"Are You Going to the Game?"

"Let anyone with ears listen. "

                                                                                                      - Matthew 13:9

I was always amazed at how every single kid came to every single practice, and every single game.  I guess they figured they didn't want to let the team down.  The parents also knew they had signed up and paid the registration fee, and by golly, their kids were going to follow through on their decision to be on the team.   When the games came around, the stands were full.  Moms, dads, grandparents, even siblings showed up.

At first I thought it was because there was nothing better to do in that little small town.  I figured they came out to simply enjoy a day at the ball park, or just see friends.  But as the baseball seasons came and went, I discovered why the parents and kids (mostly it was the parents...) were so committed.  It wasn't that they didn't have anything else to do.  In fact, most of them, including our family, had lots going on...maybe too much going on.  Ok, we were overextended, like most young families today are.  Anyway, even with enormously busy schedules, they showed up.  You could count on it, like you could count on mosquitos showing up in the summer.  I discovered that it was because deep down inside, every parent believed his or her kid, if staying with it long enough, would go on to play high school, college, and even major league baseball.  They secretly hoped for it for their kid's future.

So they showed up every single day.  Poured money into the uniforms and the gear.  Spent countless hours practicing.  Oh, the level of commitment.

And it was just a game.

Let anyone with ears listen... 

I'll see you at "home plate" this Sunday,

Flint

The old Teutonic word "lent" meant simply the spring season. Since Anglo-Saxon times, though, it's been used to denote the 40-day period of fasting and purification leading up to Easter. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Easter Sunday.

Many people spend the Lenten season in prayer, reflection and repentance. Lent is a time for soul-searching, facing great challenges and overcoming mistakes.  Some will follow the tradition of Lent by fasting, done in honor of Christ's own 40-day fast in the desert. You can do this in whatever way seems appropriate to you-its intensity has varied from total abstinence to refraining from eating meat.  

Others give up something they love for the 40-day period, symbolizing the Lenten season's return to simplicity and purity.  Some of our Noel men have given up their razor for Lent.  Warren Clifton, Mike Hoffeditz, and Jonathan Andrews are looking a little ragged these days, but they are determined to make it to Easter without shaving.  The first Sunday of Lent, one of our lady members rubbed Warren's face and asked, "Lent?"  Warren's reply:  "No ma'am ... hair!"  It doesn't matter what you give up-cigarettes, chocolate, television, surfing the Internet (Warren is also fasting from Facebook), as long as the meaning of its absence holds significant value to you.

Whatever you do-even if you do nothing-banish the gloom of winter and make room for Easter and the new life of spring. While this season might be tinged with solemnity, it should also be a time of looking forward to renewal and triumph.