On eBay I found someone selling an autographed postcard with a picture of Joe DiMaggio on it. In the item description it says: “Signature appears to be newer than postcard.”
I would hope so. But if Joltin’ Joe somehow managed to sign a postcard before it was made, that’s a pretty cool trick.
Can you say, “suspected forgery”?
We kicked off the new series “Play Ball!” yesterday at CrossWay. This is a triplecord series that we’re doing together with the Gathering Tree, SonRise, and the Ocean City Worship Center.
The first part in this four-week series, which we did yesterday, is “Put Me In, Coach.” We looked at how a typical baseball game has some people in the bleachers, other people on the bench, and still others in the ballgame. The church is very similar: There are some who just come and sit and watch. They might cheer on the team but they have no role in helping the team succeed. There are others who wear the uniform and work out with the team and come to every game, but never jump into the action. And then there are those who have responded to God’s call to be in the starting lineup on His team. God’s desire is for everyone to be in His starting lineup! Those who are in the ballgame are active in helping God’s team to win, to achieve our mission. Our mission? To make lifelong followers of Jesus Christ throughout our community and around the world!
Just as a baseball team needs different people doing their part in different positions, so it is with the church. Ephesians 4, 1 Corinthians 12, and Romans 12 teach a lot about this truth.
At CrossWay, we encourage people to get in the ballgame by making five commitments which will help us achieve the win. They’re all summed up in our motto: Loving God, Loving People. Here are the five commitments:
(1) We will love God by worshiping Him with His family.
(2) We will love God by developing intimacy with Him through daily spiritual habits.
(3) We will love people by serving them.
(4) We will love people by building friendships with them.
(5) We will love God and love people by inviting others to participate in the first four commitments.
If everyone at CrossWay were to seriously make these commitments, God would take this underdog team and gain an astonishing victory!
So what do you say? Put me in, coach!
This is weird. In a game between the St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres, Albert Pujols knocked both the Padres’ pitcher and catcher out of the game in the same inning.
Check out this unusual story here.
Yesterday was the last day game (except for Sundays) for the Shorebirds, so I went. Nice to have a job with flexibility–something I make sure not to take for granted!
It was truly a great game! The guy who started on the mound for the Shorebirds, Cole McCurry, was 0-4 coming into the game and had an ERA somewhere around 5.00 or 6.00. But he proceeded to strike out 10 batters, walk none, and throw a two-hit shutout over seven innings! They brought in a closer to wrap up the last two innings as Delmarva trounced Greensboro 8-0. The Shorebirds hit three early homers to take a nice lead, and Greensboro never threatened.
Here’s a shot of McCurry delivering his tenth strikeout:
One of my favorite discoveries in iTunes has been the old classic baseball games that they sell in their store for just a couple bucks. It used to be that I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to watch video on a tiny little iPod, but since I discovered these baseball games, I now understand completely. It’s great to settle in bed at night and watch a couple innings before going to sleep!
Recently I watched Game 7 of the 1952 World Series between the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers, which the Yanks won. It seemed like two out of every three players was a Hall of Famer: Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Johnny Mize, Phil Rizzuto, Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider, Roy Campanella… maybe others. What great teams!
Then I watched Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, which had one of the greatest moments in sports history when injured MVP Kirk Gibson limped off the bench to pinch hit the game-winning homer in the bottom of the ninth–his only appearance in the Series, in which the underdog L.A. Dodgers beat the stacked Oakland A’s.
Last week I watched the famous Game 6 of the 1986 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Mets. That one was painful to watch because I was a big Bosox fan that year and at the same time was very anti-Mets. Game 6 was a real heartbreaker. One thing that really struck me is that Bill Buckner has been the scapegoat for that game (and the Series) for almost 22 years now, but he shouldn’t have been. It was a weird game with lots of blown chances and, if I counted right, five official errors between the two teams. There were also hits that could’ve been ruled errors. But why was Buckner the goat and not the others who blew it–most notably Red Sox relief pitchers Calvin Schiraldi and Bob Stanley, who blew a two-run, two-out lead in the bottom of the tenth inning? Before Buckner booted Mookie Wilson’s infamous grounder, Stanley threw a wild pitch to Wilson that allowed the tying run to score. Sure, the winning run scored on Buckner’s error and the Mets went on to win the Series, but Wilson shouldn’t even have had the chance to bat. And not to make excuses, but Buckner did get drilled with a pitch in the top half of that inning, so he had to be hurting. I think it’s an injustice that Buckner has been slapped with the blame for more than two decades.
Next up: the 1978 one-game playoff between the Yankees and the Red Sox….
This summer is shaping up to be a very exciting one! Our plans for the summer include exactly three things:
(1) Work hard.
(2) Play hard.
(3) Rest hard.
Work hard:
Okay, so Carolyn’s not planning to work too hard, although she probably will anyway because she doesn’t like doing nothing. She’s helping out with Vacation Bible School at CrossWay, and she always helps out a lot with church stuff during the summer. So even though she won’t be working at her job, she’ll probably work hard.
My work goals for the summer are pretty ambitious: I’m aiming to complete all my sermon outlines up to summer 2009, and complete sermon manuscripts through the end of 2008. This will require lots of study and lots of writing, but it’s the target I’m aiming for.
The beginning of the summer will be an intense four-week series called “Play Ball!” that we’re doing with several other churches in June, culminating in a Shorebirds game. The very next day we kick off Vacation Bible School.
Play hard:
We’ve got some pretty exciting plans for the summer! They include:
Rest hard:
Whenever I’m not doing any of that stuff above, you can find me either lying on the beach at Assateague or on the couch with a good novel.
When September rolls around, we’ll get back to normal life.
Yesterday I got tickets for a game at Yankee Stadium in July. Believe it or not, this was actually Carolyn’s idea! She knew it was the last season the Yankees were playing in the House that Ruth built, and she knew it would be meaningful for me to make it there before the end of the season. I can’t wait!!!
Next stop: Fenway….
This past week I spent a day and a half working with pastors from other churches to film video for a series we’re collaborating on in June. The series is called “Play Ball!” and has a baseball theme. It’s about getting in the game–moving from the bleachers to the bench to the ballfield. Or in our context, moving from the community to the church to active ministry.
On Wednesday we went to the Shorebirds game in Salisbury. It was Daryl, Kyle, and Jenna from SonRise, John from the Gathering Tree, Bryan from the Worship Center, and me. Before the game we filmed some promotional videos, and during and after the game we filmed a short illustrative series. In the process we all got scorched by the surprisingly hot April sun!
Thursday we spent a couple hours recording in front of the green screen at the SonRise office. Jenna is going to take that footage and use it in a couple of the videos. That’s the footage I’m most concerned about, because Jenna is an expert at recording people (especially yours truly, who seems to be one of her favorite victims) and creating embarrassing videos primarily for her own amusement. Her amazing video talents can be both a blessing and a curse! However, I have to admit that I’m looking forward to seeing the embarrassing footage she got of the other pastors.
Something that made yesterday’s recording time very much worth it was Bryan’s five-year-old daughter. At one point we had a song from High School Musical 2 playing on the monitor and she jumped in front of the green screen and just started going at it–singing, dancing, the whole deal. It was so cute! It made me laugh so hard I’m surprised my contacts didn’t pop out. Hopefully Jenna captured it all on film.
You know you have a cool job when a day at work can include hanging out with your friends at a baseball game.
Last year’s collaboration involved spending time at the beach and on a boat. This year’s meant going to a baseball game. I’m thinking maybe next year something with a Hawaii theme would be nice….
Last night I went to Greenwood, Delaware to speak to a youth group there. It’s been a little while since I’ve been involved in youth ministry, and it sure did bring back a lot of memories! The message was from Daniel 1-3, about Azariah, Mishael, and Hananiah–better known as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
We looked at their story as it might be presented in a movie. It opens at the climax of the action, in Daniel 3, with a powerful king threatening to kill them if they refuse to worship an idol he’s set up. Then we move to their response, and flashback to the events in their lives that led up that point and how they developed a faith that was strong enough to withstand such a difficult test.
Bottom line: their passion for God burned hotter than the flames of Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace. The king could only see Jesus in the flames, but the other three men saw Him at work throughout their lives as they fanned the flames of devotion day by day. If we nurture our devotion to God in the little moments, we’ll have the strength to remain devoted to Him in the big moments.
After youth group Carolyn and I drove to Grotto Pizza in Seaford. Grotto’s has such excellent pizza. And the birch beer is good, too. There’s just something about birch beer that perfectly complements that kind of pizza that has wide, thin slices with cheese oozing off of it. Not only was the pizza delicious, but they had basketball and baseball games showing on TVs all over the place, including a practically life size screen behind the bar! They even had a basketball game playing on a TV in the bathroom. How cool is that?!? I was curious about whether or not they had a TV in the women’s room. Carolyn said there was. It was set to Animal Planet.
As I watched the Orioles-White Sox game on the TV behind Carolyn (while trying not to look too much like I was watching it), she was watching the Red Sox-Yankees game on the TV behind me. I didn’t even know that game was on (or I would’ve switched seats), and I had no idea she was watching it until she told me later on. She never ceases to amaze me. Coming into the top of the fifth inning, New York was up on Boston 7-3. The Red Sox tallied up six runs in a fifth-inning explosion to take a 9-7 lead. Meanwhile Carolyn was watching all this behind me, and never let on! She remained perfectly expressionless as she watched the tables turn in a matchup between the two teams with the oldest and greatest rivalry in the American League! She didn’t even let out a “Whoa!” or “Dude!” or “Aww!” or anything! After we left, the Yanks came back and won. Not that Carolyn would care.
Carolyn’s assistant is a huge baseball fan. Her husband got her into it. I need to talk with that guy and get some advice about how to do that. I once met another guy who got his wife into football. Now there’s a how-to manual that would fly off the bookshelves!
To be fair, Carolyn does occasionally watch sports with me. We went to the Shorebirds game last Saturday and had a great time. Tippy Martinez, a pitcher for the Orioles when I was a kid, was there. It was an exciting game! The score was tied at one apiece in the top of the ninth with two outs. Lakewood tried to score the go-ahead run on a shot to deep center, but their baserunner was thrown out on a close play at the plate. In the bottom of the ninth, the Shorebirds moved a guy over to third and won the game on a passed ball. It was cool! Carolyn was just glad the game didn’t go into extra innings–or “overtime” as she calls it.
Anyway, last night at Grotto’s we worked out an arrangement that she’ll go to ballgames with me if I go to ballets with her. That’s a pretty good deal. Ballets are pretty funny, especially when the guys in tights come out and start jumping around.
10 Random Things:
(1) Today is when voters here in Maryland, along with Virginia and D.C., get a shot at the national spotlight. I’m registered Independent, so I can’t vote. In my 14 years of voting eligibility, I’ve been registered as a Democrat, Republican, and now Independent. I’m thinking about switching back to Democrat so I can vote in the early rounds. Might as well. As you can see, I’m not exactly a strict party guy. (Good thing, since I don’t have a party.)
(2) Carolyn and I recently finished watching the complete series of Voyagers. That’s “complete series” as in the whole one season it ran. Too bad it didn’t go longer! Great ’80s show, complete with hokey one-liners such as, “I work alone, kid,” and those fantastic corny ’80′s not-so-special effects. And of course Phineas Bogg, with his open shirt, falls in love with a different woman in every episode. But it’s still a classic–I definitely recommend the show!
(3) Recently I’ve been getting hits on this blog from people researching Babe Ruth’s infamous called shot. Let there be no doubt about it–the Babe called it. In the third game of the 1932 World Series, the New York Yankees were playing the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. The Cubs were heckling Ruth, and finally he’d had enough: he’d let his bat talk for him. So he pointed to center field and knocked the next pitch over the wall–exactly where he’d pointed. I know of at least two sources which confirm the truth of this story. First of all, I’ve heard a recording of that at-bat, and the announcers themselves mention the Babe calling his shot. Second, a friend of my dad’s who passed away in the mid-1980s was there at the game, and he confirmed the story. Below is a picture of Ruth pointing, right before he homered.
(4) Speaking of blog traffic, there are two topics that repeatedly bring more hits to this blog than anything else: searches for surfing, and searches for chapstick–more specifically, chapstick conspiracy theories and chapstick expiration dates. In fact, if you Google “chapstick conspiracy theory,” this blog is the first listing that comes up. Weird.
(5) Last night I cleaned the house because we were going to have a church meeting here. The meeting ended up getting rescheduled, but at least the house is clean now.
(6) Carolyn is off from work today because of the election, so she’s going to visit the Training Station with me. She hasn’t yet met the Tuesday/Thursday kids. She’ll love ‘em!
(7) Butch Marvin, whose ministry has had a significant impact at CrossWay the past couple years or so, is doing a two-week series at CrossWay in May. (If you’re reading this and you’re on our Worship Planning Team, I’m not holding out on you–I just got the email confirming the plan!) His messages are about “Becoming a Hope Dealer.”
(8) Today a group of ministry leaders in the Berlin area are meeting to plan a special event called “Celebration of the King.” It will be held on Friday, April 4th, which marks the 40th anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It’s an attempt at bringing together the black and white communities in this area, which is the most segregated place I’ve ever lived. We’re going to honor Dr. King and worship his King, King Jesus, who is also our King!
(9) Next week I’m getting to meet with some pastors from the Ocean City area. I’m really looking forward to it, because I’ve been wanting to meet these guys and get to know them.
(10) CNN.com is the dumbest news website on the Internet. I need to find a good source for up-to-the-minute news. They used to be a great news source, but now they mostly just have stories about people doing horrific things to children. Whatever happened to real news coverage?
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