#148 Shots Fired

For some reason I've been in a bit of "ten years ago" kick lately on my blog. There's probably good reason for that (beyond that fact that we ten-fingered humans use a decimal number system). 2009 was an incredibly formative year for me: I really began embracing the idea that God was calling me into ministry, I left home for college (following a couple summer adventures), and I met my future wife, plus a whole bunch of my closest friends, for the first time.

But we're not here to talk about any of that stuff today. In the midst of me falling in love and growing into my identity and all that jazz, I had one of the most bizarre and frightening experiences of my life on October 28, 2009. It was late in my first cross country season at Trinity. We were getting ready for the conference meet. Joey (our senior captain) and Bo (our student assistant) and I were a little ways west of campus finishing up a pretty standard run. (I think it was our 7-mile bike loop route, but I'm not totally sure on that.) As we ran on the left side of a quiet residential street, we saw a vehicle approaching us. Suddenly a masked figure dressed in black popped out of the sunroof and pointed something at us. We heard a pop-pop-pop-pop. This guy was shooting paintballs at us! We scampered off the road but couldn't find any real cover and ended up just sort of crouched together. We were hit a few times, including a shot that hit me in my right temple. The car passed us and disappeared. After determing that we were really okay, though pretty seriously shaken, we finished our run. Our coach was rightfully furious when he saw the paint and heard our story. He called in a report to the police. However, we hadn't been paying much attention to the vehicle when we first saw it, and then we were concerned about protecting ourselves, so we weren't able to provide much of a description. Nothing more ever came of the drive-by paintball shooting incident. It might sound ridiculous or even funny when you read about, but let me tell you, it was pretty stinking terrifying to experience. We were totally caught off guard and didn't know what was going on. But hey, at least we got a story out of the ordeal.

Grace and peace,
BMH

#147 Like Family

During Jesus' earthly ministry, He often told parables, stories where He would use familiar things and situations to help His listeners understand unfamiliar things. Many times Jesus began His parables with "The kingdom of God [or heaven] is like…"

At the beginning of the month I conducted a funeral for a member of our church. (I also referred to this back in post #145. Check it out!) We had visitation on Friday night. Afterwards the family had plans to gather for supper at the restaurant here in Kanawha. Tess and Lanie were gone for the weekend, and the family invited me to join them for the meal. So I spent an evening as part of this family. I read Scripture and prayed and sat with them at the funeral home. We chatted and shared food at the restaurant. As the evening went along, I felt like I had stepped into a parable.

The kingdom of God is like a family that takes in a stranger who doesn't have loved ones around. The family sees that he is alone and invites him to join them, treating him as one of their own. In the same way, God invites people who are strangers to Him to join His family. He loves and cares for them as His own children. He teaches them to love and accept others, even strangers, like family members. And so God's family grows and God's love spreads until the kingdom fully comes. Then no one will be left alone. Then everyone will be family.

Grace and peace,
BMH

#146 First Date

Ten years ago tonight Tess and I had our first "date." You could quibble about me calling this a date because I hadn't officially asked Tess out at this point, but that was just a matter of me not finding the right opportunity yet. Tess and I were acting like we were dating at this point. On October 14, 2009, Tess and I went to watch Up in the lobby of our college's chapel. In the weeks leading up to that night we'd gotten to know each other pretty well through late night conversations. The chemistry was clearly there. We found some space on the floor and settled into the semi-darkness with a shared blanket. Honestly I'm surprised I was able to catch the plot of the movie. I spent the whole night daydreaming about Tess and desperately trying to work up the courage to hold her hand. (I only got as far as overlapping pinkies. What can I say? I'm a coward.) Later that night, back in the upstairs lobby of our dorm, Tess fell asleep on my shoulder. That was it. From that night on, we were a couple. It was like magic. After we finally said good night, I went and wrote in my journal, clearly head-over-heels. Ten years later, everything isn't brand new anymore, but I think it's safe to say I'm still clearly head-over-heels.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#145 Victory

This past weekend I conducted a funeral for one of our church members. After the service in the church building, we drove to the cemetery on the west edge of town. A light mist was falling through somewhat chilly fall air—pretty miserable weather.  I stood by the casket and looked out at the family of this dear woman whom I had the privilege of visiting in the nursing home many times over the past few years, and—among a few other things—I said, "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

I've done that same thing with every funeral I've conducted. I think this practice captures something that's at the heart of the Christian faith.  Death is a horrible thing. Death makes us so afraid. Death is sometimes so painful for the person dying, and is pretty much always excruciating for those who are left behind. For all of our human advances, the best we can do is delay death. We can't prevent it. It just seems so final. And right there is where our Christian hope comes in. We believe that death isn't final, because God has raised Jesus Christ from the grave, conquering death forever. Because of Jesus, in the great struggle between death and God's people it's God's people who have the victory. What an incredible blessing that is!

I think these moments by the grave are some of the most special moments in the life of a pastor. I have the privilege of standing beside the soon-to-be-buried body of one of my brothers or sisters in Christ and essentially spitting in the face of death. I have the privilege of looking at grieving family members and comforting them with the words of Jesus: "Your [loved one] will rise again." Of all the benefits of being a Christian, I think this victory over death is the greatest as well as the easiest for us to communicate to those who aren't Christians. Not everybody understands sin or evil or love or the presence of God. But I think everybody understands the threat of death. Yet we Christians know that, for those who belong to Christ, death cannot defeat us. We already have the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God!

Grace and peace,
BMH

#144 September to Remember

As September comes to a close once again, I think that we should pause for a moment to honor Brewers manager Craig Counsell, the sovereign of September, the emperor of the expanded roster, the king of the closing stretch. For the second straight year, my beloved Milwaukee Brewers caught fire in the last month of the series, launching an epic run into the postseason.

Last year the Brewers went 19-7 in September (and 22-7 after August 28). They went from 6 games back in the NL Central on August 28 to tied for the divison lead on September 30 and then won the tiebreaker game in Chicago. Counting the tiebreaker game, the Brew Crew ended the season with 8 straight victories. (I blogged about the 2018 Brewers after that tiebreaker game in a post titled "Game 163.")

This year the Brewers went 20-7 in September (and 21-7 after August 30). On September 5 the Brewers were 5 games back in the race for the 2nd wild card, and on September 29 they finished the season 2 games ahead. And even that's selling things short. They clinched that playoff spot on September 25 and then won again the next day to cap off a 20-4 stretch that saw them win 18 of 20 games with two separate 7-game winning streaks. Now sadly a mini-collapse in Colorado in the last series of the season doomed the Brewers' hopes of a second-straight division title. But even with 3 straight loses to close the year, those September numbers are insane.

Let's dig a little deeper. 19-7 (winning percentage: .731) and 20-7 (.741) are bonkers months. Last year's Brewers were legitimately good, going 95-67 (.587) in the scheduled season and 96-67 (.589) with the tiebreaker game. But based on stats, the Brewers would've been expected to go 91-72 (.558), so they outperformed expectations by 5 games. This year's Brewers are not nearly as good. The Crew has maybe 1.5 real starting pitchers. Last year we had three main relievers: Josh Hader, Corey Knebel, and Jeremy Jeffress. Knebel never pitched this year due to an injury. Jeffress was designated for assignment just before September after a disappointing season. Christian Yelich, the reigning NL MVP and serious MVP candidate again this year, went down for the season on September 10. (Counting that day, the Crew went 14-5 [.737] without Yeli.) The Brewers finished the year 89-73 (.549), scoring just 3 more runs than they allowed. The Crew would've been expected to finish 81-81 (.500), so they outperformed expectations by 8 games.

A lot of the credit for these amzing finishes obviously goes to the players. But as I said at the beginning, I want to recognize Craig Counsell. Currently teams are allowed to have 40-man rosters in September. The last couple years, Counsell has been a master of using extra pitchers out of the bullpen to win game after game even though the Brewers' pitching staff is not nearly as talented as a lot of other organizations' staffs, especially when it comes to starting pitchers. Last year's run seemed like magic, the kind of stretch you get to see maybe once in a lifetime. This year the Brewers basically did it again. For a while there pretty much every pitcher change and double switch seemed to work. Counsell is apparently a winning wizard, a master manager. It's rare that I feel fortunate to be a Brewers fan, but the way Counsell has had the boys playing the last two Septembers, I definitely feel fortunate now. Next year teams will only get to have 28-man rosters during September, so maybe this is the end of Brewers magic. With the way our roster is banged up after this incredible push, I don't know what will happen when the Brewers go to Washington for the wild card game tomorrow. But we'll always have #Craigtember. Thanks, Craig.

Grace and peace,
BMH

#143 Juice Bars

A couple months ago Tess and I introduced Lanie to the delicious frozen treat pictured above. In our house we call those things juice bars. (You might call them freezies or something like that, but I don't care. I'm sticking with juice bar. It's way cooler.) Lanie loves them because, as I've already said, they are delicious. Everyday she asks to "share" one with me. While that's a nice thought, it's not really accurate. We started out sharing them. Lanie would eat maybe half of the frozen bar, then ask me to eat the rest so she could drink the melted juice pooled at the bottom. That was a good system. But as Lanie has gotten more skilled at navigating the flavored ice, she's stopped needing my help. So now I'm stuck helping her eat the juice bar and getting none of the sugary goodness myself. It's a hard life.

[Looks around, makes sure Lanie isn't nearby.]

Thankfully there are still tasty solidified delicacies in the freezer after she goes to bed.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#142 Ten Years Ago...

Ten years ago this month I met Tess. It's hard for me to wrap my mind around that fact, but it definitely makes sense. We've now been married six years after four years together in college. Time flies. So in honor of Tess and me having had some sort of relationship for ten years, I thought it'd be fun to revisit the story of our first meeting. Sorry, dear reader, if you've heard this one before:

It was the very end of freshmen orientation at Trinity Christian College in the fall of 2009. To be exact, it was the night before classes started. Looking for something to do that evening, I wandered downstairs to the basement of my dorm, West Hall. A small group of fellow freshmen was relaxing around the table in the downstairs lobby, playing Apples to Apples. The guy at the head of the table was someone I'd briefly crossed paths with earlier in the week. I didn't recognize anyone else, but I caught the first guy's eye, and he remembered me and invited me to join the game. So I sat down with my back to the stairs. Across the table from me was a girl with dark wavy hair, who told me her name was Tessa. I grabbed a handful of cards, and the magic started to happen. Normally I'm not particularly good at Apples to Apples. I'll win a card here and there, but I'm not an expert at reading people. That night, however, I was dynamite, taking cards left and right. Before too long I only needed one card to win, and it was Tessa's turn to judge. The rest of the group told her not to pick my card, but she really had no way of knowing which was mine, so sure enough, she gave me the victory, earning herself a fair share of grief.

That was that. I'd like to tell you that the rest was history, that it was love at first sight or something like that. Things didn't happen quite that quickly, but it didn't take too long for Tess and me to become a couple. Over the next couple of weeks we bumped into each other for games a few more times. We ended up with a few common friends, exchanged phone numbers, and pretty soon we started getting to know each other over long late-night conversations. It only took about six weeks for us to become something more than just friends, but I think that's a story for another week….

Before I go, allow me to switch gears for a moment. Earlier this year I blogged about my love for Ryan Braun and listed my eight favorite Braun memories. That list may need some revising. Yesterday afternoon Braun came up to bat in the top of the 9th with the bases loaded, two outs, and the Brewers trailing the hated—and I mean HATED—Cardinals by one run. Braunie worked a full count before launching a grand slam into left field. Listening on the radio as I drove home, I went absolutely nuts, screaming and whooping and pounding the ceiling of my van in celebration. I think I scared Lanie half to death (again). Someday she'll understand. Anyway, the Brewers hung on to win their ninth game in ten days. Thanks, Ryan!

Grace and peace,

BMH