Even Less Time

We just returned from quick driving trip to Florida from Illinois.  This week I am coaching and my daughter is playing in a high school basketball tournament that plays 4 days in a row, 1.5 hours NW from our high school.  At same time I am trying to get into work before 7 a.m. each day to get some hours in at my client before my contract there ends.

Just babbling to let you know why I've dropped off, especially reading and commenting on your sites.  I missed some events in your lives, and I will catch up, and I will keep you in my prayers in the meantime.

I took this exhaustion I've felt the past three nights as clear sign that I should try to just renew the contract at 20 rather than 40 hours a week for the remainder of the basketball season!

That will give me time not just for the wonderful blogging community that I am blessed to be a part of, but also more family time, prayer and reading time, and just . . . . you know . . . the possibility of keeping my sanity.

Did I mention my daughter was lead scorer tonight and we are now the only undefeated team left in the Christmas tournament?  I get a kick out of the fact that the public school that bridges two farming towns in Illinois unabashedly calls it a Christmas rather than a Holiday tournament.

Or did I mention that I love coaching high school basketball and these wonderful girls more, I suspect, than Bobby Jones enjoyed playing golf?

Beyond the enjoyment there is a spiritual richness to coaching in a Christian school.  We pray before every bus trip, and our game ending cheer, win or lose is, "FOR HIM!!".  We also end in prayer, and often incorporate scripture verses into the practice ending prayers, with different girls volunteering for this as chance to practice their faith out loud.

There is also the fact that some of the team members and their families are going through hard times right now.  None of this is kept hidden--whether it is unfaithfulness in a marriage, "My Dad did some stupid things", or a father going into the ER, or need to raise money for a child's surgery.

Everything is mentioned and everything is raised up in prayer.  Our faith and love are part of our everyday experience and this is the richest part of the experience for me, and I think also the girls realize how wonderful it is too.

It is truly a blessing from God to have the privilege to do this.  It is also a miracle to reflect how He orchestrated it, and provided for me to have a client that used to keep me up nights and working weekends give me an assignment that is very easy to balance between 5-6 day a week practice and game commitments and 7 day a week family responsibilities . . .

Well, until this week where it is exhausting, but providentially so.

Exquisite Goodness of God's Incarnate Love

Bask in the exquisite goodness of God's incarnate love.  Christ is born!  Glorify Him!

Made for Love, Made to Know You

The lyrics and music for this Brooke Fraser song are amazing.

If you liked this one you might also like the songs she composed and performed with Hillsong United especially:  Lead Me to the Cross, Hosanna, and Desert Song.

On her solo albums, beside this awesome C.S. Lewis Song, I also like Shadowfeet, Something in the Water, and Flags.

Let Loving Hearts Enthrone Him

Far and away my favorite Christmas Carol is "What Child is This?" written in 1865 by William Chatterton Dix at the age of 29 after suffering a sudden, near-fatal illness, that left him confined to bed-rest, and during which he suffered a deep depression.

There have been many interpretations of this beautiful carol over the years, but certainly the recently produced version by Andrea Bocelli and Mary J. Blige is among the most awe inspiring.  What a combination they are.  Andrea Bocelli has the beautiful, disciplined, operatic voice that is only more beautiful by the reverence and love with which he sings the traditional melody.  Mary J. Blige, who many of us have seen on different reality shows, and (afraid to admit it) Oprah know her to be a woman of talent as well as kindness.

I don't often have songs on repeat, as I had post-college roommate once that did this with a certain 10,000 Maniacs single and I had to hide the CD, which was mine for the record, because I could not take it.

Today though I was listening to this song on repeat on the drive in.  Part of the reason for the repeat is if you immerse yourself in the flow and love for Jesus and his Mother, Mary, in the song, you cannot help but have your heart swept to God in thanksgiving and love.  I literally had a lightness and pleasant tingling sensation in the upper part of my head (stay with me) along with tears in my eyes when I listen to this.

What child is this, who, laid to rest
On Mary's lap, is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,
While shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing:
Haste, haste to bring him laud,
The Babe, the Son of Mary!

Why lies He in such mean estate,
Where ox and ass are feeding?
Good Christians, fear, for sinners here
The silent Word is pleading.
Nails, spear shall pierce Him through,
The cross be borne for me, for you.
Hail, hail the Word made flesh,
The Babe, the Son of Mary.

So bring Him incense, gold, and myrrh,
Come peasant king to own Him,
The King of kings, salvation brings,
Let loving hearts enthrone Him.
Raise, raise the song on high,
The Virgin sings her lullaby:
Joy, joy, for Christ is born,
The Babe, the Son of Mary!