Atlanta Braves are Headed Back to the Championship Series!

The Atlanta Braves are headed back to the National League Championship Series for the second straight season, and they go there in dramatic fashion.

The Braves' Freddie Freeman hammered a two-out, first-pitch homer to center field in the bottom of the eighth off Josh Hader, the Milwaukee Brewers' All-Star closer, lifting Atlanta to a 5-4 come-from-behind win on Tuesday, closing out the NL division series in four games.

"I've had a lot of cool moments in my career, but so far I think that's going to top them right there," Freeman said. "But hopefully that's not the last cool one."

Freeman's heroics ended a back-and-forth affair in which the Braves and Brewers combined for nine runs -- the total number of runs they scored together during the first three games of a well-pitched series.

Though Freeman is the face of the Braves franchise, the reigning NL MVP and possibly a future Hall of Famer, his homer off Hader was a stunner.

The Mystery of Suffering

"It is the most ungodly and dangerous business to abandon the certain and revealed will of God in order to search in to the hidden mysteries of God." - Martin Luther

"The secret of the mystery is: God is always greater. No matter how great we think Him to be, His love is always greater." - Brennan Manning

"It is easier to gaze into the sun, than into the face of the mystery of God. Such is its beauty and its radiance." -  Hildegard Of Bingen

With deepest regards to Martin Luther, today I would like to visit one of the puzzles of Christian theology, represented in this famous syllogism.

1) God is omnipotent and omniscient.

2) God is perfectly good.

3) Bad things happen to good people.

At the outset, we must acknowledge three things, 1) This is a mystery that has withstood centuries of thought and investigation, it cannot be fully explored in a blog post. 2) That human beings, who are not eternal, infinite, or omniscient, cannot expect to fully understand God’s purposes and ways. 3) It is arguably impossible for human beings to even properly evaluate what is good and bad in regard to their life experiences.

"How Are We To Live In An Atomic Age?"

Today I'd like to address your attention toward two articles written by C.S. Lewis. His writing has always been a source of personal comfort throughout the years and I have especially found the articles listed below to be sources of wisdom that I keep returning to, year after year, because they encourage me to live with eyes focused upward. (“Onward and Upward! To Narnia and the North!” a quote from the Narnia series, "The Horse and His Boy.")

Yes, we live in trying times and there is a lot to fear if we allow our minds to wander in that direction. But we are reminded in Scripture, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). So how do we reprogram our minds to reflect this truth?

A spirit of fearfulness and timidity does not come from God. Sometimes this “spirit of fear” overcomes us, and to overcome it we need to trust in and love God more completely. “There is no fear in love. To help us be complete in love, God has liberally sprinkled encouragement against fear throughout the Bible. God tells us not to be afraid of being alone, of being too weak, of not being heard in our prayers, or of being destitute of physical necessities. These admonishments cover many different aspects of the “spirit of fear.”

Atlanta Braves Clinch The Division!

The Atlanta Braves secured their fourth consecutive National League East crown on Thursday, defeating the Philadelphia Phillies 5-3. 

The Atlanta Braves have done it all before — many, many times before — but this one felt a bit different. More satisfying, for sure.

The Braves may have been the reigning champions, but their continued dominance was hardly assured. Atlanta finished the first half with a losing record, at 44-45, and entered August trailing in the division by five games. Nevertheless, the Braves were able to rally by winning games in the second half at a 98-win pace overall.

And there they were Thursday night, swigging champagne, puffing on cigars and celebrating an NL East championship.