I am currently sitting in a hotel computer room in Denver, ‘fresh’ off of a flight from Myrtle Beach. Lots of travels this week.
Greg Willits from the Archdiocese of Denver and the Catholics Next Door asked me to be on a panel of Catholic bloggers that he is hosting at this year’s Catholic Media Conference hosted by the Catholic Press Association in Denver.
I accepted the invitation, although I will admitedly say I am absoutely, 1,000% humbled and unworthy to sit on a panel that includes names like Lisa Hendey, Tom Wehner, Matt Palmer, Elizabeth Scalia, and others. These are the best of the best in the business. And I’m like a kid in the candy store just being in the same room as them.
Hashtag #humbled.
We will discuss blogging effectiveness, relavenace, and the role blogging and social media may or may not have in the coming years. I’m sure there will be several unforseen topics as well.
Stay tuned to me on twitter (@RyanEggenberger and @LFStrategies) for pics, tweets and updates from #cmc13.
Now to Catholic Tea.
Catholici-Tea
I ‘met’ Mat Martino (twitter) online a few months ago and we met in ’real’ life a few weeks ago in our home state of Michigan. You can see his company and order some tea by visiting mycatholictea.com
We had a great conversation about what makes a business ‘Catholic’; does something like that exist outside of it being a Catholic bookstore, and if it does, what that might look like. We also discussed discipleship in Christ, entrepreneurship and evangelization, and one of his passions in life, tea.
I asked him to write a post for the blog, and he agreed. I love what he wrote, and you will too!
Go ahead, sit back, and sip on it. Take your time and enjoy it, too!
Enter Mat…
Before the time of Twitter, iPhones, Facebook, and EntreCatholic, God used other creative mediums to communicate with His faithful. For instance, thousands of years ago, at the base of Mt. Horeb on the Sinai Peninsula a bush erupts into flames and catches the eye of the great prophet Moses. The curiosity of Moses dr him to the bush to receive a very important message from God – he’s to embark on the difficult challenge of leading the Israelites out of Egypt. The book of Exodus details the plight of the Israelites, and even the superficial scripture reader understands that this is a people who experienced tremendous hardships in the land of the Pharaohs.
The physical hardships led to spiritual erosion, and the only way to the Promised Land was for the Israelites to reach for the Lord.
While I’m not going to try and compete with audible commands from on high and combustible shrubbery, I invite you to journey with me to another mountainous region 200km north of Cape Town, South Africa. Here in the Cedarberg Mountains, God has created the perfect microclimate where another bush, Aspalathus linearis, grows and echoes the message of reach.
The natives call the bush Rooibos, which in Afrikaans simply means “red bush”, and it’s used to make a refreshing and soothing tea that’s growing in popularity due to its numerous health-giving properties. The masses are telling the story of great taste, antioxidants, and the ability to fight free radicals, but I believe the message that God wants us to hear is found in the plants roots.
Rooibos only grows in this region, and the growing conditions are harsh. In the winter months, temperatures drop to 0°C (32°F) and the winter rains may leave the ground with as little as 180-500 millimeters of water for the year. During the summer months, the plant is often subjected to severe drought conditions, with temperatures hovering around 48°C (118°F) in the height of the season.
Rooibos survives when it can grow its tap root deep into the ground. Past the dry rocky soil the roots must search for a new soil. The new soil is cool, sandy, and contains the “right” acidity level and moisture to sustain life, and perhaps the most ironic twist to the story is that the best tea often comes from the Rooibos that has had to struggle to find that soil.
So when we’ve breathed our last and the Lord is collecting Rooibos for His kettle, will our roots show a lifetime of searching for the new soil, or will they show years of cursing the harsh environment in which we were planted, defiantly refusing to grow?
My prayer is that we tirelessly reach for Him. Be it in the Mass, in the sacraments, in scripture, in the Saints, in the Rosary, or in our daily prayer life, let’s reach for that blessed soil that has the power to transform us into the Rooibos that’s fit for our King.
