Wow, I really did not know a week has passed by since my last post. Sorry about that. It was not my intent to go a week without writing. Last week seemed oddly hectic but looking back shows it was about par for the course. It's probably not that my world is so horribly busy as much as it is wrestling with sinuses. My sinus medication is essential but with a serious drawback. Most of my day is spent either feeling foggy or fatigued. That part drives me even more nutty than perhaps I am now. We are going to do better this week even if we blog under the influence of sinus meds.

Last weekend was a rare one for me. It was the first baseball game of the year for the kids and myself. They stayed in Fort Worth while I made my way back home on Saturday. After the Sunday morning service I left to help celebrate a 90Th birthday in the town of my raising. Everyone made it home before me. But it is my opinion that a good time was had by all on Sunday afternoon. It was great to see people that I don't get to see often. On a side note, the party was held at Music City Theater which is the old American Legion hall. Sunday was the first time in 30 years that I was in that building. My age may not say 90 but it sure felt older in the moments after that realization.

We did enjoy the ballgame even if the good guys lost badly. It's always pleasant to see a game before the temperatures start hitting the triple digits. We were staying in Fort Worth afterward so there was only a short drive to our destination. We did miss out on eating the peanuts and Cracker Jack but we sampled much of the rest. Both my daughter and son were with me. She is of course my baseball fan. My autistic son loves the atmosphere, sights, and sounds of a big league game. The only problem is making him slow down while he is walking. Other than that, he is good to go.

He loves the organ music that reminds us to say charge at the top of our voice. He really likes the new light panels around the park. They are bright enough to see from a distance. He claps at the right times. We knew he would be fine after we got to our seats. He added a new wrinkle on this trip. When the home team batter comes up the announcer plays music chosen by the player. Obviously some of the players choose songs from the hip hop genre. My youngest decided that he needed to bust a move when he heard that. He would just stand up and begin moving to the groove! His sister and I were shocked at first. Then we could not help but laugh knowing that he was just into the moment. Others around us probably had no idea why this young kid would stand up and dance. He doesn't care. He just gets into the music.

When you decide to love someone that is a choice to commit to the relationship. Way too many people have more of a contractual version of love. That says that love is conditional on meeting terms of agreement. Some of these terms are spoken yet it may also happen with unspoken terms. You may not even be aware of the expectations of the other person. Yet, if you let them down even in the unspoken areas then the deal is off. Love in those areas is conditional not a chosen gift. No matter how odd my son may look doing his hip hop dance, it will not change my heart for him. That is unconditional. The choice is long since made that he will be loved by his dad. The issue is not one of if he receives my love but how.

That is exactly how we are loved by God. He does not measure out His love on the basis of our behavior. He just loves everyone with all that He is. People who end up in hell are not ones who are not loved by God. They are individuals who for some reason will resist and reject God's love in Christ. We may do silly things in our life but God loves us. We can even do stupid things in our life but we are always loved by God. We just celebrated Good Friday and Easter. Remember that the cross tells you just how much God loves you. Easter guarantees that God does not change His mind even if we blow it. Could it be that we fail to risk in our life for fear that failure will make God stop caring? The opposite is true. We can take risk in our life because God will never stop loving us. So break out your dancing shoes literally or spiritually. This is our life to discover love as well as leave it behind for others to find.

Bro. Trey