Command Number 2

If ye love me, keep my commandments – John 14:15

Christ’s Second Command - Rejoice, and be exceeding glad… (Matt 5:12)

Specifically this verse points back to verse 11 – “when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake”, but the command is repeated over and over that we should rejoice.

How often we let joy-thieves come in and take our joy away from us.  Our joy should be in the same place as our hope, the Lord, our rock, our fortress, our strong tower.  Nothing should be allowed to steal our joy.

Surely there is a time for sorrow, and sorrow over sin, but even in that sorrow, we can recognize the joy of forgiveness.  “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” – Psalm 30:5.  Remember, no matter how deep the valley seems, God will walk it with you.

So what is it that you allow to rob you of your joy?  Is it financial trouble?  Is it cares of this world?  Is it suffering?  Is it the current political state?  What robs you of your joy?  And now, knowing that Christ’s second direct command is to Rejoice! what will you do about it?

~CC

Julia Vess – Update

Thanks for everyone who has been praying.  Just a quick update.

Unfortunately, they found Julie’s body sometime this past Sunday.  Not many details are known right now, but there are no reports of “foul play” yet.  After two weeks missing, I’m sure this must be a difficult blow to the family.

Please continue to pray for the family as they deal with this difficult situation.

CC

Julia Vess – Missing

Wow, it has been a while since I posted.  I have so much going on between work and the kids baseball (and the rabid fox).  Very busy time of year.  I hope to get another post up over the weekend about Jonah.  We are studying the book on Sunday’s at church, and it is very convicting of how we are, always whining and complaining to God about our situation and not simply doing what God wants us to do despite our circumstances.  Anyway, that is another post for another day.

Today I want to pass on information about a situation here in our little Simpsonville for which I would appreciate your prayers.  A lady that I used to work with, Julia Vess, has gone missing from her home.  She has been gone since Sunday, and her family is very concerned (obviously).  The police are working with the information they have to try and track her down.

Although I don’t know what happened, and I don’t know what will happen, I do know that God is in control of this (just like everything else).  Please pray for Julia and her family that He will work through this in their lives.

CC

Whatever Happended to Reporting?

OK, I don’t usually delve into politics, especially not on the Internet, but I can’t avoid it this time.  (One day I will run an Internet only campaign to be president, but not today.)

The title is really the true question today.  Am I alone in thinking that the news media should report the news and not become the news?  I understand that this is one of the foremost principles of journalism.  However, this is not the case today.  I know that no matter what happens, anyone with a brain will taint information with their perspective, but journalists are supposed to be the most trained in avioding this.  Yet, twice in as many days I see that CNN has taken a forefront in the news, not in the news reporting.

The first item I heard about on the way home from baseball practice.  I was trying to find the Braves game (yeah, you know me), but they must have played in the daytime because a talk radio show was on.  The host was talking about a CNN reporter, Susan Roesgen.  Now, I’m well aware that the host of news radio shows tend to be overly biased to a viewpoint, so I didn’t spend too much time thinking about what was being said.  I found some humor in the tirades (both the host, and the audio of Susan Roesgen’s reports), but other than that, I simply filed the information away as another radio host embellishing for the ratings.

Then today I found another news article about the events and it even had the CNN video.  You can read the entire article here.  This was my favorite (if I can use that word) paragraph…

CNN took a different tack. They sent reporters to at least some of the Tea Parties. Roesgen was at the Chicago Tea Party and apparently wasn’t one bit happy about it. She was belligerent and confrontational with protesters. She asked questions without giving time for answers and spouted out left wing talking points aggressively. She seemed angry to see Obama referred to as a fascist. She declared it wasn’t a family friendly gathering and verbally hammered the man who had the sign. However, Newsbusters has a video of the very same Susan Roesgen covering an anti-Bush rally in New Orleans and seemingly having no problem at all with President Bush being portrayed with horns and a Hitler mustache. Different standards? Lack of objectivity in reporting? Say it ain’t so!

That was interesting enough, but then I played the video.  WOW!  Here is the journalist (I say that with apologies to real journalists everywhere) inserting herself into the news.  She is rude, belligerent, and overtly biased (and I didn’t even look for the ant-Bush video).  I was shocked and amazed that after she forces herself into a debate with the man with his child, she then refuses to let him finish until shouted into submission by the crowd.  Finally, unable to answer his comment, she tries to move on, but her security steps in and shuts the man up.  I hope eveyone who sees that video understands it for what it was.  It was a blatant example of a reporter shoving herself into the story rather than simply reporting the story.

I could almost find it in my heart to forgive CNN for this, even is she isn’t punished (although as the article says, she is probably being praised).  However, when I first looked at the news today, I saw that CNN was in a “friendly” competition with Ashton Kutcher over Twitter account numbers.  Now I don’t Twitter.  I don’t even Facebook or My Space.  This simple blog is really enough for me.  All that being said, I won’t pretend to understand all of what the numbers were about, but that doesn’t really matter.  What is important to note here is that it seems CNN is breaking the “rules” of journalism, and not in a good way.  Here the company is inserting itself into the news just as much as Susan Roesgen did.  Folks, this is not reporting, and it is not news.

Can we please go back to having the news be something the reporter simple talks about?  I remember growing up they would always end the newscast with three to five minutes of someone giving his editorial.  Remember that?  That was the way it used to be.  The news was just the facts and the editorial was separate.  I like it better that way.  When I want news, I want the facts of the situation or event.  Honestly, when I want to know what to think about that situation or event, I don’t really want a reporter telling me (I’d rather check the Bible).

CC

ETA:  There is hope.  Just checked Yahoo to get the link to the Ashton Kutcher story and it was gone from the front page.  From a little checking, it seems that there was much negative Buzz (Yahoo’s way of rating a story thumbs up or thumbs down) about the lack of “news-worthiness” of the story.  Along with some interesting comments about why it would be considered special to beat CNN in popularity.

Spring Is In The Air

And that means it is time for baseb….  Er, (try that again) SPRING IS IN THE AIR, and that means it is time for BASEB….

<sigh>

Hello?  It is April, and while I can accept some cold mornings, even a few with frost on the window, it is supposed to warm up during the day.  Especially the days we have baseball practice and games.  Somewhere, the memo got lost yesterday.  Yesterday during the two hours we were practicing, the temperature fell from 52 degrees to 48 degrees (Farrenheit), and the wind stayed a consistent 14-15 mph.  Not ideal softball/baseball conditions.

After about half to three quarters of an hour watching my wife’s softball girls (9-12 years old) shiver and try to field balls with a hand in their pocket, we went inside to discuss some of the “mental” aspects of the game.  Yes, I’m probably getting soft in my old age, but it was pretty chilly out there.  The boys had arrived and were ready to take the field for my son’s practice anyway, so it all worked out.

We talked over some of the difficult baseball concepts to pick up on.  Everyone has trouble understanding the idea behind force outs and tag outs.  The principle is simple, but in the heat of a play it can be hard to determine.  Simply, if a runner has anywhere else he can safely run to, you have to tag him.  If the runner has no where else to go safely, you can simply step on the base.  The simplest form of this is the batter running to first base.  He can’t turn around; he has to go to first.  So the fielder only has to step on the base to get him out.  It gets more complicated with more base-runners and previous actions on the same play.  For example, when the boys were practicing, the bases were loaded and the batter hit the ball to the first baseman.  The first baseman stepped on first for a quick and easy out because the batter was forced to run.  The first baseman then threw the ball home where the catcher got the ball and dove at and touched the plate just before the runner, but he didn’t tag the runner.  The call?

The runner at home was safe because once the out was recorded at first base, all the runners had the option of safely returning to the base they had come from (the runner going home could have returned to third).  Not confusing at all.

The other thing we talked about is positioning.  One fact of baseball that I try to drive into every player I coach is that there is no such thing as a spectator on the field.  That means if you find yourself not moving after a ball is hit an just standing watching, you are not doing what you are supposed to be doing.  This is a difficult concept for everyone, but especially difficult for kids.  Once they leave the T-ball age (where the entire field runs after the ball no matter where it goes), they tend to stand and watch if the play isn’t coming their way.  In reality, everyone has a place to be on every play; even the outfielders should be moving to back up the infielders.  If you have an opportunity to watch a professional baseball game, pick an inning and choose a player.  For example, during the 6th inning, watch the second baseman regardless of where the ball and the play go.  You will find that the professionals are always moving, or at least, the good professionals are always moving.  When the play is not coming at them, they will be backing someone up.  That makes all the difference in the defense ability of your team.

Thursday is supposed to be sunny with a high of 73 degrees.  The wind is supposed to be the same, but with the higher temperature, I don’t expect we will mind.  I hope the weather is as good as the forecast because we promised the girls we would work on their batting.

CC

Success

Well, it finally happened this morning.  I accepted a position at a company this morning.  I start on Wednesday.  So here I sit, shortly to join the ranks of the gainfully employed.

I got the call Thursday afternoon with the offer after interviewing with them on Monday.  I was at the ballfield, waiting for my son’s baseball game to start.  I had gotten some information from them about benefits and such.  The main difference between my last job and this one as far as benefits is that the new company only allows 2 weeks of vacation rather than the 3 I was used to.  With my parents in Mississippi and my in-laws in Kentucky, we generally used all of my vacation.  So with only 2 weeks, I knew it would take some getting used to.

The offer was not as much as I was making at my last job, but at the same time, I will be working with newer technology, much more current.  That has to be one of the best reasons for getting laid off.  Working for a financial institution like MetLife, there is little chance to be anywere near the cutting edge of technology.  That is a good thing for a finance company.  After all, who wants their money being handled by a company that jumps on every new technology that comes around.  All those financial companies are gone with their data after that technology messed everything up one too many times.  So I get to work with newer technology, which is a plus. 

So after the call yesterday, I told them I needed to talk it over with my wife before I said yes, but that I would call them today.  I had every intention of taking the job, after all “employed” is far, far better than “unemployed”.  But I didn’t want to seem so desparate that I said yes right away and I did want to talk with my wife to see if she had any specific questions.  She didn’t, so I made my plans to call them this afternoon (Friday) after I was up and awake.

Then I get a call this morning on my cell phone.  My soon-to-be boss is letting me know that there was an HR policy change that took place this morning.  Seems my new employer is giving new employees 3 weeks of vacation instead of just 2 weeks.  This was really great news for us, and simply confirmed the fact that this was the job God had for me.

So I made the call, and I’ll have Monday and Tuesday to finish my son’s bedroom and closet before starting on Wednesday morning bright and early.  More about this new job as it progresses.

CC

“Walker luck”

I play in a simulation fantasy league called IBL, the Internet Baseball League.  My team is, of course, the Carolina Cajuns.  What “Simulation” means is that we actually play out the games.  Each player that qualifies is given a card with a set of numbers on it for different outcomes.  We use a private IRC server that generates random numbers to determine the outcome of the play, the batter from 0-499 and the pitcher from 500-999.

So I played my first series earlier this week.  Actually, I played my home and away games (3 games each), and I had a very difficult time getting a win.  I only won 2 out of the 6 games, which is very frustrating because I am supposed to have a good team this year according to some of the other owners.  The problem is that I have what we call in our family “Walker luck.”

“Walker luck” is somewhat like Murphey’s Law applied to randomness.  My dad is probably the founder of “Walker luck,” and I probably inherited it from him, so he is to blame.   The idea is that when you need to roll/generate a random number, and you need it to be anything but a 4, you will roll a 4.  There isn’t any question or doubt in our minds, it will happen.

So, this translates to my fantasy baseball league in several ways.  The most frustrating is when I need to roll a 3-digit number between 265 and 332 for a positive outcome (home run or walk), I will generally roll a 264 (high fly to right field) or a 333 (strike out).  Same goes for my pitchers.  When I need to roll a 763 to 920 for a strike out, I’ll roll a 762 (deep fly, possible home run) or, more likely, 921 (walk).  That is what Walker luck is all about.

I was grateful to roll well enough in two of my games to win them, but I didn’t keep that much luck in my week 2 games that I played on Friday (just home games).  I lost all three of those, and “Walker luck” was in full force.  I rolled a “wild play” which means we have to consult a special chart with an additional roll, and it will often end up in an injured player.  Well, it did, and it wasn’t my player.  Sounds like “Walker luck” was not hurting me, right.  Well, that is how “Walker luck” works; it strings you along so you can fall farther or harded with the rub comes.

Yes, it was the other guys player who was injured.  Unfortunately, it was his pitcher, and it was only for one day.  That means the lineup that I had set up to bat strong and well against a left handed pitcher was gone when he brough in a right handed pitcher for long relief.  Not only that, it was the worst of his starters for the series.  Even worse, it was my best pitcher throwing.  So, “Walker luck” gave my opponent a chance to bring in a better pitcher, who my lineup wasn’t ready to face, all when my best hurler is on the mound.  Well, 10 long innings later, we lost 3 to 2.

That is what “Walker luck” is all about.  It is a very good thing that I enjoy the fantasy baseball league I am in because otherwise the frustration generated would drive me away from it permanently.

CC

The Smell of Fresh Cut Grass…

The roar of the crowd, the crack of the bat, yes, it is time for baseball again.  Opening night was last night (my daughter was supposed to play, but got postponed), and my son’s first game was tonight.  Wolverines (my son) at home against the Gators.

Beautiful 45 degree evening for spring baseball.  I was glad I was just coaching and not playing.  But the boys played a great game and pulled out a win, 8-6.  There were several times we got lucky from the mistakes of the other team, and a few times we made mistakes on our own.  But in the end, we pulled it out.  I say we because I was coaching third base.  I had a few mistakes, but we had a good game when it was all said and done.

But the story of the night is not me.  My son, Christian, had a great game.  In fact, it was probably one of his best games ever.  He played catcher for the first two innings and did a great job.  A few steals of second on him, and maybe one or two at third, but did some great stops to prevent any runs from scoring.  Another couple innings in left field where he was backing up everything.  He almost caught one fly ball, but it was just a little too short for him to get to.

His bat was great.  First time up, he hit a grounder to the right side to advance a runner, despite the out.  Secondt time up, he struck out swinging.  Sure it was a strike out, but compared to last year when he struck out standing there.  He was swinging, and anyone who has coached kids knows this can be a problem.  Final at bat of the game was a bases loaded situation.  He sent a fly ball to right center field for a double.  It would have been a triple, but the runner from first wasn’t very fast.  Christian was a step behind them when they passed the short stop position and I had to send Christian back to second.

A great game tonight and even better given the results.  Christian had a great game and I was very proud of how hard he has prepared this year and at how well he is playing.  Of course, like I told him before the game, I am very proud of him and I love him regardless of the outcome of the game.

CC

Paul For President

OK, step aside Barak, Hillary, and John, I’m declaring myself for the election this year.  I’m fed up with politicians and their minions and all the games they play and I’m throwing in because I think I can do better than anyone running right now.

OK, maybe not.  I mean, if anyone wants to write my name in, I’ll not object, but I doubt there are enough that will do that to get me anywhere close to getting elected.  Actually, this year is the first year that I am old enough to run for President, and I had told several people that I was going to run for this election.

So what would you get if I were to actually be elected.  First, I can guarantee you would see some nepotism.  I’m an only child, so no brothers or sisters to give jobs to, but I would give my dad a position in my cabinet.  He is one of the smartest guys I know, and while we don’t always see things eye to eye, I would definitely value his opinion on things.

The War:  OK, here is the problem with the war.  Most everyone, me included, is very upset over the loss of life, and the seemingly poor handling of the war by the current administration.  I don’t want to minimize the loss anyone has experienced, nor do I want to debate the facts (or lack thereof) that got us to the point we are in today.  What I would want to do is make the best out of what has become a bad situation.  I’m very disappointed that the candidates all seem to be sticking to what they think is right despite the suggestions of the commanders involved. 

My solution is to make an official announcement so that the insurgents, the Iranians, Syrians, and anyone else involved in the country.  The announcement is simple.  Iraq will be an internally governed, democratic country.  Period, the end, no discussion.  If it doesn’t happen with the government that is in place, that is, if everyone doesn’t let it happen, we will make Iraq a US protectorate like Puerto Rico, Guam, US Virgin Islands, and others.  Then, any outside involvement will be considered an act of war against the US.  No, we don’t want that outcome, and that is a worst case scenario, but if the fighting and involvement doesn’t stop, that will be how we will handle it.  I’m not naive enough to believe this will instantly solve the problem.  Quite the contrary, it will cause many other problems, but one thing it will do is let everyone know that we are serious.

Immigration:  There are a couple of issues with immigration.  The first, and most important issue is terrorism.  We have to secure the borders in order to prevent another 9-11 massacre.  The second issue is the drain on the US economy from illegal immigrants.  It is interesting that we have this problem on these two fronts.  One group wants to get into our country because we are so evil, the other group wants in because we are so successful.  While I don’t begrudge anyone coming to our country to better themselves, we have to enforce the way they do this. 

The best solution is to require that companies not hire illegals.  If they do, they should have to pay severe fines.  Included in the fines, should be the money required to help the illegals become citizens or to return home, whichever they prefer.  The focus of the INS should be to patrol companies suspected of employing illegals, and in ensuring the communities where illegals might reside are educated as to the facts of the laws.  Again, I’m sure it will not solve the problem tomorrow, but, with enforcement, it will hopefully make companies think twice before employing illegals.

The Economy:  I can see three areas where the economy has serious problems.  First when the gas prices go up, the prices of everything goes up.  I’m not certain what the number is now, but 15 years ago, I seem to remember that something like 50-60% of the price of gas is taxes.  With the economy where it is, and the price of gas where it is, this has got to change.  Also, while I don’t want to see the price of gas regulated by the government, gas companies should not be allowed to milk people over the summer and on holiday weekends just because they can.  There has to be a happy medium that will allow companies to make money while not ruining the economy. 

The second major concern with the economy (and this one hits close to home) is the business off-shoring.  The interesting thing about this is that it doesn’t really save the money companies think it will, but that is good fodder for another post.  The government should increase the taxes on companies that use off-shore models and offer tax breaks for companies that do not use off-shoring.  Simple solution, and the simple reason is that we need to encourage US companies to employ US workers.  When our economy is recession-proof, and we no longer have problems, we can worry about helping the economy of others.  Along with this is the overt money-grubbing of company leaders.  Any company that lays off employees should have to show equal percentage of pay cuts from their officers and above.  How can you justify paying someone a million a year but expect people to believe you can’t afford to employee people who make less than $10K per year.  Doesn’t make sense, and while I don’t have a problem with someone making a lot of money, but not at the expense of their employees or the US economy. 

The final issue is the so-called mortgage crisis.  I have a hard time accepting this as a crisis of anyone’s creation aside from the people who took too big a mortgage.  While I understand the problem of not being able to pay bills (may be there myself soon), I don’t have much sympathy for people who extended themselves too far.  The bailout, if there is any, needs to take all of this into account.  Just because someone can’t make their payments, it doesn’t mean they need a bailout.

So that is where I stand on three of the biggest issues that are out there.  I’m sure that everyone has their own ideas of what will work and what will not.  At least now you know what will happen if you decide to write me in for President.

CC

The Long Awaited Return

Well, it has been a while since I have done a blog post, and now that I have a bit more free time, I’m hoping to get back to regular (or at least semi-regular) posting.  I have some ideas on how to move forward, but that may take a few days to implement, so for now I’ll just keep that stuff to myself.

Let’s see, to fill everyone in from last time.  I think I mentioned that in October I was going to be taking a new position at work.  The new position was with the Production Support team and required me to be on-call essentially 24/7.  Well, it officially started in the beginning of October, but I had one remaining project for my old team to finish.  The last post here, October 14, lines right up with my transition to the new team.  Things got so busy and hectic that by the time I got home in the evenings, I wasn’t interested in spending more time on the computer.  Don’t misunderstand, I loved the new position.  It was the most excited I had been about work in several years.  The team was new, and we were still figuring out how the processes were to work, and at the same time, we were fixing things, both quick fixes and longer term corrections.  I enjoyed the variety and balance of the work.

Early this year, my bosses determined the model for our group.  There was to be an on-call team, and a long-term fix team.  The on-call person would field the problems coming in and after discussion, would decide whether a long-term fix was in order.  At that point, the long-term fix team would work to get the problems corrected.  I volunteered to move into the lead position on the long-term fix team for the applications I supported.  The official transition to this new model was going to be in late April, but the position would start earlier to help with transition.  I wish I could tell you that everything went great and that I had just transitioned to that new position, but unfortunately, that wasn’t what happened.

There had been rumors about a coming round of layoffs for several months.  Seems the funding had been cut and the IT group had to adjust to meet the funding.  Our team was not expecting to be hit for several reasons.  For one, most of the members of our team were contractors.  There simply weren’t many employees to choose from.  Also, while we were the new project, we were also the “pet” project of one of the higher up managers, one of the ones making the decisions.  Finally, we had our model and while there was some overlap in jobs, there wasn’t really any room for cutting anyone because of the required skill sets and such.

Well, much to everyone’s surprise, when the layoffs came in early March, I was in the group being let go.  This came as a shock and surprise to everyone on our team, my bosses included.  In fact, my manager and I had just discussed some of the new responsibilities I would be taking on the day before the layoffs.  However, as I have been telling most everyone since this happened, God was not surprised.

Since March 6th, I have been officially laid off.  I am still officially an employee until April 18th, but I am currently not working on anything more than a job search and my “honey-do” list.   We were asked to work a couple weeks for transition, and after discussing it with my boss, I agreed to work a week and be available for phone calls the second week.  We went on our planned vacation a few days early and got to spend that extra time with my parents.  And while on vacation, my wife and I were able to see a Braves spring training game (more on that later).

So here I sit, typing in my blog once more, soon to be officially unemployed.  I have a few job leads and even have an interview this Wednesday.  I hope to keep writing this time.  I have so much to write about and yet, I almost think I’ve been busier since I got laid off than I was before.  As always, thanks for reading, and keep checking back.  As I dust the cobwebs off,  maybe I’ll touch on something that is near and dear to your own heart.

 CC