Luke’s Notebook

It has been raining since I arose at the crack of noon. Actually, I got up a bit earlier than that, but I like the sound of “crack of noon.” Anyway, we’ve had a soft, steady rain all day.

This rain has been enough to soak the ground and force our softball game, which we would be playing at this very moment, to be cancelled. Instead, here I sit with my feet propped up on this nearby table, and the wireless keyboard on my lap. Ah…

The only problem with this rain-out is it means that our Monday night league gets pushed back even farther. Wet weather is forcing us to play into deep November. As things stand now, I think the final games will be played on November 21st — just 10 days before December! And what if it rains during the next few Mondays? Oh boy. =-o

Well, since we had no softball to play, Paul, John, Mark, Philip and I decided to go on down to the YMCA this evening. I had a pretty good workout with the machines and free weights, and then I spent 20 minutes on one of the many elliptical machines that they have. I decided to listen to some Casting Crowns music while on there, and those 20 minutes just flew by! I’ll have to remember to keep my MP3 player with me the next time I want to do that.

By the way, I am still reminiscing about Friday’s Casting Crowns concert. I just had such a terrific time! It was definitely a good use of money. I don’t go to a whole lot of concerts, but so far I have a pretty good batting average with the ones I have attended. Last year’s David Crowder Band/Michael W. Smith/Mercy Me concert in Earth City was incredible. In 2003, I got to see Michael W. Smith, Jars of Clay and Chris Tomlin in Belleville. A few years back, I saw the Newsboys and Newsong at the Family Arena. Each one has been great.

I’ve been reading in Second Corinthians, and I was really struck by what Paul wrote in the 12th Chapter:

I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not knowâ€â€

It is absolutely gorgeous today. I was outside earlier, enjoying the clear, bright day. The temperature couldn’t be much more pleasant, the sky is strikingly blue with streaks of clouds scattered about. It’s really beautiful!

Last night, John and I drove on over to St. Charles for the Building 429/Casting Crowns concert. We arrived at the Family Arena somewhere around 6:45, and we went in to pick up our tickets. First, we had to find the will call area, since I bought the tickets online on Thursday evening. We found it, claimed the tickets, and then set out to find Section 216.

We found our seats and got settled before the concert began. It wasn’t too long before Building 429 took the stage. They played a handful of their songs, and then it was time for the Atlanta-based youth ministry, Casting Crowns, to take the stage! They showed a music video of “American Dream” while they were setting everything up. Then, CC started the performance with their new single, “Lifesong.”

They ended up playing all but five of their songs, meaning they performed 16 songs that evening! Some of my favorites were “Does Anybody Hear Her,” “Here I Go Again,” “Who Am I,” “Love Them Like Jesus” and “What If His People Prayed.”

During the intermission, I took the time to go to one of the merchandise tables, where I bought a T-shirt. It’s a tan shirt, and on the front it says “Love them like Jesus.” The back just has “Casting Crowns” printed across it. I like it, though.

I was impressed with how real these guys are. The fame or attention doesn’t seem to have gone to their heads. They were dressed like regular folks, and when the lead singer, Mark Hall, would stop to share, he was humble and honest.

I really like Casting Crowns for a couple of reasons. They are blessed to have amazing talent musically and lyrically, but at the same time they’re very black-and-white with their message. Their songs are honest and challenging. Don’t get me wrong — I think encouraging songs are great, but at the same time, sometimes we need to be convicted and be hit hard by the truth.

So all in all, we had a terrific time. The Family Arena was packed, and it was great to see so many people supporting the group and giving them a huge thumbs-up.

After the concert, John and I went over to the nearby Waffle House. We ate there, and then we started on our journey back home.

What a great time!!

I’m really tired. The concert was awesome, but I’m really tired. I’ll try to write an entry about it tomorrow.

Well, I did it! Today, I went to www.metrotix.com and purchased two tickets for tomorrow night’s Casting Crowns concert at the Family Arena in St. Charles. I’m very excited! I might even buy a T-shirt or two while there. Maybe pick up some Casting Crowns swag.

Tonight, we played the Bombers during our 7:30 softball game. We had a very close game, but ended up losing 13-12. I did okay, batting two-for-four. Actually, coming into my final at-bat I was pretty frustrated with how I had performed that day. I had a single and two pop-ups up to that point. Thankfully, I managed to hit a solo homer over the right field fence. That really made me feel a lot better — being 2-4 instead of 1-4!

I also made a mistake in the outfield. I was playing right-center, and a line drive was hit over my head. I had a bad break on the ball and kind of got twisted up as I turned around to chase it. I ended up diving towards the fence, but the ball landed inches from my glove. If I had played it right, I’m pretty sure I would have caught it, thus preventing the inside-the-park home run. Ah well! I made a pretty nice sliding catch later in the game, so that helped redeem that.

We finished the Thursday night season with a 2-5 record. We’ll miss the playoffs, but really we had a pretty good season. Three of our losses were one-run games. In fact, we were the recipient of only one trouncing this season. So that’s encouraging.

I’d better run. Tomorrow, I’ve got a few things to take care of prior to going to the concert. I need to edit the Safe At Home Show, and I might even run out and get a haircut. It’s been 30 days, and the hair is getting a bit long, especially on the sides. I don’t like that.

It was quite the busy day today! In the morning, Mom and I left the house in order to run a good 15 errands. Everywhere from the post office, to the bank, to the hardware store, to Lowe’s, Chick-Fil-A (yum :)) to Wal-Mart, to St. Louis, to Krispy Kreme, to… we went everywhere! At Krispy Kreme, by the way, we bought a dozen glazed doughnuts. I’m pleased to say that 11 of them arrived home safely! The other one, however, was… umm… missing in action. :-[

Anyway, this afternoon Paul learned that it’s not going to work out for us to interview Casting Crowns on Friday. Evidently, they’re just too busy, hopping from Springfield, IL, tomorrow to St. Charles, MO, Friday, then on to Alabama, I believe, for Saturday. Though I’m disappointed, I certainly don’t blame them. Such a schedule like that has got to be really difficult!

I’m now trying to decide whether or not I should buy tickets to the concert. I can get one for $23 or so, which isn’t terrible. I would really, really like to see them. Though I know if I do go, then I’ll probably want to buy a T-shirt at the concert.
So I’ll have to decide real soon if I want to use 40 bucks or so.

This evening, I practiced court reporting a bit. I’m getting more and more familiar with the keyboard. Soon enough, I’ll probably have it memorized. I’m still pretty new to this side of court reporting, but I think I’ll catch on.

The White Sox swept the Astros tonight, winning the World Series! Did you know that over the last two seasons, the National League has not won a World Series game, and the *Sox (Red and White) have an eight-game winning streak in the World Series? Some interesting trivia for you.

Well, I’ve got to go. I be sleepy.

Shoot. I didn’t realize this, but somebody just brought to my attention that there were broken links up at http://www.famteam.com/videos/

Well, that should be fixed now, and those videos ought to be downloadable. People, please report any problems (here or there) to me, and I’ll try to fix them right away.

Additionally, it has come to my attention that I’ve recently made my 500th entry in this blog. Wow! It certainly doesn’t feel like I’ve been at it that long. I built this in the spring or summer of 2004, and I’m kind of surprised that I’ve managed to stick with it. I suppose now I’m in the habit of documenting things on almost a daily basis, so it’s easy to keep up with now.

I’ve been battling some computer viruses the past couple of days. I don’t know how they were acquired on the computer, but they sure are a pain! I think I’ve managed to rid of them, but those things are annoying — and potentially very dangerous.

Additionally, for some reason today my integrated network card has gone kaput. Thankfully, I had a spare USB adaptor around, but it’s aggravating to have that conk out. I’ve had that happen before, quite a while ago, but it seemed to kick back in after some time. I hope that will be the case here. Sometime soon, I’d like to buy a new motherboard altogether. But I don’t have the extra dough to do that yet. I still want to build my own computer someday. Maybe I’ll be able to do that to my next system.

Tonight, we played a 9:30 game against Off In Left Field. It was very cold this evening; it must have been in the mid-40s. By the time we got playing, though, we warmed up quit a bit, so it was actually not too bad. If it was about 15 or 20 degrees warmer, that would be the perfect softball weather for me.

Anyway, we played really well, and we ended up winning 13-3 in five innings. I batted 3-3 with two singles and a double. My average is up to .547 now. That’s really encouraging to me, becuase last year I finished at or around .540, and this season I slumped quite a bit and was afraid that I’d finish worse this year than last. I’ve been hitting pretty well the past few weeks, so if I can keep this up as the season winds down, I may be able to stay above .540.

I am watching Game Three of the World Series right now. It’s the bottom of the 11th inning, and the game is tied at five. Lance Berkman is up with a man on first, one out, and a full count. Here comes the payoff pitch from Bobby Jenks. It’s… ball four! First and second, one out. Here comes Morgan Ensberg. This is exciting!!

Well, we got an update on the truck, and it turns out that indeed the transmission has gone. The repair is going to run somewhere in the vicinity of $2,200, so that’s kind of a tough blow to receive. God, we just rely more and more on You to provide! So many times, it will be beyond me how to solve a problem or what the answer or solution may be, but our awesome God does know, and He cares for us.

Aside from working here today with scoping and different things, we had a softball game tonight. We played against Christ United Church (I believe that’s their name), and we won 16-6 in five innings. I batted 3-4 with a single, double and triple. Paul and Dad each hit for the cycle, which is a single, double, triple and homer. So congrats to them.

On a side note, it’s neat to see other Christian teams out there. Another good example is a volleyball team in Paul’s league. They’re comprised of Christians, and it’s just really cool to see those people and talk to them while playing sports and having fun.

I just opened up one of the windows here in the attic. Though it’s very chilly outside, it was getting to be kind of stuffy up here. That’s how things are in the third floor of a house, though.