Joy in Marriage

My wife, Judy, like all good Shiloh members, always checks out the sermon titles for the upcoming Sunday sermons. A couple of Sundays ago, I was preaching on the subject of “Joy in Marriage.”

The Wednesday before, Judy, our two smaller children, and I were driving to a city, where I was to speak at a church that night. We were going to check into the hotel first, and I had the address and a general idea of where to go, but I wanted to be sure there were no snafus. It was important that we arrive in a timely manner, so as not to be late to my preaching engagement.

I was driving, and I asked Judy to take my iPhone and look for directions. She took the phone and commenced her search.

At first, I encouraged her to use our AT&T Navigator service. She could not find the App. So, I told her to let me use the phone for just a second. With a quick glance and the use of my thumb, I could locate the App and she could type in the directions, but Judy did not want to do that. She did not want to break the law, or even the spirit of the law, and risk us experiencing an accident.

After another wait, I suggested she try searching on Google directions. She agreed, but again had a number of issues to contend with, and she was trapped in a cell phone labyrinth. I renewed my offer to give a quick glance at the phone. Again, she turned down my suggestion.

Confessionally speaking, by now, I was beginning to battle my flesh. This is a character flaw of mine. I’ve got to calm down. I was battling my emotions. I knew deep down I was being hypocritical. After all, how many times have I asked my co-workers for tech support?

I kept reminding myself, if this happened when we were dating, my attitude would be one of tenderness, compassion, and I would even probably find it cute. (Then, of course, I remembered that this could not have occurred when we were dating, unless it was the telegraph Judy was trying to use. I guess I could've said, “You need to press “dot” then “dash”…)

Unfortunately, we were not dating, and my sinful flesh was wanting to scream out, “What is the matter with you, woman! It's an iPhone for crying out loud! This is supposed to be user-friendly! Why can't you get it! And, if you cannot get to it, the least you could do is pass me the phone!”

(Of course, when I am asking for help, my attitude is, “Don’t be condescending to me!” When someone else is asking me for help, my attitude is, “Why can’t you get this?”)

She knew I wanted to scream out, but I was suppressing it. She heard my words, “Honeybunch, sugar-pie”, but she knew I was forcing it. My redeemed mind was trying to encourage my emotional body to pretend that I was dating again. She heard me taking the deep breaths, trying to calm down.

Let me tell you, though, my wife is sharp. Taking everything in, Judy, looked up with a smile on her face, and, with an arched eyebrow of understanding, and she said, “Joy in marriage.”

My wife knows me cold! With one remark, one phrase, three words, she deftly parried my emotional state and, with humor, addressed my sinful, evil nature. I was properly chastened.

This episode reminds me of Prov. 27:17, “Just as iron sharpens iron, friends sharpen the minds of each other.”

I know Judy has got my best interests at heart. She wants to help me put off “evil Mark” and put on Jesus. At times, this process can even be painful, but it is worth it.

Now, to those of you who believe you are stuck with a bad mate, let me say this. I don’t believe there is a spouse, who can prove so challenging that you cannot grow to be like Jesus. As a matter of fact, so often in Scripture, it is the adverse relationships that cultivate the deeper relationship with Jesus.

Allow me to pull a verse out of context—Ecc. 4:9, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work.” I realize that is talking about work; however, if it applies to work, I would certainly expect it to apply to marriage. What a marvelous privilege it is to travel through life with one you love more than anyone else on the planet, and one who loves you above all others.

Joy in marriage, indeed!

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. Thank you, Mike Wells, for sharing your story yesterday in our Sunday morning assembly. Before I left the auditorium, I knew your words had impacted people’s lives.

2. I cannot wait until this Sunday morning. We are going to be talking about finding joy in God’s healing. One from our Shiloh family has written, for us, how God has brought her through the most brutal of travails. Understanding the sensitivity of our setting, and the place she is with her family, I will be reading her words to the assembly. Her story of God’s healing will, I believe, give some people hope, who never thought they would experience it.

3. I always wondered what would happen to a civilization that denies the existence of God or of gods. Especially what it would do about death. I may have found an answer. I see yesteryear’s views of South African statesman, Jan Smuts, gaining traction today. Some folks, who are attempting to unify theology and quantum physics, are relegating what was formerly labeled “dead” to what they call the junk heap of failed, mechanical, classical science. Instead of dying, everything recreates itself to become part, yet again, of the greater whole of the universe. Other implications: a stone is not a lifeless object; it is, rather, a compaction of energy. Interesting—those rejecting God could still not escape the spiritual. 

 

4. I got to go with a group from our church, Tuesday night, to see Cliff Lee pitch for the Texas Rangers against the Oakland Athletics. He pitched nine innings, threw 13 strikeouts, and had nary a walk. The only negative was he did not get the win. Ian Kinsler did not cover second on a steal attempt and the catcher’s throw traveled into center field, thus allowing the A’s to score an unearned run. Nelson Cruz won it in the tenth with a walk off home run. These are fun times to be a Ranger fan.

5. Our six-year-old PC has a virus. We have been preparing for this day. Consequently, we have ordered an iMac from the Apple Education Store. (As an educator, Judy receives a discount.)

            I am happy, especially, for our older girls. Too many times, the past couple of years, they had to wait on the computer when doing their homework. It was as if there was a hamster turning a wheel to power our PC’s internet search engine and software—and he was tired! In all fairness, I am sure there were a number of factors involved including how many items we had on the computer. Still, it WAS old.

            One nice byproduct, we get a free iPod touch with this order. This will serve as a nice Christmas gift for our two youngest, Timothy and Annie. Please don’t tell them!

The Disadvantages of Progress

I still do not have a high-def TV. Our home computer is over six years old. I drive a 1992 Chevy Silverado Pickup; my wife drives a 2003 Chevy Suburban. Our house was built in 1960.

I may have lower expectations than the normal person, but few of us expect to purchase the newest or the best, when it is first released to the marketplace. Most of us are content to wait until the price goes down.

The one exception is health care. If my wife has an undiagnosed illness, I want the newest and best medical tool available to figure what the problem is. If one of my children is ill or injured, I want the best medicine on the market to take care of the problem.

Furthermore, whether it be machinery or medicine, I want the bill to be sent to my insurance company. I want them to pay it. I have very high expectations, when it comes to health care. I think most people are like me.

Since, we are so much alike, and since, there are over 300 million of us, we’ve got a problem. What if we had the same expectation when it comes to computers?

What if, every time a PC company or Apple came out with a new innovation on their computers, we wanted to purchase it—and have the bill sent to our insurance company? It would create economic chaos.

Yet, this is what is happening in health care. If the year were 1910, or 1810, this would be less of a problem. The medical field was offering much less when it came to innovation.

In this day and age, the growth of innovation is exponential: doctor specialization, pharmaceutical drugs, and medical machinery…. even if we formed the world’s greatest insurance company, we would still have price problems.

I do not foresee an easy solution. In some ways, this is a backhanded compliment from our culture to Christianity. Skyrocketing prices reveal, we still place the highest value on human life. For a future easing of tensions, I see five possible scenarios:

1) We decide that life in this world will never be perfect, and we accept fewer years or reduced quality in exchange for lower health care costs.

2) We decide that health care is our number one societal value; therefore, we agree to privately pay whatever costs are necessary to ensure we receive the best and most innovative health care available. This is done in community but not funded by taxpayer dollars.

3) We decide that health care is our number one societal value; therefore, we agree that taxpayers will fund whatever costs are necessary to assure we receive the best and most innovative health care available.

4) We decide that health care is to be placed in the same category as computers and cars: everyone is on his or her own.

5. Some combination of the previous four.

None of these solutions are ideal. No solution will be. For this reason, I feel this issue must be addressed at the spiritual and moral level, as well as the economic one.

As salt and light in this world, what role we will as Christians play? Have we evaluated well the role of the cross in all of this? How do we balance grace and discipleship when it comes to health care? How do we maintain equilibrium between forever and falleness?

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. Thank you MacArthur Park church of Christ in San Antonio for sharing with my family and me your wonderful hospitality.

2. Judy, Timothy, Abby and I spent Thursday at Sea World. It was our first time. We were blessed with cloudy skies, temperate temperatures, and a smaller crowd than normal. We all enjoyed ourselves.

3. Something I noticed—all of the animal shows shared a story. Instead of a trainer saying, “This is Shamu, watch him jump in the air…”, all of the killer whale tricks were done in the context of a narrative. The Sea Lions were participants in a play about robbery in a fish factory. There was no exception. The trainers never took time to directly impart information about the animals. This reality accentuates the shift we have taken from being a culture of data to being a culture of story.

4. Every Edge child is at Camp Deer Run this week during the day. Haleigh and Abby stay there at night, also. Judy begins a workshop tomorrow, but I bet she enjoyed today.

5. Dallas Cowboy receiver, Dez Bryant, you’re not giving me good vibes with this, “I won’t carry Roy Williams shoulder pads.” Maybe I read too much into this.

For Whose Glory?

I remember that I was stunned to learn how much of my Christian ministry was based on self-interest when, of all things, I went into business.  I went into business when I was 22, first by taking over and running my father's estate. 

Before, in college, I had studied to be a pulpit preacher.  Thus, because of my field of study and the common knowledge of what I wanted to do, I had many opportunities to teach, preach, lead evangelistic campaigns, etc.  All the time, I assumed I was doing everything "to the glory of God.”  Occasionally, I would find myself feeling hurt, if I wasn't asked to speak at this chapel service or that devotional, all because "I had something to share and was disappointed I didn't have the opportunity to share it." 

Then, amazingly enough, when I began my work in business, I found that the old hurts and disappointments disappeared.  Do you know why?  It was because I had begun to receive most of my ego strokes in business.  And, suddenly, the horrible realization dawned on me, what I thought was disappointment at not getting to "share a message on my heart," was really a bruised ego, disappointment at not getting another chance to be before an audience, practicing my craft, and receiving more strokes.

Now, I don't want you to think that whenever I preached, or preach, for that matter, my primary motive is to have people think that I do a wonderful job and I am an outstanding guy.  Rather what I am saying is, if this is one percent of my motive—that is one percent is too much.  It means there is still too much of self that is alive.

I realize those of us who are on church staffs are the ones, who probably struggle with this attitude the most with respect to "church related activities" simply because we, humans, get so much of our ego fulfillment from our jobs, but guess what?  You, members, who are not employed by the church, are not immune.  I know you have, at times, struggled with this problem because you have told me.

What if, for you and me, Paul’s words truly became real? “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (I Cor. 10:31.)

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. The family and I saw a lot of the Lyndon Johnson legacy in Austin last week. I would highly recommend touring the LBJ Library and the LBJ Ranch. I was shocked at the prices: free admission and parking at the library; $2 for adults 18 and older at the LBJ Ranch—17 and under get in free. My kids really enjoyed these tours, and they are not historical buffs—trust me.

2. Austin is a great city to visit—lots to do and very historical. But the traffic is still too much for me. Also, we were surprised at how many lots in the city looked tacky—like uncared for pastures. I could never imagine Tyler letting that happen.

3. We don’t eat out much, but we did some last week. One place we had never experienced before was Pei Wei. They served good Chinese food for a nice price. We enjoyed the ambiance as well. The Edge family gives Pei Wei twelve thumbs up.

4. Unless my daughter, Haleigh, was holding something back—and I don’t think she was—the UT Volleyball Camp was a good experience. The staff had a good grip on teaching, placing girls in the appropriate levels of competition, and offering adult supervision. I am pleased we were able to send Haleigh.

5. I have had a lot of fun speaking at different churches this summer. If any of you reading this blog are from the MacArthur Park church of Christ in San Antonio, I am looking forward to spending time with you this Wednesday night.

What If I Had Faith In Jesus?

One of the hardest things to do, in the Christian life, is to allow Jesus to be relevant. Dallas Willard, in his book THE DIVINE CONSPIRACY, addresses this challenge.

Willard says Jesus seems otherworldly to most of us. He is a good person, out of touch with reality. He is like a cheerleader constantly shouting, “We are going to win,” even though the score is 98 to 3 and the clock is ticking.

The problem is many Christians have faith in faith; the challenge is to have faith in Jesus. It seems to me, so many times in my life when I have failed to be what I should have been, or when I blatantly acted sinfully, I instinctively knew what Jesus would have me to do. The problem was, I did not trust him with the answer. Often, I believed in my gut he was right, but I did not want to pay the price of acting, as he would have had me act.

My mistakes have accumulated. Could it be I am finally reaching the age, where I am willing to risk all, put my faith in Jesus, and imitate him as I have imitated other men in my life?

What if, instead of:

Believing in believing

Believing in an ideal

Believing in morality

Believing in America

Believing in marriage

Believing in family

Believing in work

Believing in play

Believing in rest

Believing in activity

Believing in a religion

Believing in a church

Believing in a creed

Believing in a doctrine

Believing in a Bible

I, first and foremost, made the decision to believe in Jesus?

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. So Lebron and Chris are moving to Miami, and Dwyayne is staying. Got anybody to rebound inside and play interior defense?

2. The Rangers get Cliff Lee in a trade. Now there’s a Blockbuster!

3. I want the world to know I picked Spain to win the World Cup yesterday, on Facebook, at the beginning of the match.

4. Judy took our oldest daughter, Haleigh, to Austin yesterday for the UT Volleyball Camp. Judy will return today, hopefully. I never cease to be amazed at how younger children get anxious when their mother is away. Boy, does it ever come out in their behavior.

5. We’re going to Austin later this week to pick Haleigh up. Anybody know a good, natural swimming hole around Austin? That would be a memory maker.

The Rh Factor

J. H. Traver was a scientist, who did research on blood. Several years ago, I read an article Traver wrote. It was dated, but it still symbolically made an impact on me.

It was in Traver’s work that I first became aware of the fact that when a man, whose blood contains the Rh factor, and a woman, whose blood lacks this factor produce an offspring, the blood of the baby often carries the Rh factor, which causes the mother's body to produce antibodies. These antibodies can cause destruction of the red cells in the fetal bloodstream.

Ultimately, this can become a threat to the life of the baby. Years ago, options were limited to basically a blood transfusion. Someone else’s blood had to serve as substitute for that of the baby.  In other words, in order to save the child's life, most of its blood had to be removed while being replaced with blood from a suitable donor.

I cannot help but think, in a sense, that is the way it is for every person on earth. There is something wrong with our blood. It has been tainted with sin. There needs to be some sort of heavenly transfusion. No blood from this planet is good enough. There has to be something better, extra, supernatural.

One came from another world, and came to this world and gave us opportunity to receive a transfusion—a spiritual transfusion of his blood. He was the Son of God.

Now, allow me to tweak this metaphor.

We cannot make ourselves be born. What it takes is the effort of those, who help in the birthing process. It takes, ultimately, literally, one person and the shedding of her blood, to bring that baby into the world.

That is the way it is for a sinner. A sinner can try all he wants to make a difference to get to heaven. But, it will not work. There has to be a birthing process. Someone else has to give birth to him. Someone has to shed blood to bring him into this world. Jesus shed his blood to birth this new creature (see John 3:3-5).

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. Last week, I finally saw the movie UP. My kids had been trying to get me to see it for a long time. I really enjoyed the movie. Their opening, five-minute summary, of the married life was one of the most moving I have ever seen. Virtually without words, they painted, onscreen, what it means to live in love until death do you part. I’m making that sequence a required viewing for any couple I marry.

2. Thank you Westhill congregation in Cleburne. I had a great time with you Wednesday night. And I really like the coffee house concept.

3. I finished my yearly listen to SANDY KOUFAX, A LEFTY’S LEGACY by Jane Leavy. I thoroughly enjoy the book, obviously. I think part of the reason is Jane Leavy is an exceptional writer. She is truly gifted with words. Why she is not more famous, I do not know.

4. Argentina loses to Germany 4-0. That was so lopsided, I did not even feel bad after the match.

5. I hope you are enjoying a marvelous July 4th weekend.

Divine Detergent

Guilt. How do you get rid of it?

Ever heard of the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza in modern Mexico? I have heard described, in detail, what the men there did long ago for their guilt. Many would take big, long spines off of a plant, and pierce their sex organs and tongues.  After all, those were the sources of their greatest sins. They believed they must suffer pain and expel blood, and hopefully this method would atone for their sins. Ouch!

Remember the Shiites in Iraq a few years ago? The news media transmitted pictures of pilgrims whipping themselves in rituals designed to address their guilt.

Some people, who call themselves Christians, believe if they attend church on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night will have a chance to have their guilt removed.

Religion and philosophy typically address two basic questions:

Why are we here?

What can we do about our guilt?

I find the way the Bible addresses guilt interesting. Years ago, biblical scholar Leon Morris noted that the word “blood” was found 460 times in the Bible: 362 in the Old Testament and 98 in the New Testament.

My count has revealed, in the book of Leviticus, in the NIV, the word occurs 65 times. In chapter 17 alone, it appears 13 times. What gives? Why so much emphasis on blood?

I think there are several reasons. However, in chapter 17, dealing with how you kill animals for sacrifices or for food, you find a nugget of knowledge. In verse 11, the Lord says, “11 For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life.”

That sentence packs a lot of religious teaching and symbolism. The writer of Hebrews plays off that verse when he writes, “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb. 9:22).

Early on, God, through word and visual aids, taught Man: for you to live something must die. Go back to Genesis three. Adam and Eve sin, and what did they try to do? Cover themselves with leaves, the products of their own efforts. But it wasn’t good enough. God provided them with the skins of animals. Innocent blood was shed. For Adam and Eve to live, something had to die. Blood had to be shed.

Thus, begins a pattern throughout scripture. In the Old Testament, it was found in sacrifices such as the burnt offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, the fellowship offering, the Day of Atonement, and even the Passover. As the renowned Levitical scholar Jacob Milgrom wrote, “Blood is the ritual detergent.”

Under the New Covenant, you had a change. Instead of—for you to live, something must die—it became: for you to live, someone must die. The Son of God shed his life’s sustaining liquid on the cross. His blood marked an eternal difference.

By His blood:

1. We are justified. As an old preacher once said, justified means “just as if I'd never sinned.” By the blood of Jesus, that is how we can stand before God—guilt free. Romans 5:9, says, “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!”

2. We are redeemed. Paul wrote, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace” (Eph. 1:7). Do we know what the word “redeemed” means? It means bought back. Jesus uses a form of the word when he said, “the Son of Man came to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28). This evokes memories of the sacrifices in Leviticus, where you became aware that your spiritual life was held hostage by death and sin. You paid a ransom, but not in money, rather in blood. In Leviticus, a person was saved by God's grace and blood of goat, but this POINTED toward the blood of Jesus.

We sing a song called "Redeemed how I love to proclaim it." It reminds me of how Paul Lee Tan illustrates the meaning of redemption. He writes that A. J. Gordon was a preacher, who met a young boy carrying a old cage. The cage held some wild birds.

Gordon inquired, “Son, where did you get those birds?”

The boy replied, “I trapped them out in the field.”

What are you going to do with them?”

“I’m going to play with them, and then I guess I’ll just feed them to an old cat we have at home.”

Gordon offered to buy them, and the boy exclaimed, “Mister, you don’t want them, they’re just little old wild birds and can’t sing very well.”

Gordon replied, “I’ll give you $2 for the cage and the birds.”

“Okay, it’s a deal, but you’re making a bad bargain.”

The transaction completed, the boy went away happy with his money. Meanwhile, the following Sunday, Gordon “took the empty cage into the pulpit and used it to illustrate his sermon about Christ’s coming to seek and to save the lost—paying for them with His own precious blood. ‘That boy told me the birds were not songsters,’ said Gordon, ‘but when I released them and they winged their way heavenward, it seemed to me they were singing, ‘Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed!’”

“You and I have been held captive to sin, but Christ has purchased our pardon and set us at liberty. When a person has this life-changing experience, he will want to sing, “Redeemed, Redeemed, Redeemed!”

To Be Continued…

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. World Cup Fever—Catch it! I am sorry the U. S. lost to Ghana. And I feel bad for my friends from Mexico. However, now I am free to root for Argentina. I still have my World Cup jersey from 1994. I can tell you now, if Argentina wins this thing—the Argentine’s will commission Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber to write a new musical—MARADONA. Later, Madonna will star in a movie version, which the Argentines will not appreciate.

2. I took my kids to see THE KARATE KID Saturday. Actually, it was kind of funny. We were supposed to go to a wedding at 3. The movie started at noon.

            At 2:00, we are sitting in the theater and I’m thinking to myself, “This movie is nowhere close to being over.” I googled on my iPhone the movie, and discovered it lasted 2:20”. Now I am thinking, when did the movie begin?

            Movies today are like extra time added on to the end of those World Cup soccer games—you never know how much time has been added. In the cinema, you never know how much time has been added because of the previews. Nevertheless, I paid $31.75 for us to watch this movie—we’re seeing the ending, or we are waiting until the movie comes out on free TV.

            Finally, at 2:33, the movie ends. Now we are rushing to the pick-up. Haleigh calls Judy, on the phone, because we’ve got to go home to change clothes. The issue is: if we drive home and change, we may not make it back to the wedding. Judy suggests we just meet her at my office. She’ll bring all five changes of clothes.

            I drop the kids off at my office and go park. I had given Haleigh my key to open the doors. After parking, I knock on the office complex door, and my daughter, Abby, comes out of my office to open it. As I walk in our complex, I hear my office door close.

            “Abby,” I ask. “Where is the key to my office?”

            “Inside your office,” she replies.

            Not good. The kids had failed to unlock my office door, and none of the kids are inside. Now we are in a time crunch, and we are locked out of my office! Fortunately, I see one of our staff members, Charles Smith, walking across the church parking lot. I flag him down and he opens my office and saves the day.

            Judy drops our clothes by at 2:53 P.M. We change our clothes in six minutes and make it to the wedding at 3:00. Crazy. Crazy. Crazy.

3. Incidentally, I really liked THE KARATE KID. It had some mysterious, Chinese remedies I wasn’t thrilled about, as well as a couple of other things I disagreed with, but overall, I enjoyed the movie and liked the message for my kids.

4. Rare military/political statement here: I hope General Petraeus turns out to be the right man for Afghanistan. I think he could prove to be. I don’t care who you are; you cannot say the things General McChrystal said about your Commander-in-Chief and his administration and expect to keep your job. Especially when the journalist following you around is from ROLLING STONE! One of the reasons Harry Truman is so highly thought of today is because he had the courage to sack McArthur. Besides all of that, you’ve got the passages such as Rom 13 and Eph. 6 where, Paul reminds Christians to show their bosses respect.

5. Texas Rangers—who are you? Winning 13 out of the last 14 is pretty good. Save some, though, for the good teams.

Let Me Share My Dad

Last year for Father’s Day, I reprinted, in my weekly blog, a letter my dad wrote to me when I was in college. It was very well received—one of my more well-read posts. Consequently, I thought this year I would do the same.

To provide some context, this letter was written to me on October 27, 1979. It was my first year at Abilene Christian University. I was playing, or maybe I should accurately say trying to play college football at the time.

In early October, my roommate contracted a case of mononucleosis. I became fearful that I would get it as well—convinced that if I did, it would set my chances of playing football back. (From this vantage point over thirty years later, I now realize that, with my talent, BREATHING would have set me chances back.)

With that in mind, daddy started his letter like this:

Dear Mark:

            Was good to hear from you last night though I detected some anxiety on your part that I didn’t like. Remember what the Apostle Paul said. “Be anxious in nothing etc”. That is easier said than done however so I want to tell you a few secrets.

He did. He went on to write a three page, single-spaced letter. He admonished me on the importance of self-discipline and the organization of one’s time and life. He also reminded me that adversity was inevitable in life.

With that as context, I want to pass along to you the last page of his letter. The letter was informal, so I have edited the punctuation a little to convey to you what he communicated to me.

Daddy’s long gone; he died in 1983. However, I had him for my first twenty-two years of life, and he was a wonderful father. So if you're sitting there as one who did not have such a father, let me share with you mine.

            Mark… [T]his is the fun of the challenge. You can see how hard it is, and, if you do what I tell you or something similar, you will get it down. When you do, it will appear very easy for you and then you start to feeling good about being able to handle so many things well. Next year you will see freshmen going through the same things that you have gone through. Maybe you can then help some of them then because you will be becoming an old pro at time management.

It is said that: Maturity in a leader is the ability to deal with people of widely differing opinion, temperament, and taste without allowing these differences to interfere with the effectiveness of work or the warmth of human acceptance.

I want you to think of Gregg’s feelings also when you are talking in front of him. [Context: In my anxiety about football, I was whining on the phone about possibly getting mono from my roommate—in my roommate’s presence.] Talking about catching mono from him could not make him feel any better. Do your part toward making life easier for him regardless of how you think he treats you. Don’t be selfish toward him—that is don’t try to treat him as he treats you, if that happens to be unlike [the way] you would like for him to treat you. I don’t have any idea what your relationship is like, but I would imagine it gets trying sometimes. Living that close to someone usually does. It is not who is right, but what is right, that is of importance.

Eddie Rickenbacker once said: “To contrive is nothing! To construct is something! To produce is everything!” Charlie Brower said, “Never trust a man who is Dr. Jekyll to those above him and Mr. Hyde to those under him.”

In closing, continue to take care of yourself, but don’t worry too much as that is the worst thing that you could do. And think about the moral to this story:

Ever notice… that when your arms are filled with packages, the sign on the door says, “pull.”

Sigh—relax—enjoy yourself—be kind—

Love, Dad and all

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. I got the seven games I was pulling for in the Boston-LA NBA Championship Series. During game 7, I realized I was pulling for Boston to win. Why? I don’t like either Boston or LA. Cmon Mavs!

2. I’m telling you, summer will be over before you know it. I’ll miss it.

3. I have been pleasantly surprised by the play of the U. S. during the World Cup. They might actually advance to the second round.

4. I always love Father’s Day. I like the attention from my family. My gift is getting to watch the U. S. Open—at least until it is time to go preach.

5. Is there any better musical movie theme than that of BATMAN BEGINS? It seethes with drama, and the music subtly makes you aware of the lurking danger of bats.