TimHowey.Com

KC Royals Kevin Seitzer This Saturday

Guys,

• Mark your calendars now
• Call your dad
• Text your buddies
• Load your sons in the car

Get them to Grace THIS SATURDAY AT 7:30 AM.  Breakfast is provided.  And we'll hear from the KC Royals Batting Coach, Kevin Seitzer.  Kevin was an All-Star third baseman for Royals and is in the KC Royals Hall of Fame.  He's going to share his amazing story with us.

Watch this short preview:

 

Men's CommUNITY Event Promo from Grace Church on Vimeo.

Why No Moss?

If you've been listening to sports talk this week, you've heard about the mini-saga about Randy Moss, arguably the most talented (at least top 3?) receivers in the history of football.

Let's face it. Randy's got game. When he's "on," he's unstoppable.

So after he was cut by his 2nd team this year, and a sportswriter listed the Chiefs as a potential team to claim him off waivers, the debates were on.  "We've got to pick up Randy now!!"  "We need his playmaking ability!!" "No way! Leave it alone...don't mess a team that's  5-2!!"

When the Titans picked him Randy Moss yesterday off waivers, the Chiefs players supported the team's decision not to bring Randy in right now.

The whole debate reminded of me how critical CHEMISTRY is to any team.  It is the leader's job (e.g. the husband/father; the GM; the depatment head; the little league coach; the CEO) to maintain the chemistry of their team.  It's crystal clear from Scripture

• Chemistry matters in the HOME.  It is better to live in a rented, run-down APARTMENT & eat beans & rice with GOOD family chemistry, than to live in a large, beautiful HOME in the best neighborhood & eat the best food money can buy WITHOUT good family chemistry. (Proverbs 25:24, 21:19, 15:17, 17:1)
• Chemistry matters in the WORKPLACE.  It is better to sacrifice SHORT-TERM gains on your team and maintain GOOD team chemistry, than to assemble HIGHLY-talented people WITHOUT good team chemistry. (Proverbs 16:19, 22:10, 24-25, Mark 3:24-25)

Randy's got game, no doubt about it. But if, at this point in time, the team leadership thought that he would bring down the team chemistry, they absolutely made the RIGHT call.

P.S. I learned a great acronym from Bill Hybels & Willow Creek years ago on looking for "The 3 C's" in hiring.  Look for people with:

1. Character -- Do they have high character & do you trust them completely?
2. Competency -- Will they work very hard, do the job very well, & be very successful at it?
3. Chemistry -- Would they add to or take away from the team skill-set, comaraderie, & unity?

Monday Update

Here are a number of updates for everyone as we kick off this Monday morning.

• Last Wed - Peter Loth -- I thought Wednesday night was A-MAZE-ING. Peter's story is stunning in and of itself. Hearing it is like taking a series of punches right to the gut. And to see God work in people's lives, and hear the stories of those that prayed with our deacons or Peter, was both humbling & a joy. You can watch it "On Demand" at livestream.com/gracevideo.
• Last Weekend - Vaca Update -- I took a couple days off & away with the family at the end of last week. My "quality time" wife absolutely eats these times up. :-) We played Monopoly (Jacob won the marathon game), played tennis twice, watched the first half of the Ben Stein documentary "Expelled". I took my wife away for a VERY nice dinner date & hotel stay away (Courtesy of some very generous gift certificates which ROCKED, thank you! And Grandma Pat who kindly kept the kids, thank you!). It was awesome.
• Yesterday - College Church -- Occasionally, I take a break from my Sunday speaker role. I believe to my CORE that "If you don't take breaks in your schedule, your schedule will break you!" (Heard that from Ed Young, Jr.) On those days, I try to slip into one of the other churches in our community for an anonymous visit. Yesterday I visited College Church of the Nazarene. A few thoughts:
  • I drive up to the 9:30a service and look at the people walking in. I suspect I'm underdressed.
  • I walk by the door holders and greeters. They seem friendly. Seems like a good mix of older believers and college student from MNU.edu. (Is this a college requirement, I wonder?)
  • I enter the worship center. Holy Smokes! This box is an EXACT CLONE of kcbt.org's worship center, down to almost every detail, except for the deep, rich red color everywhere. Having serious flashbacks.
  • The worship was contemporary & sincere. The pastor was very..."pastorly". The message was on giving. Found myself reflecting on some excellent personal questions like, "Has my giving become mechanical, more a work of the calculator, than a work of the heart?"
  • Service ended with a humongous choir of children to seniors. Powerful scene. Great church in the community.
• Yesterday - BabuSpeak -- Yesterday Pastor Ben taught week #4 of series through the book of James called "How Faith Works."  This week's topic was "How Faith Works in Diversity" from James 2:1-13. Just had the chance to hear it. Thought he did a great job!
• Tomorrow - Funeral -- For those of you who have been praying for John Beech's health, he had to be taken off life support & passed away on Saturday. This is Shirley Beech's husband, Daneen Kelsey's dad, & his 2 granddaughters "Pa". I'll be conducting his "Celebration of Life" at 10a tomorrow in the Worship Center.
• Wednesday - Beliefs Class -- In two days, I kick off a 3-week series called the Grace Beliefs Class. This is a brand new class in 2010.  It's like an Introduction to Theology. If you haven't taken it yet, join me from 6:45-8:00p Wed.
• Next Sunday -- Back in the Saddle -- I'll be back in the saddle next Sunday teaching the most important/debated passage in James, James 2:14-26. It's the section which says "faith without works is dead!" It's the passage that has twisted theologians into pretzels for centuries. Our topic will be "How Faith Works in Life". Don't miss it!
  

Here's the video Ben showed yesterday (with a hat tip to Frank Fears for the idea).

 

Thursday Quick Hits

Here's a set of quick-hits for this Thursday night...

• Never-Ending Uno -- Last night before bed, Karina was begging us to play a "quick" game.  We settled on Uno.  We ended up with the game that would never end.  1.5 times through a monstrous deck of cards.  In the end, mom won.  Everyone was shocked rejoicing.  :-)
• Kids at Work -- Today was "Bring Your Kids to Work" day in our school.  Jacob (my 5th grader) and Karina (my 3rd grader) came & sat in on meetings with me (updating our Personal Gifting Class starting this Sunday morning) and my wife (brainstorming on the Grace Church Elementary Camp this summer).  I took the kids to Jalapeno's for lunch after a good days work!
• Run around the Building -- A couple times, the kids were getting antsy in my meeting.  So I sent them out to run around the building as hard as they could go.  Did it twice in fact.  Wore them out.  I'm seriously thinking about standardizing it for the staff.  :-)
• Rich Stuff -- I am loving digging out what God is saying in these final chapters of Numbers on Wednesday nights, and "Relationship-Communication" for this Sunday.  I'd do whatever it takes to be there over the next week.  It'll be worth the time!
• I Caused the Rain -- I cannot remember the last time I washed my car.  But I decided to do it yesterday.  Guess what?  It rained cats & dogs today.
• NFL Draft Tonight -- Can't wait to see who the Chiefs pick up tonight.  Kudos to the NFL on shortening each round from 15 to 10 minutes.
• Biggest "Ugh" re:Knee Surgery -- I can't decide what's worse.  Being off 3 months from running, or being 99.9% sure I'm hanging up basketball for good (this will be my 3rd surgery ever...all basketball related).
• Small Group Tonight -- I'm headed out to my small group tonight.  Our topic will be "The Five Love Languages."  We're getting back in the groove again, and we've got some new people.  It's pretty fun to get to know them better and see what God will do in their lives.

L8R.

An Ice Pick to the Knee

I saw my orthopedic surgeon yesterday (Dr. Gurley) to talk about the results of my knee MRI.  Two things are going on.

(1) I have a small meniscus tear, but since it's small & without pain or loss of mobility, it's probably no worry.

(2) The bigger issue is that my articular cartilage (the shiny white surface on the end of a chicken bone) on my right femur (where it meets the knee) has a small section gone or rubbed off.  Instead of a nice smooth surface, it's a small circle of dark rough bone.

We have a few options.  The easiest two options are (a) I'll just start trying to workout very slowly, work up in intensity, and see what happens.  If there's bruising & pain, we can try the next step which is (b) microfracture chondroplasty surgery.  That is, taking a small instrument like an ice pick, and poking several holes up into the bone where my smooth cartilage covering is gone, to get the blood & bone marrow to ooze out, and create a new cartilage (his drawing is below).  I thought he said that this new cartilage wouldn't be quite as good as the original cartilage, but it would be smoother than my raw bone.  I found some more info here.

Anyway, I'll start working out veeeeeeeerrrrrrryyyyyyy sloooooooooooowwwwwwwwlllllllyyyyyy and let you know what happens.

Breaking My Silence

There's been a lot of silence coming from my blog recently.  I've been wanting to update everyone, but LIFE has been happening.  :-)  Anyway, here's what's been up.

• Hanging in Florida -- Over Spring Break, the family & I took a week to spend time with my dad & step-mom in Florida.  It was cold the first part of the trip.  Then it warmed up.  In fact, the Sunday that everyone in KC was dealing with 6-12" of snow, I was dealing with a slight sunburn on the beach.  I guess we were BOTH "suffering".  :-)
• Right Knee MRI -- Last Thursday, I finally got in to have my right knee checked.  About halfway through, the tech told me that I'd have to wait a few minutes.  I thought, "I'll bet she had to reboot the machine..."  Sure enough, she did.
• Right Knee Re-Injured -- That night, as I was watching NCAA basketball, I sat on the couch with my knee bent a little to the side of me.  When I got up...OUCH!!!!!  For the next 24 hours, I was limping around again, just like when I first injured it.  The knee was fine after 48 hours.
• Bracket Busted -- My bracket is like so many others...shattered, along with my prediction of a KU-UK final.
• Bowled Over -- On Saturday night, I met up with a bunch of guys from Grace at the Incredibowl on 151 & Antioch.  I was a model of consistency, bowling a 146-148-143.  Not bad for me.  Too bad the other 3 guys on my lane just CRUSHED me.  Even the guy with the bum shoulder beat me because he started his 2nd game with 5 out of 6 strikes.  Sickening...

Sat Night Update

Here's a quick Saturday night update:

• Stanford Low -- With the Stanford's men's basketball team getting off to a nightmare 10-11 record, I'm having to live vicariously through KU, MU, & K-State.
• Stanford High -- At least our ladies are #2 in the country, despite having #1 UConn laying the wood to them a few weeks ago.
• 3 Cups of Tea -- I'm halfway through the book Three Cups of Tea.  Wow.  An incredible story of 1 American's (accidental) journey to serve the people of Pakistan by building schools for remote, under-resourced villages.
• Under the Weather -- The kids stayed home yesterday from school.  Then today I was feeling run down.  Even the cat looked tired.  (Maybe it's because she sleeps 20 hours a day???)
• Just in Time -- Whew!  The family trampoline just arrived for the weather that blew in this week.  :-)
• A Treat Tomorrow -- Hey guys, tomorrow, we're supposed to hear an amazing personal update from one of our own.  Don't miss it.

CU in a few...

Wed Afternoon Thots

It's Wednesday afternoon and here are 5 things I think I think:

• What's in the Sky? -- It's been way cool to see the sun in the sky (a cloudless sky) for the last 2 days.  I can't remember the last time that happened.
• Too Much to Comprehend -- I read that 150,000+ dead in Haiti, in the Port-au-Prince area alone, makes this at least the 3rd worst loss of life in a natural disaster in the past 100 years.  My mind cannot comprehend it.
• Standing on Fluid -- Back in 1989, I was a junior at Stanford University when the Loma Prieta Earthquake hit.  (I would have been in the shower when it hit, but I sat down to read a letter!)  It was a 7.1 on the surface.  I'd been through earthquakes before, but that one changed the way I felt about the ground.  We all think we stand on rock.  We don't.  The earth is basically liquid that doesn't move very often!
• Operation Christmas Child -- Did you hear where one of the groups that received Operation Christmas Child gifts were the Kurds?  Check it out here.  A hit tip to Heather Peek for that one.
• Needing a Win -- Over the last couple weeks, I've sat through loss after loss in basketball, as I coached Karina's 3rd girls girls team, Jacob's 5th grade boys team lost, & played on my Grace men's team.  I need a win.

I'll C some of U L8R, when I teach on "anger" from 6:45-8:00p at Grace.  Check out the live feed at VisitGraceChurch.com!

3rd Grade Hoops

Karina defending like an animal.

Karina dribbling with pure joy.

Karina calling the play.

Coach Dad is proud.  :-)

Basketball Kicks Off

Here's an update on the 2 basketball games we had yesterday to kick off our 2009-2010 seasons.

3rd Grade Girls Team -- Before the game, I talked to the girls about all the key offensive & defensive principles to remember.  We went out & warmed up.  The referees blew the whistle, the girls instantly forgot every principle we talked about on offense.  I think the sheer adrenaline rush of 10 girls on the court was enough for everyone's short-term memory to be completely blotted out.  The good news is that we remembered how to play defense.  We ended up winning 20-11.  The girls had a blast.

5th Grade Boys Team -- Before the game, the boys seemed to be tuned in for the most part.  We headed out to a quick 5-0 lead.  Then our defense completely left us for the rest of the first half.  After being outscored 14-2, we were down 14-7.  The second half was a different story.  We held them to 1 point for the entire 2nd half until the we tied it at 15 in the last minute of the game.  Unfortunately, we gave up a late basket and lost 17-15.  But the boys still had a great time.