Luke’s Notebook

Yesterday, Dad took a few of us over to Cici’s for lunch. While there, as we were eating our pizza and such, a group of about four or five girls and guys sat down to eat. They all looked to be about my age — around 19 or so. Anyway, as they were about to eat, I just overheard one of them praying and thanking God for the meal and stuff. It was just awesome to see people my age praying and thanking God in public! Wasn’t anything huge; it was just a neat little encouraging thing that happened. It makes me want to make sure I “shine” my light all the time, whether I’m eating pizza, playing softball, at home, whatever. Other people will notice!

By the way, we won last night’s game with a final score of 10-8. I batted two-for-three with a walk, single and triple. That brings my average up to .486. I’m really hoping I can break the .500 mark before season’s end. As we stand now, if I go four-for-four in our next game, I’ll be right at .500. It’s a tall order, but it’s possible!

This evening, I learned that one of my cousins has leukemia. Jenny is nine years old, and today she was diagnosed with the form of cancer, which has left the family stunned. I have no idea yet how widespread leukemia is or anything — and, truth be told, I don’t know as much about the disease as I would like to — but I just know that we need to lift her up to God in our prayers. She’s a sweet little girl, and I know her immediate family, as well as aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, friends, etc., all love her very much. Please keep her in your prayers, too. I know there is a very real power of prayer, so please keep praying for her and her family through this difficult time.

I woke up at 6:30 this morning, as I got ready and hit the road en route to Hillsboro, Missouri. An attorney hired us (Arndt Reporting) to play back some videotaped depositions in front of a judge and jury during a trial. So when I arrived in the courtroom, I was instructed to play an evidence deposition of a doctor. After that, a brief recess was taken. When we reconvened, I played two more depositions for the jury to view. It was a fairly simple task, though I had to stay on the ball because there were spots in the videotape that had to be muted during playback because the judge had ruled that those parts be taken out of the record. It all went well there, and I was only there for about two-and-a-half hours. Thank God it went well! It was kind of a neat experience, as it was my first time attending a trial.

Off to bed for me! See ya.

It’s 6:50 AM on Wednesday morning, and I’m about to leave for the courthouse in Hillsboro, Missouri. I’ve got some work to do over there. I’ll explain more when I return.

We won tonight’s game by a score of 15-8. We played against the Slammers, and the whole game was pretty close until we broke away in the later innings. And one piece of great news — it looks like our magic number for a playoff berth on Tuesday nights is one! That would mean that if we win our game next Tuesday or if Villa Down The Hilla (the team we’re tied with) loses their game, we get the playoff spot! So… we’ll see what happens!

By the way, I batted 1-4. It was a disappointing night at the plate. I had a couple of ugly pop-ups, but thankfully our team was able to pull it out. I’ll just have to get back to hitting well on Thursday.

Off to do some other stuff. I’ve got a busy day tomorrow! Stay tuned.

We played Morning Wood tonight for the third and final time in this summer season. We won by a score of 13-5, I believe it was. I played second base all game, and batted 2-3 with two singles and a walk. It was a pretty close game, and actually we didn’t play as good as we could have. The other team isn’t that strong so we were able to get away with not playing our A game.

Here’s the updated records for our team on all three nights:

Monday: 12-4

Tuesday: 8-8

Thursday: 11-5

We have a huge game tomorrow, as we’re competing for fourth place, which is the final playoff spot, for the Tuesday night league.

Well, it’s that time again! I have a bunch of pictures from Saturday’s trip to Six Flags. Here we go.

Exit 26Exit 26 from Interstate 44 takes you to Six Flags Road!

From the highwayA photo of Six Flags and adjoining Hurricane Harbor from I-44.

The ColossusA photo of the Colossus, the very tall ferris wheel that Six Flags MidAmerica has. I thought it was a pretty neat angle!

Colossus 2Another photo of the Colossus. Note the absolutely gorgeous sky! That gives you an idea of the weather.

Mr. FreezeA photo, taken from the Colossus, of Mr. Freeze, which is one of the newer coasters at SF.

NinjaAn aerial view of the Ninja, a classic metal roller coaster.

Batman: The RideOne of my all-time favorite roller coasters, Batman, is the black one you see in the distance.

The BossThe wooden coaster in the back is the brand-new The Boss. The blue metal one is part of Mr. Freeze.

XcaliburA photo of the newest ride at Six Flags, Xcalibur. It’s fun! You spin and go upside-down. It’s a really different feeling than any other ride I’ve been on.

Before the concertA photo of the crowd gathered before the Third Day concert kicked off.

Third DayMac Powell and the rest of Third Day on stage. See how good our seats were?!

Third Day 2Another photo from the concert.

Third Day 3Third Day sang a mix of their more rockish songs and also plenty of their worship songs, the latter being my favorite style.

That’s it, guys! Hoped you enjoy. We had a blast all day.

All day Saturday was spent at Six Flags MidAmerica (near St. Louis) with my brothers Mark, Jude and James. We arrived in time to get in as they opened at 10:00, and we left the park around 9:15 PM. We had a great time there. The weather was fabulous, Third Day was awesome in concert, and it was just a fun Saturday! We even spent a little time in the water park before we got too cold and decided to go back to the dry rides. I think I’ll put up a few pictures soon, as I took many throughout the day.

Now, I must get ready for a party. We’re celebrating my great-grandma’s 90th birthday today, and our family is hosting the bash.

We won on Thursday, by a score of 6-4, I believe it was. I went 1-2, with an inside-the-park home run and a walk. I played right center field, and nothing too much happened out there. I had a few routine plays, and that was about it.

After our game, I went down to the lower diamond at Citizen’s Park to substitute for a friend’s team. Steve, who subbed for us at 8:30, asked if I could play for his team at 9:30. So after our game was over, I hoofed it down there and we began playing Game Two. I batted 2-2 in that game with a walk, a single and a double. It ended up being a short game — only last four innings because of the 15-run-rule. The final score was 17-2, and I actually was the winning run.

Well, now it’s time for me to get back to scoping.