A Piece of My Heart, By: Author Unknown

One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There was not a mark or a flaw in it. Yes, they all agreed it truly was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was very proud and boasted more loudly about his beautiful heart.

Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said "Why, your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine." The crowd and the young man looked at the old man's heart. It was beating strongly, but it was full of scars. It had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in, but they didn't fit quite right and there were several jagged edges. In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing.

The people stared -- how can he say his heart is more beautiful, they thought? The young man looked at the old man's heart and saw its state and laughed. "You must be joking," he said. "Compare your heart with mine. Mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears."

"Yes," said the old man, "yours is perfect looking but I would never trade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love - I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them, and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the empty place in my heart, but because the pieces aren't exact, I have some rough edges, which I cherish, because they remind me of the love we shared."

"Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away, and the other person hasn't returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gouges -- giving love, is taking a chance. Although these gouges are painful, they stay open, reminding me of the love I have for these people too, and I hope someday they may return and fill the space I have waiting. So now do you see what true beauty is?"

The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks. He walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man with trembling hands. The old man took his offering, placed it in his heart and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young man's heart. It fit, but not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges. The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever, since love from the old man's heart flowed into his.

That's my King is a great discription of our Lord

That's my King is a great discription of our Lord. Hope you enjoy! Compliments of Tangle.com

Mary Did You Know? Puts Things in Perspective

Tangle.com offers some wonderful videos. I love this song and hope you enjoy.

Following Jesus' Footsteps, Not an Easy Task

Jesus had one ministry focused around the reign of God consisting of six aspects. They were healing, exorcism, teaching, reconciling, being a peacemaker, and his liberating ministry. In today’s world I would consider these six separate ministries with considerable overlapping. It would be a challenge for anyone to follow in Jesus’ footsteps and do as an effective job in these areas as he so profoundly illustrated for the world to witness.

As a disciple of Jesus I do not think he would expect me to attempt any of the above without having the gifts to support them. I can participate with my gifts along with the entire community in our role as Disciples of Christ in the reign of God.

As a young man, who was raised a Catholic, attended a Catholic school, studied under the Baltimore Catechism and fell away from the church during a dark period of my life, I was a great candidate for conversion back to my faith about seven years ago. God slowly began working on me about the time my wife joined the Catholic Church and had myself as her sponsor. This forced me to stop back sliding and take my faith more seriously. The RCIA process was a spiritual awakening for me.

When my mother passed away a few years later, our Lord put the petal to the metal and healed my blindness, raised me from the dead, and led me to a book to read called the “Good Enough Catholic” “A Guide for the Perplexed”, by: Paul Wilkes. I picked this book up at the Church the day of my mom’s funeral and finished it within two days. It helped me realize the hunger in my soul, the spirituality that my mother instilled into me as a child, and my obligation to live my renewed baptismal vows that I took when my wife was baptized. My library has grown from Paul Wilkes book to over 200 books that have helped me develop my faith journey over the past few years with fire in my heart. I am sure my mother is working with Saint Peter to keep that fire burning.

The gifts that God gave me in life consist of being a good servant. It was mostly in the secular arena however I have always focused attention toward charity, volunteering and public service. With ongoing conversion in this faith journey I believe Jesus is forming my discipleship and building a loving relationship with me, through discernment that will continue to grow as I become more and more aware of my calling in service.


Jesus’ ministry described in the above basic ministries present a challenge to any lay person or minister of his gospel if they try to be all things to all people. I am always going to be a rookie when it comes to ministry because there is so much to learn and of course I have my secular job, and family that have been my calling. At 60 years old, I can look back with the mistakes I made in life, add the grace mixed into the gifts God gave me, and say today that I have met the challenge. If I follow the plan that God has provided me, utilize the talent in the Catholic community, and continue to discern his expectations, this venture will continue to be no challenge. Instead it will be a joyful experience to share for the balance of my time here on this planet and yours also, if you let God into your life. What do you think?