Friday, September 15, 2006

What a spectacular morning in the San Joaquin Valley! Temps in the mid 50's while the sun peeks over the Sierra Nevadas -- it is just beautiful.

Early morning is quickly becoming my favorite time of the day -- is that a sign that I'm getting older? The handiwork of God is just so magnificent with each sunrise.

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Each Sunday at Woodward Park, separate worship assemblies are held for Laotians, Hmongs, and Cambodians, in addition to those who speak English.

For those of you especially interested in Cambodian ministry, I want to encourage you to bookmark the blog of my dear friends Rick and Gail Northen. They are a part of the Mekong River Boat Project mission in Cambodia -- a mission of the Partners in Progress based out of the Windsong church in Little Rock.

Despite their setbacks with the Cambodian government in getting the boat in the water, Rick and Gail are laboring faithfully. Their stories of life in Cambodia are inspiring.

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Who is going to win the NL West race? This morning finds the Dodgers a half game ahead of the Padres (with San Diego going to Los Angeles this weekend for a big four game series) and three games ahead of the Giants.

In my preseason predictions, I picked the Giants to win the West. I'm sticking with that pick.

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College Football followers are calling this the weekend of the Spectacular Seven. Here are my picks of the big seven games, plus two:

Florida over Tennessee
Notre Dame over Michigan
Oregon over Oklahoma
Miami over Louisville
Auburn over LSU
USC over Nebraska
Clemson over Florida State

Fresno State goes to Seattle to play the Washington Huskies. The Huskies are led by Kenny James, a superb running back from Fresno. Can the Bulldogs bounce back from a tough loss last week to Oregon?

Fresno State by 7 over Washington.

Finally, Houston Nutt has his back to the wall. The wolves are howling throughout my home state as the Hogs have gotten off to a less-than-stellar beginning. But, to steal a phrase from Chris Berman, "nobody circles the wagons like Houston Nutt."

Arkansas by 10 over Vanderbilt.