That’s right…I’m a fan. 14 Division Titles in a row? You can’t beat that. Not to mention all those rookies that are lightin’ it up! Cox definitely deserves manager of the year and Smoltz deserves something…Stud of the Year or something like that. I’m not sure if Andruw will be MVP. I bet they give it to Pujols because he’s been in Bonds’ shadow for the past couple of years. We’ll see, I could be wrong. All we need to do now is add a couple of more World Series titles and the world will seem a little more right.

Sometimes you’ve just gotta smile!

Yep, Fortune put out its list of the 400 wealthiest people in the world. WOW! Of course, Gates tops the list, followed by Buffet (Warren, not Jimmy), followed by a couple of guys and then the entire Walton family (not the TV show but the folks with the big stores everywhere). Check this out, the collective net worth of the nation’s wealthiest climbed $125 billion from 2004 to $1.13 trillion. I wonder if any of them could spare some change, only $10 million or so, to help a church planter in GA!

On the heals of “choices” comes some thoughts about excellence. I can tell your sitting on the edge of your seats for this one. Don’t expect anything great (or excellent).

I’ve realized lately in my life that it takes a ton of work to be excellent at something. At North Cross one of our core values is “excellence in ministry.” We’re definitely not there yet but I believe we’re heading in that direction. I konw I’m not the first to say this but in order to be excellent it means doing a few things very well rather than many things halfway. In church it means fewer but more meaningful services, less but more effective programs and fewer but more broad outreach events.

In life it means that I will never be a great golfer, hunter, fisherman, or guitar player because, honestly, I’m not willing to put in the time or effort to be excellent at all (or any) of those things. Being excellent at something means making choices and making choices means making sacrifices. Here’s my choice: I want to be a great husband, a great father and a great pastor. The rest…meaningless details.

So what if I can’t hit a ball 350 yards straight down the fairway. Who cares if I unload my shotgun trying to hit one bird that turns around and laughs as it flies away. Big deal if I’ve never mastered the art of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” on the guitar. As long as my wife is happy, my son knows I love him and the church loves its pastor, life is pretty excellent!

Gary’s recent post about saying “no” really got me to thinking (that’s important becuase I really don’t think all that often). I have a hard time saying “no.” I guess it’s because I don’t want to disappoint anyone and overall I want people to like me. But after reading Gary’s post I realized that when you say “yes” to everything, you’re saying “no” to a lot of things either unknowingly or unwillingly. if you keep saying “yes” to everything you’re saying “no” to something else by default. And, as it is in my case, sometimes the things I choose to do keep me from doing the things I want to do or I should do.