Curtis Martin and a trip to Chicago

Last Friday (19th), I got the opportunity to take Curtis Martin, the President and Founder of FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) back to the airport after his visit to U of I. Matt, Jordan Schneider and I, were given the task of getting Curtis to Chicago for his flight ont ime and mission was a success. It was really cool to be able to spend 3 hrs with Curtis because of how extremely busy his schedule is. At the same time you see why he founded FOCUS because of his burning desire for Jesus and wanting to change the world or shall we say "Set the World on Fire." Curtis was on Campus to give a talk about "What is truth" concerning moral relativism and how messed up Truth has become over the years in the world. Jesus said " Jesus said to him, "I am the way and the truth and the life (John 14:6)." On the trip, I had two essential questions for Curtis: Is it worth it-being a FOCUS Missionary and If you could tell a student one thing about becoming a Missionary what would it be? His answer to the first one was based on my first question that if the call to be a missionary was in your heart then, yes it was worth it. Besides the priesthood, there are not many other ways to excel or grow in virtue and righteousness as a missionary. So there are some things for me to ponder as I try to figure out what I am going to do with life after college-FOCUS Missionary or HS Teacher/Coach??

On the way back we stopped at Our Lady of the Angels Church. It's cool to visit other churches and see how they are built and to see the wonder of HIS-story played out through history, particularly the story of salvation and the great saints of the church. The church itself had many beautiful paintings and sculptures that you just look at and see God's glory in them. Then we stopped at Ed Debevic's which was interesting in itself because the waiters are supposed to be rude and obnoxious towards the customers. Our guy was more obnoxious and could have done a better job. I enjoyed the trip because it was a way to get to know Jordan and Matt a lot better and spend some quality fellowship time with them. I think it also helped me with my life question and it was cool to meet Curtis Martin and see his vision of FOCUS.


This depiction of St. Michael the Archangel makes
me want to be a warrior (Exodus 15:3),
Curtis mentioned as being a (also touched on in Wild at Heart) warrior as a missionary. Biblical Masculinity and Holy Manliness at it's best!!