Chocolate Coffee???

Chocolate coffee is a liar. I hate coffee......I know most people love it, but not me.
I love chocolate, a whole lot. You can persuade me to do most anything with a chocolate chip cookie.
Today, at work, it was really cold and the sign said chocolate coffee. I thought to myself, well, I hate one and I love the other, mix them together and the coffee should be okay.
Chocolate coffee does not taste chocolate at all. It just taste like coffee. Chocolate coffee is a liar.
I shall now resume my lifetime boycott of any substance that is known as coffee.

Psalm 127.....Part II

1 Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.2 In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for he grants sleep to [a] those he loves.3 Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him.4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth.5 Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.

Please see the above mentioned highlighted part of the PSALM. I would like to address something that seems to be Anti American. Just so you know, I don't consider myself an American, but a Christian who lives in America (Phil 3:20, I will expound later), I am aiming to bring that perspective to this writing.

I am absolutely certain that God instituted marriage and family. The reason I am so certain for this is because it is the practical illustration of His love for His people. There is oneness that can only be found in family that represents the oneness we can find in Jesus Christ. The Hebrew text indicates that marriage is a completion or making one whole, or complete. Therefore, marriage is supposed to make you feel complete or one as much as possible on Earth. Don't worry Single people like me, marriage is the illustration, we are totally complete in Jesus Christ with or without spouse.

Today, I want to focus on what it means to have children and why American Christians should probably have more than the 2 they average. Lets think about the illustration of family. If God is building a kingdom, and He is, then He would want as many people in it as possible. This is why he has given us the admonition to be fruitful and multiply. If God is building His kingdom, why wouldn't we build the Kingdom he is allowing us to manage?

In the current time, it seems that the heritage that we claim is from the Lord is to find a job we love, save a lot of money and then retire to do whatever we want to do. I would challenge someone to bring me a biblical example of this lifestyle. Retirement is an American concept, not a Biblical one. (Full disclosure, my current employer is a retirement company.) This is one of the main reasons that people do not have as many kids these days, it reduces the American Dream. How can I travel the world in my RV when i am 63 if I have kids and grand kids to take care of?

Why is it important to have kids? Well, it is clearly stated in the Word of God, that if you have a lot of kids, you are blessed. I don't recall a scripture that says if you retire, enjoy your work and have fun you are blessed, but the Psalm indicates that if you have children, you have a heritage from the Lord and you are blessed. Let me pose the following question. At the end of your life, do you want to be known for the career you pursued, the vacations you took, or the Heritage you have in the Lord. You answer.

If you are wandering how many kids I think a Christian family should have, let me answer that.
I would say a quiver full, how many ever the Lord puts in your quiver. A quiver is what a warrior keeps his arrows in. I don't think there is a certain number, but the more you have the more blessed you are......even if you have less money. Which reminds me, children are never an expense or a punishment. Children are 100% of the time a blessing, no matter the circumstance of their birth.

I have a dream, that one day we stop thinking of kids as expenses and mouths to feed, but as on opportunity to raise in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. I hope that one day Christians everywhere celebrate the heritage that our Lord has provided. I am concerned that my generation is going to get old and regret that we have pursued our selfish interests and our heritage for the Lord will be minimal.

To my married friends, if you have 2 or 3 kids, you do not have a lot of kids. You are blessed, but please consider the Psalm and the blessing of a quiver full. Also, consider those who are physically unable to have children and how it must make them full if you decide that you only want a kid or two.

To my single friends........don't have any kids until you get married, but I am going to address the growing trend of delayed marriage soon.

PSALM 127

1 Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.
2 In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for he grants sleep to [a] those he loves.
3 Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him.
4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth.
5 Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.

Today I begin my blogging series on the above mentioned Psalm. What this Psalm has to say is what I am most passionate about. If you asked most people that know me what I am most passionate about the answer would be sports. Well, I do love sports, especially football and baseball, but there is nothing in this world more important to me than home and family. My next several blog posts will be concerning Home and family. Yes, "Home and Family according to the Single Guy".

First, a little background. The family that I grew up with was in no way shape or form stable. Also, that is the case still to this today. I am going to post more on this later and discuss the erroneous thought that if you did not grow up with a strong family, then you yourself will not grow a strong family.

Today, I want to focus on the 1st part of the Psalm that says,
"Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain"

I think it seems fairly obvious that this is not talking about a physical house. It is clear if you read the remainder of the Psalm that the Psalmist is referring to a family. The question that needs to be answered is how would a house that the Lord built look? I would contend that if we were to evaluate the vast majority of American homes who claim to be Christian, they would not look like a house that the Lord built. That sounds bad, but stay with me to the end.

According to some statistics, over 95% of families that attend Southern Baptist Churches (I attend a Southern Baptist Church) there is no family devotional time at home. This is one of the most heart breaking things I have ever heard. Here is the problem, if you are going to have a Godly home that is built by the Lord, you most know his word and be in close relationship with Jesus. This is not something that can be accomplished by attending church and being under the word(That is a big part of growing, but does not replace it). This is something that you must make a priority in your home. Actually, it should be the number one priority. If you would do a little study of the scripture, you would find that the role of husband and pastor are very similar. There is no way you would accept a pastor that does not know the Word and making every effort to know the Word more. For guys, if you desire to be married and find a wife (which according to the Proverbs is a good thing), you better be in the Word. Ladies, if you are looking to be married, the 1st thing you need to know, is this Man a student of the Word of the Living God. Here is my free advice: If he is not, do not consider him future marriage potential. The First thing that a house the Lord builds has is time in the word of the Living God.

The 1st characteristic of a house that is built by the Lord is study of God's Word. The 2nd characteristic is that it is a house of prayer. In my own upbringing, I have only seen one of my parents pray one time, and the other I have never seen pray. This is very important, because if we are not seeking the counsel of the Lord, we are wasting our time and all of our work will be in vain. A house that prays together shows the proper respect for the authority of things. I can read, discuss and hope for everything to work out, but if I do not seek God, it will not work out. Also, it can help you get through some tough times. How many marriages would have been saved if instead of arguing about things, the couple and or kids got on their face before the Holy God and sought his wisdom. We all have our opinions, but what if a home set that aside each day and had each day influenced by prayer? If you are married and not praying with your family begin today. If you are single, begin praying for your future family today......You may not know them by name yet, but you can begin lifting them up now.

The final point for today is as follows: A house that the Lord builds is a house of service. This is a place where I as a single guy see a lot of marriages could really be built up. If you are married, think what an opportunity you have. Jesus said he came not to be served, but to serve. Therefore, what if each person in a house put the others in front of themselves. What if the husband and wife were always serving each other and the kids. Instead of worrying about what you can do for me, think what can I do for you. (Aside, this also works for the local church. If you attend a church, please attend as a servant and not a consumer). This is the height of spirituality, to be able to lay your life down for someone else (There is a good example of this in recorded history (His name is Jesus)). This is really a lot of idealism from me in this post. I am working to come up with some practical ways to put this into practice. I will post some ways I think married folks can do this, and some ways the we single folks can practice this.

Marriage and family are one of the greatest gifts that God gives us. If marriage is done right, it is supposed to be the greatest illustration that we have of Heaven. The opposite of that might be marriage gone wrong is Hell on Earth, but it should not be. The main reason that there is no marriage in Heaven is because you don't need the illustration when you have the real thing. Hopefully, a lot of Christian married people are experiencing Heaven on Earth.

If a home is not studying the Scripture, praying together and serving each other, it is not being built by the Lord. If this is not going on, that home will crumble.

Baseball Time

I have a fever and there is only one prescription.......baseball (Why was I born a Texas Ranger Fan). Today, through some very appropriate work email (it was not at all appropriate) with 2 of my good friends at work, I got my annual baseball fever. Now, for those of you who know me, you know that I love baseball and more specifically Texas Ranger baseball. It was Job who said "Man, who is born of woman, Is short-lived and full of turmoil." Well, it is me who says, man born near Arlington who loves baseball is really frustrated and destined to watch miserable baseball. See my prior post for a bit of misery of the Ranger fan. If you need a refresher, they have been in existence (as the Texas Rangers) since 1972. They have been to the playoffs only 3 times, and have never won a playoff series. They are the only American League team not to have this experience. The following is my State of me and the Texas Ranger address, and just so you know, I am their biggest fan. In spite of the fact that they have never rewarded my fandom, and have been perhaps the most poorly run organization in sports, I am still here and will be each year until I die.

There is some good news.
1. Baseball America, which is the most respected publication concerning the minor leagues, says that the Rangers have the #1 organization in terms of talent. Another source says that the Texas Rangers have far and away the best minor league system. The Rangers have only had this ranking one time before and it was a class that was led by 2 time AL MVP Juan Gonzalez. The prior #1 class led to a couple of prospects that got the Rangers to the Playoffs.

2. A good majority of the minor league talent is the form of pitching. This is huge. The Rangers have never had good pitching. One day, I did a brief study to determine what the main cause was. There is a lot of conjecture about the heat and the park and all of the other things. It came down to one thing......We never have good pitchers. If you have good pitchers it doesn't matter if you are playing at the Dr. Pepper Youth Park, you will get hitters out.

3. We have Josh Hamilton. He is a once in a lifetime talent. We will talking about him like our older friends talk about Mickey Mantle. Last year was just a preview.

4. The Rangers seem to have a focus on their defense. This is why there was no problem with the way they handled Michael Young and told him to move to 3rd base. Now, I know some people may not like the way it was handled. I have to ask, how should they have handled that situation? Mike Young is one of my favorite players and is extremely underrated by the vast majority of hard core Texas Ranger fans. He is one of only 5 players to get 200 hits in 5 straight seasons. That is often overlooked. He plays a solid shortstop in that he makes all of the routine plays. On a championship team you need strong defense up the middle. The new guy Elvis Andrus is going to make a lot of mistakes this year, but he is going to be spectacular at times. You must be strong up the middle if you are going to play winning baseball. If you are a Ranger fan get used to some struggles there this year. Ean Kinsler (name misspelled on purpose) makes a lot of errors. Some people defend his defensive ability, but he still makes a lot of errors. In my opinion, if you make a lot of errors (especially after a couple of years in the majors) you are not a good defender. Hopefully, with time Andrus and Kinsler will fulfill their potential and play amazing defense up the middle. Michael Young is going to be great at 3b, he is a soldier, he is going to go out work his but off and he will be the best 3b he can be. Range is not as much of a factor so his defense will be better at the hot corner.

5. Taylor Teagarden, Jarrod Saltalmacchia, Chris Davis, Justin Smoak, Max Ramirez, Engel Beltre and Julio Borbon. These are a lot of the young position players, and this does not take into consideration that Hamilton, Kinsler, Murphy and Boggs are all still young. This will be important because the Rangers seem to be building a stunning offense with what hopes to be an amazing pitching staff.

6. The Texas Rangers are due. It would seem like the odds are in our favor. The Red Sox ended their drought, the Rays won the American League, sometime the Rangers have to right? (They do, I am still trying to convince myself)

The Bad News:

1. They are the Texas Rangers. History is against them. Whatever they should do, they seem to do exactly the opposite of that.

2. John Danks, Chris Young and Armando Galaragga. I like to call this the curse of David Clyde (look him up) These 3 young men are all excellent starting pitchers who the Rangers have traded away and have very little to show for it. I could add Edinson Volquez, but we got Josh Hamilton in return. I think Jon Daniels has the right plan in place, I am just not sure he has the ability to execute the plan at the major league level. Many will point to his trades that have restocked the minor league system and made it the most recognized in baseball. I hope that is right, but his track record indicates that he has a tough time judging when talent is major league ready.

3. Ron Washington--he seems like a nice enough guy, but he has terrible in game management. He is supposed to be a defensive guru. Last year the Rangers were the worst defensive team in the big leagues. This indicates that he to may know what to do, just not how to do what needs to be done.

4. Timing--A lot of the pitching in the minor leagues is very young and most of the hitters are close to ready. It takes longer for a pitcher to develop. It is going to be difficult to get the right hitters and pitchers in the TBIA at the same time.

Anyway, I think it is possible that the Rangers could compete for a playoff spot in a couple of years with this lineup:

CF--Julio Borbon (if he gets on base enough)
3b--Michael Young
RF--Josh Hamilton
2b--Ian Kinsler
1b/Dh--Chris Davis
1b/Dh--Justin Smoak
LF--David Murphy/Brandon Boggs
C--Taylor Teagarden/Jarrod Saltalamacchia
SS--Elvis Andrus

Bench
Max Ramirez
Jose Vallejo


SP--Ben Sheets (Pipe Dream)
SP--Derek Holland
SP--Neftali Feliz (Maybe Closer)
Sp--Kevin Millwood/Padilla
SP--Brandon McCarthy

Bp
Thomas Diamond
Eric Hurley
Kasey Kiker
CJ Wilson
Frank Francisco
Blake Beavan
Warner Madrigal

Decisions, Decisions.......

Well, I guess I am about to resume my blogging. One of my new year's resolutions is to determine what my "calling" in life is. There might be some question if we only have one calling, or if it is several over the time God allows us here. One thing is for certain, we are all called to obedience. We are all to give our lives to Jesus Christ, but that is another topic for another day.
Currently, I am considering 4-5 options, and have received the opinion of a couple of trusted friends on the matter (unfortunately, for me, their advice was not the same). Neither was wrong, both were just different. The following things are what I am considering:

1. The work of the Ministry......this must be determined to be a calling or it will just become a frustration. I am considering 2 different things that I would consider the ministry.

A. Missions--This has always been something on my mind and in my heart. There is nothing in the world more important that making Jesus Christ know to those who do not know him. My intent when I began my time in college was to do this as a career. It seems that when I pursue this that the doors do not open, which leads me to believe that perhaps I just need to be involved through my local church, but there is the possibility that the time just was not right.
(Probability 25%)

B. Family Counseling through the Local Church--This is very important to me and probably the thing that motivates me more than anything. For the sake of time I will not reveal my family history, but lets just say it drives me to make sure families are built in a godly manner. The family is supposed to illustrate Christ's love for his bride (the church). So if family is done right, and it seldom is in our culture, you get a preview of Heaven while we are on Earth. One of the most unfortunate statistics I have come across is the low % of Christian homes who have a regular devotional time in the home. This is not acceptable. How do we expect non Christians to look to us for guidance if we can not even keep our own home in order? The main obstacle for this for me....is the fact that I am single......but that is subject to change at any time.
(Probability 25%)

2. Sports Broadcasting--If you know me, you know that I love sports. If that is even possible, that is an understatement. I have never been bored of tired of watching a football or a baseball game (not even a Ranger game). I have a minimal amount of broadcasting experience over the Wise County Radio Waves, and I enjoyed every moment of it. This is what I would probably enjoy the most, but we are not here just for our sake.
(25% Probability)

3. Do what I do now (work in the Financial Industry)--This is the least appealing of all things to me, but it would be the easiest. It would not require any sacrifice of me, and it is possible it would be the most profitable, but I don't really feel like that is why the God of the universe is allowing me to be alive each day. I do have to say though, if God gifts you with the ability to work at a job, that is just as much of a calling as anything ministerial. There can be no missionaries and such things if people are not working and giving.
(25% probability)

So, that is what is on my mind for the time being. I do thank the Lord that he said his burden is easy and his yoke his light. I kind have a feeling that whatever I decide, as long as I am seeking to bring glory and honor to Jesus Christ, then all will be well.

Philippians 1:6

Vacation

I am back from vacation!!! The beach was wonderful. The weather was perfect. I enjoyed it a lot, it makes a return to reality that much more difficult. I was able to accomplish my goal of reading 3 books and beginning the 4th......I don't have a lot to say about the vacation, except that I really like the beach.

Future Blogs

Attention: I shall be on vacation, but when I get back I will most likely be writing a blog or 8 on the following, so take some time to marinate on it and later next week I will have some thoughts for you.

Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors; For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep. Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth. how blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; They will not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate.

Psalm 127

this will be continued after a brief interruption to go sit on the beach in the Dominican