A book... Who will be a witness?

I just entered to win a copy of Drew Hart’s great new book WHO WILL BE A WITNESS? from @ERBks! You can too:  http://ow.ly/4ozT50BFKuK

This book looks pretty interesting. I heard Drew Hart speak recently, and he is super solid. Check him out!

Kyle

I made 1 1/2 decisions tonight

I wanted to title this "I am not really as good a softball player as I think I am." But that was too long. And too self-image-shattering. But seriously, 2 years off has made me into a very rusty, bloody, and banged up second baseman after two back-to-back games tonight. I blame it on kids. And lack of exercise for the last two years...

But even after being battered into the inability to move from my couch right now, I'm still fired up. The last game tonight got me fired up. We played a very good opponent, and they beat us squarely on the field. The banter and jawing back and forth between both teams the entire game was very intense. But that's normal, right? We're men. We're competitive men playing a sport. We're supposed to be that way.

But that's not what has me all riled up enough to write my first blog post in a year and a half. The game was over. We lost. It didn't feel good, but we took it, and we all shook hands and acted like friends. Then, if you've ever played "church league" softball, you know what comes next.

The compulsory prayer.

Musings on Marriage

It's 1:30 AM, and I believe I'm being kept awake by some combination of prescription medicine and a dinner that consisted of a hot dog, an XXXXL diet coke, and a popcorn tub that could feed a family of 10 for a week.

In the midst of my insomnia-induced thought process, I got to thinking on a friend's wedding that he wants me to officiate in a few months.  Once I got past the "what the heck am I going to say?" thoughts, I started pondering on the idea of a covenant relationship.  There are several examples of this type of relationship offered up in the bible.  The first one that came to mind is from Genesis after Noah got out of the ark:

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: ⁹ “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you ¹⁰ and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. ¹¹ I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”- Genesis 9:9-11 (NIV)

God then went on to say, "But, if I find out thou hast done me wrong, then lo, the deal is off, bro."  Er... wait, that's not in there?  Harumph!

Bible Verses and Baby Pics

"Train a child in the way she should go, and when she is old she will not turn from it." - Proverbs 22:6

"You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you." - John 15:3

"Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting." - Acts 2:2

"For you make me glad by your deeds, O Lord; I sing for joy at the works of your hands." - Psalm 92:4

"How is fatherhood?"

That is a question that a friend asked in a recent email.  It's a question I have heard at least 437 times a week since having Alaina.  I usually respond with something along the lines of "man, it's tiring, but it's great."  It gets the point across, and it gets me through the question so I can get onto other inquiries such as "are you getting any sleep?" and "she doesn't really look like you, are you sure she's yours?"

Come on, Dad.  Get your act together.

But if I'm going to be honest, I'm really more somewhere in the neighborhood of...

"Fatherhood pretty much scares me out of my mind."

I mean seriously.  What the heck Lizzy and I get ourselves into?  I don't know how to discipline.  I'm way too immature to be a good role model.  I can barely change a diaper.  99% of me is sure that I'm going to fail miserably.

A couple weeks ago, I was listening to our setlist for Sunday morning at Cumberland.  We were singing a couple of really cool hymns, including In Christ Alone. Man, that song has some powerful lyrics.

And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His, and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ
...
No power of Hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
'Til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand

What a fantastic reminder of who I am.  And of where my guidance / help / power / provision comes from.  There will not be one moment of fatherhood where I will be alone.  I don't have to be Dad by myself.

Well, that was pointless

In the past week or two, I've seen or been a part of several religious/spiritual conversations (read: pointless debates that go nowhere and frustrate everyone involved) in one of the worst venues to hold such a conversation - the internet.  Actually, it may be the worst place to try to have a discussion about religious and spiritual matters.  Maybe texting back and forth would be worse...

I'm not excluding myself from getting caught up in it, but I'm beginning to see that bickering on Facebook or on Joe Atheist's blog comment section is no way to convince someone that God does/doesn't exist or that the universe was created 4 gazillion years ago by Bill Brasky.  It's just not going to happen.

Now, I do believe that people can be influenced by friends or people they respect and what they may have to say in their latest tweet or FB message.  But when you start trying to convince someone (or everyone) else that their view is wrong by arguing sloppily through a 2-sentence spelling-error-laden nugget of moral wisdom, you are putting yourself in a hole because you're not even presenting your entire argument.

Oh, that's a lightsaber!  I thought it was some
sort of prehistoric tiger thing.

It feels like you're trying to explain to me how awesome the original Star Wars movie is (which it is), and you only tell me, "well, there is a really cool lightsaber scene in it."  In your mind, you know all the rest of the stuff that makes the movie great, but I'm only getting a very small part of that.  I'm thinking, "what the heck is a lightsaber?"

So what do we do then?  I say we have... prepare yourself... a REAL CONVERSATION.  Sorry peeps, but FB messages do not constitute a real conversation.  The internet is a great place to get information, but man, there is a ton of it out there, and it's far from being a personal or intimate experience.

Real relationships are where it's at.  I want to have actual discussions with people about things that matter.  I don't want to give a half-hearted and incomplete view of something I am passionate about.  I want to tell you my thoughts on life, God, and Bill Brasky in a forum that doesn't have a 250 character limit.  Seriously, I do.  Call me, and we'll grab some lunch sometime this week.  It's on me ;-)

Apparently, the cool thing to do is to put your child in a basket and take pictures.

So this is it.  The first entry.  Get excited.

I'm not even sure really why I started this or what I hope to accomplish. It's probably just an excuse to use the title "Some Say Kyle" since nobody wants to start a band with that name.  But I do know that along the way, there will be dry humor (or at least an attempt at it... I think it's morphing into dad humor now), some questions, a little sarcasm, and plenty of these:

Pictures like this will earn me a "Daaaad" with an eye roll in about 13 years.

That's Alaina. She is 2 months old this very day, and I feel like she's about twice the size she was when I took the basket picture and all the rest of the pics from her first "photo shoot".  What a chubster.

I'll probably also talk about my beautiful wife, church, work, friends, family, politics, sports, and anything else I happen to be pondering on any given day.  So give it a read.  Or don't.

And by the way, I was joking when I said I'd probably talk about politics.  I enjoy politics like I enjoy getting punched in the face.