I found this Upwords essay by Max Lucado powerful reading. (Sorry Max, I can't find the direct link to send readers to your site.) It reminded me of my post from last year -- If I Died Today..... .
When Death Becomes Birth
by Max Lucado
You live one final breath from your own funeral.
Which, from God's perspective, is nothing to grieve. He responds to these grave facts with this great news: "The day you die is better than the day you are born" (Eccles. 7:1). Now there is a twist. Heaven enjoys a maternity-ward reaction to funerals. Angels watch body burials the same way grandparents monitor delivery-room doors. "He'll be coming through any minute!" They can't wait to see the new arrival. While we're driving hearses and wearing black, they're hanging pink and blue streamers and passing out cigars. We don't grieve when babies enter the world. The hosts of heaven don't weep when we leave it.
Oh, but many of us weep at the thought of death. Do you? Do you dread your death? And is your dread of death robbing your joy of life?
Jesus came to "deliver those who have lived all their lives as slaves to the fear of dying" (Heb. 2:15).
Your death may surprise you and sadden others, but heaven knows no untimely death: "You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed" (Ps. 139:16).
Dread of death ends when you know heaven is your true home. In all my air travels I've never seen one passenger weep when the plane landed. Never. No one clings to the armrests and begs, "Don't make me leave. Don't make me leave. Let me stay and eat more peanuts." We're willing to exit because the plane has no permanent mailing address. Nor does this world. "But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior" (Phil. 3:20).
Why don't you do this: give God your death. Imagine your last breath, envision your final minutes, and offer them to him. Deliberately. Regularly. "Lord, I receive your work on the cross and in your resurrection. I entrust you with my departure from earth." With Christ as your friend and heaven as your home, the day of death becomes sweeter than the day of birth.
How cool!
By the way, I highly encourage you to sign up for his daily or weekly messages and devotionals. They provide great insight and are a good regular dosing of much needed "spiritual" food we all need.
I began my day with two big prayers. The first is for British Dave. I wrote a post last month about his unit's reactivation. He was in Iraq several years ago and is now being called to Afghanistan. His departure was delayed by 24 hours yesterday so he was able to soak up more family time. Please keep him, his family, and his unit in your prayers for safety, performing their jobs, and a safe return home to loved ones.
The second prayer is for a family friend of ours who is having corrective surgery. He was involved in a horrific accident a year ago and has healed pretty good. However, one of the rods in his leg needs to be replaced which they are doing today. They say it should be pretty quick and easy but those tend to be warning words, not reality. Please keep him and his family in your prayers for a successful surgery and quick healing.
A new tradition my wife and I have recently integrated into our worship is holding hands for a dual quiet prayer right after we return to our seats after communion. The Last Supper meal is a very important covenant in our church and faith and it is a quiet reflective time to connect with God, confess sins, seek forgiveness, and work towards a clean start and new hope. To share that special God time with my partner in life is very powerful.
Today while holding my wife's hand in prayer together after communion I realized that it has become something very special to me.
I thought this was a nice picture. Lots of vibrant colors and life. It sure beats boring grey concrete.
People walk over a copy of Vassily Kandinsky's painting, "Weilheim-Maria's Square", on the pavement of the market square in the Bavarian town of Weilheim. About 500 students and citizens painted the 2,100 square meter area, with about 8,000 paving stones, to produce the world's largest copy of a Kandinsky painting.
Here were the happenings on my country drive to church for the Men's breakfast and Bible study.
At the end of the street as I was looking to clear the way for my left turn I looked across the horse pasture and saw a low flying hot air balloon slowly panning across the sunrise tree lined horizon. What a beautiful sight. With no one behind me, I enjoyed it for a couple of minutes until they were out of view (a slower pace, you know).
I almost hit a loose cow in the middle of the road. I stopped and went to the closest farm house to let them know but no one responded to my early morning knocks on the front door (I thought farmers got up early).
I witnessed someone doing what I have done before -- stopping the car on a country road to save a turtle from being pancaked. See previous post here.
A nice line of flying geese against the sunrise.
It's gonna be a hot one today. It is supposed to be the hottest day of the year so far. I'm gonna be hanging out in the basement or pool to compensate. And later tonight all the neighbor couples are going out for dinner and then bowling. I'm the designated driver and it should be a good time for everyone.
It's a Friday, it's August, we had good friends join us for a dinner celebration -- what's not to like. Because it is August in Kentucky it has been rather hot but the kids stayed in the pool until they were prunes. We had 9 total, they all got along and there was somebody for every age group. And we had my favorite dessert -- strawberry tallcake.
What a great kickoff to the weekend.
Happy early birthday, Stephen! (he's my birthday twin along with British Dave)
Each year I get to celebrate Independence Day twice. On June 30 I celebrate my independence day and on July 4 I celebrate America's. This year is special, because it marks the 40th anniversary of my independence.
On June 30, 1968, I escaped Communist Cuba and a few months later I was in the United States to stay. That I happened to arrive in Richmond on Thanksgiving Day is just part of the story, but I digress.
I've thought a lot about the anniversary this year. The election-year rhetoric has made me think a lot about Cuba and what transpired there. In the late 1950s, most Cubans thought Cuba needed a change, and they were right. So when a young leader came along, every Cuban was at least receptive.
When the young leader spoke eloquently and passionately and denounced the old system, the press fell in love with him. They never questioned who his friends were or what he really believed in. When he said he would help the farmers and the poor and bring free medical care and education to all, everyone followed. When he said he would bring justice and equality to all, everyone said "Praise the Lord." And when the young leader said, "I will be for change and I'll bring you change," everyone yelled, "Viva Fidel!"
But nobody asked about the change, so by the time the executioner's guns went silent the people's guns had been taken away. By the time everyone was equal, they were equally poor, hungry, and oppressed. By the time everyone received their free education it was worth nothing. By the time the press noticed, it was too late, because they were now working for him. By the time the change was finally implemented Cuba had been knocked down a couple of notches to Third-World status. By the time the change was over more than a million people had taken to boats, rafts, and inner tubes. You can call those who made it ashore anywhere else in the world the most fortunate Cubans. And now I'm back to the beginning of my story.
Luckily, we would never fall in America for a young leader who promised change without asking, what change? How will you carry it out? What will it cost America?
As I have blogged before, my Dad had prostate cancer recently and completed his last treatment back in April. He won't know the final outcome for 6 months after the last treatment but so far everything looks great. So recently he took part in a Survivor lap for the Relay for Life. See picture below.
Thank you for your prayers and concern. I know prayer works and this is just additional proof of it.
Saturday provided us no relief on the early wakeups. We were all up by 6am for an early start on hitting the road. Our target was to leave between 6:45 and 7:00am. The guys (me and my fellow camper) were up, bathroomed, packed, and loaded into the truck by 6:18am -- like good Boy Scouts. The girls on the other hand pushed the envelope although I do have to give it to them -- they made the goal and we departed the church parking lot with 4 minutes to spare.
Eastwood Baptist, thank you for being generous stewards and sharing your wonderful facilities with us and KHO. You were great hosts and we are truly grateful. If you are ever up in Louisville, drop me a note and please come worship with us at Ascension Lutheran.
Now comes a different challenge. We had challenges of the physical nature all week - heat, strength, construction skills, stamina, hydration, hunger, and energy. We also had spiritual enlightenment and growth as we soaked up our mountaintop experience during worship, devotions, and serving others with God's love. Now our challenge is to take our mountaintop experience and incorporate it back into our daily lives. While we would love to live on top of the mountain all the time (the view is great, you feel closer to God and it feels wonderful), living on a mountain is not practical. It also is not what God calls us to do. We are to love others around us (which is hard to do on a mountain). So we are challenged to bring his love and word to others around us. We are to sow, fertilize, and harvest his seeds that were sown -- and not all at once. Our job is to listen to God, be obedient, and play our role he is calling us to do. God will take care of the rest. Read the book of Jonah for more insight into this calling and obedience.
Each night after worship each youth group goes off into their own groups for group devotions. It has been an enjoyable time each evening to chat with the youth hearing their perspectives, ideas, and thoughts on the preaching and the days events. Our youth group has a tradition that they incorporated into the evening's devotions. It is the sharing of each person's highs and lows.
Tonight we did something a little different. Not only did we share highs and lows for today, but we also shared the peaks and valleys for the entire week. Below are mine.
Interestingly, for today both my highs and lows brought tears to my eyes.
----- tangeant -----
It has amazed me at the emotion I have been experiencing in my walk with God this week. Shattered are the societal myths that men don't cry, must keep their emotions in check and don't communicate. This week's evening worships and songs have really touched me. I love to sing and there are some songs that hit me and have deep meaning for me. To hear the praise band loudly praising the Lord with those songs have enveloped me with joy and, at times, have brought tears to my eyes as I am thankful for the relationship I have with Christ. To let that emotion be freed and not bottled up starts off as an uncomfortable and unfamiliar feeling but turns to a freeing sensation as I worship God. I cannot quite describe it but it is not like my normal Sunday worship -- especially being Lutheran. I'm not saying that all worship has to be dramatic, tear jerking displays of emotion. But I am saying that to truly feel God's presence is to release the bounds of societal expectations and allow yourself to truly feel the emotions God has placed in you.
----- end of tangeant -----
Friday's low
crying with my daughter as she broke down on the news of her Opa being in the hospital
Friday's high
having one of the youth say that he found a mentor in me (note that this young man is a great person of faith who shares a lot with me -- we share a birthday and are exactly 25 years apart, are/were both boy scouts, both play(ed) football, etc)
Other week's highs
Being accepted by the youth even though I was a parent chaperone
Praying a blessing on the house along with the homeowner after the entire roof was completed
Dominating on the alphabet game as we traveled back and forth to the job site
Getting to know each one of the youth on the trip
Hanging out with the entire youth group at Beach Bend amusement/water park
Meeting a lot of great people of faith
A great, enjoyable meal with our youth group at Smokey Bones on Wednesday night
Daily worship and awesome praise music
Being able to serve with a servant's heart
Learning and playing such youth games as Ninja Tag, The Table Hand Game, and the Alphabet Game
This week's lows
Monday was damn tough. If you couldn't tell by my post, I was beat. There's a reason why there are no old roofers.
Having to switch to my left hand for hammering because of the pain in my right arm and elbow
The absence of our homeowner during the homeowner's banquet dinner
Today was our last opportunity to tackle the roof job and "git r done". The morning drizzle made for a great work day with cool temps and cloud cover. But it also made the roof and tools a bit slick. Soon after we arrived, we all began our comfortable routines of setting up ladders, getting out tools, parading shingles up the roof, and general set up. It is really satisfying to see a team of unrelated, unfamiliar people from different parts of the country gel together under one common purpose to achieve a higher goal of serving others.
As time marched closer to lunch, we were on the cusp of completing the entire project when we ran out of shingles. We only had a small back section to go but were stopped dead in our tracks. A quick jaunt over to a nearby project site of another group gained us the remaining shingles we needed. I joined one of our crew leads, Melissa, for the ride so I could see my oldest daughter working at the site. R was quite surprised to see me when we pulled up. It was neat to see her navigating the roof like a pro with dirty hands and jeans. I am so proud of her!
We grabbed the packs of shingles and I took the opportunity to inspect their lunch/snack bin for any Little Debbie Nutty Bars which I relieved them of (yum!). With shingles in hand, we stopped for a quick lunch break to refill our belly tanks. Unfortunately, right after we started work back up it began to rain. It wasn't a downpour or anything, but heavier than a drizzle. That motivated us all to push for the project finish. Those who weren't on the roof were grabbing tools and putting them away while others were cleaning up and the rest were shingling. Timing was perfect as we got everything taken care of and the roofing completed. The rain then eased up as we put all the remaining tools and supplies away and dumpstered all the trash.
With the project complete, it was time to say a prayer blessing for the house. We invited Mary the homeowner into our prayer circle and began thanks and praise prayers. Mary said a prayer of thanks and was tearfully appreciative of all of our efforts. It really made the entire week worth it. The heat, bad weather, scrapes, knocks, sweat, blood, and hard work were forgotten as the serving love we had bestowed upon the house was planted into Mary. I hope that roof is only a beginning of the love growing in that home.
The ride home was tiring and long due to a stop at Sonic for drinks and Split Tree BBQ for a pork sandwich (very good by the way -- I look forward to returning for a sit down dinner). And now you are caught up on Friday. I need to leave so I can catch the showers before they close.
Also, as I've been here writing this post in the foyer of Eastwood Baptist Church, I have had some very fulfilling conversations with a few folks who are members here. I am very grateful for them having opened up their church to host KHO (Kentucky Heartland Outreach) and their volunteer youth groups. It's not easy to offer out your facilities to other groups, much less youth groups who tend to be harder on facilities than other groups. Eastwood Baptist has been a wonderful host and is fulfilling their mission of loving others. The conversations I had with a few of them show they are deeply rooted in serving the Lord by loving others. I enjoyed the quick chats and look forward to visiting in the future. Who knows -- it'd be kinda cool to come down here for a service (and follow it up with a visit to the Corvette Museum and a BBQ lunch at Split Tree BBQ).
Tomorrow I hope for an uneventful ride home to return us all to our loving families.
Please also keep my father-in-law in your prayers. On Monday he was hospitalized and is having issues with his Alzheimer's. My wife has been a trooper all week dealing with this on top of our absence. Pray for strength, comfort, and solace as we deal with this important family issue.
I will try to catch up later. However, I also didn't want another day to slip by just because I hadn't continued the story from the previous days.
Day 4 and counting -- today was a very productive day for probably every crew. The morning temps began in the 60's -- a nice relief from the recent 70's and 80's. The beautiful blue morning skies gradually gave way to high overcast clouds. Nothing rain threatening, but enough to shade us from the suns pounding rays. The forecast called for temps only in the 80's -- again a nice relief from the previous 90's and 100's. So with God taking care of the weather, we took care of the work.
The "shingles fairies" had shown up and completely shingled our previous days work of demolition, wood slat repair, and felting. We were all ready to go and focus on shingling when we showed up, only to find out the shingle fairies did it for us. So we immediately went to work demoing and repairing the one large front section of roof left. Demoing went quickly, however, it also revealed the very poor condition the wood slats were in. In fact, I almost fell through one when the board I stepped on snapped and gave way. I luckily fell only up to the top of my boot and not all the way in. I now know how firefighters feel when they are fighting a fire from the roof.
We ended up replacing 33 of the boards on that roof. Each one had to be individually cut and it really slowed us down. Even when we thought we got them all and began shingling, we would inadvertently pound through a board and have to remove the shingles, cut out the bad wood, replace it with a custom cut, repaper and reshingle. It slowed our progress but we still were able to get within a shot of being able to finish the entire job if we really work hard tomorrow. We are tired but we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Thursday is also the traditional homeowner's banquet. All the homeowners from each crew and project are invited to the church for a celebratory banquet. The kids all serve them a wonderful dinner and share testimony with them on how God has changed their lives -- in effect their physically needs are taken care of first so their spiritual needs can be tended to. Some of the homeowners even joined us for worship after dinner and let us get to know them even more. Unfortunately, my crew's homeowner did not make it. We were disappointed but really tried hard to have an open mind and not judge (discussed here on this post from the 2006 Hurricane Katrina mission trip). We look forward to seeing our homeowner tomorrow so we can give her the framed group picture gift of all of us with her in addition to some devotional material.
I must admit, this is my biggest challenge in working for others in that I see some of the wrong choices they are making and my group, crew or team is having to fix. But I also realize that, like Jonah (who we have been following all this week), my part is just one piece to God's plan. My job is just to do my piece and let God take care of the rest.
As I have said before, "I don't have to have the answer to the problem to be a part of the solution".
After dinner and worship, our youth group had another wonderful, touching devotional that I will look back on fondly. These days and this week has been very tough physically. But it's been emotionally and spiritually uplifting.
Tonight I'm not waiting until lights out. I'm going in an hour early.
Yesterday I was blessed with a small miracle. Nothing big, mind you. But just a simple reminder of who is looking out for me and my family. I'll set the stage for you.
Because of the work and temperatures involved, my wife insisted that I take her Chevy Tahoe which has all the amenities one would need after a hard summer work day fixing roofs in southern Kentucky -- namely, the air conditioning spits ice cubes. That was not the case on my old farm Suburban where the A/C only blew moderately cool air. And because of my wife's sacrifice and concern for our comfort, she gets to drive my 24 year old diesel car she hates. She also reasoned that she would only be going out once or twice during our trip so it wouldn't be a big deal.
Normally, I carry my cellphone in my back pocket so I can either feel it vibrate or hear it ring. However, when I am driving it is inconvenient to put it back into the pocket after use so instead I put it on the center console.....where I then forgot it all morning.
So now you see that my wife is driving an old, unfamiliar vehicle and I am not wired to the outside world.
She took the car out to the grocery store with K and D. She was unable to restart the car due to a peculiarity with the transmission gear selector -- something I have gotten used to and unconsciously deal with. She was now stuck in town with two kids and a non-working car. Of course, she calls me to see if I can help her. The call goes to voicemail on my phone which is on the center console, not in my pocket.
(Now for those of you non-believers, I realize this is not a perilous situation. No lives were threatened. No harm was imminent. It was just an everyday situation that could have easily been remedied by her calling AAA. While that is true, we all need to realize that God doesn't just need to play a grandiose role in our lives like Superman would. He is always with us and loves us. He will help us through ANY circumstance, not just the huge ones.)
Around that same time, our pretty solid cloud cover (which postponed my normal ritual application of sunscreen) revealed a hole which allowed the bright, shining sun to shine through. It was enough to make me head towards the truck for sunscreen. Also, our crew leader said earlier in the trip to constantly remind him to put it on because he has a bad habit of forgetting and getting burned (I guess he has never been burned bad enough to stop forgetting). Before I went to put my sunscreen on, I yelled up to him so I could get his. Once I got that taken care of, I proceeded to the Tahoe. When I lifted the liftgate, I heard my phone's voicemail reminder -- the loud one that beeps upon initial voicemail notification. (This is louder than the single beep repetitive reminder that I probably wouldn't have heard.) I checked it and only missed my wife's call by a minute or two. I called her right back and was able to remedy her situation getting the car started.
What amazed me was the timing of it all. Had I not taken the time to get my crew leader his sunscreen, I would have missed my wife's call and voicemail and it would have sat there on the phone until lunchtime (which means she would have been stuck for quite a while). It was a nice reminder that God is looking out for me and my family while I am away helping others. Even though it seems like a simple "coincidence", I firmly belief God is involved in all the little things in our lives. It is just up to us if we want to accept them, or push them aside.
I found the statement below from worship earlier in the week very profound. It describes God speaking to us.
To catch y'all up on all the happenings of our youth mission trip, I'm going to compress Tuesday's happenings with today's Wednesday blog posting. Internet access here is spotty -- whether physically or because all of the evening worships, devotions, and fun and games gets in the way. Such is life when you are around teenagers. I will say this -- I continue to be amazed at these fine young disciples who have such a zest for life and for serving God. They are creative, fun, spontaneous, and energetic -- so much so that you can't help but shave a few years off how you feel. If you are feeling blah and old and lifeless, go hang out with a church youth group!
Tuesday we arrived at our service home with the skills we needed to really make some headway. We knew each other as a team, we knew each other's roles, we were more comfortable with scampering around a steep roof (make that an 8 pitch roof -- steep enough to need toeboards), and we all knew better what needed to be done. We had made significant progress on shingling the back part of the roof when a storm approached. Remember the day before when we were chased from the roof due to lightning. Well, yesterday we were chased from the roof by lightning, torrential downpours, hail, and severe wind. We were all motivated and barely finished the last few courses of shingles when the downpour hit. We retreated to the vehicles and because it was lunch, found shelter under the awnings at a local Baptist church where we could grub lunch. The storm cooled things off, so after sandwiches and a few games, we returned to the house. Unfortunately, we couldn't start on much because of the slick roof and another potential approaching storm. We finalized the last of that section of roof so we could check it off our list and cleaned everything up so we'd be ready for the next day.
We returned a bit early which allowed us to get cleaned up without having to bear the shower lines of the camp. Another enjoyable dinner was had followed by a deep worship service and some small group devotions. I unexpectedly had to lead the youth group devotion and was impressed by their insight, honesty, and contributions. We are blessed to have such great youth in our church -- especially the kind that are willing to learn, be vulnerable, be real, and challenge themselves.
After devotion, we made our 2nd trip to Walmart in as many days. Previously it was for an air matress upgrade for me. This time it was a necessity for my daughter. In our small group devotions, each youth has to share their high and low point of the day with the group. My daughter spent all day laying shingles on the roof so her low point was that she had bruises on her knees. So, being the loving Dad I am, I was on a mission to Walmart to buy her the kneepads she needed so she wouldn't have to repeat that low point again. The funny thing was that her friend and her joined me and the other lone male member of the youth group. On the way there, we played "the Alphabet game". This is an addictive, competitive game that you play while driving. You first start with "A" and you need to find a word that starts with "A". It can be "Acura", "AAA", bump "ahead" -- as long as the word is outside the vehicle. After you check off "A", you move to "B" and so on. Depending on your surroundings it can be quite challenging. Watch out with "Q", "X", and "Z" because they are quite difficult.
On to today. Wednesdays are half days which everyone looks forward to. Our crew got to work early and demolished two whole sides of roof for shingling.
To be continued.....(due to lights out policy).....
So I'm down here with a bunch of church youth -- some from my church and many others from all over Kentucky and as far away as Columbus, Ohio, North Carolina, and Maryland. The mood is very energetic. It is exciting to see so many youth fired up for the Lord and eager to step outside of themselves and help others less fortunate. And that is very difficult for today's youth because of the secular messages they feed from our society. Today's activities included:
an arousing awakening by the KHO (Kentucky Heartland Outreach) staff (my teenage roommate and I were smart enough to set our alarms 5 minutes prior)
a catered breakfast by a local support organization (who have kept us happy and feed with delicious meals -- very hard to do continuously for a group of 100+)
a short morning devotion/wake up service
a long (1/2 hour) trek out into the country to our house work site
an enthusiastic demolition of the delapidated shingles on one side of the house
a less enthuastic putting on of new shingles in the 95F degree heat and direct sunlight
a quick response to a storm cell that was rapidly approaching causing us to simultaneously retreat from the roof as a reaction to the lightning while we were also scurring up the roof to ensure it was covered with plastic sheeting
a rolling up of the temporary plastic covering after the storm cell passed so we could continue work
a tired wrap-up of the job site as the end of the work day approached
a near silent return trip back to our host church -- Eastwood Baptist in Bowling Green, KY (how often do teenagers road trip in complete silence.....WITHOUT their iPods?)
an enjoyable cold shower with no lines (for the men -- I can't say the same for the ladies)
a power nap by the guys before dinner
Tomorrow will be more of the same. It's been very hard work (there's a reason I went to college). However, it has also bonded us together and united us. The folks here, both with KHO and Eastwood Baptist, have been great hosts. In fact, since my old laptop wouldn't wirelessly hook up to their access point, one of the church members lent me his laptop so I could write this post. It's been nice getting to know our work teams and other youth groups while we are all here for the same mission. Hopefully, some pix are to follow.
Last week, while working in the garden, the kids found worms stripping the leaves from the carrots. They put them in a jar so I could see them when I got home from work. The worms looked more like fat wormy caterpillars so rather than kill them I suggested we put holes in the lid and leaves in the jar for them to eat. That way we could see what they turned into if they truly were caterpillars. We tried looking them up in our garden book with no luck. They also had very huge appetites stripping the leaves of every leaf and twig we put in there. We even debated on whether they were butterflies, moths, or nothing -- just plain ol' worms.
Well, look what we woke up to this morning. A beautiful butterfly was emerging from its cocoon and firming up its wings. The kids were very excited to see such a transformation.
When we returned home, it was gone. It had grown strong enough to fly away and continue on the cycle. I hope someone sees it and it brightens their day -- that's what butterflies do you know.
It is a very interesting parallel for the departure of today's mission trip with the church youth group. I hope this trip changes the folks we will be helping out. I hope this experience changes the youth we are taking. And I hope this journey changes me for the better so I can continue fulfilling my mission to "have a positive impact".
Enough with talking about change. Let's do it.
Please say a prayer for safe travels and that our hearts are open to discipleship, and our hands are open to fixing/healing/mending.
Friends of ours were kind enough to invite us to their company's box with their extra tickets. All five of us are meeting them down there for some good time minor league baseball, hotdogs, peanuts, and hopefully a souvenir ball. While I don't follow baseball like I do NASCAR or pro football, I played it in high school and I love going to games. The ambiance is red blooded American and it always makes for a good time. Plus, the venue here in town -- Slugger Field -- is a great place to see a game. It is easy to get to and from, there's not a bad seat in the house, and it is very affordable for the whole family. You really can't beat it.
UPDATE: the Bats won 5-2. We had a great time and were very spoiled. We had a club suite all to ourselves. It was around 100F degrees and the air conditioned suite was a nice place for the ladies to hang out and enjoy the game and each other (not necessarily in that order). My son was surprisingly very into the game so I took the opportunity to instruct him on all of the nuances of the American pasttime. It was cool to see his excitement when a player stole 2nd base (as I was setting it up for him) or when they hit a runner in for an RBI or when the likelyhood was greater for a foul ball to come up our way (when a left handed batter was up). Foul balls came within 20-30 ft on each side which was exciting for the guys but mayhem for the girls. We all really enjoyed ourselves and the kids all played and behaved. I am looking forward to more outings to see if my son warms up to more baseball games and instruction.
Also, afterwards the Louisville Slugger field personnel cordoned off a huge section of the outfield -- about 2/3s -- for the Boy Scouts who were going to be spending the night camping there and watching movies on the big screen. How cool is that!?!?! What a great community outreach and experience for those young scouts.
The devotional below was passed on to me from someone on my team at work. It is a great read. I have felt this way and instinctively acted upon it but the clarity didn't come until I read this piece. At that point, the rings of focus turned to sharpen my perspective and allowed me to understand and enjoy the pleasures we are to God in our everyday lives.
God Smiles When We Use Our Abilities
by Rick Warren
He has shaped each person in turn; now he watches everything we do. Psalm 33:15 (MSG)
** ** *** ***
After the flood, God gave Noah these simple instructions: ‘‘Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything” (Genesis 9:1, 3 NIV).
God said, “It’s time to get on with your life! Do the things I designed humans to do. Make love to your spouse. Have babies. Raise families. Plant crops and eat meals. Be humans! This is what I made you to be!”
You may feel that the only time God is pleased with you is when you’re doing “spiritual” activities like reading the Bible, attending church, praying, or sharing your faith. And you may think God is unconcerned about the other parts of your life. Actually, God enjoys watching every detail of your life, whether you are working, playing, resting, or eating. He doesn’t miss a single move you make. The Bible tells us, “The steps of the godly are directed by the Lord. He delights in every detail of their lives” (Psalm 37:23 NLT).
Every human activity, except sin, can be done for God’s pleasure if you do it with the attitude of praise. You can wash dishes, repair a machine, sell a product, write a computer program, grow a crop, and raise a family for the glory of God. Like a proud parent, God especially enjoys watching you use the talents and abilities he has given you. God intentionally gifted us differently for his enjoyment. He has made some to be athletic and some to be analytical. You may be gifted at mechanics or mathematics or music or a thousand other skills. All of these activities can bring a smile to God’s face.
You don’t bring glory or pleasure to God by hiding your abilities or by trying to be someone else. You only bring him enjoyment by being you. Anytime you reject any part of yourself, you are rejecting God’s wisdom and sovereignty in creating you. God says, “You have no right to argue with your Creator. You are merely a clay pot shaped by a potter. The clay doesn’t ask, ‘Why did you make me this way?’” (Isaiah 45:9 CEV).
In the film Chariots of Fire, Olympic runner Eric Liddell says, “I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast, and when I run, I feel God’s pleasure.” Later he says, “To give up running would be to hold him in contempt.” There are no unspiritual abilities, just misused ones. Start using yours for God’s pleasure.
God also gains pleasure in watching you enjoy his creation. He gave you eyes to enjoy beauty, ears to enjoy sounds and music, your nose and taste buds to enjoy smells and tastes, and the nerves under your skin to enjoy touch. Every act of enjoyment becomes an act of worship when you thank God for it. In fact, the Bible says, “God generously gives us everything for our enjoyment” (1 Timothy 6:17 TEV).
God even enjoys watching you sleep! When my children were small, I remember the deep satisfaction of watching them sleep. Sometimes the day had been filled with problems and disobedience, but asleep they looked contented, secure, and peaceful, and I was reminded of how much I loved them.
My children didn’t have to do anything for me to enjoy them. I was happy to just watch them breathing. As their little chests would rise and fall, I’d smile, and sometimes tears of joy filled my eyes. When you are sleeping, God gazes at you with love, because you were his idea. He loves each one of us as if there were only one of us.
Parents do not require their children to be perfect, or even mature, in order to enjoy them. They enjoy them at every stage of development. In the same way, God doesn’t wait for you to reach maturity before he starts liking you. He loves and enjoys you at every stage of your spiritual development.
You may have had unpleasable teachers or parents as you were growing up. Please don’t assume God feels that way about you. He knows you are incapable of being perfect or sinless (1 John 1:8). The Bible says, “He certainly knows what we are made of. He bears in mind that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14 GW).
What God looks at is the attitude of your heart: Is pleasing him your deepest desire? This was Paul’s life goal: “More than anything else, however, we want to please him, whether in our home here or there” (2 Corinthians 5:9 TEV).
When you live in light of eternity, your focus changes from “How much pleasure am I getting out of life?” to “How much pleasure is God getting out of my life?”
God is looking for people like Noah in the 21st century – people willing to live for the pleasure of God. The Bible says, “The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who are wise, who want to please God” (Psalm 14:2 LB).
Will you make pleasing God the goal of your life? There is nothing that God won’t do for the person totally absorbed with this goal.
That's great stuff there, folks! I hope it gives you what you need to enjoy the weekend and be a pleasure to God.
I was able to start and finish building my cornhole set this weekend. I haven't settled on a paint scheme yet but my wife was able to make the beanbags out of some old jeans we had. It wasn't too difficult and the process was enjoyable.
Here it is in the backyard by the smoker.
We immediately began playing on it and honing our bag tossing skills. It's great because it is a game that the whole family can play.
Afterwards, I continued my building skills and mated a large rocket motor to a snaplight glow stick. I cut out some fins and made a nosecone for our evening test launch. Alas, the glow stick was old and didn't glow when I snapped it. But we tested it anyway. It didn't go up as high as our big rocket even though it was smaller. It got up to 200-400 feet and began spiraling against the night sky. It wasn't what I wanted but looked cool. And the separation explosion sent a shower of sparks -- like our own firework. And no parachute for the little test missile so it quickly came back down to earth.
I'm going to build another one for a launch tonight or tomorrow night. But this time I'll snap the glow stick and make it glow before I put all that time into building it.
