Our Sunday morning class is currently studying Ecclesiastes (I may have misspelled). I don’t recall ever studying it but have found it fascinating. I don’t understand much of it after reading it once and have to go over it several times. Last week we began reading Chapter 7 and, again, I was fascinated by what I read. The first verse says something like “a good name is better than a fine perfume and the day of death is better than the day of birth.” As we studied, I kept coming back to that verse and what it meant. My focus kept going to “the day of death better than the day of birth.” I think what the entire section we read was telling us that our focus has to be on heaven, not earth. The day of death on earth leads us to the first day of heaven.

I think I am becoming more heaven focused and want to keep doing that. I am growing more comfortable that the day of death will take me to a better place, a place I still can’t fully imagine and know will exceed anything I can imagine.

The power in our part of Decatur went out this morning. It’s crazy when the electricity goes out because so much of what we do is dependent on it. Fortunately, the power company had it fixed in a relatively short time and life is back to normal.
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The Rangers are now on a “win-1, lose-2” program. It’s not very exciting but good to see them win now and then.

My son and I saw ACU play Friday night and Saturday afternoon. There were a combined 38 hits in the Friday night game and I think Tarleton threw 6 or 7 different pitchers. The Saturday game was a bit closer but it wasn’t a pitcher’s duel either. The ACU facility is really nice and a fun place to watch a game.

The Fort Worth Cats start play pretty soon. It’s always a fun time at the Cats game. The stadium is great, the seats are inexpensive and they serve Kinkaid’s hamburgers.
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I didn’t pay much attention to the NFL draft over the weekend other than to think how many new millionaires were created in a day. It’s astonishing what those guys do and how much they make doing it. Even a guy like Pacman Jones can keep playing and making loads of money if he has the ability. Astonishing.

Then I hear Josh Howard admitted to smoking pot on the radio Friday. What in the world?

The Rangers are killing me. It’s just horrible baseball and the owner needs to make a change. I don’t see any improvement from last year and, in fact, think they may be playing worse. The “player’s” manager who was going to be the hero of fundamentals just isn’t getting it done and I don’t think I can stand to watch much more of this pathetic play without something happening to shake things up. I don’t expect them to turn it around and make the playoffs but do something other than ask me to spend my money with no effort at change.
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I’m headed west this afternoon with my son to watch some baseball at my alma mater. ACU did not have baseball when I was at school and I don’t know that I cared but we have gone out for a game almost every year for the past 3 or 4 years. It’s a good environment to watch a game (no beer, no cussing, no streakers – I suppose) and a fun time for us. Here’s hoping the rain leaves us alone.

The idea of being still with God has been on my mind of late. When I think of being still with God, my thoughts go towards not only being still but being quiet. My idea is to work to free my mind of all the things I am thinking about and let God speak to me. Now, I don’t think I’m going to hear this booming voice and rays of sunshine but I do think, over time, that simply clearing my head may help guide me to a better understanding of what God wants for me or maybe what I need to be doing for God.

This isn’t a very concrete idea which may be part of the reason it’s hard for me and maybe others to grasp. It’s also difficult to be quiet sometimes. Have you even been in a conversation or class where there was a moment of silence? You can almost feel people wanting to speak up just to break the silence…something must be said. Rick’s blog recently referred to a mantra I have heard used that we should speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where the Bible is silent. I think some of our traditions, our rules and our judgments have come because people have a hard time being silent so when the Bible is silent, someone feels the need to fill the silence with their ideas.

I don’t know where I’m going with this other than wanting to explore more into the idea of being quiet, being silent in the presence of God and to hear what He wants me to hear. Maybe it will only be a time to free my mind of my thoughts and my desires. Maybe He will lead me to a thought. Maybe I’ll hear a booming voice and see rays of sunshine. Whatever the case may be, I hope to try it and see what I learn from it. Maybe there will be more on this later.

The Decatur Eagles baseball team pulled out a thrilling victory last night in the bottom of the 7th inning against Bridgeport. The winning team got the final playoff berth so it was great to see our guys win.
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Wednesday nights are always the best night of the work week for me. I attend the youth class and help out occasionally speaking, driving or whatever I’m needed for. I’ve written about the excitement I have about our youth group and the things I see them do and it gives me a big lift every week to spend some time with them.

After church, a few of us stay and play basketball. Lately, it’s been the “old” guys against the “young” guys. I’m always one of the oldest and the youngsters are typically high school kids. They are confounded why we consistently beat them even though some of us can’t run or jump. And I can’t help but laugh when one of them guards me close like I’m going to blow by them or jump over them.

It’s always a beating for me. I come home sore and in need of Tylenol, Motrin, ice, heat, water, Gatorade…and anything else that helps revive a 40+ guy but I love it. It’s always been m favorite sport and I think it always will be.

Rick Ross, the preacher at our church in Decatur, is on a roll with his sermons. He started a series of sermons on heaven awhile back and then had a series on the cross. Now, he is leading us through a series on the table, the communion time we share. Each of these have challenged my ideas and caused me to spend some time thinking about what God has in store for me and what my response needs to be. As he talked about communion yesterday, I couldn’t help but wonder what it was like for the people who had spent time with Jesus while he was on earth, what the emotion was, what the conversation was, what the thoughts and feeling were.

I am thankful God is using Rick to bring messages that inspire me to learn and to grow and I am thankful Rick is willing to use his talents to glorify God. Even more, I am thankful the body gathers around the table to remember the price that was paid for us and celebrate the glory of a risen Savior.

As Rick talked yesterday, I thought of the suffering Christ endured prior to dying on that cross. I can’t fathom how miserable it must have been yet even that suffering was only for a short time and the glory, the joy, the everlasting salvation that came from it is so much greater. It reminds me that anything I face, any troubles and obstacles, are temporary and nothing compared with the eternity that lies before me through Christ. Hallelujah!

Another line of storms moved through last night without the fanfare of the week prior. It struck me last night how we sometimes prepare for storms that bring much less turbulence than we expected while other times the storm is on us before we are prepared.

My life is like that often. I worry about things that turn out to be much smaller than what I had imagined while other times, I’m overcome and didn’t even see the problems coming. As I get older, I am learning to prepare as best I can and pray…a lot. I am reaching a time of life where I want to know more about prayer. Slowly but surely I am realizing there is only so much I can do on my own and that I need God to lead me, to work in me and around me. By spending time in prayer, I believe I open myself to God and the more I can pray, the more open to Him I will be.

I still get caught praying the most when I need God the most and praying the least when things of life are going well. I hope I can reverse that trend because things go well most of the time. It’s a time to praise God, to be open to Him. There will still be prayers through the storms and the storms may be plenty but how much closer to God will I feel when I’ve spent more time in prayer with Him?

I recently read that my alma mater, Abilene Christian University, will be changing one of it’s rules regarding alcohol use by students. The current rule is if any student is seen using alcohol, they are subject to dismissal from the school. The new rule will not prevent students of legal age from using alcohol away from campus and non-school events.

I have some mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, there aren’t that many students of legal drinking age. Add the fact that the school can’t afford to try and babysit students all over town and it makes it seem like a rule that doesn’t have to be on the books anyway. On the other hand, and what really bothers me, I feel like ACU is relaxing it’s standards. While I was a student, I happened across a few people who broke a few of the rules but they and I all knew ACU’s standard and respected the school’s right to set rules to hold to that standard. Now, it appears the standard is loosening and I feel like that is a problem our society already faces. “Kids are going to have sex so tell them about condoms instead of abstinence.” “People are going to use drugs so legalize marijuana.” How far can we go as a society to lower our standards to nothing? How far will ACU go in lowering than standards?

I don’t know all the reasons for their decision and oddly enough, they didn’t ask my opinion. Maybe they think it will be a revenue stream for the new Budweiser Field they want to build (did I mention they passed on 3 student-athletes of excellent character and enough ability to play for other LSC schools and I’m still rather disenchanted about that) so their star athletes can show off their prowess. Maybe it’s a simple as saving some ink for a rule they cannot enforce.

In the end, ACU doesn’t care what I think and I don’t think too highly of ACU. I don’t know that their new decision will amount to anything but I also wonder if it’s the first step down a slippery slope of decisions that will eventually render it a “Christian education” much like you will find at TCU or Harvard or a number of other schools that started with some religious roots but have effectively abandoned them in the name of academia. Time will tell.

Yesterday was a “local outreach” focus at our church. We heard some reports from some of our members involved in different aspects and a challenge to continue finding ways to make an impact in our community. A question I read on a blog recently and one that was asked from the pulpit yesterday was something like this; if your church went away tomorrow, would the community notice? or would they care? I think it’s a great question for churches to ask.

I imagine there are a good number of our members who do things in the community quietly and without seeking praise or notice. I’ve written in the past about a song titled “If We Are The Body” and asks the question “if we are the body, what are we doing in the name of Christ?” Are we sitting in our pews teaching religion without touching anyone? Are we doing a lot of stuff but not teaching people the Good News?

I enjoyed the thoughts and questions that came to me yesterday because they challenge me to examine what I am doing to reach out to someone outside my circle, to reach out to someone who is hurting, to reach out to someone who is trying to find God.

I told my wife I wouldn’t blog about Desperate Housewives but the fact is I watched most of it last night and there was a character who has been through a lot of tough times and decided to start a search for God. I have no idea where the show will go with that but there she was – someone looking for God and looking for someone to lead them to finding answers. This morning while watching GMA, they flashed a snippet of some forum the Democratic contenders were at where they were being asked questions about faith and the Bible. The point is, there are people who want to know more about God and the question to me is whether I will be available to them to help them find the answers and to help them find the loving mercy of our Savior.

As I looked out the back window for the funnel clouds I couldn’t help hear the Casting Crowns song “Praise You In This Storm” rolling through my head. I also prayed for safety while realizing we need a much, much bigger closet to hide in. Had I tried to get in the space that would probably be the safest, I think my family would suffer much more pain from me being the last one in than what the storm would do. God answered my prayers and we were spared any damage. I know others were not as fortunate and I will be praying for them today.
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Our lab split again the other day. We’ve gotten so used to dogs not lasting around our place that it didn’t cause a big stir. My wife and I both spent time out driving the streets and backroads close to us looking for her with no luck.

My wife had told one of our friends who came by the house Tuesday night and last night he calls saying a dog that matches the description of ours is across the street in the neighbors garage. Sure enough, my son and I went over and found her with some of the nicest people you would ever meet.
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I’m headed back to see the Rangers tonight. I sure hope they have better success tonight than on Tuesday. Since they were rained out last night, they will play a double-header but I’m not going to be able to make it to the first game. Phooey.