Living in a fallen world.

I’m trying out a new blog site. I’m really digging it so far, so check me out here…http://esheldon.blogspot.com/. I don’t know if I’ll stay there, but I like how more flexible it is compared to this blog.

***Edited to put in a better video - “Wholly Yours”***

My favorite Christian Band, and fastly gaining as my top band of all time….David Crowder*Band.

It’s been forever since I updated this blog, but I’ve just either not had the time, motivation, or topics to write about. After seeing B blog more than I have lately, and consistently seeing Stan and others blog almost daily, I decided to make it a point to blog at least once a week. SO, from now on, at least plan to see a new blog every Monday. Some weeks may have more, but at least you’ll get a weekly dose of some of the things going on in my world.

Right now at work, we’re getting ready to send Brent, and a few others over to a station we helped startup in Nigeria. I’m nervous to not have him in the office with me for two weeks, but I know that I’ll be fine. Issues may arise, but I’ll work to get through them. I’ll be a nervous wreck for a few weeks, but it’ll be done with before I know it (Lord willing). Prayers for their safety, for issues to be resolved at our friend’s station, and for friendships to be strengthened in Christ. And prayers I don’t have major issues arise, and if I do, that I’m able to fix them with little problem. I’m working on reteaching myself Visual Basic, so I can code some programs for us. We’ve got a couple small apps that I think I could figure out if I could relearn the programming language I did about 6 years ago. It’s a fun endeavor I pray I can finish!

On the home front, Avery and Jaelyn started school last week. Avery is in 2nd grade, so he’s used to it already. Jaelyn started Kindergarten, and is still a little apprehensive towards school, but likes it once she gets started. Braden is having a real easy time adjusting to life at home by himself. Mom’s relieved a bit too, having only to watch one child, but he still is a handful. But hey, he’s a toddler and is still learning. Jaelyn got all smiley’s from her teacher the first week, and Avery didn’t get in trouble once. Here’s to hopefully a whole school year of that type of report.

At church, our youth pastor is going back to school at Baylor to get his Masters of Divinity. Our music pastor just put in his resignation, so he’ll be done in a few weeks. And then the other day, a secretary/admin assistant put her two weeks in to the church. Big changes right after our pastor got back from his month and a half sabbatical. Prayers for the church, it’s body, and for our pastor. Prayers for God’s will to be done.

In our bible study group, most of the group has told me they’d like to see me take over the group as the “leader” of it. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I’m nervous about doing that. Not in a bad way, but in a “Lord, I only want to do this if YOU want me to do it, and if you believe in me, because I don’t feel I’m worthy to be in charge of a flock of other believers like that.” Prayers for guidance and seeking in me and the rest of the group.

With school starting up for the kids, that also signals the best time of the year…FALL! With Fall comes many of my favorite times of the year…first of all, COOLER TEMPERATURES!!! Secondly, the NFL starts back up! The best sport in the world, back to its short 16-game schedule. My Chiefs did some big upgrades over the summer, and the Texans could be “better”. I’m still hoping the Chiefs win it all, but hoping the Texans at least provide some fun around this part of the country. The NBA starts up in a couple months also, so that’s awesome as well, since it’s my second favorite sport. But with all that, comes the relief of the hot temps, meaning less air conditioning, which means less to pay come electric bill time! WOO HOO! Having two air-conditioners is nice, but kills the pocket book! HA! It also signals the time that B starts making all of her awesome homemade soups…chili, chicken noodle, chicken rice, etc. Mmmmm…takes a year to warm from a freezer, but once done, it’s well worth it! I’ve had some frozen soup in my deep freeze in the garage for over a month, and it’s been killing me to not eat it, but I can’t wait for week 1 of the NFL season to crack it open and go to town on it!

Well, I pray your week goes well, and remember to check back at least once a week to see what’s going on. This blog will be updated at least every Monday.

God bless,
E

I just get done posting about relaxation, and today I feel like my heart is about to beat out of my chest. Wish I had some time for relaxing today. HA!

Well, last night we went to the school to let Avery and Jaelyn see their rooms and teachers for this year. Avery fit right in, didn’t even phase him. Jaelyn was super excited, but you can tell she is going to be super shy that first few days. She’ll be okay though. She’s got a great personality, is cute as all get out, and won’t take guff from anyone. Plus, she’s got an older brother that will kick the snot out of anyone that messes with her! HA! Seriously though, Jaelyn was taller than almost every of the other kids in the orientation that I saw. Granted, most of the kids weren’t in her class, but still. Good thing that she’s got that whole “cutest girl in the whole school” thing going for her for now.

At work, I won a two night stay at this hotel in Galveston. Looks like a pretty sweet place, and with it being free, it can’t be bad! We had a few of these donated to the station, and so the president of the company hid them throughout our campus and whoever found one got it. I prayed right before he told us we could go, and said “Father, you know Belinda and I need something like this. If someone else needs it more, then let them have it. If you think we need it more than others, let me find it.” I checked a room that had already been checked by a couple people, and it was even sitting out in plain site! Thank you, God. I pray we can go soon, and receive the blessing you want to give us.

We found out that our LIFE group leader is leaving the church, and is pursuing his Masters of Divinity degree at Baylor. How awesome, yet sad this is. He is such an amazing guy, and is a true joy to talk to. He turned me onto the book “A New Kind of Christian” and a few others that have totally shaken my foundation and expanded my way of thinking when it comes to my walk with God. We don’t know for certain if he’s moving back to Waco to go to school or if he’ll just be up there a couple days a week. Prayers for all matters of this, and I’m being selfish here, but I hope he’s not moving away. I’d miss the guy too much.

There are so many good concerts coming to town this fall that I’m so glad I get comp tickets and can make them all, assuming nothing comes up. Third Day w/ David Crowder*Band, and Hyperstatic Union…MercyMe f/ Audio A, and Phil Wickham (not a big fan of AA anymore, but Mercy and Phil will be an amazing show!…Mark Schultz w/ Big Daddy Weave…and then lastly, the WorshipHouston show with Paul Bolache, Desperation Band, and Hillsong’s Reuben Morgan. Should be an amazing fall! I can’t wait to go, and wish you all could go with!

Well, it’s time to get to work…

Be good and don’t pet stray dogs…they usually roll in their own poo…and that would be gross to get on your hands….unless you like that sort of thing.
E

We all need it, but how many of us take the time to sit back and actually, and totally relax in our hurry-up lives? I know I have missed out on many opportunities to stop, take a few minutes to sit back and let my mind stop focusing on everything going on, and just enter an almost euphoric state. So, while thinking about this last night, I thought to myself “what are some of my favorite places to relax?” I don’t mean places to become mush or veg out, but to relax (possibly while doing other stuff). Here is what I came up with in no particular order.

Floating in the pool, when it’s almost sunset. Last night at the pool, it was adult swim time, where the kids have to get out and only adults can swim…aka “lifeguard break time”. I love that time. Our pool is surrounded by tall trees, so when it’s sunset, most of the pool is covered in shade. When it’s adult swim time, I go to the deep end where I can’t touch, so I actually have to “swim” to float. Okay, so I’m fat and I don’t have to swim THAT hard to float…lol! Anyway, after swimming around and trying to get a workout in while the kids alternated between sitting at the side of the pool, and going to the kiddie-pool, I like to lay back and float. At sunset, when it’s cooling off, it is so relaxing to sit back and float in the water, and just look at the sky. Being in a path where planes fly overhead before landing at Bush International Airport, it’s even cooler to sit back and just watch the planes go by. By focusing on breathing, so I have air in my lungs to help me float, I’m getting tons of oxygen intake and I’m sure that adds to helping me relax.

Sitting at a Starbucks with Stan, Doug, Kris, or Brent. Just chilling. Having a coffee, and enjoying some conversation with one of my boys. Sure, I’m not “relaxed” in a way you’d think, but there’s something about being at a Starbucks, having a great cup of joe, the SUPER comfy chairs, the smell in the air, the music in the background always creating a mood, and then one of my boys there to talk about God, pc games, world events, etc.

Playing video games. I know, I know…I hear everyone saying “how does that relax you when 1) you get upset if you lose a game. 2) aren’t you a little old for video games? and 3) couldn’t you do something more constructive, or relaxing if that’s what your shooting for, instead of waste time with video games…since you don’t actually achieve anything in video games? Well you’re wrong in all of the above. Yes, I may get upset when losing a game. No, I don’t actually achieve any real-life rewards (yet) by video gaming. But first and foremost, I am not too old for video games. I thought eventually I would “grow out of this phase” of my life, but more and more I’m seeing that it’s not a phase, but it’s a part of who I am. It’s a part of our generation. It could be something that when I have grandkids, we’ll have a connection because of it. Who knows. About me getting upset, sure, who doesn’t. It’s a competition, and even when I lose to my 8 yr old son in some new game that he’s mastered, but that I haven’t had a chance to really get down yet, I get a little upset, but it’s the rush of the competition that relaxes me afterwards. It’s better to have tried and failed, than to never try at all. So even if I lost to him, it was some quality time that he loves to do with me, and so it gives me a peace. And lastly, sure I could be doing something more constructive, but if you really know who I am, you know it’s in my blood to play games. It’s my favorite hobby. When I can sit down and play World of Warcraft and get my character to a level 60 (the highest in the game), it’s a sense of achievement for me. When you get your character to another level, and you get new spells, attacks, healing powers, etc, it gives me a little sense of pride knowing I’m good at something else. I still do stuff around the house, and have cut my video gaming way down (I feel at least, you’ll have to ask B if you want her side…ha!), but I don’t see myself ever stopping gaming. Who knows though…right now this is one thing that relaxes me, so it’s on the list.

Sitting in a fold out chair, at the beach in Galveston. I love listening to the ocean. That rhythmic sound of the waves crashing, the kids playing, the birds chirping, and the sun shining (heck, even at night), it’s probably one of the most peaceful sounds in the world to me. Even though we’re only an hour away from it, we don’t go enough. If we were closer, we’d go all the time and just hang out there. My only wish is that the ocean was clearer in the Gulf. That’s the only downside. Sure, it’s not as bad as the lakes back home, but since it’s a ship channel, it’s not too clear. But who really cares…it’s the frickin’ OCEAN!!!

Being with Belinda and the kids. It doesn’t matter what we do, when I’m with them, (for the most part) it’s relaxing. When it’s just me and the kids, it’s usually okay too, but when B is with me, it just completes the puzzle, and everything seems to just fit better. She’s the ying to my yang. Right now, it’s 7:22am. I’m about to head out to work in a bit. Braden is up really early right now, watching cartoons, snuggled under his “ni-night” on the couch. Belinda, Avery, and Jaelyn are asleep still. I love waking up early when they’re all still asleep. It’s such a peaceful feeling to know everyone is safe. I’ve heard my father-in-law talk about this type of feeling and how he loves it when all his children come home to visit, and he gets this feeling again. I totally understand how he feels. It’s true. And it’s stuff like this that I pray my brain, which basically has been on vacation for the most part of my life, since I can’t remember most of it, will retain for me to have mental pictures and feelings to reflect to. The children are growing up way too stinking fast, and it’s saddening. I look at them almost every day and tell myself to enjoy them as much as I can before they grow up and move on.

Find the things that relax you…give you peace…and make sure you find the time to do them.

God bless,
E

The Cubs just got done SWEEPING the St Louis Cardinals. Okay, they can’t beat lowly teams, but they can SWEEP one of the best teams in the game? I’ll never figure out the Cubs. I just pray that Zambrano gets the Cy Young, and they resign him until he retires. They need more pitchers like him.

Last night we went to the Astros/Diamondbacks game. It was the first time I could cheer for the Astros to win wholeheartedly. Every team we’ve rooted for has won, and last night continued the tradition. 3-1 final score, with Oswalt getting the win. What’s cooler than that? Check out the ticket stub closely…

Yeah, I was at the dugout level! 25th row RIGHT BEHIND home plate! It was amazing! We have a listener that blesses us with free tickets from time to time, and our Program Director couldn’t use them, so he thought of me. Even if I had stuff going on, I’d be making that game. Even if they were playing a bunch of 4th graders, I’d be making that game. The seats were amazing! The only downside was that I think I honestly enjoy the higher up seats we usually get. You can see a lot more, and that park is so gorgeous that you want to take it all in whenever you go. Still though, it was awesome seats for the night,a nd I’d love to go see it again like that again in the future.

Four almost front row seats to an MLB game……Free
Drinks at the game…….$20
Mini-bats at the game………$15
Two great teams winning, an amazing sermon at church, getting housework done and enjoying some quiet, peaceful time by myself and my blog…priceless!

Peace all,
E

PS…make sure you read the post below this one if you haven’t already.

Today at church, that was the topic of it all. I was intrigued from the get go. For the third week in a row, we had a guest preacher named Ken Shuman. He’s the head pastor at Wellspring Church in Tomball, TX (W/NW of Humble). He’s preached at ACC a few times before and he’s always been a great fill-in when Phil isn’t in (Like the play on words there? HA!) Anyway, back to today’s sermon…

He asked about how when we think of “The Kingdom”, we mostly believe the Bible is referring to Heaven, and what we’ll experience some day. Ken proposed that God believes that “the Kingdom” refers to what God dreams that the world He created could/should be. Read that again…he believes that “the Kingdom” is what God dreams THIS world could and SHOULD be. Not something we’ll see in Heaven someday, but that we could be living in now. In Romans 15:17-18, Paul says “For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. If you serve Christ with this attitude you will please God. And other people will approve of you, too. So then, let us aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up.” How can we experience that? I’ll talk about that in a minute.

The Good News was what Jesus proclaimed during his time on earth. It’s what he told his disciples to go and tell others about. It’s what we’re called to do as followers of Christ. Well, in today’s world, the Good News have become the “not so good” news. Why is that? And why would someone thing that the healing and saving message of Jesus Christ is a bad thing? Well Ken pointed to three different “dreams” and how if we don’t live with the right “dream” in mind, how we’re missing out on “the Kingdom” here on earth.

The first dream is “THE AMERICAN DREAM”. You all might ‘think’ you know what that means, but let me put it down into a few major points.
-Individual Freedom: Having no accountability. Whatever we want to do, we can and will do. Not worrying that what we are doing could actually be bad for us in the long run, and just not having any real cares about how we’re living day to day.
-Financial Freedom: Instead of keeping up with the Jones’s, we’re wanting to have MORE than the Jones’s. We want more and more and more and more and more stuff, and never finding peace in any of it. Fact - 20% of the world eats up 80% of the world’s resources. Is that fair? Think about the food alone that we consume as a nation, and think about the people that are starving or the ones that have learned to live off meals of only rice and water.
-Private Religion: Having the attitude of “what I do on Sunday isn’t waht I do the rest of the week.” or “what I do with my religion is my business, not yours.”

The next dream he spoke about was “THE AMERICAN CHURCH’S DREAM”. This is the typical dream of a church in America, or most of it’s members.
-Grow A Big Church: When it becomes THE goal, we’re selling out. Wanting to go to the greatest “show”. Or to the “hottest” church in town. I can attest to going to two of them back in Iowa. However, I never went there because of that, but because I felt God there and wanted to experience all I could with what he wanted for me there. But still, I can attest with having this desire for all churches I’ve ever been to…wanting to see it explode with members.
-Getting Souls Out Of Hell With The Correct Belief: Believing how “I” believe, then they’re okay. There is more to it. Otherwise, why wouldn’t God just zap us to heaven when we hit “that” point in our relationship with him? This point really hit a chord with me, and made me think about the book “A new kind of Christian” (Brian McLaren). Afterwards, Kevin Roe told me about how Ken got this point from that book. It’s totally true though.
-Help People Manage Sin: Go to church, get saved, & don’t sin “too” much. That seems to be the overall message from a lot of churches and they’re members. It’s hard not to sin, and to put a real effort into overcoming your sins/addictions, so they say to just manage it and you’re doing good enough, since “we’re only human”. Well that shouldn’t be good enough. We’re saved by grace, so why can’t we live like that?

And then finally he spoke about “THE JESUS DREAM”.
Reconciliation: Everyone is welcome at My table, Jesus said. All are welcome, not just certain people, but everyone. Live in peace with each other. Be reconciled with each other. Love God with all your soul, mind, and strength. And then love your neighbors as yourself.
Righteousness: Morals. To deal rightly with everyone that comes into your world. That everyone will treat each other rightly. Jesus didnt’ come just to save us, but to show us how to love one another. Think about that again. Sure, he wants us in Heaven with him, but he also wants us to experience heaven on earth. To be good and decent to EVERYONE you encounter. This point again made me think of “A New Kind of Christian”, the book I read a few months ago. Ken told a story last week, of a new kind of program his church is doing. There are day labor sites around town where people can go to get work for just a day. Mostly immagrants (ie. Mexicans, etc) are the majority of people who are there. People will come up to them, and they’ll mob them, because they all need the work. The person looking for workers will pick one or more and then drive to the work site. The bad thing is that a lot of these people will have these workers do all this work, almost always outside in the nasty heat, and just leave them at the site…and not pay them either. So these people who are doing what they can to survive, and evil things like this happen to them. Ken’s church decided to help these people out. What they do is a couple times a week, they go out there in the morning to the day labor pickup area and bring them all breakfast, and pass out some business cards. The cards have nothing more on them, except a church name, a person’s name, and a phone number. They’re told that if they are at a site and are left there with no ride home, to call that number and someone will drive to get them and take them home. How awesome is that? That’s truly being hands and feet of Jesus.
Responsibility: We have been SO blessed as a nation, but we’re not doing what we should. We are so blessed as a nation, that we should be blessing others and other nations. Jesus said “when you have helped the least of these, you have helped me.” Have you been responsible with the blessings you’ve been given? We sponsor a child through World Vision, and have for almost a year now. What a privelege and joy it has been, even though we feel we need the money from time to time. But that money gives that child a hope. A belief that she has a future. It gives her food, clothes, education, a knowledge of Jesus, and again a hope for tomorrow.

Whatever dream we pursue will be what we accomplish. It will be our prize or our demise. In Matthew 6:33, Jesus said “He will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.” I know I get down on myself when I find out our money situation’s getting tighter than I’d like it to be, when Belinda and I get in spats, when life isn’t going the way “I” think it should be going. But if I look back at it, it’s because I’m not focusing on “The Jesus Dream”. I’m blowing money on stupid stuff like going out to eat more than I should, or letting little stuff blow into big stuff, or letting a bad attitude have its way with me rather than realizing the situation and that I’m letting it control me rather than remembering the Grace I’ve been given. If we focus on things of this world, we will be setting ourself up for failure, and won’t be realizing all the potential we could have hit. I ask you all to take a minute, turn off the tv, computer, etc, and sit in silence. Listen to God. Look at your life. Where are you living the American Dream, the American Church Dream, and the Jesus Dream…and see where you feel you need to make some changes.

God bless,
E

RUUUUUUUUUUN!!! BRADEN’S TAKING OVER DOWNTOWN HOUSTON!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Man, what a blast of a weekend we had!

SATURDAY
————-
We started off doing some yardwork. In the heat we have right now, it SUCKS to be outside sweating your butt off. I have so much respect for the yard/construction/etc workers that have to be outside and work their tales off in this heat. One thing I don’t understand is how I see them in long sleeve shirts/pants, with hats on, etc, but I never see any of them drenched in sweat? Sure, I understand they’re in a lot better condition than I am, but people still need to sweat. Oh well. Anyway. B and the kids worked on weeding the front flower beds, while I mowed, weedwacked, edged the yard. When I was a kid, I HATED mowing. As an adult though, especially with the nice yard I have now, I take pride in making it look nice. Sure it sucks to get to the point of actually starting, but once I get going I love it. I’m ready to be done, though, when I’m actually finished with the yard, since it’s so hot out right now. But I like to make it look really good for a week. The edging thing is something that I couldn’t really get down until recently. It really takes a bit of time to slow down, but when you’re done, and if you’ve done it right, it really does set off the yard more than I used to think. I used to think it was just something people did, but to me was a waste of time, because I didn’t understand what it really does. It just makes the yard look sharp and neat. It shows that you put in extra time to make it look as good as it could look. I hate messing with our flower beds, which is why I don’t mind letting B handle that for the most part, but I really don’t mind doing the yard. Plus, it’s a great workout! Two for the price of one. The only downside is that after doing the yard, I am DONE for the day. I am just exhausted. Anyway, after getting done with that, I washed off in the shower, then we headed to the pool for some cooldown goodness. The pool is always such a fun thing for us to do. Sure, we get tired of playing/holding the kids and long for the “adult swim” time when they have to sit on the side of the pool while the adults get some down time, but we love to go there as a family and play for a few hours. There were a couple of memorable moments this weekend. First of all, we found a frog in the pool, so one of the other dads rescued it and all the kids watched it. Then, B saw something floating in the pool drain (you know, the ones on the side that act as cleaners for debris floating in the pool). She found out it was another frog, but this time a dead one. The kids were grossed out, so I went to open the top of it to get it out, when I stumbled across a frog graveyard! There were 7 or 8 dead frogs in this thing!!! I about yacked at first, but then calmed down. The lifeguards were weirded out too, since they said they clean them every night and they were clean the night before. So they checked the rest of the filters, but none of them had any, so at least that made me feel a little better. B & I remembered how last year, there was this corner in the way back area by the diving board that was always flooded, and there were a bunch of tadpoles…like literally HUNDREDS of them swimming around. It was cool, but now it turned to something gross. Thank goodness for chlorine to clean the water somewhat. The next memorable thing was that Braden (and Jaelyn) are now jumping off the diving board! Of course we have to catch them and help them swim to the side of the pool, but for them (especially Braden) to not have a care in the world and to jump five feet to his dad in the water was AWESOME! Check out B’s site later for some pics.. That was definitely a highlight of our weekend! After the pool, we came home and finished cleaning a bit (let me rephrase that…B finished cleaning while Braden and I took a big nap). We invited our LIFE group over for a grillout and some just hanging out time. We enjoy everyone in our LIFE group so much that we need to start hanging out with them more, because we talk so much during our group time that you can tell we all need that outside of the group time, so that we can focus on the Word and our lesson when we get together for group. Our friends Seth & Haley (and their children), and Rob & Kristi (and their son) came over. We grilled some steaks/chicken/ribs, hung out for a bit, then played some Taboo. Taboo is totally my type of game. Stan and I are the ultimate team when it comes to that game, but B & I are a close second when we’re firing on all cylinders. We did men vs women, and the men won by a “small” (meaning HUGE) margin. It was a blast though. Even if people don’t feel like playing that game, once you get going, you love it. Everyone left at around 10:30. We cleaned for a sec, then crashed.

SUNDAY
———-
Of course we had to wake up for church, but everyone was so tired and woke up late, that we decided to just go to the late service at 11. Afterwards, we went to lunch with Seth & Haley at a mexican place called “Los Vega”. The chips and salsa were off tha hook (the queso tasted like melted velveeta), but the taco salads we all got were a let down. Oh well though…the salsa and chips were enough to bring me back at least a second time. Afterwards we decided we’d go swimming again, and invited Seth & Haley, and mom & Steve. Yes, we go swimming alot. The YEAR LONG tags are only $3 a person, so that’s money well spent, and a free thing to do when money is tight. We had a blast with them all, even though I feel bad we didn’t spend much time with mom and Steve since I was playing a game with all the pool kids in the deep end. It was fun though…got to learn some pool games and bond with Avery. After being a pool rat for a couple hours, we invited the Keiffer’s back to our place for some more grilling out and hanging out time. Seth beat me by 1 point in an EPIC game of Madden, but then I showed him a few beat downs in FIFA Street. Man, that game is AWESOME! After they left at around 8:30, we read some books to the shorties, then put them to bed and had some adult quiet reading time. I finished another book called “to own a dragon: reflections on growing up without a father”. The title really intrigued me, and with me having borrowed the book from a friend for a couple months, I figured it was time to sit down and read it. Only took me about a week to get through it all. It had some great thoughts/tips/pointers/reflections on how even though I may feel like I’m really missing out on not having the type of upbringing with my father like I would have wanted, I still had a father in my life, and learned some valuable things. I may not have learned to fix stuff around the house, the car, the love-life, or to be pushed the way I felt I missed out on, I have to not think like that, and to do all that I can with and for my current children. Teach them, build them up, focus on knowing that they can be amazing children if I really and honestly put in the work for them. If I don’t, they won’t be all they can be, and it will be MY fault. My current book is called “She Calls Me Daddy”. It’s a book that is supposed to help fathers understand/relate/connect and parent daughters, since we have no clue about how women work. I promised B and myself to read this next, since “to own a dragon” really made me think about how I am as a parent. Sure, I’m a good parent, but I could be way better. And that should be something every parent desires!

God bless you all, and have a great week!
E
E

I hadn’t talked to my cousin, Derek in a while, so I thought I’d give him a shout last night. Let me stop right here and lay out some ground work…

Derek was a STUD baseball pitcher when he was young. Injuries took that away from him, as he had really bad knees, and the doctor told him that if he wanted to walk, he’d have to stop playing sports. He was devastated, and you could tell that the light shining in him from that day forth, was greatly dimmed. I had hopes and dreams of him making it the pros, he was that good. My uncle almost made it to the pros when he was young, but unfortunately he made some bad choices and missed his chance. So when I saw how good Derek could be, I hoped so much for him to be the first in the family to play a professional sport. But as I said, injuries took their toll, and so his ability to play baseball (the sport he EXCELLED at and LOVED) was thrown in the toilet. He picked up bowling because it was low impact, still had a legit competition factor, was something his dad loved to do, and was something he saw he could do pretty good in. Fast forward years later, and now he’s managing a bowling alley in Waukee, bowling in a bunch of leagues and getting really good! He’s at the point now where he’s working on staying consistent with his bowling games, because he can reach 250 or so pretty easily, and also on some trick shots. From what I’ve heard him do, it’s crazy! He’s working on hitting pins from one lane and knocking down other lanes pins! How crazy is that? Anyway, with him doing so good in that, I’ve once again fantasized about him making it to the PBA, and becoming a professional bowler. He himself has had the same aspirations. But now, back to the story…

So I call him last night to touch base and see how his training had gone the week before when he was up in Minnesota, learning how to fix various bowling equipment and what not. He said it went great, blah blah blah, but that he was bowling and it was his last game of the season. He had strikes through seven frames, something I guess he’s done numerous times, but he had never gotten a perfect game. I stayed on just to hear how he did. HE ENDED UP BOWLING A PERFECT GAME!!! HIS FIRST EVER!!! I don’t know who was more excited…him for doing it, or me for hearing it over the phone and being so proud of the 2nd oldest cousin in the fam! He’s such a great guy, and so I pray he always remembers last night, even if it wasn’t in a major tournament with others to see.

Lord, thank you so much for Derek!