Showing results by author "James Nugent" in All Categories

Kayaking like most extreme sports is potentially fatal. The hazards are too numerous to list here. However, with proper instruction and equipment the hazards can be minimalized. This book is not meant to be any kind of instruction. It is only a general discussion. All information presented should not be relied upon for safety. It is intended as a partial list of issues you may bring up with a certified instructor. No actual paddle techniques are discussed because you must use a certified instructor if you want to learn the way of water safely.

I went to learn more about Esperanto, a language that was invented 126 years ago. In the end I found hope for the future.

In 2012, I read that Amazon.com had ways to self-publish e-books, paperbacks and audiobooks. They would make them available in more than 100 countries via the Internet and produce them when they were ordered. They would mail the paperbacks to the customers at no charge to me! Then, the company would direct deposit the royalties to my bank account. Best of all they paid a 35% to 70% royalty!

There are many guides and books that give excellent wisdom for those who would seek to make an offering of their lives to God. Still there is little practical information about how about how to go about the day to day business of being a Benedictine Oblate. This audiobook is an attempt to give practical suggestions to the beginner and the "expert". However, if what you do, gets you closer to God every day, then don't change a thing. But if you need new materials, new practices, new ideas or attitudes; then just consider listening to this audiobook.

People fear putting the reason and or faith to a test because it seems to intolerable for there to be ambiguity in our world view. Yet there it is. Humans don’t understand everything nor will they ever. Human beings are finite creatures. We will not achieve omniscience. We don’t need to because we can supplement reason with faith.

The Scripture said something like, “pray always.” I pondered the issue for a while and then gave up. It was a strange concept. How could a person pray all the minutes of the day? What was prayer anyway, and how could you do it and know that God was really there? It was a bit of a mystery to me which I would not resolve for another 25 years. 

This book is a slice of my life. In most ways my life has been rather normal, and in a few ways, it has been extraordinary. I figure I am in the last two decades of my life. Hopefully as I share the particular and intentional things I have done, you will be inspired to make your life outstanding or at least enjoyable. Come visit my life. 

This is an audio guide to teach Catholic religious organizations effective communication skills.

Sailing and adventuring on Puget Sound has been a part of my life since I was at least eight years old. I grew up in Edmonds, Washington, and lived with a view of Admiralty Inlet. I had a 25-foot Coronado sailboat in the harbor. Adventures with my father included trips to the US San Juan Islands and the South Puget Sound. My affinity for the water never faltered. Nowadays, at 58 years old, and despite numerous heath issues, I still love mud mucking around Southern Puget Sound.

When devout Catholics marry, they marry for life. They promise each other and God that they will not enter into another marriage until one of them dies. No matter what the issue, they are married for life. If they divorce and get married again outside the church, they will have sinned. They will be excluded from the primary sacrament, the Eucharist (communion).

I built a raft out of plastic pop bottles and plywood, and then sailed away for a Saturday. I had sailed many kinds of vessels in the waters of southern Puget Sound, but never a homemade raft. The raft cost me $60. The adventure was priceless. Join me as I try this grand experiment.

Writer's block has caused some people to actually quit their careers as writers. It is something that must be overcome sooner or later, or you will become a washed-up writer and a failure. Looking back on my personal struggles, I have some helpful observations and tricks to beating the phenomena. This is my story.

Someone might ask, "Why all the prayer?" I pray a minimum of 10 times a day because it is the right thing to do, and it does incredibly good things to me. I pray at other times and other ways; however, prayers of thanksgiving seem to be among the most powerful, for effective and happy living. Here is my story.

Here is a frank discussion about sexual behavior and the consequences of that behavior. It is an argument for saving sexual intercourse for marriage. This short book proposes abstinence as a radical solution to the problems inherent in the now defunct sexual revolution.

I went down to the West Bay Marina and viewed the mess which my boat had become. Eight months ago, it was jammed full of belongings which I couldn't store at my new home. I had moved from the beach in Young Cove, on Eld Inlet, into a luxury apartment in Tumwater. Now I hoped I would be spending the warm months resting on my boat, and maybe doing some gentle sailing around the southern inlets.

Catholic Christians have a different attitude toward pain, even if it is part of the natural dying process. This little booklet is an attempt to illuminate the Catholic Christian way of facing pain and transform it into a useful and productive time in life. It is a frank discussion. If you have not evolved in your relationship with Jesus, you may find this discussion hard to understand or even offensive. Still, if you listen and then pray you will understand. With understanding may come peace and joy.

This is an attempt to bust myths. There is a myth that we have no control of our personal happiness. The myth is that we are subject to the forces around us much like a stick in the tidal currents. We cannot control other people and things; and so we falsely believe that our personal happiness is just a matter of good fortune. So we falsely believe that some people are fortunate and have reasonably happy live and others are just destined to be miserable.

Imagine you are having the time of your life. You have a wife of ten years whom you adore, two grown and independent step-sons, and a teaching career that looks quite promising. Then you wake up one morning with a congested head and swollen tongue. A day later you see a doctor at urgent care. You find out you have had stroke and you are a walking dead man with blood pressure too high for the machines to read but they do show at least 224/118. A normal reading is 120/80. This is bad, very bad.

It took the full six weeks for us to move. I took 33 Ford Focus carloads and four full pickup trucks to move all our stuff to our new apartment. I also sent seven pickup trucks to the junk man and numerous carloads of stuff to neighbors and friends. This is the story of a very physically, emotionally, and spiritually challenging time. It took an additional six weeks before we were actually comfortably established in our new luxury apartment. Overall, I would not change a thing.

The following tales are completely true and can draw all of us to think about the important things in life. They all take place around different campfires at the beach. In some cases, the names have been changed to honor the privacy of people. Yet their stories were so rich in humanity, that it would have been a shame to not tell them. Sometimes a campfire is more than it seems at first. These adventure and beach fires took place over a period of 13 years.