Yesterday golf tournament was a disaster. To put it nicely, I’ve never played so poorly. I can’t think of another time where I had a complete inability to make good shots happen. In all reality, I had several very good shots. Three times I put an approach shot within 5 feet of the hole for birdie. Each time I was unable to convert.

Along the same lines, I discovered much that I did wrong in “day of tournament” preparation. I tired myself out practicing. That was a no-no. I hydrated, but not enough. As the 6 hour round continued I felt worse and worse. It’s been since I was about 13 since I felt that poorly on the golf course. I was faint, tired, sweating and then not sweating. I had a pounding headache. These are all signs of heat stroke. It only got worse when I got home. I tried pounding down a serious amount of fluid and food. I didn’t feel any better, and only got worse, until about 11 PM. Yuck! My head was absolutely pounding. I kept ice on my head and neck most of the night to try to bring my body temperature down.

So this morning I feel a little better. Mostly, I am just sore. Everything hurts. It hurts to sit, it hurts to stand. It hurts to lay down, it hurts when I move and when I don’t move. I don’t think I’ll be back on the golf course for a few days.

There are some time that you can’t keep me away from my office. I am always here. This is not that time.

I am not feeling “into work” just right now. For obvious reasons, my brain is kind of checked out elsewhere. Not home or on anything truly “important” but on my stupid golf game. I’m more than a little nervous about my adventure Tues-Wed at the public links sectional. I’m either going to play really well or really poorly.

On the bright side, I finally settled my mind on having one of last years freshmen carry my sticks. He will absolutely be perfect for it. He likes the course, he likes the idea of helping me out, and he just has a fun attitude. I will need that. Chances are, I’m going to post a big number and I’ll need someone around to keep me in check to stop from DQing myself or maybe even withdrawing.

A little more practice tonight and a quick 9 in the morning and I’ll be all ready. I’m just ready to get it on!

Well, I spent all of Wednesday night and early Thursday morning puking my guts out. It was one of my less glamorous moments. Apparently I ate something that didn’t agree with me. My guess would have to be a bad hamburger from my meeting Wednesday night. I started feeling sick as soon as I got home. I missed all day yesterday at work because of it too. Though I tried to come in, I didn’t last long. I was just too whipped.

Today, I had my practice round over at the Orchards. I’m more than a little POed that I had to pay full price. I like golf and all, but not at $80 a round. That sucks! Even worse, I’ve got the shanks. I’ve got about 24 hours to get it all worked out or else I’m going to withdraw from my tournament next week. I’m so nervous about it that I haven’t even arranged for a caddy yet. The way I was playing today I’d be ashamed to have someone forced to watch me play. Yuck!

We have an all nighter tonight. While I am down with spending time with students, I am not down with losing a nights sleep! We are expecting somewhere between 20-30 students tonight. So that is pretty tight. I’ll report back on the exact details. It’s sure to be fun once it all gets started. It’s the typical pre-event drag though.

This is Paul at the Detroit Zoo not too far back. 

This is Megan outside of our house in Romeo 

I had the pleasure of sharing in the graduation ceremony up at Imlay City last night. Below is the words that I shared with the graduates.

___________________

“Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13b-14

Personal story: My first little league homerun. Summer between 4th-5th grade. Late in the game, everything was in slow motion as I rounded the bases. After that, my confidence was so high that I was sure that each time up to bat I could hit a homerun. That confidence gave me freedom to be the best 5th grade 3rd basemen I could be.

Chapter 3 of Paul’s letter to the Philippians is all about confidence. Paul uses the word 3 times in this passage.

Where is your confidence today?

Paul gives us a clear indication of where our confidence belongs as Christians later in chapter he says our confidence is “in the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus” and “in righteousness through faith in Christ.”

But today, as we sit here celebrating the achievement of graduation from 8th grade, we are left with a lingering question:

Where is our confidence?

What does it mean to be confident?

Let me tell you. Graduates, be confident. Not in a rude way. Not to make yourself look better than you are, but be confident in Christ.

– In Christ, you are heirs. Through Jesus you are connected and associated with the King of kings and the Lord of lords. This is no lowly position.

– As believers, we know that we belong wherever we go. We don’t have to worry about what’s ahead of us… wherever we go, we belong.

– As you begin to look past your time here at Imlay City to your years in high school, you don’t have to be afraid. You can be confident in knowing that the same God who took care of you here will be with you forever. Knowing Jesus Christ as Savior gives you the ability to look at any situation or challenge and say

o I can win

o I am good enough

o I am loved

o My confidence is in Christ

The second part of this passage makes any sports nut happy.

– All throughout Paul’s letters we see illustration to sporting events.

– A lot of biblical scholars believe that Paul was either an athlete himself, or was an avid fan of sporting events.

– We see an illustration from running here. As we read his words we can visualize a race.

Paul says, “I press on….. towards the goal….. to win the prize!

I am here today to encourage you, to congratulate you, and to urge you.

Press on!

– Achievements and education don’t stop here… keep going!

– Never stop learning, serving, putting Christ number 1 in your life, allowing Jesus to use you as a person of influence in the lives of others!

Towards the goal!

– Not just the goal of a heavenly reward… there’s more to it.

– God has created the Christian life for us to live!

– John 10:10 says “I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full!

– His desire for you is fantastic… go for it!

To win the prize!

– In Paul’s day, a runner won a medal or a crown maybe even some cash

– In today’s world, Christians press on to love God with everything we got, love our neighbors as ourselves and make disciples of all nations.

– In Christ, we press on to win the crown of righteousness and service.

Lastly, we are reminded of Paul’s command to press on.

Just press on, keep going, keep it up, PRESS ON until you get to the end and Jesus looks at you, he calls you by name, and he places the victor’s crown on your head and says, “well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Well done.

Been gone from the PC world for several days. It was actually refreshing to be away from all media sources Thu-Sat last week. I was oblivious to major news, even more so to the stupidity of regular television.

Thursday I woke up about 2 hours later than I wanted. I knew I was in trouble when I heard birds. I had hoped to leave the house for the golf tournament by 3:30 AM at the latest. I awoke at 5:03 in shear horror. I hadn’t set my alarm.

So, after setting the land speed record to Grand Rapids… 2 hours, I arrived to score the Pro-Am. The group I was paired with was really nice. There were some cool execs from some nameless company and my pro was John Mahaffrey. (My pro, as if I know the guy.) He was really nice, but a little reserved. The amateurs in the group were actually pretty good. I had a hard time not coaching the team as they needed some strategy help, but I just kept my mouth shut and recorded their scores.

Friday morning I arrived on the course and found out I was paired with Jim Thorpe’s group. That was tons of fun. He was a very nice man, he hit the ball a ton, and every time it looked like he was going to make a terrible bogey, he’d find a way to get on in regulation and get his par. It was very cool to see him win on Sunday.

One thing that was funny for me is that I didn’t realize that I’d have to actually sit across the table from the pros in the scorers tent and check their scores. I was more than a little intimidated when I sat down across from Thorpe and Sammy Rachels (who had just shot a career round 64.) Even the other guy, Walter Zembriski was intimidating for me. Thankfully we all had the right scores and it was over quickly. I got signed balls from all the guys.

I will be volunteering there next year, Lord willing. It was a great experience and I learned a lot. Morevover, I met some fabulous people.

Tonight is the “last” Light Force of the school year. Weather permitting, we will be outside horsing around until about 8 and then we’ll go inside for some snacks and my fake little awards. I actually have been having a good time coming up with some of these in my brain. Maybe I’ll post the finalist later.

I love this time of year since the students are stoked to be done with school. In 2 weeks they’ll be bored out of their skull.

This doesn’t really effect anyone but me, but I have upgraded our ministry tracking software to version 6.0. While it’s a totally more powerful piece, it’s a pain to move everything over. This is not a good migration. It moved most of my basic data, but nothing historical attendance/registration wise. That really sucks. But it does come up with some kick butt stats at the end of the day. Worth checking out.

In doing this migration I’ve come to realize that we touch over 200 people. Wow. That’s pretty good for one year’s work.

I may be the only person under the age of 40 in the whole world who doesn’t care too much for his birthday. It’s not that I dislike presents, not at all. I don’t even mind the attention too much. I suppose what I do not like is the “exposure of it all.”

Everyone here at the church knows it’s my 28th birthday. And if they don’t, then as soon as they come in the door they are told about it. Bah humbug! I’d much rather it just be another day where perhaps I got to play a little more golf or maybe a nice gift from Kristen, but I just don’t like the whole world wanting to sing “happy birthday.”

If I wanted to get all Freudian about it, I’d say that I am repressing anger towards my parents for not caring about my birthday growing up. (Though they may disaggree with this sentiment… I’ll revise it to say after my 4th birthday, they forgot.) Sure, it was painful for me to find my birthday card in July in the bottom of dad’s truck. Unsigned and with a post-it on it that read “don’t forget!” He always forgot. Then there were the countless gifts that were last second, the “oh crap… it’s Adam’s birthday, pick up something on the way home” gifts. Worse yet, the “what do you want for your birthday?” presents. Then they just opt out for the gift card every time. What about actually thinking about it? Does that ever cross anyones mind?

Or I could say that my birthday is too weird for me. I don’t like the singing to a person. I could get all spiritual about that, but in all seriousness any birthday I have is a gift from God. I don’t deserve to be here.

Mostly, I’m trying to find the joy in my birthday mostly vicariously through Megan. She legitimately is excited that it’s my birthday. She loves birthdays! It’s hard to not be excited around that little girl. She is such a joy.

I suppose that the moral of the story is simply that I like to “fake it” on my birthday. It’s fun for other people, perhaps because they are secretly thinking of their own happy days, or perhaps because they are one year closer to me dying (ha!) or maybe, even they are excited because they like me. Too much angst for me.

In other news, dropped a legitimate 39 on the South back today. 7 pars, a boget and a forgetable double. I’m looking forward to my time at the Famers Classic this weekend. I hope it will be nice weather.

Occasionally, my daughter will pick a fight with me. It’s kind of funny since she’s only 3, but she really does pick fights with me. Not the physical type, just what I call the “pissing contest.”

She will try to get her way. Even though she will know fully that I have no intention on giving into her, she will throw a tantrum anyway. For the most part I think she does this just to establish and re-establish who is in charge. But sometimes it’s more than that, it a principle thing. It seems as though she is trying to step up and let me know that she is really able to make a decision or do something that I am not allowed to do. I always t ake this challenge to her. Not because I like to be a bully, but because I am looking to challenge her rather than “over-loving” her and just giving her whatever she wants. I am interested in raising a daughter who knows when and how to pick a fight…. rather than just being a brat. I want her to be able to challenge anyone on anything and win. Is that strange, or what?