Bless Me, Ultima

"Happiness is only real when shared", a quote by Chris McCandless. Chris went into the wilderness to experience adventures and to find his meaning of happiness. He found happiness in both nature and his heart. He realized that the feeling and experiences of his happiness were best shared with someone. Throughout the book Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer, Jon talked about the folks Chris had befriended along the way on his adventures and the strong impressions he left. Chris McCandless was a unique…

Critics of Bernie have struggled to classify the movie, and viewers would certainly attest to this statement. The movie is placed in the satire genre, but this does not seem necessarily complete. The film is well made and the level that it grips the watcher is almost disturbing. Although the film begins with an unusual opening of a jolly and flamboyant mortician conducting a procedure on a corpse for a guest lecture, Bernie morphs into a dark irony. As he prepares the dead for burial, he…

was born my parents named me Jasmine after a beautiful white flower that grows on a vine. My mother wanted a name that was floral such as hers that could represent delicacy yet strength. My mother was born in Mexico along with both of her parents, and my father was born in Panama. His father was Cuban and his mother Panamanian. Both my parents immigrated to the United States at a young age. They met in El Paso where I was born and raised. My Parents two years after having me and my brother got…

of the people are old people, and there are also some students, families with children here. When we came in, a father in black rode was talking to people who came to pray. We greeted to him and stepped into to the ecclesia. The fist thing attracted me was the huge colorful glass windows. They draw some people like Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas More, and The Newman. According to the introduction, some of these are to memorize some people who contributed to…

to receive anything in return. I was privileged to grow up with a mother that was very compassionate and caring, and from an early age she showed me that true compassion is giving without selflessness. I often find myself doing things out of compassion from day to day such as holding the door open for someone if I spot them trailing close by behind me. However in these same instances, I find myself getting offended when the person walks through the door without expressing their gratitude with a…

The Righteous Sufferer The Bible is filled with wonderful stories that both inspire and more often than not, teach a lesson or rather allows readers to draw knowledge from the individuals within the stories. One such book is the book of Job, which is the story of a man who goes from living the good life, losing it all, and then getting it all back again. In the book of Job, In the Hebrew Bible, the author, uses imagery, symbolism, and irony to…

A Desire of the Heart Shirley and I were married between the Arts and Theology years of university so our financial resources were very tight. I was working on a tree nursery farm just south of Winnipeg for the summer months between semesters as well as preparing for a move to seminary in Saskatoon. As a result, we could not afford to take off more time than a four-day weekend. This was hardly enough time for my face to heal from all the mosquito bites I had acquired while riding a tree planter…

Liverpool/Dublin Journal 2: A Curious Man Teaches Me Skepticism I was in the People’s Museum in Manchester perusing the struggles of the people when, a older gentleman approaches our group. He had a younger companion accompanying him. This man sported a Carolina Panthers t-shirt. He was rather tall, and a distinctly British accent. Once he inserted himself into our conversation he proceeded to tell his life story, about how we worked for a time in Texas. He went on to describe how he wanted to…

stepped foot into a church. I choose a local church for this experience called The First Reformed Church. The address to this Christian church is 5387 W State Road 10, Wheatfield, IN 46392. In this essay I’ll be explaining how this experience has changed me as a person and the things I witnessed while I was at this church. To start off I had a extremely difficult time choosing where I should begin my journey at. I have never been a religious person and actually started to hate the idea of…

Have You Ever Stood On Holy Ground? This past Sunday our pastor preached a sermon and mentioned this thought toward the beginning. Since then I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. Both Joshua and Moses encountered God in awesome ways. When they did they were told to remove their sandals because the ground they were standing on was “holy ground”. But what made that ground holy? Was it holy before this encounter? Or did it become holy only because of this encounter? Is the ground still…