The Prodigal God, The Text

The place to begin blogging through Timothy Keller's "The Prodigal God" is where he begins, obviously. That place is the text from Luke 15:11-32.

Here it is from the English Standard Version:

And he (Jesus) said, "There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.' And he divided his property between them. Not many day later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

"But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be call your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.'" And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate.

"Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.' But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, 'Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!' And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'"

When I think of this story, it reminds me of my dad. Once dad had gone on some church-related "retreat"-like event. When he returned he brought gifts for my younger sister, my brother and me. I don't remember what Patricia got, but David and I were given books. On book was, as you can guess, The Prodigal Son. The other one was David and Goliath. I was standing there when Dad took the books out and I immediately claimed the David and Goliath book. I knew that story and liked it, but I had no idea what the other book was about. Dad said the David and Goliath book was for my brother because I already knew that story. Dad wanted me to have the book about the Prodigal Son. I remember being mildly disappointed, but I received the book he gave me. Soon thereafter I became familiar with the Prodigal Son and was happy to have that book instead of the one I thought I wanted.

My father knew just what to bring me.

The first post in this series.

What This Election Is About

Realigning Baseball According to Class

Something that people are always going on about concerning baseball is the perceived competitive imbalance in the two leagues. I say perceived because the last time we had a champion that successfully defended it's title was the Yankees about 10 years ago. Granted, it seems the participants in the post-season is a fairly static group and the same could be said about the teams who are clearly non-contenders in a given season.

Steve Phillips, former Mets executive has proposed a unique solution that deserves some discussion. His idea is to realign the baseball divisions by payrolls. To do that a number of traditions and assumptions go by the wayside, but I think it might be OK, and this is coming from a traditionalist.

Usually when you trade your problems away you wind up getting a new set of problems in return. I think that's what would happen here. Although there would be some fresh blood being able to compete, I think some teams, like the Tigers and the White Sox, accustomed to winning would find themselves trailing the Yankees and the Red Sox.

Still, it's an interesting idea that deserves some consideration in my view.

Dorrel Norman Elvert Herzog, Hall of Famer

You know him better as Whitey.

Here's a good article from ESPN.

UPDATE: Just watched Whitey's induction speech at MLB.com and it was a lot of fun, but I wish he had told more stories about Casey Stengel and talked about the good teams he had.

Bernie Miklasz of the Post-Dispatch has a nice tribute here.

Spurgeon on God's Sovereignty

I read this today and it did my soul good.

"There is no attribute more comforting to (God's) children than that of (His) Sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe trials, they believe that Sovereignty has ordained their afflictions, that Sovereignty overrules them, and that Sovereignty will sanctify them all. There is nothing for which the children ought more earnestly to contend than the doctrine of their Master over all creation - the Kingship of God over all the works of His own hands - the Throne of God and His right to sit upon that Throne. On the other hand, there is no doctrine more hated by worldings, no truth of which they have made such a football, as the great, stupendous, but yet most certain doctrine of the Sovereignty of the infinite Jehovah. Men will allow God to be everywhere except on His throne. They will allow Him to be in His workshop to fashion worlds and make stars. They will allow Him to be in His almonry to dispense His alms and bestow His bounties. They will allow Him to sustain the earth and bear up the pillars thereof, or light the lamps of heaven, or rule the waves of the ever-moving ocean; but when God ascends His throne, His creatures then gnash their teeth. And we proclaim an enthroned God, and His right to do as He wills with His own, to dispose of His creatures as He thinks well, without consulting them in the matter; then it is we are hissed and execrated, and then it is that men turn a deaf ear to us, for God on His throne is not the God they love. But it is God upon the throne we love to preach. It is God upon His throne whom we trust." - Charles Spurgeon

Cool Image of the Moment

The Charlotte Checkers play in the American Hockey League and are affiliated with the NHL's Carolina Panthers.

Typically the Checkers colors are red and black, like the parent organization. This version is called 'Go Green' and I can only guess it has some environmental application.

Whatever it is for, it looks great!

And that is the point.

Image from Chris Creamer's sportslogos.net.

The Prodigal God

I recently read "The Prodigal God" by Timothy Keller. It is, as you might imagine, about the parable of Jesus as recorded in Luke 15 that we know commonly as "The Prodigal Son."

However Keller does not treat the parable in the way we commonly understand it, or have heard it preached and so the title of the book gives us a clue that surprises are in store.

I don't want to give it all away at this point, but I will say that this book made an impact on me as I read it and not just for a different look at the parable, but for what a difference that difference makes in our understanding of what Jesus was teaching.

The book was sent to me by a vendor after he told me how impacted he was by it. My pastor has also commented on what a remarkable work it is. I recommend it to you.

And to whet your appetite, I will post some excerpts here at Central Standard in the days ahead. I'm looking forward to going through "The Prodigal God" one more time.

9th Inning

You can almost taste it. The NL has to get 3 more outs to win the All Star Game. It's been a long time.

After a quiet top half of the inning, the bottom half explodes when David Ortiz singled sharply to start. Right away we wonder if A Rod will come off the bench. No. Adrian Beltre stands in, strikes out and sits down. Pitcher Jonathan Broxton, whose facial hair reminds me of old Dodger Mike Marshall (right), gets Buck to dink one into right. Byrd comes in but can't catch it. Ortiz had to wait to see if it was caught, gets thrown out at second by Byrd. What a big play. Probably turned the inning around. Ian Kinsler flies to center and it is over.

Your All Star Game winner is the National League and it's about time.

I haven't seen the results but my guess would be that Brian McCann is the MVP.

I'm going to bed.

8th Inning

Scott Rolen hit again this inning. Man, I miss him, what a terrific hitter. There's a reason why those Cardinals of '04 and '06 won two pennants and a World Series while having a dangerous offense. A big part of that reason is playing third base for the Cincinnati Reds these days.

NL 3, AL 1

7th Inning, Wainright Edition

I forgot to report on the bottom of the 7th, but this will just give me an opportunity to highlight St. Louis' Adam Wainright who pitched it.

He came in blazing, striking out Nick Swisher on a sharp curve. He looked to be 'on' tonight from what I could see. John Buck hit a deep fly that went off Holliday's glove in left - probably should have been caught. I wondered if this was going to come back to bite the NL. Kinsler next, walks, bringing up Vernon Wells. Oh boy . . . .

Wells grounds slowly to short and Kinsler is forced at second.

Torii Hunter strikes out, and that's all she wrote. Good job out of Wainright.

NL 3, AL 1

7th Inning

With one out in the 7th, the National League gets something going. Scott Rolen, former Cardinal, singles to center. He's followed by current Cardinal Matt Holliday, obtained largely because LaRussa got rid of Rolen, who singles to center and Rolen manages to get to third. Chris Young delivers a pop out, bringing Marlon Byrd to the plate.

Yes, the fate of the National League in the hands of a Cub.

But he walks! The bases are loaded for McCann who scorches a bases-clearing double into right putting the NL up 3-1!

This is a big moment. Not only has the NL been winless since '96, but the last four year the AL has posted come from behind one-run wins. It's been brutal. Maybe the time has come.

NL 3, AL 1

6th Inning

One of the reasons that I'm so far behind the game is that the Pregame entry took so long to write. Too many commercials that didn't last very long and too much time taken on things I didn't really want to write about.

The sixth is pretty uneventful. Adrian Gonzalez' swing reminds me of Keith Hernandez.

I've got TV issues. The picture is going out I think. It's been acting up all weekend. I've only had this one 10 years or so. We used to have 20 and 30 year old TVs just go and go. This one is a Panasonic and is pooped after 10. I'm just glad I didn't pay for it.

AL 1, NL 0

5th Inning

I understand that somebody's giving me grief on Facebook because I'm about three inning behind the game on my Live Blog. All I can say is you can't rush quality.

National League lets a scoring opportunity get by after two hits gave them runners on first and third with one out. The Giant Leprechaun swings and misses a ball outside for the second out and Brian McCann flies to right to end it.

The AL takes advantage when Longoria walks and the Twins Joe Mauer chops one to the pitcher who promptly threw it to Disneyland putting runners at first and third. Robinson Cano hits a sacrifice fly to left and the AL is on the board.

AL 1, NL 0

4th Inning

Pujols had another at bat, but came up empty, striking out.

In the bottom of the fourth, Ryan Braun makes a tremendous diving catch in left. It was the kind of catch that a guy might back off of in an exhibition game. Good for him.

0-0