FUN DAY WITH A GREAT LADY AND MAN

Yesterday (Aug 28) was such a fun day spent with Lou and Jackie Brock at their home and at MOHELA. For those who are not baseball fans, Lou played for the St. Louis Cardinals and had over 3000 hits and 938 stolen bases in his illustrious career. He still holds more World Series records than any other player in the history of major league baseball. Both Lou and Jackie are outstanding Christians and it is always special when Jackie prays. The Holy Spirit takes us to the throne of grace and touches the very heart of God. The Brocks have been instrumental in establishing worship services each year during the Hall of Fame induction day at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.

In 2002, Lou was presented with the Horatio Alger Award for Distinguished Americans along with Judge Clarence Thomas of the United States Supreme Court, former Secretary of State Heny Kissinger, etc. Obviously, not every one receives this award and is inducted into this society.

Lou is extremely intelligent. It is always fun to have a Biblical discussion with him. He has great insight into spiritual matters. He said: "I had a lot of successes in baseball, but to me success is when you make the most of your natural abilities and combine that with a spiritual awareness in such a way that you are living according to the Word of God - then you have true success." Brock recalls that before each game he said a prayer during the national anthem. "I still say that prayer when I wake up," he says. "I thank the Lord for the breath of life and then I say, "Let your will be done today - not mine." That prayer gives me the courage and strength to do what needs to be done each day of my life."

As we walked through the work stations of MOHELA, people reached out to touch him, shake hands with him, get an autograph and/or picture. Employees of MOHELA thought of friends and parents who would have loved to have the opportunity just to be with him. They also loved Jackie's ring from the 2006 World Series.

In the book, "Only in America," Lou has written the following on the inside of the book:

"To: John and Sue

We love you!

Lou Brock and Rev. Jackie Brock

Now that is SPECIAL!

PLANNING TIME

It has been a little more than a week since I have blogged. During that time, I have been planning a reunion for my high school class. I started attending Greenwood in kindergarten and finished high school at that same institution. Greenwood is an interesting institution in that it remains the only school of its kind in Missouri. Located on the campus of Missouri State University in Springfield, Greenwood has been a training school for prospective teachers since its inception 100 years ago. We always had a number of student teachers. If prospective teachers could survive our class, we knew they would make good teachers. When I was there, we had 15 boys and 15 girls in each class. Athletically, we always had really good teams and defeated schools that were much larger. The Greenwood of 2007 is much different. Tuition is much, much, much higher and by law they cannot dictate the number of boys or girls in a class. Sadly, that meant the end of the football program that had been so successful. Those in my class, however, still have so many memories of good times shared and lessons learned. I believe the arrangements we have made for the reunion will be well-received by all of us.

For some time, I have been giving thought to how the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA) can help the students in the St. Louis School District to not only want to go to college, but help them financially to do so. Helping in high school is too late, so my focus is on kindergarten. The first kindergarten in the United States was in the St. Louis School District. Once a very proud and effective district, their performance of late on standardized testing has been deplorable. These negative results have caused the state of Missouri to take over the responsibilities of running the district from the elected Board of Education. On August 20, the MOHELA Board will have an opportunity to approve a program that will begin to move the St. Louis School District in a positive direction. MOHELA has hired my friend Ed Wtkins to help get corporations in St. Loouis to line up with MOHELA to finally achieve the goal of once again having a great school district in St. Louis. I will write more about this later if the MOHELA approves our plan.

I am too old to be having this much fun. Regardless, it is happening