The Heart of the Matter

The lies we tell ourselves

The way we act so nonchalant

When the destination stops before the dream

Keep exchanging truth for a lie

We all know how this story will end 

We try to go back to the beginning

Try to claw our way back to life

When you are the only face you see 

You find yourself bathed in utter darkness

And light refuses to obey your call

(Chorus)

When it's a matter of the heart

That's the heart of the matter

When everything you deemed important

Has disappeared into a mist

When searching becomes longing

And praying becomes begging

When it's a matter of the heart

That's the heart of the matter

481 Foot Home Run!

Ronald Acuña Jr. hit another monstrous homer and Ian Anderson spun yet another gem. In other words, this was another good night for the Braves, who finally showed some life at the plate.

Acuña hit the second-longest home run tracked in the Majors this year and Anderson provided his second straight scoreless effort as the Braves claimed a 5-0 win over the Cubs on Tuesday night at Truist Park. 

What a player! 

God and Lists

God loves order. And details. And a bunch of other stuff but today we are going to focus on the orderly side of God's personality today. 

Did you know that God loves lists? 

He must because a great deal of the Bible is devoted to lists. Today we call these particular lists, genealogies. The genealogies in the Bible are some of the deepest, hardest to pronounce and harder to read passages in the Bible. From the surface, they look like barren landscapes, with sand swept surfaces of unyielding granite. But, if we can break through the surface, golden riches and sparkling jewels can be found. 

How do we know this?

Because they are Scripture and God put them there for a purpose. In 2 Timothy 3:16 we read that “All Scripture is God breathed and is profitable for teaching…” God intended every chapter, every verse, every word of the Bible to be profitable for teaching — yes, even the genealogies. In fact, God believes genealogies are so profitable, He devoted large portions of his Word to them. We have them several times in the book of Genesis, the book of Numbers is almost one long genealogy, and we have one at the beginning of 1 Chronicles and one at the end of 2 Chronicles. We also find them in Ezra, Matthew, and in Luke.

By skipping all the genealogies in the Bible, we are passing over a lot of what God thought was important for us to know. He put them there to teach us something, and if we skip them because we think they have nothing to teach us, we are missing out on all that God has for us.

Second Place Didn't Interest Me . . .

 

What Am I Doing Hangin' Round?

 One of my favorite Monkee's songs. 

The Second Act

Weird, somewhat intimate confession, I love all the intricacies that come with the second act. You know, that part of the play, book, or movie, where the hero faces his/her greatest obstacles and is seconds away from giving up, being destroyed, and losing everything. 

When there is no way out, no rescue is coming, and fate has once again extended it's winning streak. Grief, death, the extinguishing of hope, the penultimate breath.

That moment, that seems to last a lifetime where everything hangs in the balance. And then, without warning, suddenly everything changes . . . 

I love to listen to people's stories. I like to listen long enough to sense the arc of their stories, the ebb and flow that will pull back the curtain on the decisions and emotions that accompany most of our lives. And without exception if you listen long enough, you will uncover those crossroad moments, those cliff-hangers, where the destiny of their lives was there for the taking, awaiting a push, plotting the next step, pleading for a sign. And if your storyteller is being brutally honest, they might describe that moment when emotions were running rampant, they couldn't imagine taking one more step, and lacked assurance that they could even endure one more second in that season of their life. 

Ronald Acuña Jr

Ronald Acuña Jr is having an unbelievable start to the 2021 baseball season! Check it out:

Beating out a infield hit with a speed of 31 feet per second! Click HERE to watch. 

As of April 15th he was an amazing 21 of 40 with 7 homers!

He has had 14 extra-base hits through Atlanta's first 13 games which is tied for the most in franchise history, matching Hank Aaron who also had 14 extra-base hits through 13 games in 1959. (Stats since 1900)

He has 1.000 slugging percentage 12 games into this season, plus he has reduced swinging at pitches outside the strike zone by 10 percent and only chases 9 percent of the time . . . 

The Paper

"Has anyone seen the paper?" 

This was a frequent question at my house when I was growing up. Part of the problem arose from the fact that there were competing forces for the same sections of the newspaper. For instance, my brother and I fought to confiscate the comics section of the paper, and my parents both sought possession of the front page news. Sometimes this didn't end well for all the parties involved . . . 

But before the initial plans could be made to circumvent the others goal of reading your favorite section, the paper first had to be located. Depending on the paperboy, (or papergirl - I honestly never remember seeing this person actually delivering the paper to our house), the newspaper's eventual destination varied greatly. 

Rich Mullins - If I Stand

 

Why do we call it Good Friday?

There are various schools of thought on why the Friday before Easter has been deemed Good Friday, the day on which Christians commemorate the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ. The name can seem counterintuitive to many Christians and nonbelievers, since this day is typically viewed through the lens of loss, a solemn moment, often observed with fasting and somber remembrances. 

So why is Good Friday called Good Friday?

Perhaps the best definition should be the words of the Holy Scripture, "Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:2) 

Joy? Jesus counted being tortured, despised, humiliated, and killed as joy? The answer is yes. For in that moment on the cross, Jesus, the sinless One, took the punishment of all of our sins, so that we could become blameless before God. In that cosmic transformation, He became something He wasn't so that we could become something we couldn't. 

Put simply, He died, so we could live.