Curt Flood changed baseball forever. In 1969, Flood was traded from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Phillies. But there was one problem: he refused to go. In fact, he went as far as to sue Major League Baseball. In 1969, there were no free agents. Players were contracted to a team for life by the reserve clause. Essentially, their career belonged to the team. His suit opened the door for players to become free agents. Is there such a thing as a "free agent Christian"? When a person becomes a Christ-follower, it is a voluntary decision that carries an eternal obligation. The apostle Paul put it this way: "You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Giving your life to Jesus means giving him ownership of your life. If you own your house, it doesn’t belong to me. I…
Read More
I have never been much of a golfer, but if I did golf more often, I think I’d like to golf with Willie Nelson. For many years, Willie has owned the Pedernales Cut and Putt Golf Club near Austin, TX. I also wrote this Titleist ap3 review if you're thinking of buying new clubs this year and ones that I and Willie have used before, so you know they are great. However, here are a few of Willie's golf rules … A ball hitting a tree shall be deemed not to have hit the tree. Hitting a tree is simply bad luck and has no place in a scientific game. The player should estimate the distance the ball would have traveled if it had not hit the tree and play the ball from that point, preferably atop a firm tuft of grass. There shall be no such thing as a…
Read More
Do you remember the Newlywed Game? They would ask newly married couples questions like, "Where was your first date?" or "What would your spouse say is your favorite food?" What made the show fun to watch was to see how little newlyweds actually knew about each other. Prior to seeing the light on the Damascus Road, the apostle Paul had heard about Jesus -- but he didn't really know Jesus. In fact, his name wasn't even Paul. He was Saul, the one-man persecutor of Christians. But then he met Jesus and everything changed. Before, he had known Jesus had been crucified; now, he knew Jesus had been raised from the dead. That's why he would write to the Corinthians these words: "My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human…
Read More
"I've experienced how none of us go through life without mistakes." These words were spoken by former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford in reference to a scandal that happened during his second term in office. In 2009, Sanford headed to Argentina without telling his family or any of his staff members. Reporters and others were told he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. He also didn't tell them he was going to see his mistress. The trip and its aftermath led to his divorce. I'll let you decide if he mistakenly packed his luggage and purchased an airline ticket. Do you think he ended up in Argentina by accident? Our culture is comfortable with mistakes. What we don't talk much about is sin. That's unfortunate. If we only make mistakes, then all we need to do is try harder or be a better person. But mistakes aren't our real problem; sin…
Read More
Thomas Edison was a dogged man. From his mind came things like the phonograph and the first commercially-viable incandescent lightbulb. But they didn't magically drop from his mind to reality. In the case of the lightbulb, the number of failed attempts is legendary. But he didn't quit. Thomas Edison once said that "vision without execution is hallucination." Three key words emerge from that statement: Vision. Execution. Hallucination. Vision is a popular topic for business leaders and pastors, as well as football coaches and politicians. We write vision statements. We talk about visionaries. A simple definition of vision is "to see a preferred future." This preferred future could be for your family, your ministry, or team. It's how you want the future to be. Not everyone who sees a preferred future is by default a visionary. The second key word in Edison's statement is execution. Edison didn't think the incandescent lightbulb into existence, though…
Read More