Im sorry I have been meaning to write more, but each time I sit down to do so, I end up in a discussion or reading something. I have been doing a lot of reading lately. Mostly, the Bible, as I swear I find more interesting things in it daily, I don’t remember being taught or had the understanding of many things as I do now. There are little things that many might pass by or just go oh cute story that I have found myself drawn to and then hours later I’m reading commentary on it or looking up the cross references that my Bible has attached to those verses. Next thing I know, I’m sitting in my chair debating with myself what I think of this passage of scripture.

I also have been reading some books from my shelf that my mother sent me on different faith subjects. I am in the middle of a book that is challenging how different faiths look at salvation. I’m not sure how I feel about it yet, but it has me flipping all throughout the Bible reading around the verses he is using to see the context in which it is originally set around. It’s very easy to pull a verse from a passage and misunderstand it until you read the entire set of verses around it.

I have also been reading a lot of coaching advice blogs and boards. I take everything I do seriously, and the dog in me will fight to be the best. I know from experience that doesn’t mean winning because I’ve had winning teams that’s felt blah. I just have to know in my heart that I gave my team my all, so when I ask them to give more, it will always be less than I gave. I study training techniques and watch video after video on a subject till I can teach it in my sleep. I am one to identify a weakness in my coaching or mentoring and will work on it tirelessly until it is fixed. Last week, I pitched poorly in coach pitch baseball. I spent almost 6 hours the next couple of days throwing until I was satisfied it would be a better performance next game. I don’t know if it is or not. My last game got rain delayed.

I guess lately I’ve spent a bunch of time working on me. I mentioned last night to a Preacher friend that I wished at 23 I had followed God, and by now, I’d have something to be proud of.  This was in jest of the 23 year old Evangelist that we were both talking to as he also said yes wouldn’t have been wonderful to go back and kick 23 year old me into gear and spent the past 30 years actually serving.

I am late to the party now and see the next couple years as the most important in my life as now I get to examine my life and decide how I should run it. I get to decide what kind of Christian God wants me to be, and I also get to establish the coach I want to be. I see coaching and working in children’s ministries as hand in hand projects. If I spend a bunch of time learning how to teach children a game and the Bible, it will all work out as a witness both at church and on a field. 

It’s very short so far tonight, so let me tell you a lesson I learned in humanity the past few weeks.

I tend to have friends on Facebook from all walks of life. This is mostly due to the extreme changes I have made in location and careers over the years. Also, because Marines are weird and have all sorts of different reactions to PTSD to include trying to recreate the Hippie movement.  Either way, I have seen a lot of different takes and stances on the things going on in government the past year or so. One side mad now the other side. I, for the most part, stay out of politics because they make for an argument I don’t care to have.

Killing babies is wrong, rape is also wrong, and two wrongs don’t make a right.

Just as an example of the type of argument you would get from me on a subject. For many things, I don’t think you could sway my thought pattern on a subject. Like abortion, gun laws, or illegal immigration. All these things I’m pretty set on, but I have learned it’s important to be humane about your responses to certain things. Take, for example, I was making fun of the government employees crying about writing a 5 sentence email. It turned out a good friend of mine was in a close to losing his job because of those mandates, and he was fighting the email for reasons that made sense. I also have another friend who had already lost her job because of all the DoGe shutdowns.

I had made fun of China for the tariff situation and it turns out a friend of mine’s dad owns a business that heavily imports from China (not he is an immigrant himself so US only is not a drive for him) and he was losing thousands a week because of the tarrif situation.

What I am getting at is that you may be surprised who gets affected by things that don’t affect you. I joke that stock price doesn’t affect me because I don’t own a stock. In all reality, I have friends with 401Ks losing their minds as it effects them.

I take myself back to the lessons I learned about being a servant as Jesus was a servant. I don’t think Jesus would have made fun of people downfalls but more would comfort them and be there for them. I learned just because it is happening doesn’t mean it is right. Am I all for going through the government books and finding the splurged items and cutting them yes. I am also all for taking care of those who were just doing a job and not just cutting them to.

I guess it’s best we learn that others are just surviving like we are all just surviving, and if our life was destroyed by a presidential order , we would be upset and hate those applauding our demise. Stop applauding and pray for those affected and do what you can to help others.