“I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”    Jesus

Dear God, help us all to embrace the precious innocence of little children once again.

“When you perform to an audience of One, the applause never stops.”

Dreams.  What do you make of them?  Are they just random, sometimes non-sensical thoughts, or do they have meaning?  If they have meaning, how are they to be interpreted?  God used dreams in the bible to communicate certain messages.   Does God still use dreams to communicate?  I see no reason, biblically or otherwise to infer that He has stopped using dreams.  So how do you know what’s from God and what’s from eating pizza before going to bed?

Have you experienced a dream that you thought was God communicating something to you?  What was it?

Do you remember your dreams?

Do you ever dream in color?

Do you dream about flying?  If so, do you flap your arms?  How high do you go?

Have you ever dreamed you were under water?  Could you breath underwater?

What’s the best dream you ever had?

USS New York (LPD-21), a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, is the sixth ship of the United States Navy to be named for the state of New York.

Shortly after 11 September 2001, Governor of New York George E. Pataki wrote a letter to Secretary of the Navy Gordon England requesting that the Navy bestow the name USS New York on a surface warship involved in the War on Terror in honor of September 11’s victims. In his letter, the Governor said he understood state names presently are reserved for submarines but asked for special consideration so the name could be given to a surface ship. The request was approved 28 August 2002.

24 tons of the steel used in its construction came from the rubble of the World Trade Center, with seven tons melted down and cast to form the ship’s “stem bar,” part of the ship’s bow.  The construction workers reportedly treat it with “reverence usually accorded to religious relics,” touching it as they walk by.

On 9 September 2004, the Secretary of the Navy announced that two of her sister ships will be named Arlington and Somerset, also to commemorate the attacks.

The contract to build New York was awarded to Northrop Grumman Ship Systems of New Orleans, Louisiana in 2003.

The ship also survived Hurricane Katrina.

I’m not really sure how this, “I’ve been tagged” thing works.  It seems you need to share 5 things about yourself that others don’t know. 

1.  My all time favorite hobby in the whole world is hang gliding.

2.  I voted for Jimmy Carter in 1976 - I’m so sorry…..I was only 18 and was farming at the time….that was the only criteria for my vote….I thought Jimmy was good for the farmer, because he was a peanut farmer.

3.  I was one of over one million men that met at the U.S. Capital park for the Promise Keepers “Stand in the Gap” 

4.  I won an award for military drill at the NCO Leadership School in Kapun, Germany in 1982

5.  I climbed Mt. Pillion in Volos Greece in 1981

I am very proud of my younger brother, Mark J. Hawkins.  He has known what wanted to do in life since he was a little kid.  He fulfilled another of his lifelong ambitions as the new Chief Financial Officer for Logitech.  He was able to participate in the bell ringing ceremony at the New York Stock Exchange along with the CEO and other dignitaries. 

I look up to Mark for a couple of reasons; one is that he is about 6′4″ tall and I’m only 5′9″.  Another is that he is one of the most honest, hard working, thoughtful, caring, intelligent, full of integrity, God loving and family centered men I know.  Congratulations Mark on your latest accomplishment; you are leaving in your wake a model that your posterity will praise for decades to come!

By the way, I’m writing this article using the latest in Logitech wireless mice; the MX Revolution.  It is the best mouse in the house!  Buy Logitech!

I love watching sports.  All sports.  I get as much out of going to my hometown high school football games as I do going to the Big House (University of Michigan Stadium), maybe more.  The question I want to pose to my readers today is this, are we making a little too much of sports?  Here is why I’m asking this question.  I noticed there are several football players who will not return for their senior year in college and will be entering the NFL draft.  Is that a good thing? 

Well, if money is the bottom line for everything in life….then yep, that’s probably the right choice.  Is that why we have institutions for higher learning, so they can make more money?  Or is it for people to better themselves intellectually?  Why do these young men enter college in the first place?  To learn, or to be the proving ground for the NFL? 

Think of the billions and billions of dollars that is spent on sports activities from junior high school through the professional level…even though I believe sports can play a postive role in character development….has it gotten out of balance?  Are we contributing to sending the wrong message to our youth?