What a great morning and what a great God! Jeff's surgery was deemed a success yesterday. My personal thanks to all of you who took time out of your schedule yesterday to pray for Jeff.

Here's a portion of an email I received last night from Kim Sykora, one of Jeff and Michelle's closest friends:

As some of you already know, Jeff's surgery went really well. The Dr's think they got all of the cancer and he should have full use of his leg! They did take some muscle but were able to reconstruct it so it should work normally. He did not have to have a skin graft either. So really, it sounds like it went as well as it could have. When Mike and I left Jeff and Michelle tonight at the hospital, he was trying to get comfortable and was hurting. But you know Jeff, he's not a complainer at all. I pray he has a good night and his pain will be minimal. God bless each one of you for making such a difference in their lives. You all bless them so much! I can tell you for them, they love and appreciate you so much. And I do to! Give God all the glory for all He's done!

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The Rangers are now 5 games up!

The last three wins have taken on the tenor of a team doing things against conventional wisdom and recent history. Consider...

*On Sunday, the Rangers won, though more men reached base via the walk(7) than a hit (6).

*On Monday night, rookie John Rheinecker and Rick Bauer combined on a 5-hit shutout. How often do you remember seeing those at Ameriquest Field?

*Sunday and Monday saw the Rangers' offense combine for 12 hits, yet those 12 hits produced 2 wins.

*And last night, with ace Kevin Millwood scuffling, Michael Young and Brad Wilkerson picked him up, combining for 2 homers which produced the 6 runs. In spite of 4 defensive errors, the Rangers still found a way to win.

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Over the Memorial Day holiday, I finished off an excellent read on leadership from John Schuerholz, General Manager of the Atlanta Braves, entitled Built to Win. I must preface my comments by stating on the front-end, I have never liked the Braves. It's impossible not to appreciate their run of 14 straight National League pennants. But for some reason, I just have never cottoned to the Braves.

In the book, Schuerholz talks at length about how he had to reinvent the culture surrounding the entire organization when he took over as General Manager. How did he do it?

1.) By creating a new vision
2.) By establishing organizational goals
3.) By developing a roadmap for success
4.) By leading through inspiration
5.) By modeling leadership for the entire organization

Schuerholz discusses each of these facets in detail, describing how each piece played a critical role in establishing a culture of anticipated success in an organization that had grown apathetic.

If you are looking for a good read on organizational leadership and how those 5 principles play out practically, then Schuerholz's advice is right up your alley.

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Finally, a question for you this morning that was born of some thoughts I shared in my sermon last Sunday morning. We talked about how Jesus turned the age-old Passover meal into a memorial, the Lord's Supper.

In Luke 22.21, Luke implies that Judas was at the table when Jesus instituted the Supper. But John's gospel implies a different timeline. In John 13.21-30, John says that Judas had left the room.

So which was it: was Judas at the table for Jesus' revisioning of the Passover meal or not? Mull it over and see what you come up with and I'll devote my blog tomorrow to an attempt at answering this seeming discrepancy.

First things first: this morning is a big day in the life of Jeff Bearden. Jeff is my dear friend back in Arkansas who has been battling cancer. He had been valiant in undergoing aggressive chemo and radiation treatments. The good news is all preliminary reports are optimistic: the tumor has seemingly shrunk and the cancer cells are seemingly confined to the area behind his knee.

Today, doctors at UAMS in Little Rock will remove the tumor at 11:00 a.m. They will be analyzing on the spot and determining how much tissue surrounding the tumor area to remove.

Jeff and I talked last night. His spirits are great and his faith is strong. I am praying today that this will be the last major hurdle in Jeff's battle and that the Great Physician already has a great victory in mind. A victory that will only add more fuel to the fire of Jeff and Michelle's faith.

Join me today in lifting up prayers for Jeff, Michelle, Dane, and Jacob.

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Because Major League Baseball is a 162-game long season, the standings from day-to-day are often irrelevant.

But on three days a year, three mile-markers if you will, the standings hold an extra measure of importance. Three days in which the scribes and pundits place added value to a team's placement in the standings.

Yesterday, Memorial Day, was one of those days (the others being the All-Star break and Labor Day). Memorial Day marks the "unofficial" start of summer and a good gauge of where a team is 1/3 of the way through the season.

Following last night's games, the standing showed the Rangers in first place in the AL West, 4 games up on Oakland, 5 up on the Angels and 6 up on the Mariners. The Rangers are the only team in the AL West playing above .500 baseball.

Last night, behind John Rheinecker's sterling 8.1 inning, shutout performance, the Rangers won 2-0. Mark Teixeira, who seems to be breaking out of an early season power slump, hit a 2-run homer to account for all the Rangers runs.

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We had a great Memorial Day holiday. Thanks to the generosity of Kyle, Marti and Kyliegh Ann Futrell sharing their swimming pool with us, Mandy, the girls and I had a ball playing and swimming!

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Yesterday in the Austin American-Statesman, a really neat story appeared in the Metro section under the headline: "Uninsured find relief at low-cost pharmacy." The story told about pharmacist Chris Johnson who founded MedSavers Pharmacy. Johnson's aim is to deliver only generic medicines at low-cost enabling people to acquire the needed medicines for their ailments at a cost savings.

"I saw too many instances where people had to make hard decisions between keeping on the electricity and buying groceries and keeping their hearts in the right rhythm," Johnson said. "There had to be a better way."

And so Johnson walked away from a more lucrative job, earning much more money, to open the pharmacy. He doesn't do insurance billing, allowing him to keep costs low and sells only generic drugs, allowing customers affordability in a day of rising medical costs.

"These drugs are bankrupting people," said Johnson, who previously worked as a pharmacist at a Texas cancer center where some 30-day prescriptions cost more than $3,000. "Hopefully, pharmacies like this can take away a pebble at a time."

Bobby Ross is the editor of the Christian Chronicle and has written his take of last night's thrilling Rangers win with a link to my blog today.

There's a whole host of reasons why yesterday, May 25th, might just go down as one of the best days of 2006.

For starters, yesterday marked the close of the school year. And to celebrate, I checked Trae out early and together, we made the pilgrimage north to the Temple. The Palace outside of Dallas. Ameriquest Field in Arlington.

We arrived at the ballpark about 2 hours before gametime and quickly made our way to the Coca-Cola Sports Park. Grammy had given Trae $7 for game tokens and she cashed out by winning a bat at the Wiffle Ball park, winning a pair of binoculars for throwing a ball at a bullseye, and three sets of baseball cards for other skill games.

We then browsed through the Grand Slam gift shop, picking up a gift for Tori. Tori loves Hank Blalock and has an imitation of Chuck Morgan's introduction of the Hammer that is to die for. We got Tori a Hank Blalock jersey that she is proudly sporting this morning.

We settled into our seats around 6:30 for the match-up between the AL West-leading Rangers and the second-place Oakland A's.

For the first 5 1/2 innings, the only highlight was when Mark Ellis fouled a ball off his foot that rolled toward the on-deck circle. Mark Kotsay was on-deck and he and Trae had struck up a friendship, waving at each other everytime he came to the on-deck circle (our seats, courtesy of the graciousness of Marble Falls church member, Jim White, were on the second row just behind the A's on-deck circle). When Kotsay retrieved the ball, he immediately walked over and handed it to Trae!

After 5 1/2, the A's led 7-0 and the thought raced through my mind that even if this game turned out to be a dud, the quality time with my daughter was what this night was ultimately all about.

But then the game changed dramatically. Rod Barajas hit a grand slam. Ian Kinsler followed with a homer to left. In the seventh, Mark Teixeira launched one over the right field fence. Then in the eighth, Ian Kinsler nailed his second homer of the game. Tie game, 7-7.

In the bottom of the ninth, with the count 1-1 and 1 out, Phil Nevin broke out of a month-long slump by driving Huston Street's pitch over the centerfield wall, propelling the Rangers to an improbable, come-from-behind win, 8-7.

A night with my daughter. A dramatic Rangers win. Could the night get any better?

At 11:45 p.m., as we passed through Waco on our way home, my cell phone rang. I checked the caller ID and it read "Unavailable Number." The first thought that raced through my mind was that the call was from my good friend, Bay Area resident and die-hard A's fan, Dave Rawding. But when I answered, I was shocked and blessed to hear none other than Rick Northen on the other line. Rick was so pumped after checking the internet that he called from Cambodia to relive the game with me over the phone.

12 quality hours with my little girl. A dramatic Rangers win. A call from my best friend half-a-world away. Life just doesn't get any better than that. And that is why I say, of all the days this year, May 25th will forever be one to remember!

Tuesday night was the end of softball season for the Gardner's. But for 14 girls and their parents in our softball league, it was just the beginning.

You see, those 14 girls were selected to the All-Star team which will now travel around central Texas in the hopes of advancing further and further in tournament play. They will practice 4 nights a week and play every weekend.

Is it just me or is that a little much to invest in girls 6-8 years old?

During my days coaching high school baseball, I was always touched by the number of kids capable of helping our team who'd long since burned out playing the game. That is why, during my school board tenure, I lobbied hard for some restrictions on playing athletics so much at the expense of families. It always concerned me that basketball tournaments would kick-off the day after Christmas, often prohibiting families from truly enjoying the holiday season.

To be honest, I am as big a supporter of athletics as a teacher for children as anybody. But is there a point when extracurricular activies can be too much?

Yesterday, my MSN home page produced an article by Jeanne Sather called "Activity Overload: Are Kids Doing Too Much?" Give it a read and let me know what you think (jim.gardner@hotmail.com). What does your family do to maintain balance and perspective?

I guess this morning I have to just accept this fate: I am the Bobby Cox of Girls Softball. You know, the coach who can get his team to the big stage but can't seem to ever win on the big stage.

Last night in a thrilling game, my Rangers went down to Brent Dalton's Tigers 16-15 in the championship game of our softball league. That makes two years in a row that our team (me and Trae) played in the championship game, only to lose.

We started out on fire, no doubt fired up by the dugout decorations some of the moms had made for the girls. A huge poster adorned the dugout with the words "Good Luck Rangers" and all the girls names and numbers. The moms even hung balloons on the dugout.

We scored 4 runs in the first inning, only to allow the Tigers to notch 5 in the bottom half of the first. We came back with 4 in the second, only to allow the Tigers to get five in the bottom of the second.

The third inning did us in. With runners on first and second and Trae at bat, we hit into what had to be the first-ever triple play in the history of 6-8 year old girls softball. Trae popped it up and the pitcher caught it on the fly. Our runner at first took off and rounded second while my girl at second stood on the base, making the runner from first automatically out. With the pitcher standing on second, the girl who'd stayed on second freaked out and took off and Brent's pitcher tagged her for the third out.

We never were able to dig out of that hole.

In the final inning, Trae did hit her first home run of the season -- a three-run homer to right field.

I am proud of my girls who played so hard and improved all year. Building relationships with the girls and their parents and watching the girls develop their skills on the softball field are always pure joy for me. Plus, spending that time with my daughter forms memories for both of us that will last a lifetime.

But the competitor in me would like, just once, to win the big one!

Some takes from the world of sports to start you out this morning:

*The win last night by the Rangers, 3-2 over the Angels, was one of the better wins of the year.

*Is there a better clutch hitter in the game today than Michael Young?

*Though I don’t even pretend to be an NBA fan, the Spurs-Mavericks series was a classic. Those were two teams about as evenly matched as you can get.

*All eyes in the Marble Falls Youth Softball Association will be trained tonight on Rotary Park, Field A where the Rangers battle the Tigers for the league championship. We are banking on some Metroplex karma to spill over from last night.

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I got two books in from ACU Press yesterday that I can’t wait to devour. The Pilgrim Heart: The Way of Jesus in Everyday Life by Darryl Tippens looks excellent. Also, John Mark Hicks and Bobby Valentine collaborated to write Kingdom Come: Embracing the Spiritual Legacy of David Lipscomb and James Harding.

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Finally, I want to share with you this morning some great pictures of Trae's 8th birthday party last Monday night. Enjoy...and Go Rangers!!

Yesterday morning, in advance of my sermon on Encouragement, we sang the familiar old hymn "Count Your Many Blessings," officially known as "When Upon Life's Billows." This morning, the thought of considering our blessings is ever-present. Here are some of mine today:

*I am blessed to be married to Mandy. Wow, how did I get so lucky to be married to her?

*I am blessed to have tickets to the Rangers/A's game in Arlington on Thursday.

*I am blessed to call Trae and Tori my daughters. They are bright, witty, funny, but most of all, they love Jesus.

*I am blessed to have a 6-8 year old girls softball team playing for the league championship tomorrow.

*I am blessed to have my Mom here to help out while Mandy is out of town. Mom is tireless, despite her health.

*I am blessed to work alongside Jimmy and Allan. They are creative and intelligent, with a passion for teaching and living the way of Jesus.

*I am blessed by Rick and Gail Northen: their friendship and their example as they minister in Cambodia.

*I am blessed to be able to speak to God about anything, anytime and know that he hears every word, no matter how feeble.

*I am blessed to drink a Diet Pepsi as I write this blog.

You know, from food to family to fun times, we Christians in America are so blessed. But we are never blessed to be the end-user of our own blessings -- we are blessed so that we can bless the lives of others.

What blessings has God given you today? Take a moment and reflect and "count your many blessings, name them one by one."

Are you feeling DaVinci Code Overload these days? And to think, the movie finally opens today.

I confess right out of the box that I haven't read the book (Mandy has and has given me the skinny). And I confess my lackadaisical interest in seeing the flick (the reviews are too critical to make it worth the investment).

But I do know Dan Brown's best seller has spawned a change in the arena of Bible-related material available at your local Barnes & Noble or Borders. Last week, when we were in Austin, we popped by Borders, only to be greeted in the entry by a display of all the books spawned by Brown's work. There is a fascination at work today about "the lost books of the Bible" unlike anything I've ever witnessed.

And while the fascination might be new, the root of all these works are as old as the second century Gnostics. Gnosticism never cottoned to the orthodox practices and beliefs of the church, believing instead in a special knowledge or understanding that often stood uniquely opposed to traditional wisdom and history. Sound familiar? It should because the DaVinci Code craze is nothing more than Gnosticism masked within our contemporary day and culture. In fact, if you check out Brown's website, he has a link entitled "Secrets" to help rookie Gnostics better understand the special knowledge he has unearthed.

What should Christians do?

Tuesday night, I did something I never do...I watched “Nightline.” I typically tune in a West Coast baseball game on the Dish Extra Innings package, but because of the excruciating way the Rangers lost on Tuesday night -- 14-13 to the Evil Empire after blowing two 9-run leads –- I couldn’t stomach anymore baseball.

I’m grateful, though, to have tuned in Nightline on Tuesday night. The second segment of the show was devoted to a Christian perspective on the DaVinci Code.

Nightline featured Darrell Bock, a New Testament history scholar at a Dallas seminary, and his crusade to debunk the myths advanced by Dan Brown in the DaVinci Code. I loved what Bock had to say about the church’s responsibility to those intrigued by the message of the DaVinci Code because it gives us clear marching orders regarding what we should do:

"Between 20 [percent] and 33 percent of the population say they believe the book or feel they benefited from the book," Bock said. "That's the combined populations of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston. Take everybody in those cities, they all believe it. Now what's the church's responsibility to that group … of people who believe that? You can't say, 'Oh, sorry, you shouldn't believe it'. You better engage them."

Rather than casting stones at those who take Brown’s claims at face-value -- as history says we Christians have been want to do -- Bock calls on Christians to be proactive in participating in the conversation; to stretch ourselves into uncomfortable places and conversations with people whose knowledge of Scripture is such that Brown’s deceiving claims are enticing.

If you'd like some more on-line meat to sink your teeth into regarding a Christian perspective on the DaVinci Code, check out John Alan Turner. Turner is co-author of The Gospel According to the DaVinci Code

Yesterday, Allan, Jimmy and I had a wonderful time pouring over old hymnals, looking for songs that are not in our current songbook. Our plan was to come up with 20 songs/hymns for last night's Oasis. It was amazing to find such a wonderful blend of old and new songs.

It was also interesting to discover how many of the old hymns are set against the backdrop of suffering. Those songs written in the 19th century and early 20th century when Americans knew the realities of war and loss form a suffering motif that is hard to miss. Agricultural and suffering motifs are prevalent in many of the older, beloved hymns.

But the songs of my youth and many of the "contemporary" songs/hymns lack those features. Gen X and Gen Y didn't generally didn't grow up on farms and haven't experienced the tragedies of war on the same scale as generations before. Consequently, the underlying themes of many of the new songs reflect a different worldview, a different backdrop.

Is the absence of suffering a help or a hindrance to Christianity?

When you get a chance, read Revelation 2 and 3 and the letters to the seven churches in Asia. In the first six letters, Jesus admonished churches who are caught in the grip of suffering. But the seventh letter, to the lukewarm church in Laodicea, calls them to repentance. It is interesting to note that there isn't a hint of suffering in Laodicea.

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The Laodicean experience mirrored the experience of the church in Corinth. Paul's first letter is replete with charges that would bring any modern-day church to shame. The compromise of Christlikeness that is evident in Corinth was born in the absence of suffering.

Jack Reese is spot-on in conveying how the absence of suffering leads us to internal fragmentation rather than harmony:

"I am not sure, but I think this (the absence of suffering) may be part of the problem modern Christians face, especially in America. We lived for a long time under the illusion that our nation was generally Christian, that the values of the surrounding culture paralleled, if not complemented, our own. Christians in business or education, journalism or medicine, could live lives virtually indistinguishable from those who were not Christians. We cared generally about the same things, worried about the same issues, pursued the same wealth, and reflected the same values about race and politics. Few Christians felt estranged from their neighbors. Few had to defend their lifestyle or their choices. We bought into the American Dream and reaped its ostensible benefits. We lived at peace with the world.

As a consequence perhaps, we quarreled with each other. While we did good works, built great edifices, expanded missions, and gave to the poor, we also held at arm's distance, became suspicious, labeled, blamed and accused. When it came to differences among us, a spirit of debate not dialogue became the norm. Like the Christians in Corinth, we divided over issues that were petty and small while we lived in relative peace with the world" (153).

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So how do we recover a worldview that transforms us into Christlikeness while living in a culture where Christian suffering is absent?

Reese calls us back the unity that is found at the Lord's table, the peacemeal, where spiritual formation does its best work:

"Living a godly life was hard (in the first churches generally). The followers of Jesus needed each other. They weren't strong enough alone. They weren't wise enough or courageous enough to sustain their faith without the support of their brothers and sisters. Church to them was not just a pleasant place to come each week, a gathering of friends and other nice folks, where they might dress themselves up, sing songs they liked, hear a nice sermon, pinch a wafer and sip a tiny cup of grape juice before heading back into their busy world. It was not the kind of gathering at which they would likely complain that the auditorium class had been moved, the sermon was too long, or a worship team was positioned up front. They came together because they knew by themselves they were in trouble. They needed someone to help strengthen their feeble arms and weak knees, someone to keep them from being discouraged. For this reason, the unity of the church was not a luxury, not a minor doctrine or a marginal issue that could be ignored until everyone agreed on every issue. Each week, in the midst of their diversity, in spite of their differences, they exchanged with great intimacy the peace of Christ. Then they sat down together and ate and drank.

Such fellowship could hardly be faked. Unlike modern assemblies where many of us don't even know the names of the people with whom we are eating the Supper, where we can pretend to be loving and faithful and no one will know otherwise, Christians meeting in early house churches were bound together by necessity and commitment. They were frequently ostracized by their neighbors because of their faith. Some were beaten or arrested. Many had friends who turned their backs on them, among both the Jewish and Gentile communities. That is why the breakdown of Christian unity among any group was devastating. And that is why divisions among Christians usually showed themselves first in their assemblies" (141)."

"The words 'Do This in Remembrance of Me' are carved into the wood of the communion tables in many churches. These words do not say 'Think This' but rather 'Do This' even though most of us do a lot of thinking and very little doing when we participate in the Lord's Supper. Do what? Participate in remembrance. In the taking of the bread and the drinking of the cup, we re-experience the death and resurrection event. We don't just think quietly to ourselves about what happened to Jesus a long time ago. We don't just tell a story or two about it. We rehearse it, we reenact it, we reembody it. And the very power that nailed our sins to the cross, the power that rolled the stone away from the empty tomb, breathes into our lungs and transforms us into the people of God" (150).

Sorry to be so late with my blog post this morning. It's Jimmy and Allan's fault!

"The word of the LORD came to him (Elijah) saying, "Go from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the Wadi Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. You shall drink from the wadi, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there." So he went and did according to the word of the LORD" (1 Kings 17.3-5a).

This week, I have found the influence again of TAG Time (TAG is an acroynm for Time Alone with God). God calls us into quiet places, to be still and know him so that as deep calls to deep, the presence of God can commune with his disciples.

There is great joy and strength when the community of faithful come together. But there is also great joy and strength in making TAG Time a priority.

"Thomas A. Kempis lived out such a commitment to solitude and he encouraged followers of Christ to imitate Jesus by doing the same. In his devotional classic The Imitation of Christ, he writes: 'The person who wants to arrive at interiority and spirituality has to leave the crowd behind and spend some time with Jesus. Nobody's comfortable in public unless he's spent a great deal of time in the quiet of his home.' Kempis goes on to warn against losing balance in our service to God: 'Better to lie still in one's cubicle and worry about one's spiritual welfare. Worse, to roam the streets a wonder-worker for others to the neglect of one's own spiritual life.'

God instructs us, as he did Elijah, 'Go and hide yourself by the stream.' God is there to give us food and drink and rest. He will guide us in the way we should go" (The Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible, p. 518).

Yesterday, I was excited to hop aboard my uncle's blog to discover this picture of my sister and brother-in-law taken last Sunday morning before church. As many of you already know, my sister is pregnant with twins.

But after looking at this picture closely, I can't tell if Melissa is carrying both of the babies or if Ryan is trying to help her out by carrying one of the twins for her?

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Alright, let's do something fun today! What names should Melissa and Ryan consider for their twins? Email me (jim.gardner@hotmail.com) your suggestions.

In a rather obscure, out-of-the-way passage in Genesis 46.21, the Bible says that Benjamin had a couple of sons with the wonderful names of "Huppim" and "Muppim." Some have surmised, based on the rythmic naming, that these boys were twins.

In the Austin American-Statesman last week, the most popular children's names were noted. Today, the most popular names for twin girls are "Faith" and "Hope."

What names do you think Mel and Ryan should consider? Let me know your suggestions and I'll be sure to pass them along to my sister and brother-in-law.

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I am a workaholic and I confess that. I come by it honestly, having had a determined work ethic instilled in me by the example of my grandfathers and my father. Working hard everyday is a part of the fabric of my being.

But recently, I've been thinking about a simple passage in Jesus's life. It is found in Matthew 13.1 and simply says, "That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake."

Ministry can be taxing. The demands and the eternal consequences of ministry have such gravity that over-working and burnout is common. And yet, as I consider the ministry of Jesus, how many times does Scripture paint Jesus in retreat mode?

For example, many passages speak of Jesus withdrawing to a mountainside to pray, often for extended periods of time. Jesus sought the Father consistently through "TAG" time (Time Alone with God). But Scripture also notes that Jesus took time to relax in the face of the most demanding ministry this world has ever known.

Today I am going to follow his example -- not by the side of the lake but in the bleachers of Nelson Wolff Stadium in San Antonio as the San Antonio Missions (AA farm team of the Seattle Mariners) play a matinee game against some future Rangers, the Frisco Rough Riders (AA farm team of the Texas Rangers). It promises to be a beautiful day, the kind of day that can recharge a guy's batteries.

Eight years ago today, Mandy and I were checking into the North Florida Regional Medical Center in Gainesville, Florida. Our hearts were racing with excitement and anticipation for the arrival of our first child.

We had known for 20 weeks leading up to the big day that God would bless us with a little girl. Despite the anticipation, neither Mandy nor I knew just how much Trae Alexandria would bless our lives.

We had decided to name her "Trae" based on the wedding vows we took when we were married. Our vows were based on Ecclesiastes 4.9-12 which speak of two being better than one and a cord of three strands would never be broken. Throughout our marriage, our mutual union with God has been the third strand that unites in love. And so it was only natural for us to name our little girl Trae. She is a living, breathing testimony of the faith of her parents in God.

At 3:15 p.m. eight years ago today, Trae entered this world. We still have the video of that special moment capturing the tears that flowed in that room. I have never felt so loved and blessed by God.

Throughout Mandy's pregnancy, I would sing and talk to Trae while she was still inside mommy's tummy. When she was born, the nurses cleaned her and checked all her vital signs. Then a moment emblazoned on my memory occured. As the nurses moved away from her crib, I approached my newborn baby daughter. She was crying her little eyes out, no doubt wishing she was back inside the safety and warmth of mommy's tummy. I leaned over into her crib and whispered, "Hey baby girl. I love you so much!" And with that, Trae immediately ceased her crying, opened her eyes and looked straight into my eyes.

It was at that moment, not 15 minutes after her birth, that my heart was knit with her's for life.

Since that time, we've shared so many wonderful memories together. We've laughed and cried. We've played and wrestled. We've taken a Disney Cruise together. Last summer, we went to California together, just me and Trae.

And now, in the blink of an eye, she's 8 years old. Where has the time gone?

The Bible says, "Children are a gift from God; a reward from the LORD." I don't know how God could have blessed Mandy and me with a greater gift and a more precious reward that sharing with us Trae Alexandria.

After we brought Trae home, the words to this song bounced around in my head for what seemed like the first two years of her life. The innocence captured by Kenny Loggins still warms my heart as I reminisce today on the blessing of Trae.

Christopher Robin and I walked along
Under branches lit up by the moon
Posing our questions to Owl and Eeyore
As our days disappeared all too soon
But I've wandered much further today than I should
And I can't seem to find my way back to the Wood

So help me if you can
I've got to get back
To the House at Pooh Corner by one
You'd be surprised
There's so much to be done
Count all the bees in the hive
Chase all the clouds from the sky
Back to the days of Christopher Robin and Pooh

Winnie the Pooh doesn't know what to do
Got a honey jar stuck on his nose
He came to me asking help and advice
And from here no one knows where he goes
So I sent him to ask of the Owl if he's there
How to loosen a jar from the nose of a bear

It's hard to explain how a few precious things
Seem to follow throughout all our lives
After all's said and done I was watching my son
Sleeping there with my bear by his side
So I tucked him in, I kissed him and as I was going
I swear that the old bear whispered
"Boy welcome home"

Believe me if you can
I've finally come back
To the House at Pooh Corner by one
What do you know
There's so much to be done
Count all the bees in the hive
Chase all the clouds from the sky
Back to the days of Christopher Robin
Back to the ways of Christopher Robin
Back to the days of Pooh


Happy Eighth Birthday today, Trae girl! You are as special to me as ever. If a star fell from the sky everytime I thought about you during the day, the nighttime sky would be empty!

At 18-17, the Rangers have the worst record of any team in first place in the division standings. For the entire month of May, the Rangers have been perched atop the AL West.

But for the next 23 consecutive days, the Rangers play series’ against: Boston, New York, Houston, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Oakland, Seattle and the Chicago White Sox.

This is a make-or-break stretch in the schedule. These next 23 days will reveal the Rangers are contenders or pretenders. Tonight, hard luck starter Kam Loe toes the rubber in Beantown against Matt Clement. Buckle up…it should be a fun ride for the next 23 days!

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I’m excited about the next couple of weeks for more reasons than the Rangers. Tomorrow evening, my mom flies into San Antonio to spend two weeks with us. With Sunday being Mother’s Day and Monday being Trae’s birthday, it will be great to have mom here to enjoy and celebrate the excitement. I can’t wait to see her and to spend time with her.

As I think about how my faith has developed, my mom has played a key role as a mentor, friend and compassionate, caring parent. I can still remember the countless nights in the backyard swing, singing with my mom. I can still remember the confusion of my teen years and the wise counsel my mom shared. To this day, I still feed off her constant encouragement and support as an aspiring minister. My mom’s influence in my life has shaped and formed me into the man I’ve become.

I am eternally indebted to my mom for the godly influence in my life. So Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! I’m looking forward to celebrating your special day with you on Sunday!

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I’ve never forgotten the words of Trish Frazier at a Connection Group meeting at our house back in Hot Springs Village. As we were talking about how we’d best like to be remembered – what words we’d like to have engraved on our tombstone – Trish said so sincerely, “I’d like my tombstone to read, ‘She was a Proverbs 31 woman’ and nobody would laugh.”

The ideals of the Proverbs 31 woman have often been held out as an impossible ideal. I’ve heard more than a few ladies tell me the profile of the godly woman in Proverbs 31 is just too ambitious. But I’ve always treasured and appreciate Trish’s words and her sincere desire to aspire the qualities and character of the Proverbs 31 woman.

As I think back over my life, especially my childhood, I can unequivocally say I was immensely blessed to be raised by a Proverbs 31 woman.

On Monday morning, Jim Dobbs shared with the elders and ministry staff a wonderful devotional thought from the Greek word oligopistos meaning “little of faith.” It is a word that appears only 4 times in the New Testament (Mt 6.30; 8.26; 14.31; 16.8) and in each occurrence, is used only by Jesus. In the texts, Jesus is rebuking his disciples for their little faith as it relates to anxiety, fear, doubt and forgetfulness of the power and blessings of God.

Jim’s study peeked my interest and so I returned to my office on Tuesday morning to look up the opposite of oligopistos which is tosauten pistin meaning “great of faith.” As with oligopistos, tosauten pistin appears only twice in the New Testament (Mt 8.10; 15.28) and in both occurrences, is used only by Jesus. In the texts, Jesus trumpets the “great faith” of two non-Jewish people: a Roman centurion and a Canaanite woman.

The disciples, with their distinctly Jewish ancestry and familiarity with the promises and blessings of God, are never rewarded by Jesus with the compliment that they had “great faith.” But two-non Jews, two outsiders, two aliens and strangers to the promises of God, are rewarded by Jesus for their “great faith” in the face of adverse circumstances.

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Here are some more juicy morsels from Jack Reese in The Body Broken: Embracing the Peace of Christ in a Fragmented Church.

“Baptism is not a legal transaction in heaven or the cause for a transfer of spiritual funds in God’s eternal accounting system. Rather, in baptism we died to a way of living that is passing away in the old order of things. In baptism we have hitched our lives to the power of the new age ushered in by the death of Christ. In baptism, Christ not only makes us members of his church, he not only forgives our past sins, but he empowers us to live holy lives today. To be holy is to live differently, not sharing in the spirit of the old order. To be holy is to live eschatologically, that is, to live as children of the new age even though we see evidence of the old one everywhere around us.

Baptism transforms our eyes so that we see one another differently. It transforms our hearts so that we reach out to others in compassion. It transforms our homes into centers of hospitality. It transforms our churches into sanctuaries of welcome. Restoring baptism to its place at the center of things, not only concerning whether we are saved but how we live, will be our greatest hope (for reconciliation). Here in baptism a broken people will meet a broken Christ. Here in the water the resurrected Christ will make us his glorious people. Here among the baptized community we will become a people of peace, and our churches will become safe places. Here, when we embrace fully our baptism, we will become a people of hope, a people of compassion, a people of mercy and holiness” (116, 128).

On the way home from our recent hunting trip in Childress, Dan, Todd and I stopped off at ACU and browsed through the bookstore, plunking down the plastic in favor of some books to stretch us and teach us.

One of the books I purchased was The Body Broken: Embracing the Peace of Christ in a Fragmented Church by Jack Reese, Dean of the Graduate School of Theology at ACU. Reese's thesis in the book is simple -- that Christians in the body of Christ should be able to have civil conversation with one another when differences arise.

Church history is littered with debris highlighting the inability of Christians to speak with each other. Reese is courageous, admitting he is personally willing to run the risk of being wrong but no longer willing to risk remaining silent in the midst of the fragmentation within the body of Christ (3). Far too often, the rancor and judgmentalism that has marked past history has brought bloodshed, but Reese finds many reasons for hope if the bloodshed is the blood of Jesus (33).

As Reese calls on Christians to act in accordance with the belief that unity must be prized, he does so with keen insight:

"This is a time to decide how we will act. For many of us, a great disconnect exists between what we believe and how we behave. This is true not only regarding personal morality but also, perhaps especially, our treatment of others. Some of us have assumed that the eternal ends we envision justify any means we employ, that we can speak unkindly about others if we think they are wrong, incompetent or dangerous. When we see other people as misguided or foolish, their conclusions erroneous, when we see them as too traditional or too liberal, as unthinking or indifferent or naive, we feel justified in disparaging them. We believe it is acceptable to talk about them to others, to dismiss them or demonize them, to write them up or put them down. We can caricature them as 'Pharisees' or 'change agents' without having to actually deal with them as people, as creatures made by God and precious in his sight. We can set them aside or write them off without any attempt at meaningful dialogue or engagement in prayer.

But how we act is an expression of what we believe, a direct manifestation of our values and commitments. Our behavior is a window into our soul. If you want to know what I think about Jesus, then look at how I treat others. If you want to know my theology, then consider first my conduct.

What gives me the greatest concern for the church in these decisive days is that the behavior of some Christians reflects nto the Christ of the Gospels but a vindictive and judgmental Jesus or a cynical and flippant Jesus. This is not what these individuals want or teach, of course, but their conduct reveals their theology, exposing a view of Jesus that is, at the same time, impotent and dangerous. Whatever one's positions may be regarding any of the issues that trouble our churches, such attitudes, reflecting both ends of the spectrum, are quenching the Spirit. The behaviors they spawn make the unity of Christ's church impossible. Moreoever, these behaviors are driving our children away (40-41)."

Yesterday I mentioned about how Trae blocked out Sunday's night powerful thunder by turning on her Kingdom Kidz CD. I couldn't remember the website address for the Kingdom Kidz Club yesterday, but here it is if you are interested in Kim Norton's ministry as a tool for your children to "learn God's Word one song at a time."

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While the wives were playing bunco last night, my Associate Minister and his girls came over to play (the girls) and watch the Rangers game (the dads). We were talking about the Kingdom Kidz approach to helping church learn.

Allan asked me, "How many hymns do you know from memory?" Having been in church all my life, I'm guessing I probably know the words to about 500 or 600 hymns. My preference in worship is to sing without a songbook, allowing my mind to truly hone in on the words of the song rather than focusing my eye intently on the notes and music of the song.

But Allan's next question was the one that gave me pause: "How many of those hymns did you intend to memorize?" The answer: None. It was through the repetition of singing those hymns that the words became emblazoned on my memory. Frankly, I can't remember ever sitting down and expressly memorizing the words to a hymn, yet there is an entire songbook programmed into my brain from years and years of singing.

What we sing and what we listen to is incredibly powerful. The words we download into our brains through songs and hymns have the strong effect of forming and transforming our thoughts and intentions.

And that is why I endorse Kim Norton's Kingdom Kidz CD. Through her songs, she is impressing on the mind of my girls things that are "true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy" (Philippians 4.8).

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The majority of Biblical scholarship is virtually unanimous regarding the words of Philippians 2.6-11. The belief is that these words, quoted by the apostle Paul, are actually the words to a first century Christian hymn. It is neat to note that even the inspired writers of Scripture realized the power of hymns and used those familiar, powerful words to draw the minds of the reader back to the story that shapes us.

In God's Holy Fire: The Nature and Function of Scripture, James Thompson says, "If these words (Philippians 2.6-11), with their beautiful rhythm, are actually a hymn, as most scholars believe, Paul is probably quoting words that his readers know, appealing to their memory of the story of Jesus. He knows that the people will never be brought together in harmony unless their minds are united by a common story of the one who emptied himself. The human desire to have one's own way destroys many communities, but the Christian community tells a story that unites the people in respecting the desires of others" (78).

I loathe the Yankees but I like Joe Torre, who notched his 1,000 win as Yankees manager at the expense of the Rangers yesterday. Nothing like cooling the jets on a six-game winning streak with a weekend sweep at the hands of the Evil Empire.

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Alright, somebody explain this to me about Texas weather? For eight-and-a-half months here, it never rained. Never. But in the last week, we've received enough rain to push 10 inches above the norm for the year.

Last night, everybody in our house was awakened by the impressive storm that swept through around 1:00 a.m. The winds were strong, up to 60 MPH leaving a "Chris Bridges for City Council sign" from someone else's yard in our backyard this morning. The creeks are raging this morning.

Something tells me the "April showers that bring May flowers" come in May here!

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I laid in bed with Trae last night till the storm passed by. To block out the loud thunder, we popped in the Kingdom Kids CD we received in the mail from my sister.

The Kingdom Kids CD is a neat compilation of songs by one my sister's friends that teaches children memorization through music. The books of the Bible, the twelve apostles, verses like Proverbs 3.5-6 and Jeremiah 33.3 and the 10 Commandments are still ringing in my head this morning.

Thanks, Mel, for sending us such a good CD for our kids.

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What would you say your church is known for in your hometown?

The church has always maintained a steadfast commitment to feed the hungry and that is good. The church has always held an unswerving commitment to study God's Word and that is good. The church has always been mission-minded and that is good.

But when Jesus spoke about what the Temple -- the building that housed the presence of God in his day -- he was unequivocal in stamping it as a "House of Prayer."

This weekend, our church was blessed by the commitment of over 60 men praying for over 1400 different prayer requests over the span of 24 consecutive hours. Our 24 hours of prayer culminated on Saturday morning with a prayer breakfast for all the men who participated.

I hope that going forward, when people think of the Marble Falls church, they will recognize us as a people of prayer. A people who are committed to prayer. A people for whom the statement, "I will pray for you," is not an empty cliche but the very real commitment of one and all to pray for every need and every anxiety that is experienced in times of crisis or opportunity.

Has there ever been a better time to welcome the Yankees to town? After last night’s 8-2 whuppin’ of Baltimore, the Rangers have now won six in a row. The Rangers are 15-5 in their last 20 games. Rangers’ starters have not lost a start since Tax Day, going 7-0 with several no-decisions sprinkled in.

And the best news of all, for me personally, is DISH Network in Texas broadcasts all Rangers games on the Alternate Fox Sports Net feeds. That means, even when the Rangers games are shown on KDFI in the Metroplex, Dish picks up the feed and broadcasts it. That is some kind of sweet!

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A little tardy this morning getting posted due to the beginning of 24 hours of Prayer at our church. At 8:00 a.m. this morning and continuing until 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, the men of our church are meeting in small groups to pray over the needs of our church family.

I am so refreshed and revived this morning thanks to the power of praying in community!

That word, at least among some circles has been hijacked and held hostage by folk who see behind every use of the word “community” something negative. But community is a word rooted in the Biblical concept of one another fellowship. Couple with that the powerful effects of community, such as the four of us who prayed in agreement for an hour together this morning, and you have a dynamic word that needs to be recovered in the family of God.

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Yesterday, I shared with you a piece from Everett Ferguson about how our insistence on vocal music in the worship assembly doesn’t necessarily meet the purposes of worship as revealed in Scripture. Ferguson pointed out the need for vocal music to edify and equip for it to be Biblical and effective.

That got my thinking all throughout yesterday, what songs are especially meaningful to you? And by that, I do not mean the musical quality of the song but the words. What hymns have been especially impacting on your spiritual walk?

Here’s one I love and which moves me spiritually. The words were written by Frances Havergal way back in 1871:

Is it for me, dear Savior, Thy glory and Thy rest
For me so weak and sinful! O shall I be so blest?

O Savior, my Redeemer, what can I but adore,
And magnify and praise Thee, and love Thee evermore?

Is it for me, Thy welcome, Thy gracious “Enter In”
For me Thy “Come Ye Blessed,” for me so full of sin?

O Savior, my Redeemer, what can I but adore,
And magnify and praise Thee, and love Thee evermore?

O Savior, precious Savior, my heart is at Thy feet;
I bless Thee and I love Thee and Thee I long to meet.

O Savior, my Redeemer, what can I but adore,
And magnify and praise Thee, and love Thee evermore?

I’ll be with Thee forever and never grieve Thee more;
Dear Savior I must praise Thee and love Thee evermore.

Anybody need a seat on the Ranger bandwagon?

Despite the fact the Rangers were 1-for-20 on Wednesday night with runners in scoring position – and that one hit was a bunt single – thanks to some great pitching and a Mark DeRosa walkoff homerun in the 12th, the Rangers knocked off Baltimore 2-1 for their 5th consecutive win.

Meanwhile, the Angels lost their sixth in a row tonight, putting the hated Angels 4 ½ games behind the Rangers in AL West standings.

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Today is the National Day of Prayer. This morning in my email inbox, I was reminded of the importance of this day by Christianbook.

"At a time when so many principles found in Scripture have been rejected by society, it's all the more vital that God's people stand firmly in defense of the precepts He's laid out in His Word. As we wage this cultural battle, however, none of our efforts are assured success without consistent, fervent prayer for God's intervention." Shirley Dobson, National Day of Prayer Chairman
(courtesy of National Day of Prayer Task Force)

If these words echo your desire for our country, we hope you'll join folks across America in prayer for our nation on May 4th, 2006. The theme of this year's National Day of Prayer is "America, honor God" and is based on 1 Samuel 2:30: "Those who honor me I will honor" (NIV).

Special days of prayer have been held throughout America's history. In 1775 the Continental Congress called for prayer for the birth of our nation. Abraham Lincoln called for a day of prayer in 1863. Congress established the annual observance of the National Day of Prayer in 1952. Celebrated on the first Thursday of May, it is a time for all citizens to pray for our nation and its leadership.

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“In the contemporary climate, more needs to be said in regard to the acapella practice. Possibly we have stressed the necessity of vocal music to the exclusion of instrumental accompaniment so much that we have left some other important things unsaid and maybe even left a wrong impression. That music is vocal does not alone make it acceptable. The music in church must accomplish the purposes of praising God, giving thanks to God, preaching Christ, confessing faith, expressing the indwelling Spirit and Word of Christ, mutually edify, expressing deep religious emotion and portray the unity of the church. We may think that if something is done with the voice, then it is all right. But the same doctrinal purposes that eliminate instruments will eliminate uses of the voice which do not edify, that is, which do not make intelligible sounds, which do not express the indwelling Word of Christ, which do not preach Christ and confess faith. The issue goes beyond a simple contrast of voice versus an instrument.

The Biblical principles stated above, therefore, raise some serious questions in my mind about certain practices. Perhaps I enter here the realm of opinion, but I ask for your consideration of certain practices on the basis of the theological principles just stated. Can descants, singing rounds, and choosing songs with complicated music be justified in the assembly? These practices work against congregational singing and the principles of vocal music stated in the Biblical text. They put the emphasis on the musical quality rather than on the words. They make it difficult for the ordinary person to understand what is being said and to participate meaningfully” (Dr. Everett Ferguson, In The Eye of the Storm: Critical Issues Today, p. 9).

For the fourth consecutive year, I have the blessing of coaching Trae's softball team. The Marble Falls Youth Softball Association divides the 6-8 year olds (Trae is seven) into a coach-pitch league.

Last night, our team, the Rangers, knocked off the Tigers who were previously unbeaten by the score of 15-11. The Tigers are coached by Brent Dalton who worships with us the Marble Falls Church of Christ.

We are now tied with Brent's team for first place in the league and will have showdown game on Tuesday, May 23rd for the league championship!

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Speaking of Rangers teams that are playing well, how bout the "real" Rangers? Last night, Texas finished off a two-game sweep of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The Rangers finished up a two-city road swing through Cleveland and Tampa with a 4-1 record, marking the second road trip in which the Rangers have returned home with a winning record.

Now comes a tricky part in the schedule, with 10 of the next 15 games against the Red Sox and Yankees. The next 15 will provide a real barometer of where the Rangers really are. Are they contenders this year or just pretenders? Stay tuned.

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"My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love -- so you can't know him if you don't love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about -- not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God.

My dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us -- perfect love.

If anyone boasts, 'I love God,' and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won't love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can't see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You've got to love both" (1 John 4.7-12, 20-21 from The Message).

Before I share with you this morning my position on Instrumental Music in the assembly, I have to get a word in on the Rangers. It’s hard to keep the emotions in check with the Rangers playing as well as they are right now. As the calendar turned from April to May, it saw the Rangers in first place in the AL West. After the disastrous 2-7 start, the Rangers battled through adversity to capture first place in the West at the end of April.

The last two nights have seen two of the best wins of the season. On the Sunday night ESPN game, the Rangers were manhandled for six innings by Cleveland starter Jake Westbrook. He held the Rangers to three hits heading into the seventh with Cleveland leading 3-1. But the Rangers exploded for six runs. The 8-4 win Sunday night was huge and the kind of game a team competing for a pennant throughout the summer wins.

Last night, the Rangers won 3-0 behind a sterling outing by Kam Loe. Seven innings of three hit ball, no walks and a shutout performance. Akinori Otsuka, he of the quirky delivery, has supplanted Francisco Cordero as the closer and he nailed the save with a perfect ninth inning.

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One of the distinctives of our heritage in the churches of Christ has historically been our commitment to acapella (Latin for “in the style of the chapel/church”) singing in the worship assembly. But why has acapella singing been a hallmark of our heritage?

It is important to remember that as descendants of the Restoration Movement, our aim has always been to restore faith and practice as described in the New Testament. When one studies the worship assemblies of the New Testament, no where is instrumental music mentioned as a feature of worship.

“But Jim, what about David? Didn’t he play his harp in praise to the Lord? And what about temple worship in the Old Testament? Doesn’t the Old Testament speak of instruments within temple worship? And what about the end of time? Doesn’t Scripture say the very second coming of Jesus will be signaled by the blowing of a trumpet? And aren’t the praises of God in heaven going to be accompanied by instruments?”

Those questions form the basis to many of the objections I have heard voiced to me personally regarding our historical position of singing without instruments. But my response to those questions is this: our aim in the churches of Christ, as descendants of a Restoration Heritage, isn’t to restore the worship of David, the temple or even to seek to duplicate the worship of heaven. Our aim is to restore the faith and practice of the first churches as revealed in Scripture. And the revelation of Scripture is that the first churches used their voice alone in praise and worship to God.

In Ephesians 5, Paul describes a clear evidence of a Spirit-filled Christian when he says they “speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5.18-20). Elsewhere, Paul told the Colossian church that the proof of the indwelling Word of Christ in a believer’s life is seen in a commitment to “teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and…sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3.16).

Ironically, some of our Restoration leaders had a hang-up over the validity of even vocal singing to God. Men like Thomas Campbell interpreted the Scriptural injunction to “make music in your heart” and “sing…with gratitude in your hearts” as a prohibition against vocal singing since the over-arching emphasis in the language of Scripture was upon the heart, not the mouth or voice. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard a person advance the argument against acapella singing on the basis some of our Restoration leaders did, but that argument was a very real discussion in the early days of the churches of Christ in North America.

Practically speaking, the voice is the only instrument God had a direct hand in creating. And theologically, historically and practically, I am supportive of our historical position in the churches of Christ to worship God corporately with acapella singing.

Having said that, my caution would be for us to avoid an attitude of spiritual superiority or smugness toward those who see the philosophical question of the silence of Scripture regarding instruments in the New Testament as permissive. I once had a very well respected professor/preacher in our heritage say to me, “Jim, I am convinced if Paul were to visit any of our churches today and found an instrument, he wouldn’t have as much trouble with the instrument -- given his Jewish background and thinking and his familiarity with temple worship – but he would have major misgivings with the way we participate in the Lord’s Supper.” When it comes to restoring the “ancient order of things” we haven’t exactly cornered the market.

I would also add that at the end of the day, God is God and I am not! And as such, God is free to judge according to his own dictates and choices. I cannot legislate to God what God can and cannot do; how God can and cannot judge the apex of his creation -- mankind and mankind’s attempt to bless God in worship. I do know this, God will judge me according to the very standard with which I judge others (see James 4.11-12). And in this life, if I am forced to choose justice or mercy, I will always seek to err on the side of mercy for the sake of the day when I myself stand before the Righteous Judge.