The Phantom Father's Day

For Father's Day we went lawst night to see The Phantom of the Opera at The Fabulous Fox Theater in St Louis.

We have seen Phantom 5 different times and I believe this was the best one yet. The Phantom was played by John Cudia, who has a one of the strongest voices I have heard. Christine was played by Marie Danvers, and Jim Weitzer was Raul. They were all fantastic and the visual effects were incredible. I still like Michael Crawford as The Phantom the best, but this cast worked very well together and put in a very strong performance. I can't imagine a role that is more physically demanding that playing The Phantom.

The Fox Theater is the perfect venue to see The Phantom. We have seen The Phantom 3 times in Los Angeles at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and now twice at the Fox (No one can keep up with my Dad's wife Sharon who has seen The Phantom over 75 times, mostly with Michael Crawford in the lead part). It is hard to find a playhouse with as much character and appeal as the Fox. The auditorium is very unique and contains carvings and statues with an Indian/Asian theme wherever you look. The lobby has large columns and lots of carved figurines also.

It was a great gift and a very good day.

Lance Marcum Signs With The Cardinals!

In my earlier post I mentioned Lance Marcum, one of our collegiate ministry interns from McKendree College, was hoping to get drafted in the Major League Baseball draft at the beginning of June. It didn't happen and I was pretty surprised. But, the Lord had more in store for Lance than he could ever imagine. Last week Lance was offered a free agent contract with the St Louis Cardinals ( a dream come true) and Lance has reported to their State College, Pennsylvania minor league ball club. Lance used this opportunity to share his faith in the artlicle located here. Link. What a great young Man. The Cardinals organization won't know what hit them and Lance will have the opportunity to affect the lives of a huge number of people. The Lord is really using Lance and Lance isn't afraid to give Him the credit.

Thanks Stacy for the tip!

Bowing My Knee

I am attending the Air Force GeoBase Compass Conference in Denver this week. The Compass Conference is a conference about the Air Force's capability to use electronic mapping capability. As I arrived at the Denver Airport I noticed a family of three getting off the airport tram and heading up the escalator. They had a daughter who looked about 3 years old who tried 4 times to walk up the down escalator. Every time the parents would tell her that if she would just go to the correct escalator she would be able to get to the second floor. It didn't matter, every time she would turn and go up the down escalator. This continued until she got so tired that she had to give in and go up the correct side.

So many times in life I feel like I do the same thing to God. I am running as fast as I can, but not making any progress. God is there telling me, "If you just follow the path I have set before you you will make progress". But it never happens until I get so tired of living for myself that I have no choice but to follow God. Kind of reminds me of Romans 14:11,

For it is written: As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to Me, and every tongue will give praise to God.

I can either choose to bow now out of respect for the Lord, or I will be forced to bow later.

If The Bible Had Been Created By Dogs

The Wittenburg Door bills itself as "The World's Pretty Much Only Religious Satire Magazine". I have been a subscriber for years and as I was plowing through the current May/June 2006 issue I found the following article and thought it was clever. On page 21 the article "If the Bible Had Been Written By Dogs" states,

In the beginning, the People created the grass and the birds and the squirrels. And the World was without Dinner, and Treats; and the People left, so it was time to sleep.

And the People came back, and said "Let there be Dinner": and there was dinner.

And the Dinner was good: And it divided the sleeping-time from the eating-time.

And People called the Dinner "Food", and the sleeping-time they called Night-Night.

And the eating and the sleeping were the first Day.

And the People said, "Let there be a fence in the midst of the World, and let it divide the Outside from the Go Home". And the People divided the grass which was inside the Outside from the grass and vehicles and squirrels and birds which were outside the Outside: And it was so. And the People called the Outside "Home", and set within it a Get In Here, with all the power and righteousness and Food and Night-Night.

And the People said, "Let the Outside bring forth squirrels, and rabbits, and interesting little bugs": and it was so. And the People blessed them saying, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the Yard, but do not enter the Get In Here, even though ye be dead and flat and matted.

And the eating and the sleeping and the chasing were the second Day.

And thus it was and would be for all eternity.

Lance Marcum Named an NAIA All-American

I'm pretty excited that one of my collegiate ministry interns has been named an NAIA All-American Baseball Player. Here's a link to the article. Link. Great job Lance! Lance has been called into the ministry and is a fantastic witness to those he plays with. It couldn't have happened to a better young man. I'll be waiting to hear some good news on Major League Baseball draft day.