Year in Review

Well 2010 is almost over as the clock ticks down to 2011. To say this was an interesting or eventful year would be an understatement. I think it is safe to say that 2010 was one of those years that are so full of action, good and bad, that it just zips by. It seems like it was just yesterday that I was writing a post about 2009. Yet at the same time 2009 feels like a long time ago. I was looking at my “New Year’s Prayer” from last year and it is interesting how God challenged it a bit. He didn’t challenge it in a sense that He didn’t answer it or that He ignored it, but He answered it in the way I didn’t expect but was necessary. I prayed that I would grow closer to God and walk the narrow road, and I guess I didn’t know what I was getting into. Little did I know 2010 would be a year of challenge and joy, joy coming from the victory over the challenge and finding that with God’s help I can overcome anything. As I spend a quiet evening with family and friends cooking arancini (recipe and pictures to follow) I can’t help but think of the path God gave me to get here. I know it is not over, this is only the beginning, but when you pray a simple prayer asking to grow closer to God expect an answer and a journey. While it was a tough year, it was a year that made me stronger in my faith and just what I needed to get back on track.

Got to Love Google Earth Part II

I’m sure many are wondering why I posted three pictures from space on my blog, so here is my answer. Those three images could be seen (with the aid of a very good telescope) right outside my house and were taken from the “Google Earth/Sky” application on my computer. So why am I posting these images, well aside from the fact that they are very cool I can’t help but look at the Google Sky, seeing everything out there, and think how amazing the universe is. All that stuff about planets, nebulas, stars, black holes – it’s really cool for the lack of a better word. It can leave you speechless. Added to that to think that God designed it all, that He drew up the plans and dimensions and thought up the physics behind it, it is astounding. Looking at the world around me I cannot help but look to the heavens also, seeing these pictures I cannot help but notice God’s fingerprints in my life.

Got to Love Google Earth

Engraved in His Hands

As I continue reading through Isaiah, and the rest of the prophets, I cannot help but be amazed at how beautiful the prophets really are. I read the prophets a while ago when I was younger and found them tedious, new to the Bible I wanted the stories I heard in Sunday school as a frame of reference. But now there are tons of verses that jump out to me, and one of them is 49:16. It is God speaking and He says “see I have engraved you on the palms of my hands…” All I can say is “wow imagine that!” Engraved in God’s hands, when I think of the word “engraved” I think of a monument or wall of some sort with lots of names chiseled in. I think of how even though time passes by those people will be remembered forever. And it is the same here with God, our names/lives/memories are engraved in His hands – we cannot and will not be forgotten. Imagine hearing this in Isaiah’s time; Isaiah lived near the end of Israel’s existence, soon the Babylonian empire will conquer Israel, take some captive and kill many more. With the stories of great triumph (Moses, Joshua, King David) on their minds it is hard to remember how much God loves us, and even harder to say that we are engraved in His hands. But God did not forget, because He kept His promise and Jesus came, God Himself landed on our little planet to make things right. Even though life gets out of hand and things go wrong we cannot let this truth slip from our minds, our names are engraved in God’s hands, forget written in a book we are constantly on His mind and He will not forget us and will come through if we hold on to His promise.

Where is my Heart?

Here’s another post that I’ve been meaning to write for a while from my readings of Isaiah. The verse is Isaiah 29:13 “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.” I found this verse fitting at this time because this is exactly what Jesus came to end – judging our spirituality by how clean our record is instead of where our hearts are at with God. When I think about it, how often am I simply paying lip service to God, instead of giving my heart over to Him? How often do I simply speak “Christanese” but never stop to think about what I am really saying. Recently I’ve been rethinking my devotional time, I used to read a chapter of the Bible and pray every morning and every night, and while that is good I found myself trying to speed things up a bit to “get it over with.” Now I’ve kept a notebook by my bedside, not to write out long passages or posts but a quick note or verse that I find interesting or feel really speaks to me. Life is not supposed to be going through the motions; it is not about following the rules. Instead we should put being right with God as our top priority and let the rules take care of themselves. Listen to the last part of the verse “Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men,” think about it, all the regulations were the Pharisees invention not God’s. Leviticus was never meant to be worship manual but instead a standard of perfection which if we set our hearts on God we can get a glimpse of. Worshiping God is not about saying “Well at the end of the day I did what I was told” it’s about saying “Well today I did my best to put God first in my life and look out at the world in that manner.” This Christmas we must remember what Jesus came here for, not to enforce a law but fulfill it and show us the true meaning of worship.

Let's Go Sox!

Well it is hard to believe that with all the Red Sox have been doing I have written very little in the past couple weeks, but here are my thoughts. The Red Sox offseason this year can be summed up in a few words, “awesome,” “perfect,” and “finally!” Now that the most glaring issue, the bullpen, has been addressed here are my thoughts, predictions, and anecdotes. First off a few thoughts, right now the Red Sox are stacked and probably have their best team in years. With the addition of power hitting Adrian Gonzalez and the speedy Carl Crawford, they have a formidable lineup that can top any pitching thrown at them. Their starting rotation is set (first year in a while that wasn’t a problem) and they finally fixed the leak in the bullpen. Remember the days when Lackey would pitch 7 innings and give up one run only to have the bullpen give up four, well they are over. Basically now the Sox have three closers and a couple long relievers. Now, there was one time when Theo thought getting a closer to act as Pap’s setup man would be a good idea (need we mention “give it up Gagne?”) so to say Jenks will work out is not yet a sure thing. But a well rested Bard and an extremely nervous Papelbon will be good for the team. Added to that Dan Wheeler and a healthy Doubront and you have an airtight, bullpen, or at least one that keeps you in the game. That said, here is my prediction, the Sox will (hopefully) win the Al East title with around 100 wins, the Yankees will be in 2nd and the Rays in either 3rd or 4th place. The Jays and Orioles will probably resume their “cellar dweller” status although the O’s have done a fair amount of retooling this winter. I’ll post a few polls up but for now the question is this: How many games will the Sox win in 2011? 1) 100-105 games, 2) 95-100 games, 3) 90-95 games, 4) 85-90 games? Vote early and vote often.

Tricks We Can't Fall For

I was watching The Godfather the other day and one thing, oddly enough, stirred me to write a blog post with a Biblical message. You see, the main character played by Al Pacino is Michael Corrleone, head of the Corrleone family in New York. He, unlike his father Vito Corrleone, uses violence and bloodshed to get his way. What does Michael do when someone stands in his way; well instead of “making him an offer he can’t refuse” he gets rid of everything that poses competition to him. There is this great scene… well I can’ spoil the movie, it’s a great film go out and rent it some time. Anyway it made me think about Christmas and the gift that we get. One thing I’ve struggled with and worried about is if it is possible to lose this gift we are given. And that is where Michael Corrleone comes in, he reminded me of the devil and how he deceives us. It doesn’t matter if you are new to faith or have been a Christian for years, any step towards God by anybody is a serious threat to the devil. So what does “old Screwtape” (see C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape letters) he gets us out of the way, he makes us think he is no big deal, then attacks us by saying we are not worthy, we are failures, God will not forgive us. But that is a big fat lie, he knows it, but we don’t always don’t. The devil is not a cartoon character with horns and a tale, he is like Michael Corrleone, he wants us out of the way because we stand in between the world and him. It’s never blatant or obvious, but if we can’t recognize it we will be tricked every time. I don’t mean to go off on one of those war metaphors, they do little good and only make the problem worse by causing some to say “Gosh, this is too much, it can’t be real.” What I mean to say is that we can’t fall for the tricks and doubts that say we are not loved, forgiven, or remembered. There is nothing we can do to make God love us less, although we are sometimes tricked into believing it.

Always There

Well there is one week until Christmas; it seems that it really snuck up on me this year. I suppose time goes by faster each year you get older. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the gifts and blessings in my life and I’ve come to a conclusion. God will always come through, but He’ll do it in a way I do not always expect Him to. Christmas presents us a great irony, the brightest moment in history (you could argue Easter Sunday as brighter) we celebrate at the darkest time of year. While Jesus may have actually been born in the spring it was still a dark time then, with Roman occupation of Israel and King Herod in charge it was not a fun time. Yet at the same time here God is, revealing Himself after a 500 year silence, coming through completely unexpectedly. Imagine Mary’s surprise when she heard from the Angel she would give birth to God’s sun, and even more Joseph’s! I try to never forget that God always comes through and all He has blessed me with in my life. There are times when things are bad, I doubt my faith, friends, and myself. Yet at the same time God is working behind the scenes, so to speak, ready to make an entrance just when I need Him most and expect Him the least.

More than a Rumor

I just finished Philip Yancey’s book Rumors of Another World and said I would post about it so here are my impressions. I’ve written a lot about faith and what it means, but Yancey takes another take which I fee I do not address enough. Yancey says that our whole world is filled with these hints of another world, that by taking a close look we can see God’s fingerprints around us. We can see these rumors in science, art, and also in each other. I do believe there are rumors of another world in our own, I believe that God created a world that speaks of His glory, love, and wildness. Just take a look around you, look at the night sky and count the stars, a small puppy, or the woods during the winter time. God speaks to us through His creation, which includes us as people. There’s something about Christmas that changes us for the better, aside from the traditional clichés of Christmas being the spirit of giving, I think there’s something more. I think that the pure miracle of it all, and that God spoke through the silence to us, changing the world from then on. At the time Isaiah was written things were going pretty badly in Israel, I was shocked to find that Israel and Judah (once one nation) fought each other out of desperation and anger. Yet God promises to His and all people, He even says “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance” Isaiah 19:25, that things will get better and there will be peace. Christmas is a time of giving and family, but it is also much more than that it is a time of anticipation for God’s intervention in our lives and a time of grace, that God loves us so much to come down to earth and keep His promise. There is much more than a rumor of God’s work in our world, I’d go as far to say that there is neon sign.

Oh Christmas Tree

You know those weird events where you think to yourself “This feels like a scene out of the Christmas Story” (great movie by the way)? Well today I was returning a Christmas tree at Home Depot. The reason for this was that the tree dried out because it was next to the wood stove and the needles were falling apart; we always have the tree in the family room by the fire place but unfortunately this year the tree did not make it. So we took off all the lights and cut the branches off because we had to fit it in the car to return it. Then I get to Home Depot and take the tree up to the return counter, without any branches, to the amusement of those around me. Unfortunately the people refused to take it back and refund it, so while my father straightened things out I was lucky enough to stand by the tree, while people walked by and stared at it. Many people laughed, and pointed, and some took pictures. A few of my favorite comments were “What… did the branches fall off?”, “What happened to that tree?!”, “This is perfectly viable, you just cut the branches off to use them.”, and “Don’t worry it’ll grow back.” It was a fun day and will probably be one for the books, I think it is safe to say that my dad and I are the only people to cut the branches off of a Christmas tree and try to return it.

Here's Charlie!

More Than Enough

Reading Isaiah I cannot help thinking about grace. You would think that the Old Testament prophets were all “doom and gloom,” predicting the rise of enemy empires and the fall of Jerusalem. While that is a portion of the books, there is also a strong theme about grace, redemption, and salvation. I wrote earlier about the imagery of the crimson garment being washed clean to be white as snow. Yet Isaiah writes about a time of peace, when a just and kind ruler will judge over the people. A time where “the wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat…they will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full g the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” Isaiah 11:6-9. Imagine that, a time of peace that even extends to animals! If simple animals can dwell together in peace imagine how it will be for us people, imagine a place with no war or suffering, instead there is joy, kindness, and love. It is a world full of grace. Grace is one of those church words that is overused and misunderstood. There are many ways to think about grace, but recently today it hit me, that grace means I am not wicked, or evil, or wrong. Grace means I am right with God and saved and there is nothing I can do to add or subtract from it. Grace means I do not need my old sinful life to find satisfaction; it means I am satisfied right now. The devil tries to tempt us by making us believe we are not happy with our current lives, that I am not secure enough to restrain my anger at a rude driver or that I do not have enough and should covet the possessions of others. Grace frees us from this line of thought; grace shows us that we do have enough, actually more than enough. Jesus came down to set us free and get us back on track with God. While getting gifts is great, who doesn’t like receiving a gift from family and friends, let us not forget that we do have enough and we are satisfied, that we don’t need sin to fill ourselves up because when you let God enter your life he overflows into the lives of others.

Welcome Home Charlie

It is with great joy that I welcome Charlie, possibly the most adorable Bernese Mountain Dog puppy, into my family. There was a lot of controversy concerning the name; other choices were Leo, Jack, Brewster, and Brando. However, Charlie was the name we could all agree on and it fits very well. As puppies go Charlie is a dream come true in that he is extremely smart, friendly, and quiet. So far he does not whine very much, doesn’t nip, and loves to explore the house and its inhabitants. He reminds me so much of Dutch, our elder dog who passed away at the age of 7 while I was in Belize. It is a picture of him that I chose for my profile photo two years ago. Dutch was a fantastic dog, I could write countless posts, maybe books, about all the great times we shared. At the same time I am happy to get Charlie who I am sure will grow up to be just as gentle, loving, protective, and personable as Dutch was. It is a bittersweet moment, bitter in that I am reminded of the loss of a dear friend, yet holding a sleeping eight week old puppy in my arms can turn a bad day around. I’ll post many pictures later once my camera battery charges fully.

Hot Stove Heats Up

I know I wrote a lot about the Red Sox and my frustrations, and I still stand by what I said about John Henery, but today I think we can all relax a bit. The Boston Globe beat writers were busy today covering the upcoming deal with the Padres to send Adrian Gonzalez to Boston. Gonzalez is 28 years old and a two time gold glove winner at first base. He has also been an All Star for the past few years. The trade would move Youk to third base and end talks with Adrian Beltre. While this is a great move, the Red Sox need a lot of help, after losing Beltre and Martinez they need bats to replace them. They also really need bullpen help for the 2011 season, last year was lost, not because of injuries or a bad team, but because of a terrible bullpen. The Sox bullpen could not hold onto a lead and even an 8 run lead was not safe (remember the game versus the Rangers?). That aside this is a good start but it is far from over, Theo didn’t have to give much (considering Gonzalez’s talent) but will have to make greater sacrifices in the future. Also, to clarify what I wrote earlier about John Henery. John Henery is the Red Sox owner, what I meant in my post is that because it is clear he only cares about making more money that he does not put the Red Sox first which he should. Tom Yawkey, a former Red Sox owner, loved the Sox more than anything, he would spend time with the players and fans, and he did everything he could to make the Sox great and wanted them to win more than anything else in the world. John Henery does not act in this manner which I find frustrating. If you are the owner of a team you should not be meddling with amateur car racing and English soccer clubs.

Getting Ready for Christmas

With Thanksgiving over and December beginning tomorrow it is time to start thinking about Christmas. This year I am reading beginning December by reading the Prophets, I started Isaiah this morning. I usually read the beginnings of the Gospels during December, which I will still do, but I think it’s interesting to begin the Christmas season with a different perspective. By that I mean that a lot of the aspects of Jesus’ life were predicted hundreds of years before He was born. Also you get a hint of the plans God has in store for Israel, plans for salvation and grace, one of my favorite images comes from the first chapter verse 18 “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” That, I feel, is one of the best pictures of what God’s forgiveness is like and what Jesus came down here to do. Colors like “scarlet” and “crimson” seem bright, loud, they stand out for all to see, yet God can wash those sins away and give us a clean slate. Coming from New England I know what a fresh snow looks like, and what it looks like after a week of getting dirtied; imagine if we could clean the snow, make it pure again, as if all those things that unpurified it never happened. It’s the same with forgiveness, God washes us clean so we are pure, as if it never happened.

Red Sox Frustrations

Here’s a short tirade about the Red Sox. Here’s what I do not get, John Henery is the owner of the Red Sox, yet at a time when ratings are going down and the Sox become less popular by the day he goes out and buys a soccer team in England. John Henery said in an interview that he knows nothing about soccer – so why buy the team? The answer is to make more money. So the Red Sox are just another toy in the NESV chest for John Henery – is anyone else a little upset by this? It reminds me of the 1920’s when Harry Frazee sold the whole Red Sox team to the Yankees to make a profit. I know that the soccer team will not take money away from the Red Sox, but it will take time and attention. Instead of John Henery worrying about losing fans he’ll sit back and relax on the revenue from Liverpool soccer.

Thanks

I missed Thanksgiving by a few days, but here are my thoughts on the past week. You can’t go through Thanksgiving without being asked what you are thankful for, but instead of saying the usual list “my home, family, health…” I’m really thinking about it. In light of reading Ecclesiastes, I’ve realized that in the end all we have comes from God, in fact, if it weren’t for God I wouldn’t even be here typing this. Everything I have, and even the intangible gifts like joy, strength, and perseverance come from God. And with the oncoming Christmas season I cannot help but think of the greatest gift of all, Jesus our Savior. To think that I, who constantly fall short of God’s standards, am saved by His grace and love – it’s amazing. So what am I thankful for? Well, of course I am thankful for my family and friends, for the comforts I have in my life, but my praise goes to God who gives this things to me and more despite the fact that I do not deserve them.

Hot Stove

Under the sub title of things I find hard to believe is that Theo Epstein the “boy genius” gave Victor Martinez away to the Tigers. In the game of dollars and cents the Red Sox did not lose, the Sox can compete with any team, other than the Yankees. No, for some reason Theo thought that Saltalamachia (is that the spelling?) should be the full time catcher (at age 25) instead of Martinez. “Salty” was a great prospect initially, until he got hurt and went through severe mental issues when he couldn’t throw the ball back to the mound (but he can throw to 2nd base better than anyone). Anyway, currently we are looking at “Salty” as the starting catcher and Varitek as the backup – wow that’ll really work. The thing is this, not only do the Red Sox lose a good catcher; they lose a number 3 hitter. Assuming they do not sign Beltre that means they lose two of their best hitters, leaving the job of pulling the team’s weight to Youkilis, Pedroia, and Ortiz. Last year the Red Sox had one of the best starting lineups, even when people were hurt they still managed to score runs, but to keep that up they will need some big-market players which means years and dollars that Epstein seems to have trouble with. If this is the way things are going then I do not know how 2011 will play out, but all I can say is it doesn’t look much better than 2010.

Meaningless?

First off, sorry for the lack of posting, I went into November telling myself I would write a lot, but I’ve been loaded with work and sick the past couple weeks. But to cheer everyone up I have a post on Ecclesiastes, one of the few books (other than the prophets) I have not yet written about. I haven’t read Ecclesiastes for a while, but it really is a great book once you get to the heart of the meaning. It was supposedly written by King Solomon, and is sort of the “anti-proverbs” in that it lacks the upbeat messages and pithiness. The opening lines are “Meaningless! Meaningless! Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” My first reaction is “wow, why do I want to read this?” It really is depressing; Solomon main message is that we wake up, work, sleep, and die and that is all there is to life. However, a closer look shows that Solomon does acknowledge God in his despair as the only source of meaning to our lives. When you take a long hard look at life, Solomon is right in his claims, without God life is meaningless; today I woke up, ate breakfast, went to school, talked to friends, took a math test, did my homework, will eat dinner, go to bed, only to do it all over again. Imagine if that was my life, if that was all there was to my existence. If I was jumping from pleasure to pleasure searching for that “one thing” only to find it doesn’t exist. There is a ton to write about Ecclesiastes in detail which I probably will do, but for now, I’m clearing its “bum rap.” While it is depressing to read the message is true, a life without God and dedicated to this world is worth nothing in the end, a life spent every minute in devotion to God is priceless.

New Toys

I realized that I use this title often for new gadgets (the apps on the sidebars), but here is my latest addition. I added a "popular post" gadget which lists the top ten posts over the last 30 days. That way if you're new to the blog and want to see what's good or just want to know what the most popular posts are you can. Enjoy.

Hot Stove

Well it looks like it’s time to heat up the hot stove. I know I made many predictions in the past, which I will have to look over to see how (in)accurate I was, but here is my round of (hopeful) predictions for this off-season. First off is I can guarantee the Sox will be looking for either a first baseman or a third baseman. The easiest option is a first baseman because they have Youkilis to play third and a power hitting first baseman is not hard to find. As to who, possibilities are Adam Dunn, Adam Laroche, or Adrian Gonzalez. Next, I think they’ll go for an outfielder as the idea of Ellsbury, Cameron, and Drew never worked out. Third bullpen help, the Sox bullpen has been the biggest problem for the past two years and it will not go ignored. I think the guys we can expect to stay are Bard, Papelbum, Atchison, Doubront, and some other people I am forgetting. But they will (or should) get a couple middle relief pitchers who are actually good, some possibilities are Scott Downs or Kerry Wood. Last is catching, it doesn’t look like Martinez will stay so “Salty” is most likely the starting catcher with either Varitek or someone else backing up. One part that is omitted is starting pitching and that is because the Red Sox have the best rotation in baseball (while it didn’t look like it in 2010). Lackey had adjustment issues, Beckett was hurt, and Dice-K was well, Dice-K. But imagine a rotation with Buchholz, Lester, a healthy Beckett, Lackey, and Dice-K – that can’t be beat. It will be interesting to see how the off-season goes, so far the only move was to keep Ortiz, but there will be more.

He Made it All

A lot of people feel that God and science but heads on all issues, and some claim one disproves the other. However, I have found that not only do God and science work together they magnify each other. I was reading Stephen Hawking’s book A Brief History of Time and was struck by the fact that it was almost as much science as philosophy and religion. He mentions God several times throughout the book, but my favorite quote is “It would be very difficult to explain why the universe should have begun in just this way, except as the act of a God who intended to create beings just like us” (131). At first you feel like it is a little…out of place, like religion and science are two separate subjects, but when you think about it, God created science. God was the mastermind behind gravity, galaxies, thunderstorms, and elements; not only that be He created mathematics, art, and literature. When people say God buts heads with science they fail to realize God created science, as complicated as our universe is God made it that way. All the weird stuff about black holes and relativity was God’s idea. Isn’t that cool? I mean, if I had one question (well, maybe one of a long list) it would be “how?” Another thing people tend to have issue with is the concept of miracles. People say “Miracles go against science, therefore they are not real.” My answer is that if God is the creator of science, can’t He “change the rules of the game” a bit, if He is the mind behind it He has the right to intervene when He wants to. C.S. Lewis wrote a book called Miracles which I do not remember enough of to post now, but I’ll make a point of rereading it and posting later.

A Little Philosophy

I am going to change direction a little bit and write a little philosophy. Normally my blog posts are based on my thoughts on the Bible, well here is a little theology and philosophy thrown into the mix. I’ve heard a lot about morality, how it can be described as a set of laws, how each culture has different laws, how each culture has the same laws, even that ethics do not exist! Well I believe that ethics do exist, and here is my reasoning. We all feel a certain way about the way the world should be run, I don’t know how many times I have heard someone say “That’s not fair.” We all have a sense of fairness, and ideal that we feel should be kept. Theft, murder, cheating, and lying are all “wrong” things to do. Well if there is no such thing as ethics why can’t I steal a few dollars from my parents, or cheat on my exams, if there are no ethical standards there is no reason to be “good” whatever that means. But our world is different; we live in a society where we must obey the rules of “fair play”, where when someone breaks them we get upset, thus showing we all feel that there is some sort of ethical system whether we admit it or not. In this case our own words betray us. Now to the next part of the question, where did this ethical system come from? Well many people say it comes from laws passed down through the ages, modified through time. But here is the problem, if we assume ethics were just a genetic mutation, or a prerequisite for civilization how do we know they are right? How do I know the laws I am following are the right ones, could you imagine a world where cowardice, dishonesty, and cruelty were admired? The answer is no because something inside of us, not outside, abhors those values, we have such a strong reaction to the evil acts of others that it cannot possibly be forced upon us, it is inside of us. That makes it seem more like ethics is a personal taste, but that is not true as every civilization (as far as I know) has the basic outline of ethics that we have today, if you look at the Romans, Buddhists, Hindus, various African societies, Judaism, and Christianity, we all have the same sense of justice. Thus this ethical law system did not come from us, unless everyone in the world got together at one point in time and decided this is how it would be. So I come to the conclusion that our ethical laws had to come from God, now, did morality begin with the Ten Commandments? No, but that is an outline which leads to God’s law in full. But even without the law we still have a sense of justice and fairness that is instilled in us in our creation. Note, a lot of this is based off of C.S. Lewis’ book Mere Christianity, I can’t take credit for all of it.

Thank You?

I was reading Psalm 119 the other day (which translates to last week), I realize that I wrote about writing a “series” on Psalm 119, but I can’t confine my posting to a specific series of posts, so this is one of my many infrequent posts about Psalm 119. It seems like every time I read this Psalm I walk away with something new, I walked away with a lot after reading 119:75 “I know, O Lord, that your laws are righteous, and in faithfulness you have afflicted me.” Wait a minute, hold the phone, did I read that right? “In your faithfulness you have afflicted me.” Okay I guess I did; I don’t know about you but that is a powerful and initially strange statement. Synonyms for faithfulness include trustworthiness, care, devotion, and loyalty. If you were to substitute one of those words it would sound a little strange, I never really stop to think about the devotion and care of God when I am afflicted, more often than not I say “Why me?” But that’s pretty narcissistic, because it takes the focus of what is wrong with the world and pins it on how I feel. When God created the world He called it good, and to have God call it good it has to be really good. But sin entered the world and spoiled this goodness making it imperfect. Because of this imperfection the world has gone wrong; outbreaks of diseases kill millions of people, massive storms destroy homes and lives, corrupt people take power of nations and on a more personal level, we treat each other poorly. I finished reading the book of Job and the message his friends keep telling him is “Job the reason you’re losing everything is because you did something wrong” but that is not always the case, because the true reason Job lost everything he had is because of the devil and the imperfections of the world. I’ve been thinking a lot about suffering, not to find one answer, but to find a reason in it and the conclusion I’ve come up with is that God is good, and sadly, the world departed from that goodness. The psalmist isn’t saying “God, I love these afflictions” he is saying “God, I know you are good, and that you will not leave me alone in my suffering.” Although things go wrong in life we mustn’t forget that God is always with us and is devoted to us, despite the pain that afflictions in life bring, they often draw us closer to God and make us stronger because of them.

Boston Night of Worship

This past Friday I attended the Boston Night of Worship at the Aganis Arena at BU. I wish I had taken pictures but the place was so big and full of people that I felt I couldn’t capture the whole experience in one picture; it would take multiple images strung together. But I did walk away with many reactions, the most prominent one being awe. Imagine walking into a giant arena packed with people, so loud the sound literally hits you, that’s no joke I could feel the sound of the music and cheering. It was an amazing experience that unfortunately is not that common, to be honest, in my own life I don’t get excited about the Gospel like I should. When you sit down and think about it, the Gospel is amazing; to think that God came down to earth to suffer in our place to make us right with Him, that really is something to cheer about. Another part of that awe is that this place was packed with people from all over New England; it didn’t matter if you were Catholic or Protestant, rich or poor, democrat of republican, all that mattered was you were a believer and you were there. I felt that being there was what God really desires from the church, not a place based on regulations and denominations but a house of worship where people of all backgrounds can gather together with one common purpose, to praise God. It was a great experience and I highly recommend going next year.

Nice or Good?

In a small group in my church we’ve been reading Wild at Heart by John Eldridge. It’s a pretty good book, it’s about what it means to be a godly man, but one thing that really made me think is when Eldridge talks about Jesus. Nowadays we have this image of Jesus as a “nice guy”, a gentle easy going person who just wants to be nice to everybody. A main theme of the book is that as men we don’t want to be “nice guys” we want to be “dangerous”. Now the first thought that enters your head might be “Hey what’s wrong with wanting to be nice to people?” Well, there is a difference between being a nice guy and a good man, and Jesus was the latter. Looking at the Gospels Jesus was definitely good, there is no question about that, but He wasn’t exactly nice, I mean, He openly accused the Pharisees of their evil ways – that doesn’t sound nice to me. C.S. Lewis wrote of God “Safe, of course He isn’t safe, but He is good.” Jesus is not safe, He stands up for what is right at all times and let’s His voice be heard. That, I believe, is how we should act. I would much rather be described as good over nice, nice implies conceding, fear, and walking on eggshells, good implies strength, honesty, purity, and justice. In our culture people tend to shun the church as thinking it’s a boring place full of nice people, but really God is dangerous; the same God that made sunsets and flowers made lightening and wild animals, looking at this world there is no way we can say it is a safe place, but it is good. I guess my point is this, Christianity is not boring, the Jesus of the Bible was a loud, fearless, passionate guy, but the Jesus we portray to the world is a solemn, quiet, nice, person.

Updates

First off I am sorry for the lack of posting this month; the workload and stress load lately have been nearly unbearable, but things should resume back to normal by December- just in time for posts about Christmas! But for now I’ve been thinking lately about how amazing our world is, I was up at 6:00 this morning and looked up into the dark sky and saw several stars, more than I thought I could see in my area, and just now I was looking at a “micro photo contest” and saw the intricate aspects of things that are microscopic and how though they are small they are just as complex as anything else. It really takes you back to look at the world and think about how complex it is, and how there is no way it all could be random. As for what I’m reading, I’m reading the book of Job (lots of great stuff) and Rumors of another World by Philip Yancey. I write a ton about C.S. Lewis but Yancey is another favorite so I’ll definitely post about this book. It’s funny, before I started questioning and searching for faith I never found much material on it, but since last summer it seems that book after book fall into my lap and take me one step further; it makes me wonder where God is going to take me next.

Extra Innings

Now time for the random event of the day which was actually yesterday, but I did not have time to post so it will be posted today. Yesterday I played in the 100 Inning Baseball Game, which was first played in 2004 and has been played annually since. It is a charity game that donates money to the ALS foundation which helps patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly called Lou Gehrig’s disease after the great Lou Gehrig. Little is known about ALS aside from that it generally affects older people around the age of 50 and results in a loss of muscle strength and coordination. So back to the game, the 100 Inning Baseball Game is a 100 inning long game, roughly 30 hours and is taking place this weekend. I played in 26 innings yesterday (22-48) which took 8 hours. It was a lot of fun and I raised a good amount of money along the way. It was also very challenging, a lot of the players there were in some of the top Boston leagues and looked like they currently or formerly played for some top college teams; needless to say I was overmatched. But I stuck through it and did my best working a walk in one at bat and grounding out to move a runner to third in another. I also got to play all around the outfield which was fun. Another challenge was the endurance, after about 15 innings I started to lose it in my legs and definitely in my feet but I managed to stay active and take the field almost every inning. The last challenge was on a personal level, being one of the youngest and probably least skillful players on my team it was tough to talk to the other guys there, but after a while I became more comfortable and struck up many conversations in the game. I guess I could look at all these challenges and say “Wow why would I ever do that, it’s too much work!” But really at the end of the day it doesn’t matter how well I did, how many hits I got, or how many catches I made, all that matters is that I played baseball, something I used to do for myself, for charity, I did something that I like to do to benefit others, and although I was cold, sore, and couldn’t really get a hit, I had a blast and will definitely do it again.

I Believe!

Here is yet again another post about faith and doubt. I have often considered when I will be “finally” done with posting about faith and I feel that I never will. Faith is one of those things that is essential to the Christian life yet misunderstood and I feel that I will always be finding out new things. However Paul rates faith along with hope below love on the scale of importance so perhaps I should be writing about love more often. Back to the post, one prayer I would pray in my “search for faith” (among other things) came from Mark 9:24 “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief.” I’ve said a lot about what C.S. Lewis says and St. Augustine say about faith, but here is the principle straight from the Bible. Time for some background, basically what happened is a man had a very sick son and was desperate after the disciples couldn’t heal him, so he came to Jesus and said “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” If you can? Imagine what Jesus’ response could have been “If I can? Do you know who I am?” But let’s see what His response was “If you can? Everything is possible for him who believes.” So basically Jesus is saying “Hey I can do it…if you’ll believe it.” Now on to the nature of the man’s reply, I believe but help me overcome my unbelief. That is, I think, the best response to doubt. He didn’t give up thinking ‘Oh this’ll never work’ instead he brought it out into the open and sought help, not certainty. The man didn’t ask Jesus to make him certain that He could heal his son, he asked Jesus to help him overcome his doubts, to take a leap of faith. Everyone has doubts, but the key to faith is not to get rid of them, but to overcome them; to say that although they exist they won’t get in the way of my belief. This man was standing before Jesus and he had doubts, but instead of running away he asked for faith, and the perseverance to overcome his unbelief.

Top 10 of the 2010 Red Sox Season

Here’s my top 10 list for the 2010 Red Sox

1) Opening Day, from Pedro Martinez and Joshua Sacco to the dramatic come from behind win, it was a great way to start the season.
2) Darnell MacDonald’s game tying and winning homerun and double respectively.
3) Daniel Nava’s first pitch grand slam, he made history and gave Disney a movie idea.
4) Buchholz and Lester going to the All Star Game.
5) Ortiz winning the Home Run Derby – that’ll show ‘em!
6) Beltre’s all around amazing season.
7) Coming back from Belize to hear that the Sox were 4.5 games out of first.
8) Ortiz hitting his 30th homerun.
9) “Thanks Mike Night” and his single off the Monster, unfortunately only Ted Williams can hit homeruns in his last at bat – still Lowell’s was crushed.
10) The last game of the season, it may be the last time we see some great (and not so great) players in a Red Sox uniform.

Well that’s my top 10, feel free to add some of your own.

That's All Folks

Today’s win over the Yankees concludes the 2010 Red Sox series and in a way is the epitome of the “lost season.” The Red Sox won 8-4, Lackey produced a stellar start, the Paw Sox played behind him, Lowrie hit 2 homeruns, and Papelbon threw 28 pitches and gave up 1 run in the ninth. It is fitting that the Sox went out this way; that once again they managed to win and beat the Yankees, once again they reminded us that they still had it in them and if there were one more month in the season they could win it all. This was supposed to be the “dream season”, MLB Network had the Sox winning 100 games and being the team to beat the Yankees. After the first game it seemed that way, heck, after the first half it seemed that way, but as with all things in baseball, nothing is certain. Despite what many say this was a good season, they had a great team, lost some players, but grinded it out to the end and never gave up hope. All I can say now is that I can’t wait ‘till April.

Good Italian Sandwich Shop

Here’s a random anecdote from my life, as this is a random blog it demands one. If you’re ever in New Haven Connecticut and want a bite to eat I strongly suggest going to “Liuzzi Cheese.” It is, as I described to a friend, Italian sandwich and specialty shop heaven. It’s run by an Italian family that goes back to the 1800’s, and has homemade classics like Sfogliatella, Arancini, homemade pastas, canolis, and much more. They also sell specialty goods imported from Italy. I’ve been to a few specialty shops and have been disappointed with the quality but to me this seems like the real deal. Anyways, if you’re in the area I suggest stopping in and getting a sandwich or plate of pasta, they have a website too, http://www.liuzzicheese.com/.

New Look

For the time being this will be the new look of "Tay Tay's Random Blog." While the new templates are interesting I do miss the old design quite a bit but it is unfortunatley impossible to change, so here is the template I chose. I'll be changing the colors once I have time to, and maybe even add a picture as the background although I feel that may be too distracting.

Certainty vs. Stability

This is one of those really funny stories that I just have to write about. Not funny in the sense of humorous but funny in that you step back and say “wow what a coincidence”. My last post was about faith and the difference between certainty and belief, I can be certain in something but faith requires belief in the absence of that certainty. So, I was reading from St. Augustine’s Confessions, and came across the part where Augustine describes the beginnings of his conversion. Essentially the first half describes Augustine’s youth and then his introduction to Christianity but his misgivings about it, but in book VIII he writes “My desire was not to be more certain of [God] but to be more stable in [God]” After reading that it just clicked, I took a step back and said to myself “wow, he actually said that and this is the idea I’ve been thinking about for the past few months.” In addition it is also a bit of an elaboration on C.S. Lewis’ idea about controlling out emotions. The real keys to faith are not in taking the in initial leap and believing at first, it’s continuing to believe, and that is what Augustine prays for. God could give us all certainty but once a storm comes in our lives those facts will mean nothing if there is no stability in God. For a while I’ve been writing about this “faith journey” but the thing I’ve realized lately is that there is no set amount to faith, no increments to count it by there is now way to for me to look back and say “well I may not be where I want to but I have twice the faith I had a year ago.” Faith is simply holding on to what we believe and never letting go; it’s belief despite our unbelief, and taking the second step after the first.

Faith and Spiders

Once I was remarking to my father that a certain college offered no campus ministry at all, and he replied that they think they’re “too smart for God.” I’ve found that this is a pretty common idea, it seems that nowadays we all want facts, we’ve got a wealth of information on the internet and we like to use it. We check Web MD to see what ails us, the weather channel to see how likely it is that it is going to rain, all this said are we “too smart” for God? No, absolutely not and actually we can be too foolish. I was foolish and still am in a way and we all are, I wanted the facts and thought I had them and replaced faith with certainty. Jesus said all we need was a mustard seed of faith and I couldn’t muster that. Instead I wanted to know, which is admirable but it won’t make me believe. I can spin off tons of facts that point to God, I can write about archeology and how the Bible is completely accurate, or physics and say how finely tuned our universe is, mathematics to point to the complexity of the world, biology to the intricate nature of the human anatomy, the list goes on and on. But it won’t replace faith and faith requires belief. I am deathly afraid of spiders, I don’t know what it is but I cannot stand to see something with eight legs spinning a web and moving around in my house. While I know that it is unlikely a spider will bite me, and depending on the species even more unlikely I will be harmed by a bite, I still am terrified. That is a case where my belief overcomes the facts. It is the same with faith, facts, equations, and graphs can change my mind but not my heart, and that is what matters. Am I saying that faith should be blind, or uneducated? No, I’m saying that the problem today isn’t that we’re “too smart” for God, we’re just too blind, afraid of stepping out of our comfort zone. Faith is tough, but we don’t need a lot which is a good thing, if I can believe in something and hold on to it despite my changing moods and fears of letting go, then that is what really matters. The only thing is that I’ll never know the truth if I don’t take the first step.

Notice

I've been thinking about changing the look of my blog since blogger now gives me the opportunity to upload my own photo as the background so if you go on to the blog some day and see that it changed don't worry it's still the same random blog that's been up since 2008. Also I am open to suggestions for a background image if you have one.

Hidden Blessings

Ever have one of those terrible days that you later find out were really a blessing? I just had one last Saturday during a baseball game. I play in a fall recreational league and in the first game of the season I was playing shortstop, not my usual position but I can hold my own. The first ball hit to me was pretty routine, would have been a one hopper into the glove and easily thrown to first for the out. Instead the ball hit a pebble or divot in the field because it shot up and hit me right above my eye. I finished the inning but left and went to the emergency room only to find I had a mild concussion (already counted on that) and a sinus fracture that will leave me out of baseball for a month. This was a terrible experience but here are a few hidden blessings, first the fracture was on my eyebrow, a few centimeters lower and there goes my sight in my right eye and my chances of playing baseball. Next because it hit the sinus bone which is really a sort of cavity there was minimal disturbance to the brain. Also there was no bleeding, which is uncommon, which means not health complications, and lastly I do not need surgery. It’s events like this that make me stand in awe and say “Wow, God must have been watching out for me!” While often things don’t always go our way and the ball easily could have hit my eye, it’s just one of those many blessings that we often look over in our daily lives.

Sox Update

For what it’s worth the last series win versus the Rays is the first series win the Sox have had against that team since May when they swept them. Despite that they are still out of the race (imagine where they could be if they didn’t choke in the last Rays series).

Love my Enemies?

Love my enemies; you have got to be kidding right? Oh, you’re not…okay. That is a common (sometimes my reaction) to part of the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5 :44 “But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” I wrote a post a while back about the greatest commandment which is of course love God above all else but also love your neighbor as yourself. Now I can sometimes have trouble with that I mean if a person, not even an enemy, lies to me or tricks me or insults me it’s tough to love them even a little bit, so the question is how do we do this? We can’t write off everything people do to us, if someone double-crosses me am I just to sit down and say “Oh well I am supposed to love them and do nothing.” Of course not because that is not how we treat ourselves. I would assume everyone treats themselves well I mean who wouldn’t, and C.S. Lewis makes an interesting point about that. Lewis writes in Mere Christianity that while we all love ourselves that doesn’t mean we accept or even like the things we do, there are plenty of times where I do something I know is bad and feel terrible and dislike myself for doing it, but that doesn’t stop me from taking good care of myself and praying that God will help me be a better person. When someone does something wrong we aren’t to accept it, but we aren’t to yell at them either. What we should do is treat them as ourselves which means acknowledge that what they did was wrong, but still pray that they will learn from their mistakes. What did Jesus say on the cross “Oh their not sinning at all” or “Father please forgive them” He called them out in their sin by saying they needed forgiveness but he didn’t hold it against them entirely instead he prayed on their behalf.

Choices

I was talking with my father about a particular verse that troubled the both of us, and after sleeping on it (and thinking) here is my take. The passage comes from Hebrews 5 and 6 but the key verse is 6:4-6 “It is impossible for those who have been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting Him to public disgrace.” Now I don’t know about you but my initial reaction to this was ‘Wow, let’s slow down a bit and rewind’ I mean this is pretty troubling but here are thoughts. The way I see it it’s similar to saying “Well if that can’t save him nothing will”, if the grace of God cannot bring us out of our sin then nothing else will no sermon or message, nothing will help us. Also if we turn away from the salvation God brings that’s it there’s nothing else God has for us other than the sacrifice from His son Jesus. Well that answer was okay, but when you read farther to verses 9-12 “Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case – things accompanying salvation. God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. We want each of you to show the same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.” So it comes back to the question my father and I asked, does God stop forgiving us? The answer no, Jesus’ sacrifice ensures that we are forgiven, or as C.S. Lewis puts it, made right with God. On the other hand if after being saved I give in to my sin again and refuse to change, well if salvation is based on believing, and repentance is a sign of belief, then it shows I don’t truly believe in or trust in God. It’s a tough sounding passage but it’s message is clear throughout the Bible God loves us immensely and forgives us, but we can’t continue living in sin, at some time or another we have to make a choice.

Who's Hungry?

I mentioned I was reading the confessions of St. Augustine and was shocked by it. I didn’t read it for my own personal reading, I read it for school stuff, but one thing that really shocked me is that you could read it and say “wow this is actually relevant.” Augustine goes through the same issues people go through today especially young adults. He gives in to peer pressure, struggles with shoplifting, and suffers from loneliness. After years of searching for the right thing, hobby, or person he finds God and reflects through the whole retelling of his life how he wished he could do it over, how he felt he was wasting time that could have been filled with meaning. My church has been finishing up a series on the Sermon on the Mount and a Bible study I attend is also reading the same thing, mainly the Beatitudes. One verse especially stands out to me, it is Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” Now I’ve read the Sermon on the Mount, but recently this has been on my mind, what does it mean to hunger and thirst for righteousness, I think Augustine provides the answer. The book was written well after Augustine became a Christian so he adds comments throughout remarking on his past, and one thing that stands out is that he really knows and loves God, the whole book reads like a conversation, a prayer. I want to be a good person, hey we all do, but how often do I hunger, do I desire to be good so much that it literally consumes me until I fulfill it. How often do I desire to achieve righteousness? The Sermon on the Mount is a tough message; many try to say “Oh Jesus couldn’t have possible meant that.” But here’s what I think, I think the point Jesus is trying to make is this, if you want Him go get Him, if you’re hungry for God fulfill that desire but do so whole heartedly and put in the effort.

Key Words

Here is my final post on what the Bible has to say about money. In my first two posts I wrote about what the Bible says about the poor, now I will write what the Bible says about the wealthy. A lot of people say that money is evil by misquoting 1 Timothy “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” Two key words here “love” and “a”. The common phrase is “money is the root of all evil” but that simply is not true. It is the love of money that is wrong, as is the love of anything. The clearest example is the encounter between Jesus and the rich man where Jesus tells him to go sell all he has to enter the kingdom of Heaven. I wrote about this a while ago but a summary is that Jesus didn’t really mean that we all must sell all we have to be with Him, he was asking the man if he trusted Him. The rich man found security in his wealth (as we all do at one time or another) and Jesus was asking him if he trusted God enough to take care of him. If I put all my security in how much money I have I am bound to become disappointed, the financial crisis that is still going shows that. People are still without jobs, people that five years ago were probably doing fine are now out of work that is how quickly money fades. But the strength and grace that God gives us never fades, it never depreciates or loses value, you can’t spend it all or lose it in the stock market, we’ll always have it. In the end the love of money seems almost foolish, to endlessly chase something that can be taken away so easily instead of chasing God who never leaves. The last point is the word “a”, it’s not just the love of money that can lead to evil and distance from God, the love of anything can. If I love my job, baseball, the Red Sox, or anything more than God then it also separates us from God and becomes an idol. There are a lot of things in the world that I like, but we can’t find ourselves loving them.

Fenway Fantasy Day

Time: God's Currency

In my last post I wrote that the Bible tells us to work for what we get and applied my own reasoning to say that there comes a point at which service isn’t enough and doesn’t solve the problem. Now it may seem like I am writing the opposite but we are also told to be generous and serve. For this there is a ton in the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 17:5 “He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker…” 19:17 “He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord…” 22:9 “A generous man will himself be blessed…” there is much more but this is a good sample. So now here’s the question, what does this mean? Well, from this we can see that God call us to love the poor, as we should love anyone. And a sign of love is spending time to serve because by loving others we show our love to God. This seems like the polar opposite to what I said earlier but it isn’t and here is why. If a parent gave everything their child asked for, every dollar their child needed we would hardly say they really loved them because once that child grows up into an adult he won’t know how to take care of himself. Real love is shown in time and effort to help that child grow and learn, not in gratifying every request. By making people dependent on service we can hardly say that we love them because all we are doing is making the problem worse. I would think that the best sign of love would be helping them up onto their own feet, investing our time, trust, and friendship and instead of our wallets. It’s easy to spend money because we can always get more, it’s time that we run out of.

Tough Love

I said I would blog about poverty so now that is what I am going to do. While the Bible says a ton about money I want to break it down into three key points which will be broken into three blog posts each. Number 1 the Bible says we need to work for what we get. Number 2 the Bible says we need to be generous with our possessions. And finally number 3 which says money can’t be everything to us, God has to be first in our lives. For this post I will be writing about the first point that we need to work for what we get. One verse that comes to mind can be found in Leviticus, which is right after Exodus. Leviticus 19:9 says “When you reap the harvest of your land do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the Lord your God.” We don’t really harvest much anymore, or glean either, but the principle is the same, God is not requiring us to give handouts so that people will have to work for what they get. One of the group leaders on my mission trip made the observation that there is a point at which when you serve you make the person you are serving dependent on your service. I mentioned that there were people asking when we would paint their house, when we would get around to them. The problem with this is we can’t get to everybody, we can’t give every person a hot meal or a freshly painted house, and it would be impossible and in the end wouldn’t solve the problem. Eventually the paint would fade and the meal eaten and then our service would be required again. While non biblical this statement is practical “Give a man a fish feed him for a day, teach a man to fish feed him for a life time.” The thing though is this; this isn’t the whole answer only a part of it which will be discussed in my next post.

It's Just October

You know what I’m sick and tired of? The sports writers for the Boston Globe. After every win it’s “hey the Sox can make it” and after every loss it’s “Oh who were we kidding.” You know what I think, I think that this team is a great team and if healthy all year could win the division and possibly the World Series. The Red Sox team since the second week of the season has been a team of backups, and the fact that they are only 6.5 games out of first and that people are actually expecting them to make the playoffs and disappointed that they most likely won’t, I mean what did anyone really expect? Let’s say they do make it, how well will they do versus the Twins or Rangers, teams that have given them an extremely hard time all year? The thing is I’m not upset and I’m not disappointed because when Pedroia, Youk, and Ellsbury went down I (and I think every Sox fan) knew that this was not their year. A lineup of Ellsbury, Pedroia, Youkilis, Martinez, Ortiz, Beltre, Drew, Cameron, and Scutaro would win the division and maybe win 100 games, a lineup of Scutaro, Drew, Ortiz, Martinez, Beltre, Lowell, Kalish, Hall, Lowrie won’t. One thing this season helped me realize is this, isn’t the fun in watching with friends and family? I mean if the Sox win the World Series this year will it really change my life that much? I get caught up in the game too, but it’s times like this that help me realize what is most important.

Future Hall of Famer

Last year I was very blessed to be a part of the Fenway Fantasy Day at Fenway Park and this year I got a chance to do it again. Fenway Fantasy Day is a fundraiser run by the Jimmy Fund where people pay money to hit or play in the outfield at Fenway Park. Through my job I was able to catch for the pitching machine at home plate in Fenway Park. It was awesome last year and was just as cool this year, and I even got a chance to play a little outfield! My shift for catching was over so I got a chance to play right field at Fenway Park. Unfortunately everyone was a dead pull hitter but I did catch a line drive, field a ground ball, and play one off the right field wall. I’ve played in a lot of baseball games but nothing compares to playing in this big expansive right field in front of all those stands, it was really cool. Last year I took a foul ball off my shoulder and was unable to play on the field but this year I was blessed to do so. I’ll post a few pictures from my day later and speaking of the Red Sox I’ll write a post about them too. Wow, what a great way to end my summer.

There's Always Next Year

While I’m not a fan of overstatement, the series against the Rays is the most important one of the year for the Red Sox. They will have to play like it’s October, redo of 2008 ALCS everyone said the Sox were done, now it’s time to prove them wrong and beat the Rays. If the Sox sweep the Rays they will be 2.5 games out of the Wild Card, but should they be swept they will be 8.5 games (ouch!) out and most likely done. While everyone is crying “bridge year” here’s one thought, you have to give the Sox credit for being this close with essentially a team of reserves. Tonight’s lineup is Scutaro, McDonald, Martinez, Beltre, Ortiz, Lowell, Drew, Lowrie, and Hall. Compare to the opening day lineup: Ellsbury, Pedroia, Youkilis, Martinez, Ortiz, Beltre, Drew, Cameron, and Scutaro. All I can do is dream of the possibilities of how good they would have been, how instead of 5.5 games behind they could be 5.5 games ahead. Everyone criticized Epstein for “giving up” all he did was craft the best team and the lowest price and if a mediocre team of backups can give its fans hope for the playoffs then imagine what the healthy team could do. I guess I’m just saying that it’s been a good season, it’s been close and it’s been exciting. While the Sox may not make it all the way we did get a chance to see the further growth of Lester, a resurgence from Ortiz, Beltre (one word is enough), and how could I forget Buchholz. If the Sox don’t make it there is hope for the future (of course hope has a big price tag), and while the Sox are down they are never out.

Summary of my Trip

I just realized this, I’ve been writing all these posts about the lessons I’ve learned in Belize but I haven’t written about what I actually did in Belize, I mean for all you know I could’ve sat around playing Chinese Checkers for a week. So here is a summary of my trip. On out first day we arrived around noon and the first thing that hit me was the heat, as I said to my friends everyday was a new definition for hot. Also on our first day we went on the “jungle monkey hunt”, we didn’t hunt anything but we did get to see wild howler monkeys which were very cool. The next day, Sunday, we went to the water park (working hard or hardly working?). Sunday night we went to the park which consists of a soccer field, lots of open space, as basketball court, and tons of kids, many of which I played whiffle ball with. The next couple of days we went to the inner city to paint houses and hang out with some kids. I had a blast, while painting a house I saw a grasshopper that looked like it was on steroids, ate lunch in the shop of a former gang leader, and met some great kids. The most fun I had was probably our first day when after lunch I decided to stay with the kids and color and climb trees and then boxing. The next day in the city we painted the police station and played chess with a few local kids, I got into a stalemate (basically a tie) and won a match. Later in the week we painted a church and met these two little kids, a brother and sister that loved following us around. The brother liked to take my Red Sox hat and put it on his head and help me carry big buckets of paint. I remember giving him a full, and heavy bucket to carry and when he would try to lift it up I’d tell him to lift it again and lift it myself and marvel to him “Wow you’re super strong!”. Our last work day we went to an orphanage where I played whiffle ball with a bunch of kids and got lots of water dumped on me as the kids laughed saying “Hah, you’re all wet!” On our last day we went to the Mayan Temples which made me feel like I was in an Indiana Jones movie; that was probably my favorite excursion. Anyway there is a summary of my trip, while Mississippi taught me about perseverance this trip taught me about loving others and humility, I had a great time sharing the love of God with all the kids we met and serving others, I even got used to the heat.

It's Complicated

I used to have a simplistic view of poverty, basically there are poor people, it’s sad, when I can I should help them but not give money (because you don’t know what it’s spent on). When arriving in Belize I was shocked at the level of poverty, Belize is a very beautiful country but also a very poor one. While loved to look out at the abundance of palm trees, coconut trees, and jungle I could not help but notice the large amount of small, somewhat run down, houses scattered throughout. The typical house in Belize is a few rooms, one floor, and stone, some are painted and the nicer ones are wooden and on stilts. There is no “Stop and Shop”, no “CVS” there are fruit stands and gas station markets. Belize City is divided into two sections the south side is poor, the north side is wealthy. There is also a huge income gap. Seeing the poverty, kids who couldn’t afford to go to school, kids with literally nothing asking me for toys, it really redefined my views. My group had a long discussion on poverty and the conclusion is this, it’s complicated. On one hand we want to go out and everyone’s house and give to everyone we see and hand out lots of money to poor families but there is a problem, we end up creating a society dependent on help. There were many people coming up to us in the middle of work saying “When are you going to paint my house?” After a while people stop doing things for themselves and start waiting for people to do things for them. While that is true, we cannot stop serving others, I can’t say “I’m not going to Belize that only magnifies the issue” we all need to have a servant’s heart and a love for other people. If I were to stop serving that would give me a hard heart and go against the teachings of Jesus. So what do we do, serve until people are dependent on help, or stop serving altogether? The answer is this, it’s complicated there is no clear balance, no arrow pointing the right way, but there is what the Bible says about poverty and I don’t have room to write it here but I will write a post later.

We are His Tools

You know what would be both ridiculous and somewhat funny? If after hitting a homerun as I crossed home and picked up my bat it looked up at me and said “You know, it was really I who hit that homer, not you.” Or what if this happened, after typing this blog post, my keyboard said to me “You know Tay Tay, I should get all the credit because it was really I who writes your blog posts. Now, my bat and keyboard are right in one way, they did do those things, without a bat I couldn’t hit and without a keyboard I couldn’t type. But the key word is “a” I don’t have to use a specific bat, any bat will do, and my keyboard is not the only one out there. I think it’s the same for when God uses us, especially in reaching other people and telling others about Him. In Belize we operated under more of a ministry, meaning in Mississippi we basically worked for eight hours and left, in Belize we spent more time talking to people and telling them about Jesus. Now, the man who owned DCI (the place we stayed) put a strong emphasis on “getting people saved”, that is very important but is it the whole story? Think, what really happens when I have a meaningful conversation about Jesus with someone, is it me in control or God? I believe that faith is a personal decision and a process, that you can’t just say “I believe” and end there and that in order to grow and know God He has to be in control. If I go out and try to witness on my own and focus on getting people to say “yes” then I will face little success, if I pray to God to give me an opportunity to share my faith (through any medium) and wait on Him that is where things really happen. In telling people about Jesus we are the tools, God uses us to reach His people, not the other way around.

Soxtober?

Okay, the Red Sox are 5.5 games behind the tied Rays and Yankees, it’s mid-August, question: will they make the playoffs or for the first time since 2006 watch them? Here are the pros and the cons to the Red Sox for the rest of the season.

Pros:
The return of Dustin Pedroia
Lackey and Dice-K are heating up
Ryan Kalish aka the new Trot Nixon
J.D. Drew is heating up – and you know what that means
The Sox have many games vs. the Yankees and Rays to gain ground.
For the rest of the season the Sox play the Orioles, Jays, and Mariner’s twice.
The Rays had a great start last year but quickly fell apart, while unlikely the injuries of late are a problem.

Cons:

Many games against the Rays and Yankees, those will decide whether or not the Sox make it.
Youk is out for the year.
Beckett can’t pitch against good teams.
The bullpen is terrible, against good teams no lead is safe.
Ellsbury is out…again
Cameron is out…again
The teams most likely going to the playoffs have been a big issue for the Sox , Twins, Rangers, Yankees.
There are noticeable holes in the lineup.

Considering this what do you think? As for me I’m going to need some time, and of course see how the season plays out.

New Book

Lately I’ve been reading St. Augustine’s confessions, and while I started reading it for, I guess not the best motives (have to for college stuff) I am actually finding it, as odd as it seems (it was written in the late 300’s) very applicable not only to my life but to today’s world. Also C.S. Lewis was somewhat inspired by Augustine so that is added interest. Anyway I think the book is very interesting and when I finish it I will write some of my thoughts, it is very cool to see how life really doesn’t change (despite what my elders say about how the world is so corrupt now, that nothing ever went wrong when they were kids) but the most amazing thing is this, Augustine wrote this book either in the late 300’s or early 400’s, the Bible was written much earlier than that and is just as applicable. I guess it shows that the word of God, and its inspirations, last.

Cool Pictures of Belize

We're Not All That Different

I don’t know about you, but when I go to Boston I only go to the following places, Fenway Park, Faneuil Hall, the Frog Pond, North End, or any nice restaurant around that area. You might say “Why are you telling me this?” My point is this, that is a very small portion of Boston, and while Boston is not a big city there is a ton more to it. I generally make an effort to stay away from the rougher parts of Boston, the outskirts of the city, places like Southie or Roxbury; I would simply avoid those places. In Belize we worked on the worst street in Belize City, it was a three gang street, and we ate lunch in the shop of a former gang leader, added to that the policemen were packing, and were receiving help from the Belizean army. But you know what, that shop owner was the nicest guy, and the kids we met were some of the sweetest kids you’ll ever meet. I had a blast coloring with them, climbing trees, playing chess, and even boxing with them. There was one little boy that followed us around, and even wanted to paint with us despite the rain. To put it simply it was an amazing experience. One thing I learned is that I can’t judge people based on where they live, this was poor and dangerous neighborhood, but that doesn’t mean all the people are bad, just because there are gangs on the street doesn’t mean everyone is involved. I used to look at the rougher parts of town as “bad neighborhoods” as I said to my group I go over here, and they go over there, but after working in Belize City my question is this, what makes them bad? Is it because they are poor; is it because of violence, does that make everyone in the place “bad”? No. I’m not advocating walking alone in a unknown and rough part of town, that’s very unwise, we were safe because DCI was known in the city, but what I am saying is that next time I won’t be so quick to judge, that the next time I’m in Boston or Philly or New York I’ll remind myself that there are kids there just like me, that we’re not all that different.

Thoughts on Loss

I’ve been thinking a lot about loss lately; loss is a tough thing to deal with and when I came back from Belize it felt like I lost a lot in my life as I have had to go through a few losses. To be honest, at first, I didn’t believe the things I heard, I thought that it was some sort of a bad dream that I would wake up and everything would be back to normal, the way it should be. Lately though I’ve realized that things are not going “back to normal” that time will just keep going on and what happened, happened. Then I became angry, not necessarily angry at God, or with my friends and family, just angry at what happened, that I wasn’t present, that I didn’t have a chance to say goodbye. Loss is tough, I wish there were an easy answer, that when we lose a pet, friend, or family member I could point to a verse and say “See here, this is what the Bible says” but unfortunately at the time I don’t know any. One thing that comes to mind is the story of Job, the man who literally lost everything, when God answers him He doesn’t give a specific answer but instead He lets Job know that He is in control. Loss is very hard to go through, but the thing is I, and everyone, must trust God and call to Him for strength to keep going. Ultimately God is in control, no matter how it seems at the time.

No Looking Back

Here is one of the many lessons I learned in Belize. First I would like to say I am sorry for not getting to this sooner but I was in Cape Cod last week and obviously could not blog. I’ve always been a bit perplexed by the story of Sodom in Gomorrah. In Genesis 19 Lot is told by an Angel to flee to the mountains because the cities will be destroyed, while leaving Lot’s wife looks back to the city and is turned into a pillar of salt. My question is this, why? I mean, why turn her into a pillar of salt for just turning around to have a look? In Belize we went to a local church and I got my answer. In my life if I want to change from the person I have become into the person God made me to be then I will have to surrender my life to him. I don’t mean a onetime promise saying “God I will never do _____ again.” I mean a full surrender from the heart, a continuous decision. The pastor said that in order to do that (because surrendering to God is a very hard thing to do) we need to keep looking forward; we need to call out to God and not let ourselves slide back. When Lot’s wife looked back she openly showed to God where her heart was, where she felt her true home was. When we look back and fall away from God into sin we show Him where our hearts are; but if we look forward and don’t let the devil push us back an inch that is where God can use us in amazing ways. Too often I’ve looked back in my own life, if there’s one thing I learned in Belize it’s this, we need to look ahead towards God and never look back or turn around

I'll Never Forget You

This post can also be found in it's original source at dutchboylife.blogspot.com.

The only thing I can really say now is that I wish I had written this sooner, but with extra time I was able to reflect and outline my thoughts clearly. While I was away in Belize, I was only gone for three days, Dutch passed away. Not to judge but to people who do not have dogs Dutch may just be a dog, but to me he was so much more. I remember when we got him and how his curious name came about, part homage to President Ronald Reagan and to Dutch chocolate; I remember how small he was yet how large his feet were. I remember him as a young dog full of energy eager to run around the house or jump up and put his paws on my shoulders. I remember him as an older dog, as a guardian, we used to rent a house in Cape Cod and he would roam at night to check up on all of us to see if we were okay. He also had the habit of if anyone were getting frustrated or angry he would run up and put his paws on your lap to calm you down. And then in his last months as his sickness worsened he would lie on the floor and put his paw on my arm just to let me know he’s there and he wants me to stay with him. Dutch knew what was going on, and he was a part of my family, we used to have a running joke that he could talk, it was common for one of us to ask “what did he say?” I really could go on and on and even then it wouldn’t do him justice, there is just too much to say to really explain him, how he loved to go on walks and rides, he loved cheese, he loved kids, how he never kissed anybody but instead pushed his nose in your ear, and how could I forget that big smile he would always have whenever I came home. I remember that he loved to come to my baseball games, there was one time when I had hit my first homer, a deep drive to right and Dutch missed it, so in my next at bat the second pitch I saw I smacked into center field, just so he could see one. To be honest I couldn’t believe he was gone, I thought he would run around the corner at the sound of my voice and fill the house with loud barks and spread hair all over the place as he wagged his tail. Even in this time of sadness though, I know God cares for him too, just as much as my family did and is taking good care of him. I loved Dutch, and even though I got cross with him and told him how much of a pain he was when he “went on strike” and rolled in the grass outside, I would give anything just to take him out one more time. As for what to do with this blog I have decided to leave it up, and I will make a collection of pictures in a slide show in his honor. Dutch was a blessing and out of all the first dogs I could have, I’m glad it was him.

Love

I saw a great movie that really made me think, it was called To Save a Life. I won’t ruin it for you but essentially it is about a boy named Jake Taylor whose childhood friend commits suicide. Jake doesn’t know how to respond initially but he eventually gets involved in a local church, builds a relationship with God, and changes his life dramatically to impact those around him. What made me think was this: we have so much influence on the people around us, everything I do or say is seen by people and processed the question is what message am I giving off? In Belize we went to a local church and the pastor asked the congregation this, when was the last time someone told you they loved you, and when was the last time you told someone you loved them? When was the last time I told somebody I loved them? Sure I love my family and friends but how often do I let the people around me know how much I really cared? Before I became a Christian I thought nobody cared, I thought my life was going nowhere and then out of the blue I get invited to church and all these people shower me with love, that’s what the Gospel is all about and that is what we should be doing to those around us. Something I realized in Belize is I don’t have to travel the world to tell people God loves them, I can do it in my hometown. I can talk to the lonely person with few friends, I can help out the teammate who is having trouble, I can tell my parents how much I appreciate everything they do. So often I write about faith but you know what, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13 that out of faith, love, and hope love is the most important.

Road Trip

I said I would blog about my mission trip so here it is. This Saturday I will be taking a flight with a group from my church to Belize to work in Belize City with children for one week. We’ll do crafts, coloring, face painting, sports, and tell our testimonies with all the kids. To be honest I’m a little nervous I haven’t really been out of the country much and the mission trip I went on two years ago is the only one I’ve been on, but once again God throws something at me that I never thought I’d ever get a chance to do. While I’m nervous I am also excited, this is a great opportunity to travel and see more than just the United States and also an awesome chance to share the Gospel with kids and make a difference in their lives. I’m sure I’ll have fun and will write all about it once I get back, in Mississippi I learned a lot and I know going Belize will teach me more. Until then I pray God will keep us safe on our travels and give us an opening to spread His word Amen.

Quiz Time

A friend suggested I post some sporcle quizzes on the Bible on the blog so here are a few to try.
http://www.sporcle.com/games/bigpapi/biblebooksbypopularstory
http://www.sporcle.com/games/jdkell6589/bible_questions
http://www.sporcle.com/games/krazykoolbeth/color3
http://www.sporcle.com/games/soxfan1/Old_Testament_Whos_Who

Enjoy!

Can They Make It?

I wrote that the Red Sox still have a chance and here’s my reasoning. The Red Sox are currently and injured team, they have holes in the lineup that will be filled soon (hopefully). Even so, people are saying “Bridge Year” but the only reason people say that is because the Sox aren’t doing well and why aren’t they doing well? They are an injured team. What I’m saying is that they have a great team when healthy and they will be healthy from August to September and ready in October. Right now we are seeing a lineup of Scutaro, Macdonald, Ortiz, Youkilis, Beltre, Drew, Cameron, Hall, and Cash, imagine a lineup with Ellsbury, Pedroia, Ortiz, Martinez, Youkilis, Beltre, Drew, Cameron, Scutaro – sounds pretty good. Also everyone hates the pitching, well I did to but here’s the thing, Beckett was injured when he played and looking at last night’s performance seems on track, Lackey is turning things around and being the guy we paid for, Matsuzaka has been good, Buchholz and Lester have been aces and Wakefield is going back into the bullpen. The Sox are 7 games out of 1st place and 4 games out of the Wild Card; with a healthy team I won’t be surprised if they are playing baseball in October. If there were fewer injuries this year then the Sox probably would be right behind the Yankees, but the team is coming back and ready for the playoffs. One area that is a concern is the bullpen, the Red Sox currently have four good pitchers in their bullpen, the problem is two of them can only go one inning at a time, Wakefield may add some stability and long relief but if the Sox want to be a force in August and September and secure a playoff spot they need another relief pitcher, and one who is very good at that.

Where am I Going?

As I’ve been reading 1 Kings I’ve noticed a few things, one is how far from God the nation of Israel gets, and two how it all started from a few small problems. 1 Kings takes place after King David’s death and the start of Solomon’s reign. Currently I’m reading chapter 22, and things are not going well. After Solomon died there was a civil war that split the nation into two separate parts the northern Israel and southern Judah. Eventually the Assyrian’s capture Israel and sometime later the Babylonian’s capture Judah. The interesting thing though is this, all of Israel’s problems started out as small things. Idolatry started with the golden calf, David’s family problems are similar to Jacob and his twelve sons, what start as family disputes carry over from generation to generation and end up causing the ultimate ruin of an entire nation. I’ve been thinking about faith and how it has to be active, it has to grow, and what this shows me is that early decisions have a big impact later on, that the choices I make now will affect me in the future. I could go through the motions every day, read my Bible, pray, and try to be a good person, but if I am not going anywhere if I am stagnant then where will I end up? Meaning at the end of it all how will I have changed? On the other hand if I actively pursue God and make an effort to love and obey Him and care for those around me it will make a difference. Faith was never meant to be something that could be put on a shelf and dusted off, it should be worn and exercised daily so that it will have an impact. I used to think of every action as going to or away from God, but really it’s like taking a turn on a road and it all depends if the decisions I made brought me closer to God or farther away from Him.

Random Post

I apologize for the lack of posting, don’t worry I’m alive; I’ve been very busy lately and have much to say (as usual) a few quick notes though on upcoming events/posts. First I would like to say that I think (rather wishfully) that the Red Sox actually have a chance, I know it’s a bridge year but this team has too much talent and has been through too much to end its season in September. Also, I’ve been reading 2 Kings and have a few posts and my series-that-wasn’t on Psalm 119 to finish. Lastly in about 1 week I will be going to Belize with a group from my church, this blog started with a mission trip and it will end with one. Just Joking (I couldn’t help it). I am very excited for my trip it is a great opportunity to travel, spread the Gospel, and simply share the love and grace God has given me with others, I will write in detail about the trip both before I go and after I get back. It takes me back to when I first went to Mississippi two years ago, I didn’t know that I wanted to write, I didn’t know I could, and I absolutely didn’t think God would use me in such a cool way as this, I guess the trip was the start and this is just the beginning. I guess it shows that you don’t have to travel all the way across the world to make a difference in God’s eyes, very often you can do it right at home.