Separated at Birth? - First Pitch - Last Shot - Sing-a-long - Staying Home

Tell me these two cats don't look like long lost twins...

That's Fidel on top and Willie Nelson on the bottom. Or was it the other way around?
They come from totally different places and have done totally different things with their lives, BUT... they sure do look alike.

Play Ball!
Today is the opening day of the college baseball season in Clemson. The Tigers are not as highly ranked as usual this year. We lost a lot of talent to the majors and graduation. But I think this is better for us. The past few years we've come in as preseason favorites (#1 or close to it in most polls) and haven't lived up to our expectations. Maybe this year we won't be puffed up with the high preseason rankings and instead we'll play with a chip on our shoulder, trying to prove ourselves. As I type this, Clemson has already secured our first win of the season 12-5 over Mercer and are getting ready for the second half of a double header. Though I have to admit that college basketball has my attention at the moment (it's been years since Clemson has been in NCAA talks this late in the year), it's great to hear the ping of those aluminum bats.

BEAUTIFUL Tiger Field- On a sunny spring afternoon, there is no better place in the world.
I got two points.
We played our usual Saturday morning basketball today. I have been a little off as of late. It's hard to live up to the name "Sweet Jesus." Today, with my old friend the Commie back (the one who gave me the nickname to begin with), I found my stroke again. The Commie himself nailed 6 straight 3s at one point, with each one a step further away than the one previous. Then I got in on the action nailing my first 3 attempts from long range. Even the old guy they call Father hit his first 2. It felt great to be hot again. Then, at the end, after a lot of people had left, we ended up with a game of 2 on 3. I was the third guy that got left open at the top of the key. I made 8 straight shots from about the free throw line to put us within two points of the game. I wanted to be the hero and end the game on a three, but I missed my long bomb. So our Turkish friend, who may not have hit a jump shot all day, called for the ball. He said he had two points. When I saw him spotting up from about 4 feet outside the three point line, I was a little skeptical. I tried to get in good rebounding position as he sent it up. It didn't have much arch, it looked ugly from start to finish, but he drained it and we walked away with the win. If you're going to call for it, you've got to make good on it. He did just that.

And Together We Sing
I have been leading worship two or three Sundays a month at church for the last few months. It's been a lot of fun, very rewarding, and a blessing to the church and to myself. It is nice to be able to serve at the church and the church seems to be enjoying my playing. Tonight though, I took another step in my musical career. I helped lead worship at one of our team meetings. The Anti and I prepared a few hymns, a few praise songs, and a few Turkish worship songs to share with the group. It was one of the best worship times we have had as a team, in my opinion. Despite my many differences with the Anti (hence the nickname), I have to say that she has one heck of a voice. It was a great time and hopefully I'll have some pictures to post for you soon.

Bearing Bad News
Lately I've been talking about the difficulties in keeping my mind on things here when going home is slowly but surely creeping up on me. This past week some of us received some unsettling news that could potential affect our ability to stay here physically. I can't divulge the details, but suffice it to say that we are worried about the ability to stay in this city long term. Obviously, for me, it's not that big of a deal at the moment. But others may be effected more by this, and I don't know what the ramifications will be long term. If y'all could be praying for that, I'd appreciate it.