All is Well with the World

Excuse me while I have a proud papa moment! This picture of Trae is from Easter and to me, is just a gorgeous picture. I am so proud of my Trae-girl, age 9 going on 18! Seriously, so many people have advised the seizing of every moment with children because of the rapid pace at which they grow. It seems to me like just yesterday we brought Trae home from the North Florida Regional Med Center in Gainesville. Without a doubt, since the moment of her arrival, she has brought the beauty of her personality to her dad's life; a beauty that matches the beauty of her face!

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All is well in the world. It is Sunday evening. The true MLB opener (the Sox/A's two-game series in Japan doesn't qualify) and the dulcet tones of Jon Miller and Joe Morgan accompany the spectacular scenes from brand-new Nationals Park on ESPN-HD.

It's baseball time. And all is well with the world.

But it isn't just baseball that satisfies my disposition this evening. It is the fact that for the first time in 12 years, I had the distinct honor and privilege to speak to my home congregation, the Northside Church of Christ in Benton, Arkansas. Northside is home to me -- home because on the day of my birth, both of my grandfathers were actively serving as elders at the Northside church. Home because my father would later follow in their footsteps. Home because it is here that the formative years of my faith were lived.

The roots of my faith run deep into the soil that is the Northside church in Benton.

Today, I was privileged to work in tandem with Jimmy Mitchell who did a spectacular job leading songs. I was blessed to speak to an overflow auditorium. And I was blessed to stand in a place where so many powerful sermons from the past have altered for eternity the lives of its hearers.

Yes, today has been a good day -- one of the most fulfilling Sundays in my life!

Yes, all is well with the world.

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Time for the pre-season picks for the '08 season:

AL EAST -- Red Sox
AL CENTRAL -- Tigers
AL WEST -- Angels
AL WILD CARD -- Mariners

NL EAST -- Mets
NL CENTRAL -- Brewers
NL WEST -- Diamondbacks
NL WILD CARD -- Cubs

ALCS -- Red Sox v. Tigers
NLCS -- Mets v. Diamondbacks
WORLD SERIES -- Tigers v. Mets
WORLD CHAMP -- Mets

The Fountain of Youth

Easter Sunday is always a challenge for preachers. The dominant thought is that most people come with thoughts of the first Easter on their mind. Consequently, for those who only attend church once-a-year (on Easter Sunday), they are exposed to essentially the same sermon with a different slant every year.

Yesterday, I departed from the norm and devoted my sermon more to the benefits of following God than to the resurrection.

But I did devote the first part to the benefits that come as a result of the resurrection.

When my Sports Illustrated arrived ten days, it contained an insightful special report entitled "Sterioids in America: The Real Dope." The special, three-part report centered on the fact that while performance-enhancing drug use gains wide media attention throughout the sports world, its use within society in general is often overlooked. For example, many independently wealthy middle-agers who can afford the $2000/month prescription for HGH are taking it regularly in a quest to feel better and live longer. Said one former university linebacker:

"Frankly, I don't care what anybody thinks about it (speaking of his use of HGH). I feel better...and I might live longer...If when I die there are any causes associated with my having used this, my kids, my friends, and a lot of other people will have learned a lesson. And if it turns out that it made me feel better and live longer, they'll know that too" (Sports Illustrated, March 17, 2008, p. 34).

Our society lives with a delusion, born out by the SI article -- a delusion that if we eat right, exercise right, sleep right, supplement our bodies right, then we can somehow head-off the one, great inevitability, death. We live with a delusion that our destiny is somehow in our hands, i.e. that the span of our life is somehow in our control.

In Psalm 139.16, David says, "all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

I am coming to realize that God put us, everyone of us, on this earth for a purpose. We were created on purpose by an omnipotent, loving Father with a purpose for our existence. And when that purpose is served, our loving Father will call us unto himself, stripping us of the delusion that our destiny is in our own hands while carrying us by grace unto himself.

The resurrection of Jesus makes that possible! It is the resurrection, the defeat by Christ of the greatest bullet in Satan's arsenal, that makes eternal, perpetual youth not a delusion based on dietary and drug supplements, but a reality for everyone who's staked their destiny on Jesus.

Have I Told You Lately That I Love You

I had something else in the hopper today, what with the start of the Final Four. But my sister dedicated her latest blog to her big brother -- complete with the style-forsaken picture from our childhood (be sure to check closely at the socks). Her post generated an email from one of her friends that completely changed my course.

A little over a year ago, an alum of my high school who'd returned to our school to teach/coach died unexpectedly. At the tender age of 33, he suffered an aneurysm while coaching a Junior Varsity game just after being diagnosed with leukemia. His little sister, who's friends with my little sister, wrote the following email to Melissa yesterday. I hope it touches your heart as it did mine.

"Hey! I've been reading your blog and keeping up with your precious 2(!) for many months now. I've really enjoyed it and felt like I've re-connected with you. Which is why I sent you a Christmas card this year. Hopefully I'll have a blog soon and we can interact more.

I've meant to comment for awhile, but I had to after reading the entry to Jim today. I decided to do a e-mail because I'm not trying to have a pity party for myself. I just wanted to say that although the specifics of your relationship are different that's exactly how I feel about my brother. No one can really understand certain parts of us the way our siblings can. And the big bro/lil sis relationship is unique. One of the hardest parts of losing (him) is the feeling of losing my childhood. There is no one left to laugh at my parents with, share old funny memories, etc. No one else "gets" it or me (at least that part of me.)

So, I'm not saying this to make you feel sorry for me or anything of the sort. I just want you to continue to cherish your relationship the way you obviously do. Keep it up. Be sure to never leave anything unsaid- although it's hard for me to imagine that being a possibility with the 2 of you. I had such peace in knowing that there was nothing left unsaid, that there were no problems in our relationship. I do wish we would have spent more time together. Although, I'm sure I could've never felt that we had had enough.

Anyway, I'm so glad that God gave me my big brother and I'm glad for you as well."

Ashley's right. Everyday is a gift and the greatest gift we can share with those we most love is the gift of our appreciation and affection. Just the verbal acknowledgement of love and acceptance, communicated with compassion and laughter, is what makes life valuable.

Have you told the people most dear to you that you love them?

Chick-Fil-A is coming to River Park

On a day in which I have been on the receiving end of so much grace from you, I must confess that one of the greatest birthday gifts ever occurred this morning over breakfast. The morning Fresno Bee alerted me to one of the truly great blessings ever to befall Fresno, California, in general and my life in particular.

Chick-Fil-A is officially coming to River Park (read "Filling a Doughnut Hole" in the middle of the piece)!!!!!

Who wants to join me on opening day? I am going to research when the scheduled opening is in the hopes the girls and I can be among the first 100 customers. Who wants to join me?

"The Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth"

Watching Ken Burns's excellent 10-part PBS series on "Baseball" so enriched my appreciation of the game. But no scene in the history of baseball captured my attention quite like the ending of the decade of the 30's and the abrupt end of the career of Lou Gehrig.

Occasionally, a book comes along that grabs one by the heart and doesn't let go. Such was the case with me in reading Jonathan Eig's gripping biography that became a New York Times Bestseller on the Iron Horse. Eig's recap of Gehrig's life, coupled with some ten chapters devoted to his battle with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig's disease), is simply captivating.

While recognized for his consistency -- Gehrig held the steak for the longest consecutive games played at 2,130 until surpassed by Cal Ripken, Jr. in 1995 -- Gehrig often played second fiddle. He hit fourth in the vaunted Yankee lineup for years behind the more popular Babe Ruth. Then when Ruth was sent away to the Boston Braves, Gehrig was upstaged in popularity and charisma by the up-and-coming new face of the franchise, a rookie from San Francisco named Joe DiMaggio.

Yet, upon his forced retirement from the game because of deteriorating health, Gehrig's number 4 was the first number in baseball history to be retired and the normal wait for his enshrinement into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown was waved.

"If Gehrig had played on until the age of forty-two, he quite possibly could have rewritten the game's record books, according to Bill James, the baseball statistician and writer. James calculates that Gehrig would have finished his career with 689 home runs (more than anyone but Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and *Barry Bonds*); 3,928 hits (third after Pete Rose and Cobb); 2,879 runs batted in (almost 600 more than today's record, held by Aaron); 2,475 walks (a number no one has ever reached); and a lifetime batting average of .330" (222).

Gehrig's true charm, though, has to be his consistency in the face of the unsurmountable disease that would claim his life, captured best in his famed speech delivered on Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939. Between games of a doubleheader against the Washington Senators, Gehrig declared:

"For the past two weeks, you've been reading about a bad break. Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." He then spent time counting his blessings, all those things that caused him to deem himself lucky, before closing with, "I might have had a bad break, but I have an awful lot to live for."

Richards Vidmer of the Herald-Tribune captured the impact of Gehrig's famous speech with this summary:

"Throughout Lou Gehrig's career there was always the feeling he lacked that mystical something called color. Perhaps he did. And yet now that his playing days are over he has more color than almost any athlete in the game. Somehow I felt that at the Stadium yesterday they were honoring not a great baseball player but a truly great sportsman who could take his triumphs with sincere modesty and could face tragedy with a smile. His records will attest to future generations that Lou Gehrig was one of the greatest baseball players who ever lived, but only those who have been fortunate enough to have known him during his most glorious years will realize that he stood for something finer than merely a great baseball player -- that he stood for everything that makes sports important in the American scene" (Eig, 318).

Gehrig wasn't perfect. But he was a man of determination and grace in the face of his "bad break."

The Blessing of the Body

One of the treasures in my office is an old commentary series given me as a gift from my grandfather's personal library. The New Testament commentaries of James Burton Coffman, published by Firm Foundation in 1976, continue to provide great value to my study. For example, in studying through the spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12-14, I came across this discussion of the body of Christ and the simplicity of the gospel.

"The great Pauline teaching that the church comprises the spiritual body of Christ is among the most important teachings revealed to men. God's device of accounting men righteous is that of forming them into a corporate unity, of which Christ is head, all the saved being members of it, the body itself being identified as 'Christ,' and therefore partaking of the perfect righteousness of the Son of God himself. God saves men, not by injecting righteousness into them, but by transferring them 'into Christ,' identifying them 'as Christ,' and making them, in fact, to be Christ. By this heavenly device, man becomes truly righteous and thus saved, not as John Doe, but as Christ. Faith and obedience of the gospel are the conditions antecedent to God's transfer of sinners into Christ, baptism being the action through which God effects the actual entry into Christ; but neither the faith of the sinner nor any act of obedience is the ultimate ground of his redemption, that all-important ground being the perfect faith, obedience and righteousness of the Christ himself...Any man failing to fulfill the prior conditions of being 'in Christ' is not a part of the body in view here, i.e. 1 Corinthians 12.12-26" (202).

Friday evening on the Cayucos Pier

Finally!

I've been trying for nearly 24 hours, not consecutively, to get some pictures to upload on blogger of our three days in Cayucos. Blogger seems to be crawling lately, making me think the mass exodus to Wordpress might be in the offing. Stay tuned.

Anyway, pictured above are views of Morro Bay last Friday evening as seen from the Cayucos pier. As you can see in the first picture, the hills are vibrant green, thanks to the winter rains. If you've never been to the West Coast and are considering a future excursion, let me recommend late February-early March for your trip. The marriage of green hillsides and blue coastal waters is simply breathtaking.

Being in Cayucos just reaffirmed to me that David was indeed right -- nature testifies loudly to the creative genius of an Almighty Creator. How blessed to know the genius behind creation is the Father of our new creation!

Greetings from Cayucos

Greetings from the central California coast, specifically the lovely little seaside hamlet of Cayucos. When we moved to Fresno, the Fraysier girls (Deb, Jamie and Heidi) turned us onto Cayucos and Mandy and I have fallen in love with its small-town charm. Cayucos is one of the few coastal towns not overwhelmed by tourism -- where a couple can park at the hotel and walk to the beach, to restaurants, to shops for the duration of their stay. We're here courtesy of the generosity of my parents for a couple of days of R&R.

Till next week, I want to point you in the direction of Nick Perez's blog. Nick is a Woodward Park boy who was trained at Sunset and is about to finish a year-long internship in Wichita, Kansas. Nick, and his wife Kim, are seeking a full-time preaching ministry opportunity and, in my estimation, Nick would be a blessing to any church seeking an enthusiastic, up-and-comer to the fill the pulpit. Nick is currently blogging in commentary-style the gospel of Luke. You'll be blessed and grow spiritually from his insights.

It's a Small World After All

How many of you have seen this? What a harrowing video.

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It is amazing how small the world has become! Thanks to the Internet and its warp speed in providing instant communication, the world has shrunk. One can now communicate instantly across the globe.

For example, in my last blog post, I mentioned the honor that had come my way via the invitation of my home congregation, the Northside Church of Christ in Benton, Arkansas, to return and speak for their Friends Day on March 30th. Later that day, on mysaline.com (a social networking site devoted to my home county, Saline County, Arkansas), the creator, Shelli Russell, made the following post.

Then, if that isn't enough, Shelli noticed people began arriving at her site from a link on Jimmy Mitchell's blog. After investigating this Jimmy Mitchell, Shelli discovered she and Jimmy were long-lost pals during their college days at UALR.

"I noticed that someone kept coming to my site, MySaline.com from jimmymitchell.blogspot.com, so I decided to check out who this Jimmy Mitchell dude is. I saw your picture, and sweet mother of pearl, it turned out to be the guy who sat next to me in Art History at UALR! I don't know if I ever even knew your last name. I would just holler out at you across campus: "Jimmyyyyyyy!!!!" And you'd holler: "Shelliiiiiiiii!"

Small world or what? And in an effort to do my part in inviting a guest to Friends Day at Benton, Shelli, I am inviting you and your family to join us on Sunday, March 30th at 9:00 a.m. at the Northside Church of Christ (917 North East Street) in Benton.