Civil. Discourse.

Sunday morning Ceil fixed an eggy boy sandwich for me and oatmeal for her. She listened to a sermon by the JF associate pastor, Austin Baker.  

I listened to Andy Stanley, who interviewed former NP staff member Sarah Anderson, who grew up in a political family. Her father worked in the Reagan administration and later ran for President. She saw firsthand how members of the same political party severed relationships over political differences, and wanted no part of it. Sarah wrote a book about maintaining relationships with people with varying political opinions – how the relationships are more important.

"Civil discourse is like a muscle. It atrophies if it is not used." Ask how can we close the space between us? Practice compassion instead of judgement. Don't ask "Why can't you be more like me?" Don't assume you are right and they are wrong. We all have blind spots that need to be pointed out. To get to the best country we can be, there's got to be some back and forth. Tension and conflict can be healthy if we remain civil. There's a difference between peace-keeping and peace-making. Be curious. Seek names over narratives. Historical figures like Thomas Jefferson may not be perfect, though they did do amazing things. Be more gracious when dealing with others. "When a single story is told about someone over and over, there's probably more that needs to come out." This goes for people on both sides of the political aisle. 

Do an inventory of convictions and beliefs. If every hill is a hill to die on, then none of them are. What things are most important? Beliefs. Convictions. Opinions. Some are never going to change their mind about a particular topic. Probably not best to try and change their mind. Opinions are different. Be open to learning more about things before making them convictions. Being wrong feels just like being right – until you realize you are wrong. We can love without agreement. We can respect without conformity. We can honor without harmony. How can I follow Christ without doing these things?

 _{https://northpoint.org/live} 

Not too much later we went for a walk. Said hello to a friendly neighbor we like, who said something about the election we happened to disagree with. Ceil handled to awkward moment well. Later I ate a salad that Ceil had brought home from Chickfila but hadn't eaten. Washed dishes and did some laundry. Ceil worked on school lessons. 

I watched some of the Broncos@Falcons and Steelers@Cowboys. Then it was Hallmark Channel time. I played on my computer.

Working from home today and tomorrow. Listening to 680 the Fan sports talk. Not a fan of the new morning show host, or Home Team and Hamilton, whose opinions I mostly disagree with. 

TOMMY BRIDGES [SABR Bio] surrendered Babe Ruth's 700th home run. In the t3rd at Navin Field in Detroit, 13-Jul-1934, Babe Ruth took Bridges deep to right field for his 700th for a two run home run that was eventually the winning margin in the game. Ruth would hit only eight more AL homers. Bridges was the first pitcher ever to be replaced on an All-Star team due to injury.- Replaced by Vern Kennedy for the 1936 game. (Neither was going to start ahead of Lefty Grove anyway). Bridges is the only pitcher to turn in three 20-win seasons for the Tigers in the 1930s. He won 22, 21 & 23 G for Detroit in 1934, 35 & 36 respectively. During one five-year span, he took four no-hitters in to the ninth inning, including a perfect game, but never got a no-hitter. No-hit threats were from 1929-1933.

FRED TONEY [SABR Bio] his cumulative National League ERA was second only to Pete Alexander's during the climax years of the Dead Ball Era. Toney's aggregate 2.10 was second only to Alexander's 1.57 from 1915 to 1919. He won an off-season, distance-throwing contest against other elite major leaguers. In a January 1912 Chicago tournament that measured other baseball skills, Toney's baseball throw was 392'. His teammate, legendary multi-sport athlete Jim Thorpe drove in the only run in his ten-inning no-hitter. That game itself is now something of a legend. Toney's 1-0 no-hitter on 02-May-1917, was against Hippo Vaughn who himself threw a no-hitter, at least through 9 innings. Thorpe's swinging bunt was the difference, but the combined ERA for the game that day was 0.00, the cumulative BA was .033. 

Penn State is 0-3. They've lost to Indiana and Maryland, in addition to Ohio State. Saturday the Buckeyes beat Rutgers. We'll see how good they are when they play a quality opponent, but that might not be until the College Football Playoff.

Clemson@NotreDame: the longer the game went on and the more plays they kept reviewing, the madder I was getting. Plus there were questionable calls in the first half that didn't get reviewed. Why did they not penalize Clemson for pass interference? I'd never seen officials reverse a call like that.