A little bit of rambling

I try to pull off being a pretty structured guy, hence, my blogs usually have one main point followed my various subpoints, but the truth be known, my life is not always all that pretty. My days have been flying by over the past six weeks filled with many things that aren't always connected or structured, so here goes. This blog will serve a few purposes:

1) I have not done much blogging over the last six weeks, so this will allow for a little reflection
2) I want to talk about a bunch of things - the Astros, things I'm learning in school, my own struggles, etc.- so instead of having five or six blogs, I can be lazy and just have one!
3) Hopefully through whatever it said God can get more glory and you all can see how worthless I am.
4) My good friends Jason Kates and Travis Cardwell are kicking my tail in blog outputs, so I must step it up!

The Astros
For anyone tired of hearing about the good guys, I'm sorry. This is just exciting. It is fun to root these guys on and I feel confident about a trip to the World Series and a World Series ring. These guys epitomize what a team really is. If you look at all of the games, no one person stands out. The big names, Roger Clemens and Roy Oswalt, along with the lesser known names, Chris Burke, Mike Lamb, Chad Qualls, etc. are all doing their part. Sports have become a god in our culture and that is very dangerous ground, but there are still positives that can be gleaned from the sporting world. Just as 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12 talk about the church as a body and each member being important, the Astros are a great analogy to this body. They simply would not be in this position has ANY member not done his part. We should be encouraged and seek to use our gifts for the benefit of the church.

SWBTS
I am in my last year (God-willing) of seminary and it has been a great and terrible four years. I have learned a lot. Met some true friends and great professors. I have also become worn out and very cold at times. I have to be honest. I usually read the Bible LESS and pray LESS during my school semesters. It doesn't make sense, but it just happens. I end up reading a bunch of books really fast and writing a few papers really fast and hoping that some of it sticks. God has grown me during this time, but I continually need His grace. Not all days or weeks are bad, often I leave a class encouraged and fired up or I read a book that really challenges my faith. It has just been a mixture of good and bad.

I am taking a Systematic Theology class and this was said today. "Theology is not about making true statements, it's about changing us!" Yes, we need to make true statements, but the truth needs to be applied in our life. I have become good at making good grades in school and learning some right things to say, but it is not always lived out in my life. The goal of seminary, time in the Word, Church, books, a beautiful sunset, or whatever should make us more like Christ. That is it. (I needed to hear that daily)

Updates
This will be a brief section on all that is going on with my family and me, for those interested.

• My sister and her husband(Becky and Brent) are expecting twins around April 15, 2006!
• My brother (Mike) is engaged to his fiancee Megan and they are getting hitched November 19, 2005 in North Carolina.
• My older brother (Herb) is a professor in York, England. He knows everything there is to know about Economics, so direct those questions to him!
• My parents just bought a new house about 3 miles down Champions Forest drive.
• My dad retired a few months ago! Congrats Dad!
• I am back with my girlfriend, Stephenie, and working at Texas State Bank and finishing school at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. I also play softball and flag football when allowed!

Confessions

Part of the reason the blogs have slowed is because I have become really lazy. My school work has been placed on the back burner, regular work outs and running have just about ceased, and daily prayer and Bible Study have all slowed down. Maybe this is the wrong place to have public confession, but I sure don't want people thinking that because I blog on spiritual things that I have it all down. I need God's grace daily and lately I have been sputtering around living selfishly. What satisfies Billy temporarily. I don't want to stay in this state, so hopefully I can repent and seek to walk in the Spirit as much as possible. God is wholly good and His glory is always worth more than my selfish endeavors. I want to give God my whole life - body, money, thoughts, time, affections, goals, etc. He deserves them, so my prayer is to agree with Paul that nothing good, outside of Christ, is in me, and I need more grace, more God, and less Billy.

Blessings to all in this journey together . . .