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| It’s true i miss the good ole NFL. It was a good year, even though neither the Colts or the Bengals didn’t do what they needed to do. And the Super Bowl was simply incredible - i was rooting for the Arizona Cardinals all the way. I have had a man crush on Kurt Warner since 1998 when he was dealing with the St. Louis Rams. He came back with a vengeance this year...and i was happy for him. Even though he didn’t win, he resurrected a dead franchise. He has to be respected for that.
Then there was that Dead Period...that is the time when the only sports that are going on are the dregs of regular season NBA and NHL, and a little bit of mediocre college basketball...a virtual desert in the sports landscape. Then February comes around...and what is that Oasis in the distance?? That’s right...baseball. Thanks be to Yahweh for baseball. Now the World Baseball Classic is going on...and the year can start because baseballs are popping in leather gloves in the cool March air once again. | | |
| I was thinking about olives the other day. They are quite strange little things. What are they? A vegetable? A fruit? I really don’t know. And what really makes a fruit a fruit anyway? No one else I have talked to about it seems to know either. I want to figure it out with out looking it up. I have a suspicion, but I am not sure. I want to find someone who knows for sure. The search is still on…if any readers know, please share.
I don’t understand the term “Season’s Greetings.” What the heck does that mean? Can a season greet you? Should we offer people greetings on behalf of the season we are in? It makes absolutely no sense.
We think it is weird that dogs lick us. “Why are you always licking me?!” we say to the dogs. Well, I think dogs think it is weird that we don’t lick them back. I bet they think, “I keep licking him, why doesn’t he lick me back?” I bet it hurts their feelings. They just can’t understand. But they go on happily licking us anyway, despite not getting any licks back – that’s what makes dogs so great.
It is inexplicably hard when you have so much you want to say, things that you dream of saying, but you can’t – for whatever reason. That is the kind of thing that can drive you mad if you’re not careful. Maybe I’ll get the opportunity to say what I want to say someday, maybe I never will…, or maybe i should create the opportunity? – either way it builds patience, and patience builds character. And character is what is most important when everything is stripped away.
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| It's December, and the sun shines softly these days, when it shines at all. The leaves have all fallen like feathers, leaving the branches of the trees to fend for themselves for the winter. The first snows have drifted quietly down like a soft blanket, the school semester is finished - I can feel the year coming to an end.
Wilmore’s celebration of Christmas has come and gone. I went down, and met some good friends there and it was fun. But it still felt empty somehow. I tell my self that I am not sure why, but I think I really know.
Intentionality has been my goal this year - a life of urgency, and awareness that time is fleeting is what i have tried to keep at the forefront of my mind. It is ironic that this was going to be a theme of mine this year given that I just did a fairly in-depth study of the book of Ecclesiastes for one of my classes – which has everything to do with taking advantage of the time we have. I now have a great appreciation for Ecclesiastes.
After this year, I have a great appreciation for many things: family, loyalty, poetry, Scripture, Yahweh, love. This year these things have either been robbed of me or given to me, or both.
Here are some pretty great quotes:
“It's a shallow life that doesn't give a person a few scars.” - Garrison Keillor
“You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.” Winston Churchill
“Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill
“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” Winston Churchill
“When words are scarce they are seldom spent in vain” William Shakespeare
“We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” George Bernard Shaw
“A gentleman is one who puts more into the world than he takes out.” George Bernard Shaw
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| the moon was brilliant tonite - here in the heart of Kentucky. i was driving home and its light was there, peering in my car window like an old, gentle, familiar friend - whose mere presence brings comfort. I believe God is in the light of the moon. I believe he uses the sweet
beams from it to minister His peace and comfort. God certainly is a
strong Abba, but he also acts as a nurturing mother. That's the beauty of God, and the Trinity, and all of that.
It's good that there is a sun and a moon. It seems to me like the sun and the moon are the celestial parents to the planet earth. They both take care of the inhabitants of earth and give us what we need - and the moon is the Mother. For the light of the moon is a nurturing light, it's a gentle light that brings with it peace and quiet and hope. There is nothing like the soft hug of a loving Mother. So too, there is something about the peaceful reassurance of the light of the moon that makes you sense that things will be alright. There is something about the light of the moon that mends your wounds from the battles of the day. There is something sweet about the light of the night...
I went on a late night bike ride tonite to soak it up - and i felt it there, and i was glad. I was glad for the matron light of the moon tonight. The light of the moon was my Mother this night. God was my Mother this night.
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| Autumn is here again. It seems as if it won't be as colorful a Kentucky Autumn as usual...but that is just fine. Either way, as Blake said, may it "pass not, but sit beneath my shady roof...and tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe...and sing now the lusty song of fruits and flowers."
There is a lot to be said about fingerprints and photographs - they seem simple, but contain ever so slight and intricate differences that only the careful observer notices. Like leaves and snowflakes, or flower petals, or hummingbird's wings. These are things i appreciate.
I love the subtleties of life. Small glances and quiet jokes, the color of eyes and the intricacies of half smiles. I love underlying hints that only someone else can pick up on because they know you so well. I love connections with people that you really can't explain, but are there anyway. I love the game where you try and get the other person to laugh first.
If there is one thing i have learned over this year is that life is as unpredictable as the western wind. It never goes how you want it - the question is how do i handle it when it throws me a curveball? I am learning to sit back on my haunches and wait for it. I still tend to get thrown off though.
I love the word haunches. I love vocabulary in general.
I got my hair cut today - by a different girl that typically does it. She said she wasn't yet 30, but i think she was close. Her birthday is in December, and she doesn't have plans yet, but she will. She seemed like she was smart. Not book smart necessarily, but clever, slow to speak but sure of what she says. She was nice. There was a heaviness in her eyes, like she had been through a long ordeal. I am wondering what that was all about tonite. She's in my prayers. Along with my dear missionary friends, family, other friends, etc.
Here's to sitting back and waiting for the curve ball to finally break...
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