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.