Weekend Survey

   There certainly has been a lot of news lately about baseball. Pennant races are heating up and several star players have reached notable milestones.

   What is your favorite baseball team and who is your favorite player (current or retired)?

   I am a Braves fan and my favorite player would probably be John Smoltz. I love to watch him pitch when he has his good stuff.

Let’s Try This Again

   Okay, let’s try this blogging thing again. This summer has been great, but it has provided a lot of opportunities that have pulled me away from the computer. Now that we have resumed our homeschooling, I now have a little more time to devote to throwing my scattered thoughts into cyberspace.

   We spent the entire month of June and the first part of July involved in Clay’s all-star team. His team did very well, exceeding the expectations of a lot of people. Eventually, they finished third in their district which also placed them in the top twelve teams in the state. Congratulations, Cairo Blue!

   The one exception to baseball during June was our VBS. We had a fantastic week. It is wonderful to see how our folks get into doing their work during this time. We had some great classes with one decision for Christ as well as a number of other opportunities to minister to families in need.

   We have had a few family outings that have been a lot of fun as well. We love to visit a number of state parks and a nearby federal wildlife refuge. God has allowed us to make some very special memories this summer.

   In addition to all of this, has been the normal involvement in the ministry of our church. God has blessed as we have seen a number of answers to prayer take place.

   One other reason for my lack of material has been that I have taken up another writing project. When I have felt the creative juices flowing the last couple of months, they have been diverted in that direction. If this project works out, I will tell you about it sometime, otherwise, you may never hear of it again 😉 .

   I hope to get back to a more regular form of posting now. I appreciate all of those who have been so encouraging with your comments over the last couple of months. There are a lot of benefits to this thing of blogging, but to me, by far, the greatest is the connections you make with other people.

   So what have you been up to this summer?

Bits and Pieces

   I haven’t been on the blog much the last few days. My family and I had the opportunity to take a short vacation over the holiday weekend.

   We spent the first night and day in Atlanta, going to see the Braves (they lost), Bass Pro Shops (I love that place) and the Georgia Aquarium.

   We then went over to Warm Springs, GA, for a couple of days of peace and quiet. That is such a beautiful area and nice community. We really enjoyed ourselves and were able to catch up on some R & R.

   I have to toot the horn for my two sons for a moment. They both played on the same baseball team this year. This was the first time this had happened for us and it was very nice. I am happy to announce that their team won both the regular season championship and the league playoff. Congratulations, Clay and Glen! In addition, Clay was selected to the All-Star team for the first time. Needless to say, he is very excited.

   Once again, I want to say thanks to all of those who read this blog. Some of you I have met, and others it seems as if we have known each other for years even though we haven’t met face-to-face. I look forward to the day when we won’t need the web to communicate.

Burgers With the Big Dawg

   I had a great opportunity last night, along with about 1200 others to hear Mark Richt share his testimony at a hamburger supper. For those who do not know, Mark Richt is the head football coach at the University of Georgia.

   He gave a wonderful testimony of the circumstances God used to bring him to faith in Jesus Christ. His life had been built upon his love for football and his dreams of a professional career. When things didn’t work out as he planned, he followed the wrong voices for a time in his life, but through the witness of a former team mate and his new boss (FSU coach Bobby Bowden) he came to see his need of being saved.

    We hear so much today of the scandals and problems of athletes and coaches, it was very refreshing to find one who is willing to take a public stand for Christ.

Bits and Pieces

I want to take this opportunity to share with you some new links that you may find interesting.

 This past weekend, Jamey Murphy, husband of singer, Kelley Murphy, led a parenting conference at Pine Park Baptist Church. The conference materials were produced by the Parent Project and were excellent. They offered great insights into the problems that kids are facing today, how a parent can identify those problems, and how to develop a strategy to deal with them. If any pastors or youth ministers read this, I highly recommend that you have Jamey come and do a conference at your church. You can contact him through his brand-new blog (WordPress should start paying me commission fees!), Blue Collar Parent.

Frequent visitor and commentor here, Ron Jackson, aka RBJ, has finally started his own blog (WordPress, are you getting this?). Bro. Ron is a member of Pine Park BC and is a genuine country boy. He has a lot of stories to tell along with some pretty good insights on living. Be sure and give his blog a visit.

You can always count on kids for a good laugh. This past Sunday night, I had preached on David’s sin with Bathsheba. On the way home, my oldest son, Clay, asked, “Dad, what does ‘adultery’ mean?”

Before I could answer, my youngest son, Glen, chimed in, “That’s when you make fun of adults.” 

Finally, congratulations to the Bears and the Colts. This should be a pretty good Super Bowl. I think Peyton Manning will finally be able to silence his critics by leading his team to a championship.

Movie Review: Facing the Giants

Last night I had the opportunity to watch the movie, Facing the Giants. It was a very enjoyable and inspirational experience.

“Facing the Giants” is the story of Shiloh Christian Academy and their underachieving football team. Through a series of personal conflicts, their young coach comes to grips with his faith, thus changing his philosophy about life and coaching. This facilitates a new attitude for his team and brings about a change in the way they are playing and living.

 Let me begin by telling you what I did not see. This film was not produced in a Hollywood studio with a mega-budget. As you are probably aware, it was produced on a $100,000 budget by Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, GA. Thus, it doesn’t have a lot of special effects or bells and whistles that many movies use to cover up a lack of substance. Neither did I see any drinking, cussing, nudity or gratuitous violence (just some hard-hitting football action).

 What I did see was reality. The movie was very realistic in the way it portrays the struggles of life. Issues such as tight-budgets, infertility, job security and frustration are presented in such a way that most, if not all viewers will feel a connection with the lead characters.

I appreciated the unadulterated Gospel that was presented throughout the movie (this is why it was rated PG). The humor was a little contrived in some parts, but it was good for a few laughs, nonetheless. The football scenes were very realistic and the plot moved toward a fulfilling climax.

I highly recommend that you see this movie. You don’t have to be a Christian or a football fan to enjoy it, but after seeing it, you may become both.

Come on John, Be a Man

The blogosphere and the news networks have been agog today with the news of John Kerry’s latest faux pas. Even CNN and other Democrats are begging for him to just make this go away by apologizing.

 So far, all he is admitting is that it was a “botched joke”. People who lack a sense of humor shouldn’t attempt to be funny. Now, as much as I dislike Sen. Kerry’s political views, I would be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I am sure that many others would, also. All he needs to say is, “I messed up. I didn’t study my cue cards hard enough, and now I am stuck in a newswire quagmire. I apologize to our troops and veterans. I don’t think they are intellectually challenged, they are really very smart people.”

He hasn’t done this yet.

Meanwhile the Republicans are milking it for all its worth, trying to gain benefit for the upcoming election. News networks are milking it for all its worth for ratings. Bloggers (other ones, not me) are milking it for all its worth for hits.

I wish he would just be a man, say, “I’m sorry”, and let us get on with life. There are people that should be in the news from whom he is taking face time, you know, people like Terrell Owens and Barry Bonds.

 TOTALLY UNRELATED NEWS ITEM: A postal worker in Pennsylvania was hospitalized after a squirrel attack. This is just a continuation of the increasing tensions between squirrels and humans.

Weekend Survey

I am soooooo excited about the start of college football. There are a couple of games this weekend that I think bear watching, Notre Dame vs Georgia Tech, tomorrow, and Florida State vs Miami on Monday.

So for this week’s survey question, What is your favorite college football team and do you have any predictions for the upcoming season?

My favorite is the Florida State Seminoles. I predict they will win their conference and may even contend for the national title. Ohio State, Texas and West Virginia should be at the top as well.

Notre Dame is not going to survive the schedule they have.

Have a blessed weekend.

What I Love About Fall

Forgive me while I express some exhiliration. I will resume posts of a “spiritual” nature soon, but I must share with you what I am feeling right now. It is coming up on my favorite time of the year, fall. Now those of you who live in more northern climes than do I will probably be thinking, “Don’t you mean ‘autumn’?” You are probably thinking about rolling countryside carpeted in a vivid display of colors that no artist could hope to match. Maybe you are thinking about bonfires and hot chocolate or mulled apple cider as the changing seasons bring a hint of chill to the air.

The fact is, all of that is great. I used to live up north, so I have had the opportunity to enjoy all of that. That is, indeed, a true “autumn”.

Things are different in South Georgia.

We have very little fall color and the leaves don’t even fall off the trees here until late November and December. Hey, it doesn’t even get cold here until January when we have a three-day cold-snap and then it warms back up. We had three inches of snowfall a few years back and it paralyzed the whole area. It doesn’t pay to get out and drive in the snow here. If you don’t know how to drive in the snow, you wind up in the ditch. If you do know how to drive in the snow, people begin to suspect you may really be a Yankee and that can lead to misunderstandings.

But I digress.

Fall is my favorite time of the year.

“Why?” you may ask.

Two words: hunting and football.

Yessirree, in just a few weeks it will be time to take to the woods in search of fresh meat. Getting out with the boys while trying to avoid redbugs, mosquitoes, yellowjackets and rattlesnakes. It seems like everytime we go hunting, it turns into a big adventure of some kind. Sometime I’ll have to tell you about the Great Yellowjacket Caper or the Squirrel Who Wouldn’t Die.

And then there is football.

I dearly love college football. I am proud to be a fan of the Florida State University Seminoles. Believe me, there is no feeling in the world like being among 82,000 of your best friends in Doak Campbell Stadium, on a Saturday afternoon that is still 95 degrees well into October, watching those teams from up north fold like a cheap suit in the middle of the second quarter.

I even enjoy watching games involving teams I care nothing about. The NFL is okay when there aren’t any college games on, but give me the old school spirit anytime. Kickoff is just around the corner. I am making plans for the optimal viewing experience for several games (you need plenty of iced tea and snacks).

My wife is starting to get that resigned look on her face that she always gets this time of year. She knows that our house and conversations are going to be filled with elements of pigskin and junkfood and that the remote control will be stuck on ESPN. I, on the other hand, am going around with a silly grin on my face that just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

I am a happy man.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year.