"Escaping The Facebook Judges" / My, How Baseball Has Changed!"

When I left off my perpetual posting on Facebook about a year ago, it was NOT because of the way I'd been judged there the previous three years!!  You see, starting in the fall of 2014, when my Mother-in-Law died, then when my first wife got cancer and died, and then when the Lord led me to a NEW wife, I posted on Facebook often    A.) Because the therapy of writing has always been very helpful to me and    B.) Because I valued everyone's PRAYERS, and wanted to keep them updated.

Those were my only reasons, but many interpreted my transparency as a need for counsel, advice, and public commenting by well-meaning people who didn't know all the facts but ASSUMED that they did.  This led to judgmental, unBiblical, hurtful public statements inferring that my Mother-in-Law and wife only died because I lacked faith that God could heal, medical "advice" from self-proclaimed "doctors" and even "counsel" that I should never remarry because it insulted the memory of my first wife (thankfully, that LAST tidbit was done PRIVATELY, via Facebook Messaging, so that I could rebuke that person PRIVATELY.)  And, I should note that no one who is still my Facebook Friend, and who may see the link to this blog via FB, was among the offenders I'm mentioning, Lol!! (The key word is "still" Lol!!      Many of those have since been Blocked....and by the way, MOST of my Facebook Friends who commented during that three years were very supportive and encouraging.  THANK YOU to them!!.)

Again, I did NOT leave Facebook (except, of course for when I link to my blog there...I have "left" in terms of previous perpetual postings) because of the way I'd been judged there.  I left for exactly the reasons stated in my earliest blogs here, although, again, it would be wrong to assume that I've publicly divulged ALL of my reasons. That being said, it's nice to ESCAPE THE FACEBOOK JUDGES, and the fact that I'm blogging my "Chetitorials".....clearly my own OPINIONS.....shows that I write more to express what I'm thinking or feeling, rather than to GET opinions. I accumulate very few comments from others now compared to my Full-Fledged-Facebook days, and I'm fine with that (though I welcome any input that I may get.)

Finally, now that I've given up perpetual postings on Facebook I've been able to bury my FACE in more BOOKS (see photo above)!!  The five tomes pictured are only a sample of good books I've read, or am reading, in the last few months (by the way, my son Rob, a graphic designer, designed the cover to "The Hospitable Leader.") Soon, I hope to be WRITING books again, also and my Men's Sunday School class is being blessed by God....so the extra time off of Facebook is well spent.

To close this out, it's nice to escape the Facebook Judges AND to get good advice, and counsel, and wisdom, via books like the ones pictured above!! This is input that I am SEEKING, from people who've mastered the Biblical topics they write about, and it makes all the difference in the world. The Bible, books like these, and wisdom imparted to me via my wife, kids, pastors and trusted friends who know me well, are all that I need but I do NOT miss the Facebook Judges!




My, How Baseball Has Changed! (Originally written on the 17th, updated on Oct. 18th.)  Here it is, October 18th, and each league has only completed 4 or 5 games of their League Championship Series.

40 years ago yesterday, the Yankees concluded the WORLD Series, by beating the Dodgers in six games!

50 years ago, the Tigers had a 31 game winner during the regular season (Denny McClain) and HE wasn't even their star in the World Series. Mickey Lolich was!  And most of the World Series games were UNDER 3 hours, in those days!

Change is only good if it's for the better, I say.  I do like the extra rounds of playoffs, I must admit but the length of the GAMES is not as attractive as the length of the PLAYOFFS. Playoff games should be as crisp as the autumn weather...and would it hurt to have a DAY game or two in the postseason??

The biggest change is that technology now allows us to see how utterly FALLIBLE the umpires are.  The Houston Astros got robbed of two runs last night because of a bad call by an ump that could not be overturned.  "Of course," they lost the game by.................TWO RUNS and instead of the ALCS being tied at two games apiece, it's now 3-1 in favor of Boston, with Houston facing elimination.

The "new" high def, slow motion replays seem to show that the ump was wrong.  I liked it better in the old days when we KNEW the ump blew it, but couldn't PROVE it.

I hope the Astros recover from this injustice and win the next two games, in Boston, and advance to the World Series!!