The Free Gift of God

Yesterday I asked how we can get to heaven if all have sinned, and the wages of sin is death. But God, in His perfect love, opens heaven's door to all who confess that Jesus is Lord. Just as God forgives our sins and imperfections, so also should we forgive others for perceived past transgressions. God is the judge, not us.  

Romans 6:23 - The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Romans 5:8 - God shows his love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  

 

Romans 10:9-10 - If you confess your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 

Romans 10:13 - Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

A good small group session last night, on Genesis 31-33. In 33:8-11 Jacob was reconciled with his brother Esau. If God can bring those two back together, God can indeed reconcile any broken relationship. 

Question of the day: who had your team's best nickname? Trying not to repeat other's answers, I added Alex "Captain Who?" Hawkins, Peachtree Bart, Jim "Meat" Mitchell, Tree Rollins, The Haitian Sensation, Megatron, the Young Lefthander Kim King, Ramblin Robert Lavette, John Spider Salley, the Little Bulldog Pat Jarvis, the Roadrunner Ralph Garr, the Beeg Boy Rico Carty, and El Oso Blanco Evan Gattis.  

Tuesday supper: breaded chicken, baked potatoes, and tossed salad. Watched Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, and Best Medicine.

Slept well last night. Could've slept later, but the workers arrive to start their day at 8 am. I moved the cars out of their way and walked Winnie, then went to the gym a little earlier than I had been. Trying to take it easy to rest my aching back, but was able to stay on the treadmill for over 80 minutes total, plus 30 minutes in the sauna. 

Yesterday I was in the steam room when a hesitant first-timer stepped in, asking if it was really hot. I delivered the classic Kramer line: "It's like a sauna in here!"

JOE PEPITONE  [SABR Bio] was the first player to hit two home runs in one inning in the Expansion Era. Pepitone was the first & final player to get a hit the 8th inning of the game in Yankee Stadium on 23-May-1962, but they were both home runs. First off the Kansas City Athletic's John Wyatt then Dan Pfister. Barely 9,000 paying fans were in attendance at that game . Pepitone was an All Star in 1963, 1964, & 1965. He was a Gold Glove winner in 1964, 1965, & 1969. In December of 1969, the Yankees traded Pepitone to Houston for Curt Blefary. Mickey Mantle led the Yankees in home runs in 1968 with 18. Pepitone hit 27 in 1969 to lead all Yankees. 

DENISON: the current epidemics of depression, loneliness, and "deaths of despair" illustrate that our efforts to improve the world have been unsuccessful. Stuart Jeffries appraises the latest book by psychoanalyst Adam Phillips. In The Life You Want, Phillips explains why our quest for happiness and fulfillment is so often unfulfilled: we are goaded by our materialistic society and the advertising that engulfs us to make our lives better with things. As Jeffries notes, "We are trying to fill an existential chasm inside ourselves with expensive nonsense."

"When I speak of a man 'growing in grace' I mean simply this—that his sense of sin is becoming deeper, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, his love more extensive, his spiritual mindedness more marked." —J. C. Ryle