Cornerstone Community Church, San Jose CA

Derek Jeter retired from baseball at the end of this last season after playing shortstop for the New York Yankees for 20 seasons. Jeter left the game with quite a legacy. He was a five-time World Series champion; he’s the Yankees’ all-time career leader in base hits, doubles, games played, stolen bases, times on base and at bats. He was a 14-time All-Star selection, won five Gold Glove awards, five Silver Slugger awards and the Roberto Clemente award. He finished his career sixth all-time in hits and is the all-time MLB leader in hits by a shortstop.

Derek Jeter retired from baseball at the end of this last season after playing shortstop for the New York Yankees for 20 seasons. Jeter left the game with quite a legacy. He was a five-time World Series champion; he’s the Yankees’ all-time career leader in base hits, doubles, games played, stolen bases, times on base and at bats. He was a 14-time All-Star selection, won five Gold Glove awards, five Silver Slugger awards and the Roberto Clemente award. He finished his career sixth all-time in hits and is the all-time MLB leader in hits by a shortstop.

Have you ever met someone, talked to them for a little while and been left with the impression, “Wow, that’s really a shallow person!” Maybe you met them at a party of some kind, or maybe it’s someone you know only through work. And it’s not that they struck you as a particularly bad person; they just seemed to be shallow. They didn’t seem to care about anything or anyone outside of their little world. Have you ever heard this saying, attributed to the late Eleanor Roosevelt: “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” And maybe that was part of what gave you the impression that this acquaintance was shallow – it was what they did talk about and what they didn’t talk about. For whatever the reason, the impression you had of this individual was that there really isn’t much to them.

Have you ever met someone, talked to them for a little while and been left with the impression, “Wow, that’s really a shallow person!” Maybe you met them at a party of some kind, or maybe it’s someone you know only through work. And it’s not that they struck you as a particularly bad person; they just seemed to be shallow. They didn’t seem to care about anything or anyone outside of their little world. Have you ever heard this saying, attributed to the late Eleanor Roosevelt: “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” And maybe that was part of what gave you the impression that this acquaintance was shallow – it was what they did talk about and what they didn’t talk about. For whatever the reason, the impression you had of this individual was that there really isn’t much to them.

Cornerstone Community Church, San Jose CA

Cornerstone Community Church, San Jose CA

It’s been five years since we had to put our two Golden Retrievers down. There are a lot of things about them that I don’t miss. I don’t miss picking up after them. I don’t miss how they smell when they came in from the rain. I don’t miss them howling at sirens. But I would be lying if I told you I didn’t miss them. Almost every day for ten years I took Barney and Abby for a walk. I got so used to it that I still take that walk, though it’s no longer a daily thing. And there are times when I’m on that walk when I really miss having them with me. To be honest, I especially miss walking Abby, even though in the long run she caused me far more grief than Barney did. While Abby was a handful, she was also fearless. There were a number of times on our walks when we would run into stray dogs or menacing-looking strangers or even on one occasion a coyote, and Abby never gave an inch. Barney didn’t either, but that’s because – like most Goldens – Barney assumed everyone and everything was his friend. On one occasion our neighbor’s German Shepherd got loose and came running for us growling and with fangs at the ready. Barney just wagged his tail. But just before the dog got to me, Abby bit off a small part of his ear. After that, as long as Abby was with me, I never worried about going out for a walk, because I knew she’d be there for me. And there have been a few walks I’ve been on in recent years when I’ve come across a loose dog or someone who looked a bit out of place and I’ve thought, “I really wish I had Abby by my side right now.”

It’s been five years since we had to put our two Golden Retrievers down. There are a lot of things about them that I don’t miss. I don’t miss picking up after them. I don’t miss how they smell when they came in from the rain. I don’t miss them howling at sirens. But I would be lying if I told you I didn’t miss them. Almost every day for ten years I took Barney and Abby for a walk. I got so used to it that I still take that walk, though it’s no longer a daily thing. And there are times when I’m on that walk when I really miss having them with me. To be honest, I especially miss walking Abby, even though in the long run she caused me far more grief than Barney did. While Abby was a handful, she was also fearless. There were a number of times on our walks when we would run into stray dogs or menacing-looking strangers or even on one occasion a coyote, and Abby never gave an inch. Barney didn’t either, but that’s because – like most Goldens – Barney assumed everyone and everything was his friend. On one occasion our neighbor’s German Shepherd got loose and came running for us growling and with fangs at the ready. Barney just wagged his tail. But just before the dog got to me, Abby bit off a small part of his ear. After that, as long as Abby was with me, I never worried about going out for a walk, because I knew she’d be there for me. And there have been a few walks I’ve been on in recent years when I’ve come across a loose dog or someone who looked a bit out of place and I’ve thought, “I really wish I had Abby by my side right now.”

He is one of the biggest stars in the biblical galaxy. Moses is his name. He is the author of the first five books of the Bible – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. He led the people of Israel to freedom after 400 years of slavery to the Egyptians. He performed great miracles, turning water into blood and parting the Red Sea among them. He is the great lawgiver, giving us the Ten Commandments and hundreds of other laws that have shaped the morals of cultures all over the world, including our own.