Hall of Fame Visits...9 years apart.

 

Who is My Neighbor?

 I guess I am confused.

We as followers of Jesus are told to love our neighbor as we love yourself, yet I do not see that in action including my own guilty self.

Who is our neighbor?

In the story of The Good Samaritan....this exchange is made with Jesus.

He knows he must follow the Jewish law – love your neighbor as yourself – and so he asks Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” ... When Jesus asks which of these three – the priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan – acted as a neighbor to the robbed man, the lawyer answers “The one who showed him mercy.”

The one who showed him mercy was the Samaritan. Samaritans were often looked down upon by the Jews in Israel so Jesus using a Samaritan as the "good" guy in this story, it hits home hard to those listening

So who is our neighbor?

It's literally your neighbor and it's every single person on the planet.

From women, to men, to LGBTQ people, to foreigners (both legal and illegal), to people of other religions, to the good, to the evil, to those serving in prisons...it's quite literally every single person on this planet. Blacks, whites, Natives, atheists, Communists...I could go on and on describing people, but I would hope that everyone would be sufficient for us to understand.

Yet, we are divided unless something major happens in which we unite (think 9/11 or a tornado ravaging an area, or a hurricane). Why does it take that?

But I am like you, too. 

At what point is too much?

I mean, if we let everyone into this country, eventually it will ruin the lifestyle that we have including those who are coming in.

If we love even those who wish to over throw our country and change it in the likeness of somewhere else, we could very well lose the freedom to love everyone, to help others.

Where does righteous anger and action come into play where we are not violating our faith while still protecting it and our lives?

I don't know the answer to that question.

I do know that my own personal feelings will not change the way I treat people. In fact, I am more inclined to be short, rude, and angry with those closest to me like family and friends than I am to the...well, the Samaritan.

And I am willing to be that how I treat others will not change my country very much before I die...I dunno. 

But I do know it's a battle that wages within my heart and I hope that when I fail or am wrong it's because I am loving too much. 

And that my actions turn the eyes and focus on Jesus and not away from Him.

I'm Climbing

Look, I cannot begin to understand what kind of psychological trauma each person is going through. For some, it's obvious, we can see it, for others they do a great job of burying it so they can hide. But I'd be willing to guess everyone is going through something, something that could be very hard. I guess, I can only guess because I do both. I often make it obvious, too often with my own family, but I also bury it deep down inside to try and put on a good front for "the world".

I know the deep dark secrets of my life and the less than perfectly glamorous family life we lead and then see the pictures of me online with the smile, that my students look to me for help and I am wandering more aimless than they are most times. I see the fraud I am through the eyes of people who look to me for help. Worse yet, I see the fraud I am through their eyes and what my own children see too often.

I've been struggling lately. My mother in law and sister in law have dealt with health issues, my wife is being strong for them and I am hoping I am helping. My son is a 13 year old boy who I can be too rough on and my daughter is dealing with the pressures of life. And because I cannot control everything for them, I get too frustrated, too angry, and to...uh...unhelpful in trying to teach life lessons. I've often said that we will all screw up our children, I just hope I don't screw mine up too much.

Life is hard, life is not perfect...I am not perfect and I fail too often. I am looked up to with the eyes of people who think I have it together and I am too often floundering either not living up to someone I love's expectations or even to my own minimum expectations. I then enter the valley of depression because of it and as I start to work my way out of how I feel that I've let others down, I climb to the top of feeling good about what I'm doing and then I cannot control myself as someone shoves me off the cliff to fall flat into the depths of helplessness.

I wonder what others do who invest their whole lives in themselves. They choose not to believe in anything higher than themselves because when I am at my worst is when I really remember that my hope doesn't come from me, or my behavior, or anything or anyone in this world....it comes from God.

So where am I now? I am climbing trying to be a good husband and father, both I would give failing grades recently to my behavior. My self-awareness in this pains me in how far I can fall and how bad I can be as a dad. It weighs on me heavily and affects most everything about my life including my health. So I write this to get it off my chest

I Love My Maddie Girl

This past Saturday, our volleyball team played the #1 team in the state in the state tournament. Whoever won that game would play the next weekend for the state championship. Indy Brebeuf is a really good volleyball team and would probably beat us 9 out of 10 times if we played that many times.

So the whole week leading up to this and my speech to the girls was that they needed to play together and then they would have to fight...they would have to compete...they would have to not let up no matter what was happening. Make Brebeuf earn their victory if that should happen.

The whole team did this and we lost in 5 sets. Brebeuf was shocked that we were in a fifth set, as we were down 0-2, then won the third and fourth sets.

When the match was over, our girls were upset and that is how it's supposed to be.I told them at the end I wanted to see tears, tears of victory or that they had fought so hard it hurt...a lot.

As Maddie walked out of the locker room, I knew she would be hurting and she was.

She was distraught, crying, and hurting and I hugged her.

One of our friends snapped the above picture and I think it encapsulates what we do as parents.

Let them out on their own to live and learn, and we are to always be here to celebrate or console, whichever it requires.

I love her and I am so proud of the woman she has become.

Cornerstone Hoops Board of Director Kristen Mattox Cox Inducted into Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame

 NEW CASTLE - The 2020 women's induction class of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in New Castle has been announced. This year's honorees include a former Indiana Miss Basketball, a former WNBA Detroit Shock player and a three-year starter and tri-captain at the University of Indianapolis, who fought through both knees being reconstructed and six total surgeries.

The Class of 2020 will be recognized during a ceremony April 25 in Indianapolis.

Inductees include:

• Tina (Reece) Bennett, Austin, Class of 1985
• Amy Brauman, Brownsburg, Class of 1991
• Kristin (Mattox) Cox, Charlestown Class of 1992
• Debbie (Benziger) Dudukovich, Kokomo, Class of 1994
• Tiffany Gooden, Fort Wayne Snider, Class of 1994
• Angela Hamblin-Blakely, Class of Gary Lew Wallace, Class of 1994
• Sandy Herre, Benton Central, Class of 1988
• Danielle McCulley, Gary West, Class of 1993
• Erika (McCoy) Robinson, Seymour, Class of 1986
• Stacie Shepherd, Richmond, Class of 1990
• Amy (Walker) Sundt, Bedford North Lawrence, Class of 1991  

Cornerstone Hoops Board Member Inducted into Hall of Fame

We All Need to Grow Up, I Mean Learn

Man, social media brings us together in ways that humankind would have not thought about just a few short years ago. Not only can you talk to people in the same house as you, but family you don't see often, old classmates, friends from around the world and, well, anyone. There is so much good that can come from this contact and interaction, but there is also bad.

I have personally witness at least two situations where an event occurs and before there is but just the smallest and most slanted amount of information is found, it gets revealed and all that read it assume it as truth. And then everyone with a preconceived thought system dog piles onto that little sliver of information. And before you know it, not only is this one thing bad, but suddenly a litany of "bad" things come up using this one situation as a reason for every ill thought you have ever had for the thing or person involved. Sure, I have seen it nationally with presidents and other national leaders, but they aren't "real" people, but it happens to them also.

It's sickening. Some of these situations turn on an instant that is bad, real bad. But before all information is given that little microcosm is shared and it becomes a much bigger issue than what is the bad issue. So I am calling myself out. Never assume that what you read is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Maybe, just maybe there is more to the story and maybe when that comes out and I have jumped to an extreme conclusion, I should apologize or feel bad.

But we don't.

We throw gas on the fire.

And if I find out the truth isn't what I thought it was, then I just don't post anymore, but what I have done is created a forest fire that leaves scars even after I slightly back away from my mess. 

And it only allows for that scarred situation to return again for the next fire because not all of the truth ever gets spread in a way that mistruth does and that will justify my preconceived wrong opinion, yet again as I point and continue the anger, dislike, and half-truths of life.