toddcast

My sons Shen and Bao may very well be competing in their last high school tennis tournament next week as doubles partners.   Over the last couple of years they have occasionally teamed up in men’s doubles, but this Spring has been a special time for me and my wife as the two have consistently teamed up, and they’ve done quite well. Shen and Bao have put together a 20-8 record - winning one tournament and going deep in every other tournament they’ve played in.   Next Monday begins the district tournament, and, although there are hopes at advancing to regionals, there is a chance that this will be the last time the two team together representing the fighting yellowjackets of Denison High. Shen and Bao are an unlikely pair.   They are both adopted and they are not biological brothers, but over the years those realities have faded from our consciousness as they are no less than our sons and true brothers.   Their journey to the tennis court has been nothing sh...

Two reasons why I don't like April Fool's Day: One, I'm not a good liar (which I suppose is good since I'm a minister) so it's difficult for me to pull pranks , and two, I don’t like being made a fool.   That can be a good thing too since the Bible doesn’t speak very highly of fools. The book of Proverbs uses the word fool more than any other in the Bible which makes sense since its purpose is to make us wise, the opposite of being a fool.   A fool is useless, lazy, always dependent on others, mistake prone, and gets in a lot of messy accidents.   It's not a good thing to be a fool, but how does one actually become one? There are many paths to foolishness but one sure way is mentioned in Proverbs 14:16 , "Fools are headstrong and reckless."   Fools don’t listen to others and they have no restraints. In college, a friend and I had an internship at a church about an hour away from school.   One Sunday morning we jumped in his car to be...