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04/16/2003 Entry: "Glad to be back - Have a Blessed Holy Week"

A few weeks ago we had to have our hard drive reformatted and I lost a lot of my "favorites" as well as my ability to get to this blog site. It's good to be back. I've got some rambling musings to share, so here goes:

1. Our church as a men's softball team playing in a local church softball league. Our team is made up of players from their mid-thirties to age 79. Our older players are our healthier players since they play in their retirement communities, so for the first few games the younger players were getting the injuries. All the other teams have mostly younger players who also play in industrial leagues. Needless to say, we are not very competitive. We usually lose by 20 runs and some get quite discouraged. Tonight, we had to borrow players from the other team and ended up losing 9-3 and had a great time doing so. Instead of our usual negative attitudes, we actually had a great time. SO maybe, it really is true that it's not a matter of whether you win or lose, but how you play the game!

2. We just finished our annual Easter pageant on Saturday and Sunday nights. When I first came to our church, I was young enough and skinny enough to get recruited to play Jesus (despite the red hair). Last year I was Nicodemus and this year I was promoted to the lofty position of Pontius Pilate. I suspect Judas Iscariot is right around the corner! During the weeks of rehearsals I kind of took the whole thing as one more thing on my plate, but during the dress rehearsal and the performances, it finally got ahold of me and made me think about the difficult position Pilate was in and many people are in when they have to choose between a Jesus who doesn't meet our expectations of a messiah or king and a Baarabas who, because he takes a popular stand, is seen as a hero. That's how sin clouds a lot of our decisions.

3. I hope that now that the war is "over" that it was not just part one of a three or four country tour of the Middle East and a certain part of an Asian penninsula. Instead, I hope we put our energies into helping the Iraqi people build a new, free nation for themselves.

4. As we head into Maunday or Holy Thursday, Good Friday and then Easter, may we all spend time in the Upper Room with Jesus and His disciples, waiting in the courtyards with Peter during the trial and at the foot of the cross during the crucifixion. I hope we don't move to quickly from the triumph of Palm Sunday to the ultimate triumph of Easter. We can't truly get there without going to the cross. Without that, there would be no Easter. May God bless you all as we all go through this Holy Week as pilgrims to the cross and then the empty tomb so that Sunday we can proclaim: "Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed!" Peace: Ivan The Crank

Posted by Ivan the Crank @ 04/17/2003 05:07 AM CST

LOL Richard.

Good to have you back, Ivan.

Posted by Wood @ 04/16/2003 12:26 PM CST

SO maybe, it really is true that it's not a matter of whether you win or lose, but how you play the game

We'll make a Brit of you yet Ivan!!;o)

Posted by Richard @ 04/16/2003 09:18 AM CST