Baseball

The playoffs are here and for the first time in a while, my beloved astros are left to ponder what-might-have-been while they hunt, fish, inject with steroids, and get ready for next year. It feels really weird not to have a vested interest in this year's playoffs. Last year, I DVR'd the 'stros games and was near catatonic for the entirety of the World Series (and just for the record, though the White Sox swept them, it's misleading. The Astros were in every game and were THISCLOSE to pulling it out. At least that's what i tell myself).
So i decided i needed to find a team to root for and cheer them on to victory this postseason. This is not sports bigomy. This is trying to recover from a near-miraculous h-town finish and coming up short, kinda like when you finally get up the nerve to walk over to the hot chick and ask for her number, but right before you are about to speak, her boyfriend comes out of the bathroom and you're left to continue walking as if you were heading that direction the whole time. Despite the opportunity, you still need a date for the dance. Here's my options:

The San Diego Padres
The St. Louis Cardinals
The New York Mets
The LA Dodgers

The National League sucks this year. Pretty bad. And I'm determined not to back a loser this postseason. I will not root for a NL team, and I will root AGAINST the cards with every fiber of my being. I hate them. I will always hate them. My worst fear is that i will have a son who loves baseball just as much as I do (that would be ash's worst fear!) and he decides to be a cardinals fan. I don't know how we could co-exist. seriously.
That leaves:
The Oakland A's - nope. no one i really like on the team. that's what makes rooting for houston so good - the team is always made up of good guys. From Bagwell and Biggio to Berkman and Oswalt, you gotta root for them. Oakland: not so much.
The Minnesota Twins - already lost game 1. not backing a loser, plus santana (they're best pitcher) is a guy the twins STOLE from houston. a pox on both their houses.
The New York Yankees - i will never, i repeat (with emphasis) NEVER, root for the stinkin yankees. I hope they choke. I hope arod get's booed so badly that he's in therapy for years. I hope Jeter strikes out every time. I hope Giambi OD's on roids and swells up to the size of the Jolly Green Giant. I hope Johnson cannot crawl to the mound. I hope Abreu (another guy stolen from houston) gets swept. The Yankees suck. That leaves...

The Detroit Tigers. From worst to first. The Tigers were wretched the last few years, slumped late, and wound up the wild card team. Did you know that the last 4 seasons, at least one wild-card team has gotten to the World Series? This year, it's the Tigers. They're on a date with destiny and all that crap. The truth of the matter is that they're the only non-pretentious, non-wretched team in the postseason, and for that reason, i will be a Tiger supporter for the next month. The expiration date is November 30th. Then I'll return to worrying about the Astros need for a corner of, 2 starters, and a catcher.

VIVA LA TIGRES!!!

good grief

what a week! i feel like i've been running around all the live long day! between office time, meetings, writing, student events, and our ministry events this week, i feel like i've barely slept. i simply cannot wait to get reaquainted with my pillow tomorrow morning...

so this week has been student week of prayer at our church. we centered it around see you at the pole (yesterday was fantastic at AHS, by the way) and last night we had "The Prayer Path: A Christ Centered Labyrinth Experience." it was kind of a time consuming thing to set up, but in the end, it was worth it judging by the seriousness with which everyone took it and the comments i heard afterwards. I really felt like it helped things click for some students, which was really the whole point all along. In the huh-bub of yesterday i didn't get a chance to go through the labyrinth myself, so i came in this morning and went through it in solitude.

Let me tell you: the presence of God was with me this morning. This has really been a trying and testing week for me...there's a lot of stuff swirling in the air and i feel kinda like i'm drowning in some of it. i needed intentional time with God this morning. I needed a little extra push. A little extra pull. A little extra zing. and this morning, i feel God came through and then some. I was reminded of His goodness. His faithfulness. His ability to teach and train when all seems dark and dank. All through the labyrinth, i imagined Christ walking through it next to me. I felt his hand on my shoulder. His breath in my ear. His love surrounding me. after coming through the labyrinth, I feel revived. i feel nourished. I feel the presence of God hovering in my life. Does this mean today will be the best day of my life? probably not. but it means i'll approach it focused on the One who is my Savior and not on the swirling vortex of junk that life is oversaturated with. And to me, that feels like victory. It feels like triumph. it feels like life in abundance. It feels like i just got home from a not-so-great vacation. and there's no place like home.

My return to blogging

Well, I have to say, Xanga is old news. It's just boring, trite, and honestly, i'm over it. So here's to booger! Uh, i mean blogger! It's my goal to have a regular blog, though, like my "daily" quiet times, regular blogging sometimes has to wait for me to get my act together before I enter its warm embrace.

Yeah, i struggle, with blogging and with quiet times, or as i like to all it, "quality time." Why? How is it possible that a "seminary trained" youth minister can struggle with quiet times?

Well, beside the excuse of being human, it's like this, you see: my life, like i'm sure all of yours, is stuffed full of crap. and by crap, i mean busy junk. It has important stuff too, like time with Ashley and ministry, but it has its fair share of junk too, like fantasy football/baseball, xbox, sleeping, dvr, sudoku, movies, etc. And all the junk that goes into living this quasi-mundane-yet-often-charming-existence often overwhelms and oversaturates me. Combine that with a predisposition that gets bored by routine, and you have the genesis of my struggle.

so what's the cure? honestly, i need pushing. i need accountability. I need better time management skills. But most of all, i need to reexamine my priorities. So tonight, after i get home from the fantastic meal i'm going to prepare for Ash and watch a couple of episodes of Lost (Season 1), I'm gonna dust off the old journal, crack open The Message, and spend an unspecified and inordinate ammount of time reading, writing, talking, and sharing myself with God. I fully expect for Him to do the same with me.