30May 2014 by CJ

Everyone deserves to hear the words “thank you”

Life & Living, Love & Relationships, Youth
My wife is one of the eternal givers of this world. Be it personally or professionally, she possesses an admirable compassion – always giving much more than any one situation might require. Having known her for some 15 years now, I can tell you with great certainty that she is the epitome of humility – more concerned with offering support and care, than obtaining praise for her actions. I consider myself truly blessed that I get to wake up each day and share my life with such an amazing individual. But regardless of her humble nature, I believe she deserves to hear those few little words every now and then – “thank you”. It’s so easy to take people for granted – to assume that someone’s actions are simply expected…
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28May 2014 by CJ

Separating what is fact from fiction

Life & Living, Youth
Phil Collins’ popular song entitled, Both Sides of the Story contains the following lyrics: And the lights are all on, the world is watching now. People looking for truth, we must not fail them now. Be sure, before we close our eyes, Don’t walk away from here, till you hear both sides. Today, more than ever, Americans are searching, longing for the truth. But in our quest for answers we often forget that every story, much like a coin, has two sides to it. Sadly, we’ll listen to whoever might be speaking the loudest at any given moment. Does that mean their story is factual and relevant? No, it simply means they realize that in order to deflect blame from themselves they have to publicly blame someone else. It’s a…
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27May 2014 by CJ

Stop worrying about what you don’t have – be thankful for what you do

Generosity & Kindness
Something to think about... Did you ever stop and ask yourself what truly makes up a life? Love, laughter, sorrow, joy – all come together to form the basis of our existence. Beyond the life experiences that occur without fail, we all have dreams, aspirations, hopes for the future. But as the old John Lennon song states “life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” Life is rarely easy and few things ever work out as planned. There’s a world going on around us, a world filled with people and luxuries we should be thanking God above for brining into our lives each and every day. But we need to stop wasting all this time focused on the things we don’t have and realize just how much we do. So…
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21May 2014 by CJ

YOU have to make the decision to move on

Life & Living
Regardless of one’s good intentions - void of malice or spite - things don’t usually work out as we’d like them to. It’s funny, no matter how much you try to convince yourself of the possibility for a positive outcome, there’s always that little part of your brain that knows your expectations are highly unrealistic. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned in life it’s to be hopeful for the future, because sometimes life does in fact surprise you. Unfortunately, this post is not being written about one of those occasions. Jodi Picoult, author of Salem Falls writes: “Words are like eggs dropped from great heights; you can no more call them back than ignore the mess they leave when they fall.” Writing this blog, I’m well aware of how…
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15May 2014 by CJ

My wedding anniversary celebrates the ultimate gift

Love & Relationships
“Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction.” ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery On May 20th, 2014 my wife and I will celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary. As cliché as it sounds, it really does seem like yesterday since we walked down the aisle as man and wife in a beautiful and memorable garden ceremony. A lot has changed in 13 years. So many cherished family members and friends, who were only too happy to attend our nuptials, have passed on from this life. I can still remember many of them dressed-up in their Sunday best – dancing, laughing and sharing in our special day. But one thing hasn’t changed and that’s the commitment we made to each other over a decade ago.…
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