Your annual reminder that the NCAA baseball tournament is (maybe a lot) better than the NCAA basketball tournament -- 16 on-campus regionals makes for one of the best sports weekends of the year.
You don’t have to give one ounce of a disclaimer before you express gratitude for your country and those who have given their lives in battle for the freedom and awesomeness that is America.
Grateful. Happy Memorial Day weekend.
Ten basics for skilled conversation--easily learned, easily forgotten. (I'm envisioning the hallway at church as I jot these down but they're broadly transposable).
1. Eye contact, including when speaking (it's harder to maintain eye contact when speaking than listening).
2. Listen with a view to what is being said (rather than formulating your own next comment).
3. Smile/gentle countenance as much as possible (90% of people are more discouraged than they're letting on).
4. Ask questions (everyone is more interesting than they realize).
5. Remember that this person, as the image of God, is a king or queen, worthy of accordant dignifying.
6. Be slow to pivot someone's joys or sorrows to your own similar experiences.
7. Adjust to the person--if they are painfully shy, be willing to carry more of the conversation load; if they are talkative, be willing to throttle back accordingly.
8. As appropriate be eager to move to deeper/spiritual things, taking the lead to do so rather than trying to prompt the other person to go deep first.
9. But: nothing wrong with small talk! Talking about the weather and sports and flowers greases the gears for deeper conversation. Christians who only ever talk at a spiritual level are exhausting.
10. It is not rude to smile, shake hands, and swiftly end the conversation (usually the other person wanted it to end too but didn't know how).
As a pastor I've been learning that the art of a skilled conversation is vital, though one that is not taught in seminary. I'm trying to grow in these ways, glad I had parents who modeled this well for me.
What would you add or change?
On this day in 1999, Marshall McDougall put together arguably the greatest individual game in baseball history 🤯
The Florida State slugger went 7-for-7 with:
⚾ 6 HR
⚾ 16 RBI
⚾ 25 total bases
All NCAA single-game records.
After singling in his first at-bat against Maryland, McDougall homered in his next SIX plate appearances, completing a “home run cycle” with a solo shot, 2-run HR, 3-run HR and grand slam in a 26-2 win.
I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who don’t need repentance. -- Luke 15:7 (CSB)
A ministry conviction I hold to is that I want to get MOST excited about what excites heaven.
Bitterness is often a sign that a Christian doesn't realize the size of the debt God canceled for them.
We forgive others because Christ forgave us first.
This is a bigger deal than people realize. As @BenSasse says, people weren’t made to be carrying a 24-hour a day casino in their pockets.
Gambling is a dangerous and potentially ruinous pastime. The contact access through smartphones is going to maim a generation.
“If he’s going to take his queues from the people he’s called to lead, than he’s going to be led rather than leading. He’s going to have to determine whether he wants to lead or to be liked.” - @AlistairBegg
James Tibbs III has been RAKING at Triple-A for the Dodgers!
10 HR, 22 RBI, 1.106 OPS in 23 G
He's the first MiLB player to reach 10 homers ... and on pace for 65 HR 😉
Only one chance in this lifetime…
Like watching sunset at the beach from the most foreign seat in the cosmos, I couldn’t resist a cell phone video of Earthset. You can hear the shutter on the Nikon as @Astro_Christina is hammering away on 3-shot brackets and capturing those exceptional Earthset photos through the 400mm lens. @AstroVicGlover was in window 3 watching with @Astro_Jeremy next to him.
I could barely see the Moon through the docking hatch window but the iPhone was the perfect size to catch the view…this is uncropped, uncut with 8x zoom which is quite comparable to the view of the human eye. Enjoy.