ROAD LESS TRAVELED

Good Morning! I hope the weather is warm where you are. It is cold here. Somewhere around 5 below zero…I think. I came at 5 a.m. this morning to see if I could accomplish something. Today will be a long day. For the past 4 years I have volunteered my time as a basketball official to referee elementary school games on Saturday. A big tournament will start today. I have 6 games to ref. What is really cool is that my son wants try his hand at it. So, today I am breaking in a new official. I hope the parents and I have the patience for it today. I think he will do all right. It’s all 5th grade today.
As I left the house and came to the "Front Porch" this morning I noticed something beautiful. A make shift path had been made by a snowblower through the yard to the church (where my computer is). With a half moon brilliantly reflecting off the snow, a beam of light shimmered down the path. It seemed to speak, "…come this way."
Then, I thought of the poem by Robert Frost, Road Less Traveled. I have often thought about the road of life that the Lord has led me down. Others have come this way. I see the trail that they have left for me. A few times the Lord has led me off the path and into "uncharted" territories. A few times I got off the path myself and just plain ole’ "got lost".
But the road I have chosen, the one my Savior invited me on, has been good. I have enjoyed the road…for the most part. I am not sure how I got here. I don’t know where it leads. I have not a clue where or when it will end. But this I do know, I have wonderful companions to go with me along the journey and by what I have seen and what I have done along the way, has made me who I am.
Enjoy the poem and reflect on the road you have chosen.

ROAD LESS TRAVELED
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth

Then took the other as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet, knowing how way leads onto way
I doubted if I should ever come back

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in a wood
And I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference

Robert Frost

Cheer For A Winner!

Before I say anything else…. YEAH COLTS!
Now that I got that out of my system, I think I can move on.
Really, even though it is cold outside, there is internal warmth on the porch because my team won,...well, not my team. I don’t own the Colts. Nevertheless, they were the team that I was pulling for. And when they won, it was like I won, but I didn’t.
I got to thinkin’ about that. "How come I feel so good about an achievement that I didn't have anything to do with?" I didn’t practice with the Colts…that would be painful. I didn’t sponsor them by buying their franchise stuff…that too would be painful. Basically, I have just cheered for them from a long ways away. So far away, that the Colts couldn’t hear me and it wouldn’t make a difference to them anyway.
I think I know where the satisfaction comes from. It may sound strange, but I think it has to do with success…yeah success! Let me speak of myself and if you can identify with me… then great!
I want to be a success. I want to make it to the top. I want to achieve. (I don’t think you’re any different than me.) So, I strive with the resources that I have to be a success. I use the financial resources available to me to be a success. I prioritize my time to be a success. I position myself to be a success.
Now realistically how successful am I going to be in a little town of 400 in the middle of "Nowhere", Wisconsin with the little amount of financial equity I have available to me and an even smaller amount of talent? I am a realist. I will not be successful. That’s just the way it is. Then, when an entity that you cheer for "makes it". When they become champions and win the big one, I get a sense of satisfaction. Satisfied that someone I cheered for became a success. It makes me feel like I became the success.
You know, we need to learn to do this in our Churches. When another Church wins a "big game", and they become a "success". We, …oops, I mean I need to learn how to feel satisfied in their success. Maybe it would help if I started to cheer for them and make them "my team" instead of my opponent.
Unfortunately, we can’t all be "successes". But we can all find satisfaction in cheering for a winner and celebrating them when they win the "big one".
You know, I heard about a brand new Baptist church (east of here) that was started 3 years ago and they already have over 100 people worshiping on Sundays and have a new building…go team!