The Whittenburg blog has a hilarious post on what Noah’s blog might have looked like. You can read them all by clicking here, but here are a few of my favorites.
Day 1 – Rain.
Day 2 – Rain.
Day 3 – Rain.
Day 4 – Rain.
Day 20 – I hesitate to write this down, but here goes. . . . I was working late last night when I felt something bite the back of my neck. Without thinking, I slapped it. Long story short, the new world might have to do without the zhingi-zhingi fly.
Day 25 – New Year’s Day. A few resolutions for this year: - Lose weight (let’s face it, I’m not 300 years old anymore) - Work out more - Read the entire Bible (there’s only four chapters in the whole thing, you think I would have done this one already) - After we land, once a week: date night with the missus.
Day 45 – Okay, so when God said he would make it rain forty days and forty nights, I assumed that we would be done after that. Apparently I was wrong.
Day 87 – Very, very wrong.
I love Twitter, but what if David, the man after God’s own heart, had twittered? Would it have looked something like this?
Got a visit from Samuel today, he poured some oil on my head and called me a king! Really?
Going to visit my brothers tomorrow–they are fighting on the front lines.
Uh…my brothers are actually not fighting…they’re messing their drawers!
Going to fight Goliath!
Killed him, going to carry around his head for awhile. Little guys rule!
Wow…love my new role as a general…the people are making up cool songs about me.
Uh…thinking that maybe Saul isn’t liking my role so much…and the songs people are singing seem to make him angry.
Saul just threw a spear at me – he’s definitely angry
Hiding out in a cave, around 400 people showed up when they found out I was here–looks like I have a church!
Saul won’t quite chasing me! I wish someone would do something about this.
God killed him–Saul won’t be chasing me anymore.
Looks like the people want me to be king.
Going to take Jerusalem…the enemy said it could not be done. Glad my life is not controlled by what the enemy says.
Took my clothes off and danced today…what fun!
Loving life in the palace!
Bathsheba is looking hot today…might give her a call.
Bathsheba is going to come by tonight so we can chat.
Uh oh–we did more than chat…hopefully that’s the end of that though.
Just got a text from Bathsheba–she’s pregnant–not good.
Going to ask Uriah to come home…he will go sleep with her…problem solved.
Dang it–he’s godly…going to have to kill him.
Nathan is coming by to see me today–I love that guy.
Not liking Nathan so much right now! But…he’s right.
The Morgan family loves baseball and especially Texas Ranger baseball. Last night we watched the home run derby and saw Josh Hamilton hit 28 home runs in the first round. With tonight being baseball’s all-star game I thought I’d give you my top 5 baseball movies of all time.
Number 5 -Tie: MAJOR LEAGUE and BULL DURHAM
Number 4 – FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME: Kevin Costner’s character, Billy Chapel, didn’t know how to love anything but baseball. In the movie he finds himself at the end of his career pitching the perfect game. Great movie.
Number 3 – THE NATURAL: The film follows the career of an amazing young pitcher who mysteriously disappears. Years later as an unknown middle-aged batter named Roy Hobbs, he appears out of nowhere to take a losing 1930s baseball team to the top of the league despite the corruption that plagued the game at that time. Robert Redford, just like Kevin Costner, looks the part of a baseball player. And who could ever forget this scene where Hobbs hits a home run?
Number 2 – THE SANDLOT: What other movie could possibly bring us back to our childhood in such a way that we all could relate to the purity of the game? Of course, the classic scene of Benny at the swimming pool faking death to kiss the woman of his dreams and the classic line, “You play ball like a girl.” It’s a story about kids getting a game of baseball together at a local empty lot, with “no uniforms, no coaches, no umpires,” just a bunch of kids playing ball, all day long, nearly every day of the summer. My family has seen this movie two dozen times and it has yet to get old.
Number 1 – FIELD OF DREAM: Interestingly enough, there are hardly any baseball action scenes in the movie, and yet it has managed to become one of the great baseball movies ever made. The “voice” tells Ray Kinsella, played by Kevin Costner, to build a baseball diamond in the middle of his corn field and then says, “If you build it, he will come.” The “he” that will come is his father. In one of the greatest scenes ever, Ray asks his father, “Hey Dad, do you want to have a catch?” After all, if baseball is a game of heroes, who among us wouldn’t admit that their first, last, and most important hero is their father? And who wouldn’t agree that the first ever “catch” any of us ever played was probably with our fathers. I still can’t watch this scene without getting choked up. The Field of Dreams, if you haven’t seen this movie, stop what you are doing right now and go rent the movie.
So, this is my list of baseball movies … what does your list look like?
Speaking of Jesus, Luke said, “…he went around doing good” (Acts 10:38). This past week our young people looked a lot like Jesus when they had “Work Camp ’08″ in the Childress community. This was not a fundraiser of any kind, but simply a ministry to people.
For five full days our youth gave up the comforts of home and worked all over town cleaning, raking, hauling off, painting and helping people in the community who needed a hand. Much of what they did was still “tornado clean up” from the storm last month. They slept each night in the building and then worked from sun up until sundown everyday. Twenty-three kids overall took part in the work camp, and I wanted to give them an “attaboy” today for a job well done. They were worn out by the end of the week, but they sure “went around doing good.”
I love our young people’s spirit, I love the leadership of our youth minister Nate and his wife Kristin, and I love being a part of a church that looks like Jesus. Here are a couple of pictures of work camp. You can see all of them by “clicking here” if you want.
CLICK HERE to see an absolutely amazing picture, taken by National Geographic, of the “Mothership Cloud” that built right over Childress, Texas on evening of June 15, 2008. The tornado did millions of dollars in damage and Childress was declared a national disaster area. A month later, the community is still cleaning up the mess. Here are a few pictures of the damage if you missed them here and here.
I know the sixteen year old kid who was flying down the street past my house, well over the speed limit. When he came back by the second time driving close to the speed of sound, I was able to wave him down. Here’s what I said …
“Mike, (I’ve changed the name to protect him from his momma who may read this blog) I know you just got your license and a new truck, but man, you were flying down my street way too fast. Do you see that house back over there?” I said, pointing my finger over across the street as he nodded his head that he understood. “That’s where the Darter’s live and they have four boys that walk over to my house regularly. And this house across the street has three children who are always outside playing.” I continued pointing out houses to him including my own. “Now that’s at least 14 kids I’ve just pointed out to you. I like all these kids, or at least most of them, and I don’t want to have to do a funeral for any of them just because you were driving too fast. Make sense?” I asked him. Again he nodded his head as if he understood and even mumbled a, “Yes Sir!” once. “Now, if you just have to go driving down the street at 100 miles an hour, do it down someone else’s street and not down mine anymore, okay?” I could tell he understood what I was trying to tell him.
I smiled, patted him on the arm, and told him to have a good day. He drove off very slowly. I felt pride in my little speech as I walked back towards my house. Then it hit me, and all my pride rushed from my body! I had just become the same “old grouch on the block” that I swore I’d never be back when I was a sixteen year old driver.
Robert Blevins was my friend. Robert got me started running back in 1995. When I met Robert, he was a marathoner for the US Army marathon team. I was a fat preacher, 60 lbs. overweight, and so out of shape I couldn’t run a block. Robert encouraged me to start running. He explained the “how [...]
Some of the best blogs available in the blog-world are “women’s blogs.” I enjoy reading what the women have to say. Recently I’ve discovered Amanda Sanders’ blog and it has become one of my daily “must reads.” Since marriage and family posts are of particular interests to me, there were two of Amanda’s posts that [...]
I had planned on telling everyone, Happy 4th of July today, but I found out we’re not celebrating the 4th in Childress this year. Word has it around town that we couldn’t get anyone to light the fireworks for us tonight, so no firework show for us. The good news is we have someone lined [...]
I’ll be honest with you, I absolutely love church. In fact I’ll go as far as saying, it’s down right fun. Yes, church is fun. I know there are some who might think the words “fun” and “church” don’t belong together, but I think they do. I especially love the Wednesday night bible studies. I [...]
I’m amazed at the new things God teaches me in my daily walk with Him. I’m often overwhelmed how He puts people in my life or He puts me in certain situations to minister to others or to be ministered to. I pray every morning that God would bless my life today with someone new [...]
I got a call last week from a church that’s looking for a preacher, again. They wanted to know if I was interested in moving there this time or if I knew anyone “good” (their word not mine) that might be looking. Interestingly enough, they called me two years ago, and two years before that. [...]
Lea sent me to the store recently to pick up a few things. When I go to the store it takes me most of the day because I tend to want to visit with everyone there. Needing to zip in and zip out I put my head down, so not to feel obligated to visit [...]
It was an excellent week of time off, but I’m ready to start blogging again. We went to the mountains of New Mexico with three other families for a week of fun, relaxation and a little fishing. We attended the Red River Family Encampment while there. I enjoyed a week of eating things I don’t [...]
I’ve found a brief internet connection. We’re doing well on vacation. I get up every morning with nothing to do and by bedtime I have half of it done. I’ve been relaxing, fishing, playing games, visiting, reading and even listened to a few speakers are the Red River Family Encampment. Hope all is well. Talk [...]
It’s about this time every summer I take a little blog break. I’ve done a little of that this week with very few posts. I’m going to continue that for a few more days. I think all I’m going to do is post some occasional pictures. We’re trying to do some resting and vacationing, but [...]
I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for their calls, emails and messages that comforted us after the town of Childress was hit by a tornado Sunday night. We were actually at the park when it hit, but we quickly scrambled to our neighbor’s basement for safety. Electricity was out for about 14 hours [...]
My real dad, Ross, passed away of cancer when I was just a little boy. It hurts my heart to know that I didn’t know my dad, and that I don’t remember much about him. My biggest fear about having cancer a few years back was the one question I couldn’t answer, “If I die [...]
I don’t want go to church anymore. I’m done with just going to church, instead I want to be the church. I want to be the church that I read about in the bible, and that church was not just something that was done on Sunday, but it was something that was lived seven days [...]
Our dog is old, tired, worn out and probably needs to go home to be with the Lord. For the most part, he doesn’t like kids, people or haircuts anymore. Thinking a change might be good for the old grouchy dog, I took Cocoa to a new groomer this past week for a much needed [...]
I’m a huge classic rock fan. My iPod has 2700 songs, sermons, videos and podcasts. Of those 2700, about two-thirds are rock and pop songs. Give me some Boston, Van Halen, Steve Miller Band and some Journey and I’ll be a happy boy. You will also find a lot of praise and worship songs on [...]
I’ve promised my mom I’d try to occasionally post pictures on my blog of her grandchildren and Morgan family activities. So I thought I’d catch up a little today. All these pictures are from graduation night except the last. Had to throw that last one in… To get Taylor, the comedian in our family, to [...]
Preachers and ministers in the churches of Christ have always been movers. I read once that church of Christ ministers move on average about once every 3 years. Personally, I’m glad I’ve hung around in my ministries longer than average. The worst part of ministers moving is when they have to move because they’ve been [...]
I laughed so hard that I had to cut out the “Dear Abby” article. It was a letter from a wife about her husband that read, “My husband has no clue how to be romantic. So I wasn’t surprised the other day when the ‘little present’ he got me for Valentine’s Day was a mood-ring. [...]
Forecast for Childress, Texas for the next three days? Today – Hi: 106° Wednesday – Hi: 106° Thursday – Hi: 102° Someone made the comment, “It’s hotter than hell around here!” I assured them, “Actually, it’s still much colder than hell.” And boy, am I glad!
No time to blog today, I’m off to celebrate Lea’s 38th birthday! My plans are to take my sweetie out of town for lunch, a movie and a couple of birthday prizes today. Do you want to know what the birthday presents are? I’m thinking that I’ll get her … you guessed it … her [...]
What do you get when you put David Hasselhof, flying children, weiner dogs, a batman cape, and a good hooga-chakka in a music video? Quite possibly the strangest jaw dropping video ever seen! What more could we ever ask for in a video?
(BLOGROLL): I’d love to add your blog to my blogroll. I’m in the process of updating my blogroll. My blogroll is full of blogs that I like to read and most have my blog linked on their site. I try to keep it updated with new blogs and take down old broken links. The blogroll [...]
Would you say this is the way things progress over time when the wife gets sick … Year One of Marriage the Husband Says: “Sugar dumpling, I’m worried about you baby girl. You’ve got a sniffle. I’ll take you to the doctor right away.” Year Two of Marriage the Husband Says: “Listen darling I don’t [...]
I’m finding more and more Christians all the time that believe … to be a good Christian and to go to heaven you must be an AA Christian. “AA” stands for attendance and abstinence. To go to heaven you must have faithful “attendance” in church (which includes singing, giving, communion, etc) and “abstain” from bad [...]
I don’t know about you, but I need a laugh today. Who better to provide a laugh than a child. I do need to warn you that “bathroom talk” is involved in this and if you’re uncomfortable with that … then you might want to stop right here. This is simply another example of why [...]
Since today is Memorial Day, I’m supposed to have the day off. Yea! Problem is I’m kind of under the weather. Laryngitis has hit me hard, which is not a good thing for a preacher. I barely made it through two lessons yesterday and then I struggled through a third last night that I did [...]
My heart is broke and my mind can barely focus on anything today. My friends and fellow bloggers, John & Maggie Dobbs lost their son John Robert Dobbs who was 18 years old and supposed to graduate from high school tonight. What a horrible, horrible tragedy! There are no words that can describe the pain [...]
This past Sunday morning I was given the task of preaching to the graduating seniors at church. Even though Taylor was one of them, I knew I’d be able to keep my composure because I was focused on my lesson. I was a little worried about Lea though. I wanted to be able to sit [...]
Having a son graduating this year has made it really busy around the Morgan house. Our oldest son, Taylor, is in his “last” few days of high school before he graduates in two weeks. I’ve been handling it okay, but Lea hasn’t done as well. In fact I’ve noticed that every time someone mentions the [...]
Here are my thoughts about marriage, family, raising children, humor, faith and the life God intended for us all. I am a Christian husband and father, who moonlights as the minister for the church of Christ in Childress, Texas. My wife Lea and I have been married for 23 years. We are doing our best to raise our 4 boys, who are all growing up way too fast.
