Get this! I am making this journal entry from my cell phone. This is the first time I have attempted to post wirelessly, and it looks like this will work out well. By the way, I am sitting in the passenger seat as we are driving home on Interstate 55 in Missouri. We are about to stop at Cici’s for supper. Yum!
It’s been a crazy busy day, and I am just very tired. So I am going to give a very brief rundown of the day.
Around noon, our family met with my mom’s side of the family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.) for a big extended family photo. After that, Paul and I drove to Madison, Illinois, where we videotaped a special Mass that was being held at a Catholic church. One of the bishops was at the church, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, so that was a special occasion for them. They hired Paul and I to do the videowork, so we drove on over there after the family photo.
This evening, my parents, a friend of the family’s and the five oldest played trivia at St. Augustine’s School in Belleville. We had a lot of fun! Our table came in 15th out of 28, I believe. So we weren’t near the top, but we had a good time. It was fun getting to do something different like that.
Okay, I’d better wrap it up. It’s just gotten to be so late and I’m absolutely exhausted! A good night of sleep would do me well. =)
This morning, our new digital camera arrived via FedEx. Mark and I were quick to open it up, follow the start-up instructions and start snapping photos with the Digital Rebel. Much to our disappointment, we had some problems taking photos from the get-go. I’m not all that familiar with fancy camera terms, but I think the problem we were having is overexposure — basically, almost everything was washed out and way too bright. That was kind of alarming, but we figured that, hey, maybe this camera is so advanced that we need to fine-tune it to perfection.
Later on in the day, we discovered that the shutter, when the Rebel is on a flashless mode, seems to lock up upon taking a photo — basically closing but not reopening. That was even more disturbing, so I called Canon’s 800 number. I spoke with the customer service, and after describing the symptoms the rep was almost certain that it was a hardware malfunction in the camera. Ugh! What a sinking feeling to have bought a defective piece of equipment. We should be able to ship it back and exchange the camera for a working model, but it’s just disappointing and a bit disturbing that we ran into trouble on Day One. Oh well — I guess it’s better to happen now, while its under the warranty and also before we got to depend on the camera. I just hope we don’t run into any complications getting this thing replaced. We’ll get things sorted out.
Another thing that’s been keeping me busy is more web development. We’re getting very close to launching another new department on the website, this one more humor-oriented. It’s something Dad thought up, and I’ve been building the page for it the past few days. I’d expect it to be up by early next week. And, as always, I’ll be sure to mention it here once it has launched.
Besides the regular duties of the day, I spent a good portion of this morning and afternoon editing this week’s episode of Safe At Home, the local cable TV show we operate. It’s in its seventh year now, I believe, and it airs in the St. Louis area along with New York City and a few other cities across the map. This episode was special since we finally are airing the show we taped while up in Springfield, Illinois, at an ApologetiX concert. In the show we end up playing two of their songs — one’s a parody of The Calling and the other is of Smash Mouth. My brother Mark just told me that they’re about to release another CD, which he just ordered. They’re extremely talented. If you’ve never heard of the band, visit http://www.apologetix.com for some more info. They even have free MP3s on their site, I think.
I think I’ll give an update on the Direcway situation. This week, we received a replacement modem for the system. I swapped them out, and that seems to have solved the problems we have been experiencing with Internet outages so frequently occurring. So the past couple of days, the Direcway service has actually been pretty good. There are many improvements that we have noticed since switching to the replacement modem, the most notable one being the lack of outages throughout the day! That’s a big plus. I still think Direcway’s customer service leaves much to be desired insofar as how they treat their customers, their time efficiency and so forth. But, at least we seemed to have solved the biggest problem. So we’ll have to see where we go from here.
Paul and I made our ways down to the east Belleville YMCA tonight for another workout. What’s cool about working out is it has a double-sided effect. The obvious one is you burn calories and build muscle; the other is many times after an intense workout I seem to be less hungry than I was. Pretty neat. I did a lot of free weights tonight, quite a few machines, and then nearly 25 minutes on the cross-trainer.
The day has come! This morning, we ordered the Canon EOS 300D Digital Rebel from an online store. We got a bargain on the camera! If were to purchase it as a local store, such as Best Buy or Ultimate Electronics, we would have paid like $270 more for the exact same camera! So we’re thrilled. I think the camera will be shipped out tomorrow, so I’m anxiously awaiting its arrival, probably early next week.
What a way to rebound after last night’s disappointing loss in the championship game. Tonight we had the playoffs for the Tuesday night league, which is the gold league at Citizen’s Park. There are two levels for the men’s softball leagues at Citizen’s — gold and silver. When we won the three championships this summer, they were all in the silver league, which is the easier league.
Tonight was Safe At Home’s first-ever playoff appearance in the gold league, and boy did we make it memorable! We won our first game at 7:30 to advance to the championship game against Demo’s, one of a couple of dominant teams that has been winning regularly in the gold league for the past few years. They handed us our only loss in the Tuesday night league, and we were eager for a rematch, and it just so happened that the rematch came in the championship game.
Our defense was extremely solid all evening long, and that really seemed to seal the deal for our team in both games. The first game we won 12-7, the second we won 11-5. Both teams we faced are very capable of putting up many, many runs, but we managed to contain them. I believe I batted 3-5 overall tonight to close out the year. That means my 2004 batting average has been pushed over the .540 mark, but I’m not sure what the final number is just yet. But what an accomplishment for our team! To think just a few years ago we were one of the lowest teams in the silver league, and now we manage to dethrone the top team in either league. Thank the Lord!
Now that softball is finished until April, it’s time to shift my focus to volleyball and working out over the fall and winter months. Hopefully I’ll be able to gain some more power and become more of a home run threat in 2005. I hit about a dozen this year, and I think I have a good amount of power; it’s just that for some reason I don’t seem to harness it all during gametime. Maybe I’m subconsciously wanting to play it safe or something. Who knows! Either way, some more power certainly won’t hurt anything.
Yesterday, as Paul, Wizzy and I were heading home around dusk, we almost hit a deer that was crossing the country road. Thankfully, Paul was able to hit the brakes and slow us down quite a bit so as to not hit the deer. But if we were going full speed, we could have easily have creamed the deer. We have to be extra alert this time of the year, as the deer are just running around like crazy.
On the way home from the softball game, we saw a buck off in the distance, so Paul slowed down. This one wasn’t a close call or anything, but we stopped just to see what the deer would do, and he finally hopped across the road after just standing there on the side of the road for a while.
We played two games tonight, winning the 6:30 game and then losing the championship at 8:30 by a score of 11-8. It was a disappointing loss, because I really think we could have won that game if we played just a bit better. But, we couldn’t quite cut it, and the other team played well enough to win. So, congrats to them. We finished first in the regular season and second in the playoffs and received trophies to reflect both of those.
This has been something I’ve been wanting to write about for quite some time now. I just haven’t had the words, or the guts, to go through with it. But I think it’s very important that I do.
I want you to stop and consider something. Where do you think you will be in 150 years? You and I alike will probably have passed away and will have been buried somewhere. Now, ask yourself this: Where do you think your soul will be in 150 years? We know that there is one of two places where you will spend eternity — heaven or hell. The requirements to get into heaven are to be perfect, without sin. I’ll tell you right now that I don’t qualify. And since we are born into an imperfect world, none of us qualify. Well, where does that leave us? If we don’t qualify for heaven, what’s the alternative?
Revelations 20:15 says: If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
If you think you lead a decent life and would be eligible for heaven, think about this. Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever stolen something, even something small? Have you ever lusted after someone? Have you ever disrespected your parents? The point is, by our very nature we are guilty. We cannot lead a blameless life; it’s just not possible. So on our own merits, even if we’ve just sinned once, we’re destined to spend eternity in hell.
But wait, that’s not the end of the story. About 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ lived a life of love and free of sin. He was then unjustly captured, beaten mercilessly and left to die on a wooden cross by people who hated him. He was mocked and laughed at as he hung there. He was an innocent man, yet he chose to die to be a sacrifice for us, so that we might live despite our imperfections and our sin.
John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
God hates sin. He hates it. But, he loves us. He gave us a way where we can still be forgiven since Jesus has taken our punishment. That leaves us with a choice. We can either “turn down the offer,” and travel the path that leads to doom, or we can take advantage of this awesome sacrifice.
John 14:6: I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.
The only way to heaven is through Jesus. What does that mean? Personally, I think the way to do this is for us to realize our guilt and how we have a one-way ticket to hell if not for Jesus. Once you realize that you have this insurmountable debt and you cannot repay it or eliminate it on your own, no matter how hard you try, then anybody with common sense would jump for joy when they heard of this sacrifice and how they can have a second chance at heaven.
1 John 1 8-9: If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
What we need to do is realize that we are sinners, we’re guilty. Ask God to forgive you, and know that you’re forgiven!
Hebrews 10:17: Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.
If you haven’t ever asked for forgiveness, then you’d better do that right now. The only advice I can offer you is do not delay! Life is unpredictable, and we never know what tomorrow holds for us. Get right with God, and change your life, if necessary, to conform with what the Bible says. And pray. Talk to God. He’s listening.
Christians are simply forgiven sinners. Once you realize what an amazing sacrifice was made for you, then you’ll understand why people want to praise God and they just have this awesome love for him. After all, we would be grateful if someone saved us from dying, wouldn’t we? How much more grateful should we be to someone who saved us from an eternity in hell? Talk about amazing love, and a tremendous reason to hope. 
By the way… I don’t know who all reads this, but if anybody has any questions, comments — whatever — just click on the e-mail link. I would be more than happy to talk to you. Be forewarned that I certainly don’t have all of the answers, but I’d love to do my best to help you out and to pray for you or try to answer any questions you might have.
Bottom line: If you’re not sure where you would spend eternity if you don’t wake up tomorrow, I would strongly urge you to do some searching and praying. You need to know that you’re going to spend eternity in heaven. The stakes are too high to just hope you make the cut. Don’t take a chance.
This just in: Kettle corn is delicious. I ate some two hours ago on my way to volleyball, and I munched on some more upon my return. It’s very yummy. Sugar on popcorn doesn’t really sound natural, but it definitely makes it taste good.
Okay, about volleyball. We played at 7:00 today, and we ended up winning all three games. That completes our eight-week session. I think I’ll be playing in two more sessions, on Wednesdays and Sundays. The Wednesday session might begin as soon as this week, so we’ll see. Since the softball season is ending this Tuesday (weather permitting), it will be nice to have some other sports to keep me active over the winter. Of course, I’m going to also make an effort to use the workout equipment that we have in the family room.
I’ve got some e-mails to read, so I’ll wrap this up for now.