I live in Minnesota and recently a local baseball player, Scott Baker, required arm surgery.

Baker, according to TwinCities.com, “was scheduled for surgery to clean scar tissue off a flexor tendon, a procedure that would have required about six months of rehabilitation. Instead, he will miss at least 12 months.”

I love mysteries.  I love pondering mysteries.  I love trying to solve mysteries.  I wonder:

Why did two MRI exams failed to detect a tear in Baker’s ligament?
What causes baseball pitchers to have such a high rate of elbow injuries?  

Did you read about my dream?

If not, please do. Here’s a link.

I dreamt about praying because I believe God is near.

In my dream I did what has become normal, natural and routine for me: I continued the conversation.

Presence

My wife Amy is right there —->

If I don’t think I have her attention I might say, “Aim!”, “Hey!”, “Cutie!” or “Amy!” to get her attention, but typically she is aware of me and her love for me when she is around me will tune her to me when I want her attention.

I had a dream Sunday night.  I couldn’t wait to tell you about it, but I did.

I was riding on a flat bottom rail car through an unnamed city.  

Our flatbed train was kind of like a ten-foot wide airport moving walkway. We were traveling in an open flatbed rail car with no safety features at all. It seemed normal. 1

I traveled with my son Josh, and a third person who was a combination of my wife Amy and daughter Shannon.  Since they are so close, it didn’t seem weird at all.  

What God Did To Win Your Heart.

It’s a captivating subtitle: What God Did To Win Your Heart.

Lucado’s challenge is to personalize the life and death of Christ.  
Lucado explains that Jesus’ proclamation “I did it just for you.” is his resounding, enduring and personalized message.

Lucado makes the case that the trial, judgment, and execution was not happenstance.  “Knowing his last deeds would be forever pondered, don’t you think he chose them carefully? Deliberately? Of course he did. There were no accidents that day.”

Proclaiming to the end, “I did it for you. I did it all for you.”

Welcome today to our friends from Chris Spradlin’s insightful and practical EpicParent.

Chris was gracious enough to allow me to guest post on EpicParent today.  You can read “You’re Not Alone!!” here.

Let me catch you all up.

This week we took a look at fifteen year old Desean’s choice to come home drunk.

We took a look at his scenario from three perspectives:

What’s A Mom To Do?

What’s A Dad To Do?

What’s a Best Friend to Do?

Today we’ll consider what a neighbor should and should not do.

Taxes are due this week.  Tax preparers prepare tax returns, but what’s a best friend to do with a drunk best friend?

Let me explain. 1

Desean loved his friends.  He’s got several friends.  Not all of his friends get along together.

One night, a Wednesday night, Desean and Chris stayed out late.  Chris had been with Desean and some of his other friends, but when they started talking about getting drunk Chris “remembered” homework he wanted to get done.  He left hoping Desean would join him.  He didn’t.

Desean’s mom and sister trusted Desean; and they trusted Chris.

Taxes are due this week. Tax preparers prepare tax returns, but what’s a dad to do with his drunk son who lives with his ex-wife? 1

Let me explain.

Desean loved his friends. It’s not that he disliked his family, he just loved to get out of his noisy, cramped apartment to have fun.

One night, a Wednesday night, at 11:30 P.M. you got a call from your ex. She snarled, “Is D there? He hasn’t come home.”

He hadn’t. You hadn’t any idea why she was asking, but based on her tone of voice she was angry, frustrated and scared.

Taxes are due this week.  Tax preparers prepare tax returns, but what’s a mom to do with her drunk son?

Let me explain.

Desean loved his friends.  It’s not that he disliked his family, he just loved to get out of his noisy, cramped apartment to have fun. 1

One night, a Wednesday night, Desean stayed out late. 

His mom and sister trusted him, but this was a school night, and he was late.  Not only was he late, but he wasn’t answering his cell phone.  His sister started to worry, but it wasn’t until Desean’s younger sister called their mom did she even know that he was late.

My friend Angela said it briefly and wisely…”love takes courage.” <3

Courage.
Courage to love.
Courage to love through conflict.
Courage to love despite inevitable change. and the courage to love from a distance.

Remember that the time and effort we invest in a relationship, is evidence of the value we place in it:

If we prioritize our marriage relationship it will most likely give us a happier marriage.

If we prioritize time and trust with a best friend it will most likely yield a lasting friendship.

Jim Thome signed with the MLB’s Philadelphia Phillies this off season.  I felt sad.  When he played with my local team, the Minnesota Twins, he was my favorite player.

Why?  Let me explain.

When Thome signed with the Twins before the 2010 season, the phone of (then) Twins general manager Bill Smith rang.

Smith recalled, “I got a call from someone with Philadelphia, telling me what a great guy we were getting…And then I got calls from the White Sox. And the Dodgers, even though he hadn’t been there a long time. And from Cleveland. They’d all say the same thing, about what a good guy he is.” 1