Is This My New T.V?

It's a little late, but this video is really funny.

Wakefield's Return

I (along with many Sox fans) am extremely excited for tonight’s game, the reason being Wakefield is back! 11-3 record before the all star break (an an all star for the first time) Wakefield was the most dependable pitcher in the first half of the season and his return couldn’t have been at a better time. Hopefully Wakefield can pitch like he did before and help a rotation that badly needs another quality starter. So far the Sox have a 1 ½ game lead over the Rangers in the Wild card and trail 6 games in the AL East. It’s weird I was actually cheering for the Yankees to win, I mean face it there is no way the Sox can win the division (unless there is an impressive flip between them and the Yankees) but they defiantly have a shot at the WC so the Yankees better beat the Rangers. Anyway with the return of Wakefield and the awaited return of Dice-K I hope the rotation will be as good as I hoped for the rest of the season. GO RED SOX!

The Most Important Commandment

I was reading Mark and came across a passage, in it someone asks Jesus which is the most important commandment, Jesus said it is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” 12: 30 and the second commandment is “Love your neighbor as yourself” 12: 31. The man who asked Jesus agreed with Him saying it is “more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices” 12: 33, Jesus replies saying he is “not far from the kingdom of God” 12: 34. That struck me, and even though it is a simple passage I often read with little thought given to it I stopped and thought to myself “Wow, so it is more important to God that we 1) love Him and pursue Him before anything else and 2) love each other as ourselves, than any sacrifice we make.” Nowadays we don’t see many people making burnt offerings, but let’s use the word sacrifice as a modern term, so it’s as if God said to me He would be happier that I love Him and love others than give up baseball. Think about it, when we make a sacrifice it is a painful thing, not playing baseball would be like losing an arm for me, but when we love God and put Him first we naturally take the emphasis away from those things, in the action of loving God we become more like Him and make sacrifices in our lives! What would be better for me to give up baseball or love God so much that I 1) become like Him 2) drop sinful habits that inhibit my ability to be like Him and 3) love Him so much that even a simple thing like playing baseball becomes an act of worship. As for loving our neighbor, God loves all of us and made us and wants us to love each other, think how much it pains Him to see us fight. When we love each other as ourselves we lose that selfishness and become (once again) more like God, we take on His character which is why Jesus died, so that we can do that. Basically Jesus is saying “I don’t want you to give stuff up just to say you are unselfish and you love me, I want you to love me and change for the better because of that and become more like me”.

Red Sox Report

Wow what a game last night! I was very fortunate to be able to go with my uncle and cousin and boy was I surprised. Who would have thought, on the way there I said “So, Burnett vs. Tazawa, gee I wonder who will win” and then 9 innings and 14 runs later the Sox finally ended the 5 game losing streak against the Yankees. Tonight it’s Beckett vs. Sabathia, two aces fighting for 15 wins, this will definitely be a very interesting game and with the way the Sox have been hitting (6 + runs in the past 5) I’m hoping the outcome will be good. Also, I took a ton of pictures so I’ll post my favorites later.

Who's in the Center?

I was helping out at the VBS at my church and while I waited for my dad to pick me up I sat down and saw a book on the table next to me. It was a thin book so I decided I read a little while I waited, I don’t remember much but what I do know that it had to do with the parable Jesus told about the prodigal son (if you want to read the parable it’s in Luke 15: 11 – 31) I am not going to give a full analysis because what this parable deserves could take weeks of posts (and very long posts at that), what I will are two thoughts I had. This parable is one of the three “lost” stories Jesus told, one is about a sheep another a coin, and then the son. In one I believe Jesus show’s God’s care and love as a shepherd, another our immense value to God and the third is a story more about us. There is the father (God) the elder son and the younger son who represents two groups of people (more on this some other time), I am going to write a little about the younger son. The younger son demands his share of his father’s wealth and runs off to spend it, he wastes it on parties and fair-weather friends only to find he lost it all. Soon he hits rock bottom when a famine comes and as he finds himself wishing he could eat the food that the pigs he was taking care of were eating he says “Geez, my dad’s servants have it better than this, see ya pigs I’m going home.” And then he and his father run toward each other and there is a big party and his brother is angry (more on this later). I think that the younger son tells us something about ourselves, the only thing in the world that will truly make us happy is God, and everything done apart from God will never satisfy us. The son was only truly happy when he ran into his father’s embrace; I think that we should do the same. I could wake up and have the life of my dreams but if that life didn’t include God then it would be more of a nightmare. Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.” Psalm 127: 1-2. God has incredible plans for each of us, we just have to run to Him and accept them.

Lot's more Posts

I'm going to have a lot of more posts on faith coming up, I'm not out of this struggle yet, I'm more in the beginning of it. I just hope that God will lead me out, I've got a ton of new ideas but I don't want to give it all away. Warning: these posts are basically my own thinking and most likely I'm writing and thinking at the same time so that means they will be jumbled. Also the Red Sox STINK! Bowden, more like BUMden, geez I'd rather have Penny pitch all nine innings! All this talk and nothing but a nine run disappointment!

Go Sox

Looking back on the season, and how Ortiz had a depressing start and bounced back, I don't care if he took steroids or not he is proving himself to be the great hitter we thought he was. Although a .220 avg. isn't all that great (actually it's downright bad), 18 homeruns ranks up there with some of the better hitters in the league (he ranks 3rd so far in the season). Steroids or no steroids David Ortiz is hitting much better than I origionally thoguht (remember the poll) and may get around 25 homeruns this year (who knows maybe more). Let's see if they can get a win tonight!

Dumb Ice Cream Cake Ad

I finally learned the words to the "Baskin Robbins Ice Cream Cake Ad" That commercial has been bothering me for the past few weeks and I finally had the motivation to google it (google sure comes in handy) it seems to me that there are a lot of dumb ads nowadays, the worst was the Kmart layaway ad, it was in mid July when I saw it and it basically says "Hey why enjoy your summer when you can spoil it by shopping for school supplies?" School is the last thing I want to think about in July. The best commercial is the Aflac one with the goat, Na, Na, Na Na Na, Naflac.

He Knows Us

Sorry for the huge block of scripture but I felt I couldn’t convey exactly what I wanted to say without it, so basically either the huge chunk or I write a post with verses every sentence. This Psalm really struck me when I read it and it really shows how much God loves us. I mean, try thinking the verses over, how God knows all our thoughts, how we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” that just knocks me over. I was thinking yesterday how God’s creation is amazing; something so commonplace as a sunset is really extremely complex. I remember that when I family would take a vacation on the Cape I would walk down to the beach to watch the sunset, what amazes me is how different each one was, the mix and blend of colors, everything just shocked me. Also how God made people, think throughout history there is only one you, and there is only one me, it’s amazing how unique God made us, and how He has a plan for us. The Psalm also says that we can’t go anywhere to get away from God; He’s always by our side, even though I am going through struggle with my faith I still know this is a truth. One thing I don’t think I ever wrote about is how well God knows us, He made us and loves us but He also knows us, when we are unsure about what to do with our lives He knows exactly what will happen, I think it’s such a cool thing to think about. Verse 23 says “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.” Lately I’ve been praying “God help me love you more than anything else, even though I love this stuff help me love you more” God should be first in our lives, it’s easy to love the things of the world; athletics, people, money, fame… but when we step back God is more fulfilling than any of those things because He knows us and formed us. I really love the word “knit” it’s not like God slapped us together on an assembly line and packaged us up, He knit us, He carefully chose how to go about making us and then with great agility created each of us. Those were just some of my thoughts about Psalm 139: 1-16.

Psalm 130: 1-16

O Lord, you have searched me
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise,
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying
down;
you are familiar with all my ways
Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O Lord
you hem me in – behind and before;
you have laid your hands upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your
presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are
there; if I make my bed in the depths,
you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn
if I settle on the fair side of the sea
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for the darkness is as light to You.
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my
mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully
And wonderfully made;
Your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
When I was made in the secret Place.
When I was woven together in
the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

Pennant Race?

One question I have is this, are the Red Sox still in a pennant race? Well think about it, after six games where they were basically beat up on they went from first to second, not third, not fourth second place in the AL East. While the Red Sox cannot beat the Rays (for some weird reason) I don’t think the Rays really have a chance at the playoffs this year they’re to0 far behind for their division. Currently the Sox are 5.5 games behind the Yankees, well let’s say they win tonight and the Yankees lose, then it’s 4.5 games, soon it may be 3.5… until their tied and one takes the lead. The Red Sox are going to face the Yankees, and if the last series was important than this series is monumental in deciding which team is the top in the AL East, the Yankees are a great team (I know it’s hard to admit it but it’s true) but they caught the Red Sox at a bad time. Think, Ortiz is in a slump, Bay is hurt, Pedroia kept flying out, now Ortiz is putting good swings on the Ball, Jason Bay has three homeruns in his past six games, suddenly everybody is hitting. If the Sox were hitting the way they can they could have won 3 out of 4 (Sabbathia was too good to beat, I’ll give him the win), the Sox and the Yankees have been playing long season and proved to be good, soon it will be time to see who is the best.

Red Sox Report

Finally the Sox get a win, that’s the first game in a while that I watched beginning to end (well I had to leave in the 9th because I was tired). Anyway hopefully the bats will continue to break out, even though they should have scored way more than 6 runs, I am still happy with a win. Penny seemed very strong last night, 6 innings giving up 3 runs (which would have been lower if Drew got in front of the ball). I think that Bay is coming out of his slump; he hit a homerun against the Rays last week and starts the series with a bomb into the Green Monster. Hopefully he can continue this trend and boost his average back to around .280 and get 30 homeruns on the year. Drew has been really good at the plate, he’s the only hitter that I can safely say is doing well, he was great at the plate against the Yankees and continued last night. So now we’ve got the rookie Tazawa on the mound, I hope he’ll do well but I don’t know. The Sox do have a good development system but I’m worried it might be too early, who knows he might surprise us and be great. The Yankees lost last night to the Jays giving them a lead of 5.5 games (still a lot) ahead of the Sox, while winning the division is now out of the question for the Red Sox I think they can manage winning the Wild Card.

New Gadget

I figure Dutch has got the "Followers" gadget so why not Tay Tay? Basically (to my simple computer understanding) you get an update whenever I write a new post so that way you don't miss anything. Anyway if you feel compelled, and if you have the patience to receive notice of every post I write then click the "follow blog" button at the top (or click the button on the gadget). One more question, when hearing the word gadget (which is the word of choice in blogger) who thinks of inspector gadget, I mean I just start humming the theme song!

What are We to Do? Part 2

I hope that in my post on other religions I did not offend anyone; I do not mean to say “Christians are the only ones that are right and everyone else is wrong.” Actually, in some way or another everyone is right. Though not all religions are completely true, they are not all false; everyone on earth (whether they admit it or not) desires a connection to God how they go about it differs. If we all are connecting to one God, naturally those whom He has not revealed Himself would have a different picture of Him. But just because it is a different picture of the same thing doesn’t mean it is correct. Let’s say I zoom in on an object and take three different photos of it, naturally I would get different guess as to what the object is, considering the viewer’s point of view they are partially correct, but they are wrong in saying what the object is. Christianity is a zoom out of the object; you get the whole picture of the world that is what I meant in my earlier post. Christianity presents the world in the best picture possible – as it is, good but broken.

Happy Birthday!

Sorry it's late cause his birthday was yesterday 08/08/09, anyway he turned 7.

New Archiving System

As you can see I am archiving my posts a little differently, instead of archiving them weekly I am archiving them monthly to save space on my blog. Don't worry, if there is an old post you like it is still there but it is bunched with all the others in the same month instead of the same week. I test this out for a short while to see how it works out, so far I kindof like it.

Why Does God Step Back?

I had a thought, now I could be wrong but this is just a thought I had. I think one of the reason’s God took a few steps back from my life is not only to help me grow but to teach me that this is what it feels like to have Him out of my life, it’s like God was saying “Hey Tay Tay, wake up! This is where you’ll be headed if you keep on sinning! This is what a life without Me looks like!” If I am right I thank God for His grace and mercy to show me how awful life is without His presence in my life, and maybe that is part of the growth. Think, when God takes a step back we learn to trust Him and have truer faith in Him; we learn to thrive on real belief and not just a “religious feeling”. Then we learn what life without Him looks and feels like and we choose Him and His will for us when we come back. A life without God is a terrible way to live; I think God wanted me to see that before my sin took me there. When God steps back it’s not that He doesn’t love us, it’s because He loves us that He does; He could baby us all our lives and give us the spirituality of a new believer, or have us grow and truly know who He is and have a lasting relationship with Him. Like I said before faith is not true faith until it is tested, when a storm comes only the strongest will get through it and that is true faith.

Some Jumbled Thoughts

I am amazed and humbled by faith. I wish I knew what else to say but that is all that comes out. I’ve been going on this journey for a few months now and I just realized it never ends, faith is not an object we can obtain, it’s not a measured amount it’s not like “I’ll trade this for five pieces of faith, or five dollars of faith…” Jesus told us we needed a mustard seed sized faith to say “Hey faith is faith, if you believe you’re there!” I wish I could describe exactly what I went through to get where I am, I wish I had all the answers to my questions (which I don’t) but I can say this, I believe in God and love Him for not forgetting me. I may have a down turn, who knows next week I could be back where I started but I do know this, there is more to the world, there is more to life than just living day after day, complex questions can only have complex answers. I’ll reel off all my thoughts in a series of posts later. One thing I used to think was “Okay once I get out of this ‘problem’ I’ll get back to ‘normal’ posts.” One thing I never got is this, faith is a part of life meaning it’s a journey, it is in times of despair that we grow to be more like God (C.S. Lewis writes about this in “The Screwtape Letters”), one more thing true faith is only built after it is tested. I can believe whatever I want but until it is tested and proven strong it will not hold through my life, this is why emotion never sustains us. Sorry if my thought process is, in simplest terms “whack” I’m really tired and I’ve got a ton on my mind, I’ll write individual posts about each thought I had, and then see where God takes me.

Comments on the Game

The Red Sox are a disappointment, and currently are not much fun to watch.

What Are We To Do?

One issue that had hindered my faith in the past was a common one, why are there so many religions in the world? In my English class we read books about many different cultures, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, secular it really struck me how people were so strong, so sure of a different belief; I guess you could say I wondered why do they believe in that as strongly as I believe in this? Well this problem grew until it prevented me from truly believing like I had in the past. Well I decided to do some research I read up on the major religions: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, my research came up with some surprising facts. One thing we forget (especially those who say all the religions are true) is that these five religions are amazingly different. Islam believes in an impersonal harsh god who is not as Christians call, a fatherly figure. Hinduism and Buddhism believe in an impersonal god who is not really in a specific place but more in each of us and the world, they also believe that one can believe in as many gods as they desire. They also say that there is no such thing as sin, and in order to become enlightened we must distance ourselves from suffering. Judaism and Christianity believe in a loving God who is righteous, perfect, personal, and a judge. Christianity takes the extra step to say that He loves us and desires us so much He sent His son to save us. What stands out the most is this, we live in a world that is good, we love each other, we (try to) adhere to a moral law that is not our own, but there is something horribly wrong with the world, one look at the news will prove that. Every day we here of good people suffering and bad people living relatively happy lives, but why? Christianity gives us a look at the world as it is: good gone bad. It tells us of a loving creator a fatherly God (why would we love each other so much if our creator didn’t love?) who created a good world and lost it to the devil. Christianity, I believe, gives us the most accurate image of our world and history. I know I wrote about how logic/ reason can’t be the sole reason to believe but I find looking at what we have sure does help a lot.

Trade Deadline

First off today is a special day because I have been on the internet for (about) one year, so happy birthday to my blog. Second, all the festivities aside, here we are after the trade deadline, with three new players: V. Martinez, C. Kotchman, and B. Anderson hopefully these players will impact the Red Sox for the better. Martinez (I think) will start tonight at 1st and Youk will start at 3rd; the Sox are 1 ½ games behind the Yankees so hopefully they can continue winning and the Yanks will keep losing. Also the Sox have a 1 ½ game lead over the Rangers in the Wild Card, it’s a little close but with the way the teams are both playing the Sox will hopefully keep that lead.