Thank God It's Friday: Thank God for "High Normal"

Today, it's Friday again. I haven't had a TGIF post in a couple of weeks. I certainly am thankful, but I just haven't expressed it here...

My wife and I are in the homestudy phase of preparing to adopt a child. In fact, all of the paperwork that needs to come from us for the homestudy has been submitted. We're still waiting on a couple of other pieces to make it back to the agency, but that's not what I'm rambling about today...

One of the things that I had to do for the homestudy was go to the doctor. Except for when I broke my ankle two summers ago, I haven't been to see the doctor in a long time. So, I went. One of the nurses took my blood pressure. As she took the reading, she had kind of an "oh my, this is bad" expression on her face. In fact, they took my blood pressure several times before I left the office trying to rule out "white coat hypertension" or as I kind of thought of it "I haven't been to the doctor in forever and being here just makes by blood pressure go sky high" hypertension. So, obviously my blood pressure is high and I'm given instruction to check it a couple of times a week, eat better, excercise more, so on and so forth, and come back in a month.

A few days later, I'm at Costco and I check it. Yup, it's high. Since I've got time to kill (we were getting two new tires on the van, why oh why didn't we bring both cars?????), I go ahead and buy a home blood pressure monitor. On the side of the screen, the monitor has a four bar scale for dummies to read their blood pressure (it also has the more meaningful numbers too).

• one bar = normal
• two bars = high normal
• three bars = stage 1 hypertension
• four bars = state 2 hypertension

After seeing the four-bar scale, I'm guessing that when I was in the doctor's office, I was probably at five bars or "if we prick you, your blood will spurt out and hit the wall on the opposite side of the exam room, possibly even busting a hole in the wall as it hits hypertension." Since they didn't tell me what the actual numbers were I can only guess.

So, in the weeks since, I've been doing lots of things to help bring my blood pressure down, including

• trying to eat better
• exercising more
• trying not to watch too many innings of the Phillies clobbering the Nationals (admittedly, the Phillies only two losses have been at the hands of the Nationals, "Gentlemen Zim" or "Franchise" really came through last night)
• hardly watching any of the Baltimore ANGELOSers
• taking my vitamins and supplements

Well, in that stretch I've seen a lot of three bars and a fair number of four bars too. After my doctors visit this week, I've started taking a fine product of Novartis pharmaceuticals. Guess what, this morning when I sat down to check my blood pressure, it was only in the two bar range. OK, it was at the high end of the two bar range, but nevertheless it was in the two bar range. It's probably the effect of the bp drug although I am persuaded it's also due to Ryan Zimmerman's two run pinch hit homer last night. It's still high, but it's being coming down. I'm not dead yet, in fact, I feel like taking a walk. So today, I thank God for "High Normal."

Thank God It's Friday: Thank God for Spring Training!

Today in Viera, Florida, Washington Nationals pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training. Many were already there as were some of the position players. Yesterday, Baltimore Orioles pitchers and catchers reported. It's Spring Training time! It is a time when the bleakness of winter is replaced witht the hopefulness of spring. I am hopeful for the 2010 season. I think both the Nationals and the Orioles will be improved this year. I am excited to see which new acquistions will stick with the team. I am curious to see how the much hyped prospects perform as they hit the big time. I am wondering who's game is improved and who took a step backward. I am fearful of who's going to get hurt right as they are hitting their stride...

I am also wondering how I can personally approach spring training in my life. I just noticed how nicely spring training and Lent overlap. During spring training, baseball players are preparing themselves for the glorious joy of Opening Day. During Lent, Christians (at least those who observe Lent) are preparing themselves for the glorious joy of Easter. Before the end of spring training, players fear getting cut and that their chances for a major league career are dead (at least for the moment). Before the end of Lent, we remember the crucifixion of Jesus where our Savior died (at least for the moment!). On Opening Day, fans and players alike are filled with joy and hope as their teams have returned from spring training full of potential (and hopefully correctly spelled team names on their jerseys). On Easter, Christians are filled with joy and hope because Jesus has conquered death!

So where do I stand as far as spring training goes? Well, I think I've made some improvements during the offseason. I've been more diligent in reading - both for fun and for self-improvement. I've recently been writing songs again - it's been far too long. I am hopeful for the coming year - I sense God beginning to work some wonderful things in my family. So, it's time to be more diligent in my workouts and prepare for the cry of "Play Ball!" and "Well done my good and faithful servant!" For now, I say with gratitude and expectation, "Thank God for Spring Training!"

Thank God It's Friday: Thank God for Ryan Zimmerman

It was a good week for one of my favorite players. Washington Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman won his first Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards. The Gold Glove recognizes excellence on the field. Even though he had 17 errors (mostly throwing errors), Ryan covered more ground than most other third basemen and got to many balls that others wouldn't have gotten to and turned them into outs. The Silver Slugger is given to the best offensive player at each position. Zimmerman had a great season hitting for power, average, and producing runs. The tandem of Zimmerman and Dunn (though sometimes Dunn and Zimmerman) proved to be one of the highlights in a mostly unpleasant season for the Nationals. So, today I say "Thank God for Ryan Zimmerman."

Thank God It's Friday: Thank God for the World Series

It's the end of October and the World Series is knotted up at one game a piece between the defending world champion Phillies and the most expensive team in baseball, the New York Yankees. I find myself more interested in the World Series than I have been in years past. Of course my favorite team the Washington Nationals secured the #1 draft choice a long while ago with the worst record in baseball. They weren't even in the same time zone as contending for the playoffs. Ditto for my #2 team the Baltimore Orioles. This World Series, I'm definitely pulling for the Phillies to win. Growing up, I was a Phillies fan and I used to go to a lot of games with my Pappy at the old Veterans Stadium. When I was too young to even understand, I had my picture taken with a young Mike Schmidt. Too bad that picture got lost while cleaning my room. Secondly, since I primarly grew up an Orioles fan, I've always believed in the motto "Anybody but the Yankees!" There's still plenty of baseball left to be played (at least three games) and I am excited to watch. So yes, today I thank God for the World Series!

Thank God It's Friday: Thank God for 100+ Losses

Just a couple more days and the regular baseball season will be over. My favorite team, the Washington Nationals, are nearing the end of their second straight season with more than one hundred losses. Pitching coach got fired. Manager got fired. One of my favorite players, Nick Johnson, got traded. The starters didn't always make it throught the sixth inning. The bullpen found new and novel ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The defense at times was pretty offensive. Injuries seemed to curtail glimmers of hope. Still, there was still much to be enjoyed: Ryan Zimmerman, Adam Dunn, Nyjer Morgan, Jordan Zimmermann, the Stephen Strasbug signing, Bob, Rob, and Debbie, taking two out of three from the Yankees in New York, sweeping the Mets in the pentulimate series of the year - the last one coming on a walk-off grand slam by Justin Maxwell. I've got hope for next year. Maybe Teddy will win won next year. But the season is about over. In the spirit of Colossians 3:17 (And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.), I thank God for 100+ loss seasons.

Thank God It's Friday: Thank God I'm A Country Boy

As I continue my "Thank God It's Friday" series, I must confess that I'm not really a country boy. But this week, I took my two boys to see the Athletics play the Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. I grew up an Oriole fan and went to many games at the old Memorial Stadium when I was younger as well as a number of games at OPCY after it opened. This was probably the first time I've been back to Baltimore for a game since the Nationals came to Washington. It was comfortable being back at a game in Baltimore - kind of like a favorite pair of shoes or a favorite pair of jeans. My six year-old asked "What just happened?" when the crowd shouted out "O" towards the end of the National Anthem. I smiled and explained that's how they do it in Baltimore. When the seventh inning stretch rolled around and they played "Thank God I'm A Country Boy," I felt like I was home. No offense to "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" or "God, Bless America," but I only want to hear John Denver during the seventh inning stretch. It was an enjoyable trip to Baltimore more for the game even if it will be a while before I head back again. But for now "Early to rise, early hit the sack, thank God I'm a country boy!"

Thank God It's Friday: Thank God for perfect games

Today I continue on in my series of posts thanking God for things that we sometimes may not think to thank God for. Today I am thanking God for perfect games.

Mark Buerhle of the Chicago White Sox pitched a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays. 27 batters up, 27 batters out. It was only the 18th time in Major League Baseball history that feat has been accomplished. The last time a Chicago White Sox pitcher threw a perfect game was in 1922! A perfect game is an amazing thing and an example of an incredible individual performance but it is not just an amazing performance by the pitcher. Buerhle pitched a great game, he avoided walking anybody even though he went to three balls on a few batters. Even if he struck out all 27 batters, there's still gotta be somebody behind the plate calling pitches and receiving the pitches and making sure they drop a third strike and then have to make the throw to first to get the batter out. Of course there were the ground outs which invovled one of the infielders and the first baseman and the fly outs - some of which required the outfielders to run, dive, catch the ball, crash to the ground, and still come up with the ball in their glove. Yes, a perfect game is an amazing performance by the pitcher, but there were also eight other guys on the field any one of whom could have made a mistake or been a step away from making a play and the perfect game would not have happened.

This week in our family devotions we've been looking at Christ as our redeemer. Last night we looked at Hebrews 4:14-15 and how Jesus can sympathize with us and had been tempted in all things but yet was without sin. No matter how greatly I may be "pitching," it takes a team for a perfect game. With Jesus on my team, I won't be waiting for a call from the president after the game is over. But with Jesus on my team, I hope to hear "well done my good and faithful servant" when my game is over.

So play ball and praise God. Thank God for perfect games!

Fired Up!

As we begin the All-Star Break, we find the Washington Nationals sans manager.  It seems that after last night's loss to the Houston Astros, manager Manny Acta was fired.  The formal announcement and presumably the announcement of his replacement is expected to come today.  It really doesn't come as much of a surprise since it's been expected for weeks now.  Acta may have bought himself a few extra weeks when the Nats took two out of three from the Yankees in the Bronx, but that momentum didn't carry on to many more wins since.  Sure we've had some highlights since them - some quality starting pitching, some tape measure homers from Adam Dunn, the addition of Nyjer Morgan - but we've still seen the bullpen repeatedly collapse and pull defeat from the jaws of victory as well as some defense that might be excused on a T-Ball field.  From reading the blogs and comments, the reaction ranges from he's a bad manager and it's about time to Acta did the best with the hand that was dealt him.  I'm not sure where I fall in that continuum (probably closer to the latter than the former), but as is common with me, I try to look at it and see how it reveals what's in my heart.

Psalm 14:3 says "All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one."  I'm a sinner.  I deserve to be fired, don't I?  It's about time isn't it.  Even if I were to say I've done the best with the hand I've been given, I am reminded by Isaiah 64:6 "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away."  Though the firing of Manny Acta (and my daily life) may lead me to dwell on this, I rejoice as I am reminded from Ephesians 2:8-10 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."  I have been saved.  Not by my filthy rags, but by the grace of God.  Though I may struggle daily with my inadequacies, I must remember that I am meant to do good works - not just meant to do, but created to do and prepared to do good works.

As Manny Acta finds himself with some free time on his hands, my hope for him is that he would find those good works that God has created him to do.

The Non-Waiver Trade Deadline

Although it is still weeks away, discussion abounds about the upcoming non-waiver trade deadline in baseball. The contenders are looking to see what pieces of the puzzle they need to push them over the top and make it to the playoffs while the teams at the bottom of the standings (that would be my favorite teams) are looking at what veteran players who are approaching free agency would be valuable additions to a contender who in turn has something to offer for the future of the cellar-dwellers. It is perhaps a chance to jettison some salary and acquire some prospects who will make the team better in the long run.

Now, I'm not a GM nor am I a veteran player in the last year of my contract, in fact, my name is not popping up in trade discussions at all. So, why do I bring this up?

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Hebrews 12:1

Maybe my life can be reflected as a baseball team. God is the Owner, Jesus the President, the Holy Spirit is perhaps the Director of Baseball Operations and I'm the General Manager. I know that there's "The Plan" to build a successful team and that I need to act in such a way as to help build this team. So I need to ask myself these questions.

• What is "everything that hinders?"
• There may be beloved veteran "players" on my team that are hindering me from "making the playoffs." They may need to go.
• There may be exciting "prospects" on my team that aren't part of the long term picture. They may need to go too!
• What about "the sin that so easily entangles?"
• Have I as GM, chosen "players" who reflect badly on "the Plan?" I need get rid of them.
• Have I signed "bad contracts" that I need to suck up as a loss and move on?
• Now I need to "run with perseverence!"
• There are 162 games in the regular season in baseball. Even after the non-waiver trade deadline there's a lot of season left. I need to know that changes today may not mean that the team will gel tomorrow.
• Fans of perennial bottom-dwellers are always thinking that it can be better next year. It may take some time to see the benefits of the changes I make.

Fortunately, in life, there is no non-waiver trade deadline. The only deadline we have is one that we don't know. How many days do I have left? I don't know, but I know that today, I've got time to examine my life and see what is hindering me and what is entangling me and run the race before me!

Oops I hadn't been looking...

I haven't actually looked at the baseball standings in a while (though I have been following games).  Somewhat to my surprise, the NATIONALS ARE NOT IN LAST PLACE.  Let me repeat that just for the sheer joy of saying so.  THE NATIONALS ARE NOT IN LAST PLACE.