West Cocoa Chat

That is the word (extraordinary) that keeps coming to my mind as I reflect on the events of this (blog-less) past week. BTW – the trip to Winterfest and it’s own blog will be coming soon but as invigorating as it was, it pales in comparison to this past week.

Steven with his sister, Liz.

Our "new" family.

Hero! That’s right, in the space of 1 day the ever fickle fortune of baseball smiled upon Steven last night! Our game with Eau Gallie went 9 (normal length for H.S. ball is 7) innings last night. In the top of the 5th inning with a runner of 2nd, Steven hit a double bringing in the first run of the game. Eau Gallie came back and tied it up 1 to 1. At the end of the 7th inning the score was tied 2 to 2. Then in the top of the 9th and with 2 men aboard, Steven launched a 2 RBI triple into left center-field! It was a moment that this amateur / Dad / announcer had been waiting to say over the P.A., “..and Steven Walker drives in 2 go-ahead runs for the Tigers!” The smile on his face, the fist pumping, the coaches and players slapping him on the butt, well, you can’t put a price on experiences like that.

The best comment I heard was from a fellow Dad who said after the game, “I know why your son wears his uniform baggy. It hides the fact that he is so “jacked.” These guys have no idea how much power Steven has." Now for you folks who don’t speak the “Southern West Cocoa” dialect, “jacked” would mean "lots of muscles, strong, buffed out like." I don’t believe anyone has used the word “jacked” to ever describe me.

So, we’re in the 3rd place game today and then we fly out to Chattanooga tomorrow morning. Hopefully after a 2 hour drive we’ll hook up with our youth group and take in Winterfest. Have a good weekend family and feel free to use the term “jacked” when describing your favorite West Cocoa blogger.

I want to say thanks for the complements in my previous post about my weight loss. Knowing how the mind of our good friend the “Ex-Rev,” (http://gregengland.com/) works, I’m sure he would ask, “Will you do a blog when you gain the weight back?” I hope I don’t have to or as our WW Leader so often says, “Nothing tastes as good as thin feels.”

Now, I know all of you know the maddening effects of “good news / bad news.” I’ve heard some describe it’s effects in the analogy of seeing your Mother-in-law drive over the cliff in your new Lexus. Some we’ll go so far as to illustrate with a joke.

Imagine a German WW2 Prison Camp housing American prisoners. It’s been months and months without showers for our boys. Finally one morning at roll car, the Commandant announces, “Prisoners, I have good news and bad news. The good news is there will be a change of underwear for all American prisoners.”

Cheers go us from the POW’s. Then the Commandant says, “The bad news is that Prisoner number one will change underwear with Prisoner number two, Prisoner number two will change underwear with Prisoner number three, and so on.”

We had good news / good news / bad news / good news last night.
Good news: We were able to play our game last night.

Good News: Steven sacrificed in the go ahead run with a deep drive to center-field. Made the score 2 to 1.

Bad News: Steven was brought in to pitch in the 6th inning with the bases loaded and two outs. His first pitch although it was outside was left a bit too high. The six foot / 4 inch batter hit a backside grand-slam! With the wind blowing out of leftfield it was the only place in the ball park that a ball would fly out. To say that Steven was disappointed was an understatement. He ended up retiring the side and then retired Trinity in the 7th in order but the damage was down. It’s nice having a Coach who was a former pitcher. He told Steven to keep his head up. Pitchers know that sometimes the batter makes a better swing than your pitch. You have to forget it and move on. Hey, that sounds like good advice for life, yes?

As you could expect the boy was down when he came home. We tried to lighten things with a funny story about 2 of my students that I’ll post later and then one of my famous as I’ll call it now, a “No-No Vanilla Milk Shake.”

Oh, the good news, looks like we’ll fly out Saturday morning for the lovely berg of Chattanooga, Tennessee. We’ll arrive around 9am and then make the 2 hour drive to Gatlinburg to take in most of Winterfest, a first for Steven. We play again tonight. Have a good day family.

The other night my lovely wife was looking at my blog. It was at that point that she made the following observation concerning my “Profile” –
“You’re not overweight anymore.”

This observation became officially true according to Weight Watchers last night at our church when I weighed in at 188lbs. I started my journey on September 18 which happens to be my birthday. I remember that night because I had their nasty WW Cake to celebrate my b/d. Earlier that night I had tipped the scales at 237lbs. Let’s do the math kids – that would be a loss of 49lbs in a little under 5 months. The last time I weighed in the 180’s, well, let’s just say that Michael Jackson had both his gloves, most of his nose, and looked like Michael Jackson. That would be the 1970’s for you “Generation What-evers.”

My next task is to stay under 189 for 6 weeks. If I do so, I become a lifetime / free (being the operative word) member of “WW.” I’ll have to share this with you since you’re reading the “skinny” on me. This past Saturday morning as I was stretching in bed, I ran my fingers down my side. I startled Barb when I said, “Ooh, what is that? Gross.” Barb turned over and looked at me, asking me if I was O.K.? When I told her I was feeling something weird on the sides of my body she rolled her eyes and said, “Show-off, those are your ribs!” I hadn’t felt those suckers since the early 70’s.

As good as my weight-loss feels I’m not too good at gambling. You see I rolled the dice financially a couple of weeks ago. Steven has never been to the huge youth rally held in Gatlinburg, TN called “Winterfest” due to baseball. A couple of weeks ago I noticed that the tournament we’re playing in ended with the Championship Game on this coming Friday. There are some tough teams in this tournament so I gambled; bought airline tickets ($39 each one way) for a direct flight from Orlando-Sanford Int. to Knoxville, TN for this coming Friday evening at 6:30pm. In a perfect world Steven would have played great as well as the rest of the team, but we would end up on the short end of the game tonight or tomorrow thus placing us in the 3rd or 5th place game on Thursday. This would free Steven and us to fly out on Friday hook up with our youth group in Gatlinburg, and then I could help drive the bus back on Sunday.

There was just one little kink – rain!!! Yes, our game was rained out today. I did purchase “insurance” on the tickets so I was able to switch them to a Saturday flight which would put us in Chattanooga, TN on Saturday morning at 9am. We would then make the drive to Gatlinburg. The change in tickets cost me an additional $100 total. Here is where I need your help if you wish:

1. I need prayers for no rain tomorrow or at least so little of it that we can play tomorrow’s game.
2. I’m not praying for a loss but I would like to fly out on Saturday morning.
3. As always, pray that Steven continues to do well at the plate, in the field, and on the mound.

Is this a selfish prayer in the grand scheme of things – you betcha. But nothing says I can’t ask. Oh the things we do for our kids.

Love you guys.

Good morning family. Saturday’s game saw Steven complete “the Cycle” hitting a leadoff home-run to go with his single, double, and triple from the previous night. He ended up going 1 for 3 with a couple of hard shots to leftfield that were caught along with being hit once. Our pitching was off walking and hitting batters to the tune of a 10 to 15 loss to huge University High School from Orlando. Steven’s next game is tomorrow at our “Hardball Classic” that we host each year. My first game to announce is today at 4:30.

In a manner of speaking we also “finished the cycle” in our lifegroup yesterday. Don brought a powerful message from Proverbs 23 (“For as he thinks within himself, so he is.”):7. The hardest hitting part was some statistics from “Barna.” In a recent survey among Christians asking them if they had and by what principles / rules / laws they used to make decisions about life, less than 10% of adult Christians professed that they used Biblical standards to make decisions. The numbers for Christian teens was less than 3%! As Don said, the battle is for our minds where all evil deeds start according to James.

The discussion in our lifegroup was frank, introspective, and real when it came to how we were affected by outside circumstances and by how much we allowed Satan to steal our joy. It was about time for our circle prayer to end one of the best meetings we’ve had when the phone rang. God wasn’t done yet, the “cycle” was complete.

It was an old friend of mine who is in prison and won’t be out until 2010. He had tried to connect with us before but we were always out. As the discussion went on I walked out to our patio and took the call. Now when someone from prison actually gets someone to accept a “collect call from an inmate,” you’d think they would want to vent and ask for all kind of things. Not my friend, he asked if he could share the story of Joseph with me and another story concerning a missionary?

I figured the group would have the prayer without me and they would understand why I left to take this call. “John” shared his message from the Bible and his story. He wrapped it up by saying that although in prison, one of the worst ones (if there are good ones) in Florida, he knew that God was using him for good and for the cause of Christ, just as Joseph who being sold into slavery ended up saving his family. When I asked what I could do for him, “John” replied, “Just give me a hug when I get out in 2010.”

I walked back in and to my amazement the group was still seated in my living room. I asked if they had prayed yet and they said, “No.” I told them I need to share this call with you and they said a collective “we know already.” Seems my lovely wife told the group as the phone rang that she knew that was John and she intuitively knew how he would be the one encouraging the encourager.

The battle for our minds, a proverb, a sermon, a lifegroup discussion, and encouragement from Prison; seems the “Cycle” was completed in our home yesterday. May God bless you as you battle the world for your mind today.

I want to thank Josh Stump (http://www.stumpedblog.blogspot.com/) for his kind comment concerning my last post about Steven. For the first time in a while he does seem to “get it” when it comes to staying within himself when it comes to his hitting. I think there are 2 reasons why he is doing such:
1. He believes in our new Coaching Staff and they believe in him.
2. He’s been frustrated with the gap between what we know his ability to be and inconsistent play. All of his really came together last night in our game against Winter Park in the Palm Bay Pre-Season Classic.

Winter Park is a huge 6A school in Orlando. Several thousand kids make up their student body. We’ve played Winter Park for several years now in Pre-Season Tournaments and have never come close to beating them. Here’s a name for you, their short-stop’s name was Dante Bichette. Yes, that’s the son of Colorado Rockies player Dante Bichette who hit .340 in 1995 with 40 home runs and 128 RBI’s. In my best “Dick Vitale voice,” that’s pedigree baby. So, what did we do against this perennial 6A powerhouse?

We won 6 to 5! What did Steven do? He hit a single, a double, and a triple with 3 RBI’s. He also played 2nd-base, short-stop, and then he closed out the game with 2 strikeouts and a ground-out to short. It was a magical game with everything coming together for him against a tough opponent.

To say that I’m proud of all of that would be an understatement but I’m even more proud of some other things I observed. We had to start a freshman last night at 3rd-base and then he moved to 2nd and another freshman came in at 3rd. I noticed Steven encouraging these 2 young kids. He gave direction as well as joked with them in an attempt to calm their young nerves down. True leadership is making those around you better.

Yes, it was a good night in Palm Bay. We head back to Palm Bay to play another 6A powerhouse, University High School on Saturday. Sorry about all of the “Papa-bragging.” Have a good weekend family.

First, since I was tagged by Steve (http://intentionalwalk.blogspot.com/) this past Friday, I will post my “tagged” results. As luck would have it I became aware of being “tagged” while I was at school. If the results give anyone an “anniversary type trauma” from their days in Algebra, my apologies. Here are the results:

Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. (No cheating!)
Find Page 123.
Find the first 5 sentences.
Post the next 3 sentences.
Tag 5 people.

Algebra 1 textbook by Prentice Hall
P123
31. During the first 6 hours of a trip, you average 44mi/h. During the last 4 hours of your trip, you average 50mi/h. What is your average speed for the whole trip?

I’ll include the “hint” given:
(Hint: First find the total number of miles traveled.)

This comes from Chapter 2 / Section 7 on “Using Measures of Central Tendency.”

I’ll post the solution at the end of my blog. We have been playing a series of intra-squad games as we get ready for the season opener next Monday. We have a Pre-Season Tournament this week that starts on Thursday in Palm Bay.

Steven has been in a bit of a hitting slump during these games. He’s been hitting great in practice but for some reason he’s been whiffing during the games. Dad being Dad offered the following advice:

“Son, you have power but you need to be a consistent contact hitter. Don’t think about pulling the ball or hitting homeruns. Try to hit the ball up the middle / back side. Bottom line, it’s all in your head.”
Sound like good advice? I thought so. Did Steven listen to me? No.

He did go to our coaches and ask them for advice. He told me that sat with him for a half-hour, encouraging him, and giving basically the following advice:

“Son, you have power but you need to be a consistent contact hitter. Don’t think about pulling the ball or hitting homeruns. Try to hit the ball up the middle / back side. Bottom line, it’s all in your head.”
Sound familiar? Now, I’m not saying I’m a prophet but didn’t Jesus say something about a Prophet’s creditability and his hometown? Does that apply to sons and fathers as well?

The next game in his first at bat facing our number one guy, Steven laced one of the middle and drove in a run. The coaches were happy with him and affirmed his hit. The next time he got up he launched one out of the park and on to our track in left centerfield for a 2-run homerun. As he rounded the bases his head was down and when he touched home plate while being congratulated by his teammates, one of the coaches yelled out, “Steven, where was that pitch?” Steven signaled inside and then said loud enough for most of us to hear, “I’m sorry Coach. I wasn’t trying to hit it out. It was a mistake.”

Yes, we had a rare baseball occurrence where a player had to explain to his coach “why” he hit a homerun. It was hilarious but it had meaning. The coaches believe in Steven and although he has the power to hit homeruns, they don’t want bad habits (over swinging) to develop again.
Isn’t that a lesson for all of us as we examine ourselves before the Cross?

In my years of being a Christian and in church leadership, I know I get aggravated with myself when I feel I’m not being consistent with my walk. I teach a Bible Class and then turn around and not practice some of the spiritual disciplines I taught just hours before to others.
Something to think about family. BTW - the solution to the problem is below:

SOLUTION:
Average speed = total distance------------------6(44) + 4(50)
-------------- = 46.4mi/h
Total time---------------------------10

Now you might be thinking (if anyone is still reading) that the “streak” I’m referring to would be my current “blog-less streak.” In a manner of speaking, yes, that streak is broken by this post but I’m thinking of a much longer streak. By my “Jeffro type “ciphering”” I believe this particular streak was going on it’s 18th year. Yes ole fans of the “breeding ground of false (as an elder at a different church than mine once put it) teachers,” that would be the Pepperdine Bible Lectures. I’m not going this year for the first time in 18 years.

Why you ask? Anybody, anybody, O.K, I’ll do it myself, “Why Cecil are you breaking “the streak?” Basically it’s for my son and a little of me as well. Our youth group, of which Steven will be exiting at the end of this summer, is going on a “Wilderness Trek” in July in Colorado. 5 days of backcountry camping, hiking, and even repelling down a mountain and all of this for the “inexpensive” price of $700 each. I spent a couple of my college summers backcountry hiking and camping in Rocky Mountain National Park. To now have the chance to go back out while I still (I think) can and being down 40-something pounds thanks to Weight Watchers, I just couldn’t pass it up. It will be the last trip I take with Steven as a member of our youth group as well.

So, for any of you heading to Malibu for the lectures, please do the following for me:
1. Say hello to Jerry for me.
2. Hang out with Randy (are you going?) at the Malibu Fish Market.
3. Drive through Malibu Canyon and have some tri-tip at the Wood Ranch Restaurant.
4. Have some prayer time with some close friends at what we call “The Rock” on the Pepperdine Campus. Bonus points if you walk (no busses Greg!) from the Seaver Apartments to “The Rock.”
5. Enjoy the Lectures but don’t expect to see, well, I’ll keep the names of our fellow bloggers secret in an attempt to protect the innocent.
6. O.K. Greg, Randy, and Puck – skip a few lectures and just hang out. That was tough for me to type.
AND:
7. If you see any “false teachers breeding,” just repeat the phrase “dead puppies” to yourself three times to get the image out of your mind.