Glavine and Maddux go into the Hall of Fame Together!

              Congratulations to Former Braves Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux for being selected to the HOF. Growing up as a Braves fan, I really enjoyed watching them pitch for “my” team. I remember watching Maddux pitch for the Cubs when I was in graduate school in Kentucky and was in awe of his great control of the ball and the game as a whole. I was ecstatic when the Braves picked him up for the ’93 season. There are many who have written about his career and that’s not my style anyway so I will get to the relatively untold story in a few lines.

               Tom Glavine to me was always the epitome of the smooth, crafty left-handed pitchers. Why is it that the ball seems to move more when it comes from the left side? I don’t know it is true, but it sure seems like they can make it move more than the right handed guys can. He never seemed to be un-nerved or rattled. He just dominated the other team’s lineup without breaking a sweat or so it seemed.

               When the two of them were in the starting rotation for the Braves, I felt like Atlanta would never have a three or four game losing streak because I was confident neither of them would lose two starts in a row. The great run of the Braves was in large measure a result of a tremendous pitching staff anchored by both of these now Hall of Fame Players.

               In December I was in Atlanta for a conference and the organizers arranged for the group to tour Turner Field and have dinner in the 755 club. We were given a tour of the stadium including the dugout and clubhouse as well as the press box. In addition we were able to use the throwing and hitting games located on the concourse of the stadium. But the real treat was after dinner, Javier Lopez and Brian Jordan, spent some time with the group relating their stories of how they were discovered and developed within the Braves organization and baseball in general.

               Among the many stories they shared was one related by Jordan in response to the question, “Who was the best player you ever played with or against?” I wish I had recorded it so I could quote it verbatim but I will recount it to you as close as I can. I offer my apologies to Brian in advance if I get any of the details wrong in this article.

               He said that prior to a game when they were going over the scouting report of the opposing team, Maddux told him he was going to help him do something that Jordan had never done before. He said when this certain guy comes up, I am going to get him to hit you a line drive one hopper between the first and second baseman. You play the guy shallow and charge hard and throw him out at first. Jordan said he was a bit skeptical that anybody could have that much control of a batter. So when the guy came up to the plate, Jordan moved in closer than normal. He said all I could think about was what if this guy hits one over my head, but that is what Maddux wants so I am going to do it. Sure enough, Maddux throws a pitch and the guy hits a screamer between first and second. It bounced once in the outfield and Jordan charged the ball and threw the guy out at first base. He said after that he believed Maddux could do anything to any batter he wanted to with a baseball in his hand.

               Lopez added that it was great to be able to catch both of them because he knew that it would be a quick game with either of them on the mound. They were there during the transition to the “Power Arms” era that baseball is now in where the emphasis is on how hard can you thrown. And they were definitely not in that category. They relied on the ability to change speeds and move the ball around in and out of the zone to be effective.

               It is fitting that they enter the HOF in the same class. As a Braves fan it is hard to think of one without the other. They will now forever be linked together in the HOF as well. Now the question becomes will Smoltz join them in that rotation as well?

Duck Dynasty Debate

Ok, so I am sure I will offend someone by the end of this blog post. If you want to drop me as a facebook friend that’s okay with me or not follow me on twitter and I think I will survive. If you want to have an honest discussion then we can do that as well but please let’s don’t get to the level of some things I have seen on Facebook lately. Yep, here’s my take on the whole Phil Robertson thing that happened in the last 24 hours.

First I have read the entire article on the GQ website. If you want to read it you can too but be warned that it was not Lifeway approved and contains some words that might cause you to go blind if you were homeschooled. See there is the first group that will be offended. I am just kidding; it just contains words that are not socially acceptable. Oh wait, I hear those words all the time on the campus and in the stores and in the songs, so maybe they are now socially acceptable. And that is from the ladies who I see out there. Oops that’s the second group.

The leader of the Duck Dynasty family doesn’t compare Homosexuality to Bestiality any more than saying drunkenness and gluttony are the same. There was a comma there people. He just says in response to a question of what sinful is to just start at homosexuality and kinda morph from that to a whole list of other things. His comments while rather crude in the way they were expressed are not off base from what the Bible teaches about the issue. He is stating his opinion and plainly says so in the article as quoted by the writer doing the interview. That’s where it gets to the tricky part.

You see I have several gay friends and while I don’t agree with their lifestyle and do agree with Phil that it was, is and will always be a sin against a Holy God as defined by the scripture, I think they have the right as Americans to live in the lifestyle if they so choose. I didn’t read anything hateful about the way Phil addressed the issue. It was crude, borderline rude, but certainly not hateful. I think most heterosexuals have a hard time understanding the same sex attraction. I don’t get it either. I also don’t get what a lot of heterosexual couples see in each other and how that works out either. But saying I don’t understand why a guy would want to be with a guy instead of a woman isn’t hateful or ignorant for that matter, it is just a statement of my thoughts on the subject. That’s the third group, I’m sure.

A&E were bullied into making the statement they did and by suspending him as an employee. I just thought I should throw out the buzz word of the year in a blog at some point! Fourth Group now offended. They have every right to fire him if his contract has a clause allowing for them do so based on his statements in the press. I just think it has gotten crazy when you can get fired for saying something off the clock and you can’t fire someone without due cause for something like lying while they are on the clock. Or a host of other reasons that could all be demonstrated by someone I am sure.

The most aggressive group of people using their power to bully those who disagree with them are the highly political gay and lesbian support groups. Which is ironic given that they often appeal to the fact that gay and lesbians have been so bullied in their past and that is why they must be accepted in the present. I believe they should be allowed to speak and say what they believe, but I also believe that Christians should be allowed to speak and say what they believe, even when those two don’t line up so nicely.

I don’t agree with Ellen or Neil Patrick Harris or other celebrities who support an openly gay lifestyle but that doesn’t mean that I want them to lose their income over it. I don’t agree with celebrities who bash Christians over different issues but again that doesn’t mean I want their sponsors to fire them. I didn’t agree with Tiger Woods when his issues came out that ruined his marriage, but I still use Titleist balls and have a Tiger Woods Nike golf cap. Somehow we have to learn how to let celebrities have their own opinions without insisting that they keep them to themselves if we don’t like them. I just choose to not watch Ellen or How I Met your mother. So if you don’t like what Phil said, then don’t watch the show.

Finally to offend all my ultra-conservative brothers and sisters, let’s not go off on everyone over this issue. If you don’t want to watch an A&E show again, then just say it, then do it, and move on. That’s what I plan to do. If you want to change the culture in the entertainment industry, do it by affecting ratings. The next time you get that call from the Nielsen group, take it and fill out the survey. Show that you didn’t watch that network and when they realize they killed their golden goose, they will know better. If you don’t like what Phil said, then watch the network and make their ratings go up for all the other shows.

Really Phil probably could have said it in a more respectful way, but if you watch the show you know that just ain’t his way. If you ask him a question, then be prepared for an answer that you might not like either in content or delivery. But if start questioning whether his views are in line with Biblical teaching then you need to go back to school, cause his words may be strong but so is his allegiance to truth of the Biblical teaching on the matter at hand.

These are just my views and you are more than welcome to agree or disagree with them. It won’t make me love you or respect you anymore or any less either way. I apologize in advance for my attempts at humor along the way. Living in grace doesn’t mean we condone everything, it means we agree that we all need Jesus and His forgiveness daily if we are to inherit the Kingdom of God. Merry Christmas to all my friends from one sinner to another!

Low times in Gainesville!

From the beginning of the Muschamp era I have been less than impressed. I didn’t think it was the right hire then and I am even more convinced of it today. Maybe it was the fact that I didn’t think the Texas program was heading in the right direction at the time, so why should we get the guy who was second in command of a dying program to continue the success at Florida? Or maybe it was the fact that he played at Georgia. Or maybe the fact that he hadn’t been a head coach and I didn’t think Florida is a good place to get your feet wet as a head football coach. But let’s be honest, Jeremy Foley has a pretty good track record for hiring successful coaches. So I was in the minority of those who didn’t like the hire at the time.

Three years and a lot of “firsts” later and Foley is apparently still sticking by Muschamp. That is after the first losing record since 1979. The first year of missing a bowl game in 22 seasons. The first loss to a FCS team since the end of World War II. The first time we have lost 6 games in a row since who knows when. Heck, even the 0-10-1 team didn’t do that! The losing streak is hard on everyone I know. I have only been around the Gators since 1987, so I am a spoiled fan. I need to get a grip right coach!

I can understand a couple of 8-4 seasons with the schedule we face every year. It’s hard to be in the top 5 every year now with the reduction of scholarships. But let me ask you a question if you are a Gator fan. How many times since Will took over the program have you felt good about the results of a Gator game? How many times even after a win in the Swamp have you felt like this team had a legitimate chance at winning the SEC East? Even during last year’s run to the Sugar Bowl, I kept telling people outside the orange and blue nation that we were doing it with smoke and mirrors. We won 4 games that we could have just as easily lost. This year’s team is only 4 plays away from last year’s team and the team before that one!

Some of you will say that is why he deserves another year as the head coach. But do you really want a team that is that close to mediocrity each year? Don’t you want a team that dominates the teams they should and has a better than average shot at winning every game? Remember when you used to go to the Swamp and the question wasn’t “if” we win but the margin of victory. That’s why I am not in favor of keeping Muschamp as coach. But I don’t get a vote and apparently neither do the 25000 or so that stayed away from Saturday’s game. And it will be worse this week. There will be more fans from the clown college than orange and blue for Saturday’s noon kickoff. Noon, are you serious, this is UF and FSU! We’re prime time material baby! Oh, my bad, I forget how far we have fallen.

But if you are going to keep the Head Coach, then please keep the Coordinators and the other coaches too. I have always hated how a head coach blames the assistants when things are going badly. Hey, you are the head coach, if you don’t like the offense or the defense, change it! Tell the OC to do something different, throw it more, run it more, or change the scheme, whatever!  But don’t sit there the entire year praising the way we do it and then the last game roll them under the bus because you lose to Georgia Southern. The offense has been ranked lower than 100 in each year under Muschamp and there have been two different OCs. Both of them had the reputations as creative play callers and running high octane offenses. What happened when they got to Florida? They got under a coach that doesn’t want to take chances. Keep things tight, don’t turn the ball over, shorten the game and let the defense do the work. That style just doesn’t work anymore against teams with equal talent and apparently not even against FCS schools. Apparently there a number of FCS programs with better talent and better coaches since they figured ways to stop the option and outscore mighty GSU this year. Enough of them did that GSU didn’t even make the playoffs!

Maybe the Gators can right the ship and pull the upset over FSU this weekend. Maybe the staff was holding back everything the last few weeks so they wouldn’t have good tape on our new offensive strategy. Maybe Gator fans will fill the swamp this week and make it the home field advantage the Gators need to pull one of the greatest upsets in the historic series. And maybe every turkey in America will survive this Thursday. The odds are about the same. I will be there until the end either way and cheering for the Orange and Blue.

And for my Nole friends, and this is not meant as a slight because I think you win either way, would you rather have the news break now that Famous is charged so you can get a game under your belt without him or have him charged next week right before the ACC championship game or sometime before the BCS game if you win them both? I am sure the answer for Nole fans is never! I feel sorry for the girl involved and for Jameis. I hope he’s not guilty but if he is then I won’t feel any sympathy for him. The whole thing has been poorly handled by the TPD and the State Attorney’s office. This should have been resolved months ago either way.

The first question I have for Saturday’s game is whether the Noles will score more than 45 points and break the record for points scored in the swamp by an opponent or score 63 and break the all-time record of points given up by the Gators. A second question is will the Gators be able to score and keep their consecutive non-shutout streak alive. Time will tell, but while it is always great to be a Florida Gator, some weeks it’s tougher than others and this week promises to be a real challenge. Enjoy it Noles, you have had to work for over a decade to experience it, but you are the better team this week. Let’s just hope you pull a Nole and lose a game you really have no business losing. So there is always hope!

One of the Best Days to be a BCM Director

It is the way it is supposed to work, but still when you have been doing the work for as long as I have, it brings tears of joy to your eyes.

Yesterday was an incredible and incredibly long day. Because our BCM meets on Tuesday nights, I don’t always arrive early in the office. Usually, Tuesday mornings are filled with a long bike ride with my training partner and fellow campus minister Bob Gailey from Campus Christian House. But due to some knee pain, I have taken a few weeks off, so I was in the office at 8 after dropping my wife off at her office on campus. A normal day of finishing tasks, planning for the week with fellow BCM staff, visiting with students followed.

Lica and I try to eat dinner together on Tuesdays before she heads off to the house and then to praise team practice at church and I head back to the BCM for our weekly Gator meeting. Yesterday we met Zach Allen who came into town to be our guest speaker and bring one of his girls from First Baptist Church in Tallahassee who is transferring to UF in the spring. Zach is a great friend and previously served here as the college pastor at North Central Baptist Church. He is a true partner in ministry and is a blessing to Lance Beauchamp the BCM director at FSU. Lica and Jaclyn got to spend more time with Zach and his entourage of interns and students while I went back to the BCM to get ready for the evening meeting.

Zach did a great job of talking with our students about the necessity and value of local church membership to wrap up a two week series of messages on being connected to the local body of Christ. Pastor Craig Canton spoke last week about the way God puts the various parts of the body together through spiritual gifts to strengthen the whole body. After Gator was over, I spoke to one of our guys that I have wanted to meet with to see when we could get together and he said why not now.

I knew Alex had been dealing with the decision to trust Jesus as his savior so I was glad to share the gospel with him again as we talked. He was open about his questions and his struggles but he knew he needed and wanted to trust Jesus. And so I got to witness Alex giving his life to Jesus and accepting his gift of forgiveness of sins and eternal life in my office last night. But it gets even better!

When I asked him where he was going to church he said he had been thinking about attending where some of his fish brothers and sisters (freshmen bible study members) go to, North Central Baptist Church. I knew Matt Seitz the current college pastor from there was still in the building so I was able to introduce Alex to Matt. They share a similar faith journey and spent some time talking together as I prepared to go home for the night.

That’s the way it is supposed to work. The BCM is a bridge for people like Alex who are exploring the idea of faith and returning to church but don’t want to fully commit yet. At least in our BCM the work isn’t done until we can share the gospel with them, love them during the journey, and help them get connected to the local body of Christ. God used invites to an event, Fish Parents who shared the gospel, fellow students who encouraged his questions, a local BCM director talking about being connected to the vine, a FSU college pastor talking about church membership, and a local college pastor who hangs out at the BCM until almost 11 pm to create a path for one of His children to come home. That’s why we do what we do, for His glory!

Newest Action Thriller Stait of Hormuz from Best-Selling Author Davis Bunn

“Marc Royce had never been to Switzerland before. He was there without backup. He was not prepped. He had come because the one person in the world he could not refuse had asked for his help.”

And with that the readers of Davis Bunn’s latest novel in the Marc Royce Trilogy, Strait of Hormuz, are engaged in a new plot with some familiar characters. Although Royce thinks he is alone in Geneva, he has allies. One is so familiar it is painful. In a few chapters we come to learn that Kitra Korban has been sent to assist her recently ex-boyfriend. Bunn has done a masterful job of weaving an intricate and intimate romance within a page-turning edge of your seat action novel.

As in the other two books in this trilogy, Lion of Babylon and Rare Earth, readers are treated to detailed descriptions of locations in several countries. Bunn takes the time and effort to thoroughly develop the settings of the events in order to bring the reader along on the incredible and dangerous journey facing Marc and Kitra. It is hard for me to imagine anyone reading these pages and not develop your own mental imagery of the surroundings. I hope one day to see these come to life on the big screen and compare my images with the real or created in Hollywood backdrops.

Without giving away the story, the plot revolves around an international incident and a national crisis that confronts several nations. The delicate situation involves multiple parties from multiple cultures and countries that must trusted allies fast in order to save many lives. There is a common thread, but that is only found in time and through the initial trust of the parties involved. As usual, Bunn manages to write an action novel that includes faith without coming off as fake or forced. The story of Marc’s faith and how it affects his life as an agent continues to unfold in way that will seem natural to those who have read the previous two volumes but will also make sense if this is your first foray into the world of Marc Royce.

Without apology, I am a fan of Davis Bunn the man and the author. While his life may not been as action packed as his characters, I do recognize some of the stories he has shared with me from his personal life of living in Europe that serve as a back drop for some of the action in Strait of Hormuz. I was a bit perplexed when I finished the book because I am not sure that the title actually fits the story totally. I expected more action on the open seas and more of a salty version of the story than there actually is. Since most of the story takes place in locations other than the Strait it seems a bit of a stretch to title the book the way it was. I don’t think you will worry about the title and I wouldn’t have either if I were not writing this review.

Overall, the book was a wonderful read. I just wish I hadn’t finished it so soon. If this is the last time we read of the exploits of Marc and Kitra, it will be a sad day! Their story has so much more to develop and tell! Maybe if all of us who read the book, press and press, then like a musical act at a concert, Davis Bunn will give us an encore appearance of the couple. Or maybe it’s just better that we all write our own endings!

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher in order to submit this review on the date of the book release.  

Who's the backups in ministry?

Who Is Waiting to Step Up in your ministry?

Gator fans now know the value of the backup after our starting Quarterback Jeff Driskell went down with a season ending break of his leg in the first quarter of our game with Tennessee on Saturday. The Backup had to go in and play the rest of the game. Now he will have to play the rest of the season. His name is Tyler Murphy and until Saturday, he had never taken a snap in a real game for the Gators. There were those who wanted him to after Jeff didn’t play very well against Miami, but the coaches were not about to go there. That is until the injury forced them to play him. He did well in relief and in many ways was the reason the Gators won a very ugly football game on offense. Now time will tell if Murphy is really ready to be the starting QB, but unless something happens to him, he is going to be for the rest of the season. Now the question becomes who is the new backup? The coaches will have a plan and they will get either Skylar Mornhigweg or Max Staver ready should something happen to Tyler.

A facebook post by my friend Kevin James about his episode of a dislocated hip during the middle of his sermon made me wonder just who do we have in place in our ministries if something happens to us? Do we have a backup preacher or BCM director? Are we getting them ready in case something happens to us and we can’t go? While I don’t think many of us think we are indispensable, most of us don’t think we won’t be able to fulfill our duties either. So often we do ministry as if we are the only one who could possible get it done. That’s just not a smart way to approach it really. We all need to be working ourselves out of a job. Could your ministry not only continue but continue to thrive if you were absent for an extended period of time? If you are not building up leaders underneath you to even do a better job without you, then in my opinion you are not building up the kingdom and maybe you are just building up your own. Maybe they can’t do it as good as you could, but are helping them close that gap each and every week?

Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to be invited to the home of Elna and Bert Harris after preaching about the Maguire State Mission Offering and the BCM ministry at Faith Baptist in Lake Placid led by my old friend Bill Cole. Bert is 94 and Elna is a young 85! She leads their WMU organization and they always exceed their goals for all the mission offerings. After meeting her, I can easily see why. She is charming, direct, tactful and a true Southern lady in every respect. I doubt anyone could say no to anything she asks! This morning as I was reflecting on the day and meeting this godly couple who have served the Lord and His church so faithfully for so many years, I couldn’t help but wonder who will take their place when the Lord calls them home? Then I began to wonder not just about their church but in so many of our churches we have elderly saints that have carried the load for many years and who is going to take their places?

Young men and women who have served with me through the years in the BCM, I believe it is you! So many of you are already serving faithfully in your local churches and I am encouraged by that. If you aren’t, then why aren’t you? Our role as a leader in the church is to make sure you are fully engaged and equipped for ministry. If I have failed to prepare you, then I am sorry. But you still have to get in there and do what the Lord needs done. Just like Tyler Murphy stepped up for Gator Nation this past Saturday and will now be looked on to carry the load the rest of the season, the Kingdom of God, needs many of you to step up and carry the load for all those Saints who have gone before you. I believe in our backups! I believe in you!

The Real Celebs of Disaster Relief

I am glad when celebrity types help during the immediate days after a disaster. I think everyone who can should help their neighbors during the days after a disaster. The press gets all over it and we hear about what all they are doing and how much money they are contributing. And I know that some do much more even after the cameras are gone. But just once I would like to see the media do a story on the real Celebs of Disaster Relief.

They are the ones who are still onsite at places in New York and New Jersey. Helping people rebuild their homes and their lives. They are the ones who uproot their own lives and spend months living in hotels and other types of housing to coordinate teams of volunteers and resources to assist the local people in getting their lives back to normal. Many of them are Southern Baptists. Others are not. All of them are just ordinary people doing extraordinary things in difficult places and times.

A group of our students and our associate David Wood are on their way today to New Jersey to assist the North Carolina Disaster Relief team for 10 days. They are planning on helping rebuild houses, but you never know what you will be called on to do until you actually get there. They will drive 16 hours today to get there and then on the back side of the trip make that same day long drive to get back home to Florida. They will pay their own way, sleep in tents most likely, and eat food prepared by volunteers in a disaster relief kitchen. They will work long days, sleep little, sweat a lot, and will talk about the fun they had forever when they get home.

Our students are not special. Well we think they are special, but they are just like other students around the country who have come or will come to help. They are skilled contractors, but they are willing to work hard and help the ones who are. They love people in Jesus' name. They want to help the churches in that area show that Jesus' love extends to the physical needs as well as the spiritual needs of people's lives. They are going because they can and because Jesus has called them to go on this trip. Would you join me in praying for them during this 10 day adventure in faith?

In my mind, they are the real Celebs of Disaster Relief!