Ice Breaker – Minor League Baseball

After short break, the Stretched Ice Breaker is back!

Most weeks on The Stretched Blog, I ask an ice breaker question on Fridays. The questions are designed to help us get to know each other here in The Stretched Community. I’ll provide my answer to the question here in the post, and then you can leave your response in the comments. While you’re in the comments section, see how others answered the ice breaker question.

(I’m always looking for Ice Breaker question ideas.  If you have an idea, send me an email at jon@jonstolpe.com.  If I use your question, I’ll give you credit and share your links.)

In the past few weeks, I’ve gone to two minor league baseball games.  In the first game, I saw the Reading Fightin Phils host the Trenton Thunder.  The Fightin Phils are the AA team associated with the Philadelphia Phillies.  And earlier this week, I saw the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs host the Norfolk Tides.  The Iron Pigs are the AAA team associated with the Philadelphia Phillies.  Both games were exciting, and the home team won both games.  I like minor league baseball games, because they are reasonably priced and they take you back to the way baseball was meant to be played and watched.  This week’s Stretched Ice Breaker is inspired by my recent minor league adventures.

Question:  If there were a minor league baseball team in your hometown, what do you think the team name would be?

My Answer:  I live in a town called Schwenksville.  Schwenksville is a small town in the northwest suburbs of Philadelphia.  It’s the home of the Philadelphia Folk Festival and the Pennypacker Mansion.  The Perkiomen Trail and Perkiomen River runs right through town.  If there was a minor league baseball team in town, it might be called the Schwenksville Super Perks.

Answer this week’s ice breaker question by leaving a comment. I look forward to reading your response! (As always, feel free to share links.)  And keep Stretching!

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Second Chances – Does Pete Rose Deserve A Second Chance?

Is there anyone who is beyond a second chance?

Think about it.  Who would be on your list of people who don’t deserve a second chance?

Jeffrey Dahmer?  Dahmer, a serial killer and sex offender, raped and murdered 17 people in the Milwaukee area between 1978 and 1991.

Ted Bundy?  Bundy, another serial killer and sex offender, murdered several people during the 1970s.

Richard Nixon?  Nixon, the 37th President of the United States, who resigned in light of the Watergate scandal.

Bill Clinton?  Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, who had sexual relations (despite lying about it) with a White House intern during his presidency.

Timothy McVeigh?  Charles Manson?  Adam Lanza?  Lance Armstrong?  Barry Bonds?  Jose Canseco?  Michael Vick?  Jerry Sandusky?

Alex Rodriquez?  Rodriquez, New York Yankees third basemen, suspended from baseball for a year for breaking rules regarding performance enhancing drugs.

Justin Beiber?  Beiber, Canadian pop singer, recently arrested for drag racing and driving under the influence.

Lindsay Lohan?  Lohan, actress, repeatedly arrested for drug and alcohol related offenses.

Pete Rose?  Rose, all-time Major League Baseball hits leader, thrown out of baseball for betting on baseball.

We could go on and on with names of people in the limelight who have made critical errors.  Do these people deserve a second chance?  It’s a great question.  Each of these people have committed crazy crimes or done something pretty stupid.  Each of them is left with the consequences of their actions.  Some face death.  Most face public ridicule at a minimum.  Others faced fines, jail time, or other punishment.

Here’s the deal.  Just like this people above, we all make mistakes.  We may not have killed anyone (at least I hope not).  We may not have been caught for breaking the rules or doing something so stupid.  But we all mess up.  And we all have consequences to our actions.  Do we deserve a second chance?

What yard stick are we measuring ourselves against?

Sure our “sins” make seem quite minor compared to the “sins” of those on the list above.  But what happens when you compare our sins to God’s holiness?  Suddenly, we begin to much worse.

The Bible tells us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)  It goes on to say that “the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)  With this in mind, none of us deserve a second chance.  We have all screwed up.

If this was the end of the story, it would be pretty depressing.  Don’t you think?

But there is more to the story.

The Bible tells us in John 3:16 that God loves us so much, he sent His son for us.  In Romans 10:13, we are promised that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”  This sounds like a second chance to me.

Our church is doing a series about second chances.  On March 30th, Pete Rose will be on campus all three services to be interviewed.  It’s hard to argue with his playing skill, but many could argue about his place in baseball and in life based on his past.  I’m excited to hear what he has to say.  If you live anywhere in the Philadelphia area, I’d encourage you to make your way over to Christ’s Church of the Valley in Royersford, PA to hear what Pete Rose has to say and to see how are pastor responds.  I think you’ll be challenged and surprised.  For more information, check out our church’s website at moviechurch.com.  If you plan on coming, let me know.  I’d love to say hello.

How have you been given a second chance?  What did you do with your second chance?

Marriage, Missions, and Marlins

It’s the weekend, and I just wanted to let you know about three cool things.

Marriage

I posted about this at the beginning of the month, but I wanted to give you a little reminder.  What ever stage or state your marriage is in, it could always use a little extra.  Family Life has teamed up with The Stretched Blog to offer a discounted rate for Stretched readers.  Simply go to the Family Life Weekend to Remember site, and register using the group code:  STRETCHED.  This will give you a significant discount on the normal rate of this conference.  Check out my original post for more details.

Missions

Today is the last day that you can pick up a free electronic copy of a new book by Seth Barnes.  Simple go to Amazon.com and search for Kingdom Journeys (Kindle Edition).  The offer is gone at the end of the day today.  For a chance to win a hard copy of the book, see my post from earlier this week.  I’ll be picking a winner early next week, so don’t miss out on this opportunity to pick up a great new book.  The book itself has a missions emphasis, but it’s about so much more than missions as you and I typically think about it.

Marlins

Don’t misunderstand me on this one, I’m a huge Phillies fan which would typically put me at odds with the Marlins.  But I have a very small place in my heart for the Marlins after reading about this story on the POTSC blog this week.  Check out this video, and I think you’ll see why:

Do you have anything that starts with the letter “M” that deserves a mention?

Ice Breaker – Walk-Up Music

It’s not Friday, so don’t get too excited.  I decided to move up this week’s Ice Breaker one day to make room for tomorrow’s May 2012 Review post.  This week’s question was inspired by my three camping buddies with whom I spent my Memorial Day weekend.  If you watch major league baseball these days, most players have a walk-up song that is used as they approach home plate for their at-bat.  Since I’m a Philadelphia Phillies fan, my examples come from the Phils.  Carlos Ruiz walks out to In The Air Tonight by Phil Collins.  Chase Utley walks out to Kashmir by Led Zepplin.  And Hunter Pence walks out to A Warrior’s Call by Volbeat.

I’d like to tie this into this week’s ice breaker question.  For those who are new around here, an ice breaker is a question that helps us get to know one another.  Each week, I ask a question which I answer in my post.  Then, it’s your turn to answer the question in the comments of the post.  Here is this week’s ice breaker:

Question:  What would you chose for your walk-up song or music?

My Answer:  The Theme from Chariots of Fire.  This way I could run from the on deck circle to the batter’s box in slow motion.  I know it’s not your typical rocking song, but this music by Vangelis is inspiring to me.  Then after I hit my home run, I could run around the bases in slow motion as the music comes back on over the public address system.

Okay, now it’s your turn. Let’s hear your answer to the question. Leave your answer in the comments below, so we can all enjoy.