Each week (give or take one or two here and there) I share three things I like – It could be a book, a movie, a podcast, an album, a photo, an article, a restaurant, a food item, a beverage, or anything else I simply enjoy and think you might too. You can find a whole pile of things, especially books, I like and recommend HERE.
1) The World Baseball Classic
Pitchers and catchers report to spring training in mid February, and this is like a false spring–that one week of warm weather that tricks you into believing winter is over. But no, there’s another ice storm or another blizzard. And for baseball fans there are another six interminable weeks before the real season starts. Except every three yers when this things called the World Baseball Classic happens. When it began twenty years ago I thought it was gimmicky and cute. Now both the classic and I have grown up a bit, and I realize it is fantastic. Mixing high level baseball, super star talent, and national pride (the good sort, not jingoistic nonsense) is a recipe for excitement and delight. Doing so at the exact time when spring training would be the most interminable is genius. Watching an electrician from the Czech Republic strike out a multiple time MVP or seeing the teenaged son of a star player from my youth hit a home run off a Cy young winner is amazing. Seeing multi-millionaire all stars hanging over the dugout railing cheering like little leaguers serves as a reminder of what makes baseball so enjoyable. The WBC is about winners and losers, but it highlights the moments in baseball–individual plays, single at bats, particular matchups–that have always made baseball captivating. It is a tournament of stories instead of statistics. And it happens when we, the fans, are most starved for proper baseball.
2) Mowing the Lawn
Yesterday I spent most of the day writing and then I came home and mowed the lawn. I have a book deadline in a few weeks, so that dominates my time and mind right now. Here’s the ting about writing: even when you’re done you never quite feel done. The mind just keeps on going, revising, reflecting. My vocation is pastoral ministry, and by design and definition that work is never done since it is spiritual work with people, and those of in it rarely feel like we have done it as well as it could be done. All of this means that my heart and mind are ravenous for tasks and hobbies that are mentally/emotionally unburdensome, physically active, and have a defined point of completion where I can see the results of my work. So it is that I have learned to love yard work, especially mowing the lawn. It is cathartic. It is therapeutic. It is satisfying. Spending an hour on the lawn after spending a day counseling others or sermon prepping or book writing is a brain cleanse and a heart settler. The tangibility of defined rows of neatly mown grass is satisfying, and not largely for aesthetic reasons but because it is a job done with proof that it has been done well. And by God’s design and the gift of life, I get to do it again next week.
3) “That’s My King” by S.M. Lockridge
S.M. Lockridge was a brilliant and powerful preacher. His most famous clip has been pulled out and set to cheesy music time and again which in no way improves the message. In fact, they turn a powerful crescendo of gospel truth into precious moments schamltz. So here it is in it’s original form (the video will begin at about minute 55). The audio quality is imperfect and the message is unfailingly moving. I have yet to tire of listening to it, and it stirs me to worship Jesus every time. (Thank you Steve Bezner and Chris Hyatt for helping me find it!)
