tonight

we won our softball game tonight, after getting mercied in our last game. sure feels better to win. great group of guys, great group of fans and supporters. especially great since the game we got mercied, most of our wives and families at the game weren't paying any attention, or at least feigning ignorance really well. and tonight, when we did alright for ourselves, it seems they were actually taking notice, or at least faking it really well. warning - late night post sermon prep preacher rabit trail ahead: occurs to me that it must have been tough on Jesus, being the alpha of alpha males, to have the whole world, including his closest friends and family, think he'd totally failed. beyond the excruciating physical pain, experience of seperation from his Father, weight of human brokenness, and all the rest. just the plain old "losing" bit of the experience would have been devastating, i think. on the other hand, sunday morning must have been really sweet. a long lasting kind of sweet. safe to read on...

introducing vineyard class tomorrow. makes for an exhausting weekend, energy wise, but i really enjoy the introducing vineyard class experience. invigorating to talk about the most important enterprise in the world with a group of people who maybe never realized how close they are to the center of God's activity in human history, who maybe will discover that God's got a role for them to play, who maybe will get swept up into it, who maybe will begin an adventure that will change the face of this area forever, because of their contributions. invigorating to remind myself that i couldn't be more significantly priviliged than i am. i like the pithy way Bill Hybels puts it: "the local church is the hope of the world, and the future of the local church rests primarily in the hands of it's leaders." maybe i should stop blogging and get a good night's sleep tonight...