Thoughts on James

Yesterday, my small group had a great discussion on various verses in the book of James that stuck out to them or struck a chord with them. It was an awesome time of sharing and learning. I'll share the verses and some of the comments that were made.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perserverance. Perserverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:2-4 - Joy is something you choose to have, happiness is an emotion. This is not being happy with your circumstances, but having joy in growth that is happening.

"But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind." James 1:6 - This is how I feel when I doubt the ability of God, like everything within me is being tossed all over the place.

"If one of you says to him, "Go I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?" James 2:16 - Deeds are not more important than faith, but instead a natural outpouring of your faith.

"But no man can tame the tongue." James 3:8 - We cannot tame the tongue, but we can ask God to change our heart because out of the heart the mouth speaks.

"What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." James 4:14,15 - We cannot plan from one day to the next, because we don't know whether we will even be here.

Stats

Those who know me, know I love stats. Here are some interesting ones.

Barry Zito, pitcher for the San Francisco Giants has a deal worth about $18 million a year. So far this season he has zero wins and seven losses in eight starts. In case you haven't figured this out yet, if he only got paid for winning...he would still be broke. Unfortunately, the Giants still owe him $18 million for this season even if he never wins a game.

One other interesting stat. What team has the second best record in the Major Leagues? Technically, there are 3 teams tied at 23-16; Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, and Florida Marlins. The fact that those 3 teams are tied with the second best record on the 14th of May is an amazing stat within itself, but that's not the most interesting thing. The Tampa Bay Rays are averaging about 18,000 fans per game good for 26th in the league. The Florida Marlins can do one better averaging about 14,000 fans per game or 30th in the league. Goes to show that it takes a long time to build fan support. Or for the Marlins about 9 months to buy it and about a month in the winter to sell it off again.

But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. - James 1:6

God don't let me waver in my trust in you. Though times are tough right now, I will continue to trust in you to bring us safely through them.

With His help

As Kim and I prepare for the Peace Corp we have had to do some pretty rigorous health check-ups to get approved. Vaccinations, blood tests, dental checks and other work and as you can imagine this is not a cheap thing to take care of. Fortunately, the good ol' US Government is helping us pay for some of it. I figured it up and it should come to just under 10% that they are offering up to us. Fortunately, again Kim and I have saved a considerable amount of money and so this hasn't hit us too hard. It's merely a frustration.

Now, it would be easy for Kim and I to pat ourselves on the back for working hard and saving up the money to pay for these expenses that we've undertaken. But that would be wrong. I can see God looking out for us all over this one.
For instance, Kim has a job that she doesn't particularly like all that much. Why doesn't she get another job you ask? Well, she has applied and not been so much as interviewed for another job. It's very frustrating, but also ended up being very good. This current job pays completely for very good health insurance for Kim and also offers extremely good, extremely affordable dental insurance for both of us. Without both of these things, our already crazy expenses would be through the roof.

I just wanted to say this to encourage those who don't see the evidence of God in their life to look around and realize all the glorious things he has done for you that you are taking credit for yourself. God is great, never fail to give him his glory.

More baseball

Hilarious video of Mr. Redlegs, the Cincinnati Reds mascot getting decapitated.

Funny Comment

Just something funny I heard on the radio this morning that made me laugh hysterically. "Braves shutout the Padres last night 5-3." The guy just kept going like he said nothing wrong.

God Bless Joe Alleva

**Warning, I'm about to talk about sports**

I thought it was best to issue the warning since some people don't like sports.
I'm going to jump around here, but all things tie in together so bear with me.
This year Duke's basketball was severly lacking in the large man department. They have a very large man on their basketball team, but unfortunately he doesn't know how to play basketball or do two things at the same time (like think and dribble).

Joe Alleva is Duke's former athletic director who after the season was hired away by LSU to be their athletic director. I personally was very happy to see this happen since I was not a big fan of Mr. Alleva. He had just mishandled certain situations during his tenure at Duke (the football program and an nationally known investigation to name a few).

Shortly after starting the job at LSU he hired Stanford's basketball coach, Trent Johnson, to be the new head basketball coach at LSU. Stanford then in turn hired long-time Duke assistant Johnny Dawkins to be their head coach. I was very saddened to hear this news since I absolutely love Johnny and was looking forward to him being the next head coach at Duke whenever Coach K decides (hopefully never) to retire.

In steps Miles Plumlee. Miles Plumlee is a 6-10 big man from Indiana that had committed to attend and play for Stanford next season. As soon as the person who recruited Miles left for another school he immediately asked for a release from his commitment. Miles' younger brother, Mason, is coming to play for Duke in 2009...guess where Miles chose to play next year. You guessed it, Duke University. Karma is a wonderful thing!