My 5th grade boys team lost to Bridgeport Saturday. It’s always bad to lose but losing to B’port makes it worse. If just a few of our missed shots would have gone in, it would be a different story but no such luck. We have one more game – a must win to make the playoffs.
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I heard the Colts won the big game Sunday. I was at the rodeo so I haven’t seen the game or the commercials. I’ve got it all Tivo’d but don’t know that I’ll end up watching it. Now all eyes turn to who the Cowboys are going to hire and Jerry in the spotlight.
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Our preacher is taking us through Acts on Sunday mornings. I always like to study Acts, to read and think about the early church, what they went through and what they did. It always causes me to examine my life and my ways and to attempt to reconcile them with what God wants from me. Am I sacrificing, teaching, edifying, serving the way God wants me to. Is my focus on God or on me?

I pray my focus and my desire will be more on God and less on me.

We woke up this morning to a beautiful blanket of snow on the ground and truck. It is a beautiful sight to see and something the kids really, really enjoy. I think they would have much preferred staying home and throwing snowballs or building a snowman but school was open so off we went.
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I’m glad the weekend is almost here. It’s been a busy week at work and compounded with illness and I’m ready to rest and catch up. Decatur plays Argyle tonight and I can’t miss that so the rest will come after the game.
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I won’t be worried about global warming this weekend.
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I read on the Internet about an Indianapolis area church that was advertising a Super Bowl party and would be showing the game from a projector so everyone could see. The NFL threatened to sue them if they didn’t cancel the party because using Super Bowl in the ad was a copyright infringement and the game cannot legally be broadcast on a screen bigger than 55″. I’m sure there’s a reason for that but in my mind it’s another example of punishing the 99 good people for the 1 bad person.

I’m up in the air on who I will be pulling for. I don’t like Indianapolis because they play in a dome and I do like Chicago because they play in the elements. I like Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith. I like Peyton and Freeney. I like Urlacher and Manning, the ACU kid. In the end, I’m only semi-interested but hope it will be a good game.

Who are you rooting for?
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Have a good day and a good weekend!

Blogger finally made me switch. I’m not a fan of the new blogger because posting a response isn’t as easy as it was on the old Blogger. The Tab button doesn’t tab you to the right fields. I hope the complaint department is listening.
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I’ve got some sort of sinus thing going on and not feeling too great today. I certainly can’t eat a Sonic coney so don’t even go there. Being sick makes for a long day and really makes me appreciate feeling good.
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I spoke to the Junior High and High School class last night about influence. I brought up the chants the Decatur students have used in basketball games and mentioned the moment last year when my son asked what a certain not-so-nice phrase meant. You could have heard a pin drop at that moment. I’m hoping that was the moment a few of them realized that eyes are watching them. I’m hoping a few them may realize and use their influence for good starting today. I hope I reached someone last night.
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Our preacher’s wife is planning for a trip to Kenya in just a few months. She is going with a group of ladies who go and have a meeting/conference/fellowship/support gathering for women involved in mission work in that part of the world. Planning and going on a trip like that is tiring and a little scary but also very fulfilling. Our missions committee was able to help support a portion of her trip and I’m thankful for that opportunity and thankful for the work she and many other Christian women will do to help carry the gospel all over the world. Thanks Beverly for your dedication and compassion. (And thanks to Rick for supporting her to go also.)

For the past several weeks, each time I sign on I’m encouraged to try the new version of this software and each time I decline. Shortly, I will have to switch and I don’t think there is much to the change but it’s just the dread of changing, even for something as simple as this. I won’t make this a big blog-lecture on adapting to change but you get the idea…I’m just getting old.
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Barbaro was put down yesterday. He’s the horse that one the Kentucky Derby (I think) and then broke his back leg in the Preakness (I think). It was all over the news, even a spot on ESPN Sports Center. It always strikes me that someone or something with a little bit of fame can generate so much press and yet we lose people everyday who have truly touched other lives in a positive way that go unnoticed. What a shame.
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The Cowboys have to be closer to finding a new head coach and I find that I couldn’t care less. It’s interesting to see the process and wonder what Jerry Jones will do because he’s made so many off-the-wall decisions in the past. I’m starting to believe that the combination with Jimmy Johnson was lightning in a bottle that may never appear again.
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The Rangers signed Sammy Sosa. Interesting. If you are interested in sharing in some Rangers season tickets, let me know. We have a small group and need one or two more to join in. We have 4 seats and you will get to pick 13-14 games during the year.
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That’s all for now. I know this has been a special time for you. (haha)

I’ve been battling computer, car and time problems today. My truck died yesterday so they had to tow it in today. Fortunately it was no big deal except for the hassle. My computer started acting up Friday and I just got it back up (2:50p) today. It’s very frustrating when 50% of my job demands my computer. On top of that, I was supposed to go out of town for a business trip while having a myriad of things to still finish here and deadlines and time constraints the rest of the week. It’s been a stressful, frustrating morning.

I finally postponed my trip after a moment of clarity. I was able to see what needed to be done and how it could be accomplished and am feeling much better than I have all day.

The devil works on us like that. He wants everything rushing around us, stirring up dust so that we can’t see God. Fortunately, for all the devil’s work, we are able to gain moments of clarity, moments where we can see God and know He sees us and things become much better. I’m thankful for every time I cut through the devil’s work and find clarity between God and me. It’s those moments when I feel a sense of peace unlike anything else I know. Of course, as soon as I feel it I know the devil is back at work trying to block my vision but I know God is still there, still reaching out to me, still waiting for me so I can know His peace.

I remember when I started working in Decatur and we moved here a while later. There was very little crime. It seemed like the crime report was published in the paper and you would see a few bikes stolen and a few other seemingly minor incidents for the most part. At the time, I think there had only been one murder in the previous 10+ years. Today that has all changed. There is a high incident of theft and there have been a number of murders. Drug labs and drug use is way up and arrests for them rise with it.

Looking at Decatur over the past 12 twelves, I can understand why so many people who had grown up here wanted to keep it the way it was. I was quickly one of them thinking, just let me move here and then shut the gates. It doesn’t work that way though and now we are seeing a lot of the bad that comes with Lowes and Chili’s. Oh, I’m not blaming Lowes and Chili’s – it’s the growth of an area that brings in good people and bad people.

Today, I think about being burglarized at business this way – not if, but when. I hate to think that way and I would love to see things back the way they were but it doesn’t work that way. Hopefully, Decatur will be able to maintain as much of it’s old charm and down-home feeling awhile longer because I remember when…

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Addendum to Wednesday’s post…

First, I didn’t realize how many people are out there reading blogs and was surprised by people telling me they had read mine. It’s scary in a way. First, I have a comfort level thinking I’m writing for myself but that there are only 6-8 people and 1 Sonic coney fiend reading it. Second, it hit me that what is written on the web is there for all the world to see so be careful what you write. Third, I realize that as I come down off my soapbox, I have faults of my own that certainly need to be addressed.

That said, there is one disappointment I left out of Wednesday’s post. I’m also disappointed that a bunch of parents must think it’s OK to say what our kids are saying. What are they teaching?

The response I got that hit home was from a friend who said they didn’t enjoy having to explain to their young child what the phrases meant. That’s exactly what I was thinking a year ago when my then 9 year old son asked, “Daddy, what does screwed mean?” That question should not have had to come up at that time and that place. Now, at 10 he has a sense of what it means and wonders why it’s OK for the big kids to say it.

Finally, I’m thankful for some parents I know that have told their high school kids it is unacceptable. What a simple but wholesome response.

Have a great weekend.

I went to the Decatur-Bridgeport basketball game last night. Decatur put a thumping on them so that was a good thing but during the game I heard something that really disappointed me. There are two cheers the Decatur students use, one having the phrase “Haile yeah” (it supposedly refers to an actual student with the last name Haile) and another when a ref makes a ‘bad’ call where they chant “we got screwed.” I brought this up with some people last year and know it made it’s way to the Principal. I have not talked to her directly but the alleged response was “what can we do.” So I ask, who’s running the asylum? It sounds as if it is the inmates.

I understand that teenagers would get a momentary enjoyment from saying these things in public, as a group. I would have probably gladly joined in when I was younger although I would have had to duck so my dad didn’t see me saying it. Last night, it just sounded classless. And, in my opinion, makes the school and the administrators look classless.

I could see some schools in our district where this might not be surprising – and maybe some people feel that way about Decatur.

It’s disappointing to me that the administrators take the hands-off approach they do but no surprise why the students defend them. If they can’t control the situation at the school gym on school property at a school function, it’s not a place I’m excited to send my children. I know there are many good educators there, several who care about the kids and will do their best to teach them what is good and bad, right and wrong. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like they get much support from the top.

It’s a downer post today but I needed to vent.

The President is speaking tonight. I feel for him. I don’t think he can say anything without getting picked apart for it at this point. I saw a poll today saying only 33% of those polled think he’s doing a good job. Add Hillary to the mix and I’m sure the camera time will be split at best.

President Bush has a high hill to climb to make headway with the American public. I hear and read about long time Republican and/or Bush supporters that have questioned his decisions much more often and vocally than ever before. Tonight has to be a tough night for him.

I will be at basketball practice. There were a period of several years when I wouldn’t have missed the President’s speech. I stayed up to watch election coverage, read the papers to see who was who and what they were doing. Now, I find myself being one of those who are more apathetic to the process. I don’t think the media is fair. I don’t the candidates are so different nor trustworthy. I don’t think we have elected officials who care about the good of the country as much as they do themselves.

I hope I’m misreading what is going on. I hope I am seeing it wrong and will snap out of this funk to find that the leaders and decision-makers of our country do care about us and do make decisions they truly believe will benefit the people of this country. I still have hope.

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.