Thankfully, the Rangers rallied to take the series, pounding Cleveland on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. Aside from the top of the first on Friday, the Rangers dominated. Pedro Astacio has one more start in him, then look for Ricardo Rodriguez, he of the shattered elbow last July, to return from Oklahoma City to anchor the fifth spot in the Rangers rotation.
The Gambler, who shut out the Indians through seven before giving way to the bullpen, now has the best ERA in the American League and has not allowed a run in 21 innings. He hasn't allowed a home run in 30 innings. Fabulous!
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I had the privilege this year at Tulsa to hear Leonard Sweet speak. Leonard is renowned among theologians for his insight into the emerging culture and the emerging ministry required to evangelize the emerging culture.
At the Workshop, I picked up his book Out of the Question...Into the Mystery. In the book, he makes fresh an age-old argument for faith based on relationship over religion. I share with you some of his better insights.
"The way to save the world is not through more rules to live by, but through right relationships to live for. People are fast losing the art of being with one another. So it's not surprising that the number one problem in the world is people's living disconnected lives. They are detached from God, from others, and from creation. People are losing the art of living with one another.
To save the world we need something more biblical than higher standards. We need higher relationships. We need less to be 'true to our principles' and much more to be true to our relationships. To save the world we don't need the courage of our convictions. We need the courage of our relationships...especially the courage of a right relationship with the Creator, the creation, and our fellow creatures. Our problem in reaching the world is that we've made rules more important than relationship.
The worst thing you can do to Christianity is to turn it into a philosophical endeavor. Faith is more than beliefs to be learned; it is bonds to be lived. Faith is more than holding the 'right' beliefs; it is holding the 'right' (that is, 'the least of these') hands. We are judged by the world not on the basis of how 'right' we've gotten what we believe but on how well we're living it -- on how well we love God and people.
God didn't send Jesus to offer a proposition. God sent Jesus to offer a proposal: 'Will you love me? Will you let me love you?'"
