Today I thought about some practical terms for the spiritual experience:

Cause and Effect
Power
Guidance and Direction

At the noon meeting there was a guy who looked defiant and was court ordered. It was his first meeting.

We were finishing step two and I was thinking about how I might focus my share on why I needed to even consider this step in the first place rather than just share on the concept of a higher power. When my turn in the reading rotation came we were on the paragraph obn the last page that summarizes why we needed to look at this step in the first place.

I lost badly at table tennis today, I was just not able to focus well. On my way home I sensed that I was letting this get me down. I thought about my excessive competitive nature and I asked God to remove my ill will. I resolve to get my chin up and remember that I will have better days. This may not seem important but it later it proved to be meaningful.

My son had a baseball game this evening. The other team's coaches really seemed to have it together more. They came up to bat and their kids seemed to all be huge and coordinated and several hit the ball and our guys made mistakes and they scored four runs in the first inning.

I thought "Oh know here we go, they are going to beat bad". I sensed that the other coaches were thinking the same think. When the inning ended I felt us all take a deep breath and we talked to our kids and alll resolved to keep our chin up.

My son was the second up to bat and he struck out. In the next inning he struck out again. I watched him in the dugout to see if he was getting down and he seemed ok. I was thankful that I have encourged him to do well and have fun rather than harang him when he fails. As I coached him on the field I saw that he was tired and distracted. I realized it just wasn't his day. I encouraged him to keep his chin up.

On his next at bat I looked up momentarily and prayed taht he would get a hit. He got down two strikes. He looked nervous. On the fifth pitch he hit the ball and drove in a run. I was the first base coached so I told him "see what happens when you keep your chin up".

Our team maxed out runs in three innings and won 15 to 7.