I wept today for a friend I've only met once..

I'm sure most people found this out before me, but I wept today over the tragedy in Stephen Curtis Chapman's family. SCC has been a hero of mine for 20 years now and his songs have ministered to me so deeply at times that I can't describe. I don't know how many times I've wept tears of worship, joy, and grief while listening to his songs.

For those who don't know... Just hours before his graduation, their oldest son ran over and killed one of their younger children (5 yr old, I believe).

I can't imagine how people bounce back after losing a child. I can't imagine how complicated the process must be when another child is responsible for the loss of the other, and you have the burden of dealing with one loss while parenting a child that is dealing with the worst possible "mistake" that I can imagine making. It's just awful, and I'm crushed for them.

God have mercy! Be gracious and kind today to our brothers and sisters in Christ that are suffering unimaginable grief. Help them Lord, I pray! Amen.

Scalp Awareness Month

In the Hinton home, our son Jay has become scalp aware. A couple days ago, he pointed to Sondra's part in her hair and asked her what that white line was on her head. So, in true Jay form, he began to point out all the differences in the scalps in our house...

Dad, me and mommy have little scalps and yours is big... My favorite.. Me and mommy's scalps are lines and yours is round:)

Nothing like the honesty of a child.

Watch the ball!

I help coach Jay's t-ball team during games and it's one of the most challenging things I've ever done. They play 2 innings each game because it takes some of the kids about 5 minutes to actually make contact with the ball and determine which direction they should run while the players in the field play tackle baseball trying to get the ball from each other.


About halfway through the first inning at Tuesday's game, I realized that I had probably said "watch the ball" about 40 times and probably said it 100 times before the game was over. Stop playing in the dirt and watch the ball. Stop kicking each other and watch the ball. It occurred to me that it's the basic fundamental skill in learning to play the game of baseball. You MUST keep your eye on the ball. If you don't, you CAN'T be a good baseball player. It's simply impossible to be good at any aspect of the game without learning to watch the ball, and it's the great baseball players that seem to have the uncanny ability to see the ball almost as if it's in slow motion...

In my thoughts on this subject during the game, my mind went to my faith during the 5 minute at bats toward the bottom of the line-ups;) What is the parallel "skill" in Christianity? What is THE foundational "activity" that will ensure success in our faith and without which we will ultimately founder? Some may say that there is no answer to this question and that any answer would be an oversimplification of the faith, but I believe that there is and that overcomplication of the faith is much more of a problem than oversimplification...

The "skill" that is essential to the Christian faith is... Treasuring Christ above all else! This is the essential activity that causes the rest of the "game" to fall into place. Without it, we're just pretending. Where there is no genuine passion and love for Christ, there is only hollow religious activity that will ultimately end in temporal emptiness and eternal dissapointment.

Watch the ball! Love the Lord your God with all your heart! It really is that "simple";)

Just Checkin in...

Hello everybody.. Been super busy with work the past couple of weeks, which is a HUGE blessing. We were getting ready to call for reinforcements;)

I've got a few blogs in the works, just no time to finish them.

I'll try to post some photos of the work we've been doing. Lots of pretty wood and tile floors, and I've got a burn rehab that I'm doing too. When it rains, it pours.

Have a great day! Be blessed!

Wade