Does anybody read these?

Thank God for Federal Holidays!

I am absolutely beat, so I'm almost off to bed. Luckily tomorrow I don't have to work, because I've run non-stop this weekend. I'd probably have been fine today and gotten everything accomplished if I could've slept last night. But I couldn't so by the time I got home from Church and teaching Sunday School, I was ready for a nap. I tried to stay up, but I woke up two hours later sitting on the couch. Ooops.

For the past month, I've been attending faith formation classes at church so that I can be a Confirmation sponsor for a girl who is joining our Church. As someone who's just always been Catholic, it's an interesting exercise. I'm learning a lot that I was never taught, and I'm able to rethink the things that I have been taught. I am enjoying it. Of course, dissecting the whole concept of faith and putting all the pieces together seems to have come at just the right time. So, I decided to do a little digging about the word faith, both as it relates to a specific belief structure and as a broader concept.

The first thing I found was that there was a Saint Faith. I never knew that. Ironically her feast day was a few days ago, Oct. 6. St. Faith was a martyr, killed in the 5th century in France for being a Christian. She is a patron saint of pilgrims, prisoners and soldiers.

There is a very long definition of faith in the Catholic Encyclopedia. To sum it all up, faith is trust in God. It can also be used to define a belief system (such as the Catholic faith) although apparently you don't need to believe in anything to trust God, except God, I'd think. The dictionary.com definition is significantly less wordy. In a secular sense, faith is believing in the trustworthiness of a person, idea or thing or belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence. To some extent I am very good with faith. I have absolutely no problem with trusting people and believing in them. I have no problem with having faith in God and religious belief with nothing to back it up evidentially. But sometimes I really have trouble trusting that God will take care of everything. I do believe it. I believe everything happens for a reason and it's all according to God's plan. I just worry too much that something's going to go wrong. But I'm working on it. The reason humans make plans and they end up getting botched up is because God has something even better for us. I know this. I just wish I didn't have to convince myself of it so much. How do I get faith to extend to that?

In about a new week, I'm going to have a new favorite CD. I am on a classic country kick, and Martina McBride's Timeless CD, which comes out Oct. 18, is exactly what I've waited for. On this CD, Martina covers all the classic hits of country from "You Ain't Woman Enough" to "(I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden." It'll be a great addition to any country fan's collection. If you don't believe me, you can go over to CMT.com and listen to the whole CD online.

Congrats to the newest inductees to the Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, N.Y. The inductees included former First Lady and current U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Maya Lin, the designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Ms. Lin is from Athens and is the designer of Ohio University's Bicentennial Park, which opened last year.

Last but not least before I spend a little quality time with my favorite boy wizard (Harry Potter, of course!) and then call it a night, it's the song of the day: "Corn Fed" by Shannon Brown. I heard this song for the first time at Farm Aid, and I really liked it. The more I learn about Shannon Brown, the more I realize that she's going to be very successful in country music. I read her "official" bio, which said that she is rooted in traditional country with an edge. That describes this song perfectly. It definitely embodies the spirit of what country music should be, but has a unique sound. And it reminded me of a recent piece by Chet Flippo at CMT entitled: "Just What the Hell is Country Music, Anyway?" I don't know that I'd call myself a country music purist. I don't think I could be considering my rampant love for Kenny Chesney, who I've concluded is only a country singer because he couldn't pull anything else off with that East Tennessee accent of his. I love a lot of the traditional stuff. Some of it I don't care for. I like some of the newer stuff (although I'll admit that I mostly like Kenny because I'm coasting on the memories of his music from the late-90s.) I don't understand the rapping that Cowboy Troy does. I don't like the cookie-cutter approach of some of the new acts. But all in all, it's an exciting time to be in the Nashville music scene, and I'm always anxious to see what they'll toss at us next.

posted by Laura at 10:12 PM