My Favorite YouTube Video from 2008

Another Feel-Good Sports Story

This is a very cool article from ESPN. It's worth your time to read.
Have a great day!

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?section=magazine&id=3789373

Photo credit & HT: same as above.

Merry...well, you know.

Where I work, we receive quite a few Christmas cards (that's not the correct term anymore, as I'll demonstrate) from our customers, vendors, consultants, etc. I would estimate that we received in excess of seventy or so that were addressed to our office staff. I kept count this year to see how many actually said "Merry Christmas".

The sad result is 3.

3 cards which read "Merry Christmas". Two of these depicted the Manger Scene, and the other one had a cartoon train overflowing with presents and reindeer. All of the other cards said some variation of "Happy Holidays", "Seasons Greetings", or the hypocritical "Wishing You the Peace of the Season", as if there could be any peace without the Manger.

It seems the coup is over. What we became aware of just a few short years ago when retailers began to omit "Merry Christmas" from ads and store banners has resulted in an Advent season with no Savior.

Indeed, Christ has been successfully erased from Christmas. Or at least denegrated to a fairy tale along side the jolly fat man.

How did Christians, who at least statistically still amount to a majority in this Country, allow this to happen?

Anyway, I indeed hope you have Happy Holidays filled with the Joy that comes from Christ.
I send to you Seasons Greetings in the name of our Lord.
I pray that you have the Peace and Joy that comes from knowing Christ.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday Michelle

Today is my wife Michelle's birthday. She's the good looking one in the picture above. I don't think she'd mind my telling you that she is 38 today. I don't mind saying that she's 38 because I'm proud of every one of those years and they way that they have shaped her. I don't mean her physical shape, which by the way is excellent - she is healthy and vibrant, and I think, the most beautiful of all women. But I'm most proud of the person that she is and of the decisions that she has made (particularly on whom to marry).

Michelle is by degree, a Pharmacist, but her current career choice is "Mom". On a daily basis, she puts her family first in all things. She is an excellent teacher and has charge of the education of the two firecrackers pictured above. She structures her daily schedule around them and for them -- and they do stay busy. Some of the activities that she engages them in are a bit unusual. As an example, in the last two weeks, they spent one afternoon volunteering to clean a local shelter, one morning ringing the bell for the Salvation Army, and one half day helping Samaritan's Purse pack Christmas boxes into a semi truck. These things aren't in the typical grade school curriculum but that is just one of the reasons that we home school. Academically, the kids are brilliant, of course, and it's all due to Michelle's perseverance in their instruction. It's a thankless job often, and not glamorous by any means. She never hesitates, however, in telling people what she does when they ask "What do you do?". "I'm a stay at home mom", she proudly replies.

Amazingly, Michelle manages to hear the words "Hey, Mom?" about 400 times per day without popping a cap in someone. It's adds up, I know -- the stress. I know that she needs time off sometimes and occasionally she'll even ask for it - just an evening away from the kids. I am most humbled when she says she wants to spend that time with me.

My wife is the most giving and kind person I've ever encountered. She continues to teach the boys and me what those qualities mean, and she reminds us when we fail to exhibit those same qualities. Whenever I do something right in the area of kindness and charity, it's because Michelle has prodded me to do it. Whenever I walk across a room and introduce myself to "the new guy", it's usually because she elbowed me into it. I am shy and selfish by nature and I owe such a debt to this woman for helping me to be a better person.

There's the cliche' that behind every good man there is a better woman -- well it's true. I am by no means calling myself 'good', but my wife make me better, and I am continually flabbergasted by this fact: I am a giant in her eyes. I cannot imagine what I would be like without the support and love of this woman. She has left an indelible print on my life and in my person that shapes my every thought and decision.

I'm not a gracious person by nature. That's not an excuse -- I need to work on it. But, it is the truth. I continually overlook that the house is neat or that dinner is ready when I come home. I take for granted that my wife is not dressed in sweats at the end of the day and that she always has her hair fixed and her makeup on, looking pretty. I forget to thank her for ironing, or setting something out that I need. I neglect to notice the details that she adds to enhance our home decor. I often nitpick at some silly detail that I notice and overlook all those other things, and then I end up hurting her feelings. She forgives me though. Amazing woman.

I don't expect anybody (my 3 faithful readers) but Michelle to read all the way to the end of this sappy post. That's ok. Today is her day, and this is for her. She may never win "Wife of the Year" or "Mom of the Year" in this world, but Michelle is the hands-down winner in my book.

Thank you God for placing this person in my life and giving her to me as my wife. Thank you for Michelle.

Michelle, I love you. Happy Birthday.

Throne of Lies & Fudge

A few of my favorite Christmas movie quotes:

From Elf -- "You sit on a throne of lies."



From A Christmas Story -- "Oh Fudge!"



From National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation --
"...where do you think you're gonna put a tree that big?"
"Bend over and I'll show ya."



So what's your favorite Christmas movie quote?

How Many Bricks Can You Carry?

Incredible.....My aching back.

Thank you to Dee who sent me this video.

Game Time

Although we have been feeding our LOST addiction (hello season 3), Michelle, the boys and I have actually been spending a lot more time with the TV off. Our new pastime that we are very enthusiastic about is playing boardgames. Recently, some friends of ours through church (thanks Paul and Kim) turned us on to a whole genre of games that aren’t widely known, although they are readily available. These boutique games (they are often called Euro-games, as many have been developed in Germany) are much more enjoyable then the old standard board games.

Say goodbye to Monopoly – these games take it to the HNL.

Our current favorite is Settlers of Catan. We have introduced this game to several couples who have, in turn, purchased it for themselves or returned to play again!

We also love the Carcassone series of games. These games are based on playing terrain tiles that have to be aligned on all edges with other tiles as they are played. It’s a great game for adults and kids too.

Both Carcassone and Settlers of Catan are great gateway games to introduce Euro-gaming to new players.

One of our newer games is Memoir ’44. This is a game based on the Allied – Axis theater of operations in Europe, during World War Two. Although it is just a two player game, we have played as teams at our family table. The boys love this game because it has highly detailed little “Army Men” style pieces which represent infantry, tanks, artillery, etc. This is a faster game too, as it can be played in under an hour.

Ticket to Ride is a great board game based on building train routes. We have the European map addition, but they have versions in the US and other scenarios. This game can be played in less than an hour and is a lot of fun.

These Euro-games are not available at normal retailers, although our city does have one dedicated game shop that carries them. They are easy to find online; however be prepared that they are more expensive than traditional board games. The best resource that I have found for purchasing Euro-games is http://www.empireboardgames.com/.

You can read ratings and reviews of just about any board game at

www.boardgamegeek.com.

I have to give honorable mention to another fun game that we've been playing. It's called Cathedral and it takes about 2 minutes to learn to play. A game can be completed in about 10 minutes or less and is enjoyable for kids and adults alike.

Think about trying some of these games out with your friends or family. They are a blast, and your TV won’t mind the night off.

Sports Heros

I bet if you asked 1,000 kids to name the athlete they most admire, not one would answer with "J.P. Hayes".

Hayes is a professional golfer.

Now I don't follow golf, and so I am not familiar with Mr. Hayes or his abilities. I did, however, catch this story on the blogosphere and think that it is worthy of sharing:

http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/devil_ball_golf/post/J-P-Hayes-is-as-honest-as-we-like-to-think-we-a?urn=golf,123304
(Photo credit to same ht).

Integrity is a rare enough attribute now-a-days that our kids ought to be reminded that there is more to being a great athlete than scoring points, or goals, or making par.

What do I think of Twitter?

It’s like a guy carrying around a megaphone who periodically announces to no one in particular; “I’m shopping at Pay Less!”, or “Just waiting at a stop light!”, for no other reason than to justify the carrying of it.

Derek Webb in Concert

Friday night I drove down to Edmond, OK with Josh, Patrick, and my sons to see Derek Webb and friends in concert. I was already familiar with Derek both as a solo artist and with his work with Caedmon's Call. Having seen him perform live, I have to confirm that I am a now a fan. What a great evening of music with Derek, his wife Sandra McCracken, Water Deep, and Ali Rogers.

Derek's music is not for everyone, I suppose. He offers up unapologetic critiques of materialism, politics, and particularly the church with a call for her to return to her first love. You can download Derek's newest album The Ringing Bell for free at noisetrade.com.

Here's a sample that you won't be hearing on christian radio anytime soon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvQRd7D9BDM

Photo credit: Wikipedia.com

Tooth Fairy got PUNK'D

(Please forgive the reference to the MTV program in the title of this post, but it seemed appropriate.)

I guess sometimes parents carry on these silly charades with their kids too long. I'm talking about those things like putting out milk and cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve.

Now Santa is something we never really promoted at our house -- even when I was a kid, it never really seemed feasible that he could fly around the whole world in one night, visiting every, single household. Even when I learned about the date line and time zones, I just couldn't buy it. And the chimney thing? Forget about it. Needless to say, I never tried to sell the Santa myth to my boys.

Tooth Fairy though? That's another issue. We sold it and they bought it; hook, line, and sinker. At least for the first few teeth anyway. After about age 7, kids begin to be a bit more skeptical and the ruse becomes harder to maintain.

However, if you're a kid, and somebody is throwing money under your pillow, why question it? Right? Even if you figure out that it's your momma, why mess up a good thing?

So, it continues. Last week, our 9-year old lost a molar. We saw him put it in a bag and he happily and loudly announced to no one in particular that he was going to bed and that the tooth would be ready for the Tooth Fairy to claim. I guess sometime in the early morning hours, the 'Fairy' sleepily made the switch, without paying too close attention.

The boy bolted out of bed that next day yelling "I tricked the Tooth Fairy!" holding both his tooth and the fin that had been left behind. Closer scrutiny of the alleged tooth-in-a-bag revealed a pretty good facsimile of a tooth made of spit, notebook paper, and clear tape.

I thought it was pretty clever and was secretly proud of my boy. The mother was less than pleased, although probably amused to some extent (though she'll not admit it to the boy). He will soon learn another cool life lesson, as he has at least one more molar to loose: Never slap your Cash-Cow and expect it to keep giving you milk.

photo credid HT: http://www.thetoothfairy.net.au/the-tooth-fairy.php

Now I'm Lost Too

Michelle and I had a date night a few weeks ago. The boys were at a friends house for a camping sleepover so we were kid-less. After a nice, child-free meal we stopped at the Game X-Change to see if they had any intriguing videos to take home. Completely on impulse, we bought Season 1 of LOST.

Neither of us had ever seen the show, but we knew that Josh and Bethany were fans. Josh once even watched a full season in four days, that sinner ( http://gloriadei614.wordpress.com/2007/03/19/lost/ ).

So now we're hooked. Not since '24' have we enjoyed and looked so forward to our TV time . We have two episodes to watch to complete the first season. I hope that I can find a used copy of Season 2 - I hate to pay retail for those things.

Anybody want to borrow Season 1 when we're done?

Photo Credit HT:http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/index?pn=photos#t=54633

You're Not So Welcome

Manners are important to me.

I strive to observe them and I endeavor to teach their use to my kids.

The lack of manners exhibited in people today is one of my biggest pet peaves. Our culture is quickly dispensing with the basic use of "Please" and "Thank You".

Here's an interesting piece from Boundless Line about the replacement of "You're Welcome".

http://www.boundlessline.org/2008/10/whatever-happen.html

Presidential Peace

In regard to next week's election, I now have a peace. I'm not
anxious.

My candidate may or may not win. I will vote, and I will be disappointed if the results go against my cast, but at the end of the day, I will not get down.

The source of my new-found peace is this verse that I read yesterday:



The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will. Proverbs 21:1 (ESV)

Michelle's Prayer

I thought Michelle's prayer from her comment on the 'f-bomb' deserved it's own post.

"O LORD, teach me to impart Your truth so it remains even when I fail."

Droppin' the F-Bomb

It was bound to happen.

This week, my kids asked us what the f-word was.

At the tender ages of 7 and 9, they finally got introduced to the mighty and terrible mother-of-all-cusswords. Frankly, I am amazed that we managed to insulate it from them thus far in their lives. After all, that word permeates so much of our culture now.

“Where did you hear this word?” their mother and I calmly asked.

There were lots of answers that I expected to hear:

“From one of the big boys at the skateboard park.”
“From the TV.” You try and watch out for this one, but with cable, you never know, right?
“From some ‘Hell’s Angels’ biker who broke down on our street.”
“From Mom - she says it all the time.” Just kidding Michelle.

But, alas, it was none of the above. Where did my precious, innocent children hear the Mt. Everest of swearwords? It was from a soccer mom, living in our corner of suburbia, who was yelling at her own kid from her driveway. Apparently he had locked her out of the house, and she, on one side of the door and strongly desiring to be on the other side of the door where her child was, shouted “Open the f-ing door!!”

Nice, huh?

Makes me wonder where her kid first heard the f-bomb.

Would Narcissus Twitter?

I'm not a good blogger. I used to think I was an OK writer, but I soon learned that my creative pool was pretty shallow. I discovered this through trying to maintain this blog, and keep it updated.

I guess I also feel that blogging can be a bit narcissistic. You remember Narcissus? He's the guy in Greek mythology who fell in love with his own reflection. Wikipedia (who gets credit for the picture of Narcissus, isn't he handsome?) defines narcissism as the "trait of excessive self-love, based on self-image or ego".

It feels a bit egotistical for me to assume I have anything meaningful to say that I want the whole world to have access to. "HEY EVERYBODY, LOOK AT ME!! LISTEN TO ME!! RESPECT MY OPINION!!!".

Now they even have this 'Twitter' thing, right? So you can update the world minute by minute on what you're doing.

"I'm at my favorite table at Starbucks".

"Seinfeld reruns still make me laugh".

Where does it end?

"I'm in the bathroom. Bad burrito."

Narcissus would have loved reading his own Twitter.

On the other hand, I love reading blogs. I use an RSS feeder so I can keep up with all my favorites throughout the week.

Maybe I'm just jealous because nobody reads my blog except for my wife. Maybe that's not so bad. After all, her opinion matters more to me than anyone else's.

So, Michelle, this blog's for you. Women always say that we don't communicate enough anyway right? So visit often babe, and always leave a comment. You can even start your own blog -- I'll read it faithfully.

Anyway, I gotta go. I'm off to Starbucks for a latte. I'll Twitter you when I get there.

Soldiers In Suburbia

{This blog was originally posted at Gloria Dei where I was a guest blogger for a few weeks}

In just a short time now, our friend Nick will be leaving his family and home to return to Iraq where he is deployed with our Nation’s armed forces. We hope and pray that his all-too-brief time with family and friends was well spent and that he was able to relax and enjoy his leave.

I didn’t speak to Nick a lot about his time in Iraq, but his being here sure got me to thinking about it. I’ve spent a lot of time this past week trying to put myself in a soldier’s boots – trying to understand what is must be like to leave a wartime environment and return to suburbia. How difficult must it be to go from one extreme to the other?

Imagine it.

One day, you’re in a hostile land, living in a compound patrolled by guard dogs and sentries with machine guns. You live in a constant state of readiness, always on alert. You carry a sidearm at all times and you never leave the relative safety of the buildings where you eat, sleep, and work without wearing your Kevlar vest and headgear. There are indigenous people who are glad you are there, some who hate you, and some who want to kill you. And, because you can’t tell one from the other on sight, you must regard everyone with suspicion. At any time, a split-second decision may have to be made regarding the question “friend or foe?” The outcome of this choice, made so hastily yet reinforced with months of repetitive drills and training, may affect whether you or those you serve with live or die.

This is your life.
Every day.
24-7.
For months at a time.

Now, imagine 48 hours later, you are in suburbia.
Would you feel weird standing at Wal-Mart, McDonalds, or the Mall? Surreal? Would you feel naked without your Kevlar, without the comforting weight of your sidearm at your hip? Would you look at all the smiling, laughing faces and ask “How can you be so happy? Don’t you know that there is a war? How can you be so naïve?” You would soon see that they don’t want to hear about this war waging half-a-world away from them. They don’t care. They are willingly ignorant of the reality of war… or of an enemy that hates them. Or maybe they just don’t believe it. Would you be offended by their apathy and distortion of truth?

I read a blog earlier this week about living as a Believer in an unbelieving world and the plain analogy of my own thoughts smacked me in the face.

We are soldiers, and we are at war with an enemy who hates us. We do live in a world that chooses for it’s own convenience to be willingly ignorant of a God who is Just and Holy. Romans 12:2 says “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

“Do not be conformed…” The fact is that we should feel out of place in this world, like a soldier in suburbia. Suburbia is not our home. Jesus said in John 18:36 that “My kingdom is not of this world.” As children of the King, our home is where His Kingdom is.

Meanwhile, suburbia has another king. 2 Corinthians 4:4 tells us “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

It is this little-g god, who keeps the world content in ignorance, blissful in a living death.
It is this god who distorts truth and promotes apathy.

To me, the challenge is in keeping the soldier’s edge, in not conforming to this world, in nurturing that out-of-place feeling and yet endeavoring to carry out the work of the Great Commission. How do we reconcile the two directives? We’ll talk more about it at the Yoke next week. See you there.

And don’t forget to pray for the men and women who are serving our country in the military.

All scripture quotes from the English Standard Version (ESV).