Sermon Leftovers

This was originally posted several years ago, but it is always relevant to talk to parents about their kid's involvement in sports! (also there's a little life lesson for EVERYONE at the end!) Two things I observed over the past week (both at Shoreline Soccer ) that gave me pause to consider my own behavior. The first happened while Liam was a footwork clinic (put on by Dan McAllister of FC Joga Bonita ). On the opposite field a game was being played by two girls teams; I would guess they were U8 (maybe U10). One dad was standing directly behind the goal loudly admonishing his daughter, the goalie, to play "better". Actually, he was yelling and screaming at her "use your hands", "go out", "cut the angle", etc. When the other team scored, he would throw his hands up in disgust and walk away... not aware that she had turned to see if he would tell her that it was okay. Most striking to me about this situation was that I was fairly c

Have you ever decided to not see a movie because you were so unimpressed by the preview? Marianne and I like to get to movies early so we can see the previews, and as we watch them we will whisper to each other whether or not we want to see the actual movie. Sometimes, we just don't go to a movie because of the preview. Sometimes, we go in spite of the preview. Sometimes, we go because of the preview. Over the years, I've realized that movie previews rarely do a movie justice. There have been some movies with terrible previews that became instant favorites for us. There have been some movies with amazing previews that turned out to be unbearable. I'm not sure why I would expect it to be differently. How can I possibly expect to understand the worth of a 2 hour movie after seeing only 30 seconds of mixed together clips? Isn't life just like that? We get a small taste of a situation and decide immediately whether or not it is for us. We see