Encounter at the Club

Another college-less blog? Its a miracle!
For starters, you know how dogs often ride in the back of trucks? iIts like some american symbol almost, I dont know why, but anyway, I saw that happening on my way to New Vintage today, but there were no walls on the bed. It was like one of those construction or towing trucks with just a flat sheet of metal as the back, but the dog was just standing there, walking back and forth, looking almost as freaked out as me. Something about a car going 60 with a dog in the back, nothing to support it if say, the truck had to hit the brakes quickly. Yeah it was weird.
Secondly, I got a call from Nathan this morning at 850, and it woke me up. Normally this would not be a problem, but today it means that I missed playing guitar for chapel this week. And I missed Marques speaking, which I wanted to hear.
So I just started reading Mere Christianity by CS Lewis. I figured that it is a classic and has made a pretty big impact, so I should probably read it. And I love CS Lewis, so that was another draw. It is split into four or five books, and I just finished the first one, and so far I have not been disappointed. A nice 22 pages of making a very convincing argument for a god existing. That might sound boring, but it is actually really interesting, since he uses some pretty simple yet deep analogies to prove his points.
Also I read this quote from Lewis that I like that I just felt like telling you. "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it but because by it I see everything else." I am not going to explain that, you can do your own thinking on that statement.
I was at the club yesterday playing basketball(what a surprise) and I started doing my ballhandling drills, when that kid from Tri Cities Prep, the one with Downs Syndrome that makes all the motions during the volleyball games, walked. Now, Id seen the guy there before, he always wears baseball pants and stuff, says hi to me almost every time I pass even though we have never met. Now I kind of knew he would start talking to me, since lots of people are very interested in my ballhandling for some reason. So as I am doing ballhandling, he started to tell me about his basketball, which had a cougar on it. I always feel horrible at responding to people who tell me stuff like that, not just people with disorders but like kids and old people too(that sounds so terrible), but I always respond like "Yeah, cool." I end up saying "cool" and "okay" like 50 times, especially at anything I cant understand, always giving a little smile, you know what I mean. This guy keeps talking to me, about the cougars and how he likes basketball and stuff, and he would kind of stop talking to me and start again every once in a while.
My point is, I initially thought, "Oh crap, Im going to have to talk to this guy, he wont leave me alone, and all I want to do is do my ballhandling." Then I realized, Im dumb. What kind of jerk am I that I would rather do a few basketball drills than simply talk to this kid. I mean, I made the decision a while ago that even though I am committed to basketball, I will never give it priority over my relationships with people. I will never fulfill my life by playing basketball. I do not put my hope in basketball. It is simply an outlet where I can use gifts that God gave me to honor and hopefully serve Him. Now how can I honor and serve God without loving others? Oh thats right, I cant. Heck, it is the second most important commandment. So to wrap it up, Im glad God brought that guy to the club yesterday, because I needed that reminder.
Thats all folks.
P.S. That paragraph above does not at all imply that I will skip basketball to go play video games, thats just wasting my time when I could be playing basketball, which is at least somewhat productive. Oh man, with lines like that I am going to make a great parent, "get off those darn video games and do something productive with your life." Heck yeah. Now I'm done.