"Surprise, surprise, surprise." Guess who is going to be in Surprise today? The Rocket, Roger Clemens.
Late last night, an email alert appeared in my inbox courtesy of the Dallas Morning News announcing that Clemens, along with Michael Young and Mark Teixeira, would take leave from Team USA today to journey northwest of Phoenix to the Rangers spring training complex.
Clemens has gone on record as saying that, if he pitches in 2006, he will do so for one of four teams: the Yankees, Red Sox, Astros or Rangers. Here's hoping for a wonderful day for the Rocket, complete with Tom Hicks drawing on their mutual interest in the University of Texas, imploring the Rocket to lead the other team in Texas to the World Series.
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It was interesting to read some of your feedback to my call for Bud Selig to toss out Barry Bonds's chase of the Home Run record. As Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated said yesterday on the Dan Patrick show, baseball duped the fans for a decade, thus "turning the record book into a comic book."
So, if you are against tossing Bonds's records, are you in favor of disallowing him entrance into the Hall of Fame? If Peter Edward Rose can't be enshrined in Cooperstown, why should Barry Bonds?
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Last week, it came to my attention that N.T. Wright, one of my favorite theology writers, has a set of New Testament commentaries. They are simply written under the name "Tom Wright" (I think he writes as N.T. Wright when the discussion is theologically deep and Tom Wright when the discussion is based on a more simple approach). Yesterday, I received from Amazon two of the commentaries (Romans 1-8 and The Prison Letters) and after a cursory reading last night, am highly impressed.
If you've been looking for a New Testament commentary series that reads devotionally as an aid to your personal Bible study, I highly recommend you consider Wright's work.
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Last night, we kicked off a new Wednesday night ministry called "The Oasis." In our last Education Ministry meeting, several noted that the traditional, in-depth Wednesday evening Bible study is lacking. Not lacking in Bible study but in participatory worship.
Allan Stanglin, our associate minister, and I created the Oasis as a blend of song, devotional and prayer to speak to the need for a more participatory Wednesday evening experience. I hope you'll give it a try. I think your soul will appreciate it!
