God is so Good

I have never been so struck as I have in the past several months how truly good God is.  We (Debsue and I) are in the midst of some trials which has drawn us closer to sensing God's presence each and every day.  When things are going well, you become desensitized to how God truly blesses day in and day out.  When things are tough from a worldly perspective, they open up our "divine" eyes to see how good God is.

We have been to four weddings in the past month or so.  Of course one of those was our daughter.  We attended one last Saturday for some dear friends of ours.  Meghan, our daughter was the matron of honor as Alison was Meghan's maid of honor.  It was a very unique wedding, but all I can say is God's presence was truly in that place.  It was genuine worship and honoring of Him.  Then there is a growing awareness of how wonderful it is to have friends who don't care about status, but love you for who you really are.  Yes, we have friends like that.  There is the growing awareness of how special family is.  Yes, I am married to a truly wonderful woman and I have kids that are phenomenal.   Our parents are special.  The list goes on and on.  Yes, they have flaws and faults, but they are truly special.

Finally, there is the intimate awareness of God's presence throughout the day.  I have never experienced until recently living out "praying without ceasing" or the hymn "he walks with me and he talks with me".  What a joy unspeakable.  God walks with me and I can talk with him each and every day.  I can't wait to see how he is shaping me.  

Believe in Hope

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.
[1] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

I am struck by this statement. Read it again. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed. The first statement is that the hope that Abraham had was an impossible hope. God had said that he would be the father of many nations, yet here he was and old man and by human standards he and Sarah well past child bearing ages. It was the impossible dream. Yet, he believed in hope. Hope became a noun because hope is a person. When I say I believe in hope, I am saying I believe in a person. When hope is grounded in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ, then hope not only becomes possible, it becomes guaranteed. So the hope Abraham had was based on a promise that God gave and his faith was based on the character of that person.

Am I prepared to fully believe in that which God promises me through Jesus - hope of a future in heaven beyond the grave, hope of a bodily resurrection, hope of grace in the present? Be careful however. Sometimes our hopes are not God's hopes. My hope may not be aligned with His plan. Is it contrary to God's written word? Does it encumber me? Is it sin? That hope is an impossible hope. Hope that is grounded in what the living God says is guaranteed. Bank on it!

Avatar

Debsue and I rented Avatar and watched it this past Saturday.  We did not watch it in the theaters even though it was the biggest selling movie of all time.  First off, this movie is visually stunning.  I give kudos for the technology and special effects.  However (you knew a however was coming), I am disturbed by all of the subtle and not so subtle messages contained in this movie.

• Military is evil
• Corporations are evil
• Civilization demolishes all that is good in nature
• Most insidious of all is the whole "mother earth"

Entertaining yes, appealing no.  I give it a big thumbs down.

Canada Mercy Rule

n Ottawa children's recreational soccer league has pulled back from a controversial mercy rule under which any team that outscores its opponent by more than five goals is declared the loser.

The Gloucester Dragons Recreational Soccer league had put the rule in place earlier this season in an effort to do away with teams running up the scores, said league chairman Sean Cale in a statement to parents and coaches on Wednesday.

Cale gave the example of one game in the 2009 season that ended with a score of 18-0.

But parents, coaches and players had complained that the rule took the fun out of the game and forced better teams to pull back and hold the ball until the end of the game if they had a five-goal lead.

In response to the feedback, the league decided to get rid of the rule, which will be rescinded starting June 14

Mercy rules have been around for a while. The goal is usually tied to time limits with a goal of ending the game if it gets out of hand. However, I have never heard until this law of a team actually being penalized for running up the score. What is the coach supposed to tell the players? What does that team the kids on the losing team? I remember many a wrestling match or baseball game growing up where I got my butt kicked (or as Obama says my ass kicked). Should they have told the guy wrestling me to let up - let Spoorts get a takedown or two to make him feel better? Or the baseball game where I am pitching and getting tattooed to strike out a little so Spoorts can feel better? It is part of life. Kids need to know how it feels to be overmatched. There will be multiple times in life where you will feel over your head. How you respond determines your character. This is the ongoing pattern by cracker jack psychologists of entitlement. When will it stop?

Thanks for the Stimulus

This post is from Charles Payne, whose commentaries I read frequently. You can get them at Wstreet Market Commentary (www.wstreet.com).  President Obama stopped in Ohio this past week touting the stimulus. Also thanks for the pep talk that costs taxpayers a million dollars. We appreciate it in Ohio!

This morning, we had Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin on Varney & Co. and he said the stimulus bill was just an excuse to spend money. That comment more or less hit the nail on the head. Today, President Obama will touch down for an hour and a half in Ohio to tout the 10,000th stimulus plan project. So I decided to check out what's going on in Ohio. Well, for starters the unemployment rate in Ohio is 10.7%, which is well above the national average. As for the big deal today that we should all be standing and playing our vuvuzela (that horn from the World Cup that sounds like a swarm of bees) for, it involves adding turning and bike lanes, and widening sidewalks around the Nationwide Children's Hospital. The $25.0 million project is expected to create 300 jobs.

I always question these job tallies, although in this case jobs they think will be created will cost $83,000 each. Of course, on the other end of that spectrum is the eight jobs created or saved by a project that saw the purchase of 16 Dell laptops. Yes, the $34,626 bill enabled the retention of six sales jobs, the creation of an engineering job, and a temp customer service job. That's efficiency or fantasy at $4,300 per job. The thing is the purchase alone was considered a "project." Additional projects for Ohio include six dump/garbage trucks, each considered a separate project along with 3 police cruisers, 2 fire trucks, and an ambulance.

To Congressman Ryan's point of view a new bike lane is nice to have, but when 40 million people are on food stamps this simply isn't a priority. By the way, the Administration has spent more than $1.2 billion on bike lanes and trails. The financial crisis has provided cover to push through anti-business and anti-prosperity measures under the guise of stimulus and other programs. Stimulus money has been used to buy buses throughout the state of Ohio:

* $8.4 million Akron
* $8.5 million Toledo
* $5.2 million Canton
* $18.3 million Dayton

New buses are nice, but it's hard to justify them economically when we need to be making investments. The plan has been a spending program out of the gate and used phrases like "shovel ready" to gain public support. This plan has been an unmitigated failure, but because it has failed so badly there is a push for yet another stimulus program so get used to seeing ribbon cutting ceremonies in the days and weeks ahead.

Hope - An Anchor for the Soul

Without an anchor, a boat will drift away with the tide.  Without a hope that is an anchor, the Christian will drift away with the tide (James 1:6).  Hebrews 6:19 says the hope we have is an anchor for the soul.  It is what keeps us grounded.  Hebrews 6:19 says that the anchor is firm and secure.  Imagine if we tossed an anchor overboard that is made out of paper.  We could throw it in the right spot and even have the right intentions.  But it is not firm and secure.  It will not hold the boat.  The anchor a boat uses is heavy and is able to hold the boat firmly in place.  But the anchor has to be grounded in something or the boat will still drift away.  If it is thrown into sand or a movable object, it will not hold.  The writer says our anchor is based on what lies behind the veil.  Like a good anchor that is firmly secured into the ground, our anchor is firmly entrenched behind the veil where Christ has secured access to God the Father.  How do we know?  At Jesus' death, the veil was torn completely from top to bottom.  Now we have full and complete access to God and that is the security of our anchor.  Thanks be to God for His indescribable grace!

The New Women Politician

I usually give my wife grief that women are not competent in different areas such as driving a car. However, I am really glad to see what appears to me to be a new breed of women politicians, one that don't fit the complete out of touch feminist mold (e.g. Barbara Boxer, Nancy Pelosi). I am really glad to see Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina in the race. They are seasoned corporate executives that have actually managed things. Meg as CEO of E-Bay is a proven leader. You can argue that Carly had a tumultuous run at HP, but she did orchestrate a number of positive endeavors such as acquiring Compaq which has proven to be a good move. We need good leaders from California. Can that state actually get any worse?

Our Ass Kickin President

Our President recently stated that he really needed to listen to people to find out "whose ass to kick". In the same interview with Matt Lauer, he said that if BP CEO Tony Hayward worked for him, he would have fired him. Two quotes that reveal a real lack of leadership. Maybe Obama was trying to prove how tough he was. In my opinion it did not come across well. "Kickin ass" does not show leadership - it show complete ineffectiveness. The firing comment is even worse especially considering he had up till that time not even talked to Tony Hayward. Our President has no corporate experience and quite frankly little or no experience actually managing people. I would think he would have tried to collaborate before throwing out all the rhetoric. I am in no way defending BP, but I get a little concerned when our President constantly wants to deflect blame and does very little to actually solve the problem. Maybe James Cameron can help shoot a new movie!

When Policy Counters Common Sense

Is it possible to be over-serviced?

Last week I was in the Atlanta area doing a combination of business and personal stuff. One of the evenings, I was out to dinner with some new friends and potentially ministry/business partners. We were at a steakhouse chain that begins with long and ends with horn. The hostess was perpetually in a state of hovering. I had barely sat down and hadn't even opened the menu when she wanted to take our order. The salad came and within a few minutes then came the steak. What was really bothersome however was after I had received the steak, she was constantly (I mean at least three times) asking me how it was. The first time I had not even cut into the steak. My friends and I were engrossed in conversation and she could obviously observe that. By the third time, I told her that she is now bothering our meal. The fourth time she came back and apologized for bothering us, but she was complying with "policy".

So the Longhorn Steakhouse policy is to bother its customers into oblivion to make sure they are happy. Does she have to fill out a checklist that says she has asked at least four times how the steak was? What got me was she continued to do it even after I told her she was bothering us. I can't imagine Longhorn intended their "policy" was so rote, so nonsensical that it put common and sense and the use of brains out to pasture. We need to educate our employees on common sense. Give them guidelines but not policy pushing.

Hope that Waits

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) (Ro 8:22-25). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

I am very often impossibly impatient. I hate to wait in lines, I hate to drive behind some little old lady who is not in the hurry that I am. After all I have places to go and things to do. My father when I was a teenager once caused me to miss three straight plane flights because he didn't want to waste time getting to the airport too early so we left like 30 minutes before the flight. Now that he is older and has more time he is now leaving hours before the flight. Go figure. It is really hard for me to just sit down, relax, read a book. I feel like I have to "do something".

So when the Bible tells me that our hope waits, that doesn't sit well with me. I have the American attitude that I want it now. But there is much going on heavenward that I have to wait for. And it painful. That is why we groan. Have you ever heard the groaning of the surf or the wailing of trees in the wind? All creation groans in a minor key. We live in a spoiled world that groans in its expectation of all that is to be revealed. We also hope for what we do not see and not what we already have. What we do not see requires faith. There is nothing I can do to earn what I cannot see. That is tough on the old ego. After all, I want it now - can't I just go through the drive thru of heaven and pick up my happy meal now?

What are we waiting for? The passage says we are waiting for the adoption as sons and the redemption of our bodies. We know we are already adopted when we accept Jesus as Savior. But this adoption is not complete until we are in the presence of the Father. That is why Romans 8:15 says we receive the Spirit of adoption. The Spirit is the deposit on this adoption . It is like when parents put a down payment on an adopted child in a foreign country. It is done, but parent has not been united with child. Second we receive the redemption of our bodies. As I get older, this becomes a lot more meaningful. I used to be able to get in shape quickly - each year it gets longer and longer. Things move and shift if you know what I mean. But my body will be transformed in an instant. It will be changed to forever worship Jesus with no limitations.

Everything that is good in life has a waiting period. A baby incubates for nine months. God didn't design it to just pop out. Here in NE Ohio we wait for the warmth of summer for it seems like forever. Our daughter was engaged for over a year and just got married and she was counting down the days. Our hope eagerly and patiently waits.

When Common Sense Gets in the Way

I own a GPS and have been in situations where the GPS tells me to turn down a certain road and my instincts are all at odds with what the GPS is telling me.  Could be that dirt road that I am going down that gives me the hint.  Or the fact that the road is closed.  However, I do admit to occasionally blindly follow what the GPS is telling me.  I remember turning down a dirt road following the GPS in California. 

But I have never gone as far as the group of three South Korean tourists in Queensland, Australia who followed their GPS until it led them to get their rented Ford sedan stuck in the middle of the field.  According to police, the tourists followed gravel roads, dirt roads, and even opened up a few closed gates in Cordalba State Forest in order to comply with their GPS instructions - all the while ignoring several warning signs along the way.  

So the next time that nice lady on the GPS tells you to drive the car over that cliff, you may wish to think twice.

Laws That Make You Wonder

Courtesy of the WSJ:

1. It is illegal to use a dish towel in Oregon or Minneapolis to dry dishes.
2. It is illegal for women to hang "unmentionables" on a clothesline in LA (despite the fact that Fredericks of Hollywood is headquartered in LA.
3. It is illegal to sleep with your shoes on in North Dakota.
4. It is illegal to snore with the windows open in Massachusetts.
5. It is legal to bar your mother-in-law without explanation from your home in Iowa.  

I am really glad our lawmakers look out for me.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Art Linkletter passed away this past week.  He was a voice from a time in past where television was pure and innocent.  We have come a long way from that point.  Honestly, there is very little on television that I consider worthy of watching.  However, I could watch the attached over and over again.

The Human Element in Baseball

Armando Galarraga was two outs from a perfect game (against the Indians no less), one that would put him in an elite class of baseball pitchers.  On a bang-bang play, a ground ball to first base with the pitcher covering, the runner was called safe when replays clearly show that he was out (by at least a step).  Baseball umpires get that play right 99.9% of the time.  Jim Joyce, the first base umpire blew the call.  As a baseball player and a student of the game, I was fascinated with the post-mortem of this night.  Three "right calls" were made after the game.

1.  Jim Joyce is absolutely a gutsy class guy.  See his post game interview.  He did not dodge it.  He did not make excuses.  He didn't lie.  He admitted point blank in sometimes graphic terms that he blew the call.  He didn't have a bad angle on the play.  He didn't have the lights in his eyes.  He felt horrible for the young Galarraga.

2.  Galarraga is an absolutely classy young man.  He didn't blame Joyce.  He in essence shrugged his shoulders and said hey we are human, we make mistakes.  Where most young athletes constantly play the blame game - he did not.  His empathy for the umpire showed in the meeting in tonight's game.  Armando, I'm your fan (by the way you Tigers fans who booed, shame on you).

3.  MLB got it right when they said they would not reverse it.  That would have opened up Pandora's box to now all of the sudden reverse bad calls after the fact.  Instant replay is bad enough, but to now start trying to make up for every human mistake on the field.  When would it stop?  Could you reverse a ball and strike call because you have those little boxes that tell you if it is a ball or strike?  It is a human game - let humans make mistakes.  That is where life's lessons are learned.

A Bike Trip Down Memory Lane

This past weekend, it was an absolutely gorgeous day on Saturday.  So that means a bike ride!  My ride normally goes into Portage County because there is not much traffic.  But I knew that Chagrin Falls was having their annual Blossom Festival and so I decided to ride into Chagrin Falls.  Now I grew up in Chagrin Falls and lived there when I was 10-12 years old.  But that thought really didn't enter into my thinking as we have had many opportunities to see our old home as we have lived in the immediate area for many years now.  But I have never done the old stomping grounds tour from my bike.  And there seems to be something different when you are outside on two wheels.  So while it was unintended, I slowly made my way into my memory banks.

Chagrin Falls High School - where we swam at the recreation center, where we played baseball at one of the diamonds behind Lewis Sands elementary school.  Rec center pool is closed - probably lack of funds and liability.  How sad.

Popcorn Shop - been in Chagrin Falls for decades.  I was on my bike and no money!  Next time, I will do this from my car and with a wallet.

Philemethian Street - home of 5th grade.  Across the street was a convenient store where I shoplifted a candy bar, but felt so guilty I told the owner.

A little further down Bell Street was one of my best friends Kurt Hoffman.  Hung out there a lot after school.

Now riding about four miles down on Bell Street to our street - Royal Oak Drive.  There is my favorite house.

Not much different - we put the bridge in.  We shared a driveway with our neighbor who had his own waterfall where we would catch lizards.

Ride back up the street and there is Chagrin Lakes Club.  We were charter members.  There is the lake which I remember as massive.  We had to swim to that platform for our swim test to the center in the lake which I thought was miles away, but was probably 100 feet tops.

Across the parking lot was the baseball field, site of many an exploit.  Now not an active field and overgrown by weeds.

Ride back out towards Bell.  At the end of our street, I remember my friend and I shooting our air rifle at traffic.  One time inexplicably we shot and someone had a flat just as we shot.  It was an air rifle - that means it blows out air doesn't it?  Anyway the drive chased us and we went to my friends house just a feet away but he caught us and we had to somehow explain to my friend's dad what we were doing.

Back across the street at Bell.  There is Gurney Elementary School, home of my 3rd and 4th grade.  Looks identical.  In the parking lot was the site of my first and only law breaking.  My brother and I decided it was neat to climb into the school bus and announcing silly things on the PA.  A policeman picked us up and took us back to Mom and Dad.  I'm sorry M&D.  Our playground on Gurney was tetherball.  Yes, you heard that right - tetherball.  I remember busting my brother Rick's thumb on a mean spike (or whatever it is called).  Now it is an extensive playground setup (see below).  I prefer tetherball.

Go back our Gurney to Bell St., turn left on Bell and go less than a mile.  That is the home of the Sohio gas station.  Why is that important?  I mean I didn't drive in the 3rd grade.  That was important because it had a coke machine that we could get a bottle for 10 cents.  Still a gas station there but I couldn't find Coke for 10 cents.  The person behind me pulling into the left hand turn lane probably wondered why I was snapping pictures from my bike of a gas station.

Across the street was a bowling alley that I was a regular at.  My dad loved to do the bowling thing with his kids.  It is now a bank.  However, next door is our kids orthodontist.  Unfortunately, I can't find a psychological connection here (sorry Meghan).

So what was a normal bike ride was a trip down memory lane.  Sometimes a guy has got to relive his childhood.  I am over it now.