"That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not to be served." -- Mark 10:44, The Message​ Just as today we celebrate the day that Jesus was born into the world, let us pray that Jesus is re-born today in our hearts.​ He came to take on and die for our sins, thus overcoming death itself. We are all sinners, yours truly included, and no one should be so self-righteous to think that we are free from sin, temptation, or blame or that we can somehow save ourselves.

"I'm not playing a role, just being who I am, and if you try and dis me, I couldn't give a damn. Cause I'm rockin'." -- Beastie Boys​, Jimmy James(song), Check Your Head​ (album) ​​​​​​I remember days taking the bus back from Atlantic City, after a long night, and still feeling pretty shitty, with the smell of salt in the air, gazing out the window, and wondering who was at fault and did I even care. I remember a late night sneaking in to the Pen & Pencil​, rubbing elbows wit

​​​​"The pain you and I feel will never go away, but work will help us to bear it. Suffering has no strength to wound a weary body." -- The Fifth Mountain​, Paulo Coelho, p. 193 There are all kinds of pain in this world. The deepest and most lasting all seem to have to do with loss. Death, which is loss of a loved one. Heartbreak, which is loss of one who we wanted to love us. Betrayal, which is loss of trust and the relationship tied to it. Since each kind of loss deals

"[N]o stander above men and women or apart from them." -- Walt Whitman​, Leaves of Grass, Song of Myself 24​ I'm a blue-collar guy in a white-collar world. Or maybe I'm a t-shirt guy in a collared-world. Either way, I am who I am, a man and a lawyer. I come from humble roots. After I was born in Bogotá, my parents picked up at a stop in a warm, tropical town on the bus ride back to Manzanares a wicker basket, which was my bed in those first months of life. Later, back in t