Football in Texas

I love football. I love softball and baseball, but honestly…there is just something about football.

Maybe I love football because my childhood babysitter was a cheerleader. I practiced with her maroon and gold pompoms on Saturday nights when our parents were eating prime rib at the country club. I never minded at all that they dressed up and went out, because she was my friend and my favorite cheerleader.  She was my cheerleader and still is in a way. 

I dreamed of being an Eagle cheerleader on the sidelines doing “Two Bits, Four Bits” and I tried with all of my might to master a toe touch. That never happened, but I could do a herkie for try-outs in 7^th grade.  I wore a gold polo shirt with royal blue wind shorts.  The polo on my shirt matched my shorts perfectly.

Maybe I love football because I'm a Texas girl. Somethings just go together with Texas like chicken fried steak goes with gravy.  Here in the Lone Star State you can bet on:  big hair, Dallas Cowboys, Gary P. Nunn, Cadillac convertibles with longhorns, and cowboy boots.  Football also runs through our veins just like the Brazos River runs through Waco.

When I was diagnosed with cancer many years ago, my golden group of friends first had to see me in person to know I was ok.  We met for lunch in a seafoam green dining room on Watson Street.  After they knew my prognosis was positive, they quickly inquired about what would happen to my hair. We Texas girls love our hair!  We also adored the familiar chandelier we sat under as we ate our sandwiches.  The gigantic subs were perfect!  For a moment, we were perfect too.  Friendship is perfect.

Thank the LORD, I beat cancer and my hair grew back after six months of chemotherapy and fifteen days of radiation. Frequent trips to the beauty salon still keep me blonde. With a hot curling iron, hot rollers, and some good hairspray, my hair can still be big.  Texas is big!  Football is big!

Maybe I love football because my high school years were built around football.  I can still feel the air in Jacksonville and Huntsville back in the day.  Fridays were everything. It began with the pep rallies in the afternoons and ended in the early hours of the next morning.  Those were the days! 

Perhaps I love football because it unites our community.  Some march, some cheer, some twirl.  Willing concession stand workers report to duty early to get the nacho cheese just right.  Stores stock spirit wear and pay to have their windows painted.  Why Not?

The metal bleachers may be scorching hot in August and September, but we still plop down on them and gladly bake ourselves just like cornbread bakes itself in a hot, iron skillet. Texas is hot!

November slowly rolls around and we give thanks for the cooler weather, changing colors, and our many blessings from above.  Giving thanks is the key to life!

When the cold finally blows in, we tote in blankets and thermoses to the freezing and sometimes even icy metal bleachers.  We rob instant hand warmers from our deer stands to keep us warm.  My girls and I love to wear Uggs on our feet and toboggans on our heads.

I love football because my husband does and my boys do too.  My hubby is obviously done with his playing days, but still calls plays from the stands and knows way more than I ever will. 

My boys drink milk, work outside in the summer heat on purpose, and do everything they can to earn their spot under the Thursday or Friday nights.  They just want to be a part of something bigger!      

It's more than just a game and it dawned on me recently that it's more than just the “Friday Night Lights.”

The stadium lights on Friday night are just the beginning. 

It's the sunlight on a humid July morning when the players pull out of the parking lot in their pick-up trucks, but the coaches stay late to line the fields. 

It's the moonlight that's still glowing when young men crawl out of bed for the optional morning workouts.

It’s the sunlight just beginning to peak through in the sky when old men gather in coffee shops to gossip about how they reckon the year is going to pan out.   

It's the night lights and lamps that never seem to take a rest in homes where coaches draw out plays, principals work on schedules, teachers grade papers, and boys scramble to complete their homework just before it is due.

It's the headlights of cars pulling out of towns on Thursday and Friday nights praying for safe travels to and from away games.

It's the classroom lights across the many schools in Texas, which we hope and pray remain open with more state funding cuts, because you got to pass to play!  Education does come first.

It's a rented or borrowed disco light that transform gyms or cafeterias into a dance floors on homecoming night.  I still remember that …

It's the bonfire lights during Homecoming week in towns that have not carelessly blown their chances of having one.  (We blew it.)

It’s the front porch light that Moms keep on until their sons get home safely on Friday and Saturday nights.  We wait and we pray that our precious boys make it home.  (I never got this until I was a Mom.) 

It’s the front porch light that Dads keep on to insure their daughters get walked straight to the door by their dates.  They wait and they load their guns.  (This is Texas, folks.)

I am told…It’s getting your lights knocked out, breath knocked out, but knowing your buddies are staring over you with an outstretched hand ready to pull you up and slap you on the butt before the next play begins.  Get up, get up!  We gotta have you.

It’s the lights in pastel painted and dinosaur themed bedrooms that coaches’ wives turn off when they tuck kids into bed alone and pray for their Daddies to get home safely on the bus.  They know Daddy is a coach and has to do laundry before he can come home. 

It’s the light in a daughter’s eye when she ponders her Dad’s legacy…he did not run a company or make a million, but he coached high school football, and she is proud!  Her Daddy is now in heaven.  She misses him.  Her husband is a coach. Her brother is too.  His legacy continues.  The light in her eyes does still shines too.

It’s the bright lights in the emergency room when a hand needs to be examined after a helmet gets the best of it.  We pray for the x ray and for a good, true report. 

It's the light and sparkle in a young man’s eyes when his mom and dad are nowhere to be found after the loss, but he looks up to his coach and says “Yes Sir, I gave it my all.”

I don't know much about positions or plays on the football field, but I know that being a part of a team is one of the most valuable experiences we can have in life. 

I know that in football, because I just confirmed with my boys, that there are 12 players on the field at a time and that each one must do their part and give 100% or the team fails. 

Football is not an individual sport.  Likewise, life is not an individual sport. 

Here’s to another year of “Friday Night Lights” in this great state.

May the light shine on us all!

The beds

Last Friday, when our baseball and softball games were cancelled, I got a “bee in my bonnet” so to speak.  I picked up my crew at school and headed home to accomplish something I had put off forever…I mean forever!  The top item on my agenda was to flip two of our mattresses.  Mattress maintenance needs a sticker like oil changes have or phone call reminders like six month dental check-ups offer out of courtesy to remind us when it is time. 

Flipping the mattress is as important as both, but often avoided around here at the Monico household.  Maybe it is just us….

My hubby and I are in need of a new mattress, but have put off shopping for one.  There are so many choices, options, and other things to spend money on.   It also seems overwhelming; therefore, our mattress needed a flip.  It was not the only one.  Blaise, the youngest of my kiddos, often likes for me to lay down with her.  I have noticed for a few weeks that I have been sliding over her way when we cuddle  to talk.  She was in need of a flip job too. 

Friday we got the job done. It only took Bosque and me.  We manhandled the mattresses like professionals and had them flipped and ready to go in no time. The result:  better rest!  My bed is totally different.  I have slept so well the past few days.  Blaise’s bed is the same.  It feels like a new mattress. 

My only lingering thought is…why did we wait so long?  The mattresses could have been flipped earlier and I would have not lost sleep over aching joints and hips from a flatter than recommended bed. 

The mattresses were important, but not a truly urgent matter.  However, there are things in life that are urgent.  Today in church I was reminded that being a light for Jesus has to happen now. It is not something that we can put off or wait until another day for.  The often dark and hopeless world we live in needs to see the light NOW.  Matthew 5:16 says “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”  We need to let our light shine and we really can’t linger on dim mode any longer!

The other thing that cannot be delayed is a truth from John 10:27, and it is personal.  It says “My sheep listen to my voice, I know them, and they follow me.”  It is imperative that we as believers, who listen to the voice of the Lord, obey the voice of the Lord.  We cannot hear his voice, listen to it, and then choose to not follow Him. 

Sheep are dumb. We have three right now for the county fair.  We guard them closely because they are so simple minded.  Jesus must use sheep as an example because surely we are smarter than they are!  This all boils down to obedience and the act of us hearing and doing what the LORD tells us to do.  Anything less than total obedience really cannot be put off.

This week, it is okay to procrastinate and wait on what you can. The inspection sticker might can delay until the end of the month or the grocery shopping might can go another day, but there are things that need to happen now!  Being a light so that others can see they love of Jesus is one of them.  Listening and obeying the Word of God is another.  Do not wait…Act now.   

Lab work

Last Friday, I had routine lab work scheduled.  I called my nurse to see exactly what I could have before I went.  The answer served me very well…black coffee and water. Most mornings all I have is black coffee and water.  I am typically very content with those two things.  I eat a big breakfast later and then enjoy a late lunch. 

However, something funny happened to me last Friday.  Because I could not eat, I was starving! I dreamed about biscuits, gravy, and eggs.  My mind was totally focused on food!   Most of the time, I do not even think about food until much later in the day.  Friday though… food was forbidden, food was the bad thing, and food was all I wanted.  Food was my focus!

A preacher on television reminded me of the power of my own mind Friday after I got home.  He enthusiastically and empathetically said that our circumstances were not the real battle at hand, but our own minds were the real problem. My battle with food or the lack of food on Friday in my mind was the real problem at hand.  My mind was telling me that I was starving… and maybe I was really not. 

Perhaps it was all in my mind… My tummy was typically satisfied with only black coffee and water until mid-morning,  but I was focusing on the bad and what was bugging me, what I could not have, more than what I could have on my normal Fridays . 

F.C.A. was awesome as usual.   A precious young man shared his testimony and what the LORD was doing in his life.  It was awesome!  When he finished and I headed out to the lab, I was again…starving!  On any other Friday, I would not have thought about food. 

Philippians 4:8 says “Finally brothers, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever I pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or   praiseworthy – think about such things.” 

Think is the key word here. Whatever we think about is the big deal!  A scripture says that our minds will keep in perfect peace if we are focused on Him. The Him is Jesus.  It is true that if we are focused on the positive and if we are focused on Jesus and on the good, we will be okay. 

It is so easy to think about what we can’t have or what we have messed up having, that we can’t think  about the here and now…

Jesus in here.  Jesus is now. Focus your thoughts on Him and you can’t go wrong.   Blessings to you this week. 

One things leads to another

I read one of my favorite books to a group of kids last week at reading camp.  I absolutely love watching the eyes of little ones light up when they hear a story for the first time.  They usually lean in to get closer to the book to seemingly absorb every detail possible.   Storytime is the main reason I love working in a library. 

I still  believe in the power of storytelling. By that I mean… a real story told by a real human being, not a computer or phone.  It may sound cliché, but books can come to life! 

Last week we journeyed through several genres and made sure we had fun along the way.  “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” by Laura Numeroff was one of our top picks.  One thing leads to another with the mouse in this circular tale.  

The mouse gets a cookie, then he wants milk, then a straw, then a mirror to check for a milk mustache. The story goes on and on until it circles back to him wanting a cookie.  In another version, there is a mouse who wants a muffin.  This leads to apple juice, his Grandmother’s sweater, and so on. I saw several eyes roll at the ridiculousness of the characters not controling their own thinking, desires, and actions.

I laughed with my group last week, but I also wanted to cry!  I realized as I read “If You Give a Pig a Pancake” that I was somewhat like the character in the book.   One thing has led to another, as it typically does in the spring with my family!  My thoughts and actions have been moving quickly…leaving me a bit dizzy from so much going on and finally desperately in need of rest. 

Therefore, I planned a day of NOTHING!  By this I mean an intentional, guilt-free day of rest.

My rest began yesterday morning.  I dropped off my son and work at 7:00 and snuck by the donut store to buy an apple fritter.  A warm apple fritter and a cold glass of milk have always been among my favorite indulgences.  Something about the apple flavor, texture, and the sweetness of it all combined puts a smile on my face and puts me in a carbohydrate coma. 

My plan worked. I rested and slept. I sat in my husband’s chair and sipped my coffee. I relaxed more.  I did absolutely nothing until early afternoon.  Then I was ready to get up, and I l felt so much better.   I was back! 

I looked back over the blur of the past few months.  High school softball lead to high school baseball, which lead to prom, homework, and standardized tests.  More school work led to Project Graduation, which led to numerous end of the year activities and awards ceremonies.  Little league softball and baseball began, the school year ended, and that took us right into the county fair.  We closed out the fair with Father’s Day, and I started reading camp. 

By the time reading camp concluded, I was tired!  I do not regret a single second I spent in bleachers, the car, the library, or at the fairgrounds; however, every season has an end.  My spring is complete. I now am officially in slow, summer mode. 

Mark 6 tells the story of Jesus going, going, and going.  After feeding the five thousand, Jesus told his disciples in verse 31 “Come with me by yourself to a quiet place and get some rest.” 

I believe in living life to the fullest. I also believe in rest!  Join me this week and do both.  

My dog, Bubs

I feel sorry for our dogs when we all head back to school and work on Mondays.  They must be downright lonely and bored to tears.  Over the weekend, we typically entertain a houseful of kids who play basketball, ride four wheelers, fish, and come in and out of the house constantly.  The dogs tag along with them step for step and love our “everyone is welcome” way of life. 

Last night, my fifteen year old son and a few of his friends lit a small bonfire down by the lake.  They selected a perfect location.  My table by the front window was ideal for supervising them.  I enjoyed the warmth of my own fire in the house.  Their bonfire put out sufficient light so I could see them.  My job was easy. 

Before it was time for me to crank up the “taxi” and “uber” everyone home, the crew came up to eat.  As customary, I had plenty of snacks on hand.  The boys will eat anything and everything that does not eat them first.  I never even thought about the dogs.  I assumed the threesome followed the kids home, but one was missing. 

If you read my column often, you can guess which one it was.  It was Bubs!  His nickname should be  M.I.A.  It was time for us to drive everyone home; therefore, I reluctantly left the house and left him on the loose.  I pictured him in my mind several counties away following the scent of something irresistible. 

When we got home, Brazos made a round on his four-wheeler, but returned home empty handed.  We sat down to warm up by the fire one more time before we headed down the hallway for bed.   Brazos remembered when they parked the Ranger, they walked in the shop to get a drink.  I did not offer to go and look. I was not responsible, and it was cold.  Brazos headed out again. 

Thankfully, Bubs walked in right behind him. He looked pooped.  I fussed at him as usual.

He looked up at me innocently though, seeming to say…I just followed them into the shop.  True enough, he followed the crowd and got locked up. He nearly also got locked out of the house for the night too!   (This sounds like an episode of the t.v. series COPS.) 

Conversations that take place in our home regularly could be appropriately applied to this scenario with Bubs “following” the crowd.  We explain to our kids that you can be in the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong crowd and get into big trouble!  Following the crowd may be fun, but it may not be right!  I encourage them to proceed with caution and “Just say No” when in doubt. 

Unlike Bubs, who followed the crowd in the shop, I must admit that most of the trouble I found growing up, I discovered 100% on my own.  (Still true today, this is not just past tense) I would like to blame someone else, but it would be a lie!

I guess a good rule of thumb is NOT to follow our own fleshly desires and not follow to the crowd! IF we are looking for a person to follow, the only one worthy is Jesus.  If we are looking for an instruction book that covers it all, it is the Bible.   John 8:12 says “Again Jesus spoke to them saying, ‘I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” 

Whether we walk in darkness or in light depends on who we follow.  Follow Jesus this week.  

The Hawk

Most of what I do in life is routine.  I take care of kids, dogs, chickens, and even tend to the cats when my husband is not at home.  The cats are typically his domain, but I pitch in when it is absolutely necessary. I also love my birds and watching them is a predictable thing for me.  My Purple Martins arrived last week right on time.  I talk to them and sometimes even pretend that they talk back to me. 

At work, I also have a set schedule in the library and love every minute of it.  We purposely follow the same procedures with our classes and keep things simple.  This allows us to focus on the kids that come in and out of the door all day long and to get to know them. 

Every now and then though I encounter something that totally catches me off guard.  That happened this week.  I was tootling up our white rock road on my way to work and something in our batting cages caught my eye.  It was big, and it was moving.  I realized as I got closer that it was one of my hawks that lives in our front pasture.  I am calling him a “him.”  It just seems right. I have witnessed him scoop up many a mouse from the field.  He stands guard by the lake too and seems to watch over that part of our property. 

However, on this particular day he was in trouble.  He was trapped inside of the massive net and in panic mode.  He was flying from side to side trying to get out.  My husband just so happened to be out of town and my kids were at school.  That meant it was my job, and my job alone, to free the hawk.  I slammed the truck in park and got out to assess the situation. 

The first thing I noticed were his talons.  They were huge and looked as sharp as knives.  I pictured him attacking me, but bravely ignored the risk.  My first thought was to hold the cage up, and I did.  I realized after trying to coax him my way that he was afraid of me. Duh! 

The only other option was to drag a big screen used for pitching over and prop the net up on the top of the screen.  This would give Mr. Hawk a way out.  It took some muscle, but I got the screen moved.  Mr. Hawk was still hesitant to come my way, so I drove on up the road and trusted that he would be okay.  Thankfully, when I checked later, he was free.

This morning when I was preparing for my Sunday school lesson, Mr. Hawk came to mind.  Isaiah 61: 1-3 was the first passage I ever memorized.  It is an absolutely beautiful proclamation of what Jesus was sent to earth to do, and is so worth your time to read.

It begins with “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me; because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.”

I thought…I freed the hawk and Jesus freed me…literally!  I was once held captive by sin.  Without the blood of Jesus, I still would be a prisoner to my own sin. 

Jesus died so that I could be free, and He also died for you.  If you are caught up, trapped, and in trouble, there is a way out!  The way out of Jesus.  Call out to Him today.     

  

FCA

Friday mornings are one of my favorite times of the week.  I hang out with a bunch of junior high kids at Fellowship of Christian Athletes, otherwise known as F.C.A.  We gather in the gym at 7:30 for a few minutes.

 Kids volunteer most of the time and share what the LORD has laid on their heart.  They typically pair up and lead as a team. It is quite amazing to sit there on the gym floor and listen as they minister to their peers.  Their courage impresses me to say the least.  I do sit on the floor with the students, Indian style, as we used to call it when I was in grade school.  The proper term now is “criss-cross apple sauce.”  It takes me a few minutes to get up off of the gym floor, but I usually can count on a kid or two to grab my hand and pull me up. 

Something happens in school buildings a few weeks after Spring Break…and that “something” is bad!  Nearly everyone gets lazy and starts acting like the year is over, when it is not over at all!  We as educators and students still have a lot to accomplish. 

Our F.C.A. attendance has even been down. On a particular week in late March, I went into the girl’s locker room and started pulling girls out.  The “regulars” were not even being regular!  I let them know real quickly that I was not afraid to hunt them down. 

I happened to be teaching this particular day and the Lord totally took me in a direction I had not planned.  I gave the kids and adults in the room a good, old fashioned pep talk about how we still had to come together and meet!  I pleaded with them to keep on coming, keep on working, and that every single one of them mattered to Jesus and to our group.  Teenagers often feel invisible.  I wanted them to know that without a doubt each and every one of them was significant. 

I thought of the parable in Luke 15:4 when Jesus poses the question “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them.  Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?” 

I sent one kiddo over to the corner isolated from the group.  I left the group and walked towards her, showing them how Jesus will search us out individually like the parable teaches.  I brought the young lady back with me, illustrating how Jesus will even bring us back when we go astray. 

I took it to another level and sent Michelle, my volunteer, out through the middle of the crowd, across the gym from where I was.  Again, I walked towards her.  This time, totally led by the Lord, I explained to the kids that one sheep had drifted again; however, Jesus was going to get her.  When I got to Michelle, I asked her to fall down.  She did, but I picked her up.  At this point, she had drifted, fallen down, and needed help to get back to the group.  I assumed the role of Jesus and did just what He does so often.  I picked her up and carried her back to the crowd on my back.  That sure does resonate with me.

Today, being Easter, and I woke up thinking how grateful I was that Jesus died for an unworthy person like me.  Without Him, I would be such a mess!  He came to seek and save what was lost. That includes me.  That includes you.