Vacation Baseball.....Work Basketball!!!!!

When I was on vacation in St. Louis I played more baseball in about a week and a half then I have in that amount of time in my whole life!!! My 3 year old nephew was destroying me. First thing in the morning...'Uncle Daybull you want to play baseball?'

Um, no Cooper not right now I haven't had any coffee yet...

While watching over me while I drink my coffee to see how much I had left I always knew the first question after the very last sip was going to be...Ok you want to play baseball now?

Yes Cooper we can play baseball now...

Later in the afternoon..."Uncle Daybull you want to go outside and play baseball?"

No Cooper I'm tired and getting too old to keep up with you....

.................................................

Today I went into the the gym to play basketball and saw some other guys in their younger twenties playing 21...so I asked to join....After a very disappointing and somewhat embarrassing game, I said 'Man I'm getting too old for this...I just turned 28..."

The younger 20-something that dribbled the ball around my life while we were playing....

"oh man that's nothing...I just turned 35...."

Oh Geesh!!!!!

I'm sticking to baseball...Cooper...I'm on my way over....

Smoking....mickey mouse...dreams....and dogs.....

My roommate is trying to quit smoking...he's using the 'patch' and stop smoking pills...

He said that the patch seems to be working, but there was one side affect of the pills:

For the past two nights he has only slept for two hour intervals. Last night was the same deal, but probably not for the reason you'd think; he sleeps great. Maybe too great.

Last night he had a series of crazy dreams...

       #1.....He dreamed that he was playing real live madden 2012 football, but as a character from Gears of War3...he was one of the characters as well as everybody else....

      #2.....He dreamed that he went to his friends birthday part but missed it because of the series of inclement weather they had been having....by Mickey Mouse changing the weather patterns....there was flooding everywhere....

      #3.....He stepped out the back door after his friend got mad at him for missing his birthday, only to find that he had stepped into a wooded area right out of a stage from...you guessed it...Gears of War 3...

Once he stepped out a dog ran up to him and took a big chunk out of his arm....so he ran upstairs to his room...to get advice from his dog that died 5 years ago....he dog has perfect diction by the way...

    #4....following that his dog explained a series of events to him that he could not remember...and when asked to provide proof...his dog went to the microwave and played back recordings of previous conversations he had...that he could not remember....

    So when he woke up finally for the last time at 5 am...he went outside and smoked a cigarette...

Who knew that you would need a cigarette to fight the anxiety of the dreams you'd have from taking a 'stop smoking pill'?

Note to self....never start smoking....

The Theological Astutness of "Farmer Boy"

I've been reading a book called Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder...the same woman that wrote "The Little House on the Prairie" series...she wrote something that made me really think about the way I pray...it isn't very much...but maybe it will change the world...like so many minute little things seem to do...

"When the chores were done and he came back with Father and Royal to the warm kitchen, breakfast was almost ready. How good it smelled! Mother was frying pancakes, and the big blue platter, keeping hot on the stove's hearth, was full of plump brown sausage cakes in their brown gravy...Almanzo washed as quickly as he could, and combed his hair. As soon as Mother finished straining the milk, they all sat down and Father asked the blessing for breakfast."

When I sit down for breakfast...or any meal for that matter...in my smallness that I deceive people into thinking is actually something...I always 'say the blessing' over my meal. Like my words on their own are going to accomplish something...like I can bless anything...


I hope that I learn soon that I ask my Father for everything...and apart from Him nothing is blessed...

Thank you Laura Wilder for reminding me of my Father's greatness, and my smallness...

Lillies of the Field

I watched a movie tonight...Lillies of the Field...it was a pretty good movie...in fact I found myself tremendously encouraged by the characters in the movie...I love watching movies about people with incredible faith...

However, I found it very ironic...the movie was about having faith like that of the "lillies of the field" portrayed in Matthew 6:25-28


“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lillies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin."

A group of German nuns is head up by a 'mother' nun that has prayed for a chapel to be built...and she simply has faith throughout the entire movie that He will build them a chapel...and...well you'll have to watch it....

What was ironic was that on the way back home the wheel bearings in my Land Rover started making a funny noise...kind of a metallic rubbing noise...I found myself worrying about it a lot...if any of you know the history of my vehicle you know why...I think I'm going to take a break from driving it around for a while....but I found myself worrying about how to pay for it....




I need to watch the movie again...I must have not got it the first time...

Letters....enjoy....

I've been getting some of the greatest letters of my life...from...well...if you're reading this then you know who. 

 

Identity: I AM YOURS....

The knowledge of myself has always been the greatest inhibitor to my faith. Who am I? What is my purpose? These have always been the greatest questions that I have encountered throughout my life. Today, for some reason, I was awestruck at the answer that seemed to become so blatantly obvious to me…

When Moses was confronted by God to tell the Israelites about Him, He told Moses to tell them that He was their God…”This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:14) God; Yahweh knew exactly who He was, what His purpose was, and what He was going to do. When Jesus was confronted by the Pharisees to explain to them exactly who He was He said…“Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:58)

          Jesus did not have an identity crisis…He knew exactly who He was, what His purpose was, and what He was going to do…

          When I walk to the day of judgment and Jesus meets me at gates and asks me what my name is that He might tell God on my behalf…I want to answer Him fully knowing that God will remember my name. I want to answer, “tell God that ‘I AM YOURS’ is here.”

From the Inside out...

Peace...

     I think my greatest desire on the planet is to know true, resolute, unwavering, constant peace. I have been participating more and more in the Quaker Church. I am not one to say that I agree with all of the theology of the Quaker church, far from it in fact. However, there is much to be said about the simplicity, stillness, purity, and altruistic nature of the Society of Friends. There is nothing like sitting in a room with a number of other people in complete silence until the Spirit calls someone to move. Sometimes you can just sit there, still, in His presence and never say anything; for hours. That can have a resonating effect on ones heart that lasts forever.

    The thing that make Quakers so abnormal to us is not them at all, but rather simply us. For a long time I had a problem with just sitting in my room alone in silence. I couldn’t bare the silence. At one point in my life I feel like I truly understood the phrase ‘the silence was deafening.’ However, in reality, the phrase should be ‘the silence is revealing.’ That is the problem. We as human beings are so afraid to be called out that we don’t even give ourselves the chance to be heard, by ourselves. I know that doesn’t make any sense so let me explain.

    Martin Luther once wrote said ‘that it is neither good nor wise to go against ones conscience.’ Our own personal consciences are more revealing to us than even advice from our wisest friends. I think ultimately Luther knew and understood that  Jesus is our savior, God is our Father, and the Holy Spirit lives in us so that Jesus might live vicariously. That might be understood to most, but what is almost clear but cloudy is that many times our consciences could be seen as the Holy Spirit speaking to us…encouraging us to move and act according to the message of the gospel played out in our lives. Deep down inside we know the right decisions that we should make. We are just selfish, childish, and immature children that don’t want to hear the sound of our own consciences telling us what to do.

    However, it isn’t until I can get past my own conscience that I may even begin to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit encouraging to move and act in situations that have to do with something other than my own life. Once I sit in silence and truly pray, and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal me to me…act according to what I know is right…it is then that I can start living out my Father’s intended ministry in my own life.