Searching for the Secret Kingdom

Words That Form a Picture

2012-03-14T23:07:00.000-06:00

"We live in a two-story brick house skirted by a wide porch where four wicker rockers, two on either side of a bright red door, beckon our neighbors to visit. At the south end of the porch a matching swing creaks in the warm breeze. And potted plants, whose contents change with Rose Marie's whims, are scattered everywhere. In the front yard a gnarled magnolia takes an imposing stance, transforming an ordinary lawn into something regal. Small flowerbeds lay beside the steps that lead to the porch. Pansies add color there in the winter, but now a fresh crop of impatiens is the ornament of choice. This is the home where I brought Rose Marie about a decade ago..."

-from Safe at Home by Richard Doster

A Picture With a few Words

2012-03-14T22:56:00.000-06:00

~ Shrouded in Mist ~

Picture of the week

2012-03-05T11:29:00.000-07:00

~ Take Me Out to the Ballgame ~
The Cubs played their first Spring Training game yesterday... baseball is back!

Nerdiness and Game-playing

2012-03-01T19:44:00.004-07:00

My family has reached a new level of nerdiness lately.

And for us, that's saying something.

Lately we have been playing a lot of “Settlers of Catan”, a board game that involves collecting resources and using them to build settlements and cities and roads. You collect different resources depending on the dice roll, so of course, getting the optimal numbers is important. That means we, of course, are interested in knowing which numbers actually get rolled the most. Dad was convinced the conventional dice would be skewed somehow, so he downloaded a dice ap on his phone and started introducing it to our games, convinced it would be much more accurate. Plus they are efficient and easy-- less noisy, less prone to mess up the game pieces or roll off the table. At first we were a bit dubious, but over time all four of us have succumbed at least somewhat to the electronic dice. I have been won over entirely and would prefer never to go back to conventional dice again :-).

But, despite agreeing to use the electronic dice, James was more dubious about their accuracy and decided to keep track of the numbers and compare them. Mom still sometimes prefers the regular dice, and when my brother and sister-in-law come over, despite being nerdy in other ways, refuse to use the electronic dice. So over time James was able to compile quite a few stats on both devices, by keeping track of every dice roll on both. It was my sister-in-law Ginny who suggested compiling all the data into an excel spreadsheet. The results were surprising. Ideally each device should form a perfect bell-curve, but none of them are quite perfect. Ironically, the “real” dice have been more bell-curvy than the phone. Fours have been rolled more than fives, which is odd, and sixes and eights have been rolled more than sevens, also odd. (Seven is supposed to be the most rolled number; it is associated with the “robber” who steals a resource when seven is rolled.) As we were standing around the table looking at the charts and analyzing the data, James looked up and asked, “Do other families do this, or just us?”

I had to laugh at that. Our tradition of nerdiness in games goes back a long way. My sister-in-law Ginny kept data on games of Nertz for a long time, and compiled them into charts of wins and losses, also average points per game and “percent nertzed.” She fits right in with our family. :-)

My family has played games together as long as I remember, and it is something I will always be grateful for. I learned to ad and subtract figures quickly in my head when I became the designated scorekeeper at an early age. From a dice game called Muggins I learned how six and four ad up to make twelve, and from a card game called Cribbage I learned that seven plus eight is fifteen, and so is six and nine.

And then there's Scrabble. We used to be pretty normal as far as scrabble goes, then my dad took it up a notch. He started playing these weird, crazy words we'd never heard of before. In answer to the protest, “That's not a word!” He would say calmly, “look it up.” We would-- and it was. I am a very competitive person, so this was to me the proverbial throwing down of the gauntlet. I began studying the Scrabble Dictionary in my free time, and picked up all kinds of useful things. Handy, short Z words, Q-without-a-U words (yes, they do exist!) Dad and I memorized the two-letter word list (all 96 of them) and studied the J and K sections of the dictionary. Our turns grew longer because we were no longer satisfied having a double-word score alone, but we just had to put our H or M on the double-word score, as well! And then-- we found Super Scrabble.

Super Scrabble has become one of our favorite all-time games. It has twice as many letters as regular Scrabble, and a board that is three rows larger in all directions. There are now quadruple letter and quadruple word spaces. We play with nine tiles because it takes so long otherwise-- and even with seven it is rarely less than three hours to play each game. Often closer to four.

We once played Scrabble with a friend who was visiting and he happened to get the Q and not have a U. "No problem," Dad and I said, "there's lots of Q words that don't use U."

"No there isn't," our friend asserted.

"Yes there are," we replied, pulling out our lists and the dictionary to show him. We were very happy when the fourth edition of the Scrabble Dictionary came out with "Qi". Before that "Qat" was the best. "Tranq", "qwerty", and "qaid" and "qoph" are also very handy.

Our friend just looked at us, shaking his head. "You guys are sick."

That was the first but not the last time this epitaph has been bestowed on us...

Photo of the week

2012-02-27T21:38:00.000-07:00

~ Burst of Glory ~
I never tire of New Mexican sunsets.

Paul's Prayers

2012-02-23T23:10:00.002-07:00

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

-Ephesians 3:16-19

-Ephesians 3:16-19

Photo of the week

2012-02-20T21:40:00.000-07:00

~ Light and Shadows ~

They really shouldn't be here in the first place...

2012-01-14T19:40:00.000-07:00

If the Broncos lose their game tomorrow I won’t be disappointed, because frankly they weren’t even supposed to be here in the first place, and it’s amazing that they’ve come this far. Just the fact that they have won a playoff game and lived to play another is more than anyone thought they could do. And against the Steelers. Many of you probably don’t know that the Steelers defense is number one in the NFL. (Watching the game last Sunday, I could see why– when both teams lined up on the field most of the Steelers players looked twice as big as the Broncos players. That’d be enough to intimidate me!) Their plan was to shut down the heretofore fairly effective running game of the Broncos… and shut it down they did. What they weren’t expecting was to see Tim Tebow pitch so effectively. He could always throw, he couldn’t always pitch. Watching him Sunday, most of those throws were dead-on. Shows that hard work pays off.
So if they lose to the Patriots Saturday… and I have no expectations for them to win, though I certainly hope they do, but after watching the Chargers lose to them in the playoffs year after year I have to be realistic… I won’t be disappointed, because I will remember that it’s incredible that they are even there in the first place. However, I am not saying a win is impossible… after the season the Broncos had you can never say that… because they have already defeated the toughest defense in the NFL! Whatever the Patriots throw at them will not be as good as that. However, Tom Brady and his offense is very good, so my prediction is it will be a high-scoring game with a close score. My greatest hope is that it will be a good game. That we can look back on it and, if the Broncos lose, we can still say “They did their best and had an incredible season.” The worst kind of losses are those that a team shouldn’t have lost, but did so through carelessness or mistakes. There have been some Broncos losses this season that have been like that. I just hope if they lose, it won’t be one of those.
But after all, they may win! That would be the best of all… and I think after last weekend both the Patriots and their fans are a little bit nervous.
I was thinking today, though, about how God has used Tim Tebow, and how his entire life is a miracle. The truth is, Tim Tebow and the Broncos never should have been in the playoffs at all. They got there by virtue of seven wild and crazy Bronco wins under the leadership of Tebow, the luck of having had two of those victories come against division rivals the Chargers and the Raiders (who finished the season with the same record, 8-8, but did not win because both had lost to the Broncos), and a Raiders loss to a Chargers team coming off a 6-game losing streak. They squeaked into the playoffs by the width of a gnat’s eyebrow. And then they got luck– the first game would be at home, because even though the Steelers had a better record than them, the Steelers were the wild-card team! None of those things should have happened… and then nobody thought they could win. Everybody knew the Steelers defense would shut down the running game, Tebow wasn’t very good at throwing the ball, and Roethlisberger, despite a sprained ankle, is an extremely good quarterback. One article I read detailed how the Broncos didn’t have a chance and predicted they would lose by a score of 21-10. I hoped they would win, but knew Tim Tebow would have to step up his passing game to do it. Well, he did. And they won. True, they gave up an early lead and it came down to the wire at the last– but they won against the best defense in the NFL.
And now they are facing Tom Brady and the Patriots– and Tom Brady doesn’t have a sprained ankle. But the Patriots also don’t have the greatest defense. So it will be an interesting game to watch. But as I look back over the season, it is amazing to realize how far the Broncos have come, and see how many times we can point to a moment and say, that should never have happened… they shouldn’t be here. Yet they are.
And so is Tim Tebow. It is a fitting metaphor for his life. Tim Tebow shouldn’t have been here in the first place… and wouldn’t be, if it had been left solely up to the doctors attending his mother during her pregnancy. Due potentially life-threatening complications during the pregnancy, she was told she should get an abortion– but she refused. The doctor’s didn’t expect the baby to live anyway, but in spite of all odds, he did. It was a long, difficult pregnancy, and after Tim was born the doctor told his father, ”Mr. Tebow, your child is a miracle baby. I can’t explain how it happened…”
Tim Tebow, despite all odds, was born, and was drafted in the first round by the Denver Broncos, and was made starting quarterback in his second season with them, and turned a losing season around, and, in my opinion at least, proved he has what it takes to play football in the NFL. He lead the Broncos to a division title and a playoff win… none of that should have happened, but all of it did.
So while I won’t be disappointed if the Broncos lose on Saturday, I won’t be surprised if they win, either.
Do I believe God is involved with all this? Yes, with all my heart. God said, “Those who honor me I will honor,”(1 Samuel 2:14) and,
“Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.
He will call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
With a long life I will satisfy him
And let him see My salvation.” (Psalm 91:14)

"The tongue of the righteous is a fountain of life..."

2012-01-14T19:38:00.000-07:00

I read the above verse in Proverbs today and it struck me particularly. This is something I have been struggling with a lot lately. I often speak harsh or impatient words, very often un-kind ones, I’m sorry to say. So lately I have really been trying to watch that tendency. Unfortunately the words rise up so quickly they often come out before I even have time to think and realize what I’m doing. I have a very quick temper, so while my anger doesn’t usually last long, it doesn’t take much to rouse my temper and for me to speak sharp, hurtful words without thinking. I always regret it afterwards. So I am trying to intentionally watch that and cut back on the sharp, hurtful things I say. Today my prayer is, “Lord, make my tongue a fountain of life.”

Weighing in on the Tim Tebow Controversy

2012-01-04T19:37:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the Bronco’s quarterback, Tim Tebow, lately. I have been following a lot of it, as well as watching the games. I have followed football more closely this season than I have for the past several simply because of the Bronco’s games. Those games have become the highlight of my week, after which the rest of my week feels rather flat. :) I also just finished reading Tim Tebow’s book, Through My Eyes, which was a late Christmas gift from my husband. I was trying to finish it pretty quick because there is a line of people behind me who want to read it.

A couple of things stood out to me from the book. At one point he is talking about the parable of the talents from Matthew 25, and he says: “…the basic lesson of this parable for me is that if God gave us specific talents (abilities), He wants us to maximize our talents and not bury or waste them. He wants us to go out there and double them. I think part of that is to go out there and continue to work– regardless of whether anyone is watching. This isn’t just about when we’re out there with cameras rolling and pointed in our faces. I may say I’m playing for my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. True. But it’s not just that. It’s about going out every day, in every setting, and working hard. It’s about being dedicated and playing hard because I honestly believe God receives joy when He sees me doing that with the skills he blessed me with… I always thought that since God gave these gifts to me, my role in that exchange was to play as hard as I could and continue giving Him the honor and glory for it. To me that would be the best way of thanking Him for the ability.”

That was an inspiration to me. I don’t have much athletic ability, but I feel like the gift God has given me is my writing. It has inspired me to work even harder on my writing so that I can bring glory to God through it, as well as hopefully encourage and bless others.

The other part which stood out to me was the last few sentences of the book. Of course, it came out during the off-season last year, after Tebow’s first year as a Bronco but before he’d had very many starts. He wasn’t quite sure what his role would be with the team in the up-coming season. ”As I’ve said before, I don’t know what my future holds, but I do know who holds my future. With that in mind, I’m pressing on toward the upward call of Jesus Christ, seeking to continue living in the way that always brings glory to him. I hope it’s on the football field, at least for now. But I know that He knows my platform and holds my future in His hands, and it’s up to me to use it as best I can wherever He has me planted…”

It was interesting to read those words, because, of course, I know the other side of the story now. Denver made Tebow the starting quarterback after a dismal first five games with Kyle Orton. Tebow took over a losing team with a 1-4 record, and lead them to seven amazing victories, a division title, and the playoffs. The first playoff game is next week so we don’t know the outcome yet, but win or lose, that is still pretty amazing. He has also remained faithful to his Savior, giving Him glory every opportunity he could, despite the controversy, despite the opposition, despite the pressure.

And of that there has been plenty. One thing that has bothered me some is comments made by former quarterback Kurt Warner, who played for the Rams and the Cardinals for awhile and is also a Christian. He has been telling Tebow to tone down his faith, “let his actions speak for him,” not be so vocal, etc. That bothers me partly because I think it is undeserved, and partly because it is coming from a fellow Christian, who might be encouraging Tebow instead of making comments like these. I think Tim Tebow is letting his actions speak for him. He is not shoving his faith down anybody’s throat, he is not beating people over the head with a Bible. He is simply being faithful, as he feels God has called him to be. He believes God has blessed him with these abilities, and He deserves the glory. Why should he refrain from thanking his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ in his interviews, any more than he might thank his coaches, his teammates, his family or his mentors, and other people who have helped him to grow into the person he is now, and helped develop his talents and abilities? Why should he receive so much criticism for being faithful to his personal beliefs? Why should he stop saying “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me?” He is not lashing out at his critics, he is not getting angry at the people who oppose him. He is simply making it clear that he desires to bring glory to Christ.

On the other hand, I find Tim Tebow to be incredibly encouraging. Several years ago I wrote an opinion piece in the Daily Lobo about Manny Ramirez, when Ramirez came to town for a rehab stint with the Albuquerque Isotopes. He was serving a fifty-game suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs. There are so many reasons why I feel he is not a team player or the type of role-model I would want my kids to emulate. Yet all those games sold out, so many people wanted to see him play, to get his autograph, etc. That bothered me.

Tim Tebow is encouraging because he is a good role-model. He treats people with respect, he loves God, he works hard and he “plays the game square.” He gets the spotlight a lot because of the position he has been thrust into and because of his faith. But I would far rather have him in the spotlight, with all the things he ends up in the spotlight for, than someone like Tom Brady of the New England Patriots, who ended up in the spotlight a few weeks ago because of the expletives he was hurling at one of his coaches after throwing an interception.

Tim Tebow is walking a hard road. He is not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. While so many people ridicule him, make fun of him, and criticise him for this, I think he deserves better. Christian or not, I think he deserves a vote of thanks for being a good role model and a hard worker. He deserves encouragement to keep his eyes on Christ and continue being faithful.

God bless, and go Broncos.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T19:34:00.002-07:00

“…and so God did not send Jesus as a king, or as a benefactor; He did not use CNN, or ‘Independence Day’: He chose a different way. A slow, gracious, but dangerous, difficult way. He incarnated into our reality, and he dwelled among us.” -Oscar Muriu, Urbana 2009

The meaning of Christmas has come home to me more than ever before this year. It has hit me in a whole new, amazing way. It is a story that shows such incredible love. God wanted to have a relationship with us that much. For Jesus, it involved giving up all the glories of Heaven. Imagine that! Angels bowed before him– he was in a sinless, perfect place, surrounded by glories we can’t even imagine. And he willingly gave all that up. For what? To come to earth as a mighty warrior, born into riches and wealth as he deserved? No. He was born not to a rich family, not to a middle class family, but to a poor family. He was not even born in a house. He was born in a stable, and laid in a manger, where animals fed. That was his welcome to this world. It is hard to imagine how Mary and Joseph must have felt, knowing who this baby was, and what he deserved– he deserved the very best– and he received a stable, and a manger, and swaddling clothes. The contrast is incredible. But Jesus did not come the way most people expected him to, as a warrior, as a prince, as a mighty man. He did not come to be served, “but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for all.” That’s how much he loved us. And instead of lamenting the circumstances into which he was born, there was rejoicing because he had come. God desired reconciliation with us– He desired relationship with us– and now, the way for that to take place had come to this earth. Jesus was here, Immanuel, “God with us.” It was so wonderful that he shared it with us– in the angels who appeared to the shepherds, in the star that the Magi followed. He was greeted by regular people and by princes. This baby, this baby was no ordinary baby.

It gives a whole different perspective to think about God the father, as well. To think about His love in sending Jesus to us. The awful pain, knowing what Jesus must go through– the incredible love– the great joy, knowing that through Jesus, we would be reconciled. It is so amazing to think about that moment– how God must have desired reconciliation with us– and how Jesus was born into our world, and God knew that through him, at long last it would be accomplished. And at that moment, there was joy. Knowing what Jesus had come to accomplish, and that it would be accomplished soon. It was such exquisite joy He shared it with us, in the heavenly hosts. Wow!

Jesus grew up here, again, with a family that was neither rich nor high-born. He worked with his father Joseph in carpentry and lived and walked and felt all that the people around him lived and walked and felt. God incarnated into our reality, so that He understands our reality in an incredible way. Jesus walked faithfully the road all the way to the cross. And he bled and suffered and died. Then he rose again on the third day, and ascended into Heaven. It was finished.

That’s what Christmas means. It is a special remembrance of God’s gift to us. His incredible gift of love– His son. It is a celebration of that exquisite joy. ”Peace on earth, good will toward men.”

“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” -Corinthians 9:15

NaNoWriMo Progress

2011-11-20T20:53:00.003-07:00

I have reached and passed the 30,000 word mark! This feels very momentous for me. It is a lot of words, (109 pages so far) and it is also as far as I reached the only other time I really did NaNoWriMo, in 2008. In ’08 I started six days late, had a busy semester at school, and hadn’t really explored the story idea at all before I started writing it. I did the proverbial “flying by the seat of your pants” method, and when I look back on it now, am amazed it went as well as it did. I started with a simple question out of which flowed a whole host of characters and scenarios.

This time around I went about it much more methodically. I picked an idea I’ve had lurking in my mind for a very long time, but that I’ve never really done anything about except write an outline. I thought about it a lot in the weeks leading up to November 1. I thought about the characters, the storyline, the structure, the point of view, the directions it could go, why I wanted to write it, what the main theme was, etc etc. I began thinking out the story from chapter one. I didn’t “think out” the whole thing, but about a third or a half of it. I figured from there I would get other ideas to carry on with.

All of this made it much easier in the long run. The first day I wrote three-thousand words (almost twice the daily quota) simply because it was easy, having thought out the story so much beforehand. After that things slowed down a bit, and since that first day I haven’t been much ahead but have been keeping up with the daily quota. The ideas I had developed beforehand I’ve used now, but the story is by no means wrapped up and I am using what I have written to carry on with the rest of it. It still helps having thought the story out so much beforehand and especially having gotten to know the characters. That simplifies things a lot now.

I have faced some writer’s block, but it hasn’t been debilitating. Walks, it seems like, are the best way to move past them for me. I will take a walk and think to myself, “okay, where does the story go from here? what happens next? what is this or that character going to do after this?” and those questions will put me in that character’s shoes, and I will begin walking in the characters shoes and see what they do next, who they talk to, what happens, etc, and it seems like events and scenes and conversations naturally unfold. Then I get back and write the scenes I’ve thought out, which is usually about 1500-2000 words worth. Then I will either think of where the story goes from there based on those scenes, or I will go through the same process in some form the next day. So far it’s working pretty well. I know where I want the story to ultimately end up, but there’s some things that need to happen yet before we get there. Oddly enough, I think this story idea is almost perfect for the length required.

So it’s been an adventure, but a good one. I am enjoying the story and have high hopes for it. It keeps you busy, too. If you miss even one day of writing it can be difficult to catch up, and it’s easy to miss days on weekends or whatever. I already discovered that during my period of discouragement a week or so in. But I’m caught up now, a little ahead, and enjoying it.

I have now tried both methods and in the future would greatly prefer the plan-ahead method to the flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants method. I tried to do that last year but the story idea didn’t go anywhere. I guess that’s part of the danger of that method, too. You can get really excited about something that really isn’t as exciting as it first seemed. It really helps to know your characters beforehand. Saves time thinking them up and getting to know them along the way. My first year of NaNoWriMo, I think I got very lucky.

On October 30 I attended a NaNoWriMo kickoff party at the Placitas Library with my mom (she is not doing it, but was interested in finding out more about NaNoWriMo.) It was fun to fore-gather with other writers and perspective writers, and afterwards we milled around and chatted with each other some. We all shared what previous experience we’d had with NaNoWriMo, and afterwards I was talking to another lady and she asked me what I did or was going to do with my 30,000 words from ’08. The truth is, after writing that story a lot of things happened in my life– big, life-changing things– and as a result, I changed a lot. Because I have changed so much, when I look at that story now I see it needs to change a lot. I am not the same person I was, so I can’t look at that story in the same way. It’s hard to explain. But there are a lot of changes that need to take place to that manuscript, and that story, before it will be ready to have anything done with it. I have grown a lot as a writer, too, and there are many glaring faults. So for the present, I have set that story aside. I am still interested in the idea but there are changes that need to be made and making those changes has been more complicated than I expected. Maybe I’m just too close to the story and need some distance before I can properly tackle it again. So that is what I am giving myself here– by now focusing on a completely different idea. I am excited about this novel, so I am going to devote my time and energies to it for the time being, and maybe later on I’ll be able to go back to that other one.

NaNoWriMo Update

2011-11-10T20:56:00.001-07:00

My parents have a new dining room table, and it has become my base of operations for my novel-writing. There are other places around the house I use: the sofa, my favorite arm-chair in our office, our bed, the kitchen table. But I think this is my favorite so far. I can leave my mouse, mouse-pad, flash-drives, and computer power cable set up most of the day without having to clean them off for meals or because they are in somebody’s way. Plus it’s in a little nook away from the other side of the house that is mostly used, and next to a window with an exquisite view. I spent an enjoyable few hours here earlier today, listening to music and working on my novel.

Speaking of the novel… I’m making good progress. After a steady few days, the busyness picked up and I got a little behind. Plus I went through a phase of discouragement, as all writers go through now and then. Feeling like it was no good, and not worth going on-with. But after a break and some encouragement from my mother-in-law, I picked up and went on, and I am fairly happy with my progress. This is a first draft, so it’s not going to be the greatest quality, but the main thing is I get the body down– the main body of the novel. Then I can edit from there. But this is just about writing, even if it’s not very good. That’s actually a really good thing.

And so the story progresses and I haven’t hit too many snags yet. The main obstacle has been my computer, actually. I have Ubuntu, an operating system from Lynux on my computer instead of Windows. It has worked really well thus far, but a few days ago we updated to the new Lynux 11.10, and after that my computer began locking up randomly. So we took it off and tried an off-shoot of Lynux called Xubuntu, which my dad has on his computer and he really likes. Unfortunately that system didn’t like my computer either, and I had the same problem. So finally James re-installed the version of Ubuntu that came out before 11.10, and thus far, it seems to have fixed the problems. Hopefully they’ll get the bugs worked out of 11.10, but in the meanwhile, I am happy to have my computer back! It may just be my particular computer that didn’t like 11.10… but at all events, this works for now.

On to the World Series

2011-10-17T21:01:00.002-06:00

It has been a very interesting post-season. Starting off, the St. Louis Cardinals came from behind to take the Wild Card in the last few games of the season; that was a close race. Then the Tampa Bay Rays overtook the Boston Red Sox and won the Wild Card on the last day of the season. That was exciting– that race almost ended up requiring a tie-breaker game to decide it. On the last day of the season the Red Sox were leading into the ninth inning, then they brought their closer out, and he blew the save. Meanwhile, the Rays were playing the Yankees (who had already won the AL East) and losing by seven runs. Then in the eighth inning they scored six, in the bottom of the ninth Evan Longoria hit a game-tying homer, and the game went into extras. In the bottom of the eleventh Longoria homered again, giving the Rays the victory, moments after Boston lost. That’s how the Rays won the Wild Card. Wild finish! They would go on to face the Detroit Tigers, while the Texas Rangers battled the Yankees. The Rangers won their series, and the Rays lost to the Tigers.

Meanwhile, over in the National League, the St. Louis Cardinals were slated to play the Philadelphia Phillies, arguably the best team in the major leagues right now, due to their formidable lineup and even more impressive pitching rotation. That rotation will probably go down in history as one of the best ever. And St. Louis won, in five games. Nearby, the Milwaulkee Brewers were playing the Arizona Diamondbacks. I don’t care for Milwaulkee, so I was hoping the D’Backs would win. However Milwaulkee took that series in five games. So there was some interesting irony in the end, that two division rivals faced each other for the NLCS. Milwaulkee and St. Louis had already played each other five or six times during the regular season, so this was something of an old hat.

The Rangers and the Tigers went six games. All but one game was decided by one run; several of them went into extra innings. Finally, the Rangers were leading 3-2 and game six began. It was a blow-out. The Rangers won 15-5. The Tigers fell apart early and began making errors– at one point two outfielders crashed into each other and the ball dropped, allowing several Ranger runs to score. Nelson Cruz hit his sixth home-run of the NLCS, setting a record for most homers ever hit by one person in the NLCS, and winning the mvp award.

The St. Louis/Milwaulkee series was also interesting. The games fluxuated a lot more between the two teams, with first one then the other scoring a lot of runs. St. Louis was leading 3-1 and were at home, but Milwaulkee stole a game from them and then they headed to Milwaulkee for the last two games. That was a little scary, but the Cardinals came out in fine fashion last night, hitting a bunch of homers and winning the game 12-6. They chased the Brewers starter early and never looked back.

And so it’s a St. Louis/Texas World Series. I’m pretty excited about it. I like both teams and they aren’t the “typical” winners, like the Yankees. Both teams have a lot of great players, including strong Christian players who are leaders on and off the field. For St. Louis, there’s Albert Pujols who is arguably the greatest baseball player ever; certainly the greatest of our time. He has incredible talent offensively and defensively and an amazing eye for the strike-zone. If you throw him something hitable, he will hit it. Better not to try.

Then for the Rangers there is Josh Hamilton. He has a pretty inspiring story of how he struggled with drugs and has come all the way back. He is a strong Christian and is always talking about his faith. One thing I really like about him is that when the Rangers won their division last year, Hamilton celebrated with Ginger-Ale instead of champaign.

I was also surprised this morning to read a quote from one of the Brewers players. One reason I don’t like the Brewers is that they are division rivals of the Cubs; another reason is Prince Fielder, their slugger. He is pretty much the opposite of Hamilton and Pujols– he is a great hitter but very negative and not a good leader, I feel. I would far rather see Hamilton and Pujols in the spotlight. But I found out recently that another of the Brewers best players, Corey Hart, is a new Christian, and I was impressed by this quote from Ryan Braun that I read this morning:

“They’ve [the Cardinals] been playing phenomenal baseball. They were clearly the better team in the series, and ultimately, I think the team that deserved to win, did win.”

That is a very cool thing to say after losing the NLCS. And it downplays the Brewers own run a little bit; they had an impressive run in the last month of the season. I don’t think anybody expected them to win the division by as much as they did. I respect the Brewers more than I did, and I appreciate the gracious way they are taking their loss.

But when it’s all said and done, I do think the Cardinals are a little better team. For one thing, Pujols is a better all-around player than Fielder; for another, Tony Larussa is one of the smartest managers in baseball, and for a third, I think the Cardinals have a really good, well-rounded lineup. The only questionable element is pitching. Their starting pitching (besides Carpenter) can be a bit iffy at times, but the bullpen was magnificent in the NLCS.

I think it’s going to be a great ‘Series. This time, I honestly don’t know who to root for. I like remaining loyal to the National League, but I like the Rangers a lot, too, and I’m obliged to them for knocking out the Yankees.

It Matters

2001-10-18T20:59:00.004-06:00

I’ve been feeling a little discouraged lately… it’s kind of hard to explain it, but I guess I am still adjusting to my life away from college. For four and a half years my life was filled with almost constant activity with school and Intervarsity. Especially with IV, we often saw the very tangible results of our efforts to make a difference.

Now everything is different. Being at home most of the day, I have frankly been discouraged because I felt like what I’m doing doesn’t really make a difference. At college I heard so much about how we can make a difference with the people around us– people in our classes, roommates, on campus, co-workers, etc. But what about when you don’t really interact with people very often? When your days are filled with housework, cleaning, and cooking, sometimes it feels like it really doesn’t matter.

But God has been showing me that it does matter, as long as I am faithful to the work He has called me to do– that is the most important thing. Even if I never see the difference, the important thing is being faithful– then I will leave life with no regrets. He showed me, if I feel I am not making a difference, it is not because I don’t have any opportunities. One of those ways is by writing. Even if I don’t see people a lot these days, I still have an opportunity to reach out, encourage people via the internet. That’s pretty cool.

Also prayer. This morning I read the October 17 devotional in My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers: ”Prayer does not equip us for greater works— prayer is the greater work. Yet we think of prayer as some commonsense exercise of our higher powers that simply prepares us for God’s work. In the teachings of Jesus Christ, prayer is the working of the miracle of redemption in me, which produces the miracle of redemption in others, through the power of God…

… it makes no difference where you are. However God may engineer your circumstances, your duty is to pray. Never allow yourself this thought, “I am of no use where I am,” because you certainly cannot be used where you have not yet been placed. Wherever God has placed you and whatever your circumstances, you should pray, continually offering up prayers to Him….

…There is nothing thrilling about a laboring person’s work…When you labor at prayer, from God’s perspective there are always results. What an astonishment it will be to see, once the veil is finally lifted, all the souls that have been reaped by you, simply because you have been in the habit of taking your orders from Jesus Christ.” (Emphasis mine.)

Wow, what an encouragement! God’s timing, as always, is impeccable.