Hail To The Redskins!

Tomorrow night could be my last football game at Hurricane High School for a long.........time. It's the last home game of 2010 season as the Redskins take on a 5-3 Logan team on Senior Night. If the 7-1 Skins win 1 of their last 2 they will get 1 home playoff game, if they win both they may get 2. The thing I know for sure I will be there tomorrow night soaking it all in, taking pictures for my new office in De Queen and talking to people that I may not see again on this side heaven. It may sound a little silly but it makes me a just a little sad. I'm more than a Redskin fan, I'm a REDSKIN. Just cut me, I bleed RED :)

I will sincerely miss Hurricane Football! Thanks to Direct TV I will not miss a Steelers game in De Queen. The Herd is on TV quite a bit anymore and I'll be able to see them play in person in Tulsa, Dallas, Memphis, New Orleans, and Houston. But the Redskins, that's another story. De Queen, Arkansas (The Leopards) have a great football tradition. In time I know I will enjoy watching the young people of my new church family play football, play in band or cheer on the sidelines but it will a long time before I get "On Wisconsin" out of head, and it will always be on my heart. GO SKINS!

AT SOME PLACES THEY PLAY FOOTBALL BUT AT MARSHALL IT'S WHO WE ARE!

No one loves winning more than I do but on a Marshall football Saturday in Greenville, NC winnng just isn't the most important thing about Thundering Herd football. The above video is the 2010 football intro video played before the Herd takes the field at the Joan. If there is a better introduction in college football I want to see it. So win,lose or draw lets bring on the Herd and remember what Marshall is really all about.

AT SOME PLACES THEY PLAY FOOTBALL BUT AT MARSHALL IT'S WHO WE ARE!

I Love Watching October Baseball!

2010 AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPS

For the first time since I was in 9th grade (1979) my team is in the World Series. Now I know some of you are saying you have a Rangers fan for 5 months! You're right, but I have 2 hats and 3 shirts that say I totally on board with the Rangers :) I have watched them every opportunity I have had since June and I love the brand of baseball they play, add to that there is a better ambassador for baseball than Nolan Ryan. I will be 3 hours from Arlington in a couple of months and the fact that it will give Jim and I something to do, cheer and talk about together and it seems like a perfect match.

I have given away most of my Buco stuff to Kevin with the exception of the Willie Stargell memorabilia. As big of a Young, Molina and O'Day fan as I have become it's hard to see anyone taking Pop's place as my favorite player. He is the reason I wore #8 for just about every uniform I ever had and like Ryan, Stargell was a wonderful ambassador for baseball. I'm afraid Pop's would not recognize what the Pirates if he were alive to today. I just couldn't to continue to care about a team that clearly no longer cared about it fans. So that's my story and I'm sticking to it and the main reason this October I've traded the Jolly Roger for Deer Antlers.

L E T S  G O  R A N G E R S !!! 

The Creator of Laughter- A preview of this Sunday's message

Folks, as Christians in 2010 we need to get over ourselves!

Jesus was criticized by His enemies for attending happy events with sinners. He believed it was okay to celebrate at weddings and to enjoy the hospitality of His friends. There will be those who will criticize you for enjoying life as a follower of Christ but I believe, there will be more who will find your joy contagious. When’s last time someone looked at how you respond to life and said, “What amazing things the Lord must be doing their life?” I know it need to happen more often in my life.

Laughter and joy are such a great witness to those who have yet to make a decision for Christ. Being critical and grumpy aren’t qualities that make people want to do anything except critical and grumpy as well. Study after study shows people won’t come back to a church where everybody was unfriendly and long-faced. Who can blame them? It’s okay to laugh, God created it! Laughing is good for us. And It’s even okay to laughin church! Here is one to get you started!

A man placed some flowers on the grave of his dearly departed mother and started back toward his car when his attention was diverted to another man kneeling at a grave. The man seemed to be grieving with profound intensity and kept repeating, "Why did you have to die? Why did you have to die?" The first man approached him and said, "Sir, I don’t wish to interfere with your private grief, but this demonstration of pain is more than I’ve ever seen before. For whom do you mourn so deeply? A child? A parent?"  The mourner took a moment to collect himself, then replied, "My wife’s first husband."

From "Almost Heaven" to "Almost Oklahoma"

On August 29th, 2010 God's plan for our ministry took a giant step westward. The wonderful folks of De Queen, Arkansas gave Debi and I the ministry opportunty that we believe God had been preparing us take. The decision to leave a wonderful church family in Hurricane, West Virginia was not easy one, Debi and I prayed from the time we got back from the De Queen interview that God which give us clear direction if they offered us the position. He did more than that, He reafirms everyday that we are suppose to be in De Queen, the eveidence is everywhere and it just strenghtens our faith. While being away from Debi for a short time will be very hard for me I'm looking forward to getting De Queen to see what God has in store. I know it will be awesome, He has done so much already.

I jokingly tell people we are going from "Almost Heaven" (Country Roads) to "Almost Oklahoma" because De Queen is only 6 miles from the Oklahoma boarder but De Queen doesn't have to take a back seat to any place I have been, the town and surrounding area are gorgeous. They have 3 lakes within about 12 miles of each other that rival any lake in West Virginia but the very best thing De Queen Arkansas has going for it is the wonderful people. The Church in De Queen made Debi and I feel special from the moment we arrived and we quickly felt a sense of belonging and love that you don't find many places.

Is it going to be easy to leave Hurricane? Of course not! My parents, my family, my friends, my memories, my Herd and my Redskins, and for 6 months my wife! All here! When I get there Jim Gardner and his family will be the only folks I know within 250 miles at least at the start but I 100% know that right now God wants us in Arkansas. Writing the blog will have 2 purposes, it will be therapy for me as I go through this transition in God's plan and it will keep my friends and family updated on how I'm doing. I hope you enjoy reading my simple, random thoughts :)