Following the thread

Are you ready to follow the thread (see previous post) with me? Okay, what I must do is Explore the Iceberg. In other words, go below the surface apart from the stuff I let you see, the stuff I will talk about with you. Let's dive into the roots of the emotion that brought tears to my eyes when I saw the Seahawks Superbowl celebration via video. This is a bit risky for all of us, because now we are getting at the heart of being known and   trusting others with us. 

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Search me, O God, and know my heart!
 Try me and know my thoughts. Pslam 139:23

A football coach and his players in 1960.

As I follow the thread of this emotion, I go back to my childhood and see myself on the sidelines with high school football players in the early 1960's. The photo above does a pretty good job of capturing the memory in my mind and if I could be seen in the photo; I'd be the 10 year old boy in the background trying to stay out of the way, maybe with a football in my hand. The sights, sounds and smells of the game were swirling around me. You see, my uncles were football coaches and my dad would take me to games on Friday nights or Saturday afternoons. Every once in awhile, I got to join my cousin down on the field, on the sidelines. What a treat! I felt so special! 

The thread goes on to take me to basketball season. My dad love basketball and enjoyed refereeing games. He would travel all over So. Calif. to referee and every so often he'd take me with him. I got to meet his fellow referee partners, sit in the stands and watch the game. The sights, sounds and smells of basketball became very familar to me too. 


The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat became part of my childhood expeirence. I was a keen observer to all that was going on in games and very much wanted to be a part of the action one day. These childhood experiences were fuel for my dreams of one day becoming a professional basketball player. The wide range of emotions I saw on the field or on the court were deeply interwined with all that I tasted on weekends, These emotions etched memories that are anchored in my heart. 

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I wish I could anticipate the triggers that move me to tears, but then again, maybe that would ruin the mystery that God has for me in this life journey. It is almost baseball season. This week catchers and pitchers reported to the Seattle Mariners spring training facility in Peoria. I've loved the Mariners ever since hearing this guy, Dave Niehaus, broadcast the games on the radio in the 90's. Dave had a way of bringing to life the game over the radio. His call of the game winning hit by Edgar Martinez in the 1995 Division series versus the Yankees is one of the classic baseball calls of all time; in my opinion. 


This leads us to my next post as we follow the thread...join me next week and Go Mariners! 

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