Blog

(Image courtesy of stltoday.com)

Please pray for the many residents of St. Louis today who are without power. Last night, a massive storm, with wind gusts reportedly up to 95 mph, and a few confirmed tornadoes, ripped through the St. Louis metro area, putting at least 350,000 residents and businesses out of power. Meanwhile, temperatures today are expected to exceed 100°F (with about 80% relative humidity), and many St. Louisans will be without air conditioning (the whole St. Louis area is under an excessive heat warning).

Many others have had trees come down on their houses and/or cars, and have sustained other wind-related damages. Please spare a prayer for any of the families that have been negatively affected by this storm.

I have returned from Steubenville St. Louis 2006 [stlyouth.org], and I have posted my pictures from the second weekend. Even though the conferences were awesome, and an inspiration to me and all my seminary bretheren, I can speak for them all when I say that I am relieved that it is over and that I'll be able to sleep in my own bed tonight!

Today I posted song previews for the whole Lost in Ecstasy album on the Priestie Boyz website. Check them out!

The CDs should be coming out in less than a month (I always say should... because I'm never 100% sure), and there will be more information concerning how you can get a copy (it will be available as a CD and on iTunes) posted on www.priestieboyz.com in the month of August.

Today I'm in Branson, MO, after having experienced the unchanging love of God at Steubenville St. Louis Mid-America [stlyouth.org] in Springfield, MO. It's great to have a few days to breathe after working on Kenrick-Glennon Days, Christpower, and now the Steubenville Youth Conference. You can view some of my pictures from the conference (held at Southwest Missouri State University) here.

Tonight I attended a bachelor party (my first ever) for my future brother-in-law, Seth, and had a great time! We played in a world-championship beanbag toss tournament, played basketball, barbecued, and had great fun with a cat and various cat toys. We also discussed many issues, including the re-evangelization of Europe, and our firsthand experience of it on our World Youth Day pilgrimage.

During the past two weeks of Christpower, I helped a group of teens and seminarians build a sprinkler system and lighting to help complete a new St. Joseph's grotto on the Seminary grounds. It was a very satisfying job, and I think the grotto will be one of the 'showcase' areas of the Seminary, as well as a great place to go and pray. Christpower is over now, and I am glad to have a few days to relax before Steubenville Mid-America 2006, in Springfield, MO.

The Netherlands (no, I didn't spell the name in the title wrong; that's how they actually spell it...) lost to Portugal today by a score of 1-0 in the World Cup soccer tournament. Celebrating my Dutch heritage, I was cheering them on and hoping for the best (I at least wanted them to make it to the quarterfinals). However, Portugal has squashed my hopes for this year, and having the US and Holland out of the Cup finals, I have no teams left to cheer for but Italy (the country surrounding our beloved Vatican City) and Brazil (the country with the world's largest Catholic population). My prediction for the 2006 champions: Brazil.