B is for Billy (Graham and Sunday)

One thing I discovered quickly in my preparation for this years A to Z challenge is that there were more than 26 people I wanted to write about it.  Of course quite a few of them I had to discard, but where I could I have tried to put a few in the same post if I feel they are some what connected.

For the letter B I found 2 men with not only the same first name but also the same occupation.

                                                    William Ashley (Billy) Sunday

                                                    Years Lived Before 1921: Fifty-nine

                                                    Years Lived After 1921: Fourteen

Billy Sunday  was a famous evangelist and prior to that he was a baseball player.  He was born in Iowa in 1862.  His father died in the Civil War a few weeks after his birth.  He was raised in an Orphan's homeHall o. He loved baseball and was discovered by future hall of famer Cap Anson and signed with the Chicago White Stockings (Cubs).  He played for  Chicago from 1883 to 1887 and played

After you've looked at the additional content from my other blogs head back to the challenge and explore continue exploring. He played for the Pittsburgh Allegheny's (The Allegheny's changed their name to Pirates at the end of the 180 campaign.)  from 1888 to 1890 before being traded to the Philadelphia Phillies midseason.

While Playing for Chicago Sunday was converted to Christianity after attending meetings at the Pacific garden Mission.  In 1886 He met Helen "Nell" Thompson who he married in 1888.  In 1891 he quit baseball and began work at the YMCA.  After the YMCA he began  preaching at revival meetings first with J. Wilbur Chapman in 1893 and then on his own in 1896.  

Sunday would often incorporate baseball into his crusades.  Sometimes forming teams to play and playing for both sides.  He believed in the authority and inerrancy of scripture and unlike some 

preachers of his day addressed social issues.  He denounced child labor, supported the vote for women and did not segregate his revivals even in the deep south.  He was a strong proponent of World War I and and even stronger advocate of prohibition.

"Nowadays we think we are too smart to believe in the Virgin birth of Jesus and too well educated to believe in the Resurrection. That's why people are going to the devil in multitudes." - Billy Sunday

Before Sunday's death in 1935 it is estimated that 100.000.000 people attended his revivals and 1,000,000 professed Christ as a result of his preaching.   

                                                            William Franklin (Billy) Graham Jr.

                                                            Years Lived Before 1921: Three

                                                            Years Lived after 1921: Ninety-seven

 

Billy Graham grew up in North Carolina where his childhood dream was to be a baseball player. He addressed this in a book  he wrote in his 90's:

Since there were few things in life that I loved more than baseball, as a young man I dedicated myself to the sport and hoped that my passion for the game would lead me straight to the major leagues.

My goal was simple: stand at home plate, with bat in hand, immersed in an important game. I often pictured myself hitting a big-league grand slam into the stadium seats and hearing the crowd roar with thunder as I ran the bases—nearing home.

He then followed it up with this ...

I never would have guessed what lay in store. After giving my heart to the Lord Jesus Christ—repenting of my sin and putting my entire life into His hands—I laid down my dreams, along with my bat, and fully embraced God’s plan by faith, trusting that He would lead me all the way. He did, He is, and He will.

As I look back, I see how God’s hand guided me. I sense His Spirit with me today, and most comforting is the knowledge that He will not forsake me during this last stretch as I am nearing home. If that doesn’t give me a sense of hope, nothing else will.

Billy Graham came to faith in Christ through a revival  meeting that came to his town.  This was the beginning of the end of his baseball dreams but also the beginning of his own career as an evangelist.  Unlike Sunday Graham was well educated getting degrees in 1940 from Florida Bible Institutes and in 1943 from Wheaton College.  It was at Wheaton where he met and married Ruth Bell. Like Sunday some of his first forays into ministry were with young people.  While Sunday worked for the YMCA Graham worked for an organization called Youth For Christ.  I first heard the Gospel through Youth for Christ and volunteered as a youth leader my first 3 years after high school so I feel like I can relate to Billy Graham on that level.

From 1947 to 2005 Graham conducted 417 crusades in over 180 countries and territories on 6 continents.  

Graham successfully utilized radio, newspapers, magazines and television in his ministry.  He was able to be a very public Christian figure and avoid any major scandals in his ministry.  While he certainly had critics, his style of clearly communicating the gospel on a global scale for more than a half a century is definitely the greatest evangelical achievement of the 20th century.

A TO Z Easter Eggs

A to Z Archives 

Meaningful (and civilized) dialogue between adherents of different worldviews at Dave Out Loud. In 1969 Woody Allen and Billy Graham appeared together on a T.V. special.  I uploaded the video from you tube onto my vlog last year to show how civil disagreements can be.

The Politics of Christianity at Random Acts of Roller. I use the legacy of Billy Graham as a counter example to how politically one sided I thought American evangelicalism was growing.

A To  Z Extra

 Sunday Mond ay  atCrazy Uncle Dave's Sports Blog. How 2 Chicago Cubs outfielders named after days of the week are better known for their stands rather than their stats.

That's all I have as Day 2 of the challenge comes to an end.   After you've looked at the additional content on my other blogs head back to The A to Z challenge and  continue exploring. .  

 

Sunday Monday

 According to baseball reference there are only a handful of players who have had the first name, nickname or last name of a day of the week.  The 2 players with any significant playing time were both outfielders for the Chicago Cubs and both are more known for activities removed from the regular activities of a basbeball player.  These players are Billy Sunday and Rick Monday and while they played a century apart from each other they do have some things in common. 

Billy Sunday who played in the National League from 1883 to 1890 (1883 to 1887 with the Cubs, who went by the name White Stockings during those years) led baseball in 1890 with most double plays as an outfielder with 11.  Rick Monday who played from 1966 to 1984 (1972 to 1976 with the Cubs) led the American League in 1867 with 6 double plays as an outfielder and then in 1974, as a Cub, led the National League in the same category with 5. 

Billy Sunday who is still ranked in the top 250 on the all time list for steals (#246 with 246 steals) is best remember for saving souls than stealing bases.  He is probably the 2nd most well known evangelist in the United States behind Billy Graham. You can read more about Sunday and Graham by going to my blog HSD.

Rick Monday is also known more for saving although he was neither an evangelist or a relief pitcher.

In 1976 at a game in Los Angeles a father son tandem tried to burn an American Flag. Monday intervened as you can see below . . .  

Billy and Rick , two Cubs outfielders who made the most of their days. 

Baseball and A to Z open today.

 I am participating in the A to Z challenge this year at HSD, my flagship blog.  There are going to be some  shared content from all my blogs.  The first one here will appear tomorrow as an addendum to my B entry.  There may also be some older content that gets mentioned.  Also opening today is what I hope to be a very special baseball season here in Chicago.  When I take a breath after the challenge ends on April 30th it will be interesting to se where the Chicago teams are in the standings.

A is for Allen and Al

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April 1 2021 A to Z Challenge commences.

Hello to anyone visiting from the challenge.

 This year my theme is Alive in 1921.

Each day I will write about one or more person who was alive 100 years ago in 1921.My criteria for selection was to write about only people who I knew about before compiling the list.  I will give some biographical information, but I will also try to focus on my connection with the person.  

We are starting with Steve Allen, who was the first host of The Tonight Show in 1954.Allen was born the day after Christmas in 1921 so he was born in the last week of eligibility for t

his list.  

                                                        Years Lived Before 1921: Zero

                                                        Years Lived After 1921:   Seventy Nine

I know it is April 1st but when it came to hosting a late night show, Allen was no fool.  Many of the innovations he pioneered for his ground breaking progam are still in use today. Like this duet with himself

Steve Allen made a lot of appearances on talk shows and game shows in my youth.  What I remember him for most was his dead pan sense of humor.  In the 1980's a show by the name of Solid Gold ran on television. It did not run on broadcast or cable network it was syndicated and I watched a few episodes in it's first season.  On one of those episode Mr. Allen gave a "dramatic" reading.  I put dramatic in quotes as the reading was the lyrics of Donna Summer's Hot Stuff which topped billboard hot 100 chart in 1979. 40 years later the mere thought of the chorus lyrics below being read by Mr. Allen send me into a fit of hysteria.  I was unable to find a clip of this otherwise I would be posting it on my vlog.  

Steve is not the only Allen we are celebrating today. The other one spells it Allan and goes by Al.  His name is Al Jaffee.  Al Jaffee was an artist for Mad magazine.  Like Steve Allen, Jaffee was born in 1921 but unlike Allen who died in 2000, Jaffee is still alive, just celebrating his 100th birthday last month.  

                                             Years lived before 1921: Zero     

                                             Years lived after 1921:One Hundred (so far)

This is a good time to mention how I am incorporating my other blogs into the a to z challenge this year.  I have links to additional content on some of the people I will be featuring this month.  I am calling these A to Z Easter Eggs and there are 2 kinds.  A to Z extra are content I created specifically for the challenge and that I publish simultaneously with that day's letter. A to Z archives are previous posts which have previously appeared in the blog-o-sphere.  Today, I have none of the former, and 2 of the latter.  

A TO Z Easter Eggs

A to Z Archives 

Happy Birthday to Chris and Al at Random Acts of Roller. Mr. Jaffee's birthday coincides with my younger brother's, so I wrote them a fitting tribute which contains a little more biographical information as well as how I connect with the Mad artist.  

The Tonight Show: A History of Hosts at Dave Out Loud.    Steve Allen was the first of 6 hosts of the Tonight Show. I have some footage of each host. 

This should end my first installment of the A to Z challenge.  After you've looked at the additional content on my other blogs head back to the challenge and explore continue exploring. .         

 

How to Get Through 2021: Press On.

 When I wrote my first How to get through 2021 post, I did not expect to write another one the next month and certainly not to write another one the month after that.  But this seems to be exactly what I'm doing.

In my first installment, I talked about how Day by Day interaction with God will help us get through difficult times,  In the second I mentioned about how true Shoulder to Shoulder fellowship will aid us in that journey.  That should be it, I thought.  If God is not all encompassing enough relying on  and serving others who are also relying on and serving God should fill in the gaps. 

Well there seems to be a third ingredient in progressing through difficult times and I was reminded it of last night when listening to Spotify. I was listening to a song by Billy Sprague , a musician, song writer and performer who years ago lost his fiance in a car accident.  She was driving to one of his concerts when the accident occurred. He took a 3 year hiatus from recording and touring and his 2nd release after his return led off with the song, Press On.

  

Although Sprague certainly did not write this song for Covid the emotions expressed are similar to the results of living in lock-down. 

Consider these lyrics

... the passion for life drained like blood from my chest

And it took more than  my will just to take a step when the compass of hope was gone. 

or

Every desperate prayer seemed like heaven refused and some days I found faith meant just tying my shoes and it was all I could do to press on.

In shampoo bottle parlance, if Day by Day is wash and Shoulder to Shoulder is rinse then Press On is repeat.  Pressing on is a continuation of trusting God  and walking along side each other through our trials and our joys.  

Look at the Shoulder to Shoulder living happening in the 2nd verse...

On the oceans so lonesome I  was not left alone

had some heavenly friends when my heart was a stone

and they carried my heart ache and made it their own

when the current of sorrow was strong.

(and one said)

"I pray your memories will not drag you down

not be anchors but treasures of the love that you found"

and his kind words turned hurt into comfort somehow

and the wind in my sails to press on.

I think at least those of us  in western society consider pressing on a solitary activity.  I think it is actually quite communal.  There are heartaches every in life that could be greatly  benefit from  a group of people making it their own.  Even as I was writing this, a friend called to invite me to a church service on Easter which reminded me how his own father said kind words to me on an Easter Sunday some 30 years ago that put the  wind back  in my sails.  I'll save that story for another time. 

In Philippians Chapter 3 the Apostle Paul discusses the concept of pressing on.  In verse 9 he talks about attaining a righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith in Christ.  In verses 10 and 11 he talks about knowing Christ through his  suffering , death and resurrection. In verses 12 and 14 he describes how he is progressing to this point but having not yet reached it and how  he is pressing on towards that goal.  In the 2nd part of the 13th verse he writes something that describes a successful strategy for combating grief, co-vid or anything that life throws at us ...

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. Philippians 3:13B (NIV)

Paul as he often does is using his words to assign priorities.  The past can be very instructional to us but we should never let it define us.  Grief doesn't define us. Lock-down shouldn't define us. A Christians goal should be to become more like Christ.  We can do that by pressing on and we weren't meant to that alone. 

 

 I think this may be it, but who knows, there is still a lot of 2021 to get through and I know a lot of songs.  

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