0-0 loss

I'm thoroughly and completely depressed after watching Sam's soccer team lose 0-0 this evening to a significantly inferior team. The kids are in bed, Beth is out gambling with the neighborhood bunko gang, so I think I'll attempt to type the blues away.

How can you lose if the score is naught-naught? Well, technically you can't -- unless you've had 35 shots on goal, and they've had ZERO. It was that bad.

I gave Sam the same old tired cliches about what a great effort he had, etc, etc., but honestly other than a few hugs, there's not much I could say. (I have to admit that it was especially frustrating that a goal Sam scored was taken back because the center ref refused to listen to his AR -- but that's still no excuse when you've had so many chances. Argh.)

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Beth has convinced me I needed to read a book she just finished, Peace Like a River. (She recommends them after she has determined they are at a reading level my attention span can handle.)

Here's an excerpt that hit me:

"Let me say something about that word: miracle. For too long it's been used to characterize things or events that, though pleasant, are entirely normal. Peeping chicks at Easter time, spring generally, a clear sunrise after an overcast week--a miracle, people say, as if they've been educated from greeting cards. I'm sorry, but nope. Such things are worth our notice very day of the week, but to call them miracles evaporates the strength of the word.

"Real miracles bother people, like strange sudden pains unknown in medical literature. It's true: They rebut every rule all we good citizens take comfort in. Lazarus obeying orders and climbing up out of the grave--now there's a miracle, and you can bet it upset a lot of folks who were standing around at the time. When a person dies, the earth is generally unwilling to cough him back up. A miracle contradicts the will of earth."

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Beth just walked in. She lost the most games, and came away a $6 winner. Don't ask. It's a complicated game. Way to go, Honey.

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If you attended the workshop this past weekend, Wade and Marvin are looking for comments.

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There are several interesting reactions to Soulforce being welcomed at ACU on Mike Cope's blog. Rachel and I spoke briefly tonight about the forum she attended today. She wasn't able to stay for the whole forum, but did say they had some good discussion. I'm thankful that ACU was so gracious and loving. And glory for God can't help but come from this.