Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

  Today will be a trickier day for balance after a phone call we received from one of our kiddos last night as we were checking in to our hotel 🏨 down here in Durham.

  Life is full of challenges, and my family has more than it’s share but when you are trying hard to give others hope and encouragement, one has to follow the Joel Osteen path by only preaching out of one side of the Bible.

I can still remember the last time that my late Father and I discussed religion. He shared with me that issue with Joel Osteen was that he only preached about Heaven, and Dad wanted him to let people know about Hell.

Yesterday, one of my children experienced something that made my heart ache as it would any parent. When you add in the distance, it removes the ability to hold them.

Now, there is absolutely no reason for sharing what happened because of the amount of pain involved in others’ lives right now. Yes, I could tell the story in the manner that I’m capable of, but it’s not my story.

Yesterday, I wrote about not telling a story if you can not reach the end of it without demeaning another human being in the process. The back half of the thought process is don’t tell a story that isn’t yours to tell.

Now, Thursday night in Martinsville is a story to tell, and I will absolutely do so here before too long !

Thank you to Kevin DeHaven, Bill Gallimore, and Travis Osborne for taking a second of their time to keep me in the know about the latest conquest of our 5-0 🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈 ( one ball for each victory) football team last night 🌙 in Stuart !

Enjoy the weekend, you have earned it !

Have a Blessed Day 🙌😇🙏

Anyone who knows much about college football knows that Duke will never be mistaken for a gridiron 🏈 powerhouse, but they are my team, have always been my team, and will remain that way to the very end.

So, I do my very best to protect the window 🪟 in which they play each week. That day should always be on Saturday because Friday night should belong to High School football.

But the amount of money 💰there is to be made nowadays, it has spilled over to Friday night. Even Duke is affected by this as both the @ Virginia and versus Clemson games have been pushed up one day. Money is what governs the NCAA now and that is never going to change.

This Saturday is going to be very special and not because we are 3-0 or because our running back, Nate Sheppard leads the nation in rushing yards, but because we will have very special guests joining us for the game !

Bill ” Pappy ” Meade is what kids nowadays call 📞 ” The OG “, except he is not the Original Gangster but the ” Original Goodguy “.

Let me explain, Lin and I have always looked for ways to help others once we got past the stage of having to pray 🙏 that the check to the grocery store didn’t bounce. But it wasn’t until six years ago that we created an umbrella for our efforts so we could give the glory to God.

We are trying hard to watch out for people because while we eventually made it to where we were destined to end up, it would have been easier if there had been a few more smiling 😃 faces along the way.

Pappy is a humble older man who is on the back nine of life, but he is still alive and kicking, still willing to stand up for the things that matter to him. The kicker is that he never does it at the expense of someone else. In today’s world 🌎, we need more people like Pappy.

He proves that you can be committed to who you are and still have grace 👑.

Why this weekend ? Pappy went from Robert E Lee High School in Staunton ( now Staunton High School ) on to The College of William and Mary.

Remember that I couldn’t have attended either the College of William or Mary, you have no idea just how proud of that degree I am.

Pappy is the poster child of pretty much everything in that I believe.

When you are constantly trying to side up with the underdog in life, you end up on the wrong end of the scoreboard more often than not. But one of the proudest things that I’ve accomplished in my life is I have NEVER ONCE looked at another person and said to him or her that my team beat your team. That is just not why I watch,announce, or write about sports.

Look at the point spread on this one and know that there will be a federal investigation 🔎 of a 43.5-point favorite that doesn’t cover. Yet, there will be no taunting about the outcome.

But there are other challenges when all four of the participants on a special day are north of 60.

We needed a special plan for a very special occasion, and after exploring many options, the best answer is to meet up in Durham, watch the game and spend the night 🌙 before heading back to our perspective homes 🏡.

It’s okay to grow old. It happens to everyone who is blessed 🙌 to live that long. You just need to move at a 🐌 slower pace and watch out for each other!

I’m excited about Saturday afternoon because I get to hang out with My OG and his much younger bride 👰‍♂💕.

Meanwhile, back here amongst the cows 🐄 that belong to one of my neighbors but I claim as my own, I am asking myself if there is anything that I can do to encourage our volleyball 🏐 teams tonight as they head to Martinsville ???