This past Sunday I preached on Matthew 27:1-31; Judas' remorse and death, Jesus' trial before Pilate, conviction and sentence. In this passage Jesus stands out as having perfect courage even among numerous guilty cowards. If you'd like to hear what Jesus' perfect courage means to guilty cowards like us, click here.
By God's Grace, Jeff
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Faithfulness on Trial
Two weeks ago I preached on Matthew 26:57-75 in which Jesus and Peter both face trials testing their faithfulness, but with two very different outcomes. If you'd like to listen to this sermon and to hear what Jesus' faithfulness on trial has to do with us, click here.
By God's Grace, Jeff
By God's Grace, Jeff
Chores
Growing up in the city, I always associated chores with something kids do for an allowance. I remember having to do chores such as taking out the trash, vacuuming the stairs, and picking up after the dog in the backyard. So it's interesting to hear fifty-year-old farmers talking about having chores to do each morning. And although I haven't asked, I'm pretty sure they don't receive an allowance from their parents when they're done.
Well, as you can tell from a previous post, the fantasy baseball draft took up most of my Saturday. Ever since college a bunch of my friends have had a baseball rotisserie league. And over the years it has gone through numerous changes. The first year half of us drafted NL players and the other half drafted AL and one guy kept the stats for the entire league. At one point we changed it into a keeper league (you can hold over a certain number of players for the next season) but then we changed back to redrafting new teams every season.
We have guys from Wisconsin that draft Brewers, Ohio that draft Indians and Michigan that draft Tigers...way too early! It's been fun to over-the-years see who certain guys seem to always want on their team. Mike likes well-known veterans (who usually have a good year when he gets them). Matt likes speed (I think he drafted Ichiro 3-4 years in a row). And as you can imagine there have also been many hilarious moments on draft day throughout the years. The number one has got to be when John mistakenly clicked on "Roman Martinez" (a mediocre pitcher) instead of "Pedro Martinez" (the best pitcher) with his number one overall draft pick.
Even though we've all long since graduated, moved away, started careers, changed careers, moved back, got engaged, got married and started families, as many as can make it still try to get together at someone's house in the Chicago area on draft day. I haven't been able to make it the last couple years and so have had to draft remotely; online. And even though it doesn't help one's team to be present, you sure miss out on a lot of the memories from draft day.
I'm having problems uploading sermons so I apologize for the not posting the last couple of weeks yet. I hope to have this resolved soon.
By God's Grace, Jeff
Well, as you can tell from a previous post, the fantasy baseball draft took up most of my Saturday. Ever since college a bunch of my friends have had a baseball rotisserie league. And over the years it has gone through numerous changes. The first year half of us drafted NL players and the other half drafted AL and one guy kept the stats for the entire league. At one point we changed it into a keeper league (you can hold over a certain number of players for the next season) but then we changed back to redrafting new teams every season.
We have guys from Wisconsin that draft Brewers, Ohio that draft Indians and Michigan that draft Tigers...way too early! It's been fun to over-the-years see who certain guys seem to always want on their team. Mike likes well-known veterans (who usually have a good year when he gets them). Matt likes speed (I think he drafted Ichiro 3-4 years in a row). And as you can imagine there have also been many hilarious moments on draft day throughout the years. The number one has got to be when John mistakenly clicked on "Roman Martinez" (a mediocre pitcher) instead of "Pedro Martinez" (the best pitcher) with his number one overall draft pick.
Even though we've all long since graduated, moved away, started careers, changed careers, moved back, got engaged, got married and started families, as many as can make it still try to get together at someone's house in the Chicago area on draft day. I haven't been able to make it the last couple years and so have had to draft remotely; online. And even though it doesn't help one's team to be present, you sure miss out on a lot of the memories from draft day.
I'm having problems uploading sermons so I apologize for the not posting the last couple of weeks yet. I hope to have this resolved soon.
By God's Grace, Jeff
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Draft Results
So every year at about this time, I get together (online that is) with some old college chums of mine for the right-of-passage that is the fantasy baseball draft. If you think rotisserie refers to a way to cook chicken, let me explain fantasy baseball. You have a group of owners (e.g. a bunch of college buddies) who draft a team of all-stars from major league baseball rosters and then compete against each other to see whose team does better by the end of the season. The way we decide the winner is based on a 5x5 points system (five pitching categories and five hitting categories). Each team is made up of 20 players (11 hitters and 9 pitchers) plus reserves or bench players. Hitters are awarded points based on batting average, runs, runs batted in (RBI), homeruns and steals. Pitching points fall into wins, earned run average (era), strikeouts, whip (walks and hits per inning pitched), and saves.
So all that to say, below in the team that I drafted today. If I think about it, I'll periodically post how I'm doing during the season. Also, I'll try to post my final season roster as because of injuries, trades and additions, it usually looks quite different. Enjoy! - Jeff
C - Brian McCann (ATL)
1B - Adam LaRoche (PIT)
2B - Ian Kinsler (TEX)
3B - Kevin Youkilis
SS - J.J. Hardy (MIL)
CI - Paul Konerko (CWS)
MI - Clint Barmes (COL)
OF - Hunter Pence (HOU)
OF - Jason Werth (PHI)
OF - Xavier Nady (NYY)
OF - Mike Cameron (MIL)
OF - David Murphy (TEX)
U - Luke Scott (BAL)
SP - C.C. Sabathia (NYY)
SP - Diasuke Matsuzaka (BOS)
SP - Scott Baker (MIN)
SP - Gil Meche (KC)
SP - Chris Volstad (FLA)
SP - Jessie Litsch (TOR)
SP - Randy Wolf (LAD)
CL - Bobby Jenks (CWS)
CL - Frank Francisco (TEX)
BN - Kelvim Escobar (SP; LAA)
BN - Travis Ishikawa (1B; SF)
BN - Josh Anderson (OF; ATL)
So all that to say, below in the team that I drafted today. If I think about it, I'll periodically post how I'm doing during the season. Also, I'll try to post my final season roster as because of injuries, trades and additions, it usually looks quite different. Enjoy! - Jeff
C - Brian McCann (ATL)
1B - Adam LaRoche (PIT)
2B - Ian Kinsler (TEX)
3B - Kevin Youkilis
SS - J.J. Hardy (MIL)
CI - Paul Konerko (CWS)
MI - Clint Barmes (COL)
OF - Hunter Pence (HOU)
OF - Jason Werth (PHI)
OF - Xavier Nady (NYY)
OF - Mike Cameron (MIL)
OF - David Murphy (TEX)
U - Luke Scott (BAL)
SP - C.C. Sabathia (NYY)
SP - Diasuke Matsuzaka (BOS)
SP - Scott Baker (MIN)
SP - Gil Meche (KC)
SP - Chris Volstad (FLA)
SP - Jessie Litsch (TOR)
SP - Randy Wolf (LAD)
CL - Bobby Jenks (CWS)
CL - Frank Francisco (TEX)
BN - Kelvim Escobar (SP; LAA)
BN - Travis Ishikawa (1B; SF)
BN - Josh Anderson (OF; ATL)
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
God and His Word
"Assuredly, when the word of God is despised, all reverence for Him is gone. His majesty cannot be duly honored among us, nor his worship maintained in its integrity, unless we hang as it were upon his lips."
Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin (2.1.4)
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