The Lehigh Gorge in the fall. You can't beat it.

On Negativity

"We must all wage an intense, lifelong battle against the constant downward pull. If we relax, the bugs and weeds of negativity will move into the garden and take away everything of value." -- Jim Rohn

Baseball, Dads, Sons, and the Phillies

One of my favorite pictures from my childhood is of me and my two brothers in front of Connie Mack (the stadium, not the Congressman). It was bat day at the old park. Can you believe they gave away real bats with player's signatures engraved on them? Mine was Larry Hisle. I thought he was pretty good, but looking back on his stats, he hit .266 and .205, pretty bad.

Yesterday I took my son Jordan to the new ballpark. It's quite a beauty. Ashburn alley, the hall of fame walls, the open end, 40,000 really good seats, and it's actually shaped like a baseball field! What a concept.

As everyone in the Mid-Atlantic area knows, it was a very special day in Philadelphia, especially for us old-time Philly fans. Since bat day in '69 the Phils have not actually been a dynasty. There have been moments, and some very memorable and lovable players. But not too many playoff games, not too many winners, and a lot of painful losses.

I've watched the World Series for oh, about 37 years now. I've lived in New York and watched the Mets very closely in '86, and the Yankees just about every other year. I've watched the White Sox, the A's, the Cardinals and the Dodgers. I've tried to look beyond the talent, the pitching, the names and the numbers. One thing I've tried to pick up on is the comaradie. Do they like each other? Are they having fun? Do they like their manager? Do they play harder for this team than they would on another team? Do they give up when they're down? Are there one or two stars on the team, or are all them playing an important role?

On the way to the game, right after picking up some hoagies at Wawa (you know the one's with the marshmallow bread), I asked Jordan what we had to do to win.

His answer, "play like team".

Awesome, he does listen to his coach!

"What does that mean?", I gently pushed. "I mean, it's baseball."

Since I coach him in basketball as well as baseball, and basketball is a more obvious team sport, this was a tricky question for an 8 year old.

He said "play the field really well?"

"Yeah, like that", I answered. "Hit the cutoff man, make good throws, think about what to do when you get the ball. Anything else?".

"Uhm, play hard?"

"Sure, play extra hard for your team. They are counting on you to do your part. And if you have a bad day, they will try to make up for it. That's teamwork. They'll try to make you feel ok even if you strike out. Maybe next time, you get the big hit. That's what teammates do."

"Do you think we'll hit traffic, Dad?"

OK, maybe this was getting to be a little too much for an eight year old. But I was starting to get really jacked up. I was thinking about how this team has already proven to me that they have all the qualities that I look for in a team that can go the distance. Pitching (3 maybe 4 tough starters), power (Howard, Burrell, Rollins, Utley), manufacturing runs (Rollins or Vicorino or Werth steal second and third, sac fly scores a run).

But lot's of teams have all that. What else? Never quitting (50 come from behind wins, 50!). Seven games out with 17 to play. Chemistry (are you kidding, these guys love each other, just watch them!). Only one star? Who, Howard? Hardly. Utley, nope. Rollins? Easily the MVP and sparkplug, but not our only star. In fact, looking back over the season, Remember when Burrell stunk? I called him stinky Pat. His teammates picked him up and kept patting him on the back. Then he hit like .410 in August. Rowand had his ups and downs, Utley got hurt, some guy named Iguchi came in and had the fans chanting Taddy, Taddy! I'm thinking this is a tough game, but we just need to win. We beat the Nat, then the Mets.

We get there early, way early. We walk down to the dugout. I'm taking pictures of Jordan. Some guy in a red shirt comes off the field, stops at the dugout and starts signing. Some kid, about 18 years old, with two balls in his hand, looks at Jordan and says, "hey kid, want a ball?".

Jordan looks at this perfectly white ball with bright red stitching that says "Major League" on it, then looks at me like a deer in the headlights. "Well, thank him!" I look at this guy like, what are you an angel? Jordan turns around and a guy in red shirt comes off the field, stops at the dugout steps and starts signing autographs. Jordan hand his ball to the usher and this guy signs it, while I look up who # 55 is. Clay Condry, cool, he pitched the other day. "Thanks Clay!", like I recognized him all along. The usher smiles at me as if to say Clay appreciated that. I think, not only are they good, but they're accessible.

So we have plenty of time and I say let's take a lap. Now it starts to get crowded, but we push through Ashburn Alley, Tony Lukes, Crab Fries, and I think, Richie would like it here today. We sit down and look down and Clay is still signing. He must have signed 200 autographs.

Jamie Moyer starts warming up. I'm thinking, man it doesn't get any better than this. Like Tug McGraw or Lefty, a veteran, possibly his last year, who better than a home town boy? The pride of Souderton. A guy with a foundation for grieving kids. He could get rocked today, but maybe not. This could be something. Whoa, the Mets are losing 4-0, now it's 7-0!

I fill out the line up card and say to the woman next to me, "look at this lineup, Rollins, Victorino, Utley, Howard, Burrell, and Rowand. That's one heckuva lineup". So Rollins get on, steals second. Wow, steals third. A sac fly from Utley and we get a run. I can hear Dad, "fundamental baseball". I'm thinking, we do this darn near every night, and it occurs to me, we win thing today, and we deserve it. Later in the game we get a runner on, we bunt him over, and Iguchi pich hits a sac fly to deep right field. Taddy! And I think again about Dad.

Jamie walks off the field having given up one run in the 5th, the crowd goes nuts. Love is oozing out of these hardened fans. Here come the goosebumps again. I yell Jaaaammie! What the heck, I'm going nuts. I look at Jordan, he has never seen his Mr. cool Dad like this. I pick him up and I just take it all in. White towels, screams, high fives, lot's and lot's of love. I think of Carlton, Rose, Schmidt, Tugger, Johhny Callison, Jim Bunning, Chris Short, and Richie Ashburn. This games for you guys.

On the ride home I ask Jordan just one more question, and I swear to you this is true. "Jordan, what did we learn from watching the Phillies this year?"

He pauses for a second, but he knows the answer, "Never give up, right, Dad?"

"Yup".

I love you Dad, I love you Jordan, Let's go Phils.

OBX 2007

We're here again and another hurricane is coming. No, it's really only a tropical storm. "Only" 60 mph winds. Actually nobody here is even talking about it, yet it's front page on CNN.com.

There was a T-shirt here during Ophelia in 06 with an anchorman saying "wind pressure, blah, blah, blah, winds gusting, blah blah, blah." It really gives you perspective on how the media hypes the news for profit.


Anyway it should be outta here! on Monday and after the storm great weather will be back! It was our first trip in the GMC and let me tell you, what a breeze it was. Even though it took 8 hours, it was painless. It was actually enjoyable. Of course two dvd players didn't hurt.

Now for the philosophical part. One look at the beach and I wonder why I'm in that rat race back home. Life is good here. I hear it's incredibly boring in the off season. Boring sounds nice. Time for contemplation and peace. Bike riding. Walking or running on the beach. Doing something to make a living that isn't so stressful. The people are nice here, not overly nice, but nice.

Declaration of Independence

June 30, 2001, 1:20 p.m.

“Our Sacred Honor”
The signers of the Declaration of Independence live on.

By Matthew Spalding

It's almost July 4, and you know what that means: It won't be long before you're reading an e-mail telling you all about the men who signed the Declaration of Independence.

Trouble is, much of the information flying around the Internet isn't reliable. Just ask Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby, suspended last year by his bosses for a column on the signers, the gist of which had been zipping around on the Internet.

So, for the record, here's a portrait of the men who pledged "our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor" for liberty 225 years ago:

Fifty-six men from each of the original 13 colonies signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Nine of the signers were immigrants, two were brothers and two were cousins. One was an orphan. The average age of a signer was 45. Benjamin Franklin was the oldest delegate at 70. The youngest was Thomas Lynch Jr. of South Carolina at 27.

Eighteen of the signers were merchants or businessmen, 14 were farmers, and four were doctors. Twenty-two were lawyers — although William Hooper of North Carolina was "disbarred" when he spoke out against the king — and nine were judges. Stephen Hopkins had been governor of Rhode Island. Forty-two signers had served in their colonial legislatures.

John Witherspoon of New Jersey was the only active clergyman to attend. (Indeed, he wore his pontificals to the sessions.) Almost all were Protestants. Charles Carroll of Maryland was the lone Roman Catholic.

Seven of the signers were educated at Harvard, four at Yale, four at William & Mary, and three at Princeton. Witherspoon was the president of Princeton, and George Wythe was a professor at William & Mary. His students included Declaration scribe Thomas Jefferson.

Seventeen signers fought in the American Revolution. Thomas Nelson was a colonel in the Second Virginia Regiment and then commanded Virginia military forces at the Battle of Yorktown. William Whipple served with the New Hampshire militia and was a commanding officer in the decisive Saratoga campaign. Oliver Wolcott led the Connecticut regiments sent for the defense of New York and commanded a brigade of militia that took part in the defeat of General Burgoyne. Caesar Rodney was a major general in the Delaware militia; John Hancock held the same rank in the Massachusetts militia.

The British captured five signers during the war. Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, and Arthur Middleton were captured at the Battle of Charleston in 1780. George Walton was wounded and captured at the Battle of Savannah. Richard Stockton of New Jersey never recovered from his incarceration at the hands of British Loyalists. He died in 1781.

Thomas McKean of Delaware wrote John Adams that he was "hunted like a fox by the enemy — compelled to remove my family five times in a few months …". Abraham Clark of New Jersey had two of his sons captured by the British during the war.

Eleven signers had their homes and property destroyed. Francis Lewis's New York home was razed and his wife taken prisoner. John Hart's farm and mills were destroyed when the British invaded New Jersey, and he died while fleeing capture. Carter Braxton and Nelson, both of Virginia, lent large sums of their personal fortunes to support the war effort but were never repaid.

Fifteen of the signers participated in their states' constitutional conventions, and six — Roger Sherman, Robert Morris, Franklin, George Clymer, James Wilson, and George Reed — signed the U.S. Constitution.

After the Revolution, 13 signers went on to become governors. Eighteen served in their state legislatures. Sixteen became state and federal judges. Seven became members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Six became U.S. senators. James Wilson and Samuel Chase became Supreme Court justices. Jefferson, Adams, and Elbridge Gerry each became vice president. Adams and Jefferson later became president.

Five signers played major roles in the establishment of colleges and universities: Franklin and the University of Pennsylvania; Jefferson and the University of Virginia; Benjamin Rush and Dickinson College; Lewis Morris and New York University; and George Walton and the University of Georgia.

Adams, Jefferson, and Carroll were the longest surviving signers. Adams and Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Carroll was the last signer to die — in 1832 at the age of 95.

Thankfully, their ideas live on.

[Sources:

Robert Lincoln, Lives of the Presidents of the United States, with Biographical Notices of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence (Brattleboro Typographical Company, 1839);

John and Katherine Bakeless, Signers of the Declaration (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1969); Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-1989 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1989).]

—Matthew Spalding, director of the B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies at the Heritage Foundation.

Oswald Chambers

"With what judgement you judge, you will be judged"-Ma 7:2

FDR Leads the Nation in Prayer

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56031

Career

Ben Franklin's request for prayer

Mr. President

The small progress we have made after 4 or five weeks close attendance & continual reasonings with each other—our different sentiments on almost every question, several of the last producing as many noes and ays, is methinks a melancholy proof of the imperfection of the Human Understanding. We indeed seem to feel our own want of political wisdom, some we have been running about in search of it. We have gone back to ancient history for models of Government, and examined the different forms of those Republics which having been formed with the seeds of their own dissolution now no longer exist. And we have viewed Modern States all round Europe, but find none of their Constitutions suitable to our circumstances.

In this situation of this Assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understandings? In the beginning of the Contest with G. Britain, when we were sensible of danger we had daily prayer in this room for the divine protection.—Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a Superintending providence in our favor. To that kind providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that "except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments be Human Wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest.

I therefore beg leave to move—that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the Clergy of the City be requested to officiate in that service—

Eternity

Imagine for a moment that Christianity is true. Imagine living for an eternity. Imagine meeting Jesus in heaven. Allow your mind to accept this thought. Feel how acceptable it is to your emotional well-being. Allow there to be a lack of understanding, for it is God's idea, not man's.

Jordan and The Curves

Sounds like the name of a band. Jordan played his second little league game today. His first at bat he nailed a line drive right into the right fielders glove. Fortunately for Jordan he dropped it and Jordan ended up on first, which he deserved to be. I don't remember ever hitting the ball that hard when I was a kid. My mother says I got on base a lot, but I don't think by hitting it that hard. His hitting is pure joy to watch. His swing is perfect, I wouldn't change a thing. Even when he strikes out, which he did the second time up because he swung at pitches that were too high, it's fun to watch him swing. The third time he hit a grounder and slid into first out with the bases loaded. We'll have to work on that. He likes to slide.

I told him last night I was most proud of him for his humility.

Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. -1 Pe 5:5-6.

I never thought I'd love a baby so much. She makes my day every day. Every night Kim brings her into the room before we go to bed and I'm in awe at what a beautiful creature God gave us. When she smiles you cannot help but melt.

-Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up when you get up. -Deut 6:5