Denial isn't just a river in Egypt

Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came up to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you mean.” And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man.” After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.” Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly. (Matthew 26:69-75 ESV)

It's easy to read this passage and ascend intellectually to some corner of ones mind in thoughts of, "Not me. I'd never deny him."  

Truth is, I deny him daily where it really matters- Actions. 

"The single greatest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable"

Brendan Manning

As Lewis wrote, "My moral history of late has been deplorable"

I'm so over me. 

Sights and Sounds

After the workout today I tried to pay attention to the sounds around me and here's what I heard:

Wind blowing strong out of the North. The flagpole supports clanging on and off the flagpole. Students on the playground playing, howling and cackling with freedom. Planes starting their ascent from DFW airport into the sky, engines humming. My own breathing along with my slowly recovering heartbeat. 

Good to stop and pay attention for awhile. 

Sunday Reading / Musings on Luke 11-12

The very first thing I am reminded of in Chapter 11 of Luke is when Jesus is teaching the disciples to pray and he reminds them to have impudence - persistence. 

Persistence requires some tenacity on our part. I know that when I pray, I many times I think, "one time is good enough and God hears and begins to work."

So Jesus elaborates on it further by saying ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be open to you (Luke 11:9-10)

Persistence in prayer requires trust on our part that we do not lose heart and give up so easily. But if God knows what we need, why do we have to keep on asking? I think that goes back to trust and in Hebrews the writer says that if we are diligent, God is going to reward us. 

The next thing I'm reminded of in Luke 11 is Jesus was not passive. His words in Luke 11:23 drew a pretty good line in the sand when he said, "whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." This is not the voice of a meek, humble servant. Rather the voice of one who has authority and is asking you to make a decision. 

The men of Nineveh are going to be able to be at the judgment and condemn the generation and subsequent generations able to hear and see and respond of the voice of Jesus and his call. 

The next passage was firmly convicting in this: our eyes are the lamp on our body. When our eyes healthy, our whole body is going to be full of light, but when it is bad, our body will be full of darkness.  Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness 

I read the following passage replacing the Pharisees with my name and it was pretty accurate. "Now you, Andy, you clean the outside of your cup and your dish, but inside you're full of crud." Luke 11:39

In Luke chapter 12, Jesus is staying pretty aggressive with the Pharisees and he warns everybody to not fear those who can kill the body and do nothing after that; rather fear the one, who after you have died, has the authority to send you to hell- "But why would Jesus send me to hell?"

Do we really need to go over this elementary teaching again? We are sinners sinning in a sin cursed world. 

The next thing that jumped out at me in Luke 12:15 was a gentle reminder my life and your life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions, awards, accolades, wins, championships, etc.

And then Jesus goes on to talk about our hearts and anxiety, reminding his disciples and us that life is more than food and the body is more than clothing. We are more valuable than the things God has created that fly and are on the ground and grow. 

Finally, Jesus gives a solid charge: "Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes in and knocks" 

Luke 12:35-36

There are days where we have sat around our house in pajamas and there comes a knock on the door. We scramble to go give the appearance that we are indeed ready by dressing in the days clothing. Jesus is saying, "When I knock it's probably going to be too late for you to change your clothes." 

We've all seen comedy shows and movies of the person in the room scrambling and trying to buy time to either clean up their apartment/house or go and get on their clothes. It's funny and we all know what that person is doing but Jesus wants us to be clothed and ready, proactive. 

He says in Luke 12:40 to be ready for he is going to come at an hour we do not expect. 

That is sobering. 

And perhaps finally at the end of chapter 12 Jesus says something that is a bit disconcerting: he did not come to bring peace, but division. 

"I came to cast fire on the earth and would that it were already kindled... Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division." Jesus is knocking on the door of our hearts and people have said that he is a gentleman, but I do not see that here. I see a savior full of passion and it burns for you and I. He does not mince his words and he clearly tells us there is going to be some friction in our lives and tension when we come to the crisis of belief in Him. 

Jesus closes up chapter 12 by somewhat ironically pointing out that we know how to read the signs in the sky, such as when there is going to be rain or a hot day but we cannot figure out how to interpret the appearance of this present time in terms of eschatology. 

It has been said that I do not read the Bible, but the Bible reads me-it continues to be true and is always convicting, encouraging, illuminating, and sobering. 

Tweet Rant on Mental Toughness

My Twitter rant on Mental Toughness

Thanks to Storify.com, I was able to put together a few thoughts on Twitter about Mental Toughness. Rather, my thoughts and a stream of consciousness. I'm not presumptuous to think it was/is consumed by the masses; it's more for posterity sake than anything.

Storify is a good tool when you've got something going on Twitter or see something of value in a number of tweets you can put into a "story".

Finding the Good in "Losses"

In attempting to redefine winning while dying to the ego, teams must be intentional in the search. Here are a few of the things we did well today in our two one-run losses. 

-Turned two double plays

-Picked off a guy at 1st

-Nabbed a base runner on the hidden ball trick

-Solid start for 4 innings from Sophomore Noah Williams. 

-Solid bounce back for Mason after rough 1st. 

-Responded well with good body language and "next pitch" mentality. 

-Error free game in 1st game. 

-great running catch by Mac in RF

-First V hit by Mitchell Massing, bases loaded triple vs JP. 

-Squared up on a few balls but most were caught. 

-walked 13 times

-good response to some negative circumstances. 

-No bwd K's

Results aside, good day of baseball. Good process!

Approach of the Living God

Men are reluctant to pass over from the notion of an abstract and negative deity to the living God. I do not wonder… The pantheist God does nothing, demands nothing. He is there if you wish for him, like a book on the shelf. He will not pursue you. There is no danger that at any time heaven and earth should flee away at his glance.

If he were the truth, then we could really say that all the Christian images of king ship were a historical accident of which our religion ought to be cleansed. 

It is with shock that we discover them to be indispensable. You have had a shock like that before, in connection with smaller matters – when the line pulls at your hand, when something breathes beside you in the darkness. 

So here the shock comes at the precise moment when the thrill of life is communicated to us along the clue we have been following. It is always shocking to meet life where we thought we were alone.

"Look out!" We cry, "it's alive!". And therefore this is the very point at which so many draw back – I would've done so myself if I could – and proceed no further with Christianity. 

And impersonal God – well and good. A subjective God of beauty, truth and goodness, inside our own heads – better still.  A formless life force surging through us, a vast power which we can tap – best of all. 

But God himself, alive, pulling at the other end of the cord, perhaps approaching at an infinite speed, the Hunter, King, husband – that is quite another matter. 

There comes a moment when the children who have been playing at burglars hush suddenly: was that a real footstep in the hall? There comes a moment when people who have been dabbling in religion, man's search for God, suddenly draw back. Supposing we really found him? We never meant it to come to that! Worse still, supposing he had found us?

On Our Honor

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rBcfWBWHkcA&feature=youtu.be

2015 TCU Baseball Video.