New Meanings ...

I was at a gathering today with a bunch of Yankee fans. It was SO SWEET for the first time in my adult life to be able to talk to Yankee fans from the position of having the World Championship trophy reside in Philadelphia!!! Ohhhh, how sweet!!!

While certainly not mean-spirited, I did unleash at least 28 years worth of pent-up frustration in little barbs and some good-natured trash talking. In that vein, I now dub new meaning for the following words:

Met verb. 1. to choke 2. to blunder in a big way at least twice
usage: "Make sure you know the Heimlich maneuver in case your child Mets." "Believe it or not, the runner Metted when he failed to touch both first and second on his game-winning home run trot, and his team lost the game!"

Yankee adj. 1. something that cost a lot of money but is ineffective in its execution or a fake 2. a spectacular blunder
usage: "I sure hope the new plan congress has passed is not Yankee for the sake of the country" "Scientists have recently renamed iron pyrite, commonly known as 'fool's gold' as 'Yankee gold" "Bill Buckner was finally let off the hook for his famous Yankee when the Red Sox won it all in 2004"

Phillie adj. 1. something that is reasonable in price and performs extremely well and is genuine 2. a spectacular play, performance, or eventusage: "The top-ranked car in Consumer reports is Phillie!" "Going to see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway is Phillie" "Phillie gold is the opposite of Yankee gold"

God's beaches ...

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to go to the beach for the first time this year. There is something about the beach that escapes my ability to describe it - but let me try. First, of course, there are all the childhood memories of being at the beach with extended family. The sunburns, the great food, playing games, staying up until 5 AM playing video games with my cousins, building sandcastles, sand-cars, and digging deep holes. Finding sand crabs and fishing off the piers. Watching the adults eat dozens of crabs. And, of course, the occasional squabble. Mostly fond memories. That's probably a lot of it - but not all.

I loved the hot sand leading up to the cool, crashing waves. Feeling conflicting thoughts of wanting to go "way out" in the waves and being terrified of sharks. Thinking that every sharp shell or rock was a crab waiting to bite a toe. Jumping up on the face of a wave, reaching the top and having the wave move out from under you so that your whole body is out of the water was the goal for us. We spent hours in the ocean.

Now, I love the way the air smells, the warmth of the sun that somehow is just stronger than the sun we have at home. The way my body feels baking in the sun as the water evaporates, leaving a thin layer of salt over my sunscreen-coated body. I love finding shells. Yesterday, we found one of the best shells I have ever seen recovered from the shore. Mostly, we just find bivalve shells, and rarely intact at that. But this was one of those colorful spiral shells that I only ever found at the shops along the beach. It is a perfect specimen (or at least perfect enough that I won't look for defects and ruin the thought).

But again, I find myself praising Him. When I was a child, these things were good as pleasures unto themselves. But now, they are seen as gifts from a creator who loves his creation and loves us. These things are wonders that speak to his glory, his creativity, his love. The sun very much speaks to his character - life-giving and positively enjoyable to bask in, but come before Him in just your own skin and you will experience burning pain. None of us can stand before the Holy One without the covering of Christ - but from within that covering, we can enjoy the glorious energy that comes from Him.

It's interesting that life has become much more enjoyable lately. There is a depth and a richness to things I was just not aware of previously. Busy-ness - even "religious" busy-ness - really can cause you to miss the forest for the trees ...

Lord, your beaches are truly awe-inspiring. The continuously renewing artwork that is the surf and sky highlights your infinite power, creativity, and care of detail. The warmth of the sun is more satisfying than all the trinkets I have in my house. You let your sun shine and the beaches glow on your enemies as well as your family ... the creatures who live under your care (and under our noses) show your handiwork ... there is no one like You ...

Capital letters ...

I just wanted to note here that I normally use capital letters for pronouns referring to any person of the Trinity. I do this somewhat out of respect, I guess (though I do not think God is disrespected by using lower case letters - they are only a language convention), but more so that it is clear when a pronoun refers to God. I have found some sentences from other works to be very confusing because there are so many "he"s and too many possible objects to refer to.

I'm not entirely consistent with it, but I try to be. And I just thought I'd let you know ...

Sunny Days, part 2

I'm sitting outside, underneath some shade, on a beautiful day. It's 80 degrees with clear, blue skies, a light breeze, and all the plants around me a luscious shade of green. It's one of those days you feel were made for worship. Most of the world might worship the creation on such a day, but it is far more magnificent to ponder the creator on such a day. Of course, He is no less the creator of the dark, dreary days of winter, and they have purpose in showing Him forth, too. For one thing, without those days, days like today would be taken for granted. It makes one wonder what this world would be like without the effects of sin ...

The wind is right now gently rustling the leaves on the maple tree here, and it has the same sort of sound that a wave on a beach has - that white noise that somehow is soothing. The faint sounds of dozens of birds in the distance. There's a plane going by now, and though it is a man-made intrusion on the natural beauty, it is off in the distance to the point where it, too, adds only a small rumble to the audial masterpiece that surrounds me.

There's a song with a line I like to ponder occasionally - that God "could have made the world black and white, and we'd have never known" the joy we were missing of color. Why did God grant us the enjoyment of color or sound or smells or even touch? Somehow all these things let us know Him better. His depth is so far above our own that the infinite colors we have, the tones of sound we can distinguish, the combination of smells that can be enjoyed only scratch at the surface of how enjoyable He is. God has truly showered His blessings upon this world, although we deserve nothing from Him but wrath. People who scoff at His existence or even directly oppose Him are still given the benefits common to us all. This is some of what it means to love your enemy ...

Unfortunately, all too often, I do not even love my friends like this. I get annoyed too quickly, exasperated too soon, discouraged too often, and angry when my agenda is not being served. I certainly don't look for ways to bless them at all times - and if they took it for granted or even opposed me, I would feel justified in letting them know it. But that's not the way of Christ. I wish I could love in such a way that I was quick to bless in spite of cursing. Maybe I'm better in this area than I was, but I feel like someone scaling the Sears Towers and using everything I have to reach the second floor ...

How can I be a man after God's own heart - a man who blesses even his enemies with the gift of seeing color, hearing sounds and so forth? What does it look like for me to deny myself in the moments where all I am conscious of is my violated rights? or, worse yet, wants?

Lord, give me your wisdom to know what to do, your strength to do what you call me to do, and your peace not to judge it by the earthly outcome ...

Random thoughts

This is my first entry into the blog. I have no idea where this will take me, and I don't know how often I'll be able to post. Even if no one else reads this, I find it helpful to put thoughts down and maybe, just maybe, someone else will be interested in commenting.

I am a follower of Christ who is also a husband, a father, a son, a grandson, a brother, a friend, a church Elder, a computer programmer, a baseball fan, a teacher, someone who enjoys doing math problems for fun, a wrestler, and a host of other things ...