byron's greatest win

this is how the article about byron nelson ended at pga.com:

To put it in match play parlance, Byron Nelson believed his sin put him 1-down, the blood of Christ made him all square, and that someday, because of the Resurrection, he would even 1-up death. Game over. Nelson wins again.

did you know that byron attended richland hills c.o.c.? i didn't. i visited rhcoc many times while i lived in arlington, but didn't know that he went there.

i am starting to like grant's articles. a few weeks ago he wrote a nice piece about d. clarke, and the passing of his wife. he is a gracious writer.

favorite lines in songs

a very dear friend added this to her e-mail:

Ryan mentioned how he wished we could all stand in a circle and share our favorite lines from our favorite hymns.. I know mine!

My sin...
oh! the bliss of this glorious thought..
My sin, not in part, but the whole is nailed to the cross
and I bear it no more!
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, oh my soul!

If you'd like to share yours.. I'd be glad to pass it along. It could be fun to do a kind of email circle and put together everyone's favorite lines.

here is what i wrote back:

this one immediately came to mind:

Love one another, for love is of God
He who loves is born of God and knows God.
He who does not love does not know God,
For God is love, God is love.

or this, greg could do it justice:

It is no secret what God can do.
What He's done for others, He'll do for you.
With arms wide open, He'll pardon you,
It is no secret what God can do.

or there is this one that i have never been able to get through without my eyes leaking:

He joins us here, He breaks the bread.
The Lord who pours the cup is risen from the dead.
The One we love the most is now our gracious host.
Come take the bread, come drink the wine, come share the Lord.

greg is another dear friend, and he is related to elvis somewhere down the line, and he does a great job on some songs that elvis is known for doing.

what are some lines of songs you like?

and now its over

From Sid Bream to Andres Galarraga to Adam LaRoche, from Lonnie Smith to Gary Sheffield to Jeff Francoeur, from Steve Avery to Greg Maddux to Tim Hudson, the Braves always found a way to finish on top at the end of the regular season. They were the team that had the dash beside its name when the final standings were posted. Leave the numbers -- as in games behind -- to the other guys.

And now it's over.

The Braves won't finish first this season. That's been a given for several months now, ever since they went 6-21 in June while the Mets were pulling away in the NL East. It only took this long to officially bury The Streak. Atlanta was mathematically eliminated from the division race Tuesday night when New York beat Florida.

the preceding is excerpt from yahoo sports. this is a sad time for me. the braves are out of the post season, and i lost last week in the opening weekend of fantasy football by 1 point. now i have to play jd this week. can it get any worse?

and then depression set in

that is one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite comedies; stripes.

i am depressed because the braves have not even made it close in trying to win the nl east. they are 20.5 games back. that is sad.

i never thought it would get this far

i never thought that i would get over 5,000 hits/visits to this blog. does anybody remember what my first post was about, and what the name of my blog was then? well, here's a hint.

why did i change the name? i thought that the new name was cool and i had heard it in a sermon, and i thought it really worked for what i was trying to share.

God is love. i'm sure you have heard that. who will win in the end? God. so the name of my blog is a reaffirmation of what is going to being the end result. GOD WINS!

i have also shared some weird times, and hard times. there have been some really rough times. katrina comes to mind. heard of her? she really made a name for herself, huh?

thanks for stopping by. leave a comment if you don't mind.

we got him!

great news!

joey and callie have accepted the offer that the shepherds gave them! joey will be the new youth minister here at port city! that is so cool!

can you tell i am excited? he is from new orleans, and callie is austin. another good one from texas!

we finished

jerre and i finished our class on tony evans' book 'free at last' this past week. i was tired, and i wish jerre actually did the last class, but his time has been taken by a more important job; supporting his wife during the health problems of her parents. i love jerre and his huge heart! jerre is one of the reasons that i am still at port city. he is such a supportive man! he has a way in his classes that makes you feel that you are the only reason for him to be there, and he is there to tell what he learned this past week and he wants to talk to you about it.

port city is an awesome church, but there are things, IMO, that could be done differently. the truth about God and His Son are always proclaimed there, and their need and importance are taught there. i think, IMO, that the congregation could be more ... i don't know ... enthusiastic?.?. (that's not really what i mean, but i can't think of a better adjective) i wish that our prayer for the Holy Spirit to just engulf and penetrate our lives and our worship has not been realized and we have not allowed Him to work in our lives totally. ya' know?

we are in a transitional period right now. we are interviewing and having prospective youth minister candidates come and try out for the spot on our team, since the departure of chris, when he left to take the pulpit of a church in hotlanta. this past weekend we had joey and callie come and see us.

the weekend started off with a dinner on friday night at a member of the search committee's house. we met joey and callie face to face after hearing about them through correspondence.

then they attended a get-together with the youth group and some parents at the house of another member of the search committee on saturday. their house is on the water, and there was skiing, swimming, and laughing and an all around good time. however, i was sweating some pounds off while running around and reffing five soccer matches in pace, fl.

after the those festivities, joey taught the teen class on sunday morning, of which i did not hear one bad comment. our teen class is usually between 6 and 20. nothing firm on any given sunday, mind you. however, this sunday there were 26! it was SRO in that room. i'm glad the fire marshal was not around!

then the whole congregation got to hear him preach. his sermon was very interesting. he talked about the comparison of superman to the original Superhero, Jesus. that was cool! i will share more about the sermon if you want. just ask about it in the comments. it was so good that, no offense is intended here, even some of the grey hairs said, "don't let him get away. we need to hire him. that was good!" i have been to places where the older members just do not care for the younger generation's views of culture and our walk.

then we happened to visit the same life group in the evening that he was visiting. i bet he thought we were following him. we visited the life group because our group was not meeting since the leaders were the ones who hosted the teens the day before. it was a great time sharing and learning.

well, that was the weekend. i will post later about the fun in pace and reffing.

favorites

i have seen and read of people being tagged out here in blognation, but let's go this way. i am going to create an interactive questionaire. listed below are questions to find out what or who is your favorite "?". answer the questions in the comments section please.

who or what is your favorite ...

... color?

... ice cream flavor, and topping?

... sport?

... bible verse? why (if you want to share)?

... season?

... day of the year?

... bible character?

... celebrity?

... vacation spot you have been to, or would like to go to?

... car?

... genre of music? ... group?

... childhood friend?

... childhood toy/game?

... mac or pc?

... website?

... soda?

this is just a few to get the ball rolling. please don't feel like you have to share family secrets, or personal info. thanks for stopping by.

I'VE BEEN TAGGED!

i have been tagged by my good friend JD. i'm kinda glad he did, because i haven't updated my blog in awhile. this is a great excuse to do so:

1. One book that changed your life:
romans, paul

2. One book that you've read more than once:
the firm, john grisham

3. One book you'd want on a desert island:
a very, very thick one for more than one reason.
the hunt for red october, tom clancy

4. One book that made you laugh:
velvet elvis, rob bell

5. One book that made you cry:
i don't think that i have cried during a read. i may be wrong, but i can't remember.

6. One book you wish had been written:
things you wish you knew when you were a teen, A. Smart Alick

7. One book you wish had never been written:
the great gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

8. One book you're currently reading:
narnia, C. S. Lewis

9. One book you've been meaning to read:
Seeking a Lasting City: The Church's Journey in the Story of God, Doug Foster, Randy Harris, and Mark Love

10. Tag five others:
chris lockhart
greg foster
donna
danny sims
brandon scott thomas

i'm a ussf referee!

to the right you will see the patch of a united states soccer federation referee. mine looks like it, but the only difference is that the year is on the bottom of the patch to signify the year of which my qualification expires. that year will be 2007.

i am very excited about getting to referee the soccer games here in the united states. i am qualified to ref in any state that the ussf refs in. i don't know of any that don't have refs, but i am only qualified to ref in the united states. make sense? weird, huh?

the class was two days long and very intense. there is more to reffing than just making a call and getting yelled at. you know refs always make a bad call, at least in the eye of the team the call is made against.

well, before i get to do the center ref job i will be doing the lines as an assistant referee for quite awhile until i get some experience under my belt, and wouldn't you know it. the week that i would get to start, i have to go out of town for a week on business! that bums! oh well! there will be games when i get back, but the other new refs will have a few games on me, but i will be there when i can.

guess what movies these lines are from

what are the movies these lines are from:

1. "we'll take the lot."

2. "hello! my name is inigo montoya! you kill' my father! prepare to die!"

3. "yee-haw! jester's dead!"

4. "good sabbath, mottel."

5. "you know how to dance?" "i should. i took a lesson every day of my life until 2 days ago."(?)(maybe a paraphrased line, sorry. but a good movie.)

this is a good start. add some of your own memorable lines.

favorite movies and lines from them

here is my list:

princess bride "i don't think that word means what you think it means.", "i am not left handed.", "stop rhyming. i mean it!" "anybody want a peanut?"





fiddler on the roof "you could die from such a man!", about wealth: "may You smite me with it, and may i never recover!"






a few good men "are we clear! ... are we clear!" "crystal."








the hunt for red october "submarines don't react well to bullets."







o brother, where art thou? "i'm for your's truly." "well i'm for your's truly" "well, i'm with you fellas."







tron "do you think we can merge with this memory bit?" "no."








shawshank redemption "i need a rock hammer.", "do you trust your wife?"







vision quest "i like men's hands."









the breakfast club "you mess with the bull. you get the horns.", "i'm not that prestine!"







ferris bueller's day off "hey, battah, battah ... suh-wing battah!"







top gun "i have a need." "a need for speed!", "i'm gonna take a shower. do you mind?" "yes! i mind! i'm hungry!", "goose, take me to bed or loose me forever!" "show me the way, honey!"




gone with the wind "you need kissing ... and real bad.", "it ain't fittin'! it just ain't fittin'! humph."







so what are some of your favorite movies, and lines from those movies?

things we really need to pray

i was reading a devo sent to me by my lovely bride, and it had a prayer of sorts in it. i want to share it with you, but i am going to give it to you in two parts, and not in the order that it came in the devo. i am going to give you what i think is the "real" part of the prayer first and then i will give the first part. let me know if this fits you, too:

And thank You for the things I don't want: the track marks on the carpet that remind me of loved ones who live here, the never-ending laundry that reminds me how you have provided for my family, the high power bill that reminds me I have a warm home, the taxes that need to be filed because it means we have income, and my exhaustion at the end of the day because it means I am alive and well. Please give me a contentment that is separate from my circumstances and my stuff. Please give me a want for what I have.

here is the first part:

Lord, thank you for the gifts you have given me: my family, my friendships, my church, my ministry, my home, my health, my time. Thank you for the opportunity to serve with You; the honor of serving You. I am grateful for the favor of your grace, the freedom of your forgiveness, the unconditional love and acceptance that I long for and the promise of your presence. Give me a "want" for the things of God.

does this sound like the real you, or does it sound like the you that you want to be, or is it not even in the ballpark?

i must be crazy

i say that i must be crazy because i have signed up to be a willing subject of horrible name calling, and my faculties are going to be questioned, and i am doing this willingly. however, i am going to be paid for it, so that will bring some consulation.

do you go to sporting events? who gets yelled at most? who gets questioned all the time no matter what they say? the officiating person, right? well, i will be attending a class to become a certified soocer referee in a couple of weeks. what am i thinking? i must be nuts, right?

well, i love the game, and i have done my share of yelling and questioning of refs in the past while attending my daughter's games, and i have always said to myself, "i could do a much better job than what they are doing." so i will be going to learn how to become blind, and unsmart. i won't have to work very hard at that last one.

so, pray for me to absorb and put into use the knowledge that i will be gleening.

do you have a favorite sport that you like to watch? have you ever been a ref, ump, or someone who makes the call before? what was your experience, if you did?

a prayer

Our Father, Who dwells in infinite light, above everything, we proclaim You as Holy, and we pray now that You will reign here in every human’s heart, even as You reign over the heavens.

We pray that You will give us what we need to survive today, and we’ll count on You to do that again tomorrow.

We pray that You will forgive us for all the ways that we fail to be Your children, even as we compassionately forgive those around us.

We pray that You will not lead us in over our head, but, by Your power, will deliver us from the one in control of this world.

So that in the fullness of time You should crush him, and every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess You, Who is now Lord, as Lord. In Whose name we pray.

Amen.

wouldn't it be nice if you were taught to pray like this?

Baptism: The Place Where God Acts

i thought this was so good i wanted to share it with you.

Baptism: The Place Where God Acts

(Good News from Lipscomb University, Vol. 1, No. 2 October 1998, p. 2)

Few doctrines have elicited as much debate and emotion through the centuries as baptism. Ironically, baptism was meant to be a mark of unity among believers (Ephesians 4). How sad that what God intended to be a beautiful symbol of one's participation in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Romans 6:3,4) has often been neglected altogether or - at the other extreme - emphasized as a work that we do to merit salvation.

Let me point out two concepts which must be emphasized to have an adequate doctrine of baptism.

First, baptism is part of the faith response to God's saving work in Christ. Consider Ephesians 2: 8, 9: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast.

When some brethren respond, “but faith is not enough," they miss the point and role of baptism. This response positions baptism as some kind of "work" and fuels the arguments of its critics. Baptism is not a work of righteousness which we do; it is the God-ordained faith response to His grace- Titus 3:5 makes this point very' clear: He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.

He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. Baptism obviously is part of the faith response God mandates for accepting the mercy He offers on the cross of Jesus.

It is a mistake to let a human define faith and its response. Much of Christendom has defined “faith” as “belief.” While belief is the core of faith, God has defined the way that belief is culminated or enacted. Consider the faith response God demanded at the wall of Jericho (Joshua 6), or when the Israelites were being bitten by poisonous snakes (Numbers 21) or when Naaman approached Elisha about the cleansing of his leprosy (II Kings 5). In each case, God dictated the faith response to release His power. In each case, the response was simple and powerless in and of itself. In each case, God demonstrated great power.

Likewise, baptism is part of the faith response God desires for accepting salvation. It is critical enough to be tied to the forgiveness of sin (cf. Acts 2:38; Acts 22:16). Because it is God's decree, it is not optional.

As beautifully stated by one writer, “Baptism is the initial and immediate step of obedience by one who has declared his faith to others. So important was this step that, as far as we know, every single convert in the New Testament was baptized.”

Second - and most important - is that baptism is where God acts. Far too frequently the focus is on what the convert is doing rather than on what God is doing. Baptism is not portrayed in scripture as a work one does. Rather, baptism is something done to the subject, not by the subject. Thus, the focus of a baptismal scene is not what the subject does but what the passive subject has done to him or her by God. Baptism is not self-administered. The human being's role is to present himself or herself as available to God's action. Thus it might be more profitable to think of baptism as the place where something happens rather than as a work one does,

Baptism is so often thought of as a work that those who affirm its crucial role in God's saving work are accused of believing in "water salvation" or "works righteousness." Perhaps thinking of baptism as the place of God's action rather than focusing on the means would help. There is no question about the importance of the place of God's action throughout scripture.

The water of baptism no more washes away sin than the River Jordan cures leprosy or the pool cures lameness. God is always the active agent, and the human being merely places himself or herself at God's behest.

In summary, baptism is both the human being's response of faith and the place where God acts-where He cleanses our sin and gives us the Holy Spirit. To emphasize God's action without the response would lead to justifying infant baptism (in which there is no free response on the part of the one baptized). To emphasize the response without God's action in the present leads to seeing baptism as a mere sign of something that has happened in the past. Both miss the mark.

Baptism is the unique moment where humble, obedient faith yields itself to the cleansing and empowering grace of God. It is not meant to be a focal point of debate, but the focal point of celebration as one is "clothed with Christ" (Galatians 3:27).

--Randall J. Harris, Instructor in Bible (Harris is now on the Bible faculty of Abilene Christian University)

free concert

a couple of days ago port city hosted new reign for a free concert. it was cool to have them here and give us a fresh look at what is going on in the college arena. i have a friend that goes to ocu (oklahoma christian university), and he, jeremy williams, knows caleb. its a small world, isn't it? speaking of small worlds, i have an awesome story to share later, but for now we will stick to the story about new reign.

we had visitors from pascagula's central coc (thanks for coming jd), and inner city coc. the total for all who came was near 100 or so.

please click on the link to their site and listen to their stuff, its good! we had a great time singing praise, praying, and fellowshipping!

do you know this guy?

have you seen this guy in public, or at a conference lately? some think he is like a church of Christ monk, because you can almost always find him wearing black. his name is randy harris, (no relation, but he has a great last name) and he is a professor at abilene christian university. he also teaches classes with mike cope at times there at highland church of Christ in abilene itself.

well, i am trying to get our shepherds to allow him to come and speak at port city. i don't know what subject to ask him to talk about, but everything i have heard him speak on was great. randy has a knack of making things sound logical to me. he also gets you to think of things in a different way than you had thought of them before he started.

i have quoted him on this blog before. i have really enjoyed what i have heard, and i have tried to apply it to my own life, as well.

song leading to communion

have you ever heard this song?

Broken Things
Ken Young

Verse 1
My father's father worked this land
For many years I took my stand
But the plow is heavy and I can't hold on
To the legacy of the farmer's song
I'll remember the days
With the sun on the land
Wiping sweat from my brow
With a rough calloused hand
And the smell of the ground
Freshly broken and clean
Made by the one who still gives
Broken hearts new dreams

Chorus 1
O Lord who uses broken things
Who through broken clouds
Gives us sweet sweet rain
Who gives us bread from broken grain
O Lord make me stronger through broken things

Verse 2
Give me what I need not what I demand
Send me heaven filled hopes Not earth made plans
But the plow is so heavy and I can't hold on
O Father who cares fill my heart with this song

Chorus 1
O Lord who uses broken things
Who through broken clouds
Gives us sweet sweet rain
Who gives us bread from broken grain
O Lord make me stronger through broken things

Chorus 1
O Lord who uses broken things
Who through broken clouds
Gives us sweet sweet rain
Who gives us bread from broken grain
O Lord make me stronger through broken things

i plan to use it as a segue into the communion service i will be leading in a couple of weeks. do you think it fits? i chose it because of the comparison of how Christ was broken for us to give us the chance of being with Him and His Father one day.

the inevitable

(click on the image above to go to a more readable image)

so this is what happens when you don't keep up with your blog. this is what happens when all you do is read other people's blogs. sorry folks. i hope to do better like chris always pledged, but i hope to really mean it. i love you my brother!