A Clever Title Someday

The Task of Every Spiritual Leader

2011-08-05T08:47:00.003-05:00

You can't get very far in reading Paul's epistles before it becomes extremely evident that he was a man of prayer. But his prayers weren't simply for himself, he was constantly lifting up the churches he had planted, the people that were being discipled there, as well as their ongoing ministry.

This isn't a new concept for spiritual leaders, as Abraham and Moses had done centuries before. However, there's a statement that Samuel makes about prayer that should jar any of us that strives to lead others, whether in our church or home. 1 Samuel 12:23 says, "As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you." This puts the responsibility and necessity of prayer in a whole new light.

I think it's especially important to remember the context here as well. Samuel is nearing the end of his days, and he has just rebuked the people for their request of a king. Part of this, of course, included their rejection of his own sons as leaders. I think God's response to Samuel in 8:7 implies that Samuel was deeply hurt by this.

So, in spite of all their sin, rebellion, and rejection, Samuel still had a responsibility to pray for them. It didn't matter what they had done or how he felt about it. It would be sin not to. That truth has not changed. Prayer is still the task of every spiritual leader.

Behind the Scenes of Effective Ministry

2011-08-04T08:10:00.003-05:00

Last summer our BSU Bible study was over 2 Corinthians, and I remember reading a commentary that said it was the letter Paul was reluctant to write. That's because Paul has to spend so much time defending himself and his ministry, when he would rather talk to them about the gospel and its implications.

That brings me to my reading this morning, 2 Corinthians 11. There were some people at the church in Corinth that insulted Paul's abilities, questioned his apostleship, doubted his motives, and were jealous of the results of his ministry. They wanted to be seen as somebody even greater than Paul.

So Paul takes a moment to lay out what it really costs to have an effective ministry. In verses 23-33 his experience can almost be summed up in a single word: danger. He faced trials at every single turn. Those who were jealous of the "glamor" of Paul's ministry had no idea what it actually cost. I doubt any of them would strive for those kinds of experiences.

Paul's path was especially wrought with trials (Acts 9:16), but it's still the reality of ministry. It will be challenging and you will not be up to the task apart from the power of Jesus (2 Corinthians 11:30, 12:9-10). However, it's in those trials that we most depend on Him and take no glory or credit for ourselves. For those desiring to have a great ministry, let your expectation match reality - being deeply used by Jesus will not come cheaply.

Focalism

2011-08-03T08:41:00.002-05:00

Part of my reading this morning was in 1 Samuel 8. It's a rather startling story for a few different reasons. One thing that really interests me is the matter of Samuel's sons. Why were they so different from him? Surely he prayed for them and instructed them in the ways of the Lord, after all he was one of the greatest spiritual leaders Israel would ever have. Furthermore, there's no way he could forget what happened to Eli's sons... I don't have any answers for that.

Today, though, I really want to focus in on the Israelites' request for a king. Of course their big mistake was wanting to be like the nations around them, rather than being different and introducing God to their neighboring countries. But what struck me this morning was their insistence on having a king, even after Samuel told them what a bad deal it would be for them. Their minds were completely made up and no amount of wisdom or reason could change them.

All of this brings me back to a word that I heard Andy Stanley talk about at Catalyst: Focalism. He was preaching out of the story of Jacob and Esau and the selling of Esau's birthright for a bowl of stew. The point is clearly made in this passage as well. Sometimes we get so locked in on what we think we want at that very moment, everything else becomes a blur. In the process we make terrible decisions, trade away our future, compromise our values, and eventually live to regret it.

How can you tell if you're starting to fall victim to focalism? I think that's part of the problem - we often can't! That's why we need to humbly allow others to be involved in our lives. Is there anyone in your life you can be real with? Someone who asks you the tough questions and will be honest with you, even when it hurts? And even more to the point, will you listen to them?

I know some people who are still looking for this relationship but haven't found it. Whether or not you have someone like that, you can always go to the Lord. There's no replacement for a daily time with Him, allowing His Word to bring teaching, rebuking and correcting in your life. It's far better than falling victim to focalism.

Generosity

2011-08-02T09:08:00.002-05:00

In my quiet time this morning, part of my reading was 2 Corinthians 9. Paul is writing to the church at Corinth and is encouraging them to follow through on their prior commitments to give. In the process, he tells us some incredible things about generosity:

If you only have a little, you can still give generously, even if it's not a lot (8:12)
Giving should be done voluntarily and cheerfully (v7)
God loves a cheerful giver (v7)
God blesses us so we can give generously to others in need, not simply for our own benefit (v11)
Being generous with our money opens the door for God to bless us in non-monetary ways (v8,10,12)
Our generosity will result in God's glory (v11,12,13)
Our giving should be our natural response to our experience of God's grace (v14)

When I read this, it's easy for me to think, "I need to be more generous! I'll get right on that." But that's not really the point. I think instead any lack of generosity on our part should lead us to examine our experience and understanding of God's grace given to us in Jesus Christ. While generosity can be a disciplined action, I think the ideal is that it's a natural byproduct of our relationship with God. He has lavished His grace upon us - given generously above and beyond anything we could deserve. Paul calls it His "indescribable gift!"

Have you experienced His grace and mercy in your own life? One simple evidence of that will be an outpouring of generosity to others.

Two Months = Broken Windows and Graffiti

2010-02-03T23:50:00.003-06:00

Hmm... so apparently if you leave your blog alone long enough, spambots will appear and start posting useless comments. I've deleted those comments, but I did manage to catch a photo of the perpetrator:

Everything That Hinders?

2009-11-02T10:50:00.003-06:00

As I once again redefine my morning devotional time, I've settled into reading whole books at a time. Last week I knocked out several shorter epistles, and today I read through Hebrews. I really do encourage you to try reading an entire book at a time - sometimes we miss the big picture because we're only taking in a few verses at a time.

Today I just wanted to comment on one verse - Hebrews 12:1. It says: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."

I love this verse and the visual it creates. I've reflected on this before, how runners wear no more clothing than is necessary in order to run their very best. Swimmers take it a step further and shave all the hair off their bodies!

It's easy to look at this verse and understand the "sin that so easily entangles" part. Without question, sin trips us up and causes us to be slow in the race and unfruitful in our Christian lives. But there are two dangers listed here: the sin just mentioned, and other things that "hinder" us, but perhaps are not sinful in themselves.

In my own life I see lots of things that could probably be considered morally neutral but do not contribute to my running the race well.* On the contrary, they tend to hinder me - weights that simply slow me down or distract me from what I should otherwise be focused on.

* Some of those are randomly, aimlessly browsing the internet, playing video games by myself, and not having a plan on how to be productive with my "free" time. And I just realized my perfectionism is often a hindrance as well.

Without a doubt our world is overflowing with these: tv programs, video games and really all manner of gadgets and gizmos. But we add to them with procrastination and poor time management, saying yes to too many things, sleeping in or taking naps or adding fruitless hobbies to our lives.

I'm not saying having any of those things in your life is bad - just that they can easily become hindrances in running hard after Christ. Have you taken stock lately of your own life and what it's filled with? Are you not only seeking to rid yourself of the sin that so easily entangles, but are you also genuinely considering those more subtle time wasters that hinder your obedience to the Lord?

Bubble Knee

2009-10-22T14:53:00.002-05:00

Later we're going to have a post commemorating our ten years of Mystery Dinner Theater and some of the unusual moments we've encountered along the way. Right now I want to start it off by sharing the most recent: apparently between constantly going to one knee and also having an unfortunate dive while playing racquetball, I've discovered a sudden build up of fluid on my left knee cap.

It's either a bursitis or a ruptured bursa sac. It hasn't really grown any bigger than when I first discovered it. It's not painful and is mostly just a strange, creepy thing. But how long should I wait before getting it checked out? Will the fluid go away on its own? Will icing really help? Hmmm...

Yeah, There's a Great Idea

2009-10-22T12:45:00.002-05:00

What do you do when you're a fledgling blogger who struggles with too many topics and wavers between a flurry of posts and extended periods of inactivity? Why, you start more blogs, of course!

I'm going to attempt to reorganize my thoughts into a few different blogs and see if that doesn't help me be more consistent in my posts. I've had trouble at times with this particular blog because the topics that I want to address don't have much to do with each other.

Therefore, I'm starting a new blog on the Chiefs (Chief Impressions) as well as one on campus ministry (College Ministry OJT). I think we're also going to start one that is more themed around the activities of our family and try Karin out as a contributing author there.

In the meantime, I'm hoping to make it work so this site imports directly from those other sites. That means this one will look just as jumbled as it ever did, but anyone interested in just one of those topics can steer clear of all the other stuff they don't like!

Anyway, that's the plan, and is what I'm currently working on.

Week 4 Thoughts: Red Alert!

2009-10-05T09:42:00.005-05:00

Several Chiefs defenders react to a horrible personal foul call against Jarrad Page

Ok, so going in all of us who were realistic knew there was little chance the Chiefs would win this one. Let's not forget that just two seasons ago the Giants won the Super Bowl with roughly the same team. No, the outcome was not in doubt, especially not after the Giants were given a gift on the game's opening play. The bigger problem that emerged yesterday is that after four preseason games and four regular season games, the Chiefs have absolutely no identity on offense. Since I've been openly critical of Jason Whitlock here, I will point out that he nailed it today in his column.

I did something new yesterday as I watched the game. I sat with a notebook and journaled every play, which was both effective and enlightening. Here are my thoughts on the game:

Third Down Breakdown: Last week we were 0/11 on third down, which led me to want to dig deeper and see how many of those were third and long situations. Yesterday we faced the following distances on third down: 8, 5, 10, 10, 9, 8, 13, 18, 7, 12, 11, 7, Goal (from the 11), Goal (from the 2), 27. That means we faced a third and short ONE TIME! 14/15 third downs were long - most of them very long. If my math is correct, these numbers mean that on the series when we got to third down, our average gain between first and second down was -1 yard! You could do better by intentionally spiking the ball on first and second down!!

For the game we were 2/15 on third down. The two we converted were on third and 8 (an 18 yard pass to Engram) and third and 7 (a 12 yard scramble by Cassel). Third down isn't really the problem - first and second down are. When your average third down play needs 11 yards, you're not going to be very successful.
Second down break down: these were our yards to go on second down: 2, 5, 10, 10, 6, 8, 13, 14, 7, 12, 11, Goal (from 1), 7, 15, Goal (from 6), Goal (from 11), Goal (from 1), 8, 15. Our average distance to go on 2nd down was 8.5 yards!
So what's happening on 1st down? Not much! Here are our first down gains for the game (R=run, P=pass): 2R, 8R, 5R, 0R, 0P, 4R, 16R!, 2R, 2R, -4P (sacked), 3R, 3R, 19R!, -2R, -2P, 7R, 1P (TD), 3P, -5R, 0P, 0P, 7R (QB scramble), -5R. So to summarize: of the 23 plays listed here (I didn't include the last play of the game) we chose to run (here I'm not counting the scramble) 15 times. We had two big gains (16 and 19), lost yardage three times, and gained less than four yards seven more times. Our average gain running on first down was 2.93 yards. Whew.

But that's actually BETTER than what we did when we tried to throw on first down! Only three times did we even complete a pass on first down: -2 yards on a screen pass, a 1 yard TD to Sean Ryan and a 3 yard dump pass to LJ. That's 3 of our 8 first down passes. The other five were: incomplete deep to Bradley (who was open), -4 sack (empty backfield), incomplete to Pope from the 1, incomplete at LJ's feet from the 1 and Cassel scrambling for 7 yards. It's bad no matter how you summarize: Our first down completions averaged .67 yards (COVER YOUR EYES!) and if you factor in Cassel's scrambles and yards lost on sacks, our attempts at passing on first down netted us 5 yards (an average of .625 yards per play).
As of now, I am anti-Matt Cassel. There's no other conclusion to make from the stats above. Someone will surely comment that he doesn't have time to throw. Sometimes that was true, but the thing that gets me is that he isn't even TRYING! I'm tired of looking at stats and adding up numbers or I would continue to build my case. But the guy just doesn't look down the field. It wasn't until the fourth quarter that he made a "long" pass completion (20 yards in the air) which turned into a 43 yard gain for TE Sean Ryan. How about that?! Our longest play of the season! When we actually T R I E D. Ug.

What's even worse here is I don't think Todd Haley believes in Cassel either, because far too often he's calling run plays and screen passes and never tries to take the big shot down the field. The guy can't hit the deep ball and is too worried about his protection to look down field and try to complete a decent pass. It's just dump pass after dump pass. Last week he was 14/18 for 90 stinking yards. Until Matt Cassel does something to prove me wrong, I am officially in the "we wasted a lot of money signing this guy" camp.
What was with the play calling? While we're at it, let's question what in the world Haley was doing calling the plays that he did. Starting out in the Wildcat was bizarre and ineffective. Going empty backfield meant the Giants could just pin their ears back and go after Cassel, which they did with ease. What I really don't understand is why we never let the run set up play action. LJ broke off some good gains in there. Why not follow one of those up with a play fake and try to go deep? The Giants said before the game that they still respected LJ (which could have been blowing smoke) but they definitely had to pay attention to him all day. But alas, I know why we didn't try to go deep: because Cassel can't do it. Fans who followed the Patriots last year have already pointed out that even with Randy Moss he couldn't hit the deep ball - why would it be any different now? I sure hope to be proven wrong, but I have a bad feeling about this.
Other negatives: It looked like Ryan Succop had an outside chance of recovering the onside kick, but he went alligator arms and didn't sell out for the recovery. Bummer. Why go anti-pass all day and then refuse to run when you're close to the goal line? It would sure be nice to see Bowe and Wade hang on to the ball more often. (And for the record, those were still short gainers that they dropped.) What's with the announcers gushing over Matt Cassel? I'm tired of it. Even on his TD pass to Wade he actually overthrew Battle and got lucky Wade was there in the back of the end zone. Last one: even the refs hate us. Late in the game the Giants got a 15 yard facemask on an attempted sack of Cassel. Unfortunately the officials only gave us ten yards for it.

Enough doom and gloom, I guess... on to some positives:

Carr is a player! As I went back through my notes, I was pleased to see how often I had written about Carr making a good defensive play. He and Flowers are very solid and give us something to be happy about.
It's a good thing we have Colquitt. He consistently boomed long, high punts all day, temporarily helping out the team. I wonder if he can throw deep...

And unfortunately, that's all the positives I have. I did enjoy taking detailed notes of the game and might turn that into a regular habit. Hopefully I'll continue to develop a better system that will allow me to dig deeper into the game. I let the defense off the hook yesterday, but I might try and break down some of that as well. I'm also interested in specific formations that we ran on offense and what the situations and successes were of those.

The surprisingly 4-0 Broncos held off the Cowboys yesterday, so I expect Dallas to come right out and punch the Chiefs in the mouth. My prediction: it still won't be pretty... 30-10? I want to see the Chiefs throw more on 1st down (but not from an empty backfield) and actually throw it down the field. I'd also like to see them develop some play action passes when the run works, not just (what looks to me like) calling it randomly.

Week 3 Thoughts: Red All Over

2009-10-04T09:31:00.005-05:00

Due to being out of town last weekend, I didn't get to sit down and watch the Chiefs/Eagles game all at one time. I had to bite it off a piece at a time, which was about all one could handle in that game anyway.

I had originally hoped to go deeper on one key stat in the game: the Chiefs were 0/11 on 3rd down. The deeper was to see how often they were in third and long. I didn't have time to go back and count specifically, but I know it happened the majority of the time. So that tells me that what has been happening to the Chiefs on 3rd down is really the byproduct of what has not been happening on first and second down.

Another problem that's mounting is making more and more mistakes. Penalties hurt us big time last week, and as I've said before we're not talented enough at this point to overcome very many mistakes.

Today they play the Giants, another gift of their brutal opening schedule. Outside of the Chiefs' locker room I'm sure no one is giving them a chance to win. For the record, I am not. But last week's game proved what is beginning to become a regular problem for the Chiefs: dealing with that guy who throws the ball. We can't protect our quarterback and we can't get to theirs.

If the Chiefs are to have any hope of winning today, they have to do a few things. First off, they have to gain more than one or two yards on first down. Ideally it would be great to see them throwing more on first down rather than being so predictable with the run. I expect the Giants to do like the Eagles did and pack their defense close to the line of scrimmage. It sure would be nice to see us take some shots down the field early to exploit that. No, we don't have the greatest receiving weapons in the league, but can we at least try?

Second, our defense has got to create some turnovers and give the offense a short field to work with. Our return game is not good and our offense will very rarely be able to go 80 yards for a TD. Unfortunately we're not good at the thing that often leads to turnovers: putting pressure on the QB. Perhaps today will be the day that we get something figured out there. Playing at home may help a bit.

Third, we've got to continue to be strong against the run. This has been one bright spot so far this season and was something that really surprised me against the Raiders. We're doing a good job overall here but haven't been able to get off the field enough on 3rd down. While the QB pressure needs to increase, we can't afford to get soft against the run.

So in the end I guess I'm saying the same thing all over again: we've got to protect our QB and get to theirs. There's not a real convincing reason why that will happen today, so try and have some realistic expectations as you watch the game and don't let a frustrating loss ruin the rest of your day!

I wanted to get this out quick before the game today so I can come back with some postgame thoughts later this evening.

Conjugating 'Verbs: In God We Trust?

2009-09-22T11:06:00.004-05:00

* Another disclaimer on this series of posts. Just like the Proverbs themselves, they won't be exhaustive statements about a particular topic. They're more like quick hitting devotional thoughts. You probably already knew that, but I feel better getting it off my chest. Sometimes it bothers me knowing there's a lot more that could've been said but wasn't.

I had a video conference this morning during my regularly scheduled time in the word, and so I'm a bit behind in that department today. I'll try and get caught up during my lunch break. You may be wondering why I'm not getting caught up now, and you may be on to something there... but anyway, I wanted to share another thought from Proverbs that hit me last Friday.

This is something that's been floating around in the back of my mind for a while, but finally came to the forefront last week. The Lord really smacked me between the eyes when I came across this verse:

Proverbs 18:11 says, "The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it an unscalable wall." On the surface this may not sound incredibly profound or even all that applicable to most of us. I don't know many people who are rich, even if nearly all of us ARE rich when compared to the majority of the rest of the world. No, it's the idea that's behind this truth. The rich are trusting in their wealth, rather than in God. I think the majority of us wrestle with this from time to time, and some rarely ever truly trust in God at all.

What hit me this past week was what I was choosing to trust in. I know some trust in money or their wisdom or the power of democracy or having a great military. The list goes on and on. But what was hitting me was in the realm of ministry: it's very easy for me to trust in people, in the student leaders we have, in the structure we've put in place, in the systems and plans that we've laid in order to reach our goals.

I do believe we have great student leaders, and I do think much of the success of this ministry is in their hands. But it's all too easy for that feeling of contentment/security/trust to allow me to become complacent and comfortable. To unconsciously rely less on God than if times were tough and we were really struggling. One of the greatest challenges to the people of God throughout time has been prosperity, or even just the false feeling of it. (We can certainly overestimate how well we're doing and feel good about it, even when we really shouldn't.)

I've also been reading through Isaiah, and there I see a people that has prospered to the point that they no longer "need" God or rely on Him. I appreciate the wake up call from the Lord, that nothing I have planned or laid is really an unscalable wall. Whether you are in vocational ministry, have a leadership position in one, or are "simply" a follower of Christ, I want to encourage you to trust in Him and Him alone. It's far too easy to subtly slip into trusting in man, trusting in our own wisdom and strength, trusting in our own plans.

How do I know whether or not I'm really trusting in Him? A ten second evaluation of my prayer life is probably all that it really takes. Am I really crying out to Him to move? Am I interceding for the lost? For my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ? Am I burdened by the things that burden the heart of God?

Proverbs goes on to say in 21:31, "The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests in the Lord." Continue to do your best to prepare, to plan and to carry out the vision God has given you, but make sure you do it on your knees - constantly driven by the reality that Jesus meant it when He said, "Apart from me you can do nothing."

Week 2 Thoughts: Seeing Red

2009-09-20T15:42:00.006-05:00

Matt Cassel fired up the crowd early with his enthusiasm after scrambling for a first down.

Well, the outcome was as I expected, but for all the wrong reasons. I figured we would struggle to run and the Raiders would tear us up with their three-headed running back monster. Last year McFadden, Bush and Fargas combined for 297 yards rushing and I figured we'd have a tough time stopping them today. Fargas didn't get any carries, and McFadden and Bush combined for just 70 yards in 21 carries. When you consider that JaMarcus Russell was a pitiful 7/24 for 109 yards, you'd think the Chiefs would come out on top. Unfortunately that was not the case, as we fell 13-10. Here's my take on the game:

The Raiders aren't very smart. What was the deal coming out and throwing all over the place? I'm guessing they saw what the Ravens did to us last week and figured they could do more of the same. First of all, we didn't have Brandon Flowers last week - that makes a HUGE difference. Secondly, um, you're not the Ravens. You don't have a good quarterback and you don't have very good receivers. But more importantly, you don't even have an okay quarterback. Considering the Raiders ran all over us last year, I was really surprised they put the ball in Russell's hands so often early.
JaMarcus Russell is bad. I'm so glad the Raiders drafted this guy first overall in 2007. That means they'll continue to play him, hoping he lives up to his "potential." That also means several more years that the Raiders will suffer for it. Yeah, throw it in my face that Russell beat the Chiefs today, but it's not because he's good. It had more to do with the two best players on their team (see next two items). As for Russell, he simply cannot throw accurately enough to be a good NFL quarterback. He definitely has the arm strength to go deep, and I would argue that his accuracy goes up the deeper he throws. But he consistently whiffed on short passes, and you simply can't miss those in the NFL.
Shane Lechler is my least favorite Raider. First of all, I am not a fan of this guy because he'll consistently keep Dustin Colquitt out of the Pro Bowl. But even worse is the fact that he bombed ridiculously long, high punts all day. The main reason we lost this game is because we never got a short field to work with.
Sebastian Janikowski is my second least favorite Raider. Yeah, he's automatic from around 50 yards and in, but his kickoffs drive me insane! It's probably for the best since we don't have a good kick returner anyway, but we hardly ever got a chance to return a kickoff. Nope, just start at the 20. Every. Single. Time. We don't have the firepower to go 80 yards very often, and the two kickers for the Raiders kept us from winning the game.
Clock management killed us in the first half. This one is obvious and everyone will be talking about it, but we gave up three points at the end of the half because we wasted two time outs earlier in the game. One of those time outs was key, though, because it allowed us to convert on fourth and two. Failing to get the field goal at the end of the first half still could've been avoided if Cassel had thrown to the end zone instead of tossing it out in the flat. I think that's a pretty straightforward issue: don't throw short of the goal line if you've got no time outs and less than 20 seconds on the clock. Huge mistake.
Let's go easy on Brandon Flowers. Yes, he missed the pick six. Yes, we really could've used those points. But the guy is a second year player and was in his first game of the season. I think he's an outstanding cornerback and he and Brandon Carr are two guys that Herm did great in drafting. (Incidentally, they also play the same position Herm played. Coincidence? Hmmm.) It's too tempting to not pull out the cliche: "That's why he plays defense, not offense." He still had a great game but will likely be thinking about that one for a while to come.
Throw it down field! I know Matt Cassel isn't the best at throwing the deep ball, but come on! At some point you've got to take some shots! He missed the one that was beautifully intercepted, but came back and hit Bowe with a 29 yard strike near the end of the fourth quarter. When you're trying to go 80 yards at a time, you've got to pick up some chunks of yardage somewhere.
Was that us running the ball? We had 173 yards rushing, which is a huge improvement from last week's embarrassing 29 yards. Larry Johnson looked really good and may have a much better year than I expected. Dantrell Savage also had some great plays as a change-of-pace back. Those guys playing well will go a long way in helping Cassel succeed.
Bobby Wade: the good and the bad. So he made some great catches, dropped some passes and fumbled a punt return (which we recovered). He finished with 6 catches for 72 yards and was Cassel's favorite target. I'm not sure if Bowe was just getting owned by Asomugha, but Cassel rarely even bothered to look in his direction. I do think it's telling that one week after twice coming up just short for a first down, Mark Bradley didn't even step on the field today. Very funny, since I saw a fantasy site earlier this week that said he should get plenty of looks this week with Bowe having a tough matchup. Oops.
Todd Haley will do whatever it takes. I really like Haley and his no nonsense style. I was a fan of Herm, but I see now that his style wasn't going to get this team going. I'm surprised that Derrick Johnson is still not starting, but I think Haley knows what he's doing. He's certainly setting a culture of "play-my-way-or-else" and it seems the players are responding. Hopefully that turns into some wins soon... It was nice to see him go for it on some key fourth downs.
Too bad we couldn't get the stop we needed. I really didn't think the Raiders would drive down for the winning TD. I still think we got seriously hosed on the late hit against Russell on that final drive. The guy fell down but hadn't been touched! He can get up and keep running! And he's a 260 pound quarterback! One of our guys jumping on top of him should not have been a penalty and definitely hurt us at the end. Penalties definitely hurt us this week. Like I said after the last game, we're just not good enough to make mistakes and win. (Cassel was also picked twice, which didn't help either.)

I still enjoyed the game and am glad I can walk away watching the Raiders come from behind and not have it ruin the rest of my Sunday. I'm sure Karin is happy about that too =) I imagine many Chiefs fans are pretty ticked off right now and are definitely Seeing Red. There may not be any moral victories - certainly not when you allow a game-winning drive - but at least our defense looked a lot better than they did a week before.

I know Haley and company want to win, but I'm very much viewing this as a building season and am more concerned that we improve week-to-week. But this was our best chance for a win, and we might not see one for a while... I'll be on the road next weekend, so I'll set the DVR and hope to have an exciting win to sit down and watch! Either way, I'll be back for more.

Conjugating 'Verbs: Speak the Truth

2009-09-20T10:08:00.003-05:00

* This might turn out to be a regular series on my blog. I picked the name mainly just because it sounds cool, not because it ties directly into conjugation. The 'Verbs refers to the book of Proverbs in the Bible, which I return to often and love to meditate and reflect on. One definition of conjugation - in various disciplines - means to join together. I can easily justify that definition by the fact that these entries will join the Proverbs together with real life applications.

As one who regularly gets to speak and preach to others, I constantly face the temptation to worry about what others think and how well I do in presenting the information. This may have been further heightened by the fact that I'm beginning to try and develop speaking/preaching abilities in some of the guys at BSU. In doing that, I've been working through a list of questions to use when evaluating someone as they deliver a message. While I think that's important and will continue to work on developing both my and their skills in presenting a message, thinking too much about the delivery was once again leading me to forget what is most important for us in this arena.

While I've begun to read through Isaiah in the mornings, I'm continuing my habit of one chapter of Proverbs a day. This morning the Lord spoke very specifically to me about this issue. It's interesting how I got there, though, because I started out in chapter 20 - since today is September 20. Somehow when I turned the page to go from verse 3 to 4, I actually turned two pages and continued right along in Proverbs 23:4, so I didn't even notice. It wasn't until I was recapping the encounter with Karin that I realized I was in the wrong chapter. But it was where God wanted me to be.

Proverbs 23:15-16 says, "My son, if your heart is wise, then my heart will be glad; my inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right."

That verse just hit me right between the eyes. Simply put, the most important thing for those speaking/preaching is whether or not they clearly proclaimed the word of God. That's what I'm focusing on this morning as I am about to head out the door and preach at First Baptist in Maryville. That's what I want to continue to focus on as I preach at the BSU and what I want to instill in the guys as they have opportunities to preach as well.

I still think it's important to do your best, to not present in such a way that you're actually a distraction to what God is trying to say. But hopefully I will be able to remember what's really important: that God's word is proclaimed and that He can speak through it regardless of how great of a presenter one is. I hope those of you that have the opportunity to teach God's word to others will remember that as well.

Clear the Road!

2009-09-17T09:24:00.003-05:00

As of yesterday, I've begun giving driving lessons to an international student that has almost zero experience. I've also agreed to help an American student log some time behind the wheel. He already has a good handle on how to drive and just needs some practice. Both students have their permits.

I myself went through driver's ed in high school and never went the "informal" training route. My dad taught both of my older brothers to drive, I guess they made him not want to go through that again =) I do have some information I've found online that's given me a general idea of how to proceed, but I wanted to see if anyone out there had any suggestions, comments, advice or warnings? Anybody taken this journey or been down this road before? (Both puns intended.)

Week 1 Thoughts: Red Herring

2009-09-14T13:37:00.002-05:00

* Before I get going, I just want to say that I really really enjoy having DVR. I didn't start watching the Chiefs game until 1:45 or 2:00, and yet I finished just a little after 3pm. There were several sweet plays that weren't shown a second time, so it was a wonderful bonus to go back and watch them as many times as I wanted. DVR FTW!

Saying I am going to try and blog more is probably pointless, as I've said it before and it didn't necessarily work out that way... but a guy can hope. One of those will be sharing my brilliant, insightful, thought-provoking opinions about my favorite football team. I picked the title Red Herring this week because I think a few key plays distracted us from what was really going on. Here are random thoughts:

We sure missed Brandon Flowers. Wow, who knew the Ravens would come out all pass-happy like they did? Not the Chiefs. Mike Vrabel admitted, "I would say we had planned for a running game." The person most affected in this aerial assault was Maurice Leggett. It seemed like the Ravens either A) didn't want to throw Brandon Carr's way or B) Didn't need to even THINK about it. Flowers may not have made enough of a difference, as Todd Heap was also torching our linebackers, but he sure would've helped. I like Leggett as a third corner, and in his defense at least he improved as the game went on. But boy was he giving their receivers a big cushion.
Our 3rd down defense was rough. Wow. I don't know much about the Ravens, but I think the commentators talked about them having a very good o-line. I hope so, because our pass rush was non-existent. Even when we blitzed we had a hard time getting through.
He's not as irrelevant as some thought. Ryan Succop is gaining fans by the boatload. His 53 yard FG was fantastic and might have gone in from 60. But even better than that in my book was his kickoffs. One of them landed nine yards deep in the end zone! Yay for not dropping the kickoff just inside the ten!
Special teams were half special. The coverage units were great, the return units were awful. Leggett muffed a punt and the kick returners didn't look much better. I sure do miss the Dante Hall days.
Great job limiting mistakes. We had very few penalties (just 3 for 15 yards) and no turnovers. That's how you stay in the game when playing on the road against a team like the Ravens. We have to do this week in and week out, we're not talented enough on offense to overcome very many mistakes.
Mark Bradley needs to move the chains! On third down, he twice ran a route across the middle, made the catch, and ended up about a foot short of the first down. Why do players do this? I realize I don't have any experience as a receiver, but it just seems like a simple thing to fix. I hope he gets it right next week. In his favor, his 50 yard reception was pretty impressive, since he was getting completely mugged by the d-back but didn't get the call.
Sigh. Our o-line just isn't very good. I know the Ravens have a great defense, but I'm afraid things aren't going to get much better. It will probably just be a tough season with the line, at least on the right side. 29 yards rushing for the game is abysmal, Ray Rice nearly had that much in one play. In a related note, I also think it's going to be another tough year for Larry Johnson.
The offense managed to make some adjustments. The first half was terrible for the offense, not getting their first first down until late in the first half. I'm not sure what changes were made exactly, but Haley was able to get Brodie Croyle going a little bit and put some points on the board. The offense even had an 80 yard TD drive in the second half. Good work, even if it wasn't enough in the end. On a QB-related note, I think the Chiefs would love to trade Tyler Thigpen.
The bottom line: I think a few key plays (blocked punt for TD, INT + long return by Derrick Johnson) are the red herring. Without those plays the Chiefs absolutely get crushed in this one. Sure it was tied 24-24 late in the game, but that was really a fluke. If they played this one 4 more times, I expect the Ravens would win each of those in a blowout. Our offense isn't very good, which is going to consistently leave our defense on the field far too long. Time of possession was 2:1 in favor of Baltimore, which is nuts. The defense didn't help themselves by giving up third down conversions, but they're going to be facing this same challenge all year. It could be another long season, but at least they played with fire and intensity and were fun to watch. I'll definitely tune in again next week.

Don't Forget

2009-09-05T17:06:00.003-05:00

Last spring (2008) we did some major home remodeling, which included an overhaul of the kitchen and bathroom as well as ripping out the giant picture window in our living room and replacing it with an entertainment center. After the entertainment center was finished, it sat empty for quite a while as I tried to decide what I wanted in the shelves. I recently got it all finished and wanted to share, especially about one shelf in particular.

On the bottom left we have our Wii and PS2. Above that is a meager Chiefs shelf, and up from there is my tribute to Attacktix. The top left is just a collection of hats of my various sports teams. On the bottom right side we've got our DVR system and DVD/VCR. Above that is a pretty sweet Royals shelf, with the required (for me, anyway) Star Wars shelf on the top right.

The shelf that has the place of honor, center top, is the best shelf of all. The idea for this hit me quite a while back while in a Bible study at church. We were talking about how quickly we forget what God has done in our lives and how important it is for us to put up reminders to help prevent that from happening.

In Joshua 4, God commands the Israelites to set up 12 stones as a reminder of what He has done. He specifically mentions their children, that they'll see the stones and ask, "What do these stones mean?" This shelf serves both of those purposes: that we might not forget what God has done and that other folks might ask why in the world I have a bag of wheat on the shelf!

Everything on the shelf has some significance (except the clock, I suppose, that's mainly just there to tell time...), but I decided to just share three of them here - marked A, B and C in the image.

A) This is a piece of drywall from our ceiling that collapsed. That story is worthy of a blog post all by itself, and hopefully I'll have one soon. I'll simply say here that God's hand was evident as He protected all of us during the crazy ceiling-falling-fiasco.

B) This is the infamous bag of wheat. The story here involves Karin's health. Honestly, I'm a little embarrassed by this one, but what can you do... Anyway, for a long time (since we've been married, really) Karin has had various stomach problems. Doctors had tried to isolate different things, but it never seemed like we figured out what the real problem was. Well, last fall (yes, over ten years into our marriage) I began to pray and ask God what the deal was with Karin's health. Within three days it became completely clear to me that she had Celiac's Disease, which is a gluten allergy. Since she's cut gluten out of her diet she's had zero problems. Praise God!!!

C) This is a t-shirt from Mission Arlington. I have already chronicled how we ended up going there for spring break this past March, but it's always good to go back and read it again!

There are many other items on the shelf and I'm confident many more will be joining them. It really only takes one bad day for me to get in a funk and forget all the great things God has done in my life, revealing His love, power and wisdom. Having these items front and center helps me to regain perspective and reflect on some of the things He's done in the life of our family. You may not have a shelf set aside in your home, but I hope you have some way to remember what God has done and glorify Him as you share the story with others!

Futbol Players

2009-08-29T22:20:00.005-05:00

* Apparently I have a blog. Probably shouldn't go a month without updating it.

This school year has turned out to be an interesting list of firsts for us. First time we've had a kid in middle school and the first time our youngest has been in kindergarten. That also means it's the first time since we've had kids that they've all been in school for the full day. (This is leading to some wonderful ministry possibilities for us!) Well, another first came this morning: all three of the kids were playing soccer. Allison had her very first game and, while a little reluctant at first, she really got into it and had a great time. Meghan is the oldest on her team (and scored their only goal) while Caleb is the youngest on his (which he loves, his attitude is "Bring it on!")

Anyway, here's a shot of the three of them in their uniforms:

Family Fun

2009-07-27T09:44:00.003-05:00

This past weekend was a lot of fun for our family. On Friday we got around to building a fire pit in our backyard and celebrated by roasting marshmallows. (As I type this, Karin and the kids are on their way to WalMart to pick up stuff for S'mores this afternoon.) On Saturday we got to celebrate the wedding of a former BSU student and then caught a Royals game - the kids' first!

It was a blast touring the renovated stadium with them. We got to check out all the "kid attractions" and maybe next time around we'll spend some money over there. Since that evening was "Christmas in July" (complete with powder blue Royals stockings as a giveaway) we got to pick up our freebies and also snap a shot with a melting snowman. We enjoyed the well known fountains (which obviously I'd never seen that close up before) and had a fantastic experience with customer service.

When I picked up our tickets, we were unable to get five seats together. I was pretty frustrated, but settled for a set of three and two. The cashier told me we could talk to guest services and see if there was anything that they could do. Upon walking into our section, the usher checked our tickets and immediately offered to do whatever he could. Less than ten minutes later he gave us a free seat upgrade, where all five of us were able to sit together in the shade! And if all of that wasn't enough, we witnessed a Billy Butler home run, Luke Hochevar notching 13 strikeouts, and the Royals pulling out a rare 6-3 win. I couldn't have asked for a better day!

Here are some pics of us at the backyard fire pit and the Royals game:

More on Winning and Losing

2009-07-22T10:18:00.002-05:00

Competitiveness and competition will probably always be a part of my life in some fashion, so I'm very thankful for the insights I recently received and shared in regards to this topic. Since then I've had a few more thoughts I want to throw out there.

It has occurred to me that I could guarantee I would never lose another competition in my life. While I'm not a particularly good basketball player (haha, what an understatement) there's one way I could be certain to win every time: I'll only play against people ages ten and under. (Imagine how many blocked shots I could have!) This may sound like a silly idea, but I think it has some pretty sound implications:

Winning against weak competition is not satisfying.
It's just a fact. I've been on both sides of this one, where a softball game is completely one-sided and is more like practice for the dominant team. Sure it's nice to win, but it comes with the asterisk that the team you just pounded wasn't very good. Keep that in mind.
Beating the Best is Better.
It's obvious, then, that winning against equal or superior talent is much more satisfying, since you actually have to earn it. But there's a trade-off there: as the value of winning increases, so do the chances of losing. Some choose to avoid that chance and simply accept winning against inferior opponents. Be sure to properly evaluate which side you're choosing.
You May Be a Big Fish in a Little Pond.
Someone will rise to the top and dominate whatever local competition they may find. The only problem is that the competition doesn't end there. You probably don't have to travel very far before you find others that are at your level or higher. Only a handful of people (those making millions of dollars) ever actually reach the peak of their game. In other words, don't forget that you'd probably lose somewhere else.
What Happens When You Do Reach the Top?
A few have made it to the peak of that mountain. Countless others envy them and their achievements, wishing to be equated with greatness and all the spoils that come along with it. But in the end, does it satisfy? Is it really all it's cracked up to be? A while back I came across an interview Tom Brady did with 60 minutes that was very interesting. I was originally just going to link that interview, but found a compilation put together that tied in some other relevant elements quite well.

Hopefully thoughts like these will continue to help me keep winning and losing in its proper perspective and not allow either one to distract me from what matters most.

The Art of Losing Well

2009-07-15T16:26:00.004-05:00

* This post is not about the Royals in any way, shape or form. But it is something that they excel at.

I have met people in my life that handled losing well, but I don't think I've ever met anyone that enjoyed it. And if they did, I'm sure they weren't all that interested in winning in the first place. Winning matters most when competition is involved, and you don't have to go very far to find that somewhere in life. The unfortunate side effect of competition is that little phenomenon called losing. Even at age 33 I find it difficult to deal with and my kids find it almost impossible.

Recently a friend at church, Mike, gave me some advice in dealing with losing. A lot of times I find myself getting very frustrated, although I do a pretty good job of keeping it inside. (Maybe Karin would say differently, I'll have to ask...) But keeping it inside isn't really the best way to deal with it, it just keeps you from socially embarrassing situations - and for that reason alone I still recommend giving it a try! But whether its explosions and resulting rage or managing to keep it bottled up, these are just the symptoms of the problem. Getting to the root means learning to look at losing differently.* So here are the two tips I was recently given that have helped me out tremendously. I'm doing my best to try and instill them in my kids as well.

* I do think another major problem with winning and losing is that our identity is usually tied to our performance and to acceptance by others. I could go into another long post on this subject as well, but as a Christian it's imperative that we find our worth in Christ alone.

First off is to recognize what is and what is not within your control. I don't know that this really registered for me, but far too often I get upset about things that I have no impact on whatsoever. One of my hobbies is a collectible miniatures game that involves rolling dice. While you can do a few things to improve your chances of getting a good roll, it's entirely possible to roll an epic fail. It definitely can be frustrating, but what can you do? If you knew it was outside of your control before you rolled the dice, you'd know there was a distinct possibility things wouldn't go your way.

This is also true in team sports. If someone drops a fly ball or the shortstop boots a grounder, there's nothing you could have done about it. It may be natural to get upset (since your chances of winning are tied to their performance) but it's really pointless. And while the anger is welling up inside, it naturally translates into negativity towards that person. Chances are high that it will only go downhill from there, especially if you open your mouth.

This certainly runs counter to Ephesians 4:29 which says, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." Recognizing that I have no control over their performance will help me to focus on what I can control: my attitude and my speech. Now I'm in a position to encourage them, which is far more important in the long run than winning or losing anyway.

This leads right into the second point, which is that winning comes through something else I can control: dedication and hard work. The scene is all too familiar: one player hits a high, routine fly ball to the outfield and the defender settles under the ball to chants of "Miss it! Miss it!" The way to win isn't to hope your opponent fails or messes up, although winning often happens that way. (I've certainly played games where I said, "They didn't win that game, we lost it.") But the best course of action for us to pursue in competition is to try and improve our own game rather than hope our opponent doesn't bring their best.

I see this all the time with the kids, where they're actively rooting against each other. After lunch today there was an incredibly exciting game of wii bowling where two of the kids were tied with 82 pins in the seventh frame. In the eighth, they both got spares. Then in the ninth they both got strikes! It was a blast to watch as they matched each other throw for throw, the excitement in the room growing with each round.

In the tenth frame the first player bowled a strike, followed by netting seven pins with the two extra throws. The pressure was really on player two, who wasn't able to match the strike and ended up losing 157-177. At first all was good, as we simply basked in the fun of an exciting game. But it wasn't long before sore losing took hold and complaining ensued, especially against the performance of the winner. I imagine it will be a difficult road to get them to embrace these two principles (after all, here I am struggling with it as an adult), but I'm going to keep impressing it upon them and trying to demonstrate it in my own life as well.

On the side, a third competitive tip I've picked up is from another friend, Jake. We've played racquetball together a few times and it's always intense. After one particularly challenging match he let me in on a little secret: he never says anything during a game, good or bad. This eliminates both grumbling and bragging, including comments that weren't meant as such but might come off that way. I sometimes forget this principle but need to work on it as well.

So there you go. For those of you that will find yourself participating in competition sometime soon, I hope these tips might help you out. And for any parents out there, maybe they could help your kids as well.

The Best Part of Summer

2009-07-10T09:04:00.004-05:00

(Once I saw Marsha with the glove on her head, I knew I had to include this picture.)

If you know me at all you know I love to play softball. And hopefully you also know that I love college students. So what could be better than putting those two together? Getting halfway through the summer means that very thing will be getting started next week! While I do enjoy the game itself, the best part is seeing how it develops community and brings people closer together, ultimately serving to grow us up in Jesus.

For those who aren't on the team, we'd love for you to come cheer us on! All games will be at Donaldson Park on the Northwest field. Here is the schedule, although I'm sure we'll hit a rain out or two along the way:

Tue 7/14 - 6:00 vs Pirates & Wenches
Thu 7/16 - 8:00 vs Laura Street Baptist Church
Tue 7/21 - 8:00 vs The Sandlot
Thu 7/23 - 7:00 vs Hometown Auto Doctor
Tue 7/28 - 6:00 vs Walmart Dominators
Thu 7/30 - 8:00 vs Pirates & Wenches
Tue 8/4 - 6:00 vs Laura Street Baptist Church
Thu 8/6 - 7:00 vs The Sandlot
Tue 8/11 - 6:00 vs Hometown Auto Doctor
Thu 8/13 - 7:00 vs Walmart Dominators
Tue 8/18 - 7:00 vs Pirates & Wenches
Thu 8/20 - 6:00 vs Laura Street Baptist Church

Finding a Spark

2009-07-09T13:20:00.005-05:00

Like nearly every other person out there, I've often had the desire to "get in shape." While we all generally understand what that means, there are a few different aspects to it. There's losing weight, building muscle and developing cardiovascular endurance. While I'd like to see all of those happen, I'm currently working on the first: losing weight.

Before I go any further, let me make a disclaimer. I find it very annoying when someone responds with, "You don't need to lose weight!" I appreciate the intentions when we say that to someone, but unless you suspect them of anorexia you should let them be the judge of that. I am quite confident that I'm not at my ideal weight, and I know that the challenge will only get harder the older I get.

As I write this, I've been actively pursuing this for almost exactly one month. In that time I've lost 10 or 11 pounds and have about that much left to go. I simply wanted to share a few of the things I've found to be helpful along the way.

First off, I got serious about utilizing Spark People. It's an online community of over five million people striving for a healthier lifestyle. There are tons of resources on there and many different ways to find help and support. For me the most useful tool has been the nutrition tracker. All I have to do is keep track of how much I eat and enter it into the website. It keeps track of how many calories I've had, including breaking it down into fat, carbs and protein. And since I told it how much I weighed when I started and what my target weight/date were, it tells me the calorie range I need to stay within.

In order to best measure the food I've eaten we picked up a digital scale. I got this one at Amazon.com for $25 (and another shout out to Amazon Prime for free shipping). It's very simple and since you can zero out the scale at any time, you can easily keep track of each thing you add to your plate.

Another thing that's been instrumental is drinking more water. Spark People (along with many many others) suggests drinking at least eight cups a day. A while ago we picked up this Brita water filter which does a fantastic job in making Maryville water drinkable. I also have a large drinking "jug" that is marked off to let you know how much water you've had.

Another useful development has been the increase in fruits and vegetables as part of our diet. It's certainly frustrating that this leads to an increased grocery bill, but the health benefits are worth it. And having our finances in order simply means we'll have to make a cut somewhere else.

It's been very gratifying to see results as I follow a tried-and-true method of weight loss: making wise choices daily and seeing the cumulative effects. I enjoy the fact that it doesn't require absolutely cutting certain things out of your diet, but rather endorses moderation. It's like having a calorie paycheck and a calorie budget. You know you have this much to spend each day, and if you make a large purchase in one area you're going to have to cut back somewhere else.

Now that I'm getting this area under control, I'm soon going to add in some work to strengthen my lower back (a constant source of frustration) and work to develop more softball related areas.

For anyone out there in a similar pursuit I want to encourage you not to give up. I weigh in every day, and some days the number on the scale goes up instead of down. However, the method is proven and if you just stick with it the results will come!

Happy Birthday, America!

2009-07-06T15:56:00.003-05:00

I built this two story playhouse a few years ago and it originally was painted camouflage, but recently Meghan suggested we paint it red white and blue. After playing around with a few different designs this is what we all decided on. It would have been finished on the 4th of July but I couldn't find any cardboard big enough to make my star stencil.

As an aside, one thing that I've been learning recently is in the area of being a better dad. The Lord has made it clear to me that as I'm doing my every day normal activities I can simply invite the kids to join me in what I'm working on. Here they helped with painting and last week they helped me finish hang drywall on the living room ceiling.

So often I'm in such a hurry to get things done that I'd rather shoo them off so I can finish the project instead of seeing it as an opportunity to spend time with them. I know it's not rocket science, I'm just a slow learner sometimes =) To any other parents with young kids out there, I encourage you to find ways to include them in your every day life too.

Review: Free Prize Inside

2009-06-10T13:01:00.006-05:00

Here's my relationship with books: I like them, I collect them, and once in a while I actually get around to reading them. At one point I had hoped to read a book a week this summer, with the included expectation that I would write a review here on the blog. I might have picked the wrong book to get started, because it's one that's challenging me to find a lot of application.

Right off the bat I want to acknowledge that a book like this may be a bit controversial in a ministry setting. Some folks aren't fond of taking a popular business book or concept and trying to apply it to the church or some other ministry. While I agree that the church is not a business, I think it would be foolish to ignore wisdom or ideas that could help us serve the Lord more effectively. While I do believe the Bible is the infallible authoritative word of God, I don't think it's the only place we can find useful knowledge. With that said, here are a few thoughts I have regarding this book and its author.

I got to hear Seth Godin speak in person at Catalyst last fall and was very impressed. He's not the most striking or dynamic speaker, but he understands that. So instead of his face on the video screen, he had the best powerpoint presentation I've ever seen. I don't know how many slides he had, but it definitely numbered in the hundreds. They were all (as far as I can remember) images, and if there was any text it would be a single word. The images were gripping, interesting and illustrative. In this particular book he includes some advice for making quality powerpoint presentations on pages 102 to 107 that would probably be worth the price of the book for a lot of people.

For anyone in the realm of business, especially in a non-leadership position, I think this would be a very useful resource. The second section of the book is all about championing an idea and getting those above you to buy into it. Well, I don't personally have to deal with that, since I have a great deal of freedom in my job to try all sorts of new things. The third (and final) section goes into great detail about finding the edges you can exploit to make your product remarkable. Again, I had a bit of a tough time finding a lot of application here, although it probably best serves as a long series of examples to help you better assess your own situation.

But I'm probably getting ahead of myself here. What is the main point of the book? Quite simply it is to make your product remarkable. By remarkable he means that which causes people to make a remark, something that people will talk about. His idea is that you do that by having a free prize inside, an unexpected extra, just like you used to find in cereal boxes as a kid. (Do they still do those today? We just buy cheap bagged cereal...) And when they get that free prize, they'll tell others.

I've seen this in action and know that it's true. Nowhere was this more evident than in our Dollar Dinner ministry last year. Getting a cheap meal isn't a new idea, and there are several churches/ministries in town where you can do that. But what started drawing in larger-than-normal crowds was the free prize: excellent homemade food. I found that we didn't have to advertise the event at all, because the food itself was the advertisement. It went above and beyond their expectations, which led them to tell their friends and bring them along. A second, lesser free prize was the amount of food that was provided (variety, not necessarily quantity), also much more than you'd think to get for a dollar.

The idea of practicing excellence in our ministries shouldn't be a new or difficult concept. The Bible says as much in Colossians 3:23, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men." The Lord is certainly worthy of the very best that we can give (and much more!) A similar statement would be that "if something is worth doing, it's worth doing right." Ministry is certainly worth doing! But some times we're so busy doing a bunch of things okay that we're not doing any of them with excellence. For some, it might be best to cut out what's just getting by and focus on hitting a home run with a smaller number of things.

While that's the primary thing I got out of this book, there were a few other ideas that got my attention. Here's one: "We buy what we want, not what we need." I think that statement has some pretty radical implications for ministry. How do we best meet people's wants in order that we can ministry to their (in our eyes) more important needs? And how do we do that without compromising what really matters? To not simply become a fun club for people to be a part of? I think it's a tough balance to strike, but one that we must seriously consider since all that ministries do is based on volunteer attendance and involvement.

Another big idea for me was this simple statement: "Fix what's broken." Sometimes the best way we can make something excellent (and therefore remarkable) is to simply remove the barriers that block its way. After all, we seem much more likely to remember that one thing that went wrong than the ten that went right. Maybe it's parking or a bad flow of people traffic. It could be as simple as the buzz in your sound system. It shouldn't be too hard to find out what needs fixing, just ask around or have a non-regular come and watch with a fresh set of eyes.

The last thing that I'm still working on is the idea that people have been trained their whole lives to do what they're told. He makes the statement that, "the easiest way to avoid pain is to follow someone else's lead." As a minister I want to empower others to make decisions, embrace their ideas and take chances. This isn't natural for very many of us, so I need to figure out how to help students do this more and more. Any advice or thoughts on that?

So all in all I found the book to be very interesting and somewhat helpful and challenging. For those in the business sector I think it would be a great read. For those of you in ministry, I tried my best to pick out the best parts so you could just read this blog post instead =)

Discipleship Essentials

2009-06-03T10:17:00.005-05:00

Next year we're strongly considering using the book Discipleship Essentials by Greg Ogden as our small group discipleship material. In order to test it out, I'm going through it this summer at a quicker pace with one of our student leaders. Tonight is technically our second session, although the first may not have really counted since we did it via Facebook while I was in Turkey.

The second session is on being a disciple, and it's a very good one. Two separate passages of scripture are examined, using an inductive method of asking good questions and requiring the learner to think. The "right" answers are never given, so there's no chance for peeking or cheating - real thought and prayer must be applied.

It's always good to be reminded that to follow Jesus is to "deny [your]self and take up [your] cross daily, and follow." If anyone is looking for some good discipleship material, this is definitely worth checking out. Thanks to Jason Allen and Brian Lautenschlager for pointing me in its direction.

Bible in 90 Days

2009-06-01T11:32:00.004-05:00

A while back I began doing my daily Bible reading on Biblegateway.com. Just before leaving for Turkey, I saw that they were going to be starting a 90 day reading plan on June 1. If today's reading is indicative of the whole plan, it looks to be about 16 chapters a day.

I generally don't like to read the Bible in giant chunks like this, mostly because I like to take a small section and dive in as deep as I can. But this is a nice change of pace, and will likely help me remember a lot of stuff that I've forgotten or have neglected in the past.

If anyone wants to join me or just wants to learn more, you can do so here.

Creative Anti-Smoking Campaign

2009-06-01T11:20:00.004-05:00

When I went to Turkey back in January, I was surprised to see some of the cigarettes for sale in the Ankara airport. Specifically, I didn't expect to see over half of the carton's packaging to display the words "SMOKING KILLS." Not being a fan of smoking, I was happy to see this truth displayed a little bit larger than the American Surgeon General's warning we have.

Well, this time around I found a whole new set of statements on the cartons, going into greater detail than simply saying, "Smoking Kills." Here are some samples for you to enjoy.

Quick Shots

2009-05-24T13:24:00.003-05:00

Here are a few photos Andrew has taken, presented without commentary:

Culture of Chai

2009-05-22T14:53:00.004-05:00

I never got around to posting a lot of thoughts about my first trip to Turkey, here's one of them:

Of course there were many cultural differences to be found, but I've been thinking a lot lately about chai. In some parts of the world chai is a milk/tea/spice drink, but in Turkish it is simply the word for tea. After every meal they sit and have hot chai. I was only there in the winter, so I don't know if that's just a cold weather thing or an all the time thing. I suspect it's the latter.*

* It is, in fact, the latter. I was very happy to find this time around that chai has nothing to do with the weather at all. It's just as popular in May as it was back in January.

What strikes me about being a chai culture is what it represents. Why would anyone sit around after a meal (and we're talking all three meals of the day here) just to have tea? To sit and visit, of course! Relationships are highly valued there, so sitting and talking is a great way to spend more of your time.

It's not that relationships aren't important in America, but we seem to have something we value even more: efficiency. Most of us don't sit around and visit after a meal because we don't have time for it. There are just too many other important things to do with the time. At my house the process of eating dinner together might not take more than ten or fifteen minutes. I know others are so busy that they often don't have time to sit and eat at all - it might simply be grabbing something from a drive through and eating in the car on the way to somewhere else.

In trying to invest in international students at Northwest, I've found that the most important issue is simply spending time together. Sure it's great to help meet a need like providing furniture or a ride to WalMart. But then what? Is that the end, or is it a means to something more?

Maybe this is so intuitive to others that it's laughable to even post this. But while we're so busy trying to squeeze the most out of our time, we too have this same cry for relationships. It's almost as if we have competing desires, between being productive and connecting with people. Unfortunately our schedules are packed with important commitments which usually mean we have to sacrifice the relationships first.

I'm realizing more and more that I need to trim some responsibilities from my plate so I have more time with people. And even when I am around people, I need to make a greater effort to actually connect with them, and not simply be "around" people.

A second trip to Turkey has simply reinforced this truth.

Seriously?

2009-05-08T06:50:00.003-05:00

By now I'm sure most people know that Manny Ramirez tested positive for a banned substance and will be serving a 50 game suspension from baseball. I realize I only have a few selected clips from the paper, but I want to throw this one out there:

In a statement, Manny said, "Recently I saw a physician for a personal health issue... He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was okay to give me. Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy. Under the policy that mistake is now my responsibility. I have been advised not to say anything more for now. I do want to say one other thing; I've taken and passed about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons."

What's the deal here? Are we really supposed to believe Manny had no idea what was going on? Apparently the substance is "a female fertility drug that can also be used as a antidote to diminished testosterone levels at the end of a cycle of steroid treatments."

It's quite possible that everything he's saying in there is true. He had a "personal health issue." The doctor gave him "medication, not a steroid" that the doctor though "was okay to give." Those could all be true statements, and yet still be a complete cover to hide what was really going on.

And the way he says "that mistake is now my responsibility" makes him sound like a victim. Yet he's not going to appeal the results or the punishment dealt out by MLB. It's hard to believe an innocent ballplayer would sit back and take something like this quietly, which further leads me to believe it's true. Especially one who has "taken and passed about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons."

It's amazing how easy it is to own up to something without really owning up to anything at all.*

* Yes, I realize this comes off a bit self-righteous, and who knows what I would do if I were a professional ballplayer. And yes, I do have plenty of struggles of my own, so it would be perfectly legit to say something about planks or stones. I was just struck by this statement this morning and wanted to throw some thoughts out there.

New Family Fun

2009-05-07T21:14:00.003-05:00

We picked up a new game the other day that has turned out to be a lot of fun. It's called Slamwich and here are the rules. It's one of those types of games that requires pattern recognition and quick hands and lots of slapping the table!

Productive Day

2009-05-06T21:25:00.003-05:00

At 8am this morning, Zach and I began moving furniture around and proceeded to tear up our old carpet and pad. Then we spent an hour or so pulling staples out of the floor along with random nails and things. When that was finally out of the way, our local flooring expert Kevin came over and helped us install laminate flooring! We wrapped up our day right at 6pm, knocking out the living room and dining room. Tomorrow we're going to try and finish the kids' rooms.

Here's our wonderful old carpet on its last day:

Here's a shot of the amazing tile that was hiding under the carpet in the dining room:

And here's a glimpse at the finished product:

Ah the Memories

2009-05-06T07:22:00.003-05:00

So here we are getting the kids ready on Wednesday morning. One of the kids makes a comment about peaches, which naturally leads Karin to sing a song. I had to load up the video on YouTube so they could enjoy the song in all its glory. The ninjas at the end are classic!

Quick Wednesday Morning Thoughts

2009-05-06T06:35:00.003-05:00

Go Royals! - when I signed up for DVR last spring, I only did it because the Royals had a new deal with Fox Sports KC that would put almost all of their games on TV. Last year was fine, but this year it's really turning out to be a great decision. I don't know what's going on with the team, but it's a lot of fun! They're winning games they never would've won in the past, including last night's slugfest against Chicago. I was really tired and went to bed at the end of the 10th, but I'll catch the 11th on DVR here real soon. Great job out of the pen last night by Jamey Wright!

Greinke Fun Facts - If you read my blog, you know by now that I'm a big fan of Joe Posnanski. Much of what he writes is must-read in my book, but you've got to check out these stats on Greinke so far. I especially like 5, 6 and 8.

Worth Repeating - I hope to see a few more of these this season, but the other night Billy Butler had an outstanding game: a single, a double and two home runs. Once again, Joe Poz comes through in splendid fashion, giving me a genuine laugh-out-loud moment, terming such an accomplishment as a "Billy Cycle." To quote Joe, "Billy is a terrific young hitter but, to be brutally frank, that triple probably isn’t happening." I'll take a Billy Cycle any day!

Cool Hand Luke? - Like many others, I'm wondering what in the world Sydney Ponson is doing as a continuing member of the Royals rotation. Interesting stat today: Royals without Ponson = 16-6. Meanwhile, Luke is tearing it up in AAA with a 5-0 record and a 1.13 ERA. What I really don't get is this quote from Trey: "I’m thrilled for Luke. I hope at some point we do get to see him, but I don’t want it to be because somebody is not performing or because we have an injury." Uhhh, is there a third option? Death? Abduction by aliens?

Idol Rocks - Last night was Rock Night on American Idol, and it was AWESOME! I definitely enjoyed it more than any other Idol so far, I think it was enough to completely wash the taste of Country Night out of my mouth. I agree with Randy that Kris and Danny sounded AMAZING together in their duet, even if they didn't do so well individually. Hard to guess who goes home tonight. Danny's never been in the bottom three and is probably safe. Adam was in his element last night and is probably safe. At this point I actually like Kris more than Allison, although that's like saying you like peanut butter cookies more than chocolate chip. They're both really, really good!

New Project Today - We spent a sizable amount of money yesterday on laminate flooring, and today the project begins! We ended up getting a great deal, so we decided to go ahead and do the kids' rooms as well. We've heard of many, many people that have done this themselves, hopefully it goes as easily as we are expecting it to. It will be nice to have some guys helping out, too, especially Kevin who has a background in flooring.

Spoils of War - I got my new set of Wow Minis, and I'm really excited about these figures. Even better was the fact that I got several loot cards I could sell on ebay. One went for over $100! I don't know why someone would pay that much for a Foam Sword Rack, but it's a great trade for me!!

Adventures In St Joe

2009-05-05T12:02:00.004-05:00

Quite awhile ago we got connected with Dave Ramsey's financial advice and have been big fans ever since. In that time I've also seen Dave speak in person twice at the Catalyst Conference and thoroughly enjoyed him both times. In fact, the first year I went he was the best speaker there.

Dave has some very simple steps to get people headed toward financial freedom, and it's something I wish we would've learned before we got married. First off is to set up a $1,000 emergency fund. The reason for that is that if you decide to immediately try to get out of debt, what do you do when an emergency comes up? You likely get into more debt. So you do whatever necessary to get your $1,000 emergency fun in place as quickly as possible.

After that you start working on paying off your debt. Dave suggests the "debt snowball" method, which is a very good idea. Basically you pay the minimum on all your debts except for the smallest one. On the smallest one, you pay as much as you possibly can each month. Once that one's paid off, you take the amount you were paying on the smallest and apply it to the new smallest. As you pay off debts, the amount you're paying toward each one snowballs until you've got them all paid off. Sweet!

After you're debt free (except for a mortgage, that comes later), you start working on an extended emergency fund. The amount depends, but it should cover four to six months of living expenses. We've had this done for several months and have been dragging our feet in moving on to step four: investing for retirement.

The main thing about investing is that I don't know anything about it. It seems like you could go in a thousand different directions, which left us paralyzed. Where do you start? A few weeks ago a Dave-approved financial adviser was at our church to talk about investments and we set up an appointment with him for yesterday.

Things didn't start out so well. Our appointment was at 9am in St Joe, so we took Allison to school and then hit the road. The office is in downtown St Joe, which is an area we're unfamiliar with. That being the case, we arrived early since we were able to find the place with no problems. He wasn't in the office yet, but the secretary assured us he would be there at 9am. No problem, we'll just wait for ten minutes.

9:00 comes and no adviser. 9:05 rolls around and the secretary starts to act surprised, so she tries tracking him down on his cell phone. No luck. 9:10, she tries him at home. No answer. 9:15, I decide to start reading some of these Forbes magazines laying in front of me. I now understand what's wrong with Nascar's financial set up! Finally, at 9:30, we decide to leave. This is very disappointing, as we've set up somewhere for Allison to go after school just to make this trip, and now we'll have to do it all over again.

So we take off, and after we're about five minutes down the road, I get a call on my cell phone. Somehow he thought the meeting was at 10 and promised he would be at the office soon. We turned around and got there at about 9:45.

As we pulled back in to the building, we parked at the same two hour parking we'd been at before. The exact same spot. I wondered aloud if that was a good idea, but was already a little bit annoyed at having left and returned, so I was just eager to get inside.

Once we finally connected at 10am, things went quite well. I'm now the proud owner of a Roth IRA with a pretty diversified portfolio. It's not worth much, but it feels good to finally be started. He did a very good job answering our questions and I think he gave us some great advice.

Our initial plan was to hit Home Depot and Target while we were in St Joe, but we were now out of time and would simply have to head back to Maryville. As we're walking back to the van, what's that on the windshield? It can't be! Yes, it is. A $7 parking ticket. Apparently leaving for ten minutes in the middle of your 3 hour stint doesn't keep you from getting a ticket.

No, $7 isn't a big deal, it's more of the principle of the thing. We were never there for more than two hours and shouldn't have a ticket at all. Of course we'd have to go back to St Joe to protest the ticket, and it's cheaper to pay $7 than the gas (and time) we'd lose otherwise.

It's funny how annoying something like that can be. A simple mix up of our meeting time kept us from getting to Home Depot (to buy some laminate flooring) and also got us this irritating ticket. But what happened today? Since we missed Home Depot, we decided to try our local Sutherlands out. Not only did we get a better deal (who knew?) but the stuff we bought ended up being on sale as well! That right there saved us another $100.

So now I'm glad we got detained in St Joe yesterday, but I still wish it hadn't cost me $7 :P

Wednesday Bullets

2009-04-29T12:18:00.003-05:00

Some random thoughts on this overcast Wednesday:

A Good Morning - It's really been quite an interesting day. At the start I was very discouraged and frustrated, which tends to happen this time of year. As the school year ends, my schedule undergoes shock as I try to figure out what to do with myself without the structure that I've had for the past nine months. I've been feeling that for a few days, wondering what I should be doing, feeling quite useless and unmotivated to do much of anything.

This morning I had a good heart-to-heart with the Lord, and as He always does He Himself encouraged me before dropping someone in my path who did a great job with more of the same. It sure is great to know the Lord.

Whitlock Suggests Adding Barry Bonds - As I've said before, I know his primary job is to stir the pot. In my last commentary on a Whitlock article I pointed out that very little journalism seemed to be happening. Well, in his most recent work, he actually appears to have talked to a lot of Royals players. Good job! It was very interesting to read different players' takes on Barry Bonds and the possibility of him joining the team. While I may have missed on my Tony G prediction, I feel quite confident in this one: Barry Bonds will never play for the Royals. There's simply nowhere for him to play, as he'd be a major liability in the outfield and the Royals are already stuck with two DH's that barely play passable 1B defense (Mike Jacobs and Billy Butler).

Zackkkkk Greinkkkkke! - Man, this guy is really becoming a national story. He's going to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated (which hasn't happened to a KC Royal since David Cone in 1993!) and there probably aren't any good adjectives to describe his season thus far. If it weren't for an unearned run, the best word would likely be "perfect."

Anyway, if you don't know anything about Greinke then you need to do some reading. Great story. But today I simply wanted to share a quote from him that I found both refreshing and extremely encouraging:
“We’re not even a month in, not even a month. Everyone has hot streaks. (Mike) Aviles was the best player for a week a couple times last year. (Brian) Bannister was the best player for a month a while back. The good players do it all year long, and then all year long the next year, and the next year after that. The key isn’t one week or one month. You have to do it longer.”

Here's hoping he can do it for a lot longer. Both he and Royals fans deserve it!

Deep Thoughts - I have way too many half-written blog posts sitting here, waiting to be finished. I will try and get those done before I leave the country on May 17!

That Figures...

2009-04-23T14:43:00.005-05:00

"I have no idea what will happen, but I expect Tony to stay and retire as a Chief. Just wanted to get that out there in case he's part of a blockbuster trade tomorrow and I'm way off." - Me, February 24, 2009.

Well, the trade didn't happen the next day, and it didn't turn out to be a blockbuster either. A second round pick in next year's draft is a little frustrating in exchange for Tony G. I like the idea of getting a second round pick, we clearly are a team in building mode. It's just too bad that pick won't come until 2010.

I can't say I'm all that on board with this trade. Tony still has a few quality seasons in the tank and would be a great target for new QB Matt Cassel. The fact that we didn't acquire any picks in this year's draft* means we don't even get anything in return this year. That's a gaping void to fill, and taking Michael Crabtree means you don't address your offensive line or your defense.

* Of course Pioli seems to be a major wheeler/dealer, so it's quite possible the Chiefs will still move around in the draft this weekend and pick up some additional picks. And maybe they'll even move that pick they just got from Atlanta. I hope so.

I understand that Tony is disgruntled and wants to play for a winner. It's arguable how many wins he'd add to the team right now given the state of last year's defense, but he was an absolute blast to watch play. I understand that if he had retired here you would've gotten nothing in return for him, and maybe he wanted out so badly that he left the team with no other choice. Either way it's no fun for the fans. Maybe I'm just more attached to Gonzo than I was to Jared Allen, because that trade really didn't bother me too much. But then again, guaranteed first ballot Hall of Famers are rare for any team, especially the Chiefs.

Great pick up for Atlanta, I'm sure it will be a big boost to their offense and fantasy football players better target Matt Ryan early. The only thing I know for sure is that I'll miss Tony and hope to pick up my first ever Atlanta Falcons jersey before the season starts!

Get Smart

2009-04-22T10:33:00.003-05:00

Joe Posnanski writes all kinds of great stuff, but I found this to be particularly interesting. If you're a baseball fan, you'll want to read this article. It details different pitch counts and what is likely to happen in each situation. Very educational!

The Count of Counting Counts

Sweet Mexicutioner

2009-04-09T08:34:00.003-05:00

While the weather in April is a constant source of frustration for me, there is one thing that's always a certainty: the return of baseball. I'll admit that while I've always maintained allegiance to the Royals, it's been pretty tough to be excited about the team in the past. Since Dayton Moore came on board things have been getting better, and there are legitimate reasons to be excited about the team and the direction it is heading.

As you probably know, the Royals were postponed on Opening Day due to bad weather in Chicago. So Tuesday was their first game, and I managed to watch the first 7 1/2 innings. Meche was great, and the offense showed some signs against Buehrle, even though they were unable to capitalize with runners in scoring position.

The Royals held a 2-1 lead going into the eighth inning, and as all current fans know, Jim Thome hit a three run bomb off of Kyle Farnsworth to ruin the game for us all. Yes, it nullified Meche's great performance. Yes, it displayed some questionable decision making by manager Trey Hillman. But the worst thing of all: it kept us from watching Joakim Soria.

So last night, while unable to watch the game live, I did get to watch Soria pitch thanks to DVR. I've never enjoyed watching a pitcher as much as I like to watch this guy. He's absolutely unshakable and relentlessly attacks hitters. The other Royals pitchers will almost guarantee that every first pitch of Soria will be a strike. I expect the ones that aren't are on purpose too, just to throw off the hitters!

There were a few Soria stat gems last night from Ryan Lefebvre that have to be passed along:

Soria had more saves last year than hits given up. That's crazy! He notched 42 saves while only giving up 39 hits. So he was more likely to save the game than even give up a hit. Not a run, a hit. Outstanding!

This is even crazier, and is tied to the first. Last year's saves leader (which was an MLB record) was Francisco Rodriguez, with 62. In those 62 saves, he had a 1-2-3 inning 21 times. That's 34% The NL leader, Brad Lidge, accomplished that feat 25 times in 41 saves (61%). Not bad! So how about Soria? Oh, just a meager 36/42. That just blew me away. 86% of the time he just mowed them down, 1-2-3. No walks, no hits, just pitching dominance.

Naturally he locked down his first 1-2-3 save of the '09 season last night. But even that's not the best part of watching Soria. No, the best part is when he gets two strikes on a hitter. The first two guys he faced last night, Carlos Quentin and Jim Thome, popped out before getting to two strikes. That's probably a wise thing to do, because getting that second strike typically spells disaster for a hitter.

But Jermaine Dye was not so lucky. I love what Rany wrote about last night's encounter between Dye and Soria: "When Soria worked the count to 2-2 on Dye, it was clear that the Mexicutioner was about to unleash the Guillotine, as I call his vicious (and delicious) slow curveball that he dispatches his victims with. I knew it was coming, you knew it, I imagine Dye knew it, and we all knew that there was nothing Dye could do about it anyway." Yes, I knew it, and I couldn't wait to see it. It was a thing of beauty.

As I said earlier, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the Royals this year. Meche is very good and Grienke could be amazing. The lineup has considerably more pop this year and the team has a newly renovated stadium to play in. But the best thing will still be hoping for a close game in the ninth and seeing the Mexicutioner dispatch his victims with ease.

Spring Break Recap

2009-04-06T10:40:00.004-05:00

Here's a reprint of an article I wrote for the MBC:

Including myself, 28 of us spent our spring break at Mission Arlington in Arlington, TX. How we ended up spending our spring break there is another story - an interesting sequence of events orchestrated by the Lord.

The slogan of the ministry is "Taking church to the people" and we got to see it first hand. They have over 280 different Sunday morning outreaches, some rather small while others number over 70. As far as I know these all take place in various apartment complexes throughout the city. Some of the workers live in the apartments and work very hard to connect with the residents and share Christ with them.

The ministry also does a lot to meet the practical needs of the people. There was a constant rush of activity, as people swarmed the medical and dental clinics, furniture came in and out, and the food and clothing areas buzzed. Most of the workers are there from 7am to 7pm, continually giving to those in need. That in itself was a great example and challenge to us as a group.

We spent our week helping in each of these areas as needed, while a lot of the time ended up being spent at some of the apartment complexes where Bible studies are being planted and relationships are being established. We got to clean apartments (including one that had just flooded that day with sewage!), help with minor repairs, deliver food and furniture to people in need, deliver fliers and invite people to Bible studies or other events, and also help with after school programs with kids.

Many of the kids we worked with had very troubled home lives and were just longing to be loved. Several in our group had a difficult time parting with them.

One of the more powerful experiences for the group was connecting with one of the local workers. He is a former youth pastor in Johnson County who left behind his five bedroom home there to move into the apartment that, as he said, "Used to be where people did drugs or had sex." He had an overwhelming heart to give to the people and do whatever was necessary to share Christ with them. Working with him was a blessing and by itself would have made the entire trip worth it.

So far I've only heard back from a few students as to what they took away from the trip, but here are a few quotes:

"The trip helped show me that there are a lot of people out there searching for something more. Before, I had the mentality that people would just brush me off if I tried to talk to them, but in reality, most people do want to hear about it."

"I feel that it kind of reaffirmed my passion for children. It also reminded me that mission work or something similar may still be a possibility for my life."

"Well, I just got reminded of how powerful the spirit is. How when i'm walking in the spirit, sin has no reign on me. I found that getting away from TV, computer, internet, etc, I was set free from most of my struggles. So, for me, now i'm just trying to remember what I put into my body, and keep out what isn't good."

For me personally it was a week of consistently relying on God to come through and provide answers to a wide variety of questions and challenges that faced me. He was faithful to work things out in every single circumstance (including driving home through the remnants of a blizzard), even though I would prefer to simply avoid trials altogether :) And of course seeing a ministry that goes to the people rather than trying to get them to come to us, and then figuring out how we can better incorporate that into the BSU.

I would gladly return to work with that ministry again and give them a whole-hearted recommendation for any other group.

Late to the Party

2009-04-01T10:10:00.003-05:00

I'm sure I've never been mistaken for a trend setter, so I guess I tend to be a little late when it comes to what's current or cool. I know many others have already heard and appreciated Lecrae, but I just got my first taste of his music over spring break. It's too bad too, because I just missed him in concert a few weeks ago here in Maryville. (I had a prior engagement at the time, although I would've worked around it had I known better.)

There were a handful of his songs that became unofficial theme songs for the week of spring break, here's one of them:

Here are links to a few others:

Fanatic
Represent
Praying For You
Take Me As I Am

Thanks, Andy

2009-03-31T23:20:00.003-05:00

I've never met Andy Stanley and have no idea what I would say to him if I did, but I might simply thank him for being used by God in my life. He's my favorite author (I love that he helps me figure out the questions I should be asking rather than trying to tell me what I should be doing) and is a very gifted communicator. His books on leadership and ministry have been extremely instructive for me, and I've learned a bunch about communicating by listening to him as well as reading another one of his books.

Even though I don't know him at all, he seems like a pretty down to earth guy. Through Twitter I came across this video and wanted to share. Hopefully now that spring break is over, I can attempt to get back to some regularly scheduled blogging.

Say What?

2009-03-17T10:02:00.003-05:00

Going along with my last post about getting frustrated, I've realized how often I make negative comments (most often to myself) or mutter things that are neither encouraging nor edifying. Usually in those moments the best thing for me to do is just keep my mouth shut! The word of God is nodding its head vigorously in agreement with me. It might be wise to simply let it do the talking:

"When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise."
- Proverbs 10:19

"Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue."
- Proverbs 17:28

"A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control."
- Proverbs 29:11

"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."
- Ephesians 4:29

"My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires."
- James 1:19-20

For The Moments I Feel Faint

2009-03-13T08:27:00.005-05:00

Ok, time for a very transparent blog moment. For whatever reason (probably a lot of very good ones), I don't tend to do a lot of these. I've been really frustrated this morning, nothing really major has happened... just a series of small (okay, maybe medium) inconveniences. The thing is, it has really really really (keep those rolling for a while) been driving me crazy! And the most frustrating thing of all is that it only goes to illustrate how incredibly selfish I am. Sigh.

I went to play some music this morning, and my MP3 player was still on a song that I had briefly loaded up for Austin last night. It couldn't be more timely. It's For The Moments I Feel Faint by Relient K:

Am I at the point of no improvement?
What of the death I still dwell in?
I try to excel, but I feel no movement.
Can I be free of this unreleasable sin?

I throw up my hands
"Oh, the impossibilities"
Frustrated and tired
Where do I go from here?
Now I'm searching for the confidence I've lost so willingly
Overcoming these obstacles is overcoming my fear

Gather my insufficiencies and
place them in your hands,
place them in your hands,
place them in your hands

Praise the Lord that He did for me what I could never do for myself, and that I can still - every day - rely solely on His grace. It's a constant struggle for me not to fall into a performance based relationship with God. I'm once again reminded of the words Paul wrote in Galatians 3:3, "Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?"

I've been praying and asking Jesus for help, and as I've been writing this I feel that He has truly encouraged and comforted me. It would be tempting to just delete it and move on, but I don't think that's what He wants me to do, so here it is!

(Listen to the song here.)

Prime Shout Out

2009-03-12T13:07:00.004-05:00

Once again, I'm very thankful for the services of Amazon Prime. Yes, it costs $75 a year, but after that you get free two-day shipping on nearly all the items they have on their site.

Besides picking up tons of books (and easily being able to get "one more" copy if I accidentally bought too few), I've been able to get everything from soccer goals to flag belts to a new projector bulb today. I suppose if you live in a big city with lots of big retailers you might not need such a service. For someone like me who makes a lot of random online purchases, it more than pays for itself in a very short time. And I nearly always find the best prices on Amazon.com anyway!

Three cheers to you Amazon Prime, your reliable service gives me something I don't have to worry about. And as Forrest Gump says, "That's good! One less thing."

Blast From the Past

2009-03-10T20:30:00.003-05:00

Pretty soon I'm going to break out my first official post about the World of Warcraft miniature game. Before I do, I thought I would tag a video I made about Attacktix, since most folks out there never got the chance to play this amazing game. You can still find great strategies at MasterAttacktix.com!

Temptation Personified

2009-03-09T21:09:00.004-05:00

Once again I've returned to Proverbs for my early morning Bible reading. It's just so perfect for daily devotions - 31 chapters for 31 days of the month! I really enjoy the short, simple statements that contain all kinds of nuggets of truth. A few days ago I ran into one of my favorite passages in the entire Bible, one I'm going to attempt to commit to memory.

It can be found in Proverbs 7, specifically in verses 6 through 23. The early chapters of Proverbs contain many warnings against adultery, this one being one of the most vivid. And while it certainly deals with adultery specifically, I think it is symptomatic of how most (all?) temptations work in our lives as well.

In verse 7, we see a simple young man who lacks judgment. The word simple in Proverbs isn't used as a virtue, but rather as someone who is without wisdom. Perhaps a plainer word to use would be a fool. And we are just as foolish when we follow a course of action like his.

He makes his big mistake right here at the beginning, which is really where the battle with temptation is won or lost. We see him headed toward the wrong part of town, and at night to boot. What good can possibly come from this? Too often we allow ourselves to take one step towards sin and then find ourselves unable (or unwilling) to stop along the way.

Of course he finds the adulteress woman right where she's supposed to be. Verse 10 says she was "dressed like a prostitute" which makes me think she was dressed to kill. She looked good! And that's how temptation works - it always comes in its finest, drawing us in with how enticing it looks. Temptation would be so much easier to resist if it was simply a guy in an orange julius costume.

Deciding not to put ourselves in temptation's path is one of the best things we can do. Verses 11 and 12 show that she's all around, on every street corner. It will come looking for you, you certainly don't need to go looking for it!

So the woman grabs him and kisses him, further stirring his desire. The chances of him saying no and heading out of harm's way are already close to zero. The longer we allow temptation to hold our interest, the more we'll be drawn into its web.

In verse 14 she declares that she has fellowship offerings and has fulfilled her vows. Here I see her presenting herself as harmless and innocent. She is right with God! Certainly temptation comes at us this way, looking delightful and seemingly innocent. What harm could possibly come from one such as this?

She goes on to declare that she has been looking for him specifically. Of course she has! This is another way that we're drawn in to temptation - it offers us a feeling of significance, of security, of being wanted. The problem is that it's not really true but only a mirage.

She declares the great lengths she has gone to to prepare a place just for him, again leading him to feel special and wanted. Temptations come in a wide variety of forms, but they usually lead us to believe they'll fulfill our deepest desires and make everything better.

Now she makes her plea, inviting him to "drink deep of love till morning." Although the outcome is obvious, he still has a choice to make. She cannot make him fall into sin, but can only do her best to entice him. Unfortunately for him, he lost this battle when he started walking toward her part of town.

She now lays down her most powerful promise of all: there won't be any consequences! Her husband is out of town and won't be back for many days! Oh temptation, how you draw us in, promising that no one will know, that no harm will come of it, that there really are no consequences to sin. But once that choice is made, the voice changes to one of condemnation, haunting us with the words, "Everyone will find out what you've done!"

It is no shock what he chose, but it's quite startling how the writer portrays it:

"All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life."

And that's how temptation works: looking attractive, grabbing our interest, offering pleasure and fulfillment, promising innocent actions with no consequences. But in the end it leads to death, and we would be wise to stay far from its path.

As we all struggle with different things, we must recognize areas where we are weak and take steps to avoid them. And when temptation comes, the road to victory begins at the very first step when we choose to dismiss those tempting thoughts rather than entertain them, learning to apply the words of 2 Corinthians 10:5 "We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

Lost Interest

2009-03-07T10:46:00.007-06:00

Watching Lost has been a very interesting experience. You've got great actors and a compelling story flanked by questions that never get answered and a history of multiple scheduling problems. Along the way many fans have been lost and it's really too bad because it feels like this season has been a payoff of sorts.

Up until this past episode, I had nothing but praise for season five. By the way, for those not keeping score at home, season six will be the last for Lost. It's inevitably time that they start tying up some loose ends.

This season has seen the full-fledged introduction of time travel. While time travel can be a story-breaker, it's worked amazingly well in season five. The writers have used it to reveal some key events on the island. Through this process we've learned:

Where you go when you exit the island
How to get to the island from the regular world
That Charles Widmore was originally part of the Dharma initiative
What happened to Danielle (the French woman) and her crew
That Ms. Hawking is Daniel's mom and was part of the original Dharma group
That Daniel was later part of the Dharma group

This has also led to some speculation of things that will most certainly be revealed before the series ends. Kearsten suggested that Miles will end up being Marvin Candle's son, which I think is all but guaranteed at this point. Ms. Hawking told Desmond that the island wasn't finished with him yet, even though he refused to return to the island with the rest of the group. I suspect Ben killed Penelope before boarding the plane, which will lead to Desmond's return. It also seems likely that Richard Alpert is from an ancient Egyptian civilization that has had a major influence on the island.

As I said earlier, up until the last episode I had no problems with the time travel. The group has just reunited in 1977, with Sawyer, Jin, Miles, Juliet and (presumably) Daniel working for Dharma for the past three years. Weird. But it will allow for a "live" view of Dharma which is pretty cool. It also allows Jin a lot of time to work on his English.

But of course, it's Lost, so we have to introduce some drama. And what loop do they throw at us? Oh, just that Sawyer and Juliet have fallen in love during the three years that Jack, Kate and the rest were off of the island. Do any other fans of the show have a problem with this? Maybe it feels so phony because it all happened in one episode... but I'm just not on board with this development at all.

Sawyer and Juliet together feels about as natural as having Nikki and Paulo on the show. Seeing those two come to an end was quite rewarding, I don't expect the same for these new love birds.

Congratulations, AD

2009-03-05T08:31:00.004-06:00

As a sports fan, there have always been players that weren't really stars but nevertheless caught my attention and became favorites for a wide variety of reasons. Tom Goodwin, Tamarick Vanover, Lake Dawson, Tony Richardson, Keith Cash... I could go on.

Anyway, another one of those guys was Anthony Davis, who played linebacker for the Chiefs from '94 to '98. (Ah, those days of Super Bowl dreams!) What I remember about him right now was just how he seemed to overachieve and always played his hardest. Today I found an article about him on the Kansas City Star that's worth reading:

Ex-Chief Davis is moving on to the next play.

Stirring the Pot

2009-02-27T12:11:00.005-06:00

Oh, the drama! It appears that the latest buzz in Chiefs-land is whether or not Brian Waters has been mistreated by his new GM or head coach. Bill Williams, who blogs on the AFC West for ESPN.com has declared this to be bad news for the Chiefs. As a fan with a blog, I am required to share my incredible insight on this matter.

I want to be as delicate and kind as I can in this first point, so let me simply point out that this article was written by Jason Whitlock. Having read nearly all of Whitlock's articles since he first came to Kansas City, I think he most excels in stirring the pot. Outside of that I'm really not sure what the point of this article is. There isn't a single quote from Pioli, Haley or even Waters! It doesn't feel like objective journalism, but rather an attempt to paint Pioli and Haley as bad guys.

I think the two of them have plenty to do without discussing all of their plans with one of their players. Is Waters good? Certainly. Does Pioli need to fill him in on what's going on? Not at all. There's a new sheriff in town and things are going to work differently.

As for Haley's comment that 22 players off the street could win 2 games ... THAT'S HILARIOUS! (And I think some of last year's players were actually off the street.) Reality check: the Chiefs were horrible last year. Absolutely horrible. Pioli and Haley were given the reins to turn the franchise around. Will Waters be a part of the team in five years? Not a chance. But Clark Hunt has made it clear that he wants stability at the top, and the plan is for Pioli (and Haley unless he bombs) to be around a lot longer than five years. I'm going to side with Pioli and Haley on this one. Waters needs to focus on being ready to play in the fall and let the GM and head coach focus on the direction the team is headed.

It's great to have a star tight end or pro bowl left guard, but neither of those guys is Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. If Brady or Manning were playing for the Chiefs right now, it's possible Pioli would be interested in letting them in on the plan. But they don't play for the Chiefs. Instead Pioli has to try and find one of those guys. I'd rather he spend his time working on that than run things by Brian Waters to see if he approves of the direction the team is headed.

Quick Prediction

2009-02-24T18:38:00.004-06:00

The Chiefs just cut Surtain, Edwards and Huard - all moves I'm on board with. Now folks are wondering what they'll do with Larry Johnson and Tony Gonzalez. I'm sure they'll try to trade Johnson, although I don't see them getting much in return.

The real question is, "What happens with Gonzalez?" Will he be traded? He certainly has value, and might net the Chiefs a second or third round pick in the upcoming draft. With a new regime in place, it's understandable that they might cut ties with the past in an attempt to turn the page on the franchise and hopefully move it in a positive direction. Tony even requested to be traded last season.

That being said, I predict Tony will be a part of of the team next year. His departure might mean more talent on the defensive side of the ball, but I think he's more important than whoever that player might be. I have my doubts as to whether or not Tyler Thigpen will start on opening day (although I'm not against it!), but Tony is a great asset to any guy playing QB. I finally finished watching the first half of the Pro Bowl, and even the great Peyton Manning was looking for Tony G to pick up key receptions - which he did perfectly.

I have no idea what will happen, but I expect Tony to stay and retire as a Chief. Just wanted to get that out there in case he's part of a blockbuster trade tomorrow and I'm way off.

As you were.

Doubt Night Recap

2009-02-24T17:40:00.003-06:00

I know a lot of friends were praying for Doubt Night last Friday, so I figured I should probably post a short recap of how the night went and thank you all for your prayers.

I had two primary objectives for the evening. First off was to represent Christ well. We really had no idea what to expect as far as the attitudes of the students we would be talking to, and it was my hope that we would respond with grace no matter how we were approached or what questions were asked. As it turned out, there wasn't anyone there that was antagonistic or out to make us look bad, so that was no problem.

The second objective was to share the gospel clearly. I wanted us to do our best to answer whatever questions were presented, but in all of that I wanted to make sure we didn't miss an opportunity to talk about what matters most. That also went well, as we had several questions that involved good works and led into a clear explanation of the gospel and it being solely by grace, not something we could ever earn or deserve.

Throughout the course of the evening there were probably 25 students that were present, although some filtered in and out. I'd say about 15 were there during the entire time. Some of those had some very sincere questions and I think we were able to be at least a little bit helpful for them. We had brought along 24 copies of both The Case for Christ and The Case For a Creator, and gave away over half of the books. They have a lot of great information, hopefully they will be beneficial to those that took them.

It was a great time for me personally and was also a learning experience. It was very interesting to prepare for a list of topics you are expecting and then not see a single one of those issues raised. There were no questions related to science or evolution, while a lot centered around the Bible, its trustworthiness and the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

The time went by very quickly and next time I think I'd like to try and keep the answers shorter so more questions can be addressed. We're working on follow up with those who were there, please pray that God will continue to work in the lives of these students and thanks for all the prayers for the event itself, their help was very evident!

Call me Curt

2009-02-19T14:17:00.003-06:00

Since I got back from Turkey, Karin and I have been walking every week day at the community center. Right now we're knocking out about four miles a day, which seems pretty good to me. I've also started stretching my hamstrings (which I've been told are ridiculously tight and will cause me lots of problems in the future) so that's been good too.

The random thing I wanted to share today involves shoes. I bought some steel-toed waterproof shoes before going to Turkey, which has turned out to be a brilliant idea in light of winter weather. However, I still have to go back to my old tennis shoes when walking, playing racquetball or playing futsal. As it turns out, my old tennis shoes had seen the last of their days when the soles almost came off and nearly injured me.

Enter cool new shoes! It was a back-to-school style experience to get new shoes, and I'll admit I still had fun picking up a new pair on Sunday. I'll also admit that although a different pair might have been a slightly better fit, I picked the ones I did because they looked so much cooler. Genius.

So now I'm in the process of breaking in a new pair of shoes, which has had a very interesting side effect: the back of my right heel has been rubbed raw. It's just a small area, maybe the size of a dime. But yesterday I noticed it was becoming quite uncomfortable to walk - although I toughed it out anyway, I'm just that manly. But the best part of all was the red stain that I discovered on the rim of my shoe and that which caused it - a bloody sock.

For some reason it really made me happy, and I'm not even a Schilling fan.

Surprised by what Penn Says

2009-01-30T09:32:00.004-06:00

Last night at BSU we continued our study through the book of Philippians, spending our time in 1:12-18. Paul wrote a lot about his proclamation of the gospel in this short letter, and we discussed what his motivation for doing so was and whether or not it mattered how we went about sharing our faith. In the process, we watched the following video. It was surprising and challenging to me, and I wonder what kind of responses it might spark from the rest of you.

Frangibility Proven

2009-01-28T15:16:00.005-06:00

You may have to go back a ways in the posts, but there was a very specific reason I chose the blog name that I did. I'll try to get back into the swing of things with another bullet list:

Lost Returns - it seems to be a popular thing nowadays to take shots at the TV show Lost, and as a fan of the show I feel like I've heard plenty. The funny thing about it is that it just makes me like the show that much more! There's something about being in the dwindling minority that makes me want to keep hanging on. Maybe that's why I continue to cheer for the Royals and Chiefs...

I read something on Sledgeweb's Lost ... stuff that I felt summed things up pretty well. They wrote, "I said before, and I'll say it again. The end is almost certainly bound to be disappointing, and the real experience for us is right now. The journey itself." Well said! I think this goes for many things in life, but I myself have chosen to simply enjoy the ride that is Lost. I'm not going to wonder how they'll tie it all together because they probably won't be able to - there are just too many loose ends. But the acting is still top notch, the characters continue to be compelling and it's still fun to see what crazy twist will happen next.

The Royals Lock Up Grienke - for those few genuine Royals fans out there, this is an exciting development. Sure there's no guarantee that Zack will continue to blossom into the ace everyone knows he could be. The thing that excites me is that the Royals are finally starting to act like a major league franchise again - we've watched too many of these types of players walk away in the past.

Pioli is In, Herm is Out - What all of this means is really anyone's guess, but it was definitely time to turn the page and move to the next stage of the franchise's history. Like everyone else, I am just interested to see what direction the team heads from here on out. What will happen to Tyler Thigpen? The spread offense? Larry Johnson? The third pick of the draft? Oh yeah, there's also that little issue of hiring a head coach! Pioli has a lot of important decisions to make right up front, let's hope he knows what he's doing...

Sealing Up Nicely - my sliced open fingers are progressing beautifully. In the process I've discovered that super glue is a fantastic tool for holding skin together - I heartily recommend it to anyone who doesn't get to the doctor in time to get stitches. Or just doesn't want to pay for them. Or both.

Futsal, Anyone? - Meghan started playing Futsal a few weeks back and we've all found it to be an incredibly entertaining sport! I haven't researched the official FIFA rules, but the kids' version goes like this: out of bounds on the basketball court is out of bounds for futsal. You have to be inside the three point line to shoot but can't be right next to the goal (there's a small box marked off by tape that you must be outside of). The game is played 3v3 with no goalie, and subs just jump in and out of the game like a hockey line change. In two games Meghan has already scored three goals, so it's been a lot of fun to watch.

The BSU is going to begin playing on campus on Saturday nights from 6 to 9pm and we're hoping to see more friendships develop between Americans and International students in the process.

Picking Your Spots

2009-01-16T11:42:00.002-06:00

As long as I've been involved at the BSU, we've always taken a mission trip over Spring Break. I'm a big fan of the concept, as it allows students to see sights, experience cultures and be involved in ministries that they might never have otherwise. As a student I went to Winnipeg Canada, Washington D.C. and the southern most tip of Texas. Those were all great experiences that broadened my view of what life is like in other places and how people are seeking to fulfill God's work there.

Once I was responsible for leading the ministry, a new question arose: How do you decide where to go? Planning a trip like that can be a very daunting task, and to this day it still challenges me. Certainly prayer must be the first priority, but at some point it's time to start knocking on doors and seeing which one opens up.

I've developed a short list of criteria that has been helpful in the past, and which was used again by the Lord this year. As I originally began to write this post, this particular section got really long. I'll condense it into a few short sentences with no explanation (hopefully it really doesn't need any): the location has to be a destination students would be interested in visiting and it has to be within reasonable driving distance (you can get there or back in a day).

This year we were planning on going to Chicago. My friend Paul had taken a group there last year and had a great experience with a local ministry there. In fact, they're going back this year as well. Excellent! Chicago fits both criteria, and the ministry itself sounded like something we'd love to join.

It's obvious in hindsight, but I certainly shouldn't have started promoting the destination to students before actually contacting the ministry. But it was October and the trip was over five months away! When I finally got around to calling them some time in November, it turned out the ministry was already completely booked and we wouldn't be able to serve there. So much for my planning ahead.

At that point my life was getting very busy, with Thanksgiving break approaching and then the end of the semester. I was finishing up a seminary class which required writing a research paper* and then was thinking about my upcoming trip to Turkey. In short, I forgot all about Spring Break.

*I'd rather be that guy on America's Funniest Home Videos who gets hair ripped from his body in some horrible hot wax experiment than write a research paper. I'd rather go on a marathon of country "music" concerts than write a research paper. On second thought, that might be going a bit too far...

After getting back to the States, I knew I would quickly have to come up with something different for our Spring Break trip. The very first day of class we had our weekly dollar dinner, and Amber and Jess were both talking about signing up to go to Chicago. Oops! I had to let them know Chicago wasn't happening, even though I didn't know where we would actually end up.

The next morning (Tuesday) I talked with Karin about where we might go. She said Jake had mentioned that it would be great to go back to Smyrna, TN. His freshman year was the last of three consecutive trips we took there. Community Servants is a great ministry and I'm a big fan of John and Bruce, the two guys who lead the ministry. Since we've been there before, all it would take is a phone call and we'd be in business! I talked to John and he was excited to have us come and help them again, unfortunately our week was the only week they were both going to be out of town - so it wasn't going to work out. Doh! Now what?

I emailed Kelly King who had previously offered her services in searching for possible locations. Within the hour I had a Word document with seven different possibilities. The next morning (now Wednesday) I began to go through the list and work through my previously mentioned criteria. Five locations were out of reach of my driving restriction, which left us with two options: Cedar Rapids, IA and Arlington, TX. Unfortunately for Cedar Rapids, it did not meet my "desired destination" requirement.*

* I feel a bit like Benedick here from Much Ado About Nothing. He said, "I may chance have some odd quirks and remnants of wit broken on me because I have railed so long against marriage. But doth not the appetite alter?" Indeed there was a time where I took every opportunity to poke fun at Iowa, but those days are long behind me. I am now a fan of the state and this is not intended to be taken as a shot in any way. Perhaps I should add a third spring break mission trip criteria that states a destination cannot be too close, either.

Now it's time to investigate the ministry a bit and see if it's somewhere we'd like to serve. I check out their website, missionarlington.com, and it sounds pretty good. I decide to email Bill Victor, who used to live in the DFW area, to see what he knows about it. Before giving them a call I really wanted to get a few outside opinions first.

While waiting to hear back from Bill, I hopped on Facebook as I frequently do. Given that I have 471 "friends" on Facebook, I really never know what's going to show up on the home page. On this particular occasion, one item was a note posted by my friend Scott Bryant. He'd written a few blog posts on vision and the most recent one had prompted someone to leave a comment. Their comment was about this great ministry that will leave you "BLOWN AWAY." I'm sure you can anticipate the ministry: Mission Arlington. Before the email from Kelly I'd never even heard of the place, and now I was reading a lavish recommendation for it.

So I just sat there smiling and shaking my head in amusement/surprise/satisfaction as God presented His answer. Of course I then got an email from Bill giving them two thumbs up. I had a great conversation with the volunteer coordinator and enjoyed telling him the story of how God directed us their way. Even though I had to ask if there was availability for us to serve there, I already knew the answer was yes.

So that's the story of how God has directed our plans for Spring Break this year. Obviously I'm excited to see what He has in store for us and I hope to pass that excitement on to as many students as possible!

Forever Amazed

2009-01-14T13:34:00.003-06:00

I'm slowly getting back in to the swing of things after my trip out of the country, but it does seem like a fog that is very slow in lifting. The past few nights I've been asleep by 9:30 and yet as I type this I could lay down and take a two hour nap.

I've got a text file on my laptop of various thoughts from my trip that I intend to share in short doses. But before I start on that, I had a minor incident the day after I got home that has once again left me in awe.

Our dryer was making a horrific noise back in early December, something akin to the shrieks of Grendel in the "animated" Beowulf movie. I had really hoped to have it fixed before leaving for Turkey, but the part took forever to get here and finally arrived while I was gone.

It was a simple part, just a piece of felt with some plastic components that attached to the frame above the door via some heat resistant glue. Once it was applied, I wanted to spin the dryer drum and see if the noise had been exorcised. In the process, I managed to slice open two of the knuckles on my right hand as they rubbed across the back metal edge of the dryer.

The two flaps of skin were just hanging there, as I walked back upstairs in frustration to see the resident doctor. The bleeding wouldn't stop until I'd kept my hand above my head for a while, but eventually we slapped some triple antibiotic ointment in there and secured the wandering skin with bandaids and gauze.

Only later that night did I seriously consider getting stitches, but the ER told us that by then it was too late. Right now I'm done with gauze and am just using bandaids to help restrain movement so I don't rip the wound back open. I'm hoping to have complete use of my right hand in a few more days.

Anyway, I know I can make a short story long, but how it happened isn't really the point. What's so amazing to me is watching my fingers heal. A constant recurring theme in my life has been a never ending fascination with how incredible the human body is. What an incredible creation! Given some time and the right conditions, my hand will be fully functional soon. Nothing man has made or ever will (if I may be so bold) will begin to compare with you and me.

It's this awesome tent that I live in that leaves me unable to understand the person who claims we exist as a byproduct of random chance. Your every waking moment is wonder after wonder! How muscles respond instantly. How the eye, in all its complexity, takes in every detail. How the ears can receive sound and the brain can assign meaning to it all. How an apple can be converted into energy. It's nothing short of breath taking, if only we would stop and consider it.

One may disagree with the identity of the Creator, but to say there isn't one is simply beyond me. I don't have the kind of faith it takes to overcome the evidence that surrounds me every day.

A Really Good Day

2009-01-04T13:59:00.008-06:00

Today was a pretty amazing day. If there hadn't been any rain involved, I would probably call it perfect. (As perfect as it could be at least... it could never really be perfect without my family being here with me.) The pic of Don Quixote is worth a thousand words, so I think I'll include several pictures in this blog post as well. They'll probably tell the story better than I can.

This morning began with a hot* shower before enjoying the massive breakfast spread that was included in our hotel stay. The usual cheeses and vegetables we were used to in Ankara were available, but there were also plenty of other pastries and concoctions. I had some nice croissants and fresh fruit. I still don't know what they're called, but they're like golf ball sized oranges.

* (It's my very first Pozterisk!) When I say hot, I mean it in the fullest sense. The shower here could get hot enough to burn your flesh, which is about what I have at home. I haven't had a truly hot shower in about a week and it was great. Nearly every time I take a hot shower at home I think about how blessed I am to be able to do that any time I want to.

After breakfast, I took a moment to snap a shot of the view from our hotel room:

We were leaving at 8:30am, and around 8:20 Jon decides to run out and get some quit shots and video footage at the beach. I figured I should tag along, and we were blessed to see this rainbow over the Aegean Sea:

From there we headed straight to the ancient city of Ephesus, which obviously has tons of Biblical significance. Our tour guide told us that the third greatest library of the ancient world was once in Ephesus. Here's a shot from a distance:

I got tons of video there, but my battery died before the end of the day. While we were in Ephesus, we read the story of the riot in Acts 19 while standing in the amphitheater. That was pretty cool. From there we made a quick stop by the Temple of Artemis (who is also mentioned in Acts 19), but there wasn't much to see. There's one standing column and a whole lot of ruins. Not so great anymore, eh Artie?

From there we went and visited St. John's church, which was very large. It's in ruins now, but there was still a large area to roam and explore. We found a really cool baptistry, but somehow I managed not to get a picture of it. I know I have video, maybe I can pull a still from there. After that we spent about an hour at the Ephesus museum, which had a lot of artifacts, including several from the ancient city we'd visited earlier. (I had no idea, but Ephesus is massive. We were told 250,000 people lived there at its height.) The original statue of Artemis was there, as well as a giant head and arm of the Emperor Domitian.

Somewhere in there we stopped for lunch at this tiny little Turkish cafe. I'm not sure you could find a more authentic place than that. Kelly got to sit down with the ladies and help make some food, which was sort of like a quesadilla. Dave insisted that we all have ayran (a drink that is half water, half yogurt, plus salt) ... and even though it wasn't the best thing I've ever had, it really wasn't as bad as I was expecting. I finished mine without any trouble.

Tomorrow we're driving back up to Izmir, which will include a visit to the ancient site of Smyrna.

Jenny requested a shout out to her favorite country, so as a bonus here is a picture I took from the castle in Ankara with my camera pointed directly south:

Don Quixote

2009-01-03T14:37:00.003-06:00

It's late Saturday night, it feels much later than it actually is. I got to bed late last night and then spent 11 hours riding in a van from Ankara to Ephesus (although we did stop in there for lunch and to see some ruins at Sardis.) Tomorrow we're going to visit the ruins of Ephesus, as well as a museum that has all the artifacts that are left from the city. In the meantime, here's a shot of our new friend Don Quixote (although he didn't spell it that way). Notice the shield and spear!

Merhaba!

2009-01-02T01:13:00.003-06:00

This is day three or four in Turkey, depending on how you count the night we lost flying over here. It's my third morning waking up in Turkey, so we can go with day three.

Last night was one of the funnest I've had in a long time. When you spend an evening with Bill and Jon, I suppose that's to be expected. But when you throw in a real life Don Quixote, now you've got something cooking. I don't think I can type enough to do the story justice, I'll just have to tell you all about it later.

I've heard there are at least 700 mosques here in Ankara, and yesterday we visited one that is one of the largest in all of Turkey. (I heard it was second largest in the country, then top five, so I don't know exactly. And right now I don't remember its name.) It was fascinating, to say the least. We're going back today during their noonish call to prayer, that will be interesting as well.

A few quick impressions about Ankara. There are people everywhere. All the time. Even late in the evening when it's ridiculously cold out, there are still mobs of people out walking around, heading somewhere, waiting for buses. And they don't seem to be too affected by the cold, which is interesting to me because they have a climate similar to what we have in Maryville - irritatingly cold in the winter, but also very hot in the summer. I know how I feel about the cold, but they seem to have accepted it and moved on. Good for them!

This is my first trip overseas, so I certainly don't have much of a point of reference, but I've been surprised at how much drinking goes on here. I don't mean that in the "drinking" sense, I mean literally. We're constantly having chai tea, even after you've already had tea with your meal, and if you finish it they'll bring you more. They don't recommend you drink the water, but bottled water is available at every street vendor so that's really not a problem.

There are people out begging, which I was expecting, but I didn't know it would be children. Some of them out in the cold sitting on the ground without shoes or socks on. Other kids are out trying to sell you kleenex or other small items, and can be rather pushy about it. I was mildly assaulted by a kid last night, but I only had enough change to pay the bus fare, so I couldn't buy anything from him. I don't think he believed me.

There's also a lot of bread consumed here, which is great. I love bread. The meals seem to be a lot of combinations of chicken or beef with bread, whether it's a loaf or a pita or more like a tortilla. Tomatoes, onions and olives are also common, as well as a few different kinds of cheeses... not like what we typically have at home, but still good stuff.

Another interesting thing I've noticed as that there are almost no overweight people here, at least not out in public. The only ones tend to be older folks. I was told that has to do with them walking a lot and also smoking a lot - which I have noticed as well. We have done plenty of walking, I've been enjoying that. Today we're walking up to a castle where you can see the entire city. That'll provide lots of good video/still footage! (And maybe I can get a shot to south for Jenny!)

I'm slowly picking up a few words in Turkish, although I feel like I'm way behind the rest of the group. I definitely want to practice some before I come back in May, at least now I'll have a better idea of what I need to know.

That's about the end of my random thoughts for this morning, now that I know I have wifi here at the hotel I may try and put a few pictures up this evening. If anyone is wondering, the local time here is eight hours ahead of CST. In the next week we'll also spend some time in Izmir (Biblical Smyrna), Ephesus and Istanbul.

I typed so long, now my chai is cold.

On To Something Better

2008-12-29T08:07:00.003-06:00

First off, congratulations to Allen for winning our fantasy football league! He wheeled and dealed all season, making some great trades and picking up key free agents at the right time. It was quite a different experience for me than fantasy baseball, and hopefully I'll do better next time around. (For the record, my team won as many games as the Chiefs did, but with two fewer losses!)

In a few short hours I'll be headed to the airport, where it'll be a 90 minute flight to Chicago, followed by a 9 hour jaunt to Munich before a final 3 hour leg to Ankara. If I'm reading the itinerary correctly, it looks like we should land in Ankara on Tuesday around 3pm local time, 7am Maryville time.

I intend to blog as much as possible while I'm gone, we'll see how that goes!

That Took Forever

2008-12-29T06:59:00.004-06:00

Wow. Just ... wow. All I can say is that the Chiefs season is finally over. 2008 ended up to be much messier than I (or anyone else) imagined. Today there are all kinds of interesting stories in the Star of what different players are saying, as well as a great season summary by Poz:

LJ wants out - and that's probably what needs to happen.

Thigpen thinks he deserves to start next year - going so far as to say we shouldn't even draft a QB. Give him a break, he hasn't had a chance to watch film of yesterday's game yet.

Joe Posnanski analyzes the end of the game - I think he sums it up pretty well. It was rough.

Before I say anything else, I want to share my respect for Herm one last time. He said, "You anticipate the best, but it didn’t turn out like we’d like for a lot of different reasons. I’m not going to state the reasons. I don’t need to do that." It's pretty clear to me that Herm will be gone, and I expect he's inclined to think the same. How can you not when you've lost 23 of the past 25 games?

So if there ever was a time to throw someone under the bus - this is it. A single poor play by a DB has twice cost us a game this year. Another was lost because Bowe couldn't hang on to an on-side kick - and the Chargers should send him something nice today. I know Herm is the coach, but it's still settled on the field. Good for him to take the high road when a lot of people wouldn't.

That being said, I will finally relent and say he's got to go. For me it's not just about Herm, it's about Gunther as well. They are both defensive guys and yet they just finished putting the worst defense on the field in team history. Are you kidding me?? Worse than what we watched in the Chiefs/Colts playoff game that featured zero punts? Yep. You've given them time to draft and develop some defensive talent and they finish the season by laying an egg against the Bengals. On top of that, they still don't have a clue how to use Derrick Johnson. Will he ever be a play maker?

The season was going to be judged on how well the young guys developed, and it just doesn't seem to be enough. If you haven't read Posnanski's article, you really should. When Herm challenged that play of Bowe's - I felt the same way. It was as if Herm knew we couldn't score with 1st and Goal from the 1. And he was right. We stink at short yardage, and that's got to be fixed. I imagine the spread experiment is over.

Herm has helped out the future of the team by giving playing time to a lot of young guys, especially in the secondary. Flowers, Carr, Leggett, Pollard and Page could be good for quite a while. But the defensive line is suspect and the linebackers stink. Herm also tied his future to a quarterback who has been injury-prone his entire football career and will likely never take another snap for the Chiefs. That blew up in his face big time.

I am thankful to be much less of a fanatic than I used to be, the losing doesn't bother me nearly as much as it used to. I feel bad for the people who post at the end of the Star's articles - there are some really unhappy folks in this world. It will be an interesting off season for the Chiefs, hopefully the franchise can only go up from here.

Good read

2008-12-26T20:00:00.004-06:00

Just a quick link:

Broncos offensive tackle left lifestyle to follow God.

Fast Forward

2008-12-26T06:33:00.004-06:00

Time to get caught up again, so this morning it's a bullet list:

Daily Proverb - I'm still spending my morning quiet time in Proverbs, today was chapter 26. I really love this chapter, it's one of my favorites and has challenged me a lot in the past. I'll throw out verse 10 for now: "Like an archer who wounds at random is he who hires a fool or any passer-by." Sometimes we so want to fill a position or vacancy that we'll lower our standards in order to find someone to take the job. That can definitely be true in church circles, where almost everyone is a volunteer.

I've run across this at BSU in seeking future leaders, and once while considering a candidate the Lord brought this verse to my attention. It might give us a warm feeling to have all of the blank lines filled in with names, but in the end the results will prove our decision was foolish. It's probably better not to have a position than to have one that's filled with the wrong person. I don't know who all this applies to out there, but I encourage you to keep it in mind.

Merry Christmas! - I didn't get an official Christmas post in (although obviously updates have been lacking a bit recently). So here's a little something to pass along to you all. How many of you are familiar with Tim Hawkins? He's a comedian who was an all Big 8 baseball player at MU and is also a Christian. I borrowed a DVD of him from Tate several months ago and just got around to watching it this week. He's got lots of stuff on YouTube. This one looks to be straight from the DVD, I don't know how long it will be active, but go ahead and watch, it's short:

New Chief at the Top? - Apparently Carl Peterson is resigning. I think that's a good thing, although I'm not jumping up and down for joy and didn't honk my car horn in excitement like some did when they heard the news. I was at the game against the Chargers, the day before his resignation was announced. That was downright cold, but I still had lots of fun! I hadn't been to a game in several years, I still can't pinpoint how long it's been. I was joined by Allen, Gary and Bob:

There were some irritating clock management problems at the end of that game, and it was even more apparent to those of us sitting there freezing in the stands. This past Sunday against the Dolphins was more of the same - playing well enough to just lose a close game. Unfortunately I had a bit of a DVR mishap and missed the last five minutes or so. Oh well, maybe it was for the best.

I'll watch with interest to see how the off-season unfolds. A case can be made for bringing Thigpen back as the starter next year, although that's still probably tied to keeping the spread offense around. If we get a new coach then I don't think that will happen. I'm expecting to see Herm stay another year, that's just my gut feeling right now. Blah blah blah, this is the part where Karin checks out... probably the other three of you that read this as well. :)

Divorce Averted - It seemed to be a case of irreconcilable differences. My lawyer had the papers all written up. But in the end, I just can't bring myself to get rid of Pippin. It's mainly just a matter of annoying things that he does, and that seems like a pretty lame and selfish reason to get rid of a dog. It probably also has to do with Cooper - before we got him I didn't know just how cool a dog could be. Either way, he's going to live with us until the end of his days. (Hey now, don't read into that!)

Turkey Approaches! - Next Monday I'm heading to Turkey, with an expected return of January 9. I think I've got my laptop and home computer all set to video chat and my outlet adapters should arrive tomorrow. I've needed some better snow shoes for a while, and a few days ago picked up a pair of waterproof/steel toed shoes. I fully intend to tromp around Turkey in those and my big brown coveralls. I won't stick out at all :)

Assuming I can secure some Internet abilities, I'll try to add plenty of updates here while I'm overseas. I would certainly appreciate prayer for myself and my family during this time. Thanks!

Watch That First Step...

2008-12-19T22:47:00.007-06:00

Here it is, Friday night, just about time to go to bed. Tomorrow we're going down to my parents' house to have Christmas with my family, I'm sure it will be a great time. I just finished watching Groundhog Day (have it on DVR) and it sparked some thoughts.

Have you ever wondered what you would do if you were in that situation? If you were able to live one day over and over again? I've thought about that many times. In fact, there are some days where I've thought, "I would HATE for this to be that day!" (I have often had this thought while spending all day driving somewhere for a mission trip. Imagine weeks of non-stop driving. Ug.) Now that I think about it, I'm not sure I ever ponder this question on a really good day... I wonder what that means...

Anyway, I think the movie does a great job exploring what an average person might do. We'd probably start off taking advantage of a life without consequences and would fulfill our every desire. Phil (Bill Murray) eats every dessert he can order, finds a woman he can seduce, and robs an armored truck to give himself a large bankroll. But the movie cleverly reveals that this is a very unfulfilling life. I know this to be true, and as a Christian I believe I know what (or should I say, "Who") life is really all about. While the movie falls a bit short of my answer, Phil does eventually find that it's much more rewarding to spend your life on others rather than yourself.

So why is it so easy to lose sight of that? Nothing drastic has happened recently... I don't have some horrible unconfessed sin to reveal. It's more a matter of simply letting days go by here in December without really doing anything with them. After all, it's Christmas "break." A week or two ago I added a verse to my desktop background, because it's something I constantly need to be reminded of: "Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you." (Proverbs 4:25) In today's vernacular it might say, "Keep your eyes on the prize." Apparently putting it on my computer wasn't enough, as I'm still so easily distracted.

Unlike Phil, I don't get to do any one of these days over again. Each one is precious and should be treasured. Paul gets it, and writes these words in Ephesians 5:15-16: "Be very careful, then, how you live— not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." It's been a period of about two weeks, but since classes ended at Northwest, I've really been on cruise control. Nothing embarrassing to report, just floating along instead. I've prayed that the rest of break will be different.

If nothing else, this blog post will at least bump the dancing Spidey down the page a bit :)

Time Warp

2008-12-18T08:30:00.003-06:00

I blinked, and it appears that I haven't blogged in over a week! The last week of classes was fairly hectic, but finals week (which was last week) was actually nuts for me. Normally it's a very relaxing time, but instead I was finishing up a research paper for a grad class. I've been working on my master's degree (MA in Religion) from Liberty University, and I just finished History of Christianity I. Good stuff! I think I can begin resuming normal activities again.

But before I do, let me simply start out with this ridiculously cool animated GIF of Spider-Man. I found it today on the WoW Mini's forum, and I have no idea what dance Spidey is doing. At first I thought it was from Napoleon Dynamite, but it doesn't seem to match up. Does anyone recognize the moves, or is it a Spidey original?

Don't Phish in Colden Pond!

2008-12-07T06:25:00.004-06:00

A little while back I shared a phishing scam that had come through our Hotmail account. This morning I just checked the BSU's school email account with Northwest and got my first ever scam email there. The only bonus is that it came from "info@nwmissouri.edu" ... other than that it is ridiculously lame. I'll copy and paste it below and will put my own comments in italics.

**************************************

--

Really, the message begins with "--" ... like the HELP TEAM sat around for hours trying to decide what to write here and when they couldn't agree they gave up and went with the mysterious dashes.

ATTN USER,

Does "ATTN" make it more official, or less? And someone might feel like the school just views them as a USER, but I think "STUDENTS/FACULTY/STAFF" might have worked a bit better.

This message is from the mail server center to all users and
account owners.

For the record, I don't think we have any account "owners." The majority are simply renting the account - and the rent goes up every year.

We are currently upgrading our data base and account
center. We are deleting all email account to create morespace for new accounts.

This one definitely gets them in trouble. If only they knew that the University deletes a student's account not long after they graduate or leave school. Not sure how long it takes, but I'm guessing not more than six to twelve months. Of course, there's also the obligatory misspellings and bad grammar - "account" and "morespace."

To prevent your account from been inactive you will have to update it below
so that we will know that it's a presently used account

Lazy school. If they just talked to the Registrar's office, they would know which students still go to school here!

CONFIRM DETAILS
USERNAME :
PASSWORD;

At least they're not shy about what they're trying to get. I want to know why PASSWORD gets a semicolon. Clearly the HELP TEAM wasn't comprised of English majors.

Thank you for using nwmissouri.edu !

No, thank YOU for the diploma eight years ago!

Warning Code:VX2G99AAJ

Wait a minute... I still have my old student handbook lying around here. VX2G99AAJ? It says here that it's a phishing scam designed to test if students are smart enough to be a Bearcat!

Thanks,
HELP TEAM nwmissouri.edu
LIVE INTERNET SERVICE

Again, let me thank you instead. I appreciate the hard work of the HELP TEAM and the LIVE INTERNET SERVICE I'm able to get with my laptop every time I'm on campus. And thanks for giving me an easy way to extend the streak to five days.

**************************************

The Exorcist

2008-12-06T09:02:00.008-06:00

I've got a little bit of a daily streak going here, so I think I'll go ahead and make a quick Saturday morning post. Today I'm going to see my parents to try and rescue my mom's computer. It seems to have a host of viruses, which suddenly makes me wish I had come up with a cool tie in to Legion :)

Anyway, last night my resident computer expert, Tim Dreyer, gave me a list of programs that any computer doctor would want in his handbag when making a house call. I can't give a great description of what they all do just yet (hopefully I'll be able to later today!) but I thought I could list them here in case anyone needs the help. All of these are free but some also have pay versions, so be sure to look for the right download link. A big shout-out to Tim for all the help!

AVG Anti Virus - a completely free anti virus software. It's what all the kids are using these days, and it's supposed to be just as good as the ones you pay big $$ for.

Spybot Search & Destroy - I think it removes spy bots, but maybe it gives stock quotes or sports scores...

Avast Anti Spyware - heard what Spybot was doing and wanted to join the crowd.

Hitman Pro 3 - a good diagnostic tool with an even better name. Malware runs in fear.

Autoruns - lets you see every single program that automatically runs on your computer.

Ad-Aware - another good program, this one detects all kinds of bad stuff on your computer. But I'm sure it doesn't critique any of your term papers.

a-squared Anti-Malware - every college student knows the only thing better than one A's is two A's!

RootKit Revealer - a tool that (as far as I can tell) helps clean up your Windows registry against those hard-to-reach problems.

CCleaner - comes in to optimize and clean up your computer after all those other guys have finished doing their jobs - and tracked mud all over the house.

Video Fee(d)

2008-12-05T08:00:00.004-06:00

It's time for another video post, this one is of Steve Fee playing "All Because of Jesus" which is a song that he wrote. I don't know how many of you have heard it, but it's one of my absolute favorite worship songs.

(For those seeing this as an imported note on Facebook, you can see the original post on my blog at http://yaggleberryfinn.blogspot.com)

Being a Wise Guy

2008-12-04T10:07:00.003-06:00

Continuing with the Proverbs theme, two of my favorites are a pair of proverbs found back-to-back in chapter 26. At first glance they can be a bit confusing.

Proverbs 26:4
Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself.

Proverbs 26:5
Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes.

Hmmm ... is this a contradiction in the Bible? Did the compiler of Proverbs begin to jot down verse five, immediately forgetting what verse four said? How do we handle these two competing pieces of advice?

The key is in the understanding of wisdom itself. The person who has wisdom is not simply one that has knowledge. Wisdom means someone who is skilled at life. It is one who recognizes the proper application of the knowledge that they have.

So here we see that sometimes the wise thing to do is to ignore the fool and say nothing. Other times it is wise to address the fool directly. The key of wisdom is knowing which time is which! It's kind of like being an offensive coordinator. There are many plays in the playbook, but a skilled coach knows which play is best to call in a given situation.

This requires thinking and insight, which is where I think we get in trouble. It would be much easier to just have a list of rules to follow that covers any and every situation. But life is not a simple mathematical formula. If it's a formula at all, it's one with a large number of variables!

Proverbs tells us that "the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom." While this phrase is worthy of several blog posts on its own, I will say here that it is pretty much always tied to submission and obedience to God. Only as we lay aside our best thoughts and learn to see things the way God does and follow His ways will we understand true wisdom and begin to live a skilled life.

And as that happens, we will certainly know better than to call a fake field goal and expect to gain ten yards with our 250 pound kicker.

First Things First

2008-12-03T13:59:00.004-06:00

As I've probably mentioned before, Proverbs is usually what I consider to be my favorite book of the Bible. That is certainly subject to change, and has often taken a back seat to other books at times, but I always find myself drawn back to the simple yet profound wisdom of Proverbs.

A proverb that has really been challenging me recently is 24:27, which says, "Finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready; after that, build your house." I've read that the "build your house" phrase may be an implication of marriage and building a family. If that's the case, then my initial application may be a bit out of context, but it still lines up well with overall biblical truth.

It's hitting me in this way: take care of what's important before you spend time on what is non-essential. You can live without a house, but you can't live without food. If you start working on what will make you comfortable instead of planting and tending to your crops, you're going to be in trouble. That's probably a pretty obvious truth, but I'm certain it causes problems for people every single day. Here's how it's been playing out for me recently.

The first area has been financial. I was blessed with some extra income for a time, and during that period it seemed that all kinds of needs came up. The washer had to be replaced and the dryer repaired. The van suddenly needed four new tires. We still needed money for Christmas presents and property taxes. (Those last two obviously come every year, but this was a convenient way to cover them.) Almost all of the extra income was exhausted, and yet here I am both surprised and pleased to see that there is some left over for me to "build my house"! And it comes with the peace of knowing that the "fields" were taken care of first.

The second area has been in regard to leisure time. I often find myself at home in the evenings wishing I could just have some "me time." And I've come to realize that I feel that way quite often (I am often surprised at my selfishness!) and can easily rationalize how I deserve a break. But the Lord has been challenging me and helping me to see that my wife and kids are more important than anyone else - including me, and I need to tend to their needs first. Of course the Bible confirms this repeatedly, such as in Philippians 2:1-4 or Ephesians 5:22-33. And again, I'm amazed at how He then provides me the opportunity to "build my house" and do some of those things I want to do.

The whole thing makes me think of Matthew 6:33 "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

Winning is Overrated

2008-12-01T07:18:00.004-06:00

For the frangible faithful out there, blogging will resume this week. I was living in the land of slow dial-up (not a redundant statement, by the way. There are varying degrees of dial-up, and this was very slow) and was unable to post for the past week or so. Naturally, the first thing to discuss is the Chiefs end to a seven game losing streak.

I find it quite amusing that now that the Chiefs finally won a game, some people are saying we only won because the Raiders gave the game to us. Are you kidding me? A win is a win, right? How many games have the Chiefs given away this year? The other team didn't get an asterisk next to those games, why should we? So quit the whining about getting a tainted win. Now, on to the bulleted game items:

Thigpen Gets a Win! So What? Several of the stories in today's KC Star point out that Thigpen finally got his first win as a starter. Good for him. However, it came in possibly his worst performance of the last five games. So what does that stat really mean? Could it be that he's lost several of those past games, not because of his performance, but because the defense and special teams have been terrible? Why does the QB have to get all the credit for a win or all the blame for a loss? Is Larry Johnson ever judged by a win/loss record? How about Derrick Johnson, or even Derrick Thomas for that matter?

Folks will rave about Ben Roethlisberger's rookie season or even how Joe Flacco or Matt Ryan are doing this year. True, they're making plays and avoiding mistakes, but aren't they surrounded by quality players? They have good running games (ATL - 2nd, BAL - 3rd), or pretty good defenses (PIT - 1st, BAL - 2nd). The Chiefs are actually 12th in rushing (no doubt helped by Thigpen himself), but are dead last in defense.

To me it's a bit like the win/loss stat for starting pitchers. They have no control over what kind of run support they get, which goes a long way in determining whether or not they win, not to mention the bullpen's ability to hold a lead. ERA is a much better stat for a pitcher, although it sounds like advanced stats like ERA+ are even better. Yesterday's win was nice, but it had more to do with the defense avoiding big plays and JaMarcus Russell playing horrendous.

Thanks, Russell! It's an obvious point, but wow did JaMarcus Russell look bad. He had all day to throw (again, little pressure on the QB!) and looked like the early season version of Tyler Thigpen, badly overthrowing wide open receivers. I haven't watched any other Raiders games, but I would question whether he's made any progress. Again the Chiefs failed to notch a single sack, but Russell managed to fall down all by himself. I'm guessing he'll get another year to prove himself, since the Raiders have so much invested in him. One more season for the Chiefs to reap the rewards!

Missing the Mark Am I the only one that thought the passing game really suffered without Mark Bradley in the lineup? Or did he actually step on the field? Maybe he was there and just never got any looks ... but his presence definitely stretches the field and opens things up for Bowe and Gonzalez. Gonzo certainly had a monster day, but Bowe was MIA and had another ball bounce off of his hands. I imagine it's the sophomore slump striking again, and still expect Bowe to be a quality number one for years to come.

The Most Irritating Offensive Play Back in the days of good defense, I always hated it when the Chiefs would have everyone covered and get some pressure on the quarterback only to watch him take off and run for a first down. It sure is nice to have a guy who can do that for us instead. For the game, Thigpen had 11 carries for 48 yards, some of which were short gains that prevented sacks. There was a nice QB keeper in the red zone where Charles ran as a lead blocker - I think Thigpen would've scored if he had followed him to the end zone rather than cutting off to the left.

Field Goals Make Me Want to Barth Do we finally have a kicker we can rely on? Is this what the Chiefs expected from their last rookie, Justin Medlock? (And did I just curse Barth by bringing up that name in the first place? Nah, a curse would involve mentioning Lin Elliot. Ooops...) So far he's 8/8 on the season. That's enough to cause me to overlook the fact that he's a Tarheel.

Say What? Just something I read multiple times today in the Star: the Chiefs have 17 rookies on their roster. Wow. Nothing to add... just... wow.

Injury to Insult Did anyone else see the hit Bernard Pollard laid on Justin Fargas just after Rocky Boiman had caused him to fumble? I'm glad I have DVR - I watched that play four or five times in a row. O U C H. Unfortunately it does seem like Pollard often goes for the big hit rather than wrapping up. It's hurt us before, but this time it was highlight material.

Still Not Pro-Bowl Material Earlier in his career, Donnie Edwards wondered aloud what he needed to do to get to the Pro Bowl. The response was that it wasn't enough to post 100 tackle seasons and play every game, he also needed to make game-changing plays. For at least the second time this season, Derrick Johnson had a potential pick-six bounce off of his hands. Until he starts making plays like that, he'll continue to be a guy playing way below his potential and the expectations that come with being a first-round drafted linebacker.

Marty Said There'd Be Days Like This Of course we save the best for last. Marty Schottenheimer had a theory that if you just wait long enough, eventually the Raiders will do something stupid to lose the game. The Chiefs didn't actually have to wait that long, as the Raiders ran the craziest fake FG attempt in the second quarter.

It was 4th and ten, and it appeared that C-Bass was supposed to run for the first down. Are you kidding me? He might have the best leg in the history of the NFL but he certainly doesn't have two of them. The Chiefs may have the worse record, but that play right there defines the Raiders. Of course the "pitch" was bad and Maurice Leggett picked it up and returned it for a TD.

That play was unbelievably dumb, and it turned out to be the difference in the game. Maybe the Raiders should've been watching the Nebraska-Colorado game on Friday to see how a fake field goal could blow up in your face?

Monday Bullets

2008-11-24T09:49:00.004-06:00

Every once in a while I think I'll just write a post with some random tidbits that wouldn't support a full blog post and aren't really related to each other. Today is one of those times! I thought about using the term "quick hits" but didn't want to step on Bill's toes.

Bitter Sweet Sunday - Yesterday was my last Sunday as interim pastor at Grant City Baptist Church. I am happy for them that they will have a full time pastor for the first time in over a year. However, I will miss having the opportunity to preach there and also to have a slight involvement in the lives of the church body. I would have preferred the title of interim preacher, as that's mostly what I did. Living 40 miles away and having a full time ministry at the BSU simply didn't allow any more than that.

It was a great opportunity and I think I caught the briefest glimpse of what it might look like to be a pastor. I'm very content where I am now and believe wholeheartedly this is where God wants me to be, but I can see why some campus ministers leave collegiate work to be church pastors instead. I was genuinely surprised when I was presented with a gift by the church - a sweet Penn State hoodie and hat. It's the first Penn State clothing I've ever owned (except for my old hat) and I love it. I'm glad I will still have the opportunity to see those people again, there are some great folks out there and God is truly doing some cool things in their midst.

Doom and Gloom?! - I'm amazed at how much impact one football game has on the outlook of NFL prognosticators and fans. Today the Kansas City media is all over Herm, Carl, and how the plan to build through the draft has failed. Admittedly I'm a fan of Herm (although I don't support him blindly, I have my reasons) and therefore am likely much more patient and understanding than many fans. It's just hard for me to get too up or down about this season.

First of all, a loss is a loss. Yesterday was a blowout, the recent ones have been close. The season is still all about evaluating the young talent, and that will continue to happen regardless of the losses or how bad they are. Miami is in the thick of the playoff hunt this year after winning one game last year, so it can be done. But with so many positions decimated by injuries, I just don't see how you can get too depressed about what's been happening lately. This team still needs two new starting linebackers, some help on the offensive and defensive lines, and more depth at cornerback/quarterback/running back. It's not going to happen overnight, and setbacks will happen. It's not the end of the world, people!

Sweet Technology - I've gotten a technological boost lately, and it's been making a big impact in my life. For once I don't feel inclined to say, "Technology is a tool of Satan." (Too often it tends to malfunction when I can least afford it to.) My new Blackjack II has been a great help in reminding me of appointments and being a portable notepad any time I need to jot down some thoughts, as well as being incredibly convenient when I need to text someone.

My new laptop has freed me completely from my office, allowing me to easily work on campus or even from home. Plus, with its 3GB of RAM, I can boot it up and be ready to use Vista in about 45 seconds. Outstanding! Last December we finally got high speed internet, and just last week I added a wireless router so I can get online with lappy from anywhere in the house. It's actually allowing me to spend more time with Karin, as we can be in the same room and I can still get some things done, whether she's working in the kitchen or watching TV in the bedroom. Technology: it has redemptive value after all!

New Hobby Developing - if any of you have known me for long, then you're familiar with the toy/game of Attacktix. I have my own strategy website Master Attacktix that I ran for a while, and I even took a road trip all the way to Toledo, OH with three other guys in order to play in a tournament. Hasbro did a poor job of marketing the game and now it is dead... along with our interest in it.

Well, a new game has come along that is ready to take its place. World of Warcraft Miniatures has a few of the same strategy elements of Attacktix without any of the fun spring-loaded attacks. It's a much more involved game and has a high level of strategery involved. I initially told Michael I wouldn't get into it, but at this point I've accepted the fact that I'm in.

Attacktix gave me some great opportunities to connect with people I never would have otherwise, and I hope this game does the same thing. It's also been a lot of fun to play with Meghan. She really enjoys it and we've already played four games against each other. Once I have some disposable income I'll definitely be making a few purchases here.

50 Dollar Bills

2008-11-23T21:32:00.003-06:00

What can you say about the Chiefs' "game" today? Allowing the Bills to hang 54 points on the board certainly was rough. In the fourth quarter with a huge lead, I was shocked to see the Bills running play-action passes and throwing deep. I admit I was secretly hoping one of their star players would get hurt for such shenanigans. I suppose it's the NFL and it's your own fault if you can't stop someone. Oh well, at least it's over now.

Given the minus-four turnover ratio, it's no surprise that our defense was on its heels all day. Even when we didn't turn the ball over, it seemed like the Bills got the ball on our side of the field via special teams just as often. Our defense simply can't handle that much pressure, although they did have a nice goal-line stand in there at one point.

As far as Thigpen's performance, I'd like to highlight the positive and overlook the negative. He's a very young player and will have days like this. I remember a much older Rich Gannon having five turnovers (2 INTs, 3 fumbles, I think) in one game ... maybe against the Jags in '97. The offense still managed to put up 31 points, so one could certainly argue that without the turnovers it's a different game.

On the bright side, Maurice Leggett seemed to be everywhere and showed a lot of improvement from just a few weeks ago. It was also good to see Brandon Flowers back.

In the end it was another loss, and for the first time in several weeks it wasn't much of a contest. Herm seems to be doing well motivating the troops, so I expect them to come out fired up next week, ready to play hard and hopefully secure their second win of the season. It would be nice to get it against Oakland.

Something to Consider

2008-11-21T17:52:00.004-06:00

Here is the message from last night's worship service at the BSU. This week we looked at Hebrews 10:24 and the challenge to spend serious thought thinking about (and then doing!) how to spur one another on.

There are still some technical issues that need to be worked out - primarily the sound - but at least the cell number isn't there this time around! As before, comments are welcome, whether they be specifically about the message or just about making the video itself better.

The Other Phil

2008-11-20T09:12:00.003-06:00

Earlier this week I was reading in Philemon and was really encouraged by the Lord and what He's been doing in my life. On the side, I am amazed and instructed by Paul's tact as he handles a very delicate situation with grace and wisdom. But what really hit me was his statement to Philemon in verses 4-5, especially how Paul is thankful for Phil's "love for all the saints."

This is something that God has really been showing me in the past year or two and it's been exciting to see His hand at work. For quite a few years in campus ministry, there was a real feeling of "turfism" for me. I would never come out and say that we were in competition with each other, but somewhere deep down that's exactly how I felt. If another ministry was more successful, I would feel like a failure. If a student chose to get involved somewhere else, I would wrestle with feelings of inferiority. And any time I heard of the amazing things God was doing somewhere else, I would wonder what was wrong with me and why He wasn't doing those amazing things in our midst as well.

It's been a long process, and although I am well-versed in making a short story long (and a long story even longer) I'll zoom past all of that and just detail a few of the things that have happened recently. Instead of viewing others as competitors or rivals, the Lord has showed me that I can learn from them and we can be mutually encouraged by each other. I've been able to begin developing relationships with other campus ministers (both here at Northwest and at other campuses) that have proved to be incredibly useful in my life - for insight, encouragement, humility, instruction, and friendship.

It's very easy to draw lines in the Christian sand and divide the body into tiny pieces, rather than seeing what we have in common and Whose Kingdom we are all trying to promote. And more than anything else, I think that's what God has been developing in me - a Kingdom mindset. I now pray for those other ministers and the ministries they lead, because when one part of the body succeeds, we should all rejoice! And in the process I have begun to accept and even love the way God has made me to be - that I don't have to look like anyone else or be like anyone else, but that my best contribution to His Kingdom will be to fully surrender to Him, allow Him to work through me, and strive to become all that He designed me to be.

Rough Draft

2008-11-19T13:23:00.003-06:00

In my moments of being distracted I like to read up on my beloved but struggling Chiefs. Right now I see a debate developing that centers around what they should do with their first round draft pick. The fact that it's even an argument is encouraging in itself, as the play of Tyler Thigpen has soothed some of the QB-NOW! feelings.

Adam Teicher of the KC Star argues that the Chiefs' number one need is a pass rusher, and I am inclined to agree. The fact that the team only has six sacks ten games into the season is laughable. Time and time again the opposing quarterback has enough time to make a sandwich before delivering a pass. The last few weeks it's been the defense's inability to make key stops that has cost the team the game, not the offense's inability to move the ball or score points.

I want to throw out two questions that I find very interesting. First of all, should the Chiefs adopt the spread offense permanently? Obviously they will continue to run it with Thigpen at the helm, but what would happen if Thigpen got hurt before the end of this season? Would they return to a more traditional NFL offense? Or is this the wave of the Chiefs future?

Supposing that they decide to adopt the spread permanently, how might that affect the drafting of a quarterback? It seems to me (and my unresearched opinion) that quarterbacks who run the spread in college aren't highly desired by NFL teams. There are knocks against them being able to run a pro offense and they are either passed over entirely (except perhaps for the exceptional few, I would have to research to say for sure) or are relegated to very late round draft picks.

Again, assuming this is true, doesn't this play right into the Chiefs' hands? Since no other team in the NFL runs a spread offense, shouldn't the Chiefs have an easier time finding a good spread offense quarterback in next year's draft? I mean, if Tyler Thigpen and his Coastal Carolina background can succeed, imagine if we picked up someone from a high quality college program that ran a more sophisticated spread? (I hear you Chase Daniel fans clamoring already!)

I don't know how any of those thoughts play out in the real world of the NFL, but it leads me to think that we are much more in need of an improved defense than a new quarterback. And that a new quarterback that could run this offense could be found later in the draft - while all teams covet quality pass rushers.

The spread might even affect what type of running backs we want to add in the future - Charles is certainly more suited than LJ. Anybody care to share their opinion?

The Response of Forgiveness

2008-11-19T11:53:00.004-06:00

I have wrestled and struggled with this moment all semester, but I knew all along that eventually it would come. I've been recording my preaching on Thursday nights at the BSU and have agreed (with the Lord) to go ahead and put them online. I could give much more commentary, but I think at this point I'll just leave it at that.

This is from last Thursday night and centers around the issue of receiving God's forgiveness and how that should naturally lead us to practice forgiveness in our own lives. Since I hadn't initially intended to share the videos publicly, there are now some recording issues that we'll have to work on. This particular video is zoomed out too far - to the point that a cell phone number was visible on the projector screen (which is there for people to text in questions if they want to). I couldn't very well go back and re-record the message, and I don't have grand video editing software, so I simply inserted a line of 8's to cover the info.

I do welcome any comments, whether they be related specifically to the message or just the recording of video in general.

Frangiwhat?

2008-11-17T17:58:00.002-06:00

The other night I was visiting with a friend of mine and casually asked if he read my blog. He replied that he did, and even let me know that he had come up with a pretty good name - which unfortunately he could no longer remember.

So naturally I asked what he thought about the current name, which brought a confused look as he had never heard of frangible before and wasn't even sure how to pronounce enyrgy. Let me take a moment to explain so everyone can appreciate its brilliance.

When I decided to truly pursue this blogging endeavor, I originally had the title of "This Space for Rent." That was a very temporary title, and more or less expressed how I felt about it in the first place. There was no particular inspiration for a title, and there's not a singular theme that will be followed here. I decided I wanted to try and work off of the one thing that unites everything else I have in various internet locations: my nickname.

The nickname itself is not popular in usage anymore (and I'm not trying to revive it) but it was given to me in high school and is still what I use any time I have to have a user name or login name for something on the net. A friend in high school was an avid nicknamer and dolled them out on a regular basis to anyone and everyone, regardless of whether or not they actually wanted it or appreciated the one they got. It began as a play on my last name (Yarnell) combined with a Kansas City radio personality (Chuck Nasty) and evolved through several stages: Yagnasty, Yaggleberry, Yaggleberry Finn and then finally just Yags, which was the one that stuck.

Yags was unusable as a permanent internet nickname, as it's short enough to have other uses or meanings. Once upon a time I considered getting yags.com, which turned out to be the Yale Anti-Gravity Society - a juggling club. (I, myself, am a decent juggler.) Looks like it's now a clothing store of some sort. I have yet to find anyone else that uses or goes by Yaggleberry Finn, so it's mine - a rare original.

How does that relate to Frangible Enyrgy? I'm getting there. This past summer I played Fantasy Baseball (which I won, incidentally ... although I'm now getting crushed in my first try of Fantasy Football) and I constantly changed the name of my team. I did my best to imitate or mimic my opponent's name. There were several, but my favorite was a subtle change to Sterling's team (putmeincoach) which led my team to be called putmeincouch. That still makes me smile.

So in the process of all of that, I started working on anagrams. Pastor Paul's team, the Saints, inspired me to be the Stains. As I continued to think about a name for this blog, I wondered what kind of things you could spell with all the letters of Yaggleberry Finn.

At the beginning, none of the words really worked together to make anything worth using. There were several options, but none really grabbed me. So instead of trying to use all the letters, I simply looked at all the words that could be made from Yaggleberry Finn. The most intriguing word to me was frangible - one I was completely unfamiliar with.

It turns out frangible means "capable of being broken." As a Christian, I was instantly attracted to this word. Brokenness is such an essential ingredient in a genuine walk with the Lord, something worthy of many blog posts. Once I was hooked on frangible, I looked at what letters I had left. Ygeryn doesn't leave a lot of options... in fact, you can't spell any real words with that. But if you just substitute an "e" with a "y" you can spell energy. Outstanding!

Those two words work very well to describe much of my life and my struggles. I've been one to get excited or motivated about something for a short time, only to lose interest or personal discipline and move on. Sometimes my walk with God feels like a roller coaster, with all of its ups and downs. When I depend on myself rather than God, that "spiritual energy" definitely comes and goes. There are also some things that affect me physically (primarily large amounts of sugar as well as those other pink mushrooms) that rob me of my energy. So, on multiple levels my energy is capable of being broken. And that's what frangible enyrgy means.

Kudos to anyone that reads all the way through - proving they have quite a bit of energy of their own! (Or is it mercy? or maybe you're just bored ...)

Passing This Along

2008-11-12T07:35:00.004-06:00

In my daily readings this morning I came across this little gem by Ladd Biro, a guy who writes a fantasy football piece for the Kansas City Star. You can read the entire article here if you like, but I wanted to reproduce this opening section that genuinely made me laugh out loud in places (especially the one about Marvin Harrison). It's already been pointed out in the comments section that this may not be completely original, but I don't care - it's still funny.

******************************************
Willis McGahee called last night and asked me to pass along this message to his fantasy owners: “Yes, I hate you.”

I got a letter from Michael Vick, postmarked from Cell Block D, last week. Said he led his prison league in rushing, but had completed only 40 percent of his passes. Is hoping Matt Jones will be there in time for the playoffs. “I’ll bet the Falcons can’t wait to get me back!,” he mused. “Haven’t seen any games, but they must be dog-awful with a rook under center…”

I texted a note to Ricky Williams congratulating him on his first 100-yard game since 2005. “Yeah, man, I was smokin’!” I couldn’t hit delete fast enough.

Jake Delhomme shot me an email this morning asking why I hadn’t responded to his text messages last night. “Didn’t get them,” I said. “Must’ve been intercepted.” He didn’t think that was funny.

Brett Favre left a voice mail for me. He sounded depressed because his wideouts wouldn’t make eye contact with him after the game. “I could hear Cotchery and Coles across the locker room, griping about scoring 47 points and only getting one catch each. Wide receivers are so dang sensitive these days!”

Speaking of which, I heard the Colts enrolled Marvin Harrison in an 11-step program. When I asked why it wasn’t 12, they said he’d already lost a step.

I ran into Tony Romo over the bye week at a local travel agency. He had just booked a surprise vacation with Jessica leaving right after New Year’s. “But that’s the first week of the playoffs,” I said. “So?” he replied. Uh oh.

My cell phone rang as I was writing this. Someone named “Culpepper” was calling. Figured it had to be a wrong number. Haven’t seen that guy in years.

I called Chris Chambers to see how he was feeling. “I’m great, man. I’ll be back right after the bye.” When I reminded him the Chargers were off in Week 9, all I heard was “Oh, sh…”, before the line went dead.

I rang the Seahawks training facility the other day looking for D.J. Hackett. The receptionist told me he had moved to Carolina in the offseason. Who knew?

Shot Mike Singletary a note wishing him well on his Monday Night Football debut tonight. He sent back a picture of his rear end and told me he didn’t have time to chat with some silly columnist. “I’ve got a game to win. Grrrrr!”

I sent Kerry Collins an email, asking him how it felt to be 9-0. “It’s great,” he replied, “but Coach Fisher got mad at me for ignoring the game plan. He said the next time I throw a pass in the red zone, he’s trading me to Detroit.”

You Play to Win the Game!

2008-11-09T15:41:00.005-06:00

Okay, so it's a little less than original to quote Herm in the title of this blog post. Before things get too far out of my head, I want to throw some thoughts out there on the latest Chiefs loss.

A lot has been said about Herm deciding to go for two, and I think it was the right call. We can argue the play call, but deciding to go for the win was definitely the way to go. The defense was decimated with injuries (really, I couldn't tell you the names of three or four of those guys) and San Diego had marched up and down the field all game. We did a decent job of stopping the run - especially not giving up the big run - but Rivers was completing passes all over the place. And we continued to struggle putting any pressure on the quarterback.

Given all of that, what are the chances our defense would've stopped them if they had gotten the ball to start overtime? Some say that the Chiefs might have won the toss, which is true. However, they had three straight three-and-outs in the second half and weren't moving the ball until that last drive. Even then it took a lucky pass interference call (sorry, Chargers) to set up the touchdown. If you can get two yards, you win the game and avoid all the rest of that. Herm played to win. He put the game in the players' hands, which they all expected him to do. It just came up short.

Something I don't hear anyone talking about it is the play of the Chiefs offensive line. The Chargers usually only rushed four, but even when they blitzed the line gave Thigpen plenty of time to throw. That's a welcome change from how they did when Huard was back there earlier in the year. They even opened up a few running lanes, but it's tough when you're down to your fourth string running back. Not having LJ or Kolby Smith really hurt in short yardage situations, and I'd love to see what a healthy Jamaal Charles could do in this spread offense.

Mark Bradley continues to look like a solid number two option, and Bowe and Gonzalez were nothing short of fantastic. I am really liking the routes that have Bowe dragging across the middle - once he catches the ball with the defender trailing he is very tough to bring down. He just needs to make sure he catches it before he runs with it.

Once again the Chiefs were plus in turnovers (+2) and couldn't pull out the victory. That's +8 for the last three games. Ug. And the Chargers had several unforced errors in there, like Rivers missing a wide open Tomlinson on a key third down play close to the Chiefs' end zone.

After watching our punter (forgot his name) constantly booming punts into the end zone last week, it was nice to finally get Colquitt back yesterday. He did a good job of pinning them inside the 20 several times and limiting what they did in the return game.

Too bad there was the botched extra point in the second quarter. If that is taken care of, the game winning drive just requires another PAT for the win. It seems like this team just can't catch a break. But they keep playing hard, which speaks well for Herm. They're definitely showing progress, which means Herm's job is secure. Sounds good to me, even though some of you are less than thrilled about that possibility.

Phishing x2

2008-11-09T13:42:00.003-06:00

I often hear about email scams trying to get vital information from people and how some folks allow themselves to be duped. Until yesterday I don't think I'd ever received one of those emails. I considered posting it on the blog last night, but instead I permanently deleted the email and let it go.

Today I got a second copy, so I figured it was a second chance to throw it up here and allow everyone else to be amused. The italicized comments are my own.

************************************************
After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined
that you are eligible to receive a Stimulus Payment.

Really? Another stimulus plan? Somehow I never heard about this one...

Please submit the Stimulus Payment Online Form in order to process it.
A Stimulus Payment can be delayed for a variety of reasons.
For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.

Naturally, I need to apply for this stimulus payment. And if I don't hurry up I might miss my chance! I didn't have to apply for the last one, the IRS just sent me a notification in the mail followed later by a check...

To access the form for your Stimulus Payment, please follow the next URL:

*** website deleted to protect the innocent ***

For security reasons, we will record your ip-address, the date and time.

Deliberate wrong inputs are criminally pursued and indicated.

This cracks me up! This is typical phishing protocol: remind people that doing things wrong will result in punishment. Seems to make the email more official, I guess.

Regards,
Internal Revenue Service

Copyright 2008, Internal Revenue Service U.S.A. All rights reserved.
************************************************

Do people really fall for this stuff? I mean, come on, the email came from fs242f@orange.fr! I was really curious how official the form would look, so I clicked on the link. I was very surprised to have Firefox tell me it was a scam and that I should stay away from the site. Good for Firefox! Hopefully it recognizes these things often, otherwise I suspect there may be people out there that would actually fall for such a scam.

Adventures in Customer Service

2008-11-08T18:55:00.005-06:00

Today was the culmination of a wide range of customer service experiences I've had in the past month or so. I'll start with the one from yesterday before sharing the two from today.

Last month I switched to a new plan with AT&T after getting my new phone, a Blackjack II. When I was there we got everything set up, complete with my first ever texting plan. So it was quite a shock when I opened the bill yesterday and discovered I'd been charged a total of $35 (20 cents each) for all of the texts I had accumulated, instead of getting no extra charges since I stayed within my limit.

I really did expect to get the runaround from them and was pleasantly surprised. First of all there were no other customers there, which was nice since the place had been packed last time I was there. The lady at the desk got on the phone with someone and within ten minutes the problem was fixed and they had credited my account $40. +1 point for AT&T.

That was a welcome change from my recent encounters with Dell. On October 3 I ordered a brand new laptop from Dell, which was about the same time I got my new plan with AT&T. After consulting for a while with an online sales rep, I found a laptop I was really pleased with. Unfortunately he told me that it wouldn't ship for three weeks, as it was a very popular model and they all had to be built to specification. I decided that was okay, even though I really wanted it sooner.

So October 24 rolls around, and I get a message on my phone that my order will be delayed for two more weeks. Not only will it be delayed, but now I have to call them back and tell them that I still want the computer. I found this to be an irritating inconvenience at the time, although I later found out that this was actually a federal law. I called and assured them that I did, in fact, want the computer that I had already paid for. (They would have given a refund if I had said no.)

Yesterday, November 7, I get another call from Dell. Are they letting me know my order has shipped? No, they want me to confirm that I'm okay with another delay! This time they say it will ship by November 12. I told the computer operator that I would wait *again* and I also decided that if they delayed it one more time, I'd get my money back. So what happened? Naturally, today (November 8) I get an email that my computer has been shipped. Huh? -2 points for Dell. (Luckily for Dell they've scored a lot of points in the past, all with their outlet store. I hope the laptop itself makes up for the wait... and I hope it actually shows up next week!)

So while I've had a disappointing experience and a mildly surprising one, neither compares with the final one that happened today. I go to check the mail and find a priority mail envelope from the US Government. Could it be? Surely not ... but here it is, my passport that I applied for just EIGHT days ago. Woohoo! The last detail is in place, I can now go to Turkey at the end of December. +10 points for the US Government!

Instant Encouragement

2008-11-07T17:35:00.004-06:00

If you know me at all, you know I'm a huge Skillet fan. They're probably my top three favorite bands. Recently I've been utilizing the windows media player in my Blackjack II to listen to music in my car and sometimes on headphones.

Even though I have lots of music, right now I simply have a playlist of every Skillet CD which plays at random. I stumbled across this song from their Ardent Worship CD and it's just been absolutely blowing me away. I'm sure there are better versions of this song out there and you are welcome to go find one, but either way the lyrics are amazing. (The lyrics themselves are not in the video, this was the only Skillet version I saw on YouTube.)

20 Minutes Well Spent

2008-11-05T22:04:00.005-06:00

I saw this video posted on Facebook and decided to give it a go and am glad I did. I was very intrigued by the point that is made. While I am not involved in the American education system, I am, in fact, an educator. But more than that, I am a Christian, and I thought the topic ended up being very relevant to ministry. Specifically the struggle of creativity against our genuine fear of failure. I'd love to hear what some of the rest of you think about it.

Divided We Stand?

2008-11-04T12:45:00.004-06:00

I just got home from voting, and lately I've noticed a very disturbing trend. It seems that the political election is becoming a divisive issue for Christians. I don't know if this falls on both sides of the fence or not, but I've certainly seen it from the Republican side of things. To put it bluntly, some imply, suggest or come right out and state that a true Christian can only vote for John McCain. However, I know of committed believers that are also voting for Barack Obama.

I have my own opinion and obviously just cast my own ballot. I'm not looking to get into a political debate or discuss any of the issues or take a stand on which candidate I voted for. Rather I want to encourage believers to extend grace to one another, to truly love one another, and to recognize that our hope does not lie in any human government but in Jesus Christ! How ridiculous is it for us to tear one another down over this issue? That's a far cry from what Paul encourage in Ephesians 4:29

"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."

Also, it's reality that some of you voted for the guy that didn't win. In that case it will be easy to gripe, complain and bash the new President - and maybe the people that voted for him! Instead I want to encourage you to obey the word of God in 1 Timothy 2:1-3

"I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."

Don't let worldly things distract you from the Kingdom of God! Don't forget what really matters and what your life is really all about. Let me end with these words from Philippians 2:14-16

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.

Who's Seen This?

2008-11-03T21:22:00.003-06:00

Okay boys and girls, I reserve the right to randomly post clips of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, one of my all time favorite movies. Most any clip could be added and would be worth watching, but I'm particularly fond of this one. On the DVD, Gary Oldman counted these lines as one of the very reasons he wanted to play the part.

Prayer and Flossing

2008-10-29T07:59:00.005-05:00

As I was preparing to preach a message on prayer, I came across this survey while doing a little bit of research. It was a very interesting study to me, especially because they freely admitted, "Survey respondents are well known to overstate behaviors they believe are virtuous, like praying and flossing, and understate those, such as drinking, they feel might open them up to criticism." In other words, this survey really doesn't tell us much of anything - except that we want to look virtuous!

Flossing and prayer are intriguing partners to me. They're both things that we (at least most of us) would agree are important practices. Each of them can be done in a relatively short amount of time and each have proven to have positive impacts on life. (I'm not going to go looking for a study on the benefits of prayer, although I have seen them before. I can speak from experience and that's good enough for me.) However, I really question how much time and effort people put into either of these activities. I will readily admit that I almost never floss. Why not? I don't know ... I guess it's just not that important to me.

This blog post, however, is not about flossing. It's about prayer. And recently the Lord has been showing me a great deal about prayer and what my real thoughts about it have been. Sure, I would agree that it's important, but it's become clear that there has been wide gap between my orthodoxy and my orthopraxy. I would say that prayer mattered, but then I'd spend very little time daily in prayer. And while I do agree that prayer can be effective in short spurts (like flossing), I think it needs to be a daily discipline.

Jesus Himself practiced such a life of prayer and solitude with God, as Mark tells us in the very first chapter of his gospel: "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed." (Mark 1:35) The BSU has been participating in 24/7 prayer this past week, and it's been a very challenging time for me to finally establish prayer as a true focus of my life. For far too long my Christian life has been about what I can do for God, rather than what God can do through me. The difference may seem subtle, but it is a radically different state of mind.

So far it's been an absolute amazing time for me with the Lord. It is literally transforming my life. It has brought a greater focus and clarity to each day. I've been asking God to weave divine appointments into my day - and He has! I've long believed that you can best minister to others out of the overflow of your own relationship with God and others have often impressed this truth upon me. It's absolutely true, and it's been a lot of fun watching God move and inspire me to pour into the lives of others. Praise be to God!

My prayer now is that this can become an integral part of my day for the rest of my life and not simply be a few good weeks. May I encourage you to begin each day with the Lord, drawing near to Him, seeking His will for your day, asking Him to help you to be His messenger today. Just don't ask if I've flossed today.

Who Was That Masked Man?

2008-10-27T12:16:00.004-05:00

I have a lot of different thoughts today, so expect several blog updates soon. Here's the first one to get out of the way - I feel obliged to write about my favorite football team.

So, like everyone else, I was astounded at how well Tyler Thigpen played yesterday. Wow! As I wrote earlier, he makes good decisions with the ball. But yesterday he finally was able to get his arm to work in conjunction with his brain, and the results were both impressive and inspiring. If he can continue to develop and they build the offense around his abilities, the rest of the year may not be lost after all. Perhaps Brittle Croyle getting hurt will turn out to be a major blessing for the team.

The fact that they went with a no-huddle spread offense was very encouraging. There had been a lot of talk of allowing Brodie to roll out of the pocket, employing bootlegs and so forth, but then it just didn't seem to materialize. I've long felt that you have to play to the strength of the players that you have (in any sport - and I think that is part of what makes Tjeerdsma a great coach) and maybe the Chiefs will actually do that now. It is interesting, however, that the spread doesn't fit in with Herm's idea of a ball control offense. I wonder how that will play out if Thigpen continues to start and perform well enough to keep the job.

Related to Thigpen's good game were two "breakout" performances by previously unknown Brad Cottam and Mark Bradley. Bradley is a former second round pick of the Bears who put up pretty good numbers in ten starts for the Oklahoma Sooners. I would love for him to emerge for us like another team's castoff - Eddie Kennison. Cottam isn't so much of an unknown, as the Chiefs took him this year in the third round of the draft, but he made his first receptions of the season and showed that he can be a legitimate weapon. It's probably no surprise that Bowe and Gonzalez had good games as the ball was actually spread around to other players. It sure would be nice to see it happen again.

It was also nice to see our young defensive backs play well. I've been saying all along that they're the strength of our defense and I'm a big fan of both Flowers and Carr. Unfortunately our run defense is so bad that teams rarely have the need to pass the ball (and we just about NEVER have a lead late) and therefore we don't often force teams into major passing situations. I'm glad they played well yesterday, even though reserve nickel back Patterson gave up the game winning TD.

All of those positives being said, I feel like the near-win was a bit of a mirage. The Chiefs were plus three in turnovers - one of those was returned for a TD and the other set one up. Without those it may have been a blowout. I know Derrick Johnson dropped a pick six, but so did one of their guys. Furthermore, the Jets had some bizarre play calling ... that deep bomb on third and one was mind boggling. Why do that? And really, why did they go so pass happy? I guess they weren't afraid of our pass rush, which actually led to one (or more?) of those turnovers. Yes, the gunslinger pulled it out in the end, but it was a questionable game plan against a team that gives up over 200 yards (!!!) rushing a game.

We still have problems with the run, both offensively and defensively. The big third down run for a TD came when we were in a nickel defense, I wonder how often that has been the case this season. Larry Johnson might be our best smash mouth runner, but I think Jamaal Charles is best suited to run out of the spread offense. I hope his injury doesn't keep him out for next Sunday, I'd really like to see what he can do.

Overall I was very pleased with the game and that's about all I ask for any more. It's there for my entertainment, and I was entertained. And more than anything else, I'm glad I didn't have to use the phrase "cover-your-eyes-awful" anywhere in this post!

Question for you blogger experts

2008-10-24T08:52:00.002-05:00

A quick question: I just posted a couple of thoughts from 12 Angry Men, which I had started writing on Sunday. I published it today (five days later) but it listed itself as having been posted Sunday.

Is that just the way it works? Is the only way to prevent that to create a new post and paste the info there? Or is there an option I missed?

The Weekly Train Wreck

2008-10-20T08:29:00.001-05:00

In the past, this sort of football season would've driven me absolutely insane. I used to take Chiefs football very seriously and would (it's silly, I know) carry a tough loss with me for the first few days of the week. In fact, early in our marriage Karin would pray that the Chiefs would win just so I wouldn't be so miserable to be around!

Coming into this year, I fully expected things to be rough. I'm 100% behind Herm's plan to rebuild through the draft - I even had the chance to tell him so personally back in June. The unfortunate thing is that the team doesn't seem to be showing any progress as the season continues to unfold.

So here are some random thoughts after yesterday's latest debacle.

It sure is hard to win without a quarterback.

It's amazing to me the trickle down effect of having zero confidence in your quarterback. The Chiefs rarely throw the ball downfield (although Bowe and Gonzalez both had some nice gains yesterday when we actually TRIED it) and this seems to be so by design. Often the quarterback will immediately look to dump the ball to a running back without ever looking down field. Defenses simply don't have to worry about us even TRYING to stretch the field, so they can keep all of their defenders close to the line which also makes it impossible for us to run.

If you were able to combine the two young Chiefs quarterbacks into just one guy, you might have a decent option. Brodie has a cannon for an arm but obviously cannot stay healthy and will no longer be viewed as the answer. He also makes questionable decisions at times. Thigpen, on the other hand, seems to nearly always choose the right receiver to throw to. Unfortunately, he is the most inaccurate quarterback I have ever seen play in the NFL. He throws so far off target that even the defensive players can't catch it. He does seem to have some durability and can make some things happen when he runs with the ball. As for Damon Huard, I don't see a single positive in him. He rarely throws deep, he has a weak arm and isn't much more durable than Croyle. On top of that he seems completely unable to throw the ball away rather than take a sack.

Is it possible to show a little creativity on offense?

Coming in to the season, I really thought Chan Gailey would be able to make an impact on the offense. Having former offensive line coach Mike Solari as coordinator the past few years was downright awful. I recognize that Chan doesn't have the greatest offense to work with, and the quarterback carousel has to make things difficult, but man this is bad! I don't understand why we regularly run two tight ends out there, line up in a power formation, and try to run the ball. It's not working! How about going with four wide receivers to spread the defense out and THEN try to run? We have a hard enough time blocking the standard defensive line, why line up in such a way that there are even more guys to block?

I recognize that the quarterback play has been awful, but can't you use that to your advantage? Since teams know we can't throw and are trying to lean on the running game, why not run more play action on first down? I hear commentators say that play action only works if you're running the ball effectively. I've wondered if it can still be effective as long as the defense is expecting you to TRY and run the ball - which the Chiefs do no matter what. I was really hoping for them to run play action when they had first and goal (and settle for three points). Instead, they tried to run (which was EXPECTED!) and got stuffed. So naturally they tried play action on second down, one play too late, and Thigpen nearly got decapitated.

Where is the defense??

There is a lot of young talent on the defensive side of the ball, and I really don't understand why they are playing so poorly. I will concede that we have no one at middle linebacker right now, and that hurts a lot in stopping the run. I will also acknowledge that the Titans are a good team (the only ones left undefeated) and were not a good matchup for the Chiefs to begin with. But this season we've already seen a pattern of huge runs given up - at some point this has to fall on the coaches not adequately getting the young guys ready to play. I still have hope for the future, especially concerning Flowers and Carr. A veteran middle linebacker has got to be added in the off season.

It's also difficult to win when you get absolutely no pass rush. It's crazy that Hali still doesn't have a sack. I really thought he would do fairly well this season. I don't know if he's injured, but he certainly isn't making much of an impact. Teams are killing us on third and long - I heard yesterday on the radio that teams convert third and long against the Chiefs almost 50% of the time. The league average is 19%. Wow. The opposing QB has all day to throw, although some of those long conversions have been on simple draw plays. On the other side, Turk McBride seems to be improving, which makes Hali's play all the more confusing to me. I think Glenn Dorsey will be an impact player at his position and certainly am not willing to label him a draft bust, defensive tackles generally don't make a great splash at the start of their careers.

When rebuilding is this painful, how long can the coach survive?

As I said before, I knew this would be a tough process. Now that Croyle is done, it's even scarier to imagine the possibility of Thigpen playing for the rest of the year. The youth movement is the right way to go, but will Herm be around to see it to the end? A franchise quarterback is absolutely crucial to the plan, and we're certainly back to square one in that regard. Clark Hunt has publicly backed Herm, while giving considerably less love to Carl Peterson. I wonder what the chances are of having a new president and a new GM next year (very likely), as well as seeing Bill Cowher's trademark grimace on the Chiefs sideline?

12 Angry Thoughts

2008-10-19T13:16:00.005-05:00

Last Saturday night after I finished watching Texas storm out to a 35-3 lead over Missouri (sorry, MU fans), I started to surf through the channels toward the Sox-Rays game. On the way I came across the beginning of one of my favorite movies - 12 Angry Men, which I happily watched to the end.

I really enjoy movies that make me think or that illustrate spiritual truth, and this one definitely falls into that category. There are a lot of things that I like about the movie, from the way Henry Ford's character is willing to stand up for what he believes in regardless of the pressure to the way the movie ends without any fanfare or recognition.

However, one particular truth is masterfully displayed in 12 Angry Men. Proverbs 18:17 says, "The first to present his case seems right, till another comes forward and questions him." I've thought about this proverb many times, and it's always challenged me in the real of critical thinking. There are a variety of reasons that the 11 other jurors quickly decide that the defendant is guilty, but as each piece of evidence is carefully examined it all falls apart and the "reasonable doubt" sets in.

It's much easier for us to find something that we want to believe and accept it at face value rather than taking the time and doing the work to actually research the point. There have been two instances recently where this has been very apparent in my life.

First off is the question of Eating Out vs Eating at Home. Karin does an amazing job of keeping our food budget low, if I told you how little we spent on food a month you probably wouldn't believe me. When our average meal costs 50 cents a person, I really don't know how anyone can argue that it's cheaper to eat out. No question it's easier, but cheaper? Come on! (I'm especially amused at how the guy in this article is going to include his hourly rate into the cost of cooking at home.) And yet there are folks who want to justify such an opinion, so they can easily point to an article like this to "prove" their point and move on. (Maybe some day I'll take one of these and disect it FJM style.)

Another area that often rears its ugly head is the wide variety of attacks against the credibility of the Bible. Sometimes I run across these myself, such as the time I wrestled with how Herod could die just a few years after Jesus was born but also alive to order John the Baptist's execution many years later. Turns out Herod the Great's son was also referred to as King Herod. Recently I was presented with the question of how Jesus could be born around 4BC (according to Matthew) since Quirinius (mentioned by Luke) wasn't governor of Syria until 6AD. Turns out Quirinius was governor twice, including the earlier time when Jesus was born. I could go on.

There are many areas of life where truth is attacked, and at first glance it seems to be defeated. We need more people who are willing to stand against the crowd and its easy answers, taking the time, effort and energy to think critically. As Henry Ford said, "Thinking is hard work which is the real reason so few people do it."

An Original Idea?

2008-10-17T11:54:00.001-05:00

Sometimes my research consists of about twelve seconds on Google or Wikipedia, but I didn't find any references to this and I'd never heard of it before.

The other day Meghan suggested a new twist to a classic game. I don't know the last time I played checkers against anyone over the age of ten, although I'm sure there are people out there that still enjoy the game very much. But Meghan and I played a variation the other day that was a lot of fun and included a nice strategic element.

An explanation of the game may not even be necessary ... the name itself says it all: Capture the Flag Checkers. Each team has a flag (we used two small beads) that is captured by the first checker to cross the table and become a King. The game is won when the King (that one or another) returns the flag back to its original starting line. We didn't come across the issue of what happens to the flag if it's lost (ie the King is jumped and therefore is removed from the table) but I would suggest the flag stays in the same square and is recaptured when an opponent's piece enters or jumps over the square.

This completely changes the previous goal of checkers - eliminate all of your opponent's pieces - and therefore the way you play the game. I think it makes the game a lot more fun and I encourage you to give it a try!

Props to Meghan, who will turn ten on Monday!!

Walk Out to What?

2008-10-17T11:33:00.002-05:00

Every Friday at 11am Michael and I get together to play racquetball at the rec center at Northwest. Since I'm not a student, I have to pay $3 to play, but it's well worth it. One of my hopes is that it will not only be a good time to get some exercise, but that it will be one more way for me to spend time connecting with students.

Fridays at 11am don't work for everyone, but I was hopeful that today would be different - tomorrow is Homecoming at Northwest, which means today is Walk Out Day. Walk Out Day equals no classes, which I expect is a great thing to students and faculty alike. Since there are no classes to keep people away, today would be a great time to get all kinds of racquetball going on!

So as I'm walking to the rec center, I get a call from Michael - the rec center is closed today. Are you kidding me??? Does anyone else understand the logic of this? It seems to me that on a day when students have no other commitments, they would be MORE likely to use the facility, not less. I wonder what else on campus has been shut down...

It's not just that I've been inconvenienced - although that's certainly a big part of it - but I simply don't see the logic here. I'm not sure that anyone out there will even read this, but I'd be happy to hear any thoughts if you do.

Avoiding Pink Mushrooms

2008-10-16T11:36:00.001-05:00

I've shared this with a few people already, but I'll toss it up here - my first official post on the resurrected blog!

We have a Nintendo Wii at the BSU, which has allowed me to spend some time playing Super Smash Brothers Brawl. Some of the purists out there don't like to play with items, but we pretty much always do. There are two mushrooms (at least?) that can be used - one red and one pink.

The red mushroom roughly doubles the size of your character, and I imagine it allows you to do a lot more damage. The pink one does just the opposite - it shrinks you down to half size and leaves you much more vulnerable to attack. The problem is that, since we play on the video projector, you can't tell one mushroom from the other! So it's always a roll of the dice when you grab a mushroom - will you get big or small?

The Pink Mushroom has become a symbol for me - of foods that zap me of my energy and greatly decrease my effectiveness in life. I don't know if it's normal or not, but large amounts of sugar or processed foods tend to really mess me up. Either massive fatigue sets in, or I just get lethargic and don't feel motivated to do much of anything. I've been tested and am not diabetic or anything like that.

"So just consume those things in moderation," you say! Yeah, I've tried that. And in the end, it doesn't work for me - it's pretty much all or nothing. The only thing that has worked in the past is completely cutting those things out of my life. So that's where I'm at today, once again trying to avoid the pink mushrooms at all costs.

It's funny, really. I mean, what exactly is the payoff? It's just a momentary pleasure, a quick moment of enjoyment that just isn't worth it. (Yes, I could certainly launch into a sermon here on the parallels to temptation in general, but I'll save that for another time.)

So if you see me chowing down on cookies or Doritos or slamming down a Coke, you may *lovingly* remind me to avoid pink mushrooms. And for the record, there's nothing pink about coffee :)

Lazarus, Come Forth!

2008-10-16T11:09:00.000-05:00

I've been becoming a bigger fan of blogs lately and now have several I check on a daily basis. I have one on the BSU site, but as I have tried to post on there a few times I've found a real battle that happens between my wanting to write some thoughts and my "need" for it to be perfect - especially grammatically. Therefore it takes entirely too long for me to write much of anything.

Well, I decided to go ahead and attempt to chuck some of that and just get after it. The other problem I ran into was that a lot of the things I have considered writing had little or nothing to do with the BSU, and therefore wouldn't really belong on its blog. So I went to create my own blog today and when I went to register my name - yaggleberryfinn - it said one already existed.

I was shocked, I mean really ... who else on earth would register that name for a blog?? Oh ... ahem ... it turns out I created one back in 2004 and had completely forgotten. So here we go again. I am attempting to resurrect this blog and see what kind of shenanigans ensue.

Look! It's a blog!

2004-12-21T15:03:00.000-06:00

So here it is, in all its lack of glory. And that's about it.