but avoid luxury. Do not
advertise or discuss your fasting with anyone, and avoid
those endless discussions on “lenten chocolate cake” or
“how to make tofu taste like turkey” or “vegetable oil vs.
olive oil” that miss the point and spirit of fasting altogether.
Pray at home at least at one fixed time every day.
Choose a brief rule of prayer and stick to it. Participate
in all of the lenten services, especially the Liturgy of the
Presanctified Gifts. Confess seriously, sincerely, and
with the utmost preparation.
Read the scriptures regularly. Follow the Church’s
daily calendars of readings, or focus on one chapter of a
given book. Reflect especially on 1 John, Romans 12-
14, Matthew 5-7, and John 14-17.
Be faithful to Christ’s Gospel in every word, action,
and thought – even the smallest or most insignificant.
Master those “little things,” knowing that God will
bless you with things that are far greater!
It's actually a cartoon series that my dad drew when he was in seminary, I just animated it to make it an animated gif. It would probably be better if I took the time to redraw some of the frames. But I wanted to animate it using just the scanned pages and a good deal of digital manipulation. The style of censing was a slight exaggeration on some of the fancier censing that he observed at the seminary.Oh, nutroll,
I just love your signature and the artistic way the deacon swings the censer.
He must have attended censer school or been involved in a contest.
You can freeze some of it... I do that with chocolate a lot of times just so it will be harder for me to eat it (the amount of chocolate I can put away in a sitting can be astounding)... Other than that, just hide it away in a room or closet that you don't look in much. I have done that with my chocolate and I'm proud (yes, beat me LOL) to say I haven't had a piece since Lent started.Oh my. I got a package in the mail yesterday and just picked it up from the office of my apartment building. My grandmother sent me an Easter box filled with:
A package of Skittles "fun size" packs;
A big bag of Whoppers 'Eggs';
A big bag of Reese's Peanut Butter 'Eggs';
A big bag of SweetTarts 'Bunnies';
A big bag of M&M's 'Bunny Mix'; and
several individually packed filled chocolate eggs (Butterfinger, AlmondJoy, Russel's Candies, etc.).
Ugh, way too much candy is sitting in my apartment right now...
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