Fantasy Football

Okay, well you knew it would not be long before I had a sports post. Take a look to the right and you will see my favorites in sports. My favorite sport is football, and though I like NCAA, I prefer the NFL! I was born and raised in Shreveport, La. (3 hours from Dallas), and both my Papaw and Pop were Cowboy fans. Naturally, I became a Dallas Cowboys football fan! But, football is a free agency sport and I am a free agent fan. Don’t get me wrong, it’s the ‘Boyz first and foremost, but there are other teams I like and individual players I follow.

For example, I, being from Louisiana, (even though the Saints were known as the Aints back then) was and still am an Archie Manning fan. I like Peyton and the Colts! However, I don’t and will not like Eli. He is a Giant! He snubbed San Diego to go to New York. (I like SD because I went to High School with Stan Humphries {a grade ahead of me at Southwood} and Stan led the Chargers to a Superbowl) I know you have logical arguments to sway me, but sports are more about passion than logic.

This mindset regarding football makes me a huge fan of Fantasy Football. If you don’t know…. you better ask somebody!! With FF, no matter what team or teams you follow, you can enjoy nearly every game each week. You will find a player either for or against you in most games. There are three leagues I play in, which can present problems. I can have players on one team playing against me in another league. Also, if I have a player on my team playing against Dallas, things can get hairy. I won’t list all three teams, but I will tell you I have Eddie Royal Denver WR, and Michael Turner Atlanta RB on all three teams.  In one league Daniel Dulaney is the commissioner. I could do quite well in that league as Daniel’s focus is on the NCAA!

 

Spaghetti Sandwich

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I ate at Anthony’s Italian Restaurant last Sunday night in Bryson City. I had the Artichoke & Mushroom & Black Olive & Garlic & Feta Spaghetti! It was very good and I highly recommend you try it if near Bryson City, NC. When I make spaghetti and have time to do it well, I will add some Jimmy Dean sausage with the ground beef. I also use mushrooms, black olives, and a boiled egg. Whether or not I make the spaghetti, (Cheryl does not add all I just mentioned) I will often look forward to lunch the next day. Quite often I will have a spaghetti sandwich! I use Duke’s Light Mayo, black pepper, and of course Tabasco with the spaghetti served cold. Oh Yeah!! It’s a must try.

What about you? Leave a comment detailing a favorite non-traditional food or meal you feel is a must try.

 

Up Deep Creek Without A Paddle

I spent the weekend in the North Carolina mountians and one of the activities I experienced was tubing down the river at Deep Creek. What a blast!! The  water was brisk and exillerating. I noted while I floated down the river, that there were places where the water was deeper and the pace was slow. If you were to the side, you might not even move. Even when you paddled over (by hand) into the current, it was very slow moving. I looked at the trees and sky and appreciated the beauty of God’s creation. But, there were also places where the water was shallow and moved rapidly. There were sudden drops and rocks. You had to be alert! Sometimes in the rapids, a rock would keep me from going forward yet the rushing water kept me pinned and much effort was required to get back into the flow. I loved it, as did many I saw. Some however, fretted or cried in the scary parts and worried about the rapids while going was smooth.

The experience I had tubing, I realize, illustrates life. There will always be storms on the horizon. Not always literally like Gustav, Hanna, and Ike, but similarly lined up times of trouble in life. Like the river had slow smooth water followed by rapids, and the line of mentioned hurricanes, life too has slow mundane periods followed by trouble or even tragedy.

Throughout life, whether in trial or triumph, God is still God, and He is in control! Rather than fret about what is to come or panic about the storm you’re in now, draw near to God. Like the Casting Crowns song says, praise Him in your storm. To quote Tony Morgan’s blog post “Perryisms“, “My circumstances don’t alter His character.” God is above and beyond all things.

Colossians 1:16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

 

Surgery

My laptop has a virus and I’m pretty bummed about it. My once fast computer with high-speed Internet is now sluggish, infuriatingly slow, ineffective and achieving far less than it’s potential. I’ve tried all I know to do to remove the problem, but to no avail. I will have to send it to the I.T. department of my company.

In life, we are all born with a similar problem, a fleshly nature bent toward sin. And this problem robs us of our full potential to serve and worship God as we were created to do. Faith in Jesus Christ’s death on the cross and His resurrection redeems us in our relationship with God, but this  sin problem requires surgery.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

The bible is alive, and can, with power, cut away that sin. It can divide between what originates in your spirit and what is soulish or fleshly. God’s word will build your faith, instruct you, rebuke you, and lay the foundation for righteousness in your life. So go under the knife of God’s word daily and let the Lord transform you into what He intends you to be!

 

Regard as Common?

Last Saturday I was out to eat with 19 or 20 friends after attending a Dave Ramsey Conference. With a party that large, the only area that could accommodate us was outside. It was cool enough and everything seemed fine… at first. As we all found a place to sit around 3 closely situated tables, I noticed directly above me a single branch draped with moss. I was only slightly concerned about the possibility of bark or more likely moss falling into my food. We all ordered, and it wasn’t too terribly long before I had six hot Bar B Que wings placed before me with an extra tray for bones. Very good. We were all talking and eating when I noticed an almost imperceptible blur, felt an ever so slight vibration, and heard a tiny sound that I assumed to be a small stick that may have fallen onto our table. I investigated. What I found in my bone discard tray and on the side of my unsweetened tea made me look up. There on the single branch was the bottom side of a bird and this bird apparently considered my dining area as nothing more than a common toilet!! Not Cool! I’m no hunter, but if I’d have had a shotgun that bird would have met it’s demise for regarding as common my dining location.

It was a bird and I realize that the bird was likely unaware of my presence, but I recalled the incident as we studied Hebrews in Sunday School the next day.

Hebrews 10:26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

There are many who attend church holiday to holiday, or maybe once a month, or possibly even every Sunday that have heard the good news that Jesus died to take our punishment for sin. What we all really deserve in this day of “gimmie my props” is death as punishment for rebelling against God, yet Jesus who was obedient to God from birth, and through death satisfied the sentence by taking our place. To regard this as a common thing will place you on the day of judgement bowing before God saying Lord, Lord… only to find He never knew you. What a fearful thing.

Bow your head today, ask forgiveness for what you’ve done wrong (lie, cheat, steal, lust, etc.), thank Jesus for taking your punishment, read the Bible and simply do what it says, then praise God for His mercy toward you!

 

Hello world!

I am Richard Dean of Florence, SC. As this is day one, expect that I will be working on my page and then I hope to start the blogs to rolling. In case you are wondering about the tabascorad… I’m from Louisiana where Tabasco hot sauce is made. I prefer Tabasco to Texas Pete. And I hope my blogs will have a little spice to them. RAD…my initials, and hopefully  there will be some “radical” to the site/blogs. So, check back and see what follows.