I wanted to see New Orleans and Indianapolis in the Super Bowl. Instead we may be overrun with “2 black coaches in the Super Bowl” headlines for the next couple of weeks. I realize it’s a big occasion and maybe I don’t have an appreciation for the significance of it but I hope it doesn’t come down to color, color, color. I’ve been a fan of Tony Dungy for several years. He appears to be a real class act. Lovie Smith seems much the same though I know much less about him. I hope what comes out in the press is more about what good people they are, not what color they are.

Chicago and Indy would probably have been my second choice for teams. I like Manning and wanted to see him break through his playoff jinx. In my mind, the Bears tradition is as great as any team and I like the way Urlacher plays. It ought to be a good game – offense vs. defense.

Predictions?

I have coached youth sports for several years. I started out helping our preacher in Fort Worth when he was coaching his son’s team, then helping a friend here coach his son’s team and the last nine years or so coaching my daughter and son’s teams. I’ve coached basketball (my passion), baseball (a growing passion because my son loves it) and soccer (I was completely clueless) and had great experiences in all of them. My goal in coaching has always been to 1) make it fun and 2) teach fundamentals that will help the children as they grow. I’ve been around too many youth coaches who coach to win now and don’t help the kids develop. It used to really get under my skin. I remember coaching one of my son’s early games and the other coach put her tallest player on my shortest player all in an effort to score more points in the last quarter and win. At that time we couldn’t change the players around once we placed them and we were stuck in that predicament. What did it do to my little guys enjoyment of basketball? What did it teach her tall kid? They won and in the end they got the same medal we did and I’m pretty sure the kid didn’t sign a scholarship or pro contract after the game.

I coach because I want to see the kids succeed in the years to come. Winning or losing a game today isn’t the most important thing (even though I replay the losses in my mind for hours after a game). My hope is that what I teach them now will prepare them for what they will do in the future. That is the real success in coaching.

I pray that in the end, they won’t just learn basketball or baseball from me but something greater. I hope I can touch them in a way that will open the door to something far greater than athletic success but success in making the decisions that will carry them through eternity.

We awoke this morning to a white blanket of snow on the ground and another day of school closure. The kids are happy today but don’t realize they will be making it up on days that would have been much nicer to be out of school. I guess it’s always fun to be out of school, no matter the weather, and hitting your brother or sister with a snowball or two makes it even better.
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I stayed up to watch Texas and Oklahoma State battle through 3 overtimes last night. In the end, OSU came out on top but it was a great game to watch and even Rick Barnes, Texas’ coach couldn’t help but smile through the final two OT’s.

Kevin Durant sure looks like the real deal. He had been projected as the #2 NBA pick in last year’s draft but a new NBA rule prohibits most kids from going straight to the pros from high school so he has to spend a year at Texas (the kid projected to go #1 in last year’s draft is a 7-footer named Greg Oden playing at Ohio State this year). Based on how he is playing this year, he will still be worthy of a top-3 pick next year.
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I’m helping our youth minister on Wednesday nights now working with our junior high and high school group. I’m speaking next week to the group and the scripture that immediately popped into my head has been a long time favorite – Philippians 4:8. If we followed the directive given all the time, I wonder what the world would be like. I wonder if people couldn’t help but get along. I wonder if nations would cooperate instead of fight. I wonder.

Still, in all my hope that the world and the people of the world could find peace, it isn’t peace in this world that I care the most for. I want to see peace here and now so that my children will grow up in a safer place but more than that, I have the hope that I and that they will spend eternity with God. That is something truly admirable, truly noble, truly good to think about.

I was singing part of the Vanilla Ice song (his only “hit”) to my daughter the other day. Maybe I shouldn’t have. Ice abounds today. I was glad to only see one other car on the road while I was on my way to work but you just never know what will happen. I remember when I was younger, maybe 13 or so and a friend’s sister was driving he and I somewhere in Tyler. We were on the loop when she hit a patch of ice and her Mustang started spinning in circles. When it finally stopped, she was so scared it took us what seemed like several of minutes to start driving again.

So what are you doing today? Did you use the ice as a reason to stay home or did you head out in it going to work or Wal-Mart? I would much rather stay at home but no such luck today. I’ll leave a bit earlier than usual just to miss the yahoos out speeding home who might hit that one patch of ice that sends us all spinning.

Have a great day and don’t slip.

It sounds like we might need to get prepared for an icy blast in Wise County. I love the cold weather. I don’t know that I would if I lived somewhere that the cold lasts very long but maybe I would. I think some of my joy in it is due to being hot natured. My wife is the complete opposite which gives the thermostat a workout through much of the year. I like it cold. I like to put on a coat, put on gloves and a hat and trudge through the cold. People around me have often heard my goofy statement that “you can always put more clothes on but you can only take so much off before going to jail” and that’s my mentality on the weather. I’m confident you are glad to know that about me. 🙂
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I used to be a current events fanatic. I loved watching the news, reading US News and World Report and local and national papers. Today, I’m not sure I could tell you what is going on around me except for a battle in Iraq. Baseball and basketball keep me busy a couple of nights a week, some areas I’m getting more involved in at church is taking more of my time, work is certainly eating up bigger chunks of time recently. They are all good things that I am enjoying and thankful for but occassionally I sit back and wonder where things changed so much. I guess I find it interesting to stop and look back at the twists and turns of the path I’ve traveled to be where I am now. Things that were once enjoyable, if not seemingly important are nothing more than a memory now. I wonder what will happen with the things I enjoy and feel important now? (There’s a moral to that story somewhere in there, I just haven’t thought it through yet.)
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Oprah opened a new school for girls in Africa. It was all over the news (that was one story I couldn’t miss if I tried) and she is hailed as a great person for doing it. Bush, on the other hand, is a modern day villian in many folks eyes because he has tried to eliminate a harsh world for people in Iraq and give them a hope for a little bit better life. I have a suspicion (and could be completely wrong) that Oprah and her followers are opposed to what is going on in Iraq and all goo-goo over what she did in Africa. One question, could Oprah have ever accomplished what she did without past wars to eliminate oppressive control by government?
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Bundle up.

The state of my mind today is…a complete and hopeless vacuum of nothingness. I can’t come up with a coherent thought to save my life. It’s your lucky day! So, I’ll leave you with these profound thoughts.

The President speaks tonight. I want to hear it because I feel he is now in a no-win situation. I think he’s a good guy but has put our troops and country in a bad position that leaves little opportunity for a good ending. Saddam may be done but it seems there are hundreds if not thousands of people willing to carry his battle on.

I enjoyed seeing Florida win the NCAA National Championship even though the game got a little boring in the end. There’s no Big Ten team I care for much and now that Spurrier has left, it’s easier to like Florida in this type of game.

Basketball season is here finally. It’s the games that count and March Madness will be here soon. It is my favorite sporting event/time of the year when college basketball whips up a frenzy on TV and on the court. You can have the pro basketball but I’ll watch almost any college game any time.

I took my son to a select baseball team tryout last Sunday and he did great. It was fun to see him do well and enjoy himself. We won’t know the results until this weekend and I’m hoping we can still put a Decatur team together but it’s great to have options – even better to see him doing something he enjoys and doing it well.

Have a great day!

it’s one of mine. Tonight has been an exercise in self-control and I just lost the battle. A computer has driven me to a level of frustration that is ridiculous. The only reason I can write about it here is because you use a computer too and I’m pretty sure you’ve been where I am now. I want to throw the thing out the door and pray that a big truck runs over it. Things are at a stage where I know it can be fixed, I just can’t seem to do it which is what is really driving my blood pressure through the roof. The silver box is silently taunting me, laughing at me, mocking me. I can feel it. If you hear loud screaming tonight, it will be trying to communicate with this thing.
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Go Gators! I’m enjoyed watching Florida tonight. I’m no Big 10 fan and since Spurrier has left Florida, I feel I can cheer for them in these situations. I’m one of those who thought Michigan certainly DID NOT deserve another chance in the title game and also thinks the SEC is the toughest overall conference in football. I don’t know much about Urban Meyer but he seems like a good guy and I hope Florida wins it tonight.
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Tomorrow will be a new day. I am hopeful all the computers will work and all the people are nice.

Did you see the Boise State/OU game earlier in the week? It was an exciting win for a small school that most thought would struggle against the bigger, more seasoned Sooners. I was cheering for Boise State from the beginning but had little hope they could pull it out. What a game and what a group of young men. From the smile on the coach’s face to the marriage proposal on the sideline, it was a fabulous night for the guys from Boise.
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Good Morning America had a new set of NYC heroes on TV this morning. It seems a small child had crawled out a window on to a fire escape and was barely holding on when these two men saw the child. They positioned themselves to catch him as the child dropped from the fire escape and through some trees and into their arms. The subway hero had earlier in the day encouraged people to find ways to do good things. It sounds like New York City is off to a good start.
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Randy Warzecha, our missionary in Brazil, is getting married this weekend. Keep him in your prayers as he and Angela begin a new life together.
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I hope you have a great weekend, that you enjoy the life God has given you and that you seek ways to glorify Him in whatever you are doing.

I am sitting here on hold for almost 15 minutes now wanting to speak with someone about software I want to acquire. I think it will help us but I am beginning to wonder if this is the service level I can expect. I wonder if it will really help me since no one seems to be in much of a hurry to answer my questions.

While I’m sitting here, I’ve started wondering how many times someone wanted me to share the Gospel with them but I put them on hold, I didn’t have the urgency I needed to share information, to share the Good News, with someone that could change their life. I am guessing there are people I see every day that are on hold and I am not picking up the call.

I pray God will give me the courage and the urgency to take the call and share the knowledge that will give people what they need to truly live.

It seems like I haven’t blogged since last year. Ha-ha.

I was asked today what my new year resolution was. It’s a good question and something I don’t know that I approach the right way. The answer is that I do not make new year resolutions. Maybe I should be I don’t. I have all the rote issues like losing weight, exercising and all that stuff that I need to do all the time. Other than that, I just want to live each day looking for the opportunities to do the right thing, to help someone, to be a good example for someone, to encourage someone. Maybe that is my resolution. I know God puts opportunities in front of me all the time. I want to recognize them and act on them when they come my way. I know I will fail at some but hope that I will be successful in making a difference in people’s lives as much as I can.

It is continually amazing how fast a year goes by. I see my children growing up before me and, like so many, want to stop time, to capture a few more days with them at this precious time in their lives yet I know that isn’t going to happen. In the absence of stopping time, I want to enjoy the time, to know that it is fleeting and to spend it in pursuit of enjoying them every minute I can, to teaching them all I can in that time and preparing them for what lies ahead.

This year will be over in a flash. I will start enjoying the moments I can today so that when I reach this point a year from now I can trust that it has been a good year because I have spent it with people I love.