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?  

If you’ve been a reader of mysilentscream.com for a while you know that I use a variety of biblical translations.  I have my preferences, but I really do enjoy reading a variety of different translations.

Different translations use different styles of translating the original languages into English.

The NASB, ESV and others use a more literal word for word translation.
The NRSV, NIV, and others have a more phrase for phrase translation.
The NCV, NLT and others are increasingly thought for thought translations.
The Message and The Voice are both paraphrases; their translators are retelling and explaining the text while seeking to clarify the meaning of the text. 1

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.

I’ve read and valued Patrick Morley’s book Man In The Mirror.  I found it relevant, poignant and inspirational.  I had not read anything by Patrick Morley in years, but I was anticipating more of the same.

I was not disappointed.

Morley has a great reputation, and based on my experiences he certainly knows what he’s talking about.

Whether I would choose to refer to his “7 Primal Needs” as primal not I did agree with him that they were of import.

Man Alive: Transforming Your 7 Primal Needs into a Powerful Spiritual Life is based on his decades of discipling and mentoring men.

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.

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.