This past Saturday night I watched the NBA All-Star weekend events from New Orleans, Louisiana. NBA All-Star weekend is filled with great events that ends with the worst basketball game of the year where there is absolutely no defense played whatsoever. I could care less about the game but I do like watching the three point shootout and especially the slam dunk contest. I will admit that in recent years the slam dunk contest has become just a repeat of the year before and I had somewhat lost interest. But this one was unbelievable. Dwight Howard is the 6'11" 265 pound power foward of the Orlando Magic. This guy put on a show. At 6'11" he's already closer to the rim than most people but his jumping ability puts him in another deminision. His dunks were creative and spectacular. Definitely worth a search of the video if you missed it on Saturday night.
No doubt millions of young boys were watching the events of the weekend and now millions will try to imitate his dunks on their 6 foot goals in the backyard. All of them will want to be Dwight Howard just like my generation wanted to be Dr. J 25 years ago.
Athletes have become the heroes of our day. We have made them such by the ridiculous salaries we pay them to play games. Jason Kidd has been rumored to be coming to the Dallas Mavericks in a trade. Jason Kidd makes $19 million a year and is scheduled to make $21 million next year. Jason Kidd's salary this year would fund the entire budget of my church for over 5 years! That includes all of the expenses we incure including supporting missionaries, paying the salaries of over 100 people, building costs, ministry budgets, helping people in need and dozens of other things. Don't get me wrong I'm all for Jason Kidd making however much money he can. If that is what he can demand for his services, more power to him. That is the power of Capitalism in action.
But the thing that bothers me is that we have created a culture in which our young people look to these high paid athletes to find their heroes. Most athletes make pretty good role models. For every athlete that gets arrested for bad conduct there are a dozen who give of themselves to help people in the community and present themselves in a honorble way. But we need to point our kids to the real heroes. Men like Justin Monschke who lost his life fighting for his country in Iraq in October 2007. Or men like Shane Kizer, a Denton Police officer pictured in the Denton Record Chronicle comforting a young boy whose father had kidnapped him and brought him to Denton.
These men and women are the real heroes our young people need to want to be like. They don't make millions of dollars like the athletes, they don't play in front of millions of fans and get mobbed every time they go out in public. Instead they make our world a safer and better place to live in. Let's point out kids to the real heroes of our day!
Monday, February 18, 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Six Months to Major Change
It has just been in the last few weeks that it has hit me. In six months there will be a major change at the Williams household. Sometime in the first couple of weeks of August this year, Ryan Taylor Williams will no longer be a full time resident at the Williams' house. On June 6th of this year Ryan will graduate from Billy Ryan High School and in August he will be off to college, hopefully at Texas A&M University. Now I know that millions of fathers have done this before me and most if not all have survived. But yours truely has never done this!
A couple of weeks ago Tami and I were lying in bed talking and I said to her, you know that in seven months he's going to be gone. She said what? I said you know that in seven months Ryan will be gone! She said, "I don't want to talk about it." So we didn't! Needless to say Tami and I are not looking forward with great anticipation to that day. But while we are not looking forward to it we are quite proud of the transition that will take place.
Like all of you who are parents, I still remember the day Ryan was born at Baylor hospital in Dallas, Texas. What a great place to be born! I remember how proud I was to go out and tell all our family that I had a son. He was born on Wednesday and that Sunday we watched our first Dallas Cowboys football game together, I don't remember if the Cowboys won or not but I do remember Ryan wore his Cowboys socks! From that day to this one Ryan has been nothing but a blessing to Tami and me.
I remember when Ryan and Alyssa were young, worrying that they might turn out to be "typical Preacher's kids." You know the type, rebellious, hating church because their Dad's work too much and don't pay enough attention to them. Many of them drop out of church the moment they leave home and don't return for years. I had seen examples of that and I was determined not to let that happen with my children. Preachers' kids have it tough, and anyone who is not one has no idea the pressures and expectations put on them. Having said that I am so thankful for First Baptist Church in Pleasanton and especially for over 10 years now First Baptist Church Denton that my children love their church. Never once have I had to tell my children "you are going to church" they have always wanted to, even sometimes when I didn't want to go! In fact when I'm on vacation and we are in town, Tami and I want to visit other churches, but not my kids they want to go to "Their Church." Wow! I couldn't have asked for more than that!
Its' because of the churches that God has privileged me to pastor that Ryan will leave home this August with the strong spiritual foundation he will. It's my prayer he will continue to build upon that foundation for the next four years in college and I firmly believe he will.
Ryan is the finest young man I know. He is intelligent, good-looking, he has a caring heart and a great sense of where he is heading in life. Right now I don't want to think about the change coming this August but I couldn't be more proud and thankful for the Godly young man he has become. We are in for some major change with him leaving home. Those of you who have sent your kids to college know what I'm talking about. We will make the change just like we have others in the past, but I'll be honest with you, I'm really not looking forward to it!
A couple of weeks ago Tami and I were lying in bed talking and I said to her, you know that in seven months he's going to be gone. She said what? I said you know that in seven months Ryan will be gone! She said, "I don't want to talk about it." So we didn't! Needless to say Tami and I are not looking forward with great anticipation to that day. But while we are not looking forward to it we are quite proud of the transition that will take place.
Like all of you who are parents, I still remember the day Ryan was born at Baylor hospital in Dallas, Texas. What a great place to be born! I remember how proud I was to go out and tell all our family that I had a son. He was born on Wednesday and that Sunday we watched our first Dallas Cowboys football game together, I don't remember if the Cowboys won or not but I do remember Ryan wore his Cowboys socks! From that day to this one Ryan has been nothing but a blessing to Tami and me.
I remember when Ryan and Alyssa were young, worrying that they might turn out to be "typical Preacher's kids." You know the type, rebellious, hating church because their Dad's work too much and don't pay enough attention to them. Many of them drop out of church the moment they leave home and don't return for years. I had seen examples of that and I was determined not to let that happen with my children. Preachers' kids have it tough, and anyone who is not one has no idea the pressures and expectations put on them. Having said that I am so thankful for First Baptist Church in Pleasanton and especially for over 10 years now First Baptist Church Denton that my children love their church. Never once have I had to tell my children "you are going to church" they have always wanted to, even sometimes when I didn't want to go! In fact when I'm on vacation and we are in town, Tami and I want to visit other churches, but not my kids they want to go to "Their Church." Wow! I couldn't have asked for more than that!
Its' because of the churches that God has privileged me to pastor that Ryan will leave home this August with the strong spiritual foundation he will. It's my prayer he will continue to build upon that foundation for the next four years in college and I firmly believe he will.
Ryan is the finest young man I know. He is intelligent, good-looking, he has a caring heart and a great sense of where he is heading in life. Right now I don't want to think about the change coming this August but I couldn't be more proud and thankful for the Godly young man he has become. We are in for some major change with him leaving home. Those of you who have sent your kids to college know what I'm talking about. We will make the change just like we have others in the past, but I'll be honest with you, I'm really not looking forward to it!
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