Author Archives: JJ Hussem

God chooses us to His call (John 15:16). Have you ever thought of being a missionary? Does your heart jump when you talk to people who are missionaries? Have you ever prayed into becoming a missionary? Every choice made in freedom liberates us. We live in a culture and time of fear, selfishness and social upheaval. We are often insecure and scared to make choices, afraid we will fail, scared of public opinion. “Do not be afraid” (Acts 18:9, is 41:10, Is 43:1,5) is all over Scripture. We are in

So these past two weeks have been very different and interesting. All maintenance, service crew and summer staff has come in and the ‘final’ preparations have begun. The first week was a week of service and work-projects, getting the camp in shape for all the teens that will be coming here this summer. We knocked out numerous small projects and finished up bigger ones like our renovated cabin John XXIII, a new platform for the zip-line, decoration and stage for the main room, home visits to people

How would you rate yourself on a scale of 1-10 being a prayer warrior? I can tell you I fluctuate incessantly. Ask yourself the following questions: -       How often do I pray? -       How aware am I when I pray? -       Do I just rattle off petitions? -       Do I truly believe that God hears my prayers and wants to answer them? -       Do I believe prayer can work miracles? Do we even know how to pray? How often do we think we have to be on our knees, fold our hands

The 2.5 hour drive from Atlanta to Tiger was a great one last Monday. The weather was beautiful, the sun shone through the open sunroof and the CD I compiled the day before was blasting through the speakers. Oh, and I was sipping my caramel McCafe in my right hand. I had been able to attend Mass that morning at Holy Spirit in Marietta in their beautiful new chapel which has a dazzling sanctuary, one of those Jewish booths with a golden transparent curtain and a red velvet one over that with the Lord

Dear all, It’s been a while since I’ve blogged; but I have set time aside to do so! I was able to go on a discernment visit to the Legionaries of Christ and the Brothers of St. John from March 19-23. During one of my meditations in the chapel of the novitiate of the Legionaries the words of Christ in the meditation I was doing that stood out clearly: “I THIRST”. I have seen this phrase a few times on walls of convents of the Missionaries of Charity and obviously these are words spoken by our Lord

Yay, another blog entry! God is doing lots of things; as He always is. And I’m actually tuning in to what He is trying to tell me. Life at Covecrest has been a little rough lately. I seemed to slip into the rut pretty easily and noticed that I was losing my joy at the drop of the hat. My mood was fluctuating constantly, and when I look back now, I was regarding my blessings as burdens. Currently, we are discussing Life Teen’s core values for formation. The 7 core values are divided up for formation

Dear all, A blog entry right after Valentine’s Day, because GOD is love! But … are we loving? Are we living by faith? Are we okay with being uncomfortable, especially in situations that make us uncomfortable because they are personal and possibly affect the people around us, who may pass judgment? Will we stand firm, leaning on God in times of adversity and hardship, or do we remain silent and try to be as politically correct as we can be, in order to avoid confrontation at almost every cost? Do

Dear all, I want to share with you all a warrior story, a story about our faith, which an awesome youth minister read to her confirmation teens while on retreat here at Covecrest. Christ speaks to us through these words; and it’s meant to move us into action, to build up His Kingdom, and to lead others closer to Christ. This is a story of a man in northern Africa who was working in a factory. It is a great example of a warrior, a soldier. Every day he would take his Bible with him to work. He was

De vrede van de Heer zij met jullie allemaal! Begin januari hebben alle missionaries een 8 daagse stille retraite gedaan. Br. John was daarvoor uit Denver overgevlogen om de mannen te begeleiden en de retraite te leiden, en Amy uit Houston om de vrouwen spiritual direction te geven tijdens de retraite. Bij sommige wellicht bekend, de Ignatiaanse stille retraites zijn erg goed en hebben veel diepgang. Het weer was erg koud in het weekend, en de groepen die op Covecrest zouden zijn hadden afgezegd

Hi all, First off I want to wish you all a very happy and blessed New Year! I can’t believe it’s 2010 already; time sure flies! My Christmas break was incredibly blessed. I had the privilege of flying out to Missouri and staying at friends of my family. The Robinsons have 10 kids and live on a farm. They choose to not have internet and only have a few TV channels, so all they watch are occasional movies. Life on the farm is not easy; it means hard work and minimal luxury. They only have one bathroom