Just for the Boys.

What a great day we had today. We are a baseball family; we love it!  So today we decided to take the kids to the Braves Spring Training game. They were playing the Yankees at the ESPN Wide World of Sports. We got a great deal on tickets and were able to get the all you care to eat tickets. UM….yes please!!! We love ballpark food around this house.

At 10:00 a.m. we loaded up my boys and my nephew Adam and headed for the ballpark, three hours before the game was set to start. Emery decided at the last minute she didn’t want to go and it would be much less fun if we made her so she stayed with the rest of the family.

Once we arrived the boys headed to the outfield to try and catch fly balls during batting practice. It didn’t take too long for Cooper to catch his first major league fly ball! Eli and Adam were not far behind, except Adam got his from the bottom of a pile and Eli got his from Adam digging his way out of the bottom of another pile! All in all we got five balls from the outfield.

The only disappointment was the lack of autographing that was going on. The boys tried and tried to get a signature, from anyone; I think they even asked a ball boy who refused. It may have been their braves attire on the Yankee sideline…maybe.

We took full advantage of the all you can eat package, enjoying more than twenty drinks, 10 hotdogs, 8 nachos, 3 bags of peanuts, 1 cheeseburger and 1.5 pulled pork sandwiches.

Oh and I had an apple.

I think they highlight of our day besides the boys having the time of their lives, was meeting a family from Macon. We were able to give them Emery’s all you can eat pass. It was really nice to be able to bless someone in the middle of our vacation. It is easy to forget who we are when we are on vacation. Easy to pretend like we are not pastors, or sometimes even Christians.

This was a great reminder that we are called to make a difference in people’s lives, to show them the love of Jesus. We didn’t have a prayer meeting or lead anyone to Jesus, but we did show generosity and kindness, two qualities that are often uncommon in people’s day to day lives. We don’t always do a great job of being a witness. Vacationing can sometimes mean a vacation from everything, almost like it's a departure from who we are normally.

 My hope is that we can continue to find people to bless and reasons to share the love of Christ to people on this trip. I am going to look for opportunities to do that.  Not only because I am called too but also because on this trip there are seven little people watching every move I make.

Matt 5:13
13"Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You've lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.