Doug’s Foggiest Ideas

This weekend marked the beginning of the new Fantasy Football Season!  Our league is called The I.G.A.F.F.L. of America. (The International Global American Fantasy Football League of America)

We held our draft on Saturday night and I think the M.O.D drafted pretty well.  The M.O.D. (Ministers of Defense) consists of Gary, Stephen and I.  Of course it is easy to be excited before any of the games begin but for what it is worth here is our team.

This week we were dealing with the 7th commandment at Plum Creek.  During the message I shared the 10 Commandments for marriage that I wrote.  I have seen this done by others but when I wrote mine I tried to stay true to the message of each of the real 10 Commandments.

When I did my list I actually came up with 12.  You will see why.  Here they are:

1.  No other earthly relationships before BETH, including my kids.

2.  Nothing on earth more important than BETH.

3.  Never speak negatively about BETH.

4a.  Worship & pray with BETH regularly.

4b.  Honor date night with BETH & keep it holy VERY HOLY!!

5.  Treat BETH’S family as if they were mine.

6.  Do not take life from BETH with my words or actions.

7a.  Be relentlessly faithful to BETH

7b.  Have sex only with BETH, OFTEN.

8.  Do not steal time that is meant to be spent with BETH.

9.  Always tell BETH the whole truth.

10.  Don’t entertain thoughts or desires of a relationship with anyone other than BETH.

I encouraged everyone to take the time to write their 10 Commandments for marriage as well.  Love to hear what you came up with!

Many of you know that Beth & I decided at the beginning of the year that we would read through the Bible together.  We are still on track!  We chose to use the NLT Chronological Bible.

It has been a really good habit to form.  It we stay on top of our reading it takes about 15 min. a day to stay on pace.  This week we finished up Kings and Chronicles.  This has been an interesting read.  We you read through the history of the kings of Judah and Israel it is very clear there were many more bad kings then good ones.

This proved to be tragic for the people living under their rule.  It is also clear that God wasn’t too happy about this.  So much in life rises and falls on leadership.  Coming off Father’s Day weekend here is my thought.

While reading the history of the kings you see these men followed the example of their fathers.  This is fundamentally important for all of us dads to remember.  Our kids will most likely never end up being a king of anything more than an occasional hill.  However, it is vital to constantly remember they will follow our lead.

Our prayer and goal should be that when the history of our families is written, it be recorded that our children followed our lead and served God with their lives!  I’m praying for you and trust you will be praying for me as well.

Ok…I’m ready for the negativity to start rolling.  It is a long season and the Cubbies will begin the “turn-a-round” tomorrow!  Rough start 5-16 isn’t good.

At least the WHOLE PITCHING STAFF got some extra work.

Today my Cubbies take the field preparing for what all of us Cubs fans believe will be “The Year”.  I have had this same excitement every year for 40 years.  I was born a Cubs fan and will always be a Cubs fan.

(Phil Velasquez, Chicago Tribune / March 2, 2010)

Lou has some serious work to do this year.  There better not be any “scratchin’ of the head” after the first pitch today.  LETS GO CUBBIES!!!

I wanted to be sure to put a link to our “State of the Church Address” from last week.  If you are a Plum Creeker and weren’t able to be at church last week I would ask you to please listen to this message online or download the podcast.  It is vital that we all stay focused on what God is calling us to do as a church.

Here is a link to the audio…

Yesterday brought to end another awesome football season for my boys.  It was another great year of development and lessons learned.  We always wish that the season would last longer!

I wanted to take a moment and thank all the coaches that invested countless numbers of hours into our kids’ lives.  There is no way to express the appreciation that Beth and I have for this investment.  These young men are learning a lot about football and even more about life through these experiences on the field.

Coaches, thanks for all you do!!

Every time one of my kids turn 13 we take a trip together.  This year it is Luke’s turn and he wanted to go to Ohio.  It has been a blast.  These trips are very intentional and it is good to be able to spend some quality time with my kids without the distractions of their siblings.

We get to have a bunch of fun and also plan strategically to have some good conversations and to also set some goals.  I love it.  Luke wanted to go to an Ohio State Buckeye game as well as a Chicago Bears game.  Yesterday we were in the “shoe”.  It was Luke’s first time at a major college football game.  We also got to tour the Woody Hayes center on Friday.  That was also very cool.

Today we are headed to the Bears Bengals game here in Cinci.  We went to church together this morning as well.  It has been a trip that I will never forget, I hope he doesn’t either!  Make sure to plan creatively with your kids as well.  Your influence is vital and time is fleeting!

Here are some pics…

The Rockies had an amazing season this year.  It was exciting to be at the game last night, thanks Adam!!  I hadn’t witnessed a baseball game that exciting in person in a very long time.  It was a thrill and I was disappointed that it ended the way it did.

I don’t think that the Philly is that much better than the Rockies but they were clutch in the 9th.  Coors field was electric and it was fun to be there.  The Rockies have a great thing going and with a couple of key additions I believe that they will be right back where they left off this year.

Denver is a great sports town.  The Broncs are riding a 5-0 start, the Nugs made a great run in the playoffs last year, now if the Avs can just get something going this place will go nuts!!

This weekend my 3 boys all had football games in the unusually cold and rainy weather that we had yesterday.  Z’s team won a tough game and played well.

Josh and Luke’s team each played games that were against teams that were in their respective “Super Bowls” last year.  They were tough games but both of them lost.  They played well but didn’t get enough done to beat these teams that have reputations of being solid.  It felt like a Midwest Saturday with our weather and I am proud of our kids for the way they played.

Then last night my Buckeyes lost a tough game at the “Shoe”.  I was very disappointed at their loss because in my opinion they gave the game away.  They didn’t control the clock with a couple of min. left at the end of the first half and USC got the ball back and was able to kick a field goal.  Then the Bucks were inside the 10 on a couple of different occasions and only came away with field goals.  VERY DISAPPOINTING!!  They should have won that game!!

I am still hoping for a Bears victory tonight in Wisconsin!!

Regardless, it is football season and I LOVE IT!!