SecondIron's Blog

Sharpening Iron to Live Second

God Belongs in My City Takes to the Streets

The highly anticipated yearly prayer walk God Belongs in My City returns to Jacksonville, FL this coming Saturday August 15th at 9 a.m. God Belongs in My City began in 2009 in New York, and has since spread all over not only this country but other parts of the world. It has become a grassroots movement in which Christians from all denominations and backgrounds declare that God truly does belong in their cities. Where else will you find churches from all over a city tear down the walls that separate them and come together in one unified prayer of healing and protection over their city. There is a call to fearlessly rise up as one and not collapse under the waves of this world. We are commissioned to carry forth the Gospel of Salvation! What started out as a cry out against an atheist movement in one city has become so much more. Our youth are in danger of their own generation. Our communities are collapsing from the inside. Every city is under attack and we have declared spiritual warfare with the enemy and will take our streets back. Uniting churches of all faiths as one church, God Belongs in My City will declare victory over the crime and injustices of this world. God Belongs in My City Jacksonville has taken the mission one step further as they believe there is more to be done than praying over the city. They, under the guidance of Alan Diaz have created a street ministry team focused on […]

Catholic’s Take on the Festival of Hope

Franklin Graham, son of the legendary Billy Graham brought his Festival of Hope to Jacksonville.

Almost all Christians, no matter the denomination know the Graham family. I remember when Billy Graham filled the Gator Bowl fifteen years ago. I heard of his son Franklin Graham bringing his tour to town and felt I needed to go.

I prayed about it and felt the compelling desire to attend. I mentioned the event to another Catholic, not as invite but more as a ‘this is what we are doing.’ When I did the reaction was that of surprise. They then went into a segue of how wrong they were and how right we were.

This did not sway my decision to attend, if anything just the opposite. As Christians if we spent less time judging one another and more time loving. Maybe just maybe the world would be a better place.

Friday nights event started off with music by the band Caves from Canada. The emcee for the weekend was spoken word poet Amena Brown. Her husband providing dj entertainment for the weekend. City Harmonic really got the party started. Franklin Graham spoke about his hope not only for America but even his hope for our own city. After hundreds of people were brought to Christ, the band Tenth Avenue North closed out the evening.

Saturday night Franklin’s talk was centered around the story of the prodigal son. A packed house witnessed hundreds more come to Christ. By standing up for God and publicly admitting there sinners

Catty Shack Sanctuary in Big Cat Country

In the chill of the morning air, you can hear the animals awaken. As the fog breaks the crisp air comes alive. Set admidst a surrounding neighborhood in lies Catty Shack Ranch. Catty Shack has been the creation and ongoing management of Curt LoGiudice who began his journey with the big cats over 30 years ago. Curt was the first person I met that morning surrounded by chickens, horses and volunteers that were arriving. Catty Shack is run 100% by volunteers, people who have genuine passion for helping big cats have a forever home. I met with Catty Shack’s volunteer coordinator Jordan Joseph, on this crisp morning. Jordan took us on a behind the scenes tour of the Catty Shack Ranch. She spent time introducing me to each of the many big cats and providing their story and history as to how they came to the ranch. You see Catty Shack does not buy or sell any of their big cats. Whenever they acquire one, usually from people that should never have had a big cat in the first place. Catty Shack takes them in and provides them a forever home and habitat. The first to greet us as Jordan opened the gates was one of their many resident roosters T.R., this one is more like a puppy than a chicken. First of the cats we met was Sarah who greeted us with the spray like cats will do. Next was Czarina who had a large Boomer Ball to play with, which is a ball […]