Republican or Democrat

Well, it is almost election time and I am going to weigh in. I am very interested in politics, but due to the people who are really involved in the politics, my interest is waning. If you are wanting to know what candidate I think is best, well don't ask me. I don't think either of the candidates are great. Here is what gets me about politics, why must everyone be so hateful and lose all objectivity when it comes to this matter? I have friends who are republicans and they will send me the 238 lies and contradictions of B. Obama. I have friends who are democrats and they will usually follow up with the 239 lies of McCain. Is there anyone out there who will just present the case for what they stand for. I am really not as interested in how much you hate the other candidate as I am in what you stand for. Also, as a Christian, I do not think that just because someone is a Christian that will make them a good politician. Anyway, I wish politics was a much more agreeable presentation of ideas. I would really enjoy a debate of ideas and why one person is for each idea, but I can not stand the mandate to make the other person look like an idiot......

Texas Rangers

I am about to convince you why the Texas Rangers will win the World Series. This may be the longest blog I will write. I am doing it now because my baseballe excitement is winding down as the football season kicks into gear. I have been a long suffering Ranger fan since I was old enough to know what baseball was. I am such a baseball fan that when I was young I used to fake stomach aches so I could stay home and watch the Cubs or Braves. Now, as an adult my 3 most recent vacations were centered around seeing baseball games. You might say I am a fanatic (fan for short). Well, if you know anything about baseball, you know that the Texas Rangers do not have a storied history. They have been playing Major League Baseball in Arlington, Tx since 1972 (allegedly). I was born in 1978 and shortly thereafter I became a Ranger fan. I have no idea why this is, but I just loved baseball for as long as I can remember. I can play catch or home run derby for hours and hours (Yes, that is pathetic, but that is the way it is). The Rangers have treated me to exactly one Playoff win. Now, if you are a baseball fan you know that it takes at minimum 3 to win a playoff series. The Rangers are 1-9 in playoff games, all against the stupid Yankees. Well, many local fans have turned their allegiance to other teams or just give up hope on the lowly rangers. Not me, I will never give up on this team. Each year, about this time I get very dissapointed and say I will probably not watch as much next year, but as soon as the opening day tickets go on sale I will be giving my money to this team who has brought me nothing in return. Why, you may ask? I guess Baseball is my drug and I am truly addicted.

Here is why the Rangers will win the World Series in the Next 10 years.
1. They finally have a plan and seem to be sticking to it. We need more pitching has been the motto of the Rangers since their inception. Usually, if we have a good pitcher we give him to another team for free. The following names are former Rangers....Chris Young, Edinson Volquez, John Danks, Aaron Harang, Justin Durchsherer, Armando Galaraga and I am sure there are more but that is off the top of my head. All of these guys are having tremendous seasons as pitchers, but not for my beloved Texas Rangers.

I think they have finally started to develop some pitchers and hope they can keep them.
I think we have a championship rotation in the Minors if they are allowed to develop. Remember the following names:

1. Neftali Feliz (thank you Mark Teixera and the Braves)
2. Derek Holland
--If you want to get excited go to Milb.com and look at the numbers of these 2 guys, they are coming and they are my 2 favorite prospects. Of course, I thought Juan Dominguez had something too and you probably don't remember him.

Those are two guys with ace potential, but the real reason for optimism is the following list

1. Eric Hurley
2. Matt Harrison
3. Michael Main
4. Blake Beavan
5. Tommy Hunter
6. Neil Ramirez
7. Kasey Kiker
8. Brandon McCarthy (maybe, I am losing interest quickly)
9. Carlos Pimentel (he is several years away.

These guys are all pitchers and we need to have 5 good ones. I know I am missing a few, but the more you run out there the better your odds of finding one.

I think the Pitching is coming but soon we will see.

Now, we need to get to the rest of the team. The following is the lineup I think may get us there

1. Julio Borbon CF
2. Michael Young 3b
3. Josh Hamilton RF
4. Ian Kinsler 2B
5. Chris Davis/Justin Smoak 1B (One will be traded for Pitching)
6. Max Ramirez DH
7. Boggs/Murphy LF Platoon
8. Taylor Teagarden C
9. Elvis Andrus SS

UIF Jose Vallejo
4th Of TBD

Now this leaves out the bullpen, but that will work itself out.
Will the Rangers ever win the Series? Yes, at least that is what i tell myself every March.

Grace

God's unmerited favor. It is available to all.
That just is not right.

Not so Serious

Its Friday, so i thought i would do a little writing that is on the lighther side. One of my favorite things to do is make lists, so I am going to introduce my first Blog list (There will be many to come)

5 things I look for in a girl:

1. Must be able to make chocolate chip cookies (This was on my real list until the store invented those ready to bake cookies)
2. No Smoking (No exceptions)
3. No kids (There is an exception)
4. No fat chicks (the determination is you can not weigh more than me)
5. Sarcasm (Absolutely, no exceptions)

This is only for humor purposes, if you are offended you shouldn't be, because these are really just jokes.

Passion and Calling

The dictionary defines passion as the following:
intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction

This is something I think about often. I think if you asked most people who knew me what I am passin is, they would say sports. Specifically, they would say football or baseball. I would argue that yes I am passionate about those, they are not my soul stirring passion.

As a christian, I have often heard that if you are passionate about something then you should pursue that as your career. I am working in my own mind to determine if that is accurate and this poses a couple of problems.

First, as Christians I believe we are all to be passionate about Jesus Christ and letting people know what he has done for us. This is hard for me sometimes, because at this current juncuture I do not enjoy my job one bit. Each day I look forward to the day when I am doing something I feel "called" to do. Eventually, I will end up working in the public school system, but I have to make it through 5 years at my current employer. I am 4/5ths of the way done, but I am having trouble thinking I can make it through the final year. Every morning, when I wake up, I have been trying to think of it this way. If my passion is Jesus as it should be, then each day when I go to work, I should be his representative to my job. Then I wonder how am I doing at that, and most of the time I think.....I can not be doing a very good job. When you don't enjoy your job it is hard not to complain about your job. When you don't really want to be at work, it is difficult to do a good job. The thing is I have a God who came and died for me. I don't think he could have been having a great time as he was being nailed to a cross, but at that time that is exactly where he needed to be. Also, I know he did not want to be there because he asked his Father to take the cup from his hand, but that the Father's will be done. This is a hard prayer to pray, but I must if Jesus did. I don't want to be here right now, but if its your will I am thankful to be in your will because I know you care for me. I look forward to the day when I am in a place that is more enjoyabe, such as when Jesus ended up on the right hand of the Father.

My next and final question is: What if your other passions are not vocational? If there is one thing that keeps me awake at night, it is family. If you are reading this, you may or may not know the story of my family. Let me just say it is not ideal. Almost every book I read is how to be a man, and how to treat your family, and sometimes all I can think about is if God gives me a wife how will I treat her. Will I treat her in the way I have been instructed through the scriptures, or will I revert to what was modeled to me through my family. Pshycology will tell me that I will revert back to my roots. I contend that with the help of God, and only with his help I can build a family that his honoring to him and brings glory to him, but only through Him!
I have an idea how to do it. I think if God gives me a young lady to call my wife, if I spend every day for the rest of my life making her feel like the most special and beautiful girl in the world, that is a good start. Now, if I can just convince a girl to let me do that (Good luck to me). For kids, I am certain that if you raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord they will not depart from it. The question then is this? How do I work this into my life calling, or can I. Is it possible, that I need to go to work each day and be thankful for what God give me, or am I missing something he is asking me to do?

In conclusion, we shold be passionate about Jesus and I need to work on that a ton. Also, sometimes your passion may not be vocational, but that is okay, pursue it with all that is in you, trust the Lord and he will come through. He may not come through when you want him to, but in his time He will.

New York

Allright, so I am back from New York. It was the 1st time I had been to the state, much less the city. The sole purpose of this trip was to see Yankee stadium before it was shut down and replaced with the new one. This is the outside of the new one.

This was a trip that was planned just a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately, I have a friend who now lives about an hour away from the city and offered to let me and 2 friends stay there. We flew up on Thursday and got in about lunch time. After lunch in a New York town, we headed to the Baseball Hall of Fame. This is an amazing experience and this place is out in the middle of nowhere. Actually, you go to the middle of nowhere and then go about a hour more into nowhere and there it is Cooperstown.

That is the entrance to the Hall of Fame, we had to go through quickly, but if you are a baseball fan you have to at least go there once.

Here is the Ranger representation, the guy on the plaque, not the goofball standing next to it:

The following is the 1st class and on of my favorite displays:

If you ever see that hat in the display on the right, you let me know so I can buy it. If you get me that hat you will be one of my favorite people.

Now, for the game. Our friend told us that if we came up there we could stay with his family for free, but that he would also get us tickets. Well, let me tell you about these tickets!!!! We were expecting that we might sit in the upper deck, but after talking to him maybe a little better than that. Well, when we got the tickets......Let the picture do the talking:

I have many more pictures but that is enough for now.

NEW YORK

This is how close I was sitting at Yankee stadium. More to come later