needing "the mercy rule"!

ouch. my son's baseball game yesterday was a slaughterfest. i'm not even sure if that's a word, but it certainly fits. inning 4 just didn't seem to want to end. and we were in the outfield. missing fly balls, making errors, and generally daydreaming. after a while of this (and I mean a LONG while) we finally hit the "mercy rule". you know, the point in kid's sports where the game is called because one team is up by a ridiculous amount.

some parents were mad; i thought it a good life lesson. because that's how my life feels at times. i think i'm plucking along, doing rather fine. (maybe even dong great, thank you very much!) but then out of the blue, a curveball (metaphorically speaking!). and then i am down for the count. failure, dissapointment, much grace needed.

and much grace is exactly what God offers! in the form of his son Jesus! not-even-remotely-deserved-favor. but i get it anyways--if i want it! thank God for the mercy rule!

never give up!

so i finally got to a celtics playoff game in the garden. good news, bad news.

the good news was: it was, in fact, an historic game. the bad news? well, it was the worse playoff loss in celtics history. an all out thumping.

now... if i were a celtic that night, letting those 19000 fans (including my son and I) down, i would not have shown my face in public. i mean, hang it up. it was that bad.

but, in game 5. in cleveland. against the mighty lebron--a significant thing happened. they forgot about that aweful loss and moved on. instead, they gave Cleveland an historic loss--their worst playoff loss ever.

hmmm. makes me think about perseverance. it is one of the highest human virtues. without it, we slump off and think life is a big waste of time. but with it? with it we acheive amazing things. with it we grow and get stretched from our failures.

the bible says we can even rejoice because of trials. why? because of perseverance.

so wherever you're at, never give up! see all of this as an opporunity for growth! and don't forget that historic victory may be just around the corner.

high five etiquette (with funny video)

a good friend of mine and coworker loves to slap hands when we meet. which is cool. except, i have really bad timing for this sort of thing and usually it becomes slightly awkward. ever happen to you?

or worse, he goes for the high five, and i go for the fist bump. kind of a fist-five, which is even more awkward.

well, if you've ever been in my shoes, you will find this video by tripp and tyler hilarious, but also an informative tool for high five etiquette. feel free to comment with your own tips for high fiving.

Censored!

we have an internet filter on our home computer. it's mostly to give permissions for the shorter members of our growing family. one of the quirky features that i still get a kick out of is that it will automatically censor out dirty words. so, for instance, i was just reading an article on the boston herald about how the red sox got beat by the orioles. it said they got their @#%! kicked. (naturally, i assume the word was butts.)

as a Christ follower, i wonder how often I do the same thing. i censor out the parts of my life that seem unworthy to others. i give my best face, and I keep the side hidden that only my inner circle really knows about. now i'm not talking about deep dark secrets here. just everyday stuff that i'd rather hide behind the symbols found above the letters on my keyboard (figuratively speaking).

i wonder if we are all guilty of that $#@!* (stuff)

i wonder what relationships would look like if we did a better job with authenticity?

and i'm certainly glad that God knows all that %$#!& about me and loves me anyway!

having a crazy heart

today i was out getting some hamburger buns for a cookout when i stopped over at blockbuster to swap out a video. gunna try crazy heart--only because Jeff Bridges won that oscar. i hope it isn't stupid.

anyways, while i was there, this couple was smiling and being very polite. then i realized that i knew them from church. they were encouraging and kind. they stopped to share a kind word with me.

i, on the other hand, was thinking about how humid it was...and i wonder if this movie is stupid...and why did i forget those hamburger buns in the first place.

this couple went out of their way to share some encouraging words to me, someone that they barely even knew. made my day much brighter, i must admit. i thought to myself: how many times do we miss opportunities to bless others with a smile? a kind word? or encouragment?

it's so easy a caveman could do it!