There are few things that can wake me up but last night’s hail storm was one of them. It was fast and loud. One friend I spoke with this morning got some really big hail that left some holes in his roof and water coming inside his house.
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Opening Day for the Rangers at home is next Tuesday and I’m excited. While the Rangers are 1-2 after their first series with the Mariners, Opening Day at home always brings hope and a little optimism that something crazy may happen and the team has a decent year. I’m not hoping for any kind of title, just that games in August and September have a little meaning.

A few years ago when most of the team was pretty young, they won 83 games or something like that and there was an air of excitement every time I went to the ballpark. Last year I couldn’t give my tickets away.
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This morning I keep thinking about a recent conversation I was having about baptism. While our conversation on that day dealt with some broad thoughts on doctrine and interpretations, this morning I kept thinking about the beauty of baptism. A recent study we had in our youth class took me back to Romans 6 where it says we are united with Christ in baptism. For me, that is one of the most powerful pieces of scripture I read. I want to be united with Christ, to be one with Him. If that’s what baptism does, it is a beautiful thing in my eyes.

I like the days I start off thinking about Christ and the joy I have through Him. I hope you share in that joy with me.

For those 1 or 2 of you who read my blog on a regular basis, forgive my recent absences. My days have been starting off a bit more crazy lately and the blogs haven’t been flowing.

However, this morning, I was greeted by one of the morning TV shows with a guy who is pregnant. Turns out he used to be a girl and now she/he is wanting to have a baby. It’s all very confusing for me and the question I asked myself today is how I would deal with her/him as if I was sitting in a room visiting with her/him. It’s just so very weird to me and I have no idea what I would say or if words would even come out.

Growing up, my dream was to attend the University of Texas and play basketball for the Longhorns. That didn’t happen and I ended up at ACU with a good friend from Austin who took me home with him for a weekend. We went to the UT campus to see some of my high school friends and the first guy I see when I walk into the dorm has a spiked mohawk, mascara, a black dog collar with spikes, leather and chains everywhere…I just stopped with my mouth open and stared having not seen anything like that in real life.

That’s sort of how I feel with this pregnant girl/guy. I’m not sure I wouldn’t just sit there, mouth agape, wondering what to say or how to say it. I know exactly what the devil would have me say, the hurtful thoughts that could easily spew out of my mouth but what a struggle with is what God would have me say.

I wish I knew exactly what God would have me say and I had trouble imagining what the devil would want. Instead, I’ll be thinking off-and-on about God’s response for me and hopefully I won’t run into any pregnant girl/guy soon.

I’m feeling them this morning. I’m tired and void of energy. I needed to walk last night and didn’t and I think I’m feeling the payback for it today.

The weekend baseball tournament wasn’t rewarding overall but my son did pretty well and I’m happy for that. He went 1-3 and was on base 4 of 6 trips to the plate. The first two games were ugly for our team. Errors kill in baseball and we gave up a BUNCH of runs and came back to bracket play as the last seed. The two teams we played Saturday ended up being the #1 and #2 seeds and we played the #3 seed in our first bracket game. What luck, huh? Our guys battled yesterday and lost 11-10 in the last inning. It was a great game with lots of real baseball strategy thrown in to make it interesting. Better luck next time…I hope.
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I continue to wonder what will come up next in the Presidential battle for the Democrats. Will they play nicer and just have their mouthpieces do all the talking or will there be more mud-slinging between the two candidates? Does anyone remember who the Republican candidate is?

I don’t know what to hope for as this all plays out but I sure wish we could start over with a new group of people I could get behind.

I’ve had a lot going on lately but nothing worthy of blog-land.

I’m ready for the weekend. My son plays in a baseball tournament and I’m excited to get out and watch him. Now that I’m not coaching, I don’t ride the highs and lows of the team so much and get to focus on 1 child instead of 10 or more. I don’t feel the pressure of dealing with a “coach’s kid” either which is kind of nice. I still sit through all of practice and give him my thoughts from time to time because I can’t quit coaching altogether. I hope he does well this weekend and hope he has a lot of fun playing a game with some old and new friends.

One of the assistant coaches ran practice last night and made them practice sitting in the dugout, taking the field after a 3rd out and getting off the field when they got a 3rd out. I love organization in practice and love it on the field.

I have nothing more today. Maybe a weekend of ball and some time away from work will help refresh my mind and my thoughts.

I hope you have a great weekend and feel God’s presence with you.

I wonder what the disciples of Jesus felt like today. I can only imagine they still felt like they were in a dream to some degree. They had seen Jesus die on the cross and today He is with them again – alive and teaching. I imagine they were filled with a feeling of awe for what had happened and I imagine God felt as real to them at that moment as He ever had to them or their forefathers.

As I listened to the preacher at a church I was visiting, as I heard him talk about the proof people had seeing the stone rolled back, seeing the tomb empty, I couldn’t help but think how many people are skeptical today or who refuse to believe. What is their hope? What do they see for the future?

I have hope because of what I celebrated yesterday. It is not a hope built on what I have seen or what I have touched or what I can even prove but a hope built on faith that Thomas and many others did see and believed. I have a hope built on faith that I have seen God work in my life and faith that it is more than coincidence or fate. I have hope built on faith secured by seeing the miracle of two babies born into this world and faith that only a great God could create such precious things. Because of my faith, I have hope for a future that is so much better than anything I know or can imagine here. I look forward to my last day on earth + 1 because I have faith I will wake up in what seems like a dream but will become a beautiful reality.

Bear Stearns almost going bust. $3.99 diesel. The bathrooms at a recent baseball tournament. All things that are out of order. Not as they should be. Changed in a seemingly sad, almost painful way.

My life gets out of order pretty often. I drift off course and wind up bumping into things I don’t care to bump into. Stephen Covey, in his 7 Habits book, notes how a plane constantly drifts off course and has to be returned to the proper path, either manually or by computers that now figure that stuff out.

Last night, my daughter made me aware of a young girl whose life drifted off course. It was a girl I had coached in basketball 5 years ago and I remember her as a happy girl then. I don’t know her emotional state today but I think, I hope, she’s trying to get her life back on course. I hope last night was a step for her to connect with God and overcome the things she has been bumping into. I hope.
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Way Out Wise will be out of order tomorrow. I’m headed to T-town (that’s Tyler to you non-hip folks) for a quick visit with the parental units. I’m going to do my best to be there no later than 3:00 tomorrow afternoon. That’s when Texas begins their assault on reaching the Final Four – it should be a national holiday – and I’m sure they can’t do it without me glued to the TV yelling at the refs.

I thought I saw animals lining up two-by-two yesterday afternoon. Man, it rained and rained and then it rained some more. I am thankful it was a steady rain at our place since too much water coming too fast always gets me worried about flooding. Instead, I just enjoyed the sound of it falling and am thankful the ground is moist again.
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I had the opportunity to take my children to a Stars game Saturday night and sit in a suite. It was a good treat for both kids and I think my daughter really enjoyed it. We had a pasta chef for the evening who made some really tasty food but it wasn’t his food that was most interesting to me but his story. We arrived 20 minutes before anyone else so he cooked us a sampler platter (shrimp, sausage, chicken, mushrooms, artichoke, tomatoes, broccoli and pasta cooked in olive oil with some garlic, red pepper and cheese – YUMMY) and I started visiting with him about how he got started cooking. He opened his life to me, his youth in Illinois as a boxer and baseball player, his wife and two children and a job with a brother-in-law that led to a conviction of money laundering and 10 years in a federal prison. He’s 5 years out of prison and still struggling to get back to where he wants to be spiritually, emotionally and financially. He’s going through a program in Dallas that helps people get on their feet, find work and get on their own again but his admitted biggest need is to get right with God.

His name is Doel and he told me that prison was the best thing that happened to him because he met God there. He didn’t enjoy it and wouldn’t do it again but the time led him to a relationship with God that he doesn’t believe that would have happened any other way. Since he’s been out, Doel said he’s been trying to do it on his own again and realized that wasn’t the right way. He’s seeking God again and wanting to follow Him.

I’m praying for Doel. What a story and lesson of what we sometimes have to go through to return to God.

The title sounds like it ought to be a song, huh?

My FAVORITE time of the year is upon us…yes, March Madness has started with the bracket selection yesterday and once again, I will be wagering heavily on the NCAA tournament. My habit started in 1988 at Weaver & Tidwell, CPAs where a young man in the IT department started a pool on the March Madness brackets. I played and for several years always won a little money back. The trick was being able to watch every televised conference tournament and figuring out who the hot teams were. I even one the tournament in one of those early years. Lately, I’ve been close to the money but it’s all been a donation to the pot.

I’m back this year, again with hopes to turn my little wager into big money. Yep, I’m going to part with my $5 per bracket (I limit myself to 3 brackets at the most) and see if I can’t reel in the prize money. The guy who runs it is hoping for 600…yes, 600 entries. That’s the neat thing about this particular pool – most of the money goes to help the All Church Home in Ft. Worth. I know he takes kids to the Rangers game, I think coaches baseball teams for them and does other things I’m not as aware of.

If you like playing your hunch, you can go to http://www.madnessinmarch.com and sign up online. You’ll have to send some money in and hope your teams win.

I’m getting an email again that was first sent to me at least a couple of years ago. It’s about a boy who was walking home from school with all of this books and supplies on a Friday. A classmate saw him and wondered why anyone would carry so much home on the weekend when he saw some other kids start bullying the boy with all the books. The classmate goes over to help the boy and walks home with him just being friendly. That strikes up a friendship that remains through high school. The book boy is the valedictorian and gives the commencement address and tells the story of his friend helping him on that day revealing his plans were to go home that day and commit suicide. He was carrying all of his stuff so his mom wouldn’t have to go clean out his locker but the classmate, in an act of compassion, changed his desire. The point of the story is how one person can make a difference.

It’s a touching email but the story is more than just touching. We may never know when a person is at their lowest or on their way there and we may never know when a single act of kindness or compassion can change the course of someone’s life – but it can happen. As Christians, our actions may not only save some mortal problem, it might just lead someone to eternal life with God and it can all be started with the simplest of actions.

I spent a good bit of yesterday hunting pheasant near the Red River. I didn’t get as many opportunities to shoot as I would have liked but I never do but it was a fun day spent with two good friends. I enjoy my days hunting and fishing because it takes me into God’s handiwork and I spend some time slowing down and seeing the wonders of His hand.

Last night, I had another opportunity to speak to our youth group and I am always thankful for that. I’ve mentioned before that speaking to a group of 13-18 year olds worries more than speaking to 40 year olds because I’m speaking to the future. I pray my words help them find their way to God.
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Obama’s preacher was on TV today. Wow. I can’t imagine if similar words came out of our pulpit. I appreciate the fact that I don’t understand what it’s like to live in “black America” as one lady described it on TV but when someone stands in a pulpit and damns America, the tone I hear isn’t one of reconciliation but continued division.

The preacher won’t affect my vote one bit but it does make me question how the divide between black and white will ever be eliminated when I hear his words.