Personally, not much has changed in my world over the last eight days.
Thankful to be alive and for all that I have. I try to do my best not to take it all for granted.
There’s a lot of things that I could comment on.
However, I get weary seeing some of the things that I see on social media; therefore, I’ll just refrain – for the most part.
Generally, I’m not opposed to other people’s opinions, even when I might believe differently, but I’m usually most challenged on how they’re presented.
And, usually, to reduce the stress that I have in my life, I tend to walk away.
Today, of course, was Easter.
I was not on my game, so to speak, for it. However, not as an excuse for that, but I also believe that as a believer that Easter Sunday is really no different than the other 364 (or 365 in 2020) days of the year.
When you wake up tomorrow, Jesus will still have died on the cross for the sins of the world. And it should mean as much tomorrow and the next day that it does today.
Other than the fact that it may be the best opportunity to introduce Jesus Christ to somebody who doesn’t believe.
I also believe that there’s a lot to be said for how we live of our lives in front of those that don’t believe the rest of the year. If it is consistent and real, then we lose that opportunity to have any influence.
I know that over the years there have been things that I’ve done where I’ve lost that chance with somebody to be the person that they see – and then I have to have confidence and faith that there will be somebody else in their lives that they’ll be able to look to to show them the way.
I’ve still been running and walking since my last post.
Over the last eight days I’ve been out every day getting in as few as two miles and as many as 6.65.
My totals for the my current 30-day period are: 35.8 miles running and 53.64 miles walking.
I hope I can make it to 150 combined by the end of day, April 24.
I’ve also been getting my reading mojo back.
The last three years, I’ve read 13, 22 and 79 books, respectively.
This week, I finished off three books.
The first of the three I picked up in the middle of the week. The other two I had started after getting them earlier this year.
They were as follows:
"I'm Glad You Didn't Take It Personally" by Jim Bouton with Leonard Shecter (Finished April 10)
"You Need A Schoolhouse: Booker T. Washington, Julius Rosenwald, and the Building of Schools for the Segregated South" by Stephanie Deutsch (Finished April 11)
"Mind And Matter: A Life In Math and Football" by John Urschel and Louisa Thomas (Finished April 12)
The Jim Bouton book was a sequel to his famous “Ball Four” book, which blew open the doors on what goes on around a major club – and its clubhouse – through the course of a season.
Published in 1970, it covered the former 20-game winner with the Yankees’ 1969 season as the knuckleballer moved many more steps closer to retirement.
It is a 369-page paperback.
I have a copy, which I’m going to try and start chewing off like you’d eat an elephant. Slowly, that is. It is something that I’ve possessed for a long time.
However, “I’m Glad You Didn’t Take It Personally", an equally irreverent tome, is a book that I never knew existed.
It was one of the many books that I carted from Pennsylvania that belonged to my grandfather when I carried things back in early November last year after my grandmother passed away in late June.
Similarly, I was generally aware of Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver, but I never knew in depth about the former.
In an early 2020 copy of Texas Highways magazine (the link if you wish to read it is here), there was a story about a couple of restored Rosenwald schools in Dayton and West Columbia.
It touched on the approach that Washington, one of the more recognized figures among African Americans at the turn of the 20th century, and Julius Rosenwald, a Jew (important to state as he understood how African Americans were repressed after slavery as those of his faith were) whose family had emigrated to America and had become one of the driving forces behind the Sears & Roebuck organization, used to build more than 5,000 Rosenwald schools across the segregated South.
It was a great read in which that I learned about both men and it is a subject matter that I hope to be able to dive in deeper on over the coming year.
I also plan to see one or both of those museums as we slowly start to move to a different normal in our new world dealing with the existing coronavirus pandemic.
Finally, “Mind And Matter: A Life in Math and Football” was about former Penn State and Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman John Urschel and his love for both football and math.
Urschel retired before the start of the 2017 season with one year remaining on his initial NFL contract to begin pursuing a PhD in mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
He is expected to earn his doctorate in 2021.
I have two recent book acquisitions that I hope to finish up this coming week and a third that perhaps I’ll get started on next weekend.
Stay tuned.
Otherwise, there’s not much more here to report on.
Still reading lots of material and listening to interesting podcasts. Just am not trying to capture them to share like I had the last two weeks.
If they were of interest to you, let me know and I can start to share again.
Thanks. God bless you and I hope you and your family are staying safe, healthy – physically and mentally, and generally well.
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