Playball!

Some of my favorite words are: “Play ball!”  I played softball for years.  To this day my favorite smell is grape bubblegum and infield dirt.  I played second base and one of my responsibilities was to relay the ball from the outfield to home plate to stop a runner from scoring.  How did I do this?  I honed that baby in as fast and as hard as I could.

 “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 (NIV)

          Did you notice the first word, “Cast?”   It means to throw or toss.  God isn’t telling us to hand Him our worries, but to throw them at Him.  Why?  Think about it.  As soon as I threw the softball to home plate, it was gone.  I couldn’t get the ball back if I tried.  It was beyond my reach.  When you hand somebody something, you have the chance to snatch it back.  But when you toss something, you can’t do that.  It’s gone.

          God doesn’t want us to take our problems back.  He doesn’t want us to be anxious or worried.  So throw your problems to Him.  He won’t miss! 

Mr. Spock

Mr. Spock

 I’ll admit it.  My favorite alien is Mr. Spock.  Who doesn’t like those pointy ears or his ability to do the Vulcan nerve pinch?  Alf is my next favorite.  I loved the episode where he had to fight a giant cockroach.  It was hilarious.  As for E.T., he was okay.  I didn’t cry when he died in the movie.  I’m sitting in the theater, listening to all the sniffles, and I’m thinking,  “It’s just a puppet!” 

None of the aliens were real anyway.  Mr. Spock was portrayed by a real person, Leonard Nimoy, but the character of Mr. Spock was as fictional as the other aliens.   I guess the question should be do real aliens exists?  The answer is yes, and they walk among us!

“Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.  Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” 1 Peter 2:11-12 (NIV).

Did you think I meant extra-terrestrial aliens? The Amplified Bible translation uses the term aliens instead of foreigners.  None the less, we as Christians are the “foreigners” or “aliens” addressed in this passage.  Once we become believers in Christ, we have a new home and a new purpose.  This sinful world is only a temporary stop on our eternal journey.  But while we are here, we still have to deal and live with the sin and temptation all around us.  We are to behave in a Godly manner and not succumb to worldly ways.  By doing this, we are to be example to the lost so they too will become aliens in this world.

I’m gonna beam out of here y’all.  Live long and pray often!!

Blast Off!

          I’m sure most of you know that I am a space cadet.  I can’t help it; that’s the way God made me to be.  A few years ago we were visiting relatives in Florida when there was a Space Shuttle launch.  I don’t know about you, but I miss those.

          We watched the launch from Jetty Park.  Where Sara and I were standing, we could see the Assembly building.  It took the sound from the blast off a few seconds to reach us, but when it did, it was AWESOME.  Sara was standing right beside me and we had to scream at the top of our lungs to even be able barely hear each other.  It wasn’t just a roar.  I could hear the crackle of the fire within the roar.  It was AWESOME.  Did I say that already?  And I saw more of the huge fire tail than I saw of the Space Shuttle.  It had a glow like I’ve never seen.  It’s almost hard to describe its intensity. 

“You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.” Nehemiah 9:6 (NIV)

           I was awestruck at man’s accomplishment, but what was that compared to God’s.  He’s the One who hand made the galaxies, black holes, stars, planets, moons, meteors, asteroids, and everything else in the universe. And He alone governs the laws of physics that control them.  And yet, He still cares about what happens in my life.  Now that’s truly AWESOME.

By the way, “Apollo 13” has a great launch scene!