How much is too much?

Okay, I will admit going in, I may lose a few male followers for writing this post.  If you would have written this and suggested I read it, until recently, I might have "unfollowed" you too!
My issue is sports.  I've loved it with a PASSION all my life!  The love of it was instilled in me very early by my grandfather and my father.  If there was ever a good game on (most any sport!), we were watching it.  I have carried this habit through most of my adult life.  Through some major re-arrangement of priorities and a healthy submission to God and his ways for me and my family, for the FIRST TIME in my life, I am experiencing the "freedom" to watch a game or not watch a game.
I just lost most men reading this.
Let me make my point.  My wife, for most of our marriage, has had the theory that every day of the world, there is some game on that I just can't miss!  While that theory has not proved 100% true, I am ashamed to admit that it has a lot of truth (or has).  We are passionate about the teams we love.  We are "afraid" to miss anything good that might happen when they play, so we make sure to push everything else away so as not to miss a moment.  Think about it.  What did you "push away" the last time you really wanted to watch a game?  Was there something you really should have been addressing with your family?  A kid that needed help with homework?  A wife that was feeling a little neglected?  A friend that could have used a kind word from you?
Guys, if you're still with me, I have been the guiltiest of any of you of doing this.  Is it bad to watch a game?  Absolutely not!  Do we need to watch EVERY game to the detriment of other important things in our lives?  Absolutely not!  This is all a very new emotion in me, so if I sound a crazy man, well, maybe I am. I am not telling anyone, you should change too...you may not have this "issue" in your life.  But it is HUGE to me right now and to my wife, that I have made time for her and for my boys where before I refused to miss an inning of baseball or a snap of a football game.
Am I still going to enjoy watching sometimes?  By all means, yes.  But only when it is not taking away from what is more important.

A passage in Matthew spells out well where my heart is on this matter.  Matthew 6:21 says, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also".

Open for Business...

Wow, almost two years to the day since I last posted to this blog.  I can sadly but also happily say that that is rather symbolic.  I suppose I haven't had a whole lot good to share, or at least at the time, I did not feel it worthy of sharing.  Glad to say that I will try to post to this blog regularly going forward.  I have been writing like mad for weeks now.  It is ALL just kind of coming pouring out of me now after keeping so much bottled up for so long.  God is good!  He brings us through these seasons of life in order to make us stronger.  I/we (Susan and I) had a "breaking point" a few weeks ago where it became VERY apparent that some changes were in order.  I won't go into any gory detail, but God really starting working on me and convicting me on some things I was doing (and not doing) with my life and my marriage.  He has EXTRAVAGANTLY answered prayers since then.
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, beyond ALL that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us. Ephesians 3:20

Obviously, I am not going to share a lot of what I have written.  Most of it has been written for Susan and "to God". I have much to share...  I will start with simply, I AM RICHLY BLESSED!

Death of Tradition

So the college football landscape is getting turned on its head again. Mass chaos among the conference alignments (the Big 12 in particular). Very sad to see all of the traditional rivalries that we have grown up with going away. My entire life, I've known the Texas-OU game would be about the 2nd week of October, Texas-A&M would be played at Thanksgiving, and there would be other entertaining matchups to look forward to with our other in-state rivals. If everything goes down as it is expected to now, what rivalries will we have to look forward to? Want Texas-OU? Sorry, you get OU-Arizona. Want Texas A&M-Texas Tech? Sorry, you get A&M-Vanderbilt. You get the picture. This may mean more money for some schools, but it is certainly the death of tradition.

Okay, what now? Texas-Texas A&M Divorce

Let's face it, Aggies and Longhorns love to hate each other. I have some really good friends that are Aggies so hate may be a bit of a strong word, but it fits in many instances. So every year for the last 100 years or so, this rivalry, this yearlong back and forth has been able to be resolved on the football field and one side of the rivalry has "bragging rights" for the next year. So now A&M is bolting for the SEC and all the traditions, the yearly rivalry, and everything that goes with it will be gone. It is possible that they could schedule games in the future, but I will bet it doesn't happen for a while (it will take a while for wounds/egos to heal). So where does all this "energy" get channeled now? Do Texas and A&M just forget about each other? I doubt it. It is all very unfortunate. I am a traditionalist and I really hate to see the rivalry go away. Although I understand it is big business, so I can direct my "angst" at those in charge (at both schools) and not direct it at my Aggie friends who had no control over it.
So, if we are not to be rivals anymore, do we just try to get along? Settle our differences in a different way? Arm wrestling?
It's strange times in college football right now. I am sad to see big business overlook any sense of tradition and simply look out for number one. But that is the world we live in.

Coaching/Parenting

Just finished up another year of coaching baseball. Truthfully, I was hoping to avoid coaching this year, but since I do it every year, they called me and asked me to do it after I did not initially volunteer. I do usually enjoy it. And, I'm sure I would get really frustrated if I did not do it and someone who knew nothing about baseball ended up coaching my kids. I was reflecting on how I usually coach the kids. I notice that I tend to try and be extra encouraging to some of the kids that may not be very athletic and struggle, and I also tend to be somewhat hard on the kids that I know are capable of playing well. Of course, I am hardest on my own kids. Considering these things, I was reflecting on what things bring out the best in different kids. Am I right to go easy on some of them and be harder on the others? I don't think I am unfair with any of them. It also made me reflect on parenting and how I try to correct my children and the standards I set for them. I know I can be really hard on them sometimes, but it is out of love and out of an expectation that they are capable of behaving a certain way or achieving certain things. It is an ongoing process, and just as I expect them to improve, I have to adapt and try and improve myself. And sticking with the "theme" of my blog, we're working hard at it, but we're certainly not "there yet"!

Where does it end

The cost of communications these days seems to being going up and up and up. Conceivably, you could easily be paying for 3 internet services a month or more (home, phone, and iPad). Now, there are more and more "free" services starting to charge for content. Yes, I realize that each of these is a choice, but how much money are people really willing to shell out each month for all of these services? And does it make sense?

Cruising

We just returned from a wonderful cruise experience. Got kind of used to being able to indulge ourselves with "limitless" amounts of good food. The kids thought they must have been in heaven when they realized they could order 2 pizzas and a cheeseburger for dinner! And I could certainly get used to having prime rib AND lobster tail for dinner. Ah, but reality set in when we returned home and had spaghetti for dinner. It couldn't last forever! My wife's response... "Oh, I once was a queen!".