Going off-road…the weekly 4×4

1.   this is an interesting day.   i started writing this weekly post last night at the end of a really good sunday.   normally,  i don’t have much of a problem of finding a handful of  thumbs down items for my list.   i’m old and cynical.   there’s plenty of misery to go around.   but last night i was stumped.   so i just went to bed.

got up this morning and it wasn’t any better.    this was just a really good past seven days.

2.   i just finished reading an article logan sent to me.   i found it incredibly sad.   it was written by a guy who apparently used to be a pastor,  but is now a bible college prof and administrator.   he wrote about what he would do differently if he could go back and correct the mistakes he made while he was a pastor.   you can read it here if you want.   after reading it,  i had some moments of extreme gratitude for experiences i’ve had…the mentoring in my life…the unbelievable co-workers and treasured friends.   i am not where he is at.   the areas where he struggled are areas that i no longer (or never really) wrestle with.    and i didn’t have to quit and become a professor to figure it out!

3.   since i’m still just a  recovering legalist,  i need to have four thumbs down. so here goes.   i think i’ve finally figured out why i have  lost (and i mean down to the dirt!)  my beautiful st. augustine grass on half of my front yard.   a few years ago,  i cut down a large pecan tree that grew in the center of that half of the yard.   i never dug out the stump…i just cut it down to ground level.   that stump…and much of the rootage that flows from it…had been infected with some kind of a disease and over the years,  it polluted the soil.   and i’m left with a huge,  disappointing,  mess.   i’m starting the process of digging out the stump this week.   my back already hurts thinking about it…

4.   decided to completely repaint our living room…which i already completely repainted before we left on vacation.   just don’t like the color.   this is stupid.   i wish i lived in a trailer.

1.   now to the good…er, great…news.   this afternoon,  i am going into the doctor to get the regular steroid shots in my knees.   today, though,  we are going to talk about getting synvisc shots,  instead of steroids.   synvisc is an all-natural lubricant (i hear it’s made from the beak of ducks…how cool is that?) that is injected right into the joint.   and it is supposed to provide six months of pain relief…or even more if i cut down my prep work for returning to the nfl.

2.   it just doesn’t get any better than the start of the baseball season…except when the padres take two of three from the cardinals in st. louis!   hats of to the fighting molinas and their dismantling of the hated red sox,  also.   by the way,  they will remain the fighting molinas until a suitable replacement for the spirit (and body) of the great benji can be found…

3.   watching people interact after the service at north point is pure greatness.   the absolute best part of my week…every week.

4.   i’m pretty pumped to start the five commitments of our radical experience…a full year devoted to five disciplines that will potentially alter the rest of our lives.   if you are a north pointer,  how can you not be totally excited about this week?