Seize the Moment - It's the Only One We've Got!!!

"Do not worry about tomorrow, tomorrow will take care about itself. " - Matthew 6:34

The following report on golfer Anthony Kim's amazing 11-under par run at the Masters tournament is a another lesson on living in the moment. So much of my energy is dissipated on worries that never come. That makes me a very inefficient car, if I were one. But I know you and I are worth infinitely more than a car; yet, we take care of our cars more than we do our own beings.

It is a great Easter message, isn't it?

Something to ponder on as we read this magnificent story below:

1. What makes me worry about the future?

2. What things I need to do are being hindered by my paralyzing worries and fears?

3. May I let go of these fears, turn them over to the Lord, and let God handle them? Pufff!

4. Can I see and use proactively the gifts God has given me to strive and be fruitful? I need to be still to realize this.

5. Do I really believe that God has a good purpose for me for others on this earth? Sure, you do have at least one! A sparrow can fly across the street in 3 seconds; a giant can't.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Yahoo Sports!

Birdie blitz puts Kim into record books
by Allan Kelly Apr 10, 6:10 pm EDT


AUGUSTA, Georgia (AFP) - Anthony Kim made Masters history on Friday with a record 11 birdies in his second round and said that reading about the death of baseball player Nick Adenhart had changed his mindset.

The Los Angeles Angels rookie pitcher was killed in a road accident in California on Thursday just hours after making his Major League Baseball season debut.

Kim, one year older at 23, said he had been upset after a disappointing opening 75 on Thursday but had put things into context after reading a newspaper report of Adenhart's death on Friday morning.

"The last line in the story was: 'You never know what can happen, even at 22. You have to live every moment of every day like it's your last.'

"I said to myself - Look, it's been a dream of mine to be at the Masters my whole life, and there's no reason to pout about a bogey or a 3-putt, but enjoy being out here and enjoy all of the hard work that was put into it by myself and my parents, and go out there and have some fun.

"I think that's what made the 11 birdies a lot easier."

Kim had six birdies on the front nine and five on the back, with the only blemishes on his round of 65 being bogeys at the fourth and ninth and a double bogey at the 10th.

The previous record for the number of birdies in a single round at the Masters belonged to Nick Price of Zimbabwe who had 10 en route to a course record 63 in the third round in 1986.

Kim exploded onto the professional scene by winning two tournaments last year and he then played a pivotal role in the US Ryder Cup win over Europe in Kentucky last September.

This year has been more of a struggle after a tie for second place in the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship in January.

He did spread his wings though playing well in Asia and was tied for fourth at the Dubai Desert Classic.
There had been signs, he said, that his game was coming together again.

Kim said he had never doubted his own abilities.

"I'm not too concerned about what everybody else is thinking. That has nothing to do with me," he said.

"Of course, I hear or I'll be reading the paper and say, whatever happened to him; I'm still here. I'm still making golf swings.

"I haven't played as much in the US but at the same time, I've been dealing with injuries and different circumstances that I've never had to deal with in my life. So I'm very positive about where my career is headed."

That mindset could get even more positive come Sunday if he can reproduce the kind of form the rewrote the history books on Friday.

Suffer the beautiful creatures

TIME magazine's issue of April 13, 2009 lists the following as " 10 species on the brink " of extinction:

1. Javan Rhinoceros - Indonesia and Vietnam
2. Vaquita - Gulf of California
3. Cross River Gorilla - Nigeria and Cameroon
4. Sumatran Tiger - Sumatra, Indonesia
5. Golden-Headed Langur - Vietnam
6. Black-Footed Ferret - North American Great Plains
7. Borneo Pygmy Elephant - Northern Borneo, Malaysia
8. Giant Panda - China, Burma, Vietnam
9. Polar Bear - The circumpolar Arctic
10 Mekong Giant Catfish - Mekong Region of Southeast Asia

Perhaps we can start with something so apparently far removed from these beautiful co-inhabitants of the one home we fail to generously share with them, as well as the millions of suffering humanity around the world - what the Broadway musical MAMA MIA! glorifies in one of its songs- Money, Money, Money!

The same magazine issue quotes Mayor Laszlo Varnai of Kiskunhalas, Hungary ( after his town's Levi Strauss & Co. plant was closed ) as saying: " The inhuman nature in the cold numbers of capitalism, that's what stuns you. "

In its April 6, 2009 issue, TIME also quoted Sr. Christine Schenk of Cleveland, to wit: " Too many bishops are treating parishes as if they were Starbucks franchises. It's about more than money. " She might as well have said it about the Archdioceses of New York, and Brooklyn and Queens in the Metro New York Area. Think about it if it were Jesus' strategy when he formed his band of 12 roving disciples. Have the bishops grown comfortable in their fine dining rooms with silverware, wines and the whole works? And is it the bottom line ( the red or the black numbers on the profit and loss statement ) that only matter nowadays? How about the souls they were supposed to nurture? There is no price tag on that, is there?

If churches get closed - never mind the " sheep " without thee shepherds, milk get tainted by baby- killing melamine, livelihood-sustaining forests get logged clean, life-giving rivers get polluted by mine tailings overflow, and entire neighborhoods get ash fall-outs from dirty coal-fired power plants--- all in the NAME OF THE ALMIGHTY PROFIT ( pronounced G-O-D ) --- what are the chances that a Panda gets its day in the court of life? Then, who would care about Madagascars' Moon Moth, Ploughshare Turtle, Fossa, Pink Bug, Leaf-Tailed Gecko, Aye-Aye, and the Panther Chameleon?

Imagine what the world would look like without these and other beautiful creatures... just the ubiquitous green bucks, or euro, or yuan, yen.....

Imagine further if you were responsible for making these beautiful creatures disappear... and visualize yourself on your death bed.....pufff.... your paper ( mickey mouse? ) money crumbling down faster than a house of cards. Bernie Madoff has a trial run on this exercise inside the Fed prison. In a way, he is lucky. He has been given another chance to get it right, if he is smart enough. You, too, friend can practice this visualization technique, before materialism takes away your humanity from you.... because at death's turnstile, none of those currencies is legal tender... the only token that matters is love of God... and love of neighbor. And that includes these little creatures.

" Whatever you do to the least of these, you do it unto me.... " - The Carpenter from Nazareth