This weekend Madeline also had her Opening Day game for Talleyville Softball.
Like her brother, this is her first year playing at a higher level (Seniors). She is also her first year playing for her Middle School team so I’m very proud of her for both!
While she is the youngest on the Seniors Talleyville Team, she got to pitch in 3 innings in the first game and had 6 strike outs. Way to go Madeline!
Wishing you all the best for a great softball year as well!
Today is Opening Day at Naamans Little League.
Rowan is playing his first year in the Majors Division on Horizon Services. Very proud to be his father and look forward to the coming season! Good luck son!
Last night Mary and I got to experience our first Ignite Wilmington event. These “Ignite” events are happening in various cities across the country. This was the 5th event in Wilmington area but the first time we had a chance to go. Thanks to a strong social media networking effort across Delaware, Ignite Wilmington is becoming very popular and a great networking event which quickly sells out the venues where it is hosted.
The idea is simple but unique:
A night of presentations with a twist. Presenting on a subject of their choice, speakers have exactly five minutes to teach something, enlighten us, or simply inspire—backed by twenty slides auto-advancing every fifteen seconds.
The presentations were very well done and especially creative – not your typical “business meeting” PowerPoint slides by a long shot! They are not sales pitches but rather opportunities for local leaders to share things that they are passionate about. A sampling of what who we heard from included:
Historic Queen Theater
This one was especially well timed as they held it in the recently renovated Queen Theater on Market Street. The Queen was once a vibrant place that was a vital part of the downtown community in the late 19th and first half of the 20th century. I was amazed to recently learn of the history and the significance that the Queen played in the life of Wilmington, which makes its return all the more special as the city revitalizes itself especially in the LoMa (Life On Market) area.
I definitely look forward to attending future Ignite Wilmington events as well as seeing performances at the World Cafe Live at the Queen!
Today I completed The Essential 100 reading plan which I started on YouVersion at the beginning of the year.
I mention this not at all out of pride or conceit, but to encourage. If I can do it, I know you can to! Trust me, I am not a fast reader or someone who reads dozens of books a year.
As I shared during the interview with Pastor Eric during our “No Comprendo” series, YouVersion makes finding a reading plan that works for you very easy. There are plans that cover the entire Bible and ones that are topical (like anger, marriage, finances) as well as ones that for youth. YouVersion is web-based and available not only on your computer but on as an app or in mobile web format on all major mobile devices so you can have access to it at any time.
The Bible isn’t just some holy book that “religious people” carry around to show off or beat people over the head with. It is a book of life and hope for all of us. It is how God speaks to us and shares his message with us. There will be parts we don’t understand, but that is okay – we need to start and let the Spirit guide us!
How about you? Have you tried a reading plan yet? Are you ready to try one now? I would love to hear what you have tried or are thinking about trying. You can leave comments here!
The expectations for the Phillies have never been higher than they are for 2011 season.
Ben Francisco scores winning run in bottom of 9th in first game of 2011. Rob Carr - Getty Images
High Hopes
With the off-season return of Cliff Lee, the Phils have 4 starting aces to throw at their NL foes and an offense that even with the loss of Jason Werth, has potential to score runs in bunches. They have been an exciting team to watch for the past 3 seasons and 2011 looks like it could be magical year for the players, fans, the city of Philadelphia and even for Major League Baseball. The club has been fortunate to have the senior leadership of Charlie Manuel and Ruben Armaro who have made some bold and surprising moves. They seem to know what they are doing and have earned the respect of players and fans alike.
World Series or bust. That seems to be the growing expectation among the fans of Philadelphia and even in the club house. They believe they have what it takes to win it all. Over confident? Maybe. There are a lot of games to be played and there are a lot of hurdles to get by, including the injury bug, but there is no reason to doubt their chances are as good if not better than the rest of the league.
Is it fair to have such high expectations of a sports team or any organization? Should we be disappointed when a team “only” makes it to the first round of the playoff then looses? Most teams would just love to make it that far. Many players never get to taste the playoffs, not to mention wear a championship ring on their finger. Does the pressure of having higher expectations in yourself and by your fans help you do perform better? It seems that the best athletes are those that rise to the occasion and rather than crumble under the pressure they soar. Conversely, it seems without high expectations (or with too low of expectations), many will fail or only reach mediocrity.
What About the Real World?
It seems to make sense to have these hopes and expectations for sports teams that have the right chemistry and talent, but what about the “real world” where we work and live? Should we have high expectations of our leaders at work, church or government? What about our families and our relationships? If our expectations are low are we just setting them (and ourselves) up for failure? Some of us would rather play it safe and not risk being hurt or disappointed and in so doing, miss out on the opportunity to ever taste the thrill or experience the excitement that comes from achieving something that seems impossible.
Do we cheer for our friends and coworkers or do we insult them or try to bring them down. Do we encourage our kids and be there biggest fans or do we point out what they are doing wrong and constantly have to ‘show them’ how it should be done? Do we support our spouses, church leaders and workplace bosses or do we spend our time finding their faults and pointing them out to others? How much better would they be if we had high expectations and cheered them on?
I believe sports are so popular because we all want to experience what winning is like. We want to be the hero and the one people cheer for. What we often overlook though is the number of times the star players have struck out, the amount of practice they have put in and the sacrifices they have made along the way.
Maybe it’s time we spent as much enthusiasm cheering those around us as we do our favorite sports team. I wonder how many more champions we would produce if we did?
Despite not have all of the details worked out with the music industry on licences, Amazon has beat both Google and Apple to the race to be the first major player to create a place where you can store and play your music collection online.
Since shutting down Lala about a year ago, Apple has been quite on this front and consumers have been left without a solution. There have been a few services available including, Libox, but none with the reputation and backing of the “Big 3″. Google is rumored to be close to a launch of Google Music and Apple might be in the process of enhancing its MobleMe service to include a music locker later in the fall with the new release of iOS. But Amazon has beat them both to the punch and has launched the Amazon Cloud Drive.
CNET has posted a pretty complete review of the new service. Bottom line – when it come to online music storage and playback, Amazon Cloud Drive is now the service to beat. Price is very reasonable (starting with 5 GB free) and easy integration with Amazon MP3 music store.
Intro video from Amazon explains the idea behind the service. Looks like 2011 will be a competitive year in this space which is a good thing for all of us. More than ever there will be no reason not to have your digital music collection backed up!
Flaws. We all have them. The question is what do we do about them? On the outside things might be looking just fine, but what if there is a problem lurking beneath the surface?
Flaws can be ugly and embarrassing so we often want to hide them from those around us. We think they wouldn’t understand or fear they may treat us differently if they knew about our defects. So we try to hide them with a smile or a positive attitude meanwhile beneath the surface, trouble is brewing.
Sometimes we are simply unaware of a problem we have. Maybe nobody has ever pointed it out and we simply lack the ability or willingness to look at ourselves critically or carefully enough to discover it. Despite our ignorance of the problem, however, it is still there, lurking beneath the surface causing damage that we are unaware of.
In either situation, the damage is taking place.
We just had a situation in our home where we discovered that a water pipe in the ceiling had a small pin prick hole and had been slowly leaking and spraying out water. It was a tiny small hole and it was hidden behind the drywall of the ceiling. Small enough and hidden enough that there was no visible damage, at least not until yesterday.
Eventually that small, hidden problem causes enough damage that it starts to become visible on the surface and to those around you. Eventually there is no more hiding or no more denying that the problem is there. The damage is done. It is time for repair and to address the root cause of the problem.
Maybe you lack a key professional skill in your job that is limiting your career. If you haven’t learned anything new in the industry of your profession since school, chances are you are falling behind and won’t have the skills required to perform well in the future. Your lack of learning might be a serious flaw that you try to cover up by pointing out the mistakes of others.
Maybe you have an issue with gambling, or alcohol, or drugs, or pornography, or other addictive behavior. Maybe it’s a control problem or an anger management issue that plagues you.
It could be a health problem that you know nothing about until one day you are hit with reality of a heart attack or a stroke or mental breakdown.
We all have flaws. Pretending that we don’t or focusing on the flaws of others is self-defeating. Some flaws are easier to fix than others, but they are better and cheaper to fix before they cause damage. The process can be intimidating and often requires help from others but the key is to recognize the problem and take the first step to addressing it.
What is that first step you need to take?
We had the opportunity this weekend to get away for a day as a family and go skiing at Camelback.
End of a Fun Day
The run of cold weather last week produced a decent amount of snow in the Poconos and we had not yet had a chance to due any skiing this winter so we decided to take advantage of the opportunity and hit the slopes. The conditions were very good for this time of year and $25 lift ticket price was perfect!
I enjoy our special days where we can get away and create memories and do things together as a family. Even thought there is work to get organized to go and to make it happen, days like this refresh me and energize me.
My notes from this weekend’s message at Fellowship – part 2 of the “Hitched” series.
Some Benefits (and Dangers) of Marriage!
- mortality rates
- rates of chronic illnesses or disabilities
- one’s own health
- depression, anxiety and suicide
- problems with drinking and substance abuse
- financial well-being
- rates of violence
Marriage rates in the U.S. Are at an all time low. Many seem to be afraid of the dangers above.
Big idea - “Bump the bumps” by bringing back the fun.
Love Bumps:
1. Words that cut.
2. Not asking for forgiveness.
3. Lack of fun.
4. Trying to straighten out your spouse.
5. Secrets.
6. No intimacy.
How to Love - Romans 12:9-11 NLT
“Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.”
Take Aways
* Raise the value of your spouse as high as possible. (Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Romans 12:9)
* Pursue God. (Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Romans 12:9)
* Build the love bank. (Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Romans 12:10)
* Do something great. (Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Romans 12:11)
What do you do for fun? It is common in the tech world to often find our niche or the thing we like to do and do it over and over again. Even outside the tech world it is easy to be stuck in the rut of a daily routine. I enjoy opportunities to break the cycle of the daily routine and do or see different things.
I had the opportunity this evening to take Rowan to see the Harlem Globetrotters. It was a first time for both of us and it certainly was an enjoyable show. It’s great to share new experiences with family members. It definitely creates memories and the chance for new creative thinking.
We all need breaks in our routine. I’m finding more and more that regularly scheduled breaks not only give me fresh perspective but also make me more productive over the long haul.
What was the last fun thing you did do break the routine?
