Albert Pujols hit his 14th homer of the season Saturday, breaking the Major League record for most homers in April.
It came at a great time — breaking a 1-1 tie in the bottom of eighth — and proved to be the game-winner.
Thanks for all your feedback so far. I still haven’t fixed the feature that allows you to change your name when you comment (for those of you who sometimes like to comment under creative monikers), but I’m working on it. Until then, if you want to change the name under which you’re commenting, just delete your cookies from this site and log in again. That should work.
I still have a few minor tweaks to make, but for the most part, what you see now is what you’re gonna get for the foreseeable future. Thanks for your patronage.
I said last week that change was coming, and now it’s here. What do you think?
I still have some tweaking to do with the blog over the next several days. The image at the top will eventually be clickable so it will always return you to the home page, and I’ll be adding the “Recent Comments” list to the top of the sidebar as it was previously.
I’m pretty much an HTML idiot, but fortunately I work with some college students who know these things and can help me out.
I’m happy to hear any suggestions or criticisms you might have.
UPDATE: A special thanks to Union University student Josh Wilkerson, who designed my header for me. I think he did a great job.
Tomorrow night an event called the Global Night Commute is taking place in several cities across the country. It’s an effort to raise awareness about the plight of Ugandan children who are being abducted and forced into the service of the Lord’s Rebellion Army.
Matt Newman has written about this sad situation here. Here’s an excerpt:
Uganda is in the midst of the longest-running war in Africa. Every day, 130 people lose their lives to violence in this fight. The leaders of the Lord’s Rebellion Army, wanting to replenish and add to their forces, nightly raid the outlying homes and abduct the children. They force these children to be killers. Any who refuse or try to escape serve as examples to the other children. They are tortured and killed. Over the course of the war, an estimated 20,000 to 50,000 children have been abducted by the LRA.
These children flee to the cities for protection. They are not safe in their homes. This would not be tolerated in the West. If thousands of American children were sleeping in the streets every night, something would be done. If they were Europeans, someone would intervene. Why then is this happening? Are the children of Africa any less important than our own? Are they any less worthy of basic human rights, of being safe in their own homes? Indeed, are they any less human?
Matthew also includes links to sites where more information is available. I’m happy to say that several students from Union University are participating in this event as well.
No plagiarism allowed.
From this week’s World magazine:
When Velva, N.D., bowling alley owner Darin Bail wanted to sell the Star City Lanes, he didn’t just put up a sign out front. Instead, Mr. Bail has organized a bowling tournament where competitors challenge their own bowling averages and the winner gets the keys to the six-lane bowling alley, the restaurant, and the property. “I call it the ‘ultimate winner take all,’” Mr. Bail said. “There’s one winner, no second-place prize.” The owner needs just 600 entrants to pay the $250 entry fee to make it worth his while.
What a great idea. Just think, somebody is going to end up paying $250 for the whole bowling alley.
Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., will be the speaker for this year’s Founders breakfast June 13 during the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting.
Dever will speak on the topic, “Election, the Gospel and Evangelism.”
Tickets are available here. I’ve already purchased mine.
My column this week is a “Dear Daniel” letter about minor league baseball and being like Jesus.
Legendary college football broadcaster Keith Jackson has announced his retirement.
“I don’t want to die in a stadium parking lot,” Jackson said.
After testing positive for drugs for the fourth time, Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams will sit out for the next year after the NFL failed to uphold his appeal on the one-year suspension.
Talk about wasted talent and a wasted life. How sad.
Tim Challies has announced the launching of a new web site: Discerning Reader. In fact, Scott Lamb will be one of the Discerning Reader’s editors.
It should be a great resource. There’s already a lot of content up, with much more to be added.
I was talking to a friend of mine this weekend. He’s started watching “24,” which doesn’t entirely please his wife. “How does a show like that bring glory to God?” she asked him.
And so, I throw this out as a topic for discussion. How do we as Christians glorify God by watching a show like “24″? This discussion doesn’t just have to be limited specifically to “24.” What about the movies we watch? What about R-rated movies? What’s acceptable and what’s not?
Let’s see where this takes us. I certainly have my opinion on the matter, and if you read this blog much you probably know what it is. But I’m going to leave it at that for now and see what you have to say.
New York Mets broadcaster Keith Hernandez found himself in hot water after a remark he made during Saturday’s game.
Hernandez noticed Kelly Calabrese, a massage therapist for the Padres, high-fiving Mike Piazza in the dugout.
“I won’t say that women belong in the kitchen, but they don’t belong in the dugout,” Hernandez said. He then laughed and added: “You know I am only teasing. I love you gals out there — always have.”
Now, the Mets network has reprimanded Hernandez for his “inappropriate” remarks.
Thoughts on last night’s episode? Who is this group of guys that’s behind this entire plot?
Next week we get to see Jack Bauer hijack an airplane. Sweet.
From the New York Times:
About 50 prominent religious leaders, including seven Roman Catholic cardinals and about a half-dozen archbishops, have signed a petition in support of a constitutional amendment blocking same-sex marriage.
Organizers of the petition said it was in part an effort to revive the groundswell of opposition to same-sex marriage that helped bring many conservative voters to the polls in some pivotal states in 2004. The signers include many influential evangelical Protestants, a few rabbis and an official of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Union University President David S. Dockery is one of the letter’s signers.
“We are convinced that this is the only measure that will adequately protect marriage from those who would circumvent the legislative process and force a redefinition of it on a whole of our society,” the letter reads. “We encourage all citizens of good will across the country to step forward boldly and exercise their right to work through our constitutionally established democratic procedures to amend the Constitution to include a national definition of marriage.”
The letter argues that marriage, which for thousands of years has been defined as a bond between one man and one woman, is a vital component of civil society.
“Marriage is particularly important for the rearing of children as they flourish best under the long term care and nurture of their father and mother,” the letter reads. “For this and other reasons, when marriage is entered into and gotten out of lightly, when it is no longer the boundary of sexual activity, or when it is allowed to be radically redefined, a host of personal and civil ills can be expected to follow.”
Those signing the letter cite their concern with divorce rates, out-of-wedlock births, absentee fathers and the trend of some courts to make marriage “an elastic concept” that can accommodate individual preference.
Others signers include James Dobson, Charles Colson, Paige Patterson, Daniel Akin, Timothy George and Richard Land.
The entire letter can be read at www.religiouscoalitionformarriage.org.