I had one of the best times with one of my daughters I have ever had last night. Ava was turning four today, and knowing I wouldn’t see her until around 5:30 or so this evening – I wanted to give her a special time sometime…..so last night it was. I asked her if she wanted to go on a special date with just me and her……..and to see her eyes light up and get excited really makes life worth living. I asked her where she wanted to go and she said “on a walk”.

So off we went down the road to the park. She had a blast – on my shoulders as we walked through tree branches and on top of the rocks through the creek. She was laughing hysterically until we got into the creek…….but I was able to talk her into getting down and touching the water. Off to the park to swing and onto Dairy Queen for a cherry covered vanilla cone! She wanted to be on my shoulders again on the way home – so we made that happen through some soreness, lol. I think one of the greatest things God has given us is time – and why not use it to give those you care about most undivided attention? God has done quite a good job as a model for us fathers…….some days I really do understand that He loves our attention!

Oh yeah – I thought I’d share a recent photo of Tony Stewart (http://www.tonystewart.com) fishing over at Eldora Speedway a few weeks back. The race was rained out and postponed, but it was fun to chat with Tony and see how laid back he is.

I’m not too sure how united I am with the direction our country is headed. Immorality, separation of state from church (not church and state or church from state, lol), and so many other things just seem to be going downhill these days. In the past few years I have teamed up with the http://www.aia.com ministry on a united front to share the testimonies of athletes and military individuals in an effort to reach the lives of those that do not yet know the Lord. I’ve helped out with the sites at http://www.unitedpassion.com and with testimonial brochures for various athletic events. This year is the second year I have helped Texas A&M University’s AIA ministry (led by Jim Roselius) out with sets of testimonial sports cards, posters and a football brochure.

I was talking to Jim this morning on the phone about the direction God is giving me with the work that I do. As you have noticed in last week’s blogs, I have been a little down and out at times. Jim prayed for me over the phone and reminded me of last year’s outreach, which led 11 people to Christ. He then continued to inform me that this year’s outreach helped lead 12 to Christ so far. Some people have attacked me in the past, trying to inform me that these efforts might not bring the ministry results that other services could. It’s funny how some people out there just have nothing good to say, and even the negative things they do share end up amounting to a hill of beans.

The design of the cards isn’t what led these people to the Lord. It’s the testimonies on the back. It’s amazing to me that the sports photos that might intrigue our culture on the front of the cards pale in comparison to the power of these lives on the flipside. Thanks to God that I am able to be a part of this outreach – and to these military and athletic individuals for sharing their lives like this! Feel free to check out the cards from the past two years at http://www.taviano.com/tamu and http://www.taviano.com/tamu/2006. You can also read more of their AIA ministry at http://cru.tamu.edu.

This weekend turned out to be a good one, with Harvick winning the Busch and Nextel races at Phoenix (after winning the Busch race last week at Nashville).

This racing season is definitely alot more exciting for us Harvick fans. I won’t continue and bore you non-racing fans with more details. I am going to be able to go and watch Harvick race twice this summer, once in June at the Nextel Prelude at Tony Stewart’s track here in Ohio (http://www.eldoraspeedway.com) and once in August at the Busch and Nextel races at MIS (http://www.michiganspeedway.com). I finished up a few new sites this week and will blog more about them soon. You can check them out at http://www.unreined.com and http://www.shopragz.com. Thanks to those folks for allowing me to help them out!

NEW VAN AND BUCKS W

We’ve been looking at trading in our 98 Buick Regal LS for a mini-van this past week. I never thought the day would come where I would be driving a mini-van, lol. The three girls’ car seats just fit into the Buick and they aren’t going to get any smaller. I drove up to Lima and picked up my brother Tug around 7:30 am to go look at more options. We were able to meet with Tim Barrows – a softball teammate – at Lima Auto Mall (go see him if you need a ride) and he was able to give me a better deal than I could get anywhere else. I made a few calls to Marla, letting her know I couldn’t find a better deal if I tried to. Tim was able to get me a deal on the 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan pictured below. I ended up driving it off the lot – all thanks go to God for providing the van for us! He amazes me every day of my life!

Tug and I picked up Eric Stevenson in Lima and headed up to Ann Arbor, MI. We then picked up another friend, David, and headed to the Ohio State vs. Michigan basketball game last night, thanks to Tug’s friend Jamar Butler (pictured below). It was a crazy game with Michigan pulling out to a lead of maybe 21-8 or something. OSU then went on a spree I have never seen before, hitting 11 of 12 three-point shots before halftime. They went into the locker room with the lead 49-43 over the Wolverines. Jamar ended up having an excellent game, scoring 20 points and shutting down Michigan’s point guard on defense. Jamar’s a sophomore at OSU and his game just keeps getting better. Thanks for lettings us come up and watch Jamar!

ESPN interviewed Sheryl Swoopes (pictured below) about her recent decision to step out and announce her homosexual lifestyle. This sin can be hidden from the entire nation and their media for her past eight years, but I’m sure God wasn’t fooled for that long? She stated that, as being such a large public figure as a WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association) star, it wasn’t easy for her to do this. She was asked what kind of fears she had and replied “Obviously you’re going to have hesitations…….I’ve wanted to let the world know who I really am for a while……I wasn’t sure what the consequences would be”. She responded that this was all about her, but that hopefully she would make and impact on someone else (that is a public figure), so maybe it wouldn’t be as hard for them to do the same thing. At the end of the interview she let ESPN know that there was a feeling that a heavy burden that was lifted off of her shoulders – leading to a time of extreme happiness as a result.

Here’s the pic – and believe me, I wouldn’t have wasted one minute using Photoshop to paint a cross on her neck – it’s legit, lol.

Okay……where do you start with this one? Or do you not speak out against it? I think that’s the problem – people don’t speak out against the sin enough!!! Including myself. So here it is – Gabe’s official “I hate the sin of homosexuality just as God does” blog. I think there are so many things that need pointed out from the interview, some that I didn’t notice until I watched the interview a fifth time on this ESPN page: http://search.espn.go.com/keyword/search?searchString=sheryl%20swoopes&page=multimedia&multimediaCount=15 

Here are my thoughts:
1. Is our nation really so far away from God that we give national television time to a homosexual, letting them inform the world while wearing a CROSS around their neck? How stupid do you really think I am? Am I really going to just fall over and say homosexuality and the cross Christ died on go so well together – great choice of a pendant there Sheryl! Or maybe Sheryl needs to take a look at God’s feelings for the sin her life is wrapped around here – http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2029:22-29&version=31 . Doesn’t quite look like God really takes a liking to the stuff that was going on there?

2. The very obvious nervous feeling she has in the interview speaks for itself. Some people I’ve talked to thinks that this is a result of her just being a celebrity and that it is much harder for them to come out like this than it would be for you or I (unless you’re famous, lol). I think that is true, but I’m pretty certain God doesn’t just let you live this lifestyle in a circle of perfect comfort. Even when a person that follows His commandments closely gets involved in something that isn’t in the public arena He gives them a sense of nervousness and discomfort that just shakes their world. I think the thing Sheryl needs to check out might possibly be the May / June newsletter from this ministry – http://www.regenerationministries.org .

3. On a short note – what’s so entertaining about someone being a homosexual than someone that isn’t? I think if you can answer that question with any answer that doesn’t deal with sin you have to be kidding yourself, lol. When was the last time you saw ESPN mention someone getting married for 3-4 days in a row of media attention? I think that shows how deceptive our enemy is…….satan’s drawing so much attention to it these days isn’t he? You think the media isn’t his favorite tool at times……..you better think 20 times. It’s so obvious how immorality and sinfulness have started to arrive all over the front page of our headlines on a daily basis.