Minutes to Memories

(Our little “pop princess” posing for the camera this afternoon!)

We’re really excited about tonight. In the nearly eight years we’ve lived in Ocean Springs, we haven’t lived in a neighborhood conducive to trick-or-treating, but tonight, we’re in a GREAT spot for it.

Hillary’s friend, Shae, is coming over to work the neighborhood with her, and I suspect I’ll be distributing candy for the biggest part of the night. Funny, but Halloween turns out to be the only holiday remaining that encourages neighbors to interact.

For some reason, I decided to do a little research into the origins of Halloween since so many folks attribute a satanic impetus to it. I was a bit surprised by what I read (you can read what I read here). Turns out that Halloween isn’t so different from Christmas or Easter in that what began as a pagan religious celebration was co-opted by Christianity along the way, only now to have become more of an American capitalist venture.

I hope you all enjoy your neighbors tonight and that lots of kids have lots of fun, and as the old Celtic proverb says, “May no toilet paper stream from your trees come morn…”

I felt old today, and the words "prostate exam" never even came up. Instead, I simply checked the mail at work and noticed a postcard advertising this year's Youth in Action lineup in Birmingham, Alabama.

In Church of Christ world, Youth in Action is a mega-youth rally between Christmas and New Year's in which thousands of teens and youth workers converge to listen to great speakers, attend fun class sessions, listen to loud concerts, and flirt. Oh, and grow spiritually, too.

Anyway, I took a mess of teenagers to Birmingham for a couple of years until we hired a full-time youth minister to organize such fun. It really is a great time, and our kids in Ocean Springs are planning to attend once again this year.

But none of this involves my feeling old (so much). Instead, on the postcard, after noticing some Christian band named Skillet that's scheduled to perform, I noticed that two names were listed as keynote speakers this year. The first was Buddy Bell, a legendary speaker in CofC circles. The second was Jason Ashlock (pictured above).

I taught Jason's 7th grade geography class. Hence, feeling old.

Actually, I taught Jason's 7th grade geography class, 8th grade American History class, and 9th grade Civics class, and he also served as my stat-guy for my basketball teams (complete with impressive, colorful stat charts that he created himself). Jason was a great student and a great person, so in spite of my feeling old, I felt very proud to see where he's at today.

When Jason was in college at Harding University, I learned that he was a part of a drama group that called itself Theatron. I had the chance to see him perform on a few occasions, and he astounded me with his talent. I now see that college was just the beginning.

The profile at Youth in Action's website says that Jason is now a PhD student at Fordham University along with working as a literary agent in New York City. Pretty cool from where I sit.

I don't know that I taught Jason much of anything outside of a few basketball statistical lessons when he made his way through junior high, but it makes me feel a little bit of pride to have been a small part of his impressive life anyway.

I openly admit that I’m not very good at the formal act of prayer.

Well, I’ll admit skill in the public version, but in the day-to-day private version of prayer, I’m not so adept. I won’t bore you with a lengthy discussion on the particulars: I’ll just say it and confess that it bothers me somewhat.

Some time back, I developed the habit of praying the concepts of the Model Prayer (of Jesus) every morning as a focusing prayer. This has been helpful. I’ve developed the habit, and for that I am glad. This morning, however, my sermon text was the Model Prayer from Matthew 6, and in my preparations I discovered how much of it I had missed.

I now believe that the prayer Jesus volunteered as instruction for his followers on how to pray is a prayer for revolution. As Bible scholar, Warren Carter, said, “To pray this prayer is to seek nothing less than total transformation of life on earth.”

That’s pretty serious stuff, huh?

The Thesis Statement: “Hallowed be your name.”

I’ve been praying this by declaring that God’s name is holy and far above me, etc. Just a little lesson in humiliation. Instead, I’ve now learned that the prayer’s theme is that God’s name become glorified in all the earth. This is a prayer of vision, not of evaluation.

The companion statements that “God’s kingdom come” and that his will be done on earth as in Heaven make this thesis stronger: followers of Jesus learn to pray for the world to be transformed so that the wrongs of the world are made right, and that God’s way of peace and joy, of hope and love becomes a reality.

The prayer then turns its attention to us.
* As we envision God’s will on earth, we pray for what we need every day. May we have the resources (i.e. daily bread) we need to accomplish God’s will through our lives.
* And we pray for mercy. May our sins not stand in the way of God’s will coming true in the world around us. We, as God-followers, are already about the business of mercy by the very nature of it all. We pray that our own shortcomings don’t stand in the way.
* And we pray that God won’t “bring us to the time of trial.” Not that we won’t be tested. Instead, we pray that God won’t let us get to the point where the powers of this world can have their way with us. It is a prayer that despair won’t win.

In Matthew 6, Jesus had to confront the contemporary views of God that stood in the way of kingdom life. The Jewish leaders had become so familiar with God that their synagogue prayers had become pure production. The Greco-Roman view of an aloof God had led them to jabber heavenward in hopes that he might look their way every once in a while. Jesus, on the other hand, taught that God was a father with a world revolution on his mind, and that those interested in God’s Empire would pray with that focusing thought in mind.

Today, I believe our world is more familiar with a tame grandfatherly-type God, a God who smiles and gives us a quarter when we come over to visit.

What I proposed this morning is that God wears a beret with subversive revolution on his mind. Not with guns and grenades, mind you, but with the subversive, transforming weapon of enduring love.

And I have a new thought to pray now.

My wife and I had a wedding to attend today, so we dressed up in our very best... :-)

No, seriously, and in case you can't tell, we were supposed to be a dead bride and groom as we dressed up for our young adult costume party. We had a really great time at the Chevalier's house tonight. Leah and Skeeter put on a wonderful party, and we had a good group show up to just laugh and have fun together. Great food, great games, great costumes, and great fun...

This, by the way, is my very most favorite day of the year. 25 hours instead of 24!!!

#5 in the picture, D’Andre Brown, has the talent to be playing on Sundays in the future. He has the Terrell Owens / Randy Moss type of body, and I’m sure lots of college recruiters are taking notice of the talented high school junior. He didn’t do much in the game tonight, however, but the Ocean Springs Greyhounds took down the Gulfport Admirals 7-0 anyway. An interception returned to the Gulfport ten-yard-line then punched in by the offense was the only score in the game, but it turned out to be enough.

It wasn’t an easy choice to go the Ocean Springs Homecoming game with Game 5 of the World Series on tonight. It’s been 24 years since my favorite baseball team has won the World Series, so the cliché that things like this don’t happen every day is apt, but I made the choice to go anyway. This is the only regular season Greyhound game I will make this year, and my little girl wanted to go, too. So we went and had a great time together.

XM Radio allowed me to listen to the bottom of the 7th on the way home, and I made it home to see the end of that inning and watch Rolen knock in Eckstein to put the Cards up 4-2. As I type, we’re headed to the ninth inning with a chance to win it all. Unbelievable.

Well, gotta go. Wainwright is on the mound…

One thing I can say about folks down here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast: we sure know how to throw a good parade.

I picked up my normal carload of kids for Kids Club this afternoon, and on the way to the church building they mentioned that there was a homecoming parade downtown this afternoon. Well, I'm always on the lookout for unique picture-taking opportunities, and a homecoming parade sounded like a winner to me.

I parked by the Ocean Springs Community Center and found myself a convenient spot close to the beginning of the parade route, expecting a tiny high school parade. I leaned against the fence in front of the Walter Anderson Museum and waited for the show to begin.

I'm telling you, it was really, really good. There were police cars and fire trucks, marching bands and motorcycles, decorated floats and convertibles with pretty girls, and even the unique idea of using big boats as floats themselves. And of course, there could not be a parade in Mardi Gras country without lots and lots of candy and beads.

It was an impressive parade for a homecoming game, and tomorrow night the 7-2 Ocean Springs Greyhounds will take on the Gulfport Admirals in the reason for all the hubbub.

I just might have to go and watch...

My status as one who is “getting older” became official with this solitary statement: I went to the doctor today.

Nothing wrong with going to the doctor. I’ve been to the doctor at certain times in my life, mostly from breaking some part of my body playing basketball. I even went to the doctor ten years ago for something or another. There’s nothing wrong with that at all.

But today, I went to the doctor just to go, and in my feeble little mind, I felt as if this was my crossing over into the land of the aged. The very fact that the words “prostate exam” came up without a joke attached got my attention. And to double the fun, my new doctor followed up by using the phrase “when you turn fifty.”

Sigh…

For all the readers well past fifty, I mean no disrespect. It’s just that I thought I was eternally twelve years old until today. Alas, I am not. I am (here’s the phrase) “getting older.”

The doctor’s visit came as a result of a couple of important developments in my life: (1) we are now of the six or seven people in this country with affordable health insurance, and (2) my wife has decided that there should be no more chance of any little Al’s and Jody’s running around in this world, and since she remembers my promising to be the one to do the little procedure when she was in labor nine years ago (she never forgets a thing!)…well, let’s just say the “we don’t have health insurance” card was good while it lasted.

But in my mind, it was more than those two important pieces of information. I knew it would be good for me to go visit a doctor. Since I am, you know, getting older.

So I did, and overall it was good. The doctor was professional, thorough, and actually listened to me. I know his nurse, as well as a nurse practitioner in the clinic (they’re sisters), and it was good to see and get hugs from them. I now have a prescription for something to try for my occasional (and now I’m told, probably migraine) headaches. And I even have a nice little note that can get me in to see a surgeon who will do that little procedure I truly dread!

Well, I’d better get some sleep. I have a big day tomorrow with a little bingo, a few crossword puzzles, and an AARP mixer.

(A plane flies over the Texas and DFW flags at Founders Plaza this morning a few hours before my plane departed for home.)

I had an absolute great time yesterday and today, and I have my wife to thank for the trip. I flew out of Gulfport yesterday morning, landing in Dallas around 12:30pm. My friend, David (the best man at my wedding!), picked me up at the airport without any problems. We went to eat at Chipotle’s, where I enjoyed an awesome burrito and lemonade lunch. Afterwards, we went to see my sister, Jacki, and had a delightful time visiting with her. Jacki is one of my life heroes, a neat thing to be able to say about your sister. From there, we fought the Dallas traffic to attend last night’s Monday Night Football game at Texas Stadium. And, as I said late last night (actually, early this morning), in spite of the horrible performance by the Dallas Cowboys, I had an unforgettable experience.

(Check out my Webshots page link for a bunch of pictures from last night.)

David and I stayed up until 3am talking and looking at our pictures (I enjoy taking pictures: David, in addition to being a dentist, is a photographer.) Staying up until 3am wasn’t so bad considering we slept in until about 10am.

After checking out of the hotel late this morning, we made a stop at Founder’s Plaza at DFW to watch some planes take off and try our hand at a few more pictures. David likes planes in particular, so he especially enjoyed the opportunity afforded by this unique tourist spot.

When I made it to the airport, I had to go through the specially tight security system in this post-911 world. You will all sleep better tonight: the security folks impounded my toothpaste.

I’m being serious.

Now most folks would say that the world is a safer place when I “have” toothpaste, but for whatever reasons, my Aquafresh was “too big” (I was told), so they threw it away for me.

I got to thinking later: you could actually lob hand grenades at planes from Founder’s Plaza. But I can’t take toothpaste on a plane in a carry-on bag.

I’ll sleep well tonight, knowing how safe we all are…

(My picture tonight of the spotlight on T.O. in pregame warmups.)

Well, the Cowboys were whipped tonight, but I was there, so I don't care. I had a great time watching Monday Night Football in person with my great friend, David Watson. I have my wife to thank for the tickets (my Father's Day present and others wrapped into one!). It has been a great day.

But it's really late now. So I've got to get some sleep!

I preached on giving this morning, which is generally a foolproof way to make sure our church's contribution is significantly lower than normal. I don't know the tally from today, and to tell you the truth, I'd rather not!

Even though my text today was from Matthew 6, I brought up the story of the Rich Young Ruler from Matthew 19 as a case study in answering the question, "How do rich Christians learn mercy?" In Jesus' little one-on-one class with the impressive young man, he seemed to have given him a three-step project:
#1: Free up your money (sell your possessions)
#2: Transfer the money to someone who needs it (give to the poor)
#3: Then become a student of Jesus (come follow me)

The man, of course, chose to be known as a "rich man" instead of exchanging his identity for that of being "a follower of Jesus." This didn't please him (i.e. he went away sad), but money had too great a hold on his heart. He remained a "rich man," and Jesus went on to say it was hard for a "rich man" to become a citizen of God's Empire.

That story has always haunted me, and it doesn't seem to be going away.

It haunted me as a teenager because quite honestly I had a rather simplistic, naive approach to Scripture. It wasn't because my family was rich (compared to our environment); instead, I came from a group of people who said things like, "The Bible says it - let's do it!" and I could not for the life of me understand why Jesus' instruction to the rich young man did not apply to us. I mean, people tried to explain it to me, plus I was positive the religious world didn't believe in doing what Jesus told the man (a simple look around made that obvious), but it still didn't make sense to me. Here's a man wanting to be complete (i.e. perfect), and Jesus told him how to pull it off. Why would this not apply to us? In fact, it applied perfectly to Jesus himself and his followers, but I was supposed to believe that it somehow didn't apply to us? I thought we were interested in taking Jesus seriously!?!

It still bothers me, but for different reasons.

First of all, I don't see the Bible in such terms anymore. That collection of writings is WAY more complicated than I ever imagined it to be. Simply saying "The Bible says it - let's do it!" - though admirable on many fronts - sounds good, but is just too simplistic. It isn't that easy.

But second, though I no longer believe that the Bible is simply a black/white list of do's & don'ts (and examples) for us today, the more I read this particular story the more I'm convinced that it has a hard message for our religious world.

And that message is this: If our stuff matters more to us than hurting people, we can't be considered on the same side of God, no matter how much we seem to have it all together.

I find that more haunting than any Halloween movie.

(I took this picture of Anthony Reyes in Minute Maid Park a few weeks ago. Little did any of us know then that he would be starting Game 1 of the World Series!)

Today is a beautiful day in Ocean Springs. I had the chance to sleep in this morning, and then I went out in the cool weather and mowed my front yard, hopefully for the last time this mowing season.

Right now I’m watching the Razorbacks play Ole Miss. I heard that my friends, Jamey & Janey, are at the game, and they are seeing a great game so far. Felix Jones opened up the game with a 100-yard kickoff-return for a touchdown, and the tone for the first half was officially set. The Hogs are winning 21-3 at halftime, and hopefully they’ll keep it up in the second.

I sent out a general email to my buddies just a couple of days ago in case anyone was interested in coming over to watch the first game of the World Series tonight. I sent out the email before the Cardinals won Game 7, expecting I’d be watching either way. With the Redbirds winning, however, I’ll be all excited tonight. I think my friend, Herman, is coming over, but I haven’t heard from anyone else yet. I told everyone that I wasn’t cooking or cleaning house – the best I could promise was some chips and salsa and a television! And a mowed front yard…

On paper, there is no way the Cardinals should beat the Tigers in the World Series. I’m really glad this year that they don’t play the games on paper.

(Warning: the graphic nature of the words in the next paragraph is intended for a mature audience.)

My youngest daughter blew chunks all over the school hallway this morning. It was pancakes and syrup, with Sunny Delight, for those scoring at home. The poor janitor had clean-up duty. I just had to pick up the perpetrator and give her a ride home.

I received the call about 9am or so from Nurse Mary that Hillary was throwing up. The good news was that she didn’t have a fever. The even better news was that she takes after my wife instead of me. Periodically, both of them puke their guts out and then feel better than they’ve felt in a long time. Me? A puking episode leaves me in a death watch. Thankfully, this was one of Hillary’s “feel better” puking stories. Today was the first day of school she has missed this year, but as it turned out, she would have been just fine the rest of the day.

I was really glad she didn’t turn out to be sick for several reasons, chief among them was the fact that tonight was our Children’s Halloween Party at church, and Hillary was really looking forward to it. We have LOTS of kids at our church, and it seems that this particular party has the biggest turnout of all. Maybe it’s the novelty that a church is having a Halloween party instead of calling it a Fall Festival? Who knows, but for whatever reason, we always have a really big time, and tonight may have been the biggest of them all.

We had Jack Sparrow in attendance, along with the cast from the Wizard of Oz. We had cute little brides in their white dresses, and a pop star princess. We had a policeman, Spiderman, a skeleton, Yoda, Harry Potter, little bugs and butterflies, princesses, the scary dude from Scream, Raggedy Ann, some pirates, the green Power Ranger, a bumblebee, and the most adorable witches I’ve ever met. And I’m sure I’m missing some…

Herman rented a Space Walk. There were several fun games spread around the church yard, and a LOT of good (spooky) food in the fellowship hall. A lot of folks worked very hard to set this sucker up, a lot of folks worked very hard to make sure the kids had a blast during the party, and then a lot of folks worked very hard to clean up afterwards.

All the hard work was worth it. The kids were adorable, and they had a blast.

And as far as I know, no one blew any chunks tonight.

I took the little video above with my digital camera last February at the University of South Alabama. My favorite baseball player, Albert Pujols, had come to host a charity golf tournament in the area, and he loaned his name to the university’s Hall of Fame game by showing up for (and winning) their home run derby.

Luis Gonzales is the hero at USA (and at present a broadcaster for Fox Sports), and he is always the show at the home run derby (though Pujols stole the show this past year). Gonzo isn’t the only Jag baseball hero, though: both Juan Pierre (of the Cubs) and Marlon Anderson (of the Dodgers) were in town, too. But I showed up to see Pujols, and I was so glad that I did. After the derby, I was lucky enough to work myself into position to get an autograph from my favorite Cardinal.

I guess I was thinking of this video today because I’m hoping to see a bit of that tonight in Game Seven of the NLCS at Shea Stadium.

Here are my predictions for tonight:
* Lots of Redbird runs tonight. They come early, and often.
* Suppan won’t turn in a stellar performance like his last start, but he will fare better than his Met counterparts
* Late in the game, when the Cards turn to their bullpen, the Mets will make a run and get the crowd back into the game
* It will come down to Adam Wainwright in the 8th and 9th innings to hold on to the lead
* Wainwright pulls it off, and the Cards win 8-6

Okay, my predictions always suck. So I think I’ll just watch the game and see what happens…

A lot has changed in the years since I was in college. Real food courts on campus, for one. A 5,000% (give or take a few thousand percent) increase in tuition, another. The dorms are like hotels now instead of crappy World War I army barracks. The kids are also a lot younger than they used to be. Parents are now “expected” to pay for a child’s college education. And now, add “fall break” to the ever-expanding list.

We did have a fall break in my day. We called it Thanksgiving. But now, by October, overworked college kids putting in somewhere in the neighborhood of fifteen hours every week in class need a few extra days off for rest and relaxation. Thus, fall break.

But I like it.

My reason is selfish, however: I’m just really glad to see my oldest daughter. It’s good to have her around the house for a couple of days. It will be good for her to take her little sister to her dance class tomorrow night. It will be good for her to help out at the children’s Halloween party at church Friday night. It will be good to hear her voice in our home, and it will even be good to have to juggle cars in the driveway with her around.

It’s been good to hear her talk about her classes and projects as good things, and it has been good to take a picture of her beautiful smile to share with you all.

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Well, it’s a good thing Erica is home, because the Cardinals blew Game 6 tonight. We need a repeat performance from Jeff Suppan tomorrow night, and a couple of hits before the 9th inning. I’m not giving up hope. Yet.

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I heard there was a report floating around the Internet today about a “dirty bomb” threat targeting seven NFL stadiums this weekend. Guess where I’m getting to go this weekend!?! I have such luck sometimes. But the good news is that “my” stadium wasn’t on the list. Thank goodness terrorists are honest, huh?

Most people that know me know that Habitat for Humanity is an important part of my life.

It all began when I received Jimmy Carter’s book, Living Faith, as a Christmas present in 1996. After reading the chapter on “justice” that highlighted President Carter’s involvement with Habitat for Humanity, I was struck by the need for that very thing in my Arkansas hometown (Paragould), partly for addressing poverty housing, but probably even more to break down an awful lot of walls that I had come to notice. Socioeconomic walls for one. Religious walls for another.

I was 25 years old at the time, with about that much sense, so I mentioned to my friend Trent (who was around 27, going on 8,000 in terms of sense) my thought that our hometown could really use a Habitat for Humanity affiliate. He shocked me by saying that he had thought the very same thing. So I, idealistic to the core, just went ahead and started one.

I moved to the Mississippi Gulf Coast in early 1999, but I had been infected with “habititis” already. I piddled around with the affiliate in Harrison County (starting their homeowner’s association) since there was no affiliate in Ocean Springs, but something told me that history just might repeat itself someday. And it did.

In early 2001, the mayor of Ocean Springs mentioned that some people would like a Habitat for Humanity affiliate in our town, but no one knew how to get one started. Well, that was the one thing I did know how to do, so I set out to do it again.

This experience was quite different from the first. One, I’m a tiny bit smarter than the first time around, and I made a few less mistakes. For another, God has assembled a pretty amazing set of folks here along with opening doors we could have never imagined. But finally, there was Hurricane Katrina. And that has changed everything.

We have received more significant attention as well as massive confusion than you would believe. Our need for simple, decent places to live in our county has exploded, along with the interest in meeting that need. It is absolutely nuts. Add to all this that last May marked the end of my time on the board (along with the two remaining founding board members) due to term limits, so I’m not completely up on what’s happening anymore.

But I’m still infected with Habitat for Humanity. And I’m still on the Family Support Committee that I formerly chaired. And we had a very good meeting tonight.

In the picture above, you’ll see three very impressive people who, along with me, form the Family Support Committee for Habitat for Humanity of Jackson County: Cynthia on the left, who succeeded me as chair; Michael in the middle, who serves as maintenance supervisor; Diann, on the right, the homeowner education coordinator; and me, behind the camera, who collects “sweat equity” reports.

Thinking after the meeting, and then looking at the picture, I realize that at least one of my initial dreams came true thanks to Habitat for Humanity just in this little committee. Four people that did not know each other beforehand: two men & two women, two from the eastern end of the county & two from the western end, only one Coast native, only one “connected” to the important folks in our area, three ethnic groups represented, and finally, a Catholic, a Baptist, a non-denominational sort of person, and a member of a Church of Christ.

One thing brought us together tonight: a belief that Jesus calls us to love everyone and serve people in need.

That’s why I love Habitat for Humanity so much.

by octoberdolphin

I heard today from my Hawaiian friends, Ric and Jonellen. Well, I guess it isn’t fair to call them Hawaiian friends. Ric is from Delaware, and Jonellen from Tennessee, but thanks to the need for the federal government to have its Coast Guard guard the coast of Hawaii, too, these friends are now enjoying the beautiful islands.

Well, I’m not sure if they enjoyed the last couple of days or not. As you probably noticed, an earthquake upset tropical life in the popular tourist destination yesterday. Having learned the Katrina lesson not necessarily to expect the media to perfectly describe day-to-day life surrounding natural disasters, I emailed my friends to see if they were okay. They responded today that they were doing fine; they just had to endure twelve hours without power and the corresponding opportunity to get to know their neighbors a bit better.

Out of the sheer goodness of my heart, I offered to make a humanitarian mission trip to see them and deliver a case or two of potted meat products and other necessary survival items, but though they appreciated my compassionate offer, this young married couple told me they were surviving just fine without me. I suspect they are telling the truth, but on the off chance they are just being humble, I’m thinking I might ought to go on a fact-finding mission just to be sure. Humanitarian relief projects require such attentiveness.

I really miss Ric and Jonellen. They are just a really neat couple. I wish we could have had the chance to get to know them even better while they were in Ocean Springs, but the chance we did have was very good. I had the honor of baptizing Ric one Sunday at his request, and soon afterwards I grew to understand that Ric is one of those rare folks that are so obviously transformed in that decision. All of the baptisms I’ve witnessed were good, of course, but only a handful is of people so obviously “changed.”

I’m such an analytical person that I’m always trying to notice things, take notes, “figure out,” and learn lessons. But people like Ric – people who are transformed like Ric – those rare souls are far beyond analysis. They are more like a work of art to me, something you just stand and admire without words.

Kind of like a Hawaiian vista, I guess. Without an earthquake.

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SPORTS SCENE:

* No Cardinals game tonight. They must have had as much rain in St. Louis as we’ve had in Ocean Springs. A weird weather day around here…

* For all you fellow Lady Jag fans out there, our next game is in Denver Friday night. I’m afraid we won’t be able to make this road trip!

* For the Razorback fans, you’ve probably already noticed that we’ve climbed to #15 in the polls. We’re actually #13 in the brand new BCS rankings. I’ll have to admit that I’m a bit nervous about the Ole Miss game this weekend. We should win, which is what worries me.

* The Dallas Cowboys had a terrible first half yesterday, followed by a terrific second half against the Houston Texans. Walking soap opera T.O. caught three TD passes in the win.

* My three fantasy football teams have had a decent week so far. If Rex Grossman has a decent night tonight, I’ll win in one league. He would have to score 53 points in another league for me to win there! And I’ll win in the final league if a couple of his receivers don’t do much. Sort of a catch-22 for me…

(Hillary, with friends, Amanda and Rebekah tonight)

Tonight was our night to host our teens from church for a devotional. Jody made some awesome meat nachos along with some tasty Halloween brownies and cookies. I pulled out a "crokinole" game from under the bed, and Joey & I took down Trent & Matt in a heated game. If you've never played crokinole, you're missing out on a lot of fun!

Eventually, I took the small group into my office for a little devotional message. I showed them the Team Hoyt video (along with reading the Rick Reilly article about the inspirational father-son duo) since the teens didn't get to see it during my Peak of the Week class a few weeks ago. I tied the message to Paul's statement in Philippians: "I can do everything through Christ who gives me the strength." I pointed out that Christians shouldn't use that awful word CAN'T to mean that something is too hard or too difficult, but we use it way too much.

It's been a good night, other than the fact that the Cardinals are losing right now. But after my own little devotional, I'm not going to say that they CAN'T come back and win tonight.

But it sure doesn't look so good right now...

Okay, you guys know we’re big Lady Jag Volleyball fans at our house, but after tonight, we’ve pretty much become lifelong fans.

Some might think we’d have had a hard time rooting against Arkansas State University tonight, seeing that ASU is my wife’s alma mater. I even attended some summer classes and did some graduate work there. But I don’t care – we’re for the Lady Jags no matter what... Let me tell you about it.

Before the match, the starting lineups were announced. When the Lady Jags were announced, Brittany (a sophomore middle blocker) ran straight toward the bleachers and threw a Lady Jag Volleyball t-shirt directly to Hillary. It turned out that several of them came over and threw shirts into the bleachers, but it was obvious that Brittany intended Hillary to have that shirt!!! I’m convinced that Lauren tried to throw another one to Hillary, too, but another kid ended up with the shirt. This was Hillary’s night before the match even started!!!

The Lady Jags lost the match in three straight games, but they had a great effort. The combination of picky officiating on our setter, Stephanie, and the ASU talent didn’t spell victory for the Lady Jags, but they still played well overall. They were closer each game, but they still came up short.

After the match, we went to wait outside the locker room to try to get a few autographs Hillary missed last night (in the picture, you can see Hillary had already slipped on her new t-shirt!). While we waited, a few parents gathered around, and Brittany’s dad gave Hillary his shiny new media guide!

But it got even better…

When Kalyn was giving Hillary an autograph, she and Taylor asked if Hillary would like to see their locker room. I think you know the answer! It was so cool to see those two athletes take her back to the locker room for a tour! While they were back there, they found a t-shirt that actually fit her, and Hillary told me later, she was impressed that Lauren remembered her name from last night.

I know the newspaper will just have a little note that ASU defeated USA in three games tonight in Sunbelt Conference volleyball action. But I can tell you, there was a lot of good stuff going on from where I stood – good stuff from some impressive college girls, and an unforgettable night for a little girl.

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On another really good note, how about those St. Louis Cardinals?!?! Up 2 games to 1 now in the NLCS with the Detroit Tigers awaiting the winner. I'd love to see a Cards/Tigers series!

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On a computer note, I've added a links section on the left hand column of my blog for those of you interested in checking any of them out! I'm just so proud of myself that I figured out how to use the html to add the links!

All who know me will be relieved to know that I’ve added yet another favorite sports team to my rather large cadre of favorite sports teams. Before tonight (unbelievable I know), but I have not had a favorite women’s college volleyball team. Not to say I haven’t watched any women’s college volleyball along the way, but I have yet to find it in me to select a team to follow. That is no longer the case. I am now a full-fledged fan of the University of South Alabama Lady Jaguars. Go Lady Jags!!!

It wasn’t their performance tonight, though they played well in their exciting five-game loss to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Lady Trojans. Instead, it has everything to do with my nine-year-old daughter, Hillary.

Hillary has always said that she loved volleyball, but Hillary loves a lot of things. I always suspected she declared her fondness for volleyball simply because that was what her big sister loved, but who can be sure with kids? But Hillary is in 4th grade now, and I’ve suddenly noticed that the years are starting to pass us by. Basketball was my thing, and I started playing in 4th grade. Volleyball was Erica’s thing, and she started playing in 4th grade. I thought this might be a good year to start looking ahead with Hillary.

One evening last week I was in charge of cooking supper, so of course we ended up at a Chinese buffet. Hillary and I had a great talk there. We talked about the many things she is interested in, and as we talked it became more and more evident that Hillary really was interested in volleyball – interested above all the other choices.

So earlier this week, we strung up a rope across our backyard and started tossing volleyballs. Hillary decided that she liked “hitting,” and she has decided that she wants to be an outside hitter when she gets bigger. And I can’t wait to help her pursue her dream.

I got online and took a gander at the University of South Alabama volleyball schedule since they are the closest college team to our house. We’ve missed the biggest part of the season, but I noticed they had home games tonight and tomorrow night and asked Hillary if she wanted to go. She did, so that’s where we’ve been tonight.

The beauty of the lesser-known college sports is the access you get to these awesome athletes (did any of you watch a 6’6” girl from Bulgaria play ball tonight?). Admission to the game was free, and there couldn’t have been over a hundred fans show up to watch. And after the game, Hillary stood outside their locker room with an ink pen and a scorecard in her hand, and once middle-blocker Brittany started the ball rolling, Hillary got autographs from nearly the entire team.

They were all sweet to her, but I suddenly have a favorite player in Lauren Robbins. In addition to possibly being the best player on the team (and an outside hitter!), she was the sweetest of all to Hillary, including posing for the picture above.

I bet we’ll be back tomorrow night…

Go Lady Jags!!!!!!!

(With the news coverage flying, I found this picture to be an interesting one: Cory Lidle, then Philadelphia Phillies pitcher, checking out his new plane in Spring Training less than a year ago. Little did the photographer know how much attention Lidle’s new pilot’s license would eventually bring…)

I finished Brian McLaren’s second book in his trilogy today. My on-line friend, Tom (given today, ironically from New York), sent me the entire trilogy to get my thoughts on McLaren, and I was deep into The Story We Find Ourselves In this afternoon. This book continues the conversations of fictional friends, Neo and Dan, and I found today’s reading interesting for bringing into the novel the events of September 11, 2001. One of the characters in the book noted that everyone would remember where he or she was when they heard the news.

I paused and remembered. I was at my office, on the computer (surprise!), when I saw a quick news update on Yahoo’s homepage of a plane flying into the World Trade Center. My initial reaction was that some little plane had lost control and bumped into the skyscraper. Before long, the phone began ringing, and I learned the magnitude of the disaster.

Talk about spooky today…

I’m reading this book, sent from a friend in New York, referring to the WTC terrorist attack, thinking of my personal memories with that story, when I checked my email and noticed a new report that a small plane had flown into a big building in New York City.

Spooky, huh?

I took this news report a bit more serious than the first one and tried to learn more. It wasn’t until later that I heard that terrorism was unlikely; instead, it seems that a pitcher for the New York Yankees, Cory Lidle, was the pilot of the plane that must have lost control and led to at least two deaths, including Lidle.

Of course, everyone in the world freaked out at the initial news, given the possibility of terrorism. Now, the story turns into a sad sports story with the world as audience.

My favorite baseball team, the St. Louis Cardinals, is set to play the New York Mets tonight, ironically in New York City. This will be very awkward for Major League Baseball. Mets fans naturally despise the Yankees, but tonight a Yankee player will be getting the most (and deserved) attention.

Lidle was born in California in 1972 and became an All-State high school athlete, ironically teamed up with later Yankee teammate, Jason Giambi. He turned into an effective major league pitcher, starting this season with the Phillies. In the middle of summer, however, George Steinbrenner pulled out his fat wallet and traded some minor league prospects to Philadelphia for Lidle and megastar, Bobby Abreu, in his attempt to shore up his roster full of stars for what he hoped to be another World Series. Instead, the Detroit Tigers shocked Yankee fans by taking them down three games to one this past weekend.

Lidle decided to fly home to California for the offseason, but his wife reportedly flew on a commercial flight instead of tagging along for the fifteen-hour flight in his personal plane that he purchased for $187,000 a year ago after he obtained his pilot’s license. Today, Cory Lidle is dead, leaving behind a grieving wife and a young child.

Quite a strange day, if I do say so myself.

Snippets from today…

* Our public schools are out on Fall Break through tomorrow, so I’m getting to spend some extra quality time with Hillary this week. Sharing lunches at the church building have been special times, along with hearing her sweet voice throughout the day.

* We had a BIG crowd for our Ladies Class this morning, and I thought it went very well. Teaching that class has turned out to be a very positive time for me. As we worked our way through the second part of Romans 12, the phrase “joyful in hope” grabbed me. I thought out loud that we often use the word “hope” in the most pessimistic ways – like, “Well, I hope you won’t do that again” or “I just hope she doesn’t come to the party.” Funny, but Paul has to remind us that “hope” is an optimistic word!

* I spent some time on our new “Caring For Children” Ministry today (an outreach project of our auditorium class at church). We’re going to make sure every child (and his/her family) that comes through our local hospital gets a little care package with a note offering to pray for them specifically, along with our willingness to run errands or whatever for the family if needed. It isn’t easy getting something new off the ground, but we’re getting closer, and that makes me excited. I’m much harder to motivate once something becomes routine…

* Our next “homeowners” meeting for our subdivision is tonight. It ought to prove interesting. I’m not sure what to expect, but I’ve decided that (unlike many other things in my life) this is something I’m going to try to stick with and be involved. Remind me of this when I tell you that I’m quitting!

* The American League Championship Series begins tonight. I don’t really care one way or the other, so I’m not even sure I’ll watch it. The NLCS that begins tomorrow night will be a different story…

* Add a slight headache to all this. I get a headache every once in a while that lasts for several days, sometimes weeks. People ask if they are migraines: my standard response is that I don't think so. I'm pretty sure they are sinus-related and have something to do with the weather, but I'm not sure. When they're really bad, I run to Wal-Mart's drug aisles. When they're not, I just try to tough them out (I really hate taking medicine). This one is of the latter. I think Hillary has the same problem as me, even today. Too bad our kids get LOTS of things from us...

Hope you have had a great Tuesday so far!

I trust everyone thoroughly enjoyed the Columbus Day activities in your respective home towns. Columbus Day brings back such fond memories: long lost family members returning home in cars tastefully decorated to resemble the Pinta, extravagant parades on Main Street with the grand marshal dressed like an ancient Haitian “Indian,” school kids in a heated Christopher Columbus look-alike pageant, neighbors gathered together for a stirring rendition of the timeless hymn, “O Columbus, Thou Sailor Of Round Worlds,” all topped off by a breathtaking fireworks display. Oh, the memories…

Kidding, of course. Is this really still a holiday?

It must be. My banker had his shutter down, and my postal carrier did not leave her FEMA trailer today. It must be Columbus Day, that holiday that no one remembers until their bank is closed and the mail doesn’t run.

Everyone knows there’s really only one holiday in October, and it is not in celebration of that famed explorer who bumped into Haiti, established the capitol of Ohio, misnamed the “Indians,” and in so doing discovered a whole new side of the world. The only holiday that matters in October is Halloween, the devil’s day.

I shouldn’t have made that last statement. I know I’m running the risk of opening a touchy subject for some folks, and those are risks I probably shouldn’t take. To me, despite its original intentions, Halloween has always been a harmless day for kids – a day for candy and dressing up and having fun, all the while jesting of the darker elements of the world as the year literally grows darker itself.

So thanks to my friend, Big Dave, and his advice to get a memory card reader, I’ll show you a picture of the “scary” front to our house now, all of which involved a mother and nine-year-old daughter having a blast together. They did good work if you ask me…

And if it offends to many people, next year we’ll decorate our house like the Santa Maria.

I have been to many sporting events in my years, but I have NEVER had as much fun as I did today. No Cardinal baseball game, no Razorback game, not even the NCAA Final Four can compare to my day watching the Arkansas Razorback football team upset the #2 ranked Auburn Tigers on Auburn’s home turf today.

I had set my alarm at 4:30am, and I got up ready to go. I hit the road by 5am, and arrived at my parking spot down some Alabama dirt road just after 9am. I bought a ticket from the first guy I saw with one, but after noticing there were plenty of tickets to choose from, I wondered if I bit too early. But I should not have wondered. This was meant to be a perfect day.

I took 268 pictures today, the first bulk coming when I found myself smack dab in the middle of a pre-game Auburn pep rally on Donohue Street in front of Jordan-Hare Stadium. The band arrives at the four-way stop from all four directions, and I found myself basically in the middle of them. Great photo opportunities!

When I went into the stadium, I was shocked to find my seat on the 13th row adjacent to the Razorback fans and directly across the aisle from the Razorback band. I was a few steps away from the tunnel for the football team (great photo opportunities!). I was directly facing the Razorback cheerleading squad (great photo opportunities!). And before the game started, I moved over and sat directly behind the tuba section of the band (believe it or not, great photo opportunities!).

And then, under a bright sun, blue skies, and temperatures in the upper 70s, I watched the Razorbacks kick some Tiger (or War Eagle?) tail all afternoon. Jordan-Hare seats over 87,000 fans, and there were probably 2,000 Razorback fans there. And we had a blast!!! I felt like a kid again, waving a pom-pom, singing the fight song, high-fiving band members and Hog fans I’ve never met before, and screaming until I was hoarse! The CBS Sports cameras were all over our area, too, and I even reverted further back into childhood trying to get on TV!

I enjoyed meeting the family sitting behind me, too. Turns out they were from Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, a town about 30 miles from where I grew up. The man of the family played college basketball with my friend, Troy (who now pastors in Fort Lauderdale, Florida). Before long, we were sharing all the people we both knew and exchanged business cards for our email addresses. He told me he and his son were trying to make it to all the SEC stadiums, and Jordan-Hare was number eight for them. Sounds to me like a neat thing for a father and son to share.

When the miracle came to its beautiful end in a 27-10 victory, there I was down by the field slapping Marcus Monk on the shoulder pads and giving high-fives to Razorback football players. Just like a kid! I even got a hearty high-five from new offensive coordinator, Gus Malzahn, who may have been the happiest man in the whole house.

The only bad thing today was in the pre-dawn hours I killed a cat on the interstate. Come to think of it, it could have been a baby tiger, in a little case of foreshadowing.

(I’ll try to upload my very best pictures from today to my Webshots page tomorrow!)

I’m blogging early today, but something neat happened yesterday afternoon that I find worth talking about this morning.

When my family moved to Ocean Springs in early 1999, my oldest daughter was in the 6th grade. Her school in Arkansas had a rich volleyball tradition. Her new school in Mississippi did not. She had begun playing volleyball as a 4th grader (and in spite of her limited size, was very good), but in Ocean Springs there wasn’t even a middle school team. There was a high school varsity team – somehow I guess girls were supposed to instantly learn how to play when they made it to high school. The fact that the season began about a week after school began in August didn’t leave a lot of time for skill development either.

Erica did not play in 7th grade, but in 8th grade she tried out and made the junior varsity team. Ocean Springs forced a young P.E. teacher to coach volleyball that year, but in spite of her sweet personality, she didn’t know the first thing about volleyball. It wasn’t so great a year. Predictably, the coach found other employment at year’s end.

In 9th grade, everything changed. A new coach was hired (Chris), who didn’t know anything about volleyball either, but he was determined to learn everything there was to know. Erica made the varsity team that year, and she met a new classmate who just moved to the area in Lauren DeGirolamo.

Erica was 4’11”, and Lauren was 6’1”. Erica LOVED volleyball, while Lauren LOVED soccer and basketball – but came out to play volleyball anyway. With my volleyball background, I knew right away that Lauren was a special talent.

I still don’t know exactly what happened that year, but whatever it was, it was good (though I think the secret to success was the fact that I started my four-year role as team scorekeeper!!!). The Lady Greyhounds started winning and just about didn’t quit. With no seniors, a new coach, the talented Smith sisters (Brittany & Marianne), and some impressive ninth-graders on the floor, they won game after game after game, ending up in the state tournament. Volleyball powerhouse, O.L.A. stopped their improbable season, but it was special nonetheless.

The newfound success didn’t end in Erica’s 9th grade season. In 10th grade, the Lady Greyhound volleyball train kept on rolling. Another great season, another trip to the state playoffs, and another run-in with O.L.A. (In today’s picture, you see the team after their 1st round win in that state tournament – mocking their coach’s broken arm suffered in practice! Lauren is the tall girl on the left side of the picture, while Erica is the short one crouching in front of her.) It was also another season of fun. At the year-end banquet, Coach recognized co-MVP’s in Erica and Lauren. I was very excited, especially at the prospect of two more years of this!!!

But it wasn’t to be… Lauren’s dad got a job in St. Louis, and Coach Chris decided to move away, too. It just wasn’t the same after that…

Well yesterday, I open my new Sports Illustrated, and when I get to the Faces in the Crowd segment, whom do I see but Lauren DeGirolamo!!!

Here’s the entry:

Lauren DeGirolamo
BELLEVILLE, ILL > Volleyball
DeGirolamo, a freshman middle blocker at LSU, was named Southeastern Conference freshman of the week and Collegiate Volleyball Update national player of the week after leading the Tigers to wins against Tennessee and Kentucky. She had 16 kills and 10 blocks against the Lady Vols for her first career double double.

What do you know? Not basketball or soccer, but good old volleyball landed Lauren in Sports Illustrated. And I was there when it started for her back in Ocean Springs in ninth grade.

(For Lauren’s profile at LSU, click here.)

Street festivals are one of the charming features of Ocean Springs. At various times during the year, the city blocks off the entire downtown to create a walking area quite popular with the tourists who come from all over.

And one of the most popular festivals of the year for the entire Gulf Coast is a classic car show called, “Cruisin’ the Coast.” “Cruisin’ the Coast” is not just an Ocean Springs event, but for the next three days, our city (along with practically every other city on the Mississippi Gulf Coast) will be inundated with shiny old cars. That nasty old Hurricane Katrina stole the event in 2005, but in 2006 classic car enthusiasts seem to have returned en force with their prized automobiles – somewhere in the neighborhood of four to five thousand prized automobiles.

To be frank, I don’t know the first thing about classic cars. In fact, I don’t even know how to begin an automotive conversation. But I do like to take pictures, so this afternoon while my daughter was at “kids’ club,” I walked through downtown Ocean Springs with my digital camera to capture the sights.

Looking at the REALLY old cars is special with me for one reason. My dad was a teenager in the 1930s, and believe it or not, his dad was an early car salesman. I can remember my childhood in the 1970s when the Christmas parade would roll through downtown Paragould, Arkansas. I still remember the old-timey cars inching through as we stood and shivered in the brutal cold each December, and my dad pointing out which of those old beauties he used to own.

My dad was fifty years older than me, and by extension, was much older than the dads of all my friends. This, of course, meant that his stories were different than the stories my friends had of their dads, and I cherished those things that set him apart in that age-old battle of whose dad was the coolest. I guess classic cars were one of those things for me that made my dad special.

Which is why, even though I know absolutely nothing about them, I enjoyed their posing for my camera this afternoon under a brilliant October blue sky.

Will and Jaxon after Bible classes tonight

I don't think I did a very good job teaching class tonight, but I liked my topic anyway. We're going through the Parables of Jesus one at a time, and tonight we did the little-known parable of the "Children in the Marketplace" from Luke 7.

My interpretation is that Jesus compared the people of that generation to a group of kids complaining to other kids that they weren't acting the way they wanted them to act. And in the punchline, the "kids" they're complaining about are John the Baptizer and Jesus of Nazareth.

On one hand, John was far too serious for their tastes and didn't dance to their flute songs. On the other hand, Jesus was too much of a party guy in their estimation and didn't appreciate their funeral songs. But Jesus seems to make the point that these "childish" folks just didn't get it: the lives of both John the Baptizer and Jesus of Nazareth go together and have compatible messages. The wise will notice what made John cry and Jesus party - it's the same thing.

My intended application was to ask what we should cry for, as well as what should cause us to dance, though I didn't really acccomplish my task very well.

I did try to point out from earlier in Luke that John's hell fire and brimstone sermon had as its altar call the call to quit oppressing people and start having compassion. The lack of this very thing seemed to be what made John cry.

And I also atttempted to note that in Luke 7, when John's disciples asked on John's behalf if he was THE ONE that Jesus replied, ""Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them." This seemed to be what made Jesus dance.

And so I wonder today if we are more like the complaining kids or the wise? Do we cry for the same things that made John (and Jesus) cry? Do we dance for the same things that made Jesus (and John) dance?

In other words, are we concerned with the blind and lame, the deaf and the modern-day lepers, those condemned to death and those relegated to debilitating poverty? Do we cry at their conditions? Do we celebrate our opportunities to rescue those we can rescue?

Or... are we more apt to criticize God for not responding the way we'd like him to respond?

I think it's worth thinking about...

I had some church business to attend to in Diamondhead today, and since I was so close, I decided to drive the few miles over to Waveland to have my first look since Katrina.

Hurricane Katrina destroyed so many cities that it would be irresponsible to highlight one city as the “worst,” but if one were forced to pick, I’ve heard that Waveland would win that dubious distinction. And what I witnessed today, some 13+ months after the storm, did nothing to destroy that notion.

There was sparse traffic on the road that meanders along the Gulf of Mexico beachfront, and the little traffic that was evident consisted mostly of heavy equipment. In terms of housing, there was mile after mile of nothing but slabs where beautiful beach houses once stood, speckled with tiny FEMA trailers. This was true from the beachfront to the railroad tracks, hundreds of yards inland. It was a completely clean sweep of nearly an entire city.

There were several signs that caught my attention:
* The unofficial State Farm advertisement pictured above
* A Catholic parish’s sign that “Katrina was big, but God is bigger”
* A trash can decorated with Brett Favre’s name and number, with the obligatory “Go Packers!” cheer here in Favre territory
* A spray-painted mobile home with eerie words from over a year ago pleading, “FEMA, please help us”

When will Katrina be over? I know “never” is the appropriate answer, but I’m convinced there will come a day when she will substantively exist only as memories and stories. When will that day come? The answer will be given in years, but I’m clueless as how to guess the number. Five? Ten? More?

A drive to Waveland reveals that it will be a while.

(In the picture, the much-maligned Cardinal pitching staff began its limp into the post-season at Minute Maid Park in late September. However, baseball expert, Al Sturgeon, believes their coming-out party will be the biggest surprise of the postseason. Photograph by baseball expert, Al Sturgeon. Did we mention Al Sturgeon is a baseball expert?)

After weeks of Spring Training, then six long months of regular season games, the MLB playoffs are set to begin tomorrow with eight teams vying to be World Series champions. And all (both) of my loyal blog readers are of the privileged few to hear it here first (and I really suspect this may be the only place you’ll hear this): the Cardinals will defeat the Twins in a thrilling seven-game rematch of the 1987 World Series, though the champions this time around will come from Missouri.

Sure, I know: the Cardinals have played like four-year-olds for the past two weeks (and that’s being kind to the pitching staff). But that’s just it – the Redbirds are going to sneak in while everyone’s attention is pointed elsewhere (read: New York).

THE DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS:

TWINS/ATHLETICS: The Twins pitching staff is simply amazing. Twinkies in a 3-0 sweep.

YANKEES/TIGERS: American League fans will focus on this one, and it should prove to be an interesting series. But I’ll give this one to Steinbrenner’s wallet, even without the Big Unit on the mound. Yankees win 3-2.

METS/DODGERS: The Mets have the dubious honor of clinching their division too early and losing that competitive edge. Plus they lost Pedro (no, Mr. Dobbs, I’m not referring to Napoleon Dynamite). The Dodgers have played well recently, plus they have some veterans whom I believe will carry them through this series. Dodgers win 3-1.

PADRES/CARDINALS: In the past two weeks, the only flashes of Cardinal baseball came against the Padres. And seriously, after feeling the tremendous weight on their shoulders of potentially staging the greatest collapse in baseball history, I think the relief might allow the pitching staff to relax enough to throw a decent series - and gain some much-needed confidence. Cards win 3-1.

CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES:

TWINS/YANKEES: Steinbrenner bought a great lineup, but he didn’t buy the best pitching staff in baseball. And the Twins have the best pitching staff in baseball. The Yanks won’t be a complete pushover by any means, but I still give it to the Twinkies in six.

DODGERS/CARDINALS: Cardinals win 4-2, just because. These are the best two franchises in National League history, but for a couple of decades now, the memories of 1985 have not been erased. The Niedenfuer curse continues.

WORLD SERIES:

TWINS/CARDINALS: In 1987, the speed of the Cardinals came face-to-face with the fly-ball-hitting Twins. Since four of the games were in the Metrodome (with its short wall), the Twins won 4-3. But this time around, the Cardinals can hit fly balls, too! This is understandably an upset, simply based on pitching staffs. But I believe that All-World MVP, Albert Pujols, will rally the troops with a couple of first-innings jacks off of Santana and his ilk, and singlehandedly set the tone for the series. And that crazy pitching staff will just keep getting better with each passing game!

Go Cardinals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In spite of Marques Colston's late-game touchdown, the Saints perfect season came to an end today at the hand of the Carolina Panthers. Once again, however, they played with heart, and old Saint fans and new Saint fans alike can't be too depressed at the loss.

Although I'm a new Saints fan, I'm not very depressed at all (and not just because Colston is on one of my fantasy football teams!). Today has been too nice to be depressed. The weather continues to be gorgeous, my oldest daughter came home from college to see us (and do laundry!), our time together as a church family this morning was good, and I've been lazy all afternoon, laying on the couch and watching football. Not a depressing day at all.

Add to the mix a big victory for my Dallas Cowboys and the fact that my baseball Cardinals made it to the playoffs again this year (though how they got in is pretty sad), and I can't be too upset on a wonderful first day of October like this...

My favorite moment of the day came a few minutes ago while being lazy on the couch. When Erica (my oldest) left to go back to college, she yelled through the bathroom door to tell her little sister (Hillary) that she was leaving. In just a minute, after Erica had gone outside to leave, Hillary came running out of the bathroom to catch her sister and give her a hug good-bye.

I guess they do love each other after all. And that made me smile... :-)