Todd Lumpkin

Hopefully doing more important things...

[Cliff Godwin @cgodwin23]

So true - we need everyone to step up/speak out so the broken system can be changed!

[Ben Sasse @BenSasse]

Friends-

This is a tough note to write, but since a bunch of you have started to suspect something, I’ll cut to the chase: Last week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die.

Advanced pancreatic is nasty stuff; it’s a death sentence. But I already had a death sentence before last week too — we all do.

I’m blessed with amazing siblings and half-a-dozen buddies that are genuinely brothers. As one of them put it, “Sure, you’re on the clock, but we’re all on the clock.” Death is a wicked thief, and the bastard pursues us all.

Still, I’ve got less time than I’d prefer. This is hard for someone wired to work and build, but harder still as a husband and a dad. I can’t begin to describe how great my people are. During the past year, as we’d temporarily stepped back from public life and built new family rhythms, Melissa and I have grown even closer — and that on top of three decades of the best friend a man could ever have. Seven months ago, Corrie was commissioned into the Air Force and she’s off at instrument and multi-engine rounds of flight school. Last week, Alex kicked butt graduating from college a semester early even while teaching gen chem, organic, and physics (she’s a freak). This summer, 14-year-old Breck started learning to drive. (Okay, we’ve been driving off-book for six years — but now we’ve got paper to make it street-legal.) I couldn’t be more grateful to constantly get to bear-hug this motley crew of sinners and saints.

There’s not a good time to tell your peeps you’re now marching to the beat of a faster drummer — but the season of advent isn’t the worst. As a Christian, the weeks running up to Christmas are a time to orient our hearts toward the hope of what’s to come.

Not an abstract hope in fanciful human goodness; not hope in vague hallmark-sappy spirituality; not a bootstrapped hope in our own strength (what foolishness is the evaporating-muscle I once prided myself in). Nope — often we lazily say “hope” when what we mean is “optimism.” To be clear, optimism is great, and it’s absolutely necessary, but it’s insufficient. It’s not the kinda thing that holds up when you tell your daughters you’re not going to walk them down the aisle. Nor telling your mom and pops they’re gonna bury their son.

A well-lived life demands more reality — stiffer stuff. That’s why, during advent, even while still walking in darkness, we shout our hope — often properly with a gravelly voice soldiering through tears.

Such is the calling of the pilgrim. Those who know ourselves to need a Physician should dang well look forward to enduring beauty and eventual fulfillment. That is, we hope in a real Deliverer — a rescuing God, born at a real time, in a real place. But the eternal city — with foundations and without cancer — is not yet.

Remembering Isaiah’s prophecies of what’s to come doesn’t dull the pain of current sufferings. But it does put it in eternity’s perspective:
“When we've been there 10,000 years…We've no less days to sing God's praise.”

I’ll have more to say. I’m not going down without a fight. One sub-part of God’s grace is found in the jawdropping advances science has made the past few years in immunotherapy and more. Death and dying aren’t the same — the process of dying is still something to be lived. We’re zealously embracing a lot of gallows humor in our house, and I’ve pledged to do my part to run through the irreverent tape.

But for now, as our family faces the reality of treatments, but more importantly as we celebrate Christmas, we wish you peace: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned….For to us a son is given” (Isaiah 9).

With great gratitude, and with gravelly-but-hopeful voices,
Ben — and the Sasses

[Dale Murphy @DaleMurphy3]

From the bottom of my heart, thank you to my family and fans for their overwhelming support. Words truly cannot describe how incredible the past few months have been!

I am so grateful for all of your videos, stories, comments, thoughts and every other way you have supported me—not just now but through the years. Thank you. Thank you.

[Murphy To The Hall @MurphyToTheHall]

Dale "Murph" Murphy's legacy isn't just defined by his Hall of Fame numbers - it's also built on integrity, humanity, and love of the game.

It's time! #murphytothehall

Thank you @Jason_Aldean and Wright Thompson

#mlb #dalemurphy #baseball #halloffame #cooperstown #braves #atl

[Todd Lumpkin @LumpkinTodd]

@aaronfitt #Pirates

[Rodney Smith Jr @iamrodneysmith]

Is your child ready to embark on the 50 Yard Challenge?

Encourage your young one to contribute to their community by joining our 50 Yard Challenge. This initiative invites kids to mow 50 lawns for free, helping the elderly, disabled, single parents, and veterans .

To kickstart their journey, they'll create a sign declaring, "I/we accept the 50 Yard Challenge," earning a white Raising Men or Women’s shirt. With every 10 lawns mowed, they'll receive a new colored shirt as a badge of their progress—orange for 10, green for 20, blue for 30, red for 40, and a distinguished black shirt upon reaching 50. Achieving this milestone means I'll deliver a brand new mower, weed eater, and blower to them—no matter where they are in the U.S., or if international, I'll fly to them.

And there's more—the challenge encompasses raking leaves and snow shoveling. This is a chance for your children to make a real difference, one lawn/drive way at a time.

Visit our website for more information and to sign up your child for this rewarding challenge. Let's see who's ready to help us make a difference!

https://t.co/cUXfnpE97q

[Todd Lumpkin @LumpkinTodd]

@OzzieAhl2 Go Noles, Jen!!! 😎

[Todd Lumpkin @LumpkinTodd]

@EricLuallen Nice call as usual, Eric. Appreciate it. The Myles HR call was awesome!

[#PackTheJungle🏴‍☠️💍 @ECUJungle]

If you are not able to make it to Conway this weekend, and are looking for a way to still support @ECUBaseball ….

Please consider making a donation to the @The23ClubNIL

If you are trying to figure out how much to donate….. please consider donating however much you would be paying for a ticket etc.

All Region Session passes are $50 each, and parking is $40-60.

Every dollar will be used to retain and procure talent to help continue to build this program in a new era of College Athletics.

��🏴‍☠️

https://t.co/IRX5bHwXbf

[Todd Lumpkin @LumpkinTodd]

@EricLuallen Listened all day. Great calls, Lulu! Thanks as always for your work.

[Todd Lumpkin @LumpkinTodd]

WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! WALK OFF GRAND SLAMMMMM!!!!! Great call, @EricLuallen !!!! Enjoyed the call as always. GO. FREAKIN. NOLES!!!!!

[Todd Lumpkin @LumpkinTodd]

@twright623 @EricLuallen Aaaaaaaaaaaamen to that. Only way to do it.

[Todd Lumpkin @LumpkinTodd]

@ashleighxcash LET’S GOOOOOOOOOO, SPIVES!!!!!! #PIRATES

[Bill Ackman @BillAckman]

This is one of the great business leaders leading in real time unscripted on the topic of work from home. He is entirely right.

We can all learn from him. A must listen.

[Ron DeSantis @GovRonDeSantis]

The Biden Administration’s last-ditch attempt to shut down bottom fishing shows how out-of-touch the federal government is with the reality on the water with red snapper. In the Gulf, where Florida sets the season, we’ve had consecutive record-setting seasons proving that state management works. I often hear from fishermen that red snapper off Florida’s Atlantic Coast have increased dramatically.

@NOAAFisheries’ deeply flawed proposal will shut down recreational fishing for 55 species, which will impact both anglers and the hardworking Floridians whose livelihoods rely on a robust fishery. It’s time for the federal bureaucracy to get out of the way and let states lead.
https://t.co/2d17nD1Zu4

[Ira Schoffel @IraSchoffel]

But I think Sankey and ESPN told us that league was different from all the others.

[Larry Williams @LarryWilliamsTI]

Jim Phillips: "Since Jordan Travis took over, SMU is 9-0."

[Anderson UnderBridge / Anderson Hydra Platforms @Anderson_UB]

Anderson UnderBridge is in Baton Rouge for the Louisiana Chapter of the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing. Be sure to stop by, say hi, and learn why our Hydra Platforms are America’s leader in safe under-bridge access. You’re gonna love the efficiency!

[Todd Lumpkin @LumpkinTodd]

Here we go…..

[ESPN College Football @ESPNCFB]

"I would really hesitate to eliminate a three-loss SEC team."

@CFBHeather gives us a history lesson on why some three-loss teams wouldn't be totally out of the CFP race.

[Todd Lumpkin @LumpkinTodd]

@Corey_Clark Sorry, man. Felt obligated.

[NFL Memes @NFLMemes]

Unlike the Falcons, Donald Trump was able to hold on to a 28-3 lead