Became a waiter for the poor on Sunday evenings...! :)

Today afternoon, I was watching a movie at home and was feeling sleepy after watching the movie and thinking of sleeping for an hour or so. I switched off the computer and just went to bed before I received a sms. I was wondering what the heck I received sms that I told friends not to sms me cz it costs me. I rather asked them to call me. Anyway, it was from Shane asking what are my plans for the evening. "hmm...", I was thinking oh no... I can't go out today and I had to do an assignment due tomorrow. But I got a call to Shane and he asked whether I can come for "homeless people". I realized it is for some good cause and I didn't think twice. When God calls, I should deliver. It was just for 2 hours. I should be able to do that.

I asked when and where I need to come. He said be there are the university cafe by 10 to 5 pm. But it was already 4 30 pm. So I asked to pick me up by somebody and then Marissa came to pick me up. and I was still late while she was waiting outside :D. Then I got to know what are we going to do. It is a weekly thing happening in Dayton downtown. It is not by a catholic church but some christians. They give a good dinner to homeless people on every Sunday evening. And they need people to help them out to be waiters, cleaners, etc. So I became a waiter for a while for the poor.

It was a good first experience for me. I served table no. 18 and I got two old people and a family of 5 children and a mother. The kinds are small ones and they were good. But their surrounding is not normal. They do not have a home to live. They have a shelter provided for them. I felt sorry for them. It is America and not Sri Lanka but still I see the poverty. The difference is they eat burgers instead of rice! I saw many collected whatever left over to take with them so that they can have them later in the evening may be.

Here, I didn't provid them the dinner or sponsored anything. But I gave them my time and service which I could do. I enjoyed it. And it aligned with fr. Ed's today's harmony. That is living for others in a balanced life. And I want to mention one important fact here. We received final minute invitation (me, Justin, Josh, etc) because they wanted some manpower at the last moment. If we were unable to go, then they were short of service tonight and needed to take care two tables by on person. I know, when God plans something, it never comes short. It goes smoothly. That's what the lady at the place told us. It is not us who planned today but God. So he'll do it correctly at the end. He asked and we delivered. That is what happened and I am sure he is happy today that I gave some time unexpectedly for him when he asked for it. :)

TOT at Origan Express

Steve announced in our first group meeting we had on last Monday that there is a Theology On Tap this Thursday at Origan District, Dayton. So... I asked Steve to pick me up so that we can go there together. So there starts my first TOT experience and a good speech indeed. TOT is a lecture series conducted in a bar or tavern related to religious concerns for young people in their 20s and 30s. So it is exciting.


Today's talk was very interesting and awakening and he did it very well as well. The speaker is Dr. Ashley Fernandes, who has a PhD in philosophy and then a medical degree and so he is a well educated catholic!. A catholic who preaches good values of church for youth in today's talk. The motivation of the talk is about youth sex life and teachings of using contraceptives. He pointed out many facts that why the teaching of catholic church stand firm in this perspective. I will mention some of his ideas here briefly for those of you are interested.

Actually using contraceptives is against the faith and belief of Catholics. The main reason is that we do not know when the life begins (fertile and implantation) and what is the exact definition. It defers from book to book where and when the life begins (between a day to 12 days). But there is definitely life even it is a single cell. A person is there. So destroying that single cell is also equal to destroying a person. And these pills change the natural behavior or cycle of a woman and hence is against the natural order. His idea and claim is that introduction of these things brought many abortions or in other words killings. The reason is that you are exposed to be in an accident all the time. That is you are expecting an accident all the time to happen. When many people expecting accidents to happen there are many instances that these pills are also go wrong. Then there are many instances of accidental pregnancy than earlier when we didn't have these pills. The simple idea is a small fraction of a large amount is a large amount. So it seems like it is better to live without these and these pills do no good after all. Another argument he made is that people think that catholic families who have 5, 6 children happened to be as a result of not accepting these modern procedures. But it shouldn't have been all accidents. There may be 1, 2 or may be 3 accidents but there can't be 6 accidents..... ha ha ha... The thing is children are not planned or restricted. They are gifts. So it is not right to control them using these new technologies. He also mentioned that expecting a child should not be postponed for a reason like to buy a mustang or camaro!

There were many interesting thoughts he presented today and really nourishing. I am glad that I was able to go there today and experienced TOT for the first time as well. Thank you Steve for your invitation. Finally there is one comment that he mentioned similar to my good friend Hasitha used to mention from ages ago. That is, it is not right to live as your own and be good and do nothing but it's our responsibility to do good which we may not do often!

life experirnce of GOD !

Yesterday was a good day in many ways. One of them was that we formed a faith sharing youth group at CCM for young adults and also tasted an American style dinner after some time (thnx Joan for that). When everybody was introducing themselves, they pointed out that they were searching for this kind of thing for a long time where they can share their thought and express their belief and at the same time improve them. It seems like the group has many things to do and enjoy in coming months!

I met a student yesterday (who is from Toledo) and he is a medical student. I personally believe doctors, lawyers, rev. fathers get many inspiring stories than engineers who work for a closed community. He mentioned a story which is inspiring for many of us and I will mention that in brief. When he was visiting a patient at the hospital and there was a sick lady who was definitely going to die of some disease. It is a genetic disease and transfers from parents to child but her parents never had that disease. Unfortunately she was that one from millions and billions who gets random genetic mutation which caused the problem.

As he was telling, the lady was not interested in answering questions by doctors but was trying to say something. She was showing something from her necklace and asking whether anybody recognizes it. She was showing a picture of mother Mary and none of the doctors knew except my friend. He let her know that he knows and was talking to her. The rational of the story is that even though the disease she got was so terrible that it brings her death and got it by random gene mutation (in the worst case) she was still believing in GOD that whatever happens, she believes GOD is with her giving her courage and strength. She has made her best friends so that how can she forget him. There might have been life experience of GOD which made it part of her life to walk with GOD in any situation. I believe that is what our belief should be. It should be the experiencing of GOD and not just saying. If you ever get to experience, I believe you will never let it go. This story may be a proof for that.

A bookmark I got from Joan yesterday says this, "The only way to God is the prayer and if somebody shows you another, he/she is deceived. " - Mother Theresa.

In every thing I do...

In my life it is about what I want to know and not about others thinking of what I should do. And this is one of my weaknesses still that I think many times before taking a decision. But it is alright.

What I think I should do is the mix of something as follows and not one thing. For example, if I want to watch a movie, I should see the reviews no doubt but my choice to watch the movie should not depend only on the reviews of others. They are their reviews and I do not need to agree with them totally but I can get some idea. So I do not want to decide solely on the others reviews but take some advices from them. Sometimes reviews may be really bad because it is a love story and do not have any action filled scenes. But still it can be the best movie for me.

So the idea is I should not decide on what others say. If we assume something like following, it would be more realistic. Some may say, oh man why you play cricket that you may know you will be losing or you didn't perform well? If you analyze them, they do not have a permanent place in the team or they have lost the will to play. Even they play for the team, they are not significant players or has key roles. What I should do is what I should be doing and what I enjoy doing and not about what others say. Even if I do not perform well, it doesn't matter what others say, I should continue playing because I enjoy doing it and not doing it for anything else.

And I think I sometimes boast abit. But one thing is true. I always boast about what I can do or what I have done. I know for fact that I can do many things at first than many others. In life, I have done many things and experienced many things. Giving Blood is one such thing. So I do not hesitate to boast abit or be proud about what I have done. I could say here that I was manly enough or brave enough to do such thing. Or I may be thinking of saving one other life than mine by doing so while others may be thinking only about themselves even they issue thousands of talks about saving the world. Oh.. these things may be somewhat boasting about what I have done but its me after all.... :)

And I know for sure that I do not do one thing. That is I do not laugh at one's shortcomings. I really do not want to do that. If I have done something like that , no I do not think I have done something like that ever. At least I try not to do so. And I do not hesitate to tell what I do well. For example, one may struggle to drive even a automatic car while I may driving a manual car with ease and perform a clutch balance on a steep hill in the line for traffic lights. So You get what I am trying to convey here right? I do not laugh at others faults and If I do so, I have millions of things to laugh at but I boast abit about what I do. May be it is not boasting but talking about that!