Vacation & Thanksgiving

Today is my first day back to work since my time off. The vacation was more time away from work, with family and friends.

Last week was great. I played golf, had some great conversations with friends. Enjoyed the church Thanksgiving gathering. Spent time home with my family. Helped decorate the Christmas tree for the first time in many years, and ate tons of food.

I am thankful for so much, some of which is listed below:

Health
Great family
Stellar friends
Horizon
My Link Group
My Job

God has truly blessed me with what has come my way. I hope I can continue to see the positives and the blessings He provides.

“Father God, thank you for the gift of life and what You provide. I cannot thank You enough for your unending grace and the blessings. In your name – Jesus Christ.“Amen

Fidelity

I wonder how many know the meaning of the word fidelity. I would suspect most are more aware of the word infidelity. Recently, I heard a message that carried much weight. The overall point was that we are called to stay faithful in life and in death.

The US Marines have a motto, “Semper Phi!” I think we as Christians need to be as passionate and faithful as this group. The Latin word Semper Fidelis means “always faithful.”

Christ tells us to always stay faithful through life and death, for He will be our crown of life. Sometimes I wonder when the rubber meets the road whether we as Christians know the importance of this. I mean are we hypocrites?

Paul and the apostles showed us even through the beatings, tortures, and finally death that they were not going to break their trust in God and faith. Recently I found out that more Christians have died in the twentieth century for believing than in any other century.

There was a case during the cold war when four Russian soldiers were told to have entered a church one Sunday morning with machine guns. Two of the soldiers shut the doors while the other two went to the front of the church. One of the officers yelled, “you Christians are a smudge on our society and your lives are meaningless!” “We are here to rid you from our country for you are dragging us down.” The officers, then told the congregation that they were going to kill every Christian sitting in the room. They then told the group of those that weren’t Christians, that they were able to get up and leave the Church. One third of the group got up and left. The rest of the congregation sat there and the soldiers shut the doors and went back to the front. One then said, “now that all the hypocrites are out, let’s have service!” This is most likely a fictitious story but it still makes me think. Would I stay seated under those circumstances? Would you? It is truly hard to say but I would hope I would.

The fidelity or faithfulness of each of us is to be unending. Let us hold the same motto of the Marines, and have the faith of these martyrs.

Lord, Father, I praise You for the promises You give us. I pray that we live our lives in complete faithfulness even during the trying times. Father, You are our crown of Life and I hope that we are continually encouraged to pursue You till our end.

Does a bear crap in the woods?

There is something special and lasting about spending time with friends in the wilderness- sharing stories, laughs, and recycled chili dogs. A group of us ventured to Greenridge State park this weekend to camp out under the stars. During the day we relaxed, in the evening we relaxed, and at night we relaxed. Heck, the whole time was just relaxing. What is it about leaving our luxuries behind and trying to do what we call, “roughing in it” that makes us seem to let go? We tend to say, “it’s great to get away!”

What are we getting away from? Is there a point where the grid is that bad, that shoveling a hole in the ground to take a dump becomes appealing? It’s also fairly obvious that distractions play a huge role in us wanting to have time away. During the whole time I received no phone calls, did not have to deal with the snooze button, and worried little about traffic patterns. I sat there laid back in my chair warming my cold feet with fire, thinking, “wow, this is great.”

But as rhetorical as the question of Does a bear crap in the woods? Equally as obvious is the fact that any day or break from work is a pleasant one. The time outdoors with my friends this weekend over the fire, was more than pleasant. I just want to thank all for sharing the moment.

Nutmeg

Well, the fall season is here and what does that mean? Well it is different for all but specifically for fifteen individuals it is the start of a new season. Last year Horizon Church had it's very own coed indoor soccer team. Since then the interest has remained and we are all on the ball to go play again! As sudo coach of the team I am excited to see how the season goes. I expect good things and fun times. This year some changes on the squad have occurred and we have some new faces. One included is a friend of mine from work, another, a friend from another Horizonite. It is just great that the sport and team has helped Horizon reach out.

This past Wednesday I decided to play some pick up soccer. It was a three hour soccer-thon. It was a good thing we had plenty of subs. This was the first time I had been on a field in some time and the players out there were mostly men and a higher caliber at that. While I was out there I watched these old and new ballers and how they chose to maneuver around defenders or contain. This was surely more high paced than any of the games we will face on Horizon's coed B squad, but it is important to know the basics.

One move that stands out the most that gets many shouts is the "nutmeg." And for those that aren't familiar, it is not a hard aromatic seed used and ground as a spice. This is a move that takes precision and skill sometimes to complete. The nutmeg basically is a move that alleviates the problem of trying to go around the defender. It takes quite a bit of control and the ability to be aware of the opponents balance. With good timing the ball will be rolling through your opponents legs and you on your way down the field. Don't misunderstand me, this move is not the lead to move and honestly can be extremely difficult to pull off. I mean come on, how embarrassing would it be if a player is heading your way and pushes the ball through your legs. Because of this most defenders are looking for this to prevent the embarrassment.

So after playing on Wednesday I thought more about the nutmeg and other soccer moves. Does a team need fancy foot work to win? The more I thought about it, I came to the understanding, no. I mean sure it helps, and if you know a little about soccer moves its easier to defend them. But what I see the strength of our soccer team will be to play more as a team. To fundamentally contain opponents. I will say it now, our team is not deep with amazing talent, but I do think we have the potential to win some games. Some of our gracious fans almost deemed the team, the soccer version of "the bad news bears." My aim this season is to give these fans a couple of wins. But regardless we will surely give them some entertainment. And who knows they may see a few nutmegs or in our teams case, a lot.