Monday, Monday

What a dark, dreary day and it's raining too. But I'm grateful the rain and ask that everyone who reads this thank God for hearing our prayers. The rain over in our neck of the woods has been most beneficial. And yeah, we lost our football game too. I had planned to write a little bit about the Iron Bowl today but honestly, there's not much to say (except "We suck!") I had hoped against all odds that there was still enough Alabama magic to pull out a win but that's not what this season was about, not by a long shot. At least I have a Daniel Moore to commemorate our last victory over Auburn (6 years ago!) because I'm beginning to forget what that looks like. I do want to tip my houndstooth hat (actually my crimson-and-grey-striped wool Alabama hat) to Auburn for a couple of things from Saturday night. First, they had at least a minute's worth of sincere silence for Siran Stacy's family. It was a touching moment and no goobs on either side messed it up. I hope that was in some way uplifting to the Stacy family. Second, Auburn orchestrated the best fly-over I've ever witnessed--hands down. It was a night fly-over and I've never even heard of anyone else doing that before (am I just an uncultured hick? Wait, don't answer that!) The fighter jets were huge and flew incredibly low (felt even lower to us because we were in the upper deck.) You could just make out the silhouette of the jets and see the glow of jet fuel...SWEET! Anyway, the pregame slightly atoned for the rest of our Jordan-Hare experience, which I won't get into here (hey, that's what the pregame in the west upper deck at BDS is for!) but it had nothing to do with the score. And I'll be the first to admit that every single school in the country has some of "those fans." In fact, we saw some of "those fans" from Alabama before the game and had to apologize for their behavior, which seemed to be much appreciated by the justifiably offended Tiger fans. Ladies and gentleman: Alcohol, The Great Equalizer. And boy are night games the worst! I do have some doozies to tell from the game but you'll have to email me if you want the scoop... they're not fit for print.

I did realize a few things over the weekend that I'll share as quickly as possible.

1. Traveling to 10 out of 12 games over about a 13-week period makes for a long football season.
2. Losing 6 out of those 12 games makes for a longer football season.
3. Losing to Auburn for the 6th straight year makes for an even longer offseason.
4. The older my kids get, the more I miss them when they are gone. Very soon they will have to go with us to the games (ka-ching) or we will have to stop going... I miss them too much to keep doing this! Stay tuned to see what gives...
5. The Auburn player who got bit by the dog was pretty funny in a postgame interview. He seems quite intelligent and represents Auburn well. Wallace Gilberry is about the only Alabama player who represented us well in the postgame media. That's just my take...

Anyway, I just got word this morning that one of our dear friend's father passed away unexpectedly this morning. He's in his mid-50s and this is such a shock to all of us. My in-laws are very close friends of this couple and my husband is close with the son so it has touched our whole family. Obviously football is the last thing on our minds. So today is just another reminder of these Biblical truths:

"Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. " James 4:13-14

Depressing--sort of--but brings us to this:

Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him." 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14

I wouldn't dare post those things if I didn't whole-heartedly believe those words. May you find comfort in those words today, regardless of your situation.




(And of course, Roll Tide anyway...)