The Mom Weekly Volume 87: April 8, 2025
You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.
Notes:
Last week, I should have shared another funny “gentle” April Fools’ Day “ jokester: Duolingo. Last year, there was the hilarious Duolingo on Ice.
“Duolingo on Ice”
This year’s was equally as clever, with an actual link to Carnival Cruise Lines. Is this product placement? Who knows? it’s funny.
Also, I don’t think that my reflection below on “Surely God is With Us” quite explains my thoughts as well as I would like. However, the perfect is the enemy of the good, and I wanted to get it out before the end of Lent.
Remember how much I love you,
Mom
Headline: Surely God is With Us (A Rich Mullins Lent)
This Lent, one of my favorite Rich Mullins songs has been “Surely God is With Us.” There are actually two versions in the world.
One is the demo tape (yes, an actual tape) Mullins made just a few days before he died in a vehicle accident in September 1997. The other is from singer Mark Robinson, which was part of The Jesus Album, made in the year after Mullins’ death, with both the demo versions of the song, and covers of the each song by various artists, such as Michael W. Smith. For “Surely God is With Us,” I prefer Rich’s version.
Well, who’s that man? Says He’s a prophet
Well, I wonder if He has got something up His sleeve
Where’s He from? Who is His daddy?
There’s rumors He even thinks Himself a King
Of a kingdom of paupers
Simpletons and rogues
The whores all seem to love Him
And the drunks propose a toast
And they say: “Surely God is with us
Surely God is with us”
They say: “Surely God is with us today”
Who’s that man? Says He’s a preacher
Well He must be, He’s disturbing all our peace
Where does He get off? What is He hiding?
Well, every word He says those fools believe
Who can move a mountain?
Who could love their enemy?
Who could rejoice in pain?
Turn the other cheek?
And still say: “Surely God is with us
Surely God is with us”
Who’ll say: “Surely God is with us today?”
Blessed are the poor in spirit
Heaven belongs to them
Blessed are those who make peace
They are God’s children
I Am the Bread of Life, I am the Way”
You hear that Man? Believe what He’s sayin’
Tell me who’s that Man? They made Him a prisoner
Tortured Him n’ nailed Him to a tree
Was He so bad? Who did He threaten?
Did He deserve to die between two thieves?
See the scars and touch His wounds
His risen flesh and bone
Now, sinners have become the saints
And the lost have all come home
And they say: “Surely God is with us. Surely God is with us”
They say: “Surely God is with us today, today”
This may seem like a digression, but bear with me:
Matt Talbot, a Dubliner who lived in the late 19th and early 20th century, was an alcoholic from a family of alcoholics. He was considered a “hopeless alcoholic” from the age of 13 years old, and struggled with it for many years, spending all of his earnings on alcohol, and even stealing from people to support his habit.
When he was 28, he became sober, back then called “taking the pledge.” He then spent the rest of his life penitentially, and especially practiced a sincere devotion to his Catholic faith, with daily Mass, prayers, and penances.
He died of heart failure on the way to Church on Trinity Sunday, June 7, 1925, when he collapsed on the street, alone.
When Dad & I were in Dublin, I think we must have walked to Granby Lane to see where he died, and there is a little plaque in the brick wall marking the place where he died, basically an alley.
And I’ve always thought it seemed somehow fitting that he died that way, since he is a patron of those struggling with addiction. How many people with addiction end up dying alone, either on the side of the road or in some sort of equivalent.
Rich Mullins also died on the side of the road. It was actually along Interstate 39, not far from where we live. They both died alone, on the side of the road, forgotten. They didn’t choose their deaths, but they might not have minded, since they each had a solidarity with the lonely, forgotten, and hopeless.
And yet, surely, God was with them. Surely God is with them. And surely God is with us.
The manner of their deaths might be pointing people to the truth that God is with us, all of us. No one is alone. No one lives alone, and no one dies alone.
Interesting/Notable:
Marathon in 24 hours — Beau Miles (YouTube)
As you know, this video inspired someone in our family (!) to run his own “marathon in a day.” The subject of the video ran one mile each hour, and had a list of tasks he wanted to complete, and knocked them off in between.
(I confess, I am thinking of my own version of this, but not a marathon in a day. I don’t want to stay up for 24 hours. I would like to intersperse completing lots of tasks along with bursts of activity (like running or walking a mile) to reset your energy level and motivation.
Anyway, after watching it, I wondered what made this particular video so appealing, and I found this “making of” interview. Really interesting!
The how-to of the filming of a marathon in 24 hours
An Action Item: Complete Your Taxes
A week from today is Tax Day!
I mentioned back in January that you could start your taxes, and in February talked about the idea of extending your taxes.
Now is the time to finish your taxes, if you have not already done so. You know you will feel great when you have this completed, so knock it off in the next day or so!
Bonus for those who have already completed their taxes: check your Roth IRA. How much have you contributed yet this year?
If you are under 50, you can contribute up to $7,000 to your Roth IRA. If you want to be on track to max this out, you should have approximately $1,879. I bet you could try to get at least there (or a bit beyond).