Play Ball!

It’s baseball time, and I love it. Of course, it’s easy to say that when my team is coming off of a season in which they won the world series. It might be much harder if I were, say, a Cubs fan. (This season will be 99 years since they have won a World Series–just thought I’d mention that.)

About a month ago, my brother called me and asked if I wanted to get tickets to the 2nd game of the season. I had really wanted to go to the first game, but then I found out that the second game was the World Series Ring Ceremony. I thought that would be fun, so I’m taking a half day off of work to drive down to St. Louis to watch the game.

As I was preparing myself for the game, I went online to see all of the information about the game. To my delight, I saw that I would be receiving a free gift for attending the game. That’s right, I will be one of nearly 40,000 fans to receive a replica World Series Championship Ring. (That is, if standing room tickets are recipients as well.) Make sure you check back here to see pictures of me sportin’ my bling.

One of my students asked if I would be selling the ring on Ebay. I said, “No, I’m sure I’ll put it in a drawer somewhere and sell it in 20 years at a garage sale for a quarter.” I did absolutely nothing to earn this ring, besides have the $16 for the ticket. It’ll be neat, but 40,000 other people will have the exact same thing…a piece of cheap metal that looks like the real thing, but couldn’t be farther from it.

Eckstein, Pujols, Carpenter, and all the others earned the ring. They played their brains out to win their rings.

On that same note, I did a lot for them as well. I wore the same hat for every WS game. I watched them all from the same seat, while drinking a Dr. Pepper. They should be having me down on that field.

That last part sounds about as absurd as me saying I can earn a home in heaven. As if working and doing will make me worthy of being in God’s presence. The simple fact, is that I don’t deserve God. He is holy, set apart from all that this world is about. Yet, He WANTS me. He wants me, a prideful, self-seeking person to take part in the greatest celebration that will ever be. He is inviting ME, to take part as his son. It’s not a replica salvation He wants to give either, but the real thing. We get to be a part of the victory, because of Him.

“⁴But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, ⁵he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, ⁶whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”

Titus 3:4-6 (NIV)

I See the Light

We all know that feeling. The feeling we get when that beautiful red light is on. The donut hasn’t even touched our lips, and we have a sugar high. Very few things will make me drive completely out of my way to get somewhere, but that glowing red light does it almost every time. The great thing, is that it always lives up to the hype. I am never dissappointed with a warm Krispy Kreme donut.

I had never recieved a teaching award before this past week. I could not have been more excited when I heard what the award was. One of my students wrote a short essay, nominating me for the “Sweetest Teacher of the Year” award (please insert all of your jokes here). It was put on by our local Krispy Kreme and the Peoria Journal Star. I was told on Friday that I won the award, but didn’t find out until later that night that the award was a years supply of donuts! Hopefully one year from now you won’t be looking at the fattest teacher of the year.

It’s funny how one little light can bring such joy and bodily harm at the same time. Have you ever been to a Krispy Kreme opening? It’s a mad house. Cars are stacked bumper to bumper, and people are lined up outside…just for a chance to get a warm donut. I’ve thought about installing one of those signs at my church, and turning it on Sunday mornings, just to see how disappointed people would be. Sounds crazy doesn’t it? People would never do that to get people in the doors of church would they? We wouldn’t dream about selling a program, or being overly flashy to get people in the door would we?

I don’t remember any of the programs at church from my childhood. Yes I remember VBS, and a great bible teacher named Rex, but I don’t know that we even had any “programs”. What I remember, and still love about my church family, is just that…family. When you know the people you worship with, you can focus on what really keeps people in church and an active part of the family. Jesus

I’ve been guilty of just getting people in the doors, and hoping they stayed. They always left dissappointed though. The programs didn’t live up to their expectations, or they had just ran their course. Maybe the worship time was really uplifting, but then we started singing the same songs, and it didn’t “touch” them. Programs will die, and self-seeking worship will never keep it’s luster. The only thing that has never failed, is a relationship with Jesus…a true seeking of who He is. You don’t need fancy lights, or a new program every quarter. You need the true heart of our Savior, and people will come. So turn on your “heart-light” and be God’s advertisement.

Bracket of Integrity

So I’m filling out my bracket for the NCAA Men’s basketball tournament this month, and I’m doing things a little different than normal. In years past, I would be involved in 3-4 “bracket challenges” with friends, co-workers, family, etc. The problem wasn’t that I was involved in so many of those challenges. The problem was that each of my brackets in those pools was dramatically different. I would work out every scenario, and try to make them different, but just enough so they made sense. Most of you are probably thinking how crazy I am, but this is seriously how I think.

This year, however, I am having one “uber” bracket, a “bracket of integrity” if you will. There will be no games in which I will be a winner either way. This is hard for me, because I’m accustomed to having a chance with one bracket even if another bracket was destroyed after the first day of play. I liked to have my safe bracket as my backup.

I find myself liking a second choice, because I don’t trust myself to make the right decision all of the time. I choose the things that I want, or the things that seem right to ME. I find myself not asking God for guidance because sometime I don’t like his answers. His way might cause some discomfort, hurting, or embarrassment.

Do I trust God? Do I trust that He will guide me when I don’t know what to do? Do I trust Him when I think I know better? Do I trust Him when I can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel?

YES! Or at least I should.

God is not a second option, and He doesn’t need a backup plan. He is going to be glorified through us if we trust in Him, and follow His plan for all we do.

Storms

I met Laura at the beginning of my sophomore year at Harding University, I was her freshman orientation leader.  We were dating about 3 months later, and the rest is history.  I proposed to Laura in February of 2000, and I went to work at her home church as the youth intern that same summer.  We spent a lot of time planning (well she did at least), and getting everything ready.  We had our

lovely apartment picked out, and I had even made a budget sheet for her dad (I guess he was a little worried about how I was going to take care of his daughter).  That fall semester, we were finalizing everything we needed to, and then we went back to our own families to spend our last “single” Thanksgiving.  We were getting married on December 30th, and we were counting down the days.

 

Two days after getting back from Thanksgiving break, I received a call from Laura at about 6 AM.  Her father had passed away early that morning, very unexpectedly. To say that her family’s world came crashing down around them would be a HUGE understatement.  I drove Laura home that day, and we didn’t speak a word.  We didn’t know what to say.  She slept a little, and cried the rest of the time.

 

We still got married on our planned date, and had a tribute to her Dad.  It was the epitome of a bittersweet moment.

 

Everything was going wonderful for Laura and I, and her whole family. Then, out of the blue, Laura’s dad passed away.  I can’t begin to describe the hurt that her family went through, how sunny everything seemed, and then how quickly the rain came.

 

I wish I could find a place in the Bible that talked about Christians having a comfortable existence while here on this Earth.  It’s not in there.  We tell people about God’s blessings, and sometimes we get Heavenly blessings mixed up with Earthly blessings.  We get accustomed to the “good life”, and we forget that Satan wants to tear us down.

 

There are ALWAYS going to be storms in our lives.  They come out of nowhere, leaving us feeling desperate and helpless.  We wonder how God can allow these things to happen to people that love Him.  Maybe, that is when God gets an opportunity to remind us how much he truly loves us.