play by play

Griff's first ever baseball game. Now before you chime in with your, "but Sean, you were unofficially given the award for best baseball coach in America last year for coaching Griffin's baseball team" - let me remind you - that was t-ball.

Back to the game. The Lightning (formerly the Lightning bolts) were in fine form this day.

Griffin was 4 for 4 with two hits making it into the outfield. On the defensive end he played outfield, the hot corner and catcher. Because of his catching duties, Griffin wore his first cup today as well.

you'll see the ball in G-Dawg's mitt

Rumor has it that the Lightning scored 16 runs, but who really knows?

On a side note, young Aidan Boyd came through as this reporter's Defensive Player of the game with his three outs, including a two out inning at the hot corner. (side note, there are rarely three outs in an inning) He also was 4 for 4 at the plate.

and just around the corner...

paper shufflin'

I had five hours of "paper work" yesterday. It was actually computer work...but you know the drill.

We write up our year long plans in April - they're soundly rejected in May - we re-write them and re-submit them at the end of May - some corrections and updates are requested - we re-write them and re-submit them in June - they're reviewed by bosses, bosses' bosses and eventually the big guy himself (John Popper - who knew?).

Here's where I have it nice. Yesterday I didn't have to type a single thing. I sat in an office with Susanna and we talked budget and plans, while she put it all together. She's an excel spread sheet ninja. It would take me 45 minutes to put together what she can put together in about 3.

It's nice having someone around that's really good at the things you're not so good at. We've tried to hire folks with that in mind. We don't need four incredibly articulate, good looking, former wrestling coaches that are amazing at knitting scarves. That'd be silly. One probably would cover it.

What we're looking for now is a new Peter. Pete worked in our department for a while and just moved to a new job doing what he loves. He was working with us because he liked what we were about, but it definitely wasn't his passion. Now he gets to explore just how passionate he actually is about video. I think it'll be a great fit. Sadly, we're down one Peter.

It's just not the same...

what if?

What if someone read the Bible and believed it? I mean really believed it to the point where it changed their day, month, life?

I guess if you really believe it, it would have to change you on some level. I know people get mad at "Bible thumpers" "Holy Rollers" "Religious fanatics" and the Irish...but I'm not sure all of that is justifiable.

Sure there are hypocrits, I get that. That happens everywhere . Every political party is full of people who say one thing and do another. Every organization has values that they fall short on. Christianity is a bit different in that so much perceived value is placed on the followers of Jesus. Many of the arguments against the faith aren't about Him, they're about His imperfect followers.

Every group has it's problems. We label every group. Many Christians are hypocrites. Many political parties are selfish. I'm just not sure that's enough to discount what people say and just stand behind one party/cause/institution.

so back to the Bible thumpers... If they really believe in God, and believe that the Bible isn't the Bible, but it's the Holy Bible.... is it so crazy that if you believe this that you'd read it?

I'd think logically the opposite is true. If you believed this, you'd read it. It'd be crazy not to. Certainly you'd read it every chance you had. I'm not talking about showing up once a week somewhere where somebody up front reads a little bit of it and then talks about it. I think you'd want to read it all the time.
...If you really believed it was Holy.

That's a big if. I'm wondering if we just slowly get out of the habit, or never were told that this really is something you ought to look into, or if we defiantly take a stance that it's not going to get read?

Most things in life (for me) sort of happen gradually.

hump day

dentist appointment today...jealous?

It starts with someone taking an ice pick to my gums followed by an exhortation to floss more...

I pay for the guilt. Actually Delta Dental pays for it, I just pay them to allow me to go get my mouth poked for free.

Should be fun...

the little things

My floor is wet. That's almost never good. We have two floors that have been periodically getting wet for a while now. One gets wet from a leaking roof and the other gets wet from a leaking toilet.

I've always hated the word toilet. I'm also not fond of the word entrepreneur or the phrase, "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas"

I've installed and fixed our toilet three times now. Each time it's water tight...for a while.

So the next time I "fix" it and reinstall it I should probably fix our fake Pergo floors.

Lately these little annoyances are driving me batty (yup, I said batty). They're like the paper cut that you can't stop focusing on. These are the silly little things that are actually really big things because they can distract you from real life...the stuff that matters.

I know this and yet I still let it get to me.

Don't even get me started on the lawn...

branding our lives

" I want to live that radical life" - I keep reading it...and resonate with it...I just don't see a lot of it.

It's a revolution with very few revolutionaries. I know about five revolutionaries... People that have given their life to their cause.

I read about it a lot. I think it. I know people who talk about it. It's just in short supply these days.

We want thing to be better...sort of. Not enough to do anything...but wouldn't it be great if poor people weren't poor?

It'd be easy to just say - take that money from that rich woman and give it to that poor person and then the rich person will still have money...but so will the poor person.

It's easy to say because you don't have to get involved. You can feel better about it without really doing anything. You can believe the person who cares about the poor when you see their actions...consistent...weekly, probably even daily action.

Doing something involves stepping out of our comfort zones. Starting a revolution probably begins with some major life changes.

We make minor life changes and it feels major to us. We're a society that is revolution-less...so our minor changes even seem major to others.

I'm just not sure they are.

baby and the bath water

It's been interesting working for the church for the past few years. I've noticed a few things that are different in this world than in most.

There are a ton of people working in churches that grew up in the church. I guess that sort of makes sense...

I think most people in my world tend to look at the things around them in light of their history.

Based on that history they make decisions to either continue along a certain path or go in a completely/or slightly different direction.

We see things we like and pursue them - we see things that we don't like and run from them....sometimes.

Once Christians mixed up faith with politics - things got ugly. Once Christians mixed up faith with music - things got ugly. Once we mixed up a certain kind of morality with God - things got ugly.

So instead of seeing what the truth is in the ugly situation - we often just run in the other direction.

There was some pretty cheesy Christian music out there - so now I have friends that refuse to listen to Christian music because "it's all crap". There were some conservative (politically) Christians that were letting their politics get in the way of their faith - so it became crap.

Christians talked about morality to the point of legalism...and the next thing you know we're ignoring the Scripture that talks about self control, purity, etc. (and there's plenty in there) because we don't want to get legalistic. We want to be relevant. We want to matter.

It was a bad decision to make faith about politics, music, morality or (fill in the blank with anything short of a relationship with God) and now we've reversed course and made it about not focusing on those other things...

I wonder how much of this is a conviction that that is what God is calling us to - and how much of it is that it's just a lot easier to try and fit in? or just kind of do whatever feels good at the moment?

I've thought a lot about this because I'm around a lot of Christians who grew up (on some level) in the church - and they have a lot of baggage. (we all do)

If you heard that being a Christian was about doing good stuff and not doing bad stuff....well that will quickly run dry. So you reverse course...and that doesn't really work either. But at least this way you're relevent....with whatever it is you're trying to do...

I'm still thinking this stuff through....it's just on my mind now and I had a fifteen minute break.

oops

I should fix what I wrote yesterday...
I don't actually read my blog. I should start there. I sit down, start typing and then add a picture (typically)

I don't think I explained myself very well yesterday.

Here's where I was going...

What we took to be mean spirited or offensive was largely offensive because of our belief systems about how the world works.



Here's a quick example: When I was really young I’d hear a parent or teacher say something to me that just sounded dumb. I probably wouldn’t use the word “jerk” but that’s sort of how I felt. Why the heck are we doing this? This is stupid? I definitely wouldn’t use the word offensive, but that’s what it was.

Later in life I had some mentors that said stuff that went against my basic world view.

Often I was wrong and they were right. I’m absolutely sure that they could have shared their info in better ways – I would never argue that you are allowed to be a jerk if you’re right – it’s just that often they were dead right and it just seemed so wrong to me that they came off as sort of jerky.

It was my poor view of the world and how life worked that made me think they were stupid/wrong/offensive/whatever.

Sometimes people come off as offensive because of what they're saying - not even how they're saying it.

If you believe that you're helping someone by giving them a computer, a ride or a sandwich - you'll get mad at the jerk counselor that suggests that (in some situations) you're enabling them.

For me - that was on me. It was my baggage most of the time.

Ultimately I just wanted to say I'm thankful for my parents, my mentors and my friends that have influenced me...even when I disagreed at the time.

that's all (video to follow)

mentors

I heard from the guy that I often refer to as "my mentor back in college" yesterday. He's one of the wisest people I know and I've only seen him two or three times since I've moved back to Cincinnati.

He was always a decade ahead of the rest of us. He'd say things that were offensive, wrong and just sort of mean spirited...and eventually we'd realize that he was pretty much always right. He mellowed over the years and started telling people, "you know, you can learn from a jerk" before he'd speak at events. That's kind of the thing - he had a bad reputation with people who didn't know him that well. If you just heard one of his crazy statements and didn't know the heart behind them...and never really followed up with him to see what he really meant...you'd think he was a jerk and just dismiss him.

A bunch of us didn't. We followed him and most of us had great success with what we were doing. He was right, after all...most of the time.

So we're going to have lunch when I get back from this conference.

I'll see an old friend/mentor at the conference. This guy was one of the top 2 or 3 speakers I'll ever know - and this is why.

When he spoke in Virginia at a camp I visited, I noticed that he had a sophomore in college taking notes for him. I asked him about it and he said, "that guy's brilliant". He was right - that college kid was brilliant...but this guy was too. In fact he was giving the same old speeches over and over again...and he was great at it...but he still was humble enough to ask this kid to evaluate him night after night.

That's probably why he's one of the best speakers I'll ever hear.

lists

I love lists. Top ten running backs of all time (if you don't have Franco in there, it's not a real list)
All time great movies (my surprise? E.T.)
Top three Priest characters on tv? (Father Mulcahy gets the top nod)
Parts of the body you can box? (ears mostly)

At some point today I'll make a list, mental or otherwise, of the things I'll need for our five day voyage. Annie and I are headed to a conference tomorrow and at some point she'll want me to pack.

I'm working until around 10 and I usually like to come home and unwind with either a five mile run or sitting on the couch and watching House. I almost always do the one and never the other.

Tonight I'll come home and pack six shirts, six pairs of socks and unmentionables (and why is it a pair of underwear?) one pair of jeans (again with the pair?) one pair of non-jean pants, one hat, one computer, one note book, one pen, one pillow (why would you use the one at the hotel when you have that awesome one that you use every night?) one Bible (why would you use the one at the hotel when you have that awesome one that you use every night?) one jar of ibuprofen, and some deodorant, toothpaste and a toothbrush.

That ought to cover it.

List accomplished.

Thanks, this was helpful...