Have you ever been hiking at night? If the woods are dense enough, almost no moonlight or starlight penetrates the thick canvas of the forest roof. When you turn your headlamp on, the immediate area in front of you lights up, and everything else is draped in blackness. You can see clearly for maybe thirty feet, then after that it tapers quickly back into pitch black. There’s a certain amount of faith that you have to walk in when you are night hiking. You have to trust that the trail will take you where it is supposed to go. You have to have faith that the trail itself is safe, even if it runs alongside a step cliff or next to a rushing river. You trust that the noises you hear are really just big squirrels and not hungry bears looking for tasty, out of shape and slightly plump, stray hikers. So you hike in faith, knowing for sure only what lies 30 feet in front of you and hoping that you’ll reach your campsite before Roscoe the Mountain Man jumps from the shadows to demonstrate to you his deep knowledge of the movie “Deliverance.” It really is exciting. Believe me. Try it sometime. Well, I am on a night hike of sorts right now, figuratively speaking. All of us that have entered into this amazing adventure that is following Christ are on night hikes. Our destination is certain: the Kingdom of God. Our trail is firm: the Path of Righteousness and the Way of the Cross. Our light, The Holy Spirit, illuminates all that we need to know in order to navigate through the world that is shrouded in the darkness of sin. The path that I am currently on is not one that I ever thought that I would take. It is a crazy trail that already has seen miracles, struggles, leaps of faith, and mighty acts of God. And we're only at the beginning. My hiking companions are my wife Brandie, and my three sons, Sam, Jack and Luke. It is a journey that we would love to share with all of you, if you want to read along.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Baseball, sleep overs, and The Sandlot.

Blog: Day 3. Running: day 2. Weight lost: 2 lbs.

Jack’s friend Caleb is spending the night tonight. Caleb LOVES baseball, but unfortunately is an Indians fan. I tried to reason with him and explain just how bad the Bravos spanked the Indians in the 1995 World Series, but he’s only 7. He’ll see the ligh this year when the Brave win it all…

They watched The Sandlot and laughed hysterically. I don’t care who you are, if you don’t get a little choked up at the end when the adult Bennie is stealing home and Smalls is calling the game from the announcer’s booth, then someone stole your soul.

As I tucked the boys into bed (inside a pretty sweet sheet fort I made for them) Caleb looked up and said, “Mr. Joey, do you think I can make it to the majors when I grow up?” It was such an innocent, sweet, hopeful question. I kissed him on the forehead and told him that I absolutely thought he could make it.

Of course I now expect a cut of his major league salary. And I’ll cheer for him even if he plays for the Indians.

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