Friday, October 16th begins the excitement of Duke Blue Devils Basketball! It marks the 70th year of basketball in Cameron Indoor Stadium and the 30th season of head coach Mike Krzyzewski manning the sidelines of one of the greatest venues in sports history.
The first exhibition game for Duke is Saturday, October 24th! Let the 2009-2010 season begin! Go Duke!
Are you ready for some football? I mean cheerleading! It's that time of year again. Pictured is my wife Debbie and our daughter Kristen after a Friday night high school football game. It's fun watching her cheer, she has a blast!
Oh yea, I took this pictured and posted this entry from my Blackberry phone! Pretty cool, huh? Gotta love technology.
After a long day of shopping at Mall of America, then after taking in a Twins game, Tyler and Tyler (Cannon on left - Lauderdale on right) feverishly looked for a place to play Madden Football '08 on their PS3. Well, they found it - the workout room in the hotel!
These boys sat up that night, long after we all went to bed, and played Madden '08 until about 3 AM!
These two were hilarious! They had fun.
On our way back from the outer banks of NC, our family stopped by Duke University in Durham, NC to visit Cameron Indoor Stadium. Pictured is my son, Tyler and my daughter, Kristen with the Duke Blue Devil Mascot! Directly behind the kids is "Coach K" signing autographs! It was an awesome experience to watch the excitement of my kids as they toured the Duke campus.
Go Cardinals! 2006 Central Division Champs! We are now ready to face the New York Mets in the best of seven series. I know, you Mets fans and anti-Cardinal fans are remembering the sweep we received from the Mets back in a three game set in August, but I want you to know that we have gone through several changes since then! Therefore, we are expecting different results as we open up the National League Championship Series tomorrow in New York.
Ahhhhh...that feels good to say we are playing in the National League Championship Series! Go Cardinals!
Last night our small group went together to see the movie "Facing the Giants." What an inspiring film. My wife and I were laughing, crying, rejoicing, worshipping, and even cheering as the story unfolded. This movie is definitely a must see! Below is a small description of the movie.
From the award-winning producers of FLYWHEEL comes a new, action-packed, family-friendly drama about a high school football coach who draws up a new game plan for his team … and himself.
In his six years of coaching, Grant Taylor has never had a winning season. Even the hope of a new season is squelched when the best player on his Shiloh Eagles decides to transfer schools. After losing their first three games of the season, the coach discovers a group of fathers are plotting to have him fired. Combined with pressures at home, Coach Taylor has lost hope in his battle against fear and failure.
However, an unexpected challenge helps him find a purpose bigger than just victories. Daring to trust God to do the impossible, Coach Taylor and the Eagles discover how faith plays out on the field … and off.
With God, all things are possible …
If you have seen the movie I would like to hear your thoughts; simply post a comment and share with everyone your review.
Congratulations to Coach Tracy Lauderdale! He and his eight (8th) grade boys baseball team from Fulton Middle School in O'Fallon, Illinois won the Southern Illinois 2006 State Championship game this past Thursday afternoon. They won 8-3 in a very close game until the bottom of the 5th inning when O'Fallon's bats really came to life topped with very aggressive base running. This is Coach Lauderdale's 4th state championship with this 8th grade baseball team since 2001.
Coach Lauderdale (Tracy) is one of my best friends and is also in my small group! Kudos Coach!
How 'bout them Cardinals! You gotta love it...baseball in October! This has been a very exciting week for baseball fans and tod
ay we Cardinal fans are hoping that we can get our brooms out, do a little house-keeping, and "sweep" San Diego out of St. Louis. Go Cardinals!
This evening at Victory Church several small groups got together for an ole' fashion "kickball" game. What a great time of fellowship! It's such a joy to watch our people interact with each other...they really have a great time! I love getting together to just play with our church family. Thanks guys for a relaxing evening.
Today I was reading a devotion on Jim Burns website: "Home Word ... Encouraging Parents and Building Families." He had a great devotion called "Letting Go of the Myth." It really spoke to my heart and I thought I would share it with you. Enjoy!
The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.—Zephaniah 3:16
From my spot as first base coach, the situation looked pretty dire. The Orioles, my son’s team, was in the first game of a three-game series for the league championship. It was the top of the fourth inning and we were losing 7-2.
The bases were loaded with one out, and into the batter’s box steps #17, my son. A week earlier, he had missed a home run by a few feet. I don’t know what he was thinking, but I was thinking, “Now would be a pretty good time.”
Strike one. Ball one. Strike Two. Ball Two.
As the pitcher released the next pitch, I could see that it was going to be a strike. At that moment, everything came together. The swing of the bat. The crack of the ball. It was a deep fly ball to right field, which had definite possibilities. I remember thinking, “That ball could be out of here.”
The right fielder went back the fence and looked up – a Grand Slam.
When my son reached home plate, he was mobbed by his teammates. One of the younger players watching the game ran out into the parking lot to retrieve the ball. I’ll never forget the look in my son’s eyes…it was like a dream come true.
In fact it was. All season he had talked about what it would feel like to hit a home run. I even found him after practice one day, swinging the bat and “watching” the ball as it went out over the right field fence. “Someday,” the look on his face told me.
As I tucked him in bed the night, he clutched the ball. I lay down next to him to relive the moment. “What was it like to hit a ball that far? How does it finally feel to hit a home run?” I asked.
“Good. But you know what, I still feel like me.”
I think we live with a myth that we’ll finally be somebody when we accomplish whatever it is we think we want to accomplish in life. “If only I could…” becomes the defining thought of our lives – hoping and awaiting to arrive – “… then, I’ll be somebody.”
But the fact of the matter is this: If you are not enough without it, you’ll never be enough with it.
As you look in the mirror, deeply searching the image you see, what are you living for? Are you living the myth of someday – seeing your identity and worth wrapped up in the attainment of that elusive dream?
Perhaps it’s time to remember that God sees you as enough without it, so attaining that dream isn’t going to change a thing. Perhaps it’s time to let go of the myth, and be embraced by the One who sees you as one who as already arrived.
Now this is the way to do church in the summer! As I drove onto the church campus last Sunday, this was one of many vehicles in the parking lot...it definitely caught my eye. When I saw it there was a BIG smile that came across my face and I then told my family, "Whose ever truck and boat that is, I'm very proud of them!" I mean just think about it...they could have gone on to the lake and missed our Celebration Service all together...but they didn't, they came to church first and then went to the lake. I think that is great!
I went inside, grabbed my camera, and then starting asking who had the boat; when I found the family, I asked them for permission to post it on my blog, to which they agreed. Therefore, thanks Mike and Dawn Kunde for having your priorities in order. Now that's doing church right in the summer!
Reaching the regional semifinals means a second trip for a team and its fans. It means you have won two games and three-quarters of the schools that started March Madness will be watching the four days of games that decide the Final Four.
With its 74-61 victory over George Washington on Saturday, Duke extended its streak of consecutive regional semifinal appearances to nine.
If you're not impressed, try this: The next longest current streak is two. Washington's 67-64 victory over Illinois put the Huskies in the regional semifinals for the second straight year Saturday while Villanova and West Virginia accomplished the feat with victories on Sunday.
Duke's run is second only to North Carolina's 13 straight round of 16 appearances, which started in 1981. Sweet 16 records started with the 1975 tournament when the field was expanded to 32 teams and it took at least one win to reach the regional semifinals. The field wasn't expanced to 64 until 1985 so the first four tournaments, North Carolina didn't have to win a pair of games to advance to the Sweet 16.
"It shows a level of consistency that we've had since we've been here and over the past nine years," 
Duke now has 19 Sweet 16 appearances second only to Kentucky and North Carolina's 20, although both of those teams lost in the second round Sunday. Duke also owns the third-longest streak of Sweet 16 appearances with seven from 1986-92. (Courtsey AP)
Go Blue Devils!
John Fisher wrote an interesting article about the USA competing in the World Baseball Classic. I would like to share with you today what he had to say.
Fisher: Watching Team USA lose to Canada and Korea in this first ever World Baseball Classic is a humbling experience for any American baseball fan that is paying any attention. And not too many are. For many, these games are a spring training distraction. Nothing to pay much attention to. After all, who invented this game and played it for the last hundred years?
Nothing could be better for America than to be humbled on an international stage playing our own 
game. And the enthusiasm of these other teams is also a lesson. I noticed a lot of empty seats for the USA vs. Korea game, but try finding one empty seat when Korea played Japan . These countries are excited about this sport, and they are showing they can more than hold their own against anyone. Depending on the results of other games, Team USA could be out of this thing by the time you read this.
Hopefully the American players will discover that humility is a virtue and not try and simply cover up these loses with excuses. And this is a good lesson for us all. Whatever we think we have accomplished, we can never sit back on our laurels. Even spiritual highs need to be tempered with reality. The disciples were always arguing over who would be greatest in the kingdom of God and who would get to sit next to Jesus in heaven. Jesus responded by reminding them that they were all servants, and it is always for servants to take the lower place. If God wants to usher us to a higher place, that's up to Him. Our place is last place. That's what we should choose, and in so doing, lift up all those who are ahead of us.
We all will experience loss sometime, whether it's a job, a position or a relationship, and how we handle it will be a good test of whether we really believe God has a purpose for us or not. If He does, then these losses are not really losses in His book. They are opportunities to learn what we couldn't learn any other way, or in some cases, time shows us that through losing, He was actually protecting us from something worse that we didn't see coming.
Whether or not Americans pour praise on the teams that beat them and in so doing serve something bigger than their own egos and million dollar contracts remains to be seen, but we can learn something. There is a gracious way to take last place by serving God and complimenting those in front of you. For America to do that would be very good for baseball, and America's image in the world. For us to do that would be good for our souls and the Kingdom of God.
Duke Blue Devils are the ACC Champions!! J.J. Redick hit two late three-pointers and the Blue Devils hit just enough free throws down the stretch to win their seventh ACC Championship in the past eight seasons with a thrilling 78-76 win over third-seeded Boston College Sunday at the Greensboro Coliseum.
Sheldon Williams and J.J. both made the all-tournament team while Redick earned his second-straight tournament MVP honor. Paulus and McRoberts made the second-team for the all-tournament squad.
Duke has now won 100 ACC Championships in its history including a league-best 16 in men's basketball. This ACC Championship is the third of the year for Duke following men's soccer and women's cross country titles in the fall.
Duke received the No. 1 overall seed to the 2006 NCAA Tournament and will face Southern as part of the Atlanta Regional. Duke will head back to the Greensboro Coliseum for the first- and second-round site Thursday.
Check back for more Duke Blue Devil updates during the NCAA Tournament..
Duke defeated the Miami Hurricanes yesterday and now the top-seeded and No. 3 (No. 1 to me) Duke Blue Devils (28-3) will take on Wake Forest (17-15) in the quarterfinal round of the 2006 ACC Tournament here at the Greensboro Coliseum Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ET. Wake Forest became the first lowest seed in tournament history to win two games.
J.J. Redick scored 25 points and became Duke's single season 
leading scorer against the Hurricanes in the quarterfinals Friday. Duke and Wake Forest will meet for the third time this season Saturday as the Blue Devils took both of the earlier meetings.
Any response?
Super Bowl XL will be played Sunday in Detroit. Someone said, "I must confess I am very torn when it comes to the Super Bowl. The only thing I have found to cheer about is that it is at the home of our hapless Lions."
Yet, I can remember back three or four years ago when the Detroit Lions introduced their new coach. The announcement was filled with great expectations. Like the Lions, I think we all need moments when the expectations for our ministry are given elevated status.
I notice the Steelers are four-point favorites over the Seahawks. On paper, it looks like a great game. The hype is off the charts. Ticket prices are sky high, and there are office pools aplenty "making book" on total score, margin of victory and MVP. Super Bowl XL is ripe with great expectations. I wonder if it will live up to its billing — "super."
I would imagine when you accepted Christ and became a Christian, you too, were filled with great expectations. I know I was. In time, reality set in and those expectations were tempered by many variables namely people, places and chemistry between you and those you serve with; but let me encourage you with a few timely passages from God's Word.
"The Lord delights in the way of the man whose steps he has made firm" (Psalm 37:12).
The Lord spoke through Jeremiah, "For I know the plans I have for you — plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11).
In John 14, Jesus startled Philip with the promise, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these" (v.12).
Paul wrote, "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine" (Eph. 3:20).
Paul quotes from Isaiah 64:4, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Cor. 2:9).
It's all about God cheering you on! He has great expectations for you!
Sometimes, I think we forget how much faith God has in us, and we give in to our own self-doubt and challenges. Don't do that! His hopes and dreams for you are great — even more so than what you believe for yourself. You are a winner — live like it!!
Which team do you have great expectations for: Steelers or Seahawks?
Sunday is Superbowl XL (40) between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Seattle Seahawks and the place to be is at Victory!! We are planning on a great evening at Victory Church with the game being shown on the BIG SCREENS in HD. We will have our own commercials and Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts will be speaking at halftime via DVD. We will be having deep fried chicken and it all begins at 5:00 pm. Bring your friends, family, co-workers and neighbors and join in on the great fellowship. See you Sunday!
Oh, well, you win some and you lose some. The #1 ranked Duke Ladies' Basketball Team just lost to the #2 ranked Carolina Lady Tarheels. Carolina really outplayed them, therefore, sometimes you just have to tip your hat, walk off the court and say, "Good game." Remember, it's being #1 at the end of the season that really counts!
Now I am really pumped for February 7th when the Duke and Carolina Men's Basketball Teams take the court. Let's go Blue Devils! How about it Tarheel fans, would you like to comment? Let me hear from you.
Congratulations to Coach Tracy Lauderdale and the Fulton Middle School 8th Grade Girls Basketball team for winning the 2005-2006 Illinois State Championship.
We traveled down to Rend Lake College for the championship game Saturday and watched as they finished their season 26-0! Quite an impressive record. When I think of this it reminds me of a passage of Scripture in I Corinthians 10:31 (NIV) "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."
Tracy is a member of Victory Church and one of my best friends. He is pictured here holding the trophy and game ball along with his brother Jody that drove down from Indiana for the game. Way to go Champ!!!
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