Why I volunteer with KidVenture

In an effort to recruit volunteers, I was asked to write a testimonial on why I volunteer with our children's ministry at my church.  Since I haven't updated my blog since July, here's my attempt to recharge my blogging activity.

This year marks my 3rd year teaching/leading a small group in KidVenture.  When KV launched in 2010, I was going through Downline ministries institute which instilled in me core Biblical principles on discipleship.  Through Downline, I was being equipped to make disciples in my home, church and community, and I also discovered that I had the spiritual gift of teaching.  KidVenture offers me the opportunity to exercise this spiritual gift with children who are at an age where they are anxious to learn and with hearts that are open to love the Lord.  

The time commitment is minimal -- I teach every other week and this enables me to still be involved in my own Sunday school class while not miss out on worshipping with my family each Sunday.  The greatest benefit I get from teaching in KidVenture is that it gives me a model for leading discipleship in my home with my 2 daughters.  

I encourage anyone, especially those with children, to invest in the lives of the children at CUMC.  The following verse from Paul to Timothy is on a baton I received at the completion of the Downline program and it sits on my desk to serve as a continual reminder of the eternal importance of teaching, disciple-making, and passing on God's Word to the next generation. 

"And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will be qualified to teach others."  -- 2 Timothy 2:2

Parenting in perspective

When I began this blog last December I remember one of the motivations of doing so was to help me focus on and dive deeper into what I was reading in my quiet time and the thoughts/concerns I was praying about -- in short, put words into these thoughts I was having at the time.  I had been journaling off and on, particularly when I came across scriptures that spoke to me, or when I wanted to jot down a key point from a sermon or bible study lesson, or just record a memorable moment experienced with the girls.  I enjoy times of reflection, and consistency is in my DNA, so my early morning quiet times have become a sacred part of my daily life.   When I miss them, or more often, when I am rushed or my mind begins to wander to the plans of the day, I easily lose focus of what God may be trying to teach me through His Word or the circumstances I'm going through.  Yesterday I had one of those moments when you realize that time is just flying by -- half the summer is over and it seems like yesterday was the end of May and the girls were just getting out of school.  And to a lesser extent, I realized I hadn't blogged in 2 months.  There's a correlation here.  Indeed we have been busy this summer.  So here goes...just some quick thoughts on something I've been thinking about a lot lately:  parenting.

I've been reading through the Old Testament this year, and I'm currently in the book of 1st Kings.  The Kingdom has just split as God's patience with Israel has nearly reached its end.  The OT is filled with stories of Israel's continued disobedience toward God.  God was the perfect parent and Israel still wandered.  When I think of my role as a parent, I am reminded to look to God when I lose patience with my girls; acknowledge that I'm not perfect and just strive to extend mercy and grace like my heavenly Father.  With Cindy being out of town for work last week and this week, I've been forced into a more active role in this regard.  Of course when she's around I have the luxury of falling back into the common football analogy -- where we play zone coverage, and more often than not, Cindy does the heavy lifting much of the time as the "go-to-Mommy"  Today was full-on man-to-man coverage for me as the enemy is bearing down on Taylor.  With her right arm currently in a cast, she's been fighting a fever off an on and was diagnosed yesterday with an ear infection -- and last night's mysterious middle-of-night ankle pain episode led to a midday sick call from camp.  I was prepared for this and left work early to get her and Nicole, but I was not prepared for the dinnertime theatrics that ensued tonight.  As much as I tried to smooth things over, there was no winning this battle.  I think it was lost when Cindy left town yesterday -- they miss their mom.  I pray this week for a little extra dose of patience and wisdom in parenting as I man up to be the father God intends for me to be for His children, Taylor and Nicole.

Summer 2012!

Summer is my favorite time of year.  Baseball is in full swing; homegrown tomatoes and juicy watermelon; longer days and weekend evenings relaxin' and grillin' on the patio after day of yard work.  And of course, the much anticipated summer vacation trip to the beach.  This year we made 2 trips - first to Dallas over Memorial Day weekend to celebrate my parents 50th anniversary, then we made our annual trip to Perdido Key, FL for the week of July 4th.

This was the 6th year in a row we have been, and we are so grateful to Barbara and Jim (Cindy's sister and my brother-in-law) for allowing us to stay at their beautiful condo (Indigo) facing the beach.  The first year we visited, in 2007, the girls were 2 and 4 yrs old - now, they are 7 and 9, and for the first time they really enjoyed getting in the ocean.  It's always been more about the pool and just enjoying the condo and fun restaurants, and to a lesser extent, playing in the sand the past few years (the first couple of years they didn't even like walking on the sand!)  We all look forward to our family beach trip and I'm thankful for the memories we are making.

Every year I have made a slideshow (love doing this on the mac!), and this morning while I was running I had the thought -- how can I share this with my parents who are currently half-way across the world in Russia on a cruise to celebrate their actual anniversary date (7/12)?  Upload it to youtube!  As much as I love youtube, I have never attempted to upload a video.  After figuring out how simple it was, I posted it to facebook, but later discovered that my video could not be viewed on mobile devices as it contained music on it that was copyrighted.  I even received an email from youtube acknowledging this fact; however, there was no syndication issue with allowing the music to remain on the video for regular (non-mobile) youtube viewing.  So, here it is.

Summer 2012!


And now I think I'll upload my previous year's slideshows.  Enjoy your summer!

"See You Sunday" to Gone Fishin'

In the closing minutes of Game 5 of the Grizzlies-Clippers game last Wed night the crowd began a new chant - not the familiar "Beat LA", rather one that was indistinguishable on TV.  A quick twitter check revealed it was "See You Sunday", a confident belief from the 18,000+ in the FedExForum that the Griz would finish this series in Game 7 at home after being down 3-1 and become just the 9th team in NBA history to overcome such deficit.

After winning Game 6 in LA and reading TJ Simers convincing column in the LA Times that the Clippers were dead, I was certain the Grizzlies would close out the series.  I made it downtown after church around 11a on Sunday and wondered to myself if Beale St. has ever been this alive on a Sunday AM.  This was to be the "Mother of all games" as Geoff Calkins penned in his CA front page column on this Mother's Day.  Unfortunately we know how it ended.  The Griz shot only 32.5% (I believe it was the 2nd worst shooting percentage all season), and Lionel experimented with some questionable lineups in the 2nd half, yet the Grizzlies held a 1 point lead heading into the 4th qtr.  The crowd remained loud and hopeful, ready and waiting for the team to pull further ahead, but the Clips began to build a lead about mid-way thru the qtr.  With about 4 minutes to go, down by 8, the crowd rose in unison and held up their Believe Memphis towels...it was an awesome sight and a great memory in the making.

But it was not to be on this day.  No "Make Your Own Luck" from Rudy Gay this time around.  As I exited the eerily quiet Forum, I remembered how I felt much worse after Game 1 (losing the 27 pt lead and losing by 1 pt at the buzzer) than after this game, which the Grizzlies didn't deserve to win.

So, it's time to turn my attention back to baseball...it's funny I had the same feeling last year, albeit it was a longer playoff run, but I got so wrapped up in the NBA that I feel I've missed out on the past several weeks of the baseball season.  That will be a welcome recovery from this playoff loss disappointment.  

Believe Memphis

Love this picture of Tony Allen 

Really looking forward to the NBA playoffs getting underway and what better way to gear up for the playoffs than a game like last night's which featured 8 steals for Tony Allen...7 of his 8 steals are on display in this video below:
And below it, the fake pass is classic TA:

With the Clippers loss tonight, Memphis is now locked into a #4-#5 matchup with the Clippers with home court to be determined the next 2 nights - if the Knicks can beat Clippers tomorrow night, the Grizzlies can lock up home court advantage with a win at home Thurs vs. Orlando.   Home court would be huge considering the Grizzlies are riding a 10 game home winning streak.  But, even if the Grizzlies have to open on the road this weekend, I still like our chances...who can forget last year's Game 1 steals on the road in San Antonio and in Ok City.

Marlins Park

Back in September when the 2012 MLB schedule was released I was thrilled to see the Astros would be playing the first ever weekend series at Marlins Park on April 13-15^th.  With no new parks opening last year, I was really looking forward to booking my 2012 baseball trip and returning to South Florida after my first Marlins baseball trip 8 years ago (2004) to what was then called Pro Player Stadium.  The Marlins were the defending World Champs, but you wouldn’t know it from the small crowds in their aging, spacious football stadium…didn’t really bother me as you could score cheap tickets and sit wherever you like as I did, but the atmosphere and overall baseball experience was lacking as the “stadium” ranked near the bottom of any ballpark chaser’s rankings of ballparks.

Marlins Park is #41 on my list of ballparks attended, and it gets me back on track in attending games at all 30 active MLB ballparks.  Marlins Park is the 6^th MLB ballpark to have a retractable roof, and in listening to the Marlins broadcast yesterday, the announcers expect the roof to be closed for much of the season as the team is primarily seeking to provide “comfort” to their fans after 19 years of battling the heat and frequent rain delays. 

First impressions:  from the outside, the ballpark is an impressive sight – it looks really huge, all white domed structure, as it sits on the former site of the historic Orange Bowl.  As a nice tribute, on the outer plaza there are huge orange letters which appear to have been taken from the original stadium and are scattered around in the ground like statues -- depending on your vantage point, the letters could spell out Orange or Game.  Located in Little Havana, it’s a bit too far to walk to from downtown, and the surrounding neighborhood isn’t desirable.  Traffic, parking and lack of public transit to ballpark seem to be a problem, and I spent most of my money on cabs this weekend.   

And from the moment you walk in the ballpark, there’s a lot to see that catches your eye:  the view of the downtown skyline through the tall glass panels beyond left field, the large unnamed “HR sculpture” in left center, giant scoreboard and large HD screen above center field, and the lime green outfield walls stick out the most.  The roof was closed on Friday night as it had been raining; however, it was open on Saturday night and the vibe within the ballpark was so much better with the roof open.  It’s a shame they plan to keep it closed more often than not, especially when you consider it only take 13-15 minutes to open and close the roof.  I was looking forward to watching the Sunday matinee under the sun in the pleasant low 80 degree temps but was disappointed to discover the roof closed.

One of the most unique features of the ballpark is the bobblehead museum.  It features over 700 baseball bobbleheads in a glass display case; the players are grouped together by team, so it’s easy to locate your favorite team/players.  There were about 25 Astros including Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Jose Cruz, and of course Biggio and Bagwell.

Another unique feature is the two aquariums (450 gallons each) behind home plate.  The only problem with these is that they are not very noticeable in the park (they look good on TV and if you are lucky enough to seat those premium sets!)  Another distinguishable feature is The Clevelander bar/club in the outfield next to the bullpen.  It includes a swimming pool, dancers (some adorned in Vegas-style costumes others covered in body paint) and open bench seating and barstools on the field level behind a chain link fence in LF.  The music is loud and the drinks are flowing throughout the game and into the night with the feeling of being in South Beach.

The ballpark’s signature HR sculpture symbolizes the beaches of South Florida along with the tropical colors of Miami.  When activated by a Marlins homer, the sculpture illuminates and water fountains go off as the marlin leaps in the air.  It wasn’t until Sunday (4^th home game of season) before Omar Infante drove a ball out of the park and the expected celebration was pretty cool, but not spectacular.  As for HR celebrations, nothing beats the old Astrodome scoreboard.  Astrodome HR celebration (scroll to :40 second mark) Nonetheless, this Marlins celebration will surely become a highlight and much anticipated moment during games for the fans.  

One thing that was surprisingly missing from the ballpark was any evidence of the Marlins 2 World Series pennants ('97 and '03).  I was looking for any sign of history, and it wasn't until Saturday with the roof open and breeze coming through that I did notice 2 small flags hanging from the rear scoreboard, behind the LF foul pole which signified their championships.  On the days the roof was closed they were not visible at all.  Another disappointing sight was the number of empty seats for this series.  The Marlins didn't price/sell their premium seats effectively as there were large pockets of empty seats in scattered sections throughout the park.  The park has a cozy feel to it and only seats 37,000, and the majority of these seats are close to the field (the upper section was not very large, and there was not a lot of wasted space in the park); I like this aspect of the park.

As for the series, Astros LF JD Martinez had quite the homecoming.  A Miami native, he hit the first HR in Marlins Park history on Friday night and drove in several runs in the series.  The Marlins took the series 2 games to 1, but interestingly the final score in each game was 5-4 and each game was tied 4-4 at one point in the 9th inning with both Marlins wins coming in 11 innings.  Great series, and I nearly came away with a foul ball.  My seats on Fri and Sat night were down the LF line, really close to the field, in what I would call "Bartman seats" as I could easily reach over the field of play and possibly interfere with a player on a ball hit in foul territory.  The first batter on Friday night drove a deep liner toward my section; as fans were scattering I reached out my palm to try to barehand it, unfortunately it bounced off and another fan secured it.  In all my years of going to baseball games I have yet to catch a foul ball; however, I do have quite a collection of balls caught during BP.   

Nolan Ryan

Clemens and Cruz

Aquariums

Clevelander

Clevelander

View from Clevelander

Dancers in Clevelander

Billy Marlin

Orange Bowl letters

Miami skyline

Biggio and Bagwell

Mike Scott and Jose Valverde

skyline 

WS Pennants

Scoreboard

View from my seats

Getting dressed with paint

Marlins broadcast 

View from Sunday's seats 

HR sculpture going off

I enjoyed my visit to Marlins Park and look forward to returning one day, and I would definitely recommend scheduling a visit in April with the chance you might get an open roof game before the summer heat sets in. 

Opening Night!

The countdown has ended and baseball is finally here, stateside I should say, after last week's uneventful Opening Series in Japan.  The Marlins open their new ballpark tonight vs. the Cardinals as the lone game on the schedule tonight on ESPN for all to see.  I'm looking forward to visiting Marlins Park in just 9 short days as the Marlins will hit the road after tonight's game and then return to welcome my beloved Astros for the first weekend series in their ballpark on 4/13-15.  I'm excited to get back on the road to visiting ballparks after missing out last year on my annual summer baseball trip(s).  (Settling into a new job with limited vacation time was my excuse, but I hope to make up for it this summer! And besides, there wasn't a new ballpark to visit last year.) 

My feat of visiting all MLB ballparks pales in comparison to what fellow ballpark chaser Chuch Booth is attmpting to do this year.  Already the world record holder of attending a ballgame in all 30 ballparks in 24 days, Chuck will be attempting to visit all 30 in 20 days this year.  His quest gets underway this week and you can follow his journey at The Fastest 30 ballgames  His schedule includes doubleheaders the first 5 days of trip, but as you can see from his schedule he has built in some contingencies if weather or travel delays bog him down.  Good luck Chuck, I'll be rooting you on!

Lastly, it's time to go on record with some predictions for the season.  My only hope for the Astros is improvement on last year with the promise of development for some of these youngsters as they gear up for the move to the AL West next year.  A good return of prospects for Wandy Rodriguez, and hopefully a taker for Carlos Lee, at the trade deadline would be nice too.  In looking at the expert predictions on ESPN.com, the Angels are the overwhelming favorite to win the WS with 18 (37%) of their 49 analysts picking them, followed by 7 for the Rangers and Rays, and 6 for the Tigers.  I like the Angels, Tigers, Rays to win their division with the Yankees and Rangers as WCs.  In the NL I like the Giants, Phillies, Brewers as divsion winners and Marlins and Nationals as the WCs.  And I'll go with the Phillies over the Angels in the WS.  Now, let's Play Ball!