I’m super-pooped tonight for some reason, so tonight, snippets it is.

– UCLA star and potential top pick in the NBA draft has already got a line of basketball shoes ready to sell to his fans. At $495 a pair. Talk about aiming for a target market. Not sure that one exists. I mean, he’s not even in the NBA yet.

– The Cubs beat the Phillies today at a cold Wrigley Field in Chicago, winning an a walkoff error gift run when the Philly shortstop went for a double play on a grounder up the middle- and hucked the ball wide of the first baseman trying to get the second out. Instead of closing the inning with 2 outs, he ended the game when Almora, who was on second, rounded third and saw the ball sail past first base into foul territory. The final was 5-4, ended in the 13th. The Cubs move to 16-12, and with the unusual designation this year as the team giving up the most runs in the first inning, they are also the team to score the most runs in the ninth inning as well, which means they get down early, and find ways to come back. This bodes well for a team with exceptional starters that are each a little off to start the season. But the Cubs still produce runs (2nd highest in the league at 5+ a game), so they come back, and their bullpen holds and saves well. Heyward, who lost his power and pop last year, leads the team in batting average this year. They are just warming up as a team still.

– Tim brought me in a Blake’s burrito for breakfast this morning, which was such a delicious surprise on a morning when I had not ate breakfast.

– I had a flurry of thoughts this morning on politics and Jesus. I put what I could of them into a “stub” (note to self) for a potential post later, but I was reminded that a) I am not a big fan of politics, b) I am also not a big fan of politicians, and c) I am not a big fan of politicals- people who guage the meaning of life by political winds. The question ran through my mind in brief: was Jesus political? “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s”, he says (Mark 12:17). “My kingdom is not of this world”, he says later upon his arrest (John 18:36). They put his charge above his head on a sign on his cross,”King of the Jews” (Matthew 27:37). But was he a politician of his own sort in his ministry and Messianic musings? Is he party building? I was also reminded how goofy and upside down a lot of his teachings are to platforming and party making. The Gospel is purely an inside-out phenomenon, where the Word meets and transforms the human heart through inspiration, and often it is those individuals transformed by truth and love who single-handedly cause shifts in culture and thought that politics can provoke. But I am also jaded. I associate politics with greed and power-grabbing in a closed system of limited resources, where leaders depend on fear and identification to gain might. Or, as I put it earlier, “politics is the art of plying power from polarization.” Christ was about people. Politics is about ideology and party interests. Politicians throw people into categories and use group A as an argument against idea A, and group B as an argument for idea B. Painting with a broad brush- “all or nothing” thinking- is a cognitive distortion. “All-or-nothing thinking is one of many negative thought processes, known as cognitive distortions, that are common among people with anxiety and depression. When thinking in all-or-nothing terms, a person splits their views into extremes.”Jesus approached each person as a unique complex individual. I am broadly conservative in my interests and positions related to morality and government and social conventions and fiscal policies, but those beliefs are mine, and are not held or held up so I can be lumped into one side or an other. I am still amazed when I see some of my church friends become dogmatic and defensive when political topics are raised on social media. Politics is inherently deficient for the Christian- there is no Kingdom of Heaven in this world except in the community of the disciples (the church, the fellowship of the committed Christ followers). Worldly governments are temporal and focus faulty human leadership on myopic and parochial interests. Your Christianity is compromised if your practice of it is hedged by your political penchants. Whether you embrace Left or Right, both ideological bents arc toward error in a fallen world where Christ’s indwelling is absent. Any political system left to its own devices, helmed by the wealth-and-power-thirsty, will ultimately cannibalize its constituency and collapse in corruption. If you say you are a follower of Christ but you are more interested in defending your party than practicing charity, your politics are more important to you than your piety.

– I had dinner with my folks tonight after they got back last night from their week long trip with my brother and his family, and his wife’s parents, in Florida. They had a great time- they stayed in a nice rental in Orlando, visited Universal Studios one day, watched a rocket launch at the Cape, visited sites familiar with both my dad and my brother from their periods spent at NASA, got in some sunburning and sea swimming at local beaches, ate alligator and lots of junk food, and just got to enjoy being together for a week as family, grandparents and grandkids, and kids. I am glad they had a great trip all together, and that my parents returned safely.

My highlight was hearing that at the airport near the time of their departure, my brother’s family gave my mom and dad hugs. After my niece gave my mom a hug, she then told my mom she would hug her again, but this time, she was supposed to give that to Uncle Bruce- and she game mom another big old hug.

Hearing that made my eyes tear up at dinner, and I did my best to keep the moisture from rolling down my cheeks.

– I am thankful tonight for grace, the inward workings of God in people, family, forgiveness, the bigness of life, barbers, Ron Jon Surf Shop, the swings on curve balls in the dirt, second chances, and sleep.