Dust Devils
Dust Devils are …
My short reflections on daily life and those moments that can blind us in their unexpected rise, fury and intensity. Sometimes in the intensity of their brilliance and beauty!
We then move to Fire Devils, dust devils that flare up during wild fires. I helped rescue a neighbor from a huge fire devil during a wild fire on our ranch. He fell protecting his house when a hundred foot high whirlwind of a fire devil overtook him. He was pulled free but burned severely. This happens to us in our lives in many forms as well, leaving us “burned” or impacted in some meaningful way.
My short reflections cover the gamut of mostly non-religious topics, just like those dust devils and yes, the fiery ones too. Stay with me, my friends!
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Forgiveness is a choice I make – not just during Lent!
Long held bitterness and anger are poisons in life I freely choose to drink, hoping fervently that they will hurt, if not destroy, the person who hurt me. But in reality, I’m the one drinking the poison; I’m the one dying pathetically and needlessly. In my youthful Army days I long held on to the…
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Lies and Liars and the Father of lies
The exhortation of Jesus Christ recorded in the Gospel of St Matthew is our Summa Priorita, our #1 priority in life. We know this because Jesus tells us so. “And Jesus said unto him (the lawyer who was trying to trap Him), you shall love the Lord your God with your whole mind, soul and…
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Sad Saints need not apply!
An essential guideline for today’s apostles “Happiness is a moral obligation. You cannot afflict people with your bad moods, any more than you can with your bad breath. Just as you brush away your bad breath and shower away your bad odor, so should you brush away your bad moods.” Dennis Prager, Founder of Prager…
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And You shall dine with Angels!
Musings St. Paul tells us in Hebrews chpt. 13:2 “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” We human beings have a very imperfect understanding of the nature of angels, largely because we have so little direct experience of them and many have done so little to study…
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And The Rooster Crowed
At the Last Supper, Jesus prophetically told His Apostles and dearest friends, that they would all abandon Him, all scandalized by Jesus in His greatest hour of need. “This very night you will all fall away on account of me.” (St. Matthew 26:31) But Peter swore passionately to our Blessed Lord that he would never…
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Dust Devils – St. Stephen – Protomartyr
First to follow Jesus Christ into martyrdom On this past Feast of St Stephen (26 December 2024), I spoke with my nephew and godson Stephen. So proud of that fine young Catholic man. Beautiful family. Stephen and I both have a deep love, respect and devotion to St Stephen the very first martyr for Jesus…
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Dust Devils – Signs and Wonders in the Heavens and on the Earth
For me, the rising of the sun is a sign and wonder that God has given me 1 more day. The birds singing all over our ranch is a sign and wonder that God loves music even more than I do. My Aussies’ {Jake, Cisco and Emma Rae} loyalty and faithfulness are signs and wonders,…
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The Glory Revealed
Feast of the Transfiguration 6 January Some years ago, my wife Barb and I made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. One of the very special memories we made was our trip to the top of Mount Tabor, or The Mount of the Transfiguration. (MT 17: 9-21) Jesus and His Apostles – Peter, James and…
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Judas is still with us!
I was one of 11 raised in a devout Catholic family by my parents. My dad’s three brothers were all ordained priests, one a monsignor. We were taught to respect the Pope, our bishops and our local parish priests. And so we did. Not blindly, but faithfully. Then came the post-Vatican II parish gatherings to…
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Rat in a Cage and Politicians Exposed!
In 25 years as a Catholic lay missionary, I spent 2 incredible years in India. There are more stories from there than I can share in one short article, but I’ll be sharing them in future Dust Devils offerings. This is about an extraordinarily big rat we trapped in a cage. It was 1989. I…