Josh Brage

Matt Holliday led the Colorado Rockies to their first World Series last season, finishing second in the National League MVP balloting.

But Holliday, an All-Star left fielder, might not be in Colorado much longer if the Rockies do not revive soon.

The Rockies, 10 games back in the NL West, almost certainly would consider trading Holliday, knowing they stand little chance of keeping him long-term.

Holliday, 28, could be this year’s Mark Teixeira — a Scott Boras client traded with a year-plus remaining on his contract by a team seeking value for a franchise-type player.

The Rockies signed Holliday to a two-year, $23 million deal in January, but could lose him as a free agent after the 2009 season and receive only draft picks in return.

After overcoming an 18-27 start last season, the Rockies will not give up on their season easily, not when they are 15-25 with essentially the same team.

Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, however, is out until the All-Star break with a leg injury, and the NL appears stronger than it was last season. The Rockies rank 13th in the league in runs and 15th in ERA.

(article)

Something very odd happens in my week. Thursday morning. Thursday morning is a touch difficult to describe, but it is odd. Why is Thursday morning weird? Well, because it comes immediately after Wednesday night. That makes it odd. Wednesday nights are THE moment of my week. I LOVE Wednesday night! My entire week generally is spent building up to Wednesday night. All day Wednesday is spent building, building, building up to 7PM when CATALYST STARTS! I LOVE Catalyst. (LAST NIGHT WAS AWESOME! More about that at the bottom.)

Catalyst comes. And then Catalyst goes.

Then I get up on Thursday. I feel so spent. I expend a massive amount of mental, emotional, physical and spiritual energy on Wednesday night. On Thursday I feel that I need a wakeup call and a day to just chill. I spend a large portion of my morning processing and reviewing what happened the night before. I recap the service. I spend some time thinking through some service development notes and ideas. It is always an interesting morning. Does anyone else experience anything like this? Any other time? Tell me! Help me not feel weird…

So onto last night. What a great night! The Catalyst Band was amazing as usual! God showed up. God totally showed up. He was speaking in a big way. Let me tell you something that happened to me that was amazing. It was simple. My pastor, Pastor Reece, was preparing the service for a prayer moment. He was going to have some people praying for people’s health, people’s finances and people’s relationships. I was standing with P. Travis and Zach and he was asking me to help pray for people’s health, but then he stopped. He turned… and he said,

“Josh, I want you with me.”

Simple words. P. Reece probably didn’t even mean them prophetically or even specifically. But those words sank straight into my heart. God brought them to my attention again this morning. They meant a lot to me. There is a lot going on in my life. But the one thing that I know is that I am serving THE pastors that I want to be serving. I am called here. I have been placed here. I am right where God wants me to be. Period.

There is nothing that better suits a summer (or spring) day like Sonic Happy Hour. MAYbe a soft serve ice cream cone from McDonald’s or a Frosty from Wendy’s, but that is about it. Cherry Ocean Water. Yummy!

I am laughing a little because I was just sitting at my desk enjoying my afternoon of hard work when it hit me -SONIC! NOW! Away I went. I want what I want. I know what I want. And usually I know when I want it, which is usually now. So have a cherry ocean water I did.

It is a rarity that I call for this, but we need to get Jeff Francis off the starting mound. He is completely ineffective. He is not winning. He is not getting outs. I am very very frustrated with him right now. Bench him.

Just now I patted myself on the back. Right now is the most fulfilled I have ever felt in my job. I worked very hard today. I was extremely productive. A whole bunch of projects that have been swirling around in my mind, my inbox, my office all came to conclusion today. Right now, I feel very very good. I even stopped for about 2 minutes to write this blog before I walked out of my office. I am heading to Caribou Coffee to spend my evening, dreaming of ways to take over the world with Catalyst. It is going to be an awesome evening.

Sorry for the blog neglect, but if I feel like this every day, I won’t be blogging for a while. HAHA! (I will still blog at night, everyone relax.)

Ever have a weird day? I am right, smack-dab in the middle of one right now. Just odd. Just strange. Did get a cool chance to talk to the one, the only Jimmy Lakey today! Mark and I walked in from lunch and he was standing right there doing a walk-through of our lovely church building. Jimmy is awesome. I so want to be like Jimmy, I can’t even lie about that. But I will settle for being The Hosh. 

Chris Gilbert is running around the church. So I got to talk to him today. That is a treat. 

Last week, I had a GREAT meeting with P. Aaron which I will blog more about later.

Have you ever been in a phase where it is obvious and feels obvious that God is doing so much in your life, He is speaking a lot? I am in that phase. I am a little frustrated right now, because I am not 100% sure what He is telling me. But I will get some quiet time later tonight and hopefully that will clear it up.

Also, one last thing. I realize that I have not been as focused on this blog as I should be lately. The deal is this: I have been trying very hard to do better at my job. I need to be the best danged admin I can possibly be for the rest of the month of May. SO, I am not blogging at work. Right now, I have the church MacBook Pro so I will be blogging at night, but I will try to get back with some more consistency.

So here is how my weekend is about to play out. After last weekend which was awesome, but a little exhausting. I am going to get some serious, serious, downtime. Tonight, I will work slightly into the evening. Then I will head home, throw in some laundry, chill for a couple of minutes and then head to the Budd’s. I like Budd House time. Friday, who knows what all will take place, but I tell you right now, it is going to be chill. There will be sleeping in until at least 11. There will most likely be a nap. Who knows what Friday night holds!?

Saturday - look at that forecast! Do you realize what a PERFECT napping/lounging/napping/baseball-watching day that is!?! I can’t describe to you how excited I am to lay on my couch all day. I might get some garage time at Bone’s in the evening. Might.

Sunday - Mother’s Day. Church. Castle Rock with the family and then more lounging! I am thoroughly excited!!! If you want to be a part of any of this lounging, go ahead and let me know.

Oh! That You would rend the heavens!
Oh! That You would come down!
That the mountains might shake at Your presence -
As fire burns brushwood
As fire causes water to boil
To make Your name known to Your adversaries,
That the nations may tremble at Your presence!
When You did awesome things for which we did not look,
You came down
The mountains shook at Your presence
For since the beginning of the world
Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear,
Nor has the eye seen any God besides You,
Who acts for the one who waits for Him.

(Is. 64:1-4)

(Thanks That Girl Pastor Kate)

Josh and Chris shakingface at the Rox game. (EPIC pic with JP laughing in the background!)

The Crew at Red Rocks. Elissa, Sean, JP and Summer.

Oh. So moody.

Purple mountains majesty.

Last night was my opening day with my boys! It was awesome! There is no describing it, and you probably don’t understand unless you go with me, but I push through that turnstile and something happens to me. Something magical. Do you know how they say “leave it on the field?” Well, I leave it on the street. I pass through the turnstile and all of a sudden I am unconcerned. I am unconcerned with anything! Money means nothing. My job is a distant, foggy idea. I am at a baseball game! I feel like a kid. I have this excitement level in my chest. I am just happy! Man, I love baseball. It is a rush. It is a high for me.

We sat Rockpile. It was buttcold. We only stayed through 5. And we did not see the part where the Dodgers came back from a 3-0 deficit and trounced us 11-6. Man, I am glad that we left! Pics will be coming soon. I was very happy to have an opening day 2008. Especially with Jp, Summer, Josh and Chris. What a great night!

Denver - Colorado Rockies star shortshop Troy Tulowitzki suffered a torn tendon in his left quadriceps and could be out until the All-Star break if not longer, his agent said Thursday.

“Best-case scenario is six weeks. The realistic one is a few months,” agent Paul Cohen told the Associated Press. “We’re hoping it’s a couple of months, but we won’t know until they do further medical tests.”

Let the tears begin streaming down my face.

“Glory in the highest!”

I am very happy and feel honored to be living the life I am leading. I am extremely grateful to God that He has blessed me with this country, this church, this job and the people that He has placed in my life. He is worthy of my praise. Today, I had the opportunity to just take a minute and thank Him for who He is and what He has done. My week has been chaotic and very stressful. But He is in charge of my life. In the midst of stress, He reigns. Take a minute today and just acknowledge Him. He is worth it.

“All the earth will sing Your praise!”

Take a listen to this. This is a recording of a prayer, prayed by U2’s Tour Chaplain Jack Heaslip before the opening night of the Elevation Tour in Miami. This is a remarkably powerful prayer - one that could/should be prayed before church services, let alone rock concerts. Jack was also responsible for organizing prayer walks of the venues before each concert through that tour. U2 is focused on the anointing of God. This is awesome.

CLARIFICATION: This is a moment before the concert even started. This is just the U2 crew.

(Ht: P. Dave, THANKS! As always!)