Roger Lipe: Gifts

September 25, 2018 By Leave a Comment

G I F T S

http://devotions4competitors.blogspot.com/2012/09/g-i-f-t-s-john-327-what-would-it-be.html

John 3:27

What would it be like to be a record holder in your sport, right at the top of your game, only to watch someone else come along and immediately break all your records with apparent ease?  John the Baptist experienced just such a dynamic, but with a lot more poise than most of us could manage.

We read about it in John chapter 3 and verse 27, “John answered and said, ‘A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.’”

You may say, “But I earned every point I’ve scored.”  You certainly have, but John knew that the real stuff of life, the things that have the greatest value are gifts from God in heaven.

In John’s case, he is the first man in 400 years to speak with authority from God.  That’s impressive, but along comes his younger cousin and immediately eclipses his whole life.  As the people who watched expected jealousy, John exhibited joy and acknowledged God as the giver of every good gift.

Your gifts are much the same.  Much of the grace given to you is nothing you could ever earn.  It’s a gift, not a merit badge.  The ability to play and the opportunity to compete is a gift to be treasured and for which to be thankful.

As you approach today’s competition, appreciate such gifts, revel in them, and enjoy them to the fullest with a grateful heart.

Filed Under: Columns

Head coach Nick Hill’s weekly press conference

September 25, 2018 By Leave a Comment

WATCH NICK HILL PRESS CONFERENCE

CARBONDALE, Ill.  — Here are excerpts from Saluki football head coach Nick Hill‘s weekly press conference held Monday afternoon at Saluki Stadium. Southern Illinois hosts South Dakota on Saturday at 6 p.m. on Family Weekend at SIU. Single-game tickets and discounted mini-plans are available on-line or by calling 877-SALUKIS.

On Saturday’s opponent, the South Dakota Coyotes.
South Dakota is a really good football team. It was a game last year that didn’t go well for us. Just watching the film, it’s a tough film to watch, they got after us. They like to go fast on offense and they have great skill players. They’re coming off a loss, too, sitting at 1-2 and have a lot of things to prove as well, so we’re going to get their best effort. They had a bye week last week, we’ve both had two weeks to prepare for each other, so I’d assume there will be some wrinkles they have offensively and defensively. We have to not beat ourselves and not have those five or six critical errors that we had last week to give ourselves a chance. 

South Dakota has always been a defense that thrives on big plays, tackles for a loss, they sack the quarterback, they’re really active and athletic up front. They move around a lot, play a lot line games, twists, and then their linebackers are active and do a good job tackling the football. They do a good job getting you in 2nd-and-longs, 3rd-and-longs. They only gave up 250 yards of total offense (last week) and Weber State was 1-of-13 on 3rd down. Last year we didn’t score a point (against South Dakota), so we have a lot to prove and know what’s in front of us to do that.

On the bye week.
We were able to practice and get a lot of young guys reps. We practiced Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, gave them Friday and Saturday off, then we brought them in Sunday evening and had a really good practice last night. They got today off and we’ll get into our normal week and keep that schedule consistent for the rest of the season.

On his message to the team.
Our team meeting yesterday was just reverting back to Day One of training camp, what the fundamental things of our program are. That’s what we have to rely on now, it’s about daily improvement. Taking care of the process leads to the results that we want. If we stick to that, we have a good football team. We’re going to have to go out there and earn it one week at a time.

Update on injured players. 
Jake Varble, our starting tight end, tore his ACL on that third down catch (against SEMO) and will have surgery and be out for the season. Cody Crider, the same thing, on that hit where he came out. This is the third time he’s torn the same ACL. Tough break for both of those guys because they’ve both put a lot of hard work into this and are both leaders on our football team. I hate it for both of them, but the next guy has to step up. I feel like we have good depth at both of those positions. Qua Brown (knee) had surgery so we should be getting him back, hopefully by the Homecoming game. 

The unfortunate part of football is injuries. You know that going into it. As a coach, if you spend a bunch of time feeling sorry for yourself because you have a bunch of injuries, you’re not going to be that good. You have to get the next guy ready to go, get him coached up, because the next team, I guarantee you, doesn’t care about what your injury report looks like. I’m sure they have just as many injuries and things they’re going through as well.

On freshman tight end Logan Crouse, who moves into a back-up role due to Varble’s injury.
He played professional baseball (prior to SIU). He’s a big, strong kid who can block and I think has an unbelievable future. He’s pretty new to the game. This is a kid who, athletically, has an NFL skill set. If he would have picked to play football out of high school, probably would have been playing Power Five football. He can run as well as our receivers but he weighs 260 pounds. He’s been getting in football shape. On Sundays, we’ve been doing a developmental practice, and it’s not just for redshirting freshmen, it’s for guys who are on the verge (of playing) and he’s taken advantage of all four of them that we’ve had. Now he’s going to get called on to get, who knows, 40-50 reps in a game. We talk every week about who is going to be in this (Sunday) practice that’s going to get called upon, and Logan’s that guy.

On redshirt freshman linebacker Luke Giegling stepping in for Cody Crider.
Giegling made the interception we thought won the game (against SEMO). He made a great play on it. Giegling’s played at a high level. That’s a guy who is going to be in the right spots and do a lot of good things. He’s long — Cody is 5-10 maybe, and Giegling is 6-4. They’re different players, but they’re both smart. Crider brings a sense of calmness on defense that we’ll have to fill.

On the positives from the SEMO game.
Offensively, I thought those last two touchdown drives, where we knew we had to score, and they were able to make the plays and go down and score touchdowns to retake the lead twice in the fourth quarter. There were some tough third-down (conversions), fourth down twice, making tough catches and learning the guys we can count on to make plays. I thought D.J. Davis with 35 carries has had a great first three weeks. Not just his toughness and breaking tackles, but he has the right mentality. 

Defensively, sometimes you make your biggest strides and learn things from having a game like that, a wakeup call. We learned the hard way the things that can happen. We’re finding out some calls we can’t make, some things we’re not doing well that we have to go back and make some tweaks. 

On running back Jonathan Mixon’s status.
Mixon looks good out there, practiced yesterday and will be full-go all week. It will be good to get Mixon back to take some of those carries (from Davis). In week one, he was on pace to have a 100-yard game. He had two good runs against Ole Miss, too, and just got his knee banged up. We get him back and he can be a really good player
Filed Under: Sports

Your Daily Prayer: A Prayer for Missing Peace

September 25, 2018 By Leave a Comment

A Prayer for Missing Peace – Your Daily Prayer

Your Daily Prayer Devotional Banner

A Prayer for Missing Peace
By Mary Southerland

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  – Philippians 4:7, NIV

I know people who would give every penny they have and every possession they own for an hour of peace. In fact, I have been in that place myself. The difference is that the Prince of Peace is my God and because He lives in my heart, so does peace. Yes, sometimes I allow the stressors of life to crowd in and try to smother that peace. I am so thankful that the peace of God is eternal and beyond human understanding.

As you face the storms of life, face them with God at your side – knowing that He is Lord of the rocking boat and Keeper of the waves. He rides upon the storm clouds of life, flinging peace into the tempest-filled heart.  God is Peace. And when we know Him as our Lord and have made Him the boss of our lives – we will know Peace.

Make a list of every “storm” you are facing today. Surrender each one to God, asking Him to fill its place in your life with His peace. Now, choose to walk in that peace today. When you are tempted to slip back under the crashing waves, remember that the storm now belongs to your Father.

Father God, my heart is filled with chaos and confusion. I feel as if I am drowning in my circumstances and my heart is filled with fear and confusion. I really need the strength and peace that only You can give. Right now, I choose to rest in You.

In Jesus’ Name I pray,

Amen.

Editor’s Note: Content taken from the Girlfriends in God devotional, How to Find Your Missing Peace, written by Mary Southerland. You can read the piece in full here. All rights reserved.

Filed Under: Columns

Pastor Rick Warren: What Kind of Giving Is Worship?

September 25, 2018 By Leave a Comment

By Rick Warren

21

”Honor the Lord by giving him the first part of all your income” (Proverbs 3:9 TLB).

When I was a little kid I used to buy or make all these little cheesy gifts for my parents. When I look back, the gifts were really lame. But every time I gave my parents a present, they were overjoyed. It wasn’t like they needed anything from me, because they didn’t. They just enjoyed the fact that I thought of them.One time when I was 8 years old, I went into a thrift store and bought my mother a dress for 25 cents. I thought it was a really cool dress. It was about a size four, and my mom was a size 12. The clerk said, “Ricky, your mom couldn’t get her big toe in that dress.” I was so offended and went home crying. When I gave the dress to my mom, she was so thrilled. After she died, I found that dress in one of her dressers. She’d kept it all those years.

There’s nothing you can give God that he needs. But when you give him an offering, you’re saying, “God, I love you. I’m thinking of you. I want you first in my life.”

The Bible says, “Honor the Lord by giving him the first part of all your income” (Proverbs 3:9 TLB). That’s called tithing. Tithing actually means 10 percent, and it’s the first part of your income.

Tithing doesn’t just honor God. It is also an act of worship. But the Bible says that not every kind of giving is an act of worship. So what kind of giving is worship?

“On every Lord’s Day each of you should put aside something from what you have earned during the week, and use it for this offering. The amount depends on how much the Lord has helped you earn” (1 Corinthians 16:2 TLB).

Worship giving is undesignated. That means you don’t control it, you don’t direct it, you don’t tell God what to do with it.

Worship giving is given when and where you worship. You give the first part of your money on the first day of the week and say, “God, you’re first in my life.”

Worship giving is planned. You don’t just give spontaneously. You think it through.

Worship giving is proportional. If you didn’t earn anything this week, you don’t give anything. If you earn a little, you give a little. If you earn a lot, you give a lot.

God wants your heart more than anything else. He doesn’t want your money; he wants what it represents. The most sensitive nerve in the body is the one that goes from the heart to the wallet.

Talk It Over

  • How does your current attitude compare to the kind of attitude you think God wants you to have when you give?
  • What do you find most challenging about viewing giving as an act of worship?
  • What’s your response to Pastor Rick’s statement that “the most sensitive nerve in the body is the one that goes from the heart to the wallet”?

Give hope, prayer, and encouragement below. Post a comment & talk about it.

Filed Under: Columns

New Yorker hit piece on Kavanaugh is not journalism, it’s a bizarre political stage show

September 25, 2018 By Leave a Comment

The news that Brett Kavanaugh had a new accuser landed with a thud on Sunday night. That she had told her story to the New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow certainly seemed like the death knell for the Kavanaugh nomination.

Here’s a link to the editorial at Fox News.

Filed Under: Columns

Cardinals get sloppy late, lose to Brewers

September 25, 2018 By Leave a Comment

There is much to be decided yet in the National League. But, one thing we do know. The Milwaukee Brewers will leave town after Wednesday night’s game with the Cardinals still in possession of the No. 1 wild-card spot in the league.

Here’s a link to the story at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Filed Under: Sports

Debate shows McCann could be a problem for Rauner, expert says

September 25, 2018 By Leave a Comment

Gov. Bruce Rauner shouldn’t be worried only about Democratic rival J.B. Pritzker in the four-way race for the governor’s mansion.

Here’s a link to the story at Illinois News Network.

Filed Under: Breaking News

Car enthusiasts say Pritzker’s vehicle miles traveled tax is a non-starter

September 25, 2018 By Leave a Comment

Car enthusiasts from around Illinois and beyond would rather see cuts and reprioritized spending than another tax, like a possible vehicle miles traveled tax, something they see as a nonstarter.

Here’s a link to the story at Illinois News Network.

Filed Under: Featured

Tonya Lee Kirkman — Benton, IL

September 25, 2018 By Leave a Comment

BENTON — Tonya Lee Kirkman, 52, of Benton, passed away at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 23, 2018, at the Benton Health Care and Rehabilitation.

She was born on Jan. 9, 1966, to James “Jim” and Virginia (Perry) Arnold in Salem, Oregon. Tonya was a homemaker and recently started working at the Benton/West City Walmart. On April 4, 1991, she married Rodney Kirkman in Herrin. To this union, they had two children. Tonya and Rodney lived in Benton.

Tonya was a member of Resurrection Baptist Church, Benton, IL.

She was a loving daughter, wife, mother and grandmother. Tonya enjoyed making crafts, gardening, baking, painting, quilting, and spending time with her sisters at church. She held a special spot in her heart for her grandchildren and enjoyed loving on them as much as possible.

Tonya is survived by her loving spouse of 27 years, Rodney Kirkman; two children, Jared Davis and wife, Kristie, of Benton, and Brandi Denton and husband, Todd, of Stafford, Virginia; five grandchildren, Basin Davis, Lealia Davis, Aydin Davis, Aubrianna Denton and Madison Denton.

Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Pate Funeral Home, 301 S. Main St. in Benton.

Visitation will be Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2018, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Pate Funeral Home, and on Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2018, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Pate Funeral Home.

Funeral services will be held Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018, and will be held privately for family, at Pate Funeral Home, with the Rev. Carl Barnfield officiating. Cremation will take place following the funeral services and her cremated remains will be buried privately.

Memorial Contributions may be made to The Children’s Miracle Network-Benton/West City Walmart, and will be accepted at the funeral home.

Online condolences can be given at www.patefh.com.

Filed Under: Obituaries

In rare step for Supreme Court nominee, Kavanaugh sits for televised interview: ‘I’ve never sexually assaulted anyone’

September 25, 2018 By Leave a Comment

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh declared in a televised interview Monday that he never sexually assaulted anyone in high school or at any other time in his life.

Here’s a link to the story at the Chicago Tribune.

Filed Under: Featured
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