Cal and Dad vs. Food

I set out yesterday with my son Callen for Columbus, Ohio.  Our goals are many:  Eat, hang out and have fun together, experience a type of rite-of -passage as he looks to begin high school next fall.  We started out leaving our house and headed to Melt.  If you have never been to, or heard of Melt, click on the link.  As they say on the website, a trip to Melt is like an event, not just going out to eat.

I tried there winter chicken grilled cheese.  All sandwiches come with a hefty serving of fresh cut fries and Melt's own sweet slaw.  Take a look.  I admit I was able to eat the whole thing, while my son had to get a to go box.  We proceeded to the West side of Columbus where we will be hanging out for a couple of days trying to accomplish our goals mentioned above.

One of the rite of passage conversations will be around this verse:  Numbers 15:39.  I will present my son with a simple braided leather "tassel" that will hopefully serve as a reminder of the fun we had together, but more importantly of the plan God has for him, and how he must work to live like Jesus.

Well, he's waking up, and we have a Chinese Buffet to hit today and a burger place.  Headed to a 3 block bookstore over in German Village.  Thanks for praying for us.

Review: Pujols More Than The Game

"I can't make you believe what I stand for.  I can only tell you my story."  And tell his story he did.  Scott Lamb and Tim Ellsworth do a masterful job of painting a complete picture of the man behind the baseball player, Albert Pujols.  Many times misunderstood, or misread, they dig deep into the history and "good fortune", that has made Pujols one of the best loved, and most heroic players of the last decade.  There is quite a bit of the story that involves his wife Dee, and it keeps the reader engaged to learn how they, together, have used Albert's career and opportunities, to partner in ministry.  You don't have to love baseball to like this book, although Lamb and Ellsworth do an excellent job of chronicling the stats that Pujols has put together over his career.  The most impressive is the fact that in 2010, Pujols became the first player in baseball history to bat .300 with 30 home runs and 100 runs batted in for ten consecutive seasons.    An excellent book for the baseball fan and for the person looking for a feel good story about a million dollar athlete who has not lost perspective on life and is using his gifts to glorify God.

Many thanks to Thomas Nelson publishers for the complimentary copy of this book.   I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”  I enjoyed reading it for review purposes and hope that it is helpful.

Emmet

We started a sermon series at church this week.  It is based on the book Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby.  He is truly one of the great modern day pastors/writers.  You can read more about him and his book at the above links, but the basis of this particular book is that there are 7 realities to "experiencing God." 

The first is this:  God is always at work around you.  So pastor gave us a two-fold challenge.  We turned our palms up and simply said, "God, I want to know you."  Second, we put our hands on our hips, stuck our necks out as if straining, got a little wide-eyed...all to remind us to look around and try and see where God is working.

Tuesday I went to the local rec center.  Normally, I am already changed from softball practice and can head right to the treadmill.  For some reason (one I now know), I didn't change for practice, and had to go to the locker room.  I walked in on a conversation between two mid-50's men, and my ears perked up quickly when I heard "...he's not a Christian.  What is a Christian anyway?..."  They were semi-arguing (I later found out they were talking about Pres. Obama) about a decision that he had recently made or some statement he had said.

Emmet noticed I was listening, and promptly invited me into the conversation (God is always working).  We went on, Emmet and I, to have about 1/2 an hour conversation about "christian."  He was a Church of God member, now part of a "Baptist Ministry."  He was careful not to say church, as we both shared a like-mindedness that our "church" should not define us.  I could go on and on about the conversation, but there is a part of me that believes that is between Emmet and I.  Sorry.

Where is God working around you?  Turn your hands up....strain your neck a little....get a little wide-eyed...you just might run into Emmet!

Hey Coach

Knee deep into softball season.  Time is very precious these days.  One thing that has caught my attention lately at school is the number of students that greet me with "Hey coach."  Some of these are students that I have coached directly...others I have just been in the ranks of the program and have just crossed paths because I am involved and they are a player...no direct instruction, if you will.  The thing that has struck me is that I am still their "coach."  For some reason, they have put me in that rank and file in their brain sorting.  I must admit that feels pretty good.  It also is a big responsibility....I don't want to let these students down. 

I wonder if winning and losing is really what makes someone a great coach in a player's mind.  Have there ever been great coaches who haven't won anything?  As I finish this, March Madness is getting ready to start.  In my opinion, one of the purest contests that still exists in the sports world today.  Pre-million dollar salaried athletes pouring out everything they got in a one-and-done tournament.

I like to watch the coaches in these contests...they also seem to be in it for the pure pursuit of victory.  I'm sure I am somewhat naive and don't know all that is at stake, but it seems like most of them have really great relationships with their players.  The coach is not just trying to manage personalities, but players are actually looking to be a coached...I hope I never pass up a moment to teach

Another Adree Song

Several weeks ago I posted something about my daughter Adree introducing me to a Christain "rap" artist nicknamed C-Lite.  You can see that post here.  I have listened/watched the youtube video several times over that last few weeks.  I also stumbled onto another artist who C-Lite got together with on a song called "Background."  The artist is Lecrae.  The lyrics to this song have been so profound that I have actually committed to try and memorize them.  Here is the video from youtube with lyrics.  Let me know what you think.  By the way, the official video for the song can be found here.

212 Degrees

Been off the grid for about a week.  It has been rather busy.  First full week of coaching softball.  Thought for the week with the girls was "Practice as if you are the worst, and perform as if you are the best."  This is a really busy time of the year.  It is usually the time when patience is short and arguments are often.  Trying to talk to myself about this so as to make things a little more peaceful heading into the spring.

Talked to the girls on the softball team a lot about effort this week.  One thing that is unacceptable at my softball practice is "I can't."  I expect "I'll try."  One of my favorite inspirational videos is called 212 degrees.  It talks about the fact that at 211 degrees you have really hot water, but at 212 degrees you get steam,,,and that can power a locomotive.  Just one degree makes that much difference....here watch for yourself.

“By what power or what name did you do this?”

Peter and John went on their way in chapter 4 of Acts to begin the Proclamation stage of "Operation Gospel Expansion."  The religious leaders of the day felt very threatened by their teachings, techniques, and especially the following they were starting to amass in and around the area.  So they did what any good leader would do...they seized them and put them in jail.  Probably thinking this would scare them into stopping....??

The irony is that they were being brought to the religious leaders for actually performing an act of kindness!?  So, there have probably been times we have done things that go against popular opinion, and our character or motives have been questioned, but we knew deep in our hearts it was the right thing to do.  What do we do in these situations...become defensive?.....gather people to be on "our side"?....what should we do?

Well, what did Peter do?  He was filled with the Holy Spirit.  (v. 8)  Am I tuned up?  Living a spirit-filled life?  My personal test for this is to take stock of how comfortable I am.  If I am coasting, just muddling through my daily existence, I am probably living an "ernie-filled" life.  If I am being challenged, tested, forced to step outside of what I know I can do....chances are pretty good I am needing some supernatural spirit-like help.  Hence needing to be filled with the Spirit. 

So what is the result when we choose this path??  Look at verses 13-14.  "When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.  But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say." 

So may we go about our daily grind attempting things way beyond what we can do ourselves so as to render our critics speechless....

..................by what power or what name did you do what you did today??