We had our last practice before the Regional Final tonight, and after we win tomorrow night, we will have just one more. (Yes, I expect to win…..I always do!) But as I stood there on the field watching the girls practice in the drizzle, it hit me that a week from now it will be but a memory. The high school lacrosse careers of 7 girls, including my daughter, will come to an end, and a new chapter will open. It is always so bittersweet for me, and this year more than ever.

Though I am at home with Ben, Amanda is at the board meeting giving our report. Our boy’s coach, who is also the Director of Coaching for the entire organization, is retiring this year. Rick is a top shelf coach and man, and he will be missed. Andy “Mac” steps in to take his place, and has served as Rick’s understudy for years. The program will continue to develop and grow, it just will feel different….for all of us. Rick is really the father of Noblesville Lacrosse, and for him we are all very thankful.

And as for me, I have agreed to continue on. As ANY of our coaches will tell you, we love what we do, and have great players and parents. Noblesville is a wonderful community too. I would love to do it forever, because I love the challenge and I love to develop athletes. I never intended nor wanted to coach lacrosse (I was a baseball and hockey guy and always BOYS) but circumstances led this to happen. Women’s sports is different, and female athletes are VERY different too. But I really have to say I respect each one of my players, and the only tense part of coaching is coaching your child….especially when she is an amazing player. I am very interested to see how I do when our relationship is not in play. I am sure she is too.

But what I want to say is that her development into one of the best players in the state has less to do with my coaching ability and everything to do with her drive and desire to be a top-notch player. My job has been to see the big picture and pull this team together. I am truly blessed to have such a dedicated and passionate player to coach….it is just a double blessing that that she is my daughter too.

Anyway….tomorrow is the Regional Final! Go Lady Millers! It all comes down to the next few days!

Goodnight and God Bless!

Tommy+

Just when life seems that it cannot get any weirder, I hear that I was arrested last Thursday night at our game……yep, it was a surprise to me too…..NOTHING could be FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH. The ref did threaten to call the police on parents from the other team, but my perfect record of not getting arrested FOR ANYTHING was never in jeopardy…..not even was it ever close. I behave pretty well! And to make matters worse, this was from people who should have known better. This story has more drama than Julliard. But in all honesty, as I shared it with my team yesterday, we had a good laugh about it. Our job however, is to not get distracted, it is to win three more games by Saturday.

But as a hypothetical renegade, my mind does wonder about a lot of things. I mean, should I be getting myself some temporary tattoos and maybe a tricked out scooter? Should my bishop be notified and should he temporarily suspend me as they sort this out and check deeper into my past for things that might reflect my true character…….like overdue library books or a history of pulling the “do not remove” tags off my mattresses after getting them home. Clearly I could be a priest on the edge and I am influencing high school players……this could be a great concern.

Drama drama drama….I hate it, but in anything competitive or where there are groups of people you often see it. It does bother me, but in the end it makes a pretty funny story. It reminds me of the boy approaching the K-9 officer and while looking at the dog in the back seat of the car asked the officer, “What did he do wrong?’ The answer for both of us is nothing…..and unlike the dog, I have never even sat in the back of a police car!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Yee ha….St. Patrick’s opened at its new location and the people loved it…..THANK GOD! I am pleased that we can begin to move on from this big mess! I celebrated at 2 services there this morning, the first being our very first 8am service at ANY of our missions, with just me and a VISITOR! (Thanks Doug!) It was probably not as spectacular of a visit as he was expecting, but as I told him, it makes for a better story!

From there I ran up to Christ the King to preach and celebrate. We were not sure whether Father Michael was prepared to do the service without me this morning, because we talked about it on Thursday at the move, but never really confirmed it. So I headed up, just in case.

The big blessing was that Father Michael was not expecting me at all! He had a sermon and though I am the technical “big cheese” I decided to just help out and have him preach and celebrate with me there. It was a great time with a great group of people and a great blessing to me! I was able to end my day there and head home for a nap with a set of toddler feet jammed into my side.

But the big thing is that we have moved into a new era. With this issue behind us we are free to move on……and to where??? Well, Muncie, Bloomington, Indianapolis, and maybe even UPLAND come to mind…..and did I mention we are planting in Peoria, Illinois in July? Pretty cool huh?

Okay…enough of my rambling! Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

I swear, sometimes it seems as if we try to not win games. And though I know that was not the case tonight, to the casual observer it probably looked like we were throwing it. But in the end, we prevailed 13-11 and are heading to the Regional Final. Good thing too, since we are the number one seed. My hat (if I ever would wear one) goes off to the Hamilton Southeastern Bulldogs and their Head Coach Ashley Grant. They gave us a ride and it was quite impressive. Ashley is a fine coach of some great kids/players. It was a well fought battle. All and all it was a great night.

And though I never had my doubts (we were tied 6-6 at the half) I am certain our players did. As a former athlete, I know how hard it can be to see through chaotic play, especially when you are in the thick of it. Oh if I knew then what I do now. I would have trusted my coaches more. They have a vision that I didn’t. We will work on that Monday too!

But for now I am out on the porch typing away. I still have no sermon and have a lot still to move to the Church….it will probably take place in the morning. But it is a lot less cloudy in life at 10:17! I just hope and pray my players will put this behind them!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

If you were with me over the last 24 hours you would think that lacrosse, (and all things connected to it) were at the center of the universe and the ONLY thing on the Lord’s mind. I have not had this much stress coming into my life in years, yet in the midst of it all it is so important to be focused. We now play tomorrow in the rescheduled Regional Semi-Final and the Wednesday night in the Regional Final, though we have had to move that a few times too, in order to win a trip to the State Semis and Final next weekend in Indianapolis.

As stressful as it has been, it could have been much worse, because I could have been dealing with difficult people. Fortunately however, I have been dealing with friends. All the coaches, as I mentioned I think yesterday, are friends, and that’s who I have been working this all out with. These are very good people, who deserve a lot more credit than they get, and who do a great job in dealing with tons of issues. So without irate parents interjecting themselves, we were actually all able to get this handled like adults…..imagine that!

And with the events, particularly from last night, we were encouraged to allow the club to hire the police department to the remaining games to keep parents from acting irresponsibly and to keep the peace as well as promote safety. We agreed to allow them to be there too. I know it will make me feel better. Where i come from the expression “good fences make for good neighbors.” It applies here too. We need to encourage sportsmanship, adult-behavior, and protect the peace. And nothing says this is important to us more than a uniformed officer. Thanks to our former board president for arranging the security.

But as for me and my team, we will now just focus upon winning tomorrow’s game. I would say “re-win” but in all truth, that is not the case. We waited out the rain and lightening and fell 2:22 short. The game that we played and all that happened in it didn’t count. THOSE are the rules, and without pitching a fit about it (or threatening anyone) let me say that I accept that, and we will abide by it and all the rules like we always do. Our job is to play by the rules and win on the field. That is the mark of a good team and the pedigree of champions.

Four to go….the first tomorrow night. The girls we play are great sports and fine competitors and they and their coach we like very much. We will do all we can to beat them, and settle this by the rules of the game. In the meantime, I thank God for all my friends who stepped up today and have made all of this tolerable!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Tonight we played in the Regional Semi-Final against Hamilton Southeastern High School. We were the second game, and the winner goes to play in the Regional Final against the Carmel Greyhounds on Saturday night. And we had a comfortable lead, 12-6 with 12:22 to go when the lightening came and we had to vacate to the locker rooms. We just needed to go the additional 2:22 to make it a legal game, but we have to wait 30 minutes after each sighting or thunder. Just before 11, the HSE Coach Ashley Grant and I agreed to call the game and reschedule it for tomorrow. Unfortunately, it will have to be played completely from the start.

One of the worst parts of being a coach is dealing with the parents, especially when they are being awful…..and that was the case tonight with some of the HSE parents. As the delay went on, and we were watching radar, I had a few of them in my face and they were not polite at all. It amazes me at what some people will say, and they not only humiliated their coach publicly, but they really put a poor light on their program. I felt so badly for her, and even called her on the way home. She is an outstanding coach and a friend (as most of the coaches are). We will meet up again tomorrow night too.

Anyway, in the world of sports, that is sometimes just how it goes. I am just thankful tonight for a great and honorable team of opponents (including their coach, no ESPECIALLY their coach), great refs, a great team, and wonderful parents. (Mine do not misbehave). When I was in seminary, the seminary chaplain once said, “Life is okay, if it weren’t for the people.” I am beginning to understand him more than I know!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Oh I know, St. Patrick died some 1500+ years ago, but I am talking about moving his church, not him. He is among the Saints of God, singing great hymns, rooting for the Cubs and Bears, and watching Notre Dame football, like all the great Saints. AND, I am sure he is also rooting for the Noblesville Lady Millers as they defend their Regional Title this week and return to the Final Four too.

But I digress….tonight we moved the CONTENTS of his Church from my garage to our new facility in downtown Westfield. It is still a jumbled mess, but we have a bit of time yet. We will immediately go to TWO services there, one at 8am and one at 10am, and by that 8am service it will be a full and functioning Church!!

I will confess however, that my favorite part of the day was the Chinese restaurant that I went to with Deacon Dan at 11 am and then with the moving crew again a little after 6! Yes, the Lord blessed me double today although I am sure the scale will curse me tomorrow. But everyone was working HARD and they deserved the food….I was just along for the ride! Tomorrow there will be no such nonsense.

But tomorrow there will be work. The big things are in and the little things, of which there are many, need to be done. I will be doing most of them too.

So off to bed after a blessed day, and now I am talking about the move and not about the Chinese food. I am so glad things went well, and we will schedule me at this church for the next few weeks at least. It looks nice so far and I will get some pictures in my blog tomorrow.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

It always amazes me at how when things can appear quite dark, if you are faithful, often a blessing comes your way. Such was the case with all the turmoil with the termination of our lease at St. Patrick’s.

Sure, it was a great relief to have that behind us, but of course it opened up a whole other can of worms. We have a garage overflowing with the contents of a church and no place to put them. We have a congregation, now orphaned and looking for space, and our dining and living rooms were far from ideal. Commercial realtors had no options for us where we needed to be, and we certainly are in no position to purchase anything, plus that takes a long time if we were. We have been keeping our eyes open however, never finding a thing.

Oddly enough, mid-last week, Scotty was sick and had a doctor’s appointment. He went alone, as I was in Indianapolis, but by the time he was heading to the pharmacy I was almost there. My instructions were to drop off his prescription and by the time I got there it would be ready. He could take it and I could get him lunch before he headed to BED.

But as it often happens talking to people who are less than themselves, or in his case nowhere near himself, he misunderstood. I arrived at the pharmacy to find him sleeping in his car, RX in his hand. I had compassion on him, although I was running behind, and we went in and dropped off his prescription, went through a drive-thru to get some lunch and then drove around until we could pick up his meds.

It was then that we accidentally (if you really believe it was an accident) stumbled upon it. It had been for rent apparently quite some time, yet I had never seen it or had been told about it. It was a stand alone house, right in the center of downtown Westfield about a mile from the property we were leaving. It was nice, it was vacant, and it was interesting….though it is small.

To make a long story short, we will be signing the lease for this facility tomorrow afternoon and moving our things tomorrow night. It will require us to go to two services there, as the congregation is already larger than the building, but for a year we have all agreed to get by. We may even keep it beyond that year for something else.

But the Lord did more than provide us a building, He helped to provide some healing for us too. Our new landlord had only talked to one of our other landlords before calling me….it was the First United Methodist Church in Anderson. They love us and told her so. And as I was talking to her, our landlord from Kokomo called and shared pretty much the same thing. We really are a good bunch, and we just got caught in a bad place. It was nice to see a little redemption amidst the chaos!

So tomorrow is moving day! It’s not that I didn’t have a lot to do already, but it will be worth it. If this church grows we may have to have 5 services per weekend to accommodate everyone into this smaller sized church. But being a little tight is sure a lot better than being a tomb. Thank God for what He has provided us. We are looking forward to making this move a real success!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Yes, it finally happened. The landlord of St. Patrick’s sent a signed copy of the termination of our lease to us which we signed and promptly sent back. I then went and cleared out what little we had left in the facility, left the keys on the counter and walked out the back door. Eighteen months of life and love there is now in our past, and we turn our sights to the future.

Of course we have been looking all along, and hopefully with this chapter behind us can move ahead swiftly. The alternative is to continue to jam everyone into my house, which is convenient enough, but I am getting the feeling that the congregation is not believing me when I say my pajamas are a new sort of clerical wear. I suppose it doesn’t matter, because we will not be here that long anyway. This congregation has been through enough, and it is time that they had some time and a place to heal.

The good news is that there is nothing in their way now, and for that I am thankful. Life is often full of surprises and one thing I know is that in the ocean of life the waves can often get high. But with some faith and the Good Lord’s help, we get where we need to be regardless of the seas. This afternoon the seas were pretty calm. I thank God for that and am looking forward to sailing ahead in the days to come!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tommy+

Today is Mother’s Day and we have tried to make it special for Amanda. We all got her cards (even the cat and dog did) and a few gifts as well. They were all very thoughtful gifts too, but nothing could beat the unprompted “Happy Muddrs Day Mommy” from Ben as she was opening up her gifts. It clearly melted her heart and made those new vacuum bags and kitchen apron we got her look a lot less offensive to her! (If you know us, you know that this is a joke….doing that would lead to a homicide.) We hope to get her out to eat later today, but it will have to be with just us boys because Stephanie is working.

We will see my mom a little later today too. My mom is in a nursing home here in Noblesville and is an Alzheimer’s patient. She is also a raging diabetic who will expect her usual ice cream and sugar-free candy. She has good days and bad, and we are hoping for a good one today. She is an avid reader, so we will be bringing her some books as well.

After that, I will call her mom, my grandma, on the way to dinner. My grandma is in her mid-90’s and doing great. She told me if it were not for the arthritis she has in her knees, she would be getting around just fine. I always call her on Mother’s Day because she not only wants to know about mom, but she played a big part in raising me into who I am today. (Do not tell my wife that, I do not want my grandma taking the blame!)

Anyway, I hope and pray that this Mother’s Day is an enjoyable one for you. And on this day I gave thanks to God for all mothers and for who they have been to us in our lives!

Tommy+