Here is the Catch This! “sponsor” from yesterday.

1984 was a memorable year for me. It was the year that I fell in love with Ernie Harwell and the Detroit Tigers as a 7-year-old boy, while we were living in Warren with Papa and Nana Cummins. I love baseball, Ernie and the Tigers because it is not just about a game, it is about so much more than that. It’s about life and family and relationships and many other things.

Ernie recently announced that he has been diagnosed with cancer. You can watch his recent thank you to the fans at Comerica Park here.

Several years ago my sister wrote about Ernie, the Tigers, baseball and me. I want to share it with you. It is too long to include in this post so you can read it here. Here is just a bit of  it:

Few see his closet turned office, yet he has chosen the décor with care. Pictures of his wife smile from the desk and filing cabinet, but the focal point of the tiny room is The Shelf. Half a dozen favored books, along with a packet of pictures and a card, have been selected to grace the west wall of his office. Above The Shelf hang the pictures that tie the décor together—the pictures of The Stadium.

As we talked, I could almost see him as a seven-year-old boy shivering in October darkness on the front porch. Frost had long since silenced the last cricket’s song, but summer’s final chapter had just been written. Moments earlier, Ernie Harwell’s radio voice had announced, “And the Tigers are the champions of 1984.”

The relationship, begun that day between a boy and his team, continued after the child’s family moved from the Detroit area. It continued as his team fell from greatness, ending year after year with a losing record. It continued because of a voice, rich with the lore of baseball past, that tied the boy to the present.

You can go here to check out the pics from thje C2Retreat09. Katy, yes, they are finally up!

Coram Deo | living before the face of God

Recently the reality of death has been on my mind. Several weeks ago my Papa Cummins met his eternal reward, tomorrow we will be attending the funeral of Stephanie Z’s grandpa and today marks 8 years since the day of the most gruesome attack ever on American soil where thousands of lives were taken. I cannot fathom facing the reality of death apart from the realities of Christ and the gospel, for without them there is no hope in death, only despair.

The text below has run through my mind often over the past several weeks. It is an expression of the hope we have in death because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yes, in death there is still pain. There is still hurt. There is still loss. Yet there is also great hope for the Christian, because with His death and resurrection Jesus Christ has conquered the grave!

It is not Death to die, to leave this weary road,
and join the saints who dwell on high,
who’ve found their home with God.
It is not death to close the eyes long dimmed by tears,
and wake in joy before your throne,
delivered from our fears.

It is not death to fling aside this earthly dust,
and rise with strong and noble wing
to live among the just.
It is not death to hear the key unlock the door
that sets us free from mortal years
to praise forever more.

O Jesus, conquering the grave,
your precious blood has power to save.
Those who trust in you will in your mercy find
that it is not death to die.

Here is all the info about Harvest Fest. Sign up tonight!

Here is what they are saying the weather will be like at Hartwick Pines during the C2Retreat09.

Everyone will be getting an info letter and permission slip in the mail, but if you like, you can download it here. For those of you on Facebook, there is a page that has much of the info on it as well. You can find it here.

If you are interested in going down the river in a kayak instead of a canoe, please talk to me soon. If you do so, your trip will cost $55 instead of $45.

Learn to pray and praise God in every situation and he’ll let you know if you should move to Mozambique.  Lay down your life for others and he’ll direct your career.  Take care of the depth of your character and Christ will take care of the breadth of your ministry.  Read your Bible, pray, devote yourself to a local church, serve, share the gospel any way you can.  Jesus won’t let you miss his will.

You can find this quote and the rest of the blog post it comes from here. It is well worth the 3 minutes of your time it will take (or 5 minutes if you are a slow reader like me).

UPDATE: There are several more posts that continue the writers very good thoughts concerning knowing God’s will. You can find them here (Part 2), here (Overcoming the Paralysis of Indecision) and here (Only a Fool Wouldn’t Ask).

As we continue looking at Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World (you can find the other posts here), we come to the chapter on materialism. The author does a great job of addressing the issues of the heart when it comes to our stuff. Here are a few quotes:

Coveting is desiring stuff too much or desiring too much stuff. It is replacing our delight in God with joy in stuff. Materialism is what happens when coveting has cash to spend…covetousness is a form of idol worship (Eph. 5:5; Col. 3:5).

He goes on to say this while talking of Luke 12 where a man came to Christ wanting Him to settle a dispute about the family inheritance,

The sin of covetousness is not what we have stuff; it’s that our stuff has us. That’s why, when that man in the crowd interrupted Jesus, he found it so easy to ignore what the Master was teaching and demand a ruling on his belonging. Covetousness blinded him from everything but his momentary object of worship–a family inheritance. The irony is that he was face-to-face with the only One truly worthy of worship, yet all he could see was what he lacked. He had stuff on his mind and wrapped around his heart.

The last quote I’ll share today gives hope to those wrapped in covetousness.

Covetousness may be powerful, but it’s no match for a benevolent Savior.

In the next two posts from this chapter we will look at how covetousness traps us and then how to be on guard against it.

Finally, after several attempts and failure here is the camp video I put together. I hope that it brings back many great memories but also challenges you to continue in the things that you learned while at camp. Enjoy!

PS – I will be making a DVD copy for each of you that went to camp, but if you have a desire to download the video, you can here.