“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” — Rogers Hornsby Baseball marketing genius Bill Veeck once said there was one sure way to know that it is spring. “The true harbinger of spring, is not crocuses or swallows returning to Capistrano, but the sound of a bat on a ball.” Maybe one of the most endearing charms of baseball is that it begins in the spring. The teams show up in Florida and Arizona while much of the nation grows weary of gray and gloom. As the weeks of spring training go by the trees back home start to come to life and buds peek out of the once frozen turf. Spring training is the first hope of summer. Today I get to live a little boys dream and go watch spring training baseball. Sure it is my job. But it is still magic.
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The Skeptical Believer blog written by Jeremy Seely wrote a very nice review about my book When Bad Christians Happen to Good People. Oddly enough Jeremy let me know that he was reviewing the book while I was doing a rewrite of that very book. It will be republished in the next several months with a lot of new content and even more bad Christians! Seriously, the new edition will reflect a lot of my journey since that book came out nearly ten years ago. If you choose to buy the current edition just know that everything you don’t like will be revised or removed in the new, inspired version. Right. Here is just a sampler of Jeremy’s review. When Bad Christians Happen To Good People will shine a laser beam into your own heart to show you where you personally can do better, and will motivate you to actually do it. And in so doing, you’ll feel yourself drawing closer to Jesus.
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Sandra Bullock had an interesting week. She won a Razzie for worst actress in All About Steve. She earned an Oscar for Best Actress in The Blind Side. Both were probably deserved. But this article concentrates on the good movie. The Blind Side is the true story of Michael Oher. Michael was taken from his mother and bounced from place to place in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Memphis. A white couple (Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy) take Oher in and rest of the story is a heartwarming journey that examines the power of love, affirmation and stability. Oher was a first round pick by the Baltimore Ravens in the 2009 NFL Draft. I loved the movie. I urge you to support this movie because it  portrays Christians and family values in a positive light. In the words of Mel Allen, “How about that!”.  I was hit from my blind side by an interview that Sandra Bullock did with World Magazine. Here is an excerpt from the piece written by Megan Basham. Sandra
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Dog friend Hannah loves the morning walk. When she sees me grab the walking shoes she begins to vibrate with excitement. If T.Boone Pickens wants to find an untapped energy source we should harness Labrador tails. Got to think Hannah could power a small apartment building when she gets excited and that tail starts going. I love the morning walk as well. It is a time to meditate, pray, listen to messages and good music and enjoy God’s company. The walk is pretty much the same each day for Hannah. She checks for new messages left by other dog friends on her social network. Sometimes she leaves a reply. She gets excited when she sees another person or dog or, to be honest, anything breathing. Hannah loves life. But I noticed something about my canine friend today that caused me to reflect on my own faith journey. Hannah is happy to just get out and go walking. The fact that she is on a leash
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A lot of my colleagues over at Crosswalk are great at coming up with lists of things to do. My buddy Ray Pritchard wrote a great article titled Seven Reasons Not To Speak When You Are Angry. He also came up with 25 Reasons to Give Thanks When You Don’t Feel Like It. Holy Cow. After trying two or three things on the list I start being distracted by shiny objects and squirrels. The most read articles are often 8 ways to do this or 11 ways to do that. So today I tried to come up with my own article featuring a snappy list. So far I have “Six Things I Screwed Up Yesterday Because of My Own Self-Sufficiency” and “Seven Times I Didn’t Tame My Tongue This Week”. Hmmmm. Then I saw an article at Yahoo.com about a scientific study that shows five ways you can be happier. Let’s work with that. Here is part of that article. Some scientists have argued that happiness is largely determined by genetics, health and
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Some stories make me really angry. Some make me really sad. This one accomplishes both. First, the part that makes me angry. State Delegate Bob Marshall of Manassas, Virginia says disabled children are God’s punishment to women who have aborted their first pregnancy. He made that statement last week at a press conference to oppose state funding for Planned Parenthood. “The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children,” said Marshall. “In the Old Testament, the first born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There’s a special punishment Christians would suggest.” This particular Christian would suggest nothing of the kind. Mr. Marshall’s declaration of God’s intent is staggering in it’s arrogance. Is every child born after the mother has had an abortion delivered with handicaps? Of course not. Are some children
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I have loved watching the Olympic skiing. I sit slack-jawed as I watch Bode Miller and Lindsay Vonn attack the slopes with absolute abandon. I have skiied a little over the years although, to be authentic, my form more closely resembles Herman Munster on skis than Bode Miller. Still I have experienced enough to know how amazing and fearless these athletes are. They come down the mountain on the absolute edge, pushing their limits with each run. I found myself desiring a little more of that in my own life. Not the skiing part. If I attempted what Bode Miller did yesterday you would be planning a lovely memorial for me at a local chapel. But I would like to take that attitude of fearlessness and living on the edge to my spiritual race. I have too often been tentative and uncertain. A skiier has to trust that if he puts his full weight on the skis and into the turn that
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