Game Time

It's back!

After the summer layoff, the National Basketball Association has officially kicked off the 2012-2013 season.

Opening night was last night - the reigning champs Miami Heat received their rings and began their quest to defend their title. They started the season with a win by beating their long time and once nemesis Boston Celtics in a chippy game... Love seeing passion and emotion from the first game!

I have loved following the NBA since my teenage years, so when a new season rolls around, I get excited ;)

Interested? Checkout out the place where I get most of my NBA news - ESPN (below)

NBA Home - ESPN

Your Steadfast Love

My good buddy Tom has been preaching on God's attributes. Recently, he talked about God's infinitude, and placed God's great love in that context. The truth hasn't left me...

God is infinite.

God is love.

His love is infinite.

There is no end to our God, His power, His majesty, His wisdom... His love. Our infinite God is infinitely loving. There is no end to His love. You cannot exhaust it.

I almost can't believe it. Then I read...

"Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds."

Believe it. Thank you Jesus.

This song is running through my head tonight, I'm so thankful for His love...

Big Sandy

Wowza. The largest hurricane over the past quarter century.

Hurricane Sandy may be a post-tropical storm now, but it's effects are still being felt, and it's unclear just how far-reaching the storm will be.

Even as far inland as we are from the storm, we are still affected. Right now the wind is howling outside, with some pretty strong wind gusts. Its been cold and rainy, a stark change from last week's beautiful sunshine.

Check out below for maps and updates on the storm.

Be safe, we will be praying for those on the east coast.

The Weather Channel

Sunday Afternoon Coffee

What a wonderful day...

Great service at The Chapel of Somerset. It was a timely word that my friend and brother Larry Meece shared today - the Father heart of God. It's what I needed to hear with what God has been speaking to me lately.

Followed by an easygoing afternoon consisting of...

picking up our local eggs and honey, "leftover" lunch, chess with my son, mark off a few To Do's, peruse the paper with a hot cup of yummy caramel coffee, delicious omelet dinner from my beautiful wife, Wii, bedtime prayers, all ending with some laughs with Liz...

So thankful for moments and days like this.

Time to pack it in for the night. Big day tomorrow - may the Lord live His life through me.

You never know what might happen with God ordering our days.

Blessings...

The Common Good

Love this... Another reminder of just how much we need each other.

A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. http://bible.us/1Cor12.7.NLT

Vista Love

There is only one magazine that I subscribe to - Backpacker.

There is something about hitting the back country with your gear, map, and a heart full of anticipation for the adventure ahead.

I love maps, beautiful vistas, fresh air, mountain peaks, forest trails, and the sense of newness and excitement that hiking brings.

Whenever I get my current Backpacker magazine, I love searching for local trails, scoping out the latest gear, checking out the inspiring images from God's creation, and reading the interesting articles.

The pic above is from "The High Life" article in the November issue.

If you love the outdoors, I encourage you! Get out more often, and, get yourself the Backpacker magazine

My Tweeps

Up until recently, I had kind of dropped off the "social networks" of my life. I haven't really utilized Facebook for months, maybe, but I even lost interest in "tweeting," my most used social networking tool.

I'm not really sure if either has added any value to my life, but they are a neat way (or sometimes obsessive way) to keep up with friends.

I had really enjoyed Twitter for a time, yet it lost some of its value in that most my friends didn't use it. It seems much of Twitter's draw and fun-factor comes with it's ability to help you interact with friends/tweeps.

All this to say, I have had a rejuvenated desire to tweet lately, and I am hoping to increase my interaction with my tweeps (twitter peeps) this time around.

So check me out, follow me at twitter.com/jfollman. Would love to catch up with you both here at my blog, as well as in the world of "tweets!"

What Does Love Look Like?

http://bible.us/Prov3.12.ESV for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.

Say "CHEEESE"

You can probably tell where we spent part of our afternoon today, visiting Chuck E. Cheese!

The kids of course always have a blast there, and, we were able to capture this wonderful moment with all the kids together (along with their beautiful and hilarious expressions!).

PS, take note of the purple dinosaur sneaking his way into our family photo! Ha!

Tough Mudder

We did it.

My Dad, my two brothers and I are officially "Tough Mudders."

We have the aches, pains and scars to prove it.

Never heard of it? Just Google it, then give it a shot :)

Go Time

All I can say is...

Kentucky: Sat Oct 20 & Sun Oct 21, 2012 | Tough Mudder

Here we come!

Powerless

I shared the scripture Colossians 1:29 yesterday. It seems that as I have become more emptied of myself, have less control of my life, have fewer answers on things, etc... the more I sense God's strength and power in me.

The more I run out of my solutions and efforts, the more His energy and efforts empower me.

It's just that... it's so hard to let go of that control! :/ By nature I want to know how things will be, have the plan and all the answers. But it seems more and more that I am being stripped of those false comforts (or illusions of control), so that all that remains is me throwing up my hands in total surrender.

But that's when it happens...

His strength increases. His power is made perfect in weakness. His strength works in me as I live in surrender.

So I boast in my lack of answers. I boast in my weakness. If I can feel his energy and passion in me through my falling short, so be it.

I would much rather Him living HIS life through me!

His Power

How I've felt lately...

http://bible.us/Col1.29.ESV For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

Passenger

God is writing His story. As a follower and a bond-slave of His, I have the wonderful privilege of allowing Him to write His story through me.

It requires surrender. Complete surrender.

Surrender isn't natural to my flesh, as I by nature want to keep control. But through surrender, God becomes the director of my day.

And He makes a much better director than I do.

Time to get out of the driver's seat.

Game Over

PC girls soccer is done for the year... Great season ladies!! Proud of each of you!

Devotion(als)

My wife and I have discussed reading a devotional together each day as a way to build into our relationship. I love our marriage but we are always looking to get better.

We found a couple online daily devotionals on crosswalk.com, including the one below.

Moments with You Couples Devotionals

Regardless of whether we use this devotional or a different one (and I did like this one), I am loving the precious time I get to spend with my beautiful bride :)

Happy 3rd!

A BIG shout out to my little buddy Judah... He's 3 today!

Daddy loves you Judah!!

Peace

He makes peace in your borders; he fills you with the finest of the wheat. http://bible.us/Ps147.14.ESV

When God is the director of your steps, it brings peace to your life.

Champs II

I guess this will replace the runner-up trophy from last year ;)

Champs!

The Lady PC Maroons took care of business and got a little revenge against their cross town rival and team that beat them in the district championship last year - the Somerset Briar Jumpers.

I was concerned about our girls coming out flat, but they put the pedal to the metal and got hungrier as the game went on. In the end, we were crowned district champions after a sound 9-0 victory.

Of course, the district championship couldn't have been played without champion ball boys and girls... my kids did a great job! Good work you two!!

Why We Play

This is why we play...

I grew up playing soccer. I loved the game and loved to play anytime I could. The best moments were the big games, under the lights, against good competition.

It's what its all about. The preparation, the jitters, warming up... game time. Leaving it all out on the field.

My wife made lasagna for the girls today. It was a great team bonding moment (and the food was awesome!) Tomorrow, the have an opportunity to right the wrong from last year - to beat Somerset in the district championship.

Lights on. Game time.

The Board is Set

Last year, the Lady Maroons soccer team was defeated in the district championship by the Somerset Briar Jumpers. The loss came after beating Somerset soundly earlier in the season.

Here we are again.

2012 Kentucky High School Girls Soccer

We are officially set to play Somerset in the district championship, and after we defeated them earlier in the season, Somerset would love to upend any plans Pulaski County has of being district champions, just like they did last year.

Soccer drama. Sports drama... Love it!

GO MAROONS!!

Tuned In?

Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding. http://bible.us/Prov2.2.NLT

Man, woman, or child...

What are your ears tuned to?

Trilogy Time

Liz and I are finally getting a chance to finish our semi-annual viewing of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I've been so whooped by the end of the week that I usually don't make it to even the start of the movie. A little sleep last night and a cup of coffee has me ready to roll tonight!

We started to watch the movies back in July-ish, and we're just finishing the Fellowship... Hopefully we'll finish by the time The Hobbit comes out this December!

"So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for us to decide. All you have to decide is what to do with the time that's been given to you." - Gandalf

Week Ahead Outlook

Our regular season is done. It's on to playoffs and the discrict tournament, yahoo!

The upcoming weather? Perfect for soccer :)

Bed Time

Sixteen hour day coming to a close...

So thankful I love what I do (and that these extra long days don't come around all the time :)

...zzzzzzz

Inspiration and Desperation

<p>&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;In life you need either inspiration or desperation. &lt;/i&gt;Tony Robbins.&lt;/p&gt;<br>
&lt;p&gt;Or both.&lt;/p&gt;<br>
&lt;p&gt;We are entering the final stages of our soccer season. The Pulaski County girls soccer team has a couple more regular season games and then begins the district tournament. The girls soccer team has never won the district tournament, and we have a great opportunity to do that this year.</p>
<p>Last year, the girls got complacent - soundly beating Somerset in the regular season, only to fall to them in the tournament championship.</p>
<p>The stage is set again this year.</p>
<p>We had a convincing win against them in the regular season, and more than likely, they will get past the first round to meet us in the championship game next week.</p>
<p>If we are not careful, we'll forget it was a 0-0 game with Somerset at the half... We'll forget the close breakaway that could have put them up on us in that game... We'll forget what they did to us last year.

One of my jobs as a coach is to help inspire and light fires of desperation in the team.

Hopefully, both happens.

ALL

And this same God who takes care on  me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. http://bible.us/Phil4.19.NLT

Wow. ALL your needs.

And it' s been given to us in Christ.

United Bates of America

My wife recently downloaded from Amazon the shows from the United Bates of America, a show documenting the life of the Bates family of Lake City, TN, one of America's largest families.

I enjoyed the show I watched (episode 1), though it had a different feel from the show of their good friends, the Duggars. The Duggars show seems a little more refined, which isn't necessarily a knock on the Bates. In fact, I feel the authenticity and genuineness and real-ness of the Bates was apparent.

Through the course of changing jobs over the summer, I was able to visit the Bates family as I considered starting an outdoor business, specifically a tree trimming business. As I spent time with them, their real-ness and genuine heart for the Lord and other people shown through, just as it did on the episode. The Bates are the real deal...

So anyway, I'm looking forward to watching some more episodes, hopefully in the near future!