THE VALLEY OF VISION

I came across this wonderful poem from a Puritan in a book I have.

LORD, HIGH AND HOLY, MEEK AND LOWLY,

Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see thee
in the heights;
hemmed in by mountain of sin I behold
thy glory.

Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from
deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter
thy stars shine;
Let me find thy light in my darkness,
thy life in my death,
thy joy in my sorrow,
thy grace in my sin,
thy riches in my poverty
thy glory in my valley.

Preparing for Worship

"If we walk before the Lord in integrity, we shall do more to bless our descendants than if we bequethed them large estates."

C.H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)
British Pastor & Author

2009-2010 School Year Beings this week

Jackson starts his sophomore year at St. Ignatius today. Halle (11th grade); Annie (8th grade); Leah (6th grade) and Willie (4th grade) all start their second years in the Brecksville/Broadview Heights Schools on Wednesday. Anne and Leah will be together in the Middle School, and William moves from Hilton Elementary to Central School this year.

Many blessings to them.

Preparing for Worship

"I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creation of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him."

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

Kings Island and the name game

Several years ago, my good friend Jim Gilmore and I were at an Indians game. Jim is perhaps my favorite person to go to any sporting event with. He notices everything and has funny comments about just about anything and everything happening in the ballpark.


One game we got thinking about MBL gear being represented at Jacobs Field. I wondered out loud how many different MLB ballcaps were being worn that night by fans. Back then the Indians typically drew 40,000+ fans to each game. I suggested that I could find every MLB hat in the crowd. Jim scoffed at the notion. I didn't bother walking around the ballpark to prove my point, but last week when my family visited Kings Island amusement part I suggested that we we note how many colleges/universities, MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL and rock bands gear we could notice people wearing.




Here is the list:




Colleges:



Wittenberg

Miami of Ohio

Ohio State University

Indiana U

Kentucky

Purdue

Ohio

Dayton

Tennessee

Cincinnati

North Carolina

Notre Dame

Butler

Michigan State

Illinois

Ball State

Texas

Murray State

Louisville

Ohio Dominican

Army

Kansas

Providence

Syracuse

Denison

Morehead State

Holy Cross

Bradley

Easter Kentucky

Texas Tech

Navy

LSU

Messiah College

Houghton

Iowa State

Xavier

Alabama

Michigan

Vanderbilt

Western Kentucky

Air Force

Saginaw Valley State U

Princeton

Duke

WVU

Wabash

Southern Illinois

LaSalle

Wisconsin

Oberlin

Ohio Northern

Hawaii

Southern Cal

Wyoming

William & Mary

Florida

Wright State

Auburn

Liberty

Transylvania

BYU
Hamilton

Winthrop (one guy had a Hamilton T-shirt and Winthrop hat)

Iowa

Georgia Tech

Appalachian State

Harvard

Youngstown State

Yale

South Carolina

Miami, FL

Wilmington College

Northern Kentucky

Did you see your alma mater or favorite college in the list?

One St. Ignatius t-shirt - Jackson's high school.




MLB (22):

Orioles

Cubs

Mets

Indians

LA Dodgers

Brooklyn Dodgers

Reds

Tigers

Nationals

Phillies

Pirates

Braves

Red Sox

Rays

Cardinals

Yankees

Brewers

Angels

White Sox

Blue Jays

Royals




NFL (17):

Cowboys

Bengals

Broncos

Steelers

Giants

Bears

Colts

Packers

Raiders

Vikings

Falcons

Patriots

Browns - one lousy ugly ballcap, that's all the Browns gear we saw all day

Chargers

Dolphins

Chiefs

Rams




NBA (7):

Pacers

Cavaliers

Celtics

Bulls

Lakers

Pistons - wrist bands on a little kid in line for The Beast

Cincinnati Royals - old school NBA




NHL (5):

Predators

Penguins

Red Wings

Sabres

Blue Jackets




Rock Bands (10):

The Rolling Stones - several cool t's

AC/DC

The Who

Beatles: Yellow Submarine and Let It Be t-shirts

ColdPlay

Led Zeppelin

Marilyn Manson

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Eagles

Kiss



For those wondering how we kept the list? My Blackberry "notes" application came in handy.



The most common gear? Probably OSU and Reds gear.



Baseball is my favorite sport and was very glad to see more MLB gear than NFL.