Otter Fodder

The Talk On a Cereal Box

2010-12-09T11:40:00.004-06:00

Years ago, I wrote an article called "The Death of Smart" about authority and postmodern culture. The idea was that the framework for credentials is changing. We used to trust leaders and news sources who were educated and official, who were in print or on the air because, we assumed, they must have done the hard work to get there and become wise and learned in their field. But today's American no longer makes those assumptions. We assume instead (and rightly so) that anyone can be corrupt or fake. When I wrote "The Death of Smart" I said that the highest virtue of postmodern culture is tolerance and the second, following closely, was genuineness. Now, I think genuineness has overtaken tolerance. To be respected and trusted in our society, you no longer have to be smart or wise. You no longer need integrity or discipline. You can neglect faithfulness and substance. But you'd better be honest and sincere. We hate fakes.

My assumption in that article was that this new paradigm of virtue would undermine journalism and any organization with centralized communication. As we get more cynical, our circle of trust draws in. We check sources instead of trusting that others have done so. We are more likely to trust our friend's Facebook post to deliver the goods than a news story on ABC.com. I assumed that authority would line up in inverse proportion to prominence, and so authoritarian sources would go the way of the print newspaper. If you're broadcasting to a lot of people, I probably don't trust you. If you're my golf buddy, I probably do.

But I was wrong. In fact, I've noticed a shift in the opposite direction. I'm reading successful writers who speak not in postmodern disclaimers and excuses ("This may not be true of everyone but," "From my perspective," "In my humble opinion.") but rather as real sages with real answers. I follow Seth Godin and Michael Hyatt. I just read some Steven Pressfield. These are men who do more than muse. They teach. They correct as if they have a standard by which to perceive error. This is not postmodern, relative truth, mamby-pambyism.

So what's the difference? How have these writers have found a way to speak with authority in a postmodern culture? What does the "new authority" look like?

1. They speak from their own experience. They aren't researchers with data or pundits with opinions. They haven't arrived at their conclusions through careful observation. They're become someone new through trial and failure. They have a story. And that's what they write out. They don't pretend to know things they don't. They don't write or speak about things they haven't learned from experience. They know the difference, and if they don't know a topic from experience, they say so and decline to comment further.

2. They speak their convictions. The postmodern leader (in fact, a good leader fro any era) doesn't look back to count followers. He isn't checking to see how many Facebook fans or Twitter followers he has. He has chosen his work and his path. He's going to do his work. He's going the way he's going. His face is set toward the future. And if someone wants to follow along, they're welcome. This, I believe, will be the biggest difference in cultural leadership in the next decade. I think Americans are realizing that the people we thought were leaders (politicians, especially) are followers.

All of this brings us back to "The Death of Smart" and a corresponding rise in philosophy. It makes sense. We value what is scarce. Knowledge (or at least access to it) is no longer scarce. Honesty and experience are. If you have a story, we want to hear it. If you have polling data, we turn the channel.

When the Apostle Paul visited Athens, in the first century, the Book of Acts tell us that his crowd shared our American viewpoint.

"All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas." — Acts 17:21

In Athens, philosophy reigned. And though we don't call it philosophy often (we have more subtle names like "my approach to life," "the way I see things") we too are a nation of philosophies. Three hundred million of them. Philosophy is religion without research. It's the "it seems to me" view supported by anecdotes. And it's all we have left. Because if there is no absolute truth to research (we handled that in the 90s) and there is no scarcity of information (we took care of that in the 00s), then our sages are thinkers, not builders or learners.

Broken Hearts & Broken Planet

2010-12-06T16:57:00.004-06:00

Concepts from John Eldredge's book Epic and Andy McQuitty's sermon "Until Nowhere Becomes Somewhere" have rattled in my head for a couple of days. Here's what's coming out.

Philosophers have said that the greatest enemy of man is man. Maybe it's Satan but if so, man is Satan's most efficient weapon against man. Consider: the death count from all of the earthquakes, mudslides and hurricanes of history don't hold a candle to the millions killed by armies, tyrants, terrorists, despots and assassins. More than we have been battered by the storms and calamities of a broken planet, we have been tortured and killed by men with broken hearts. It makes sense. After all, the human heart is central, valuable and powerful. The heavens and earth testify to the glory of God, but the human heart bears it like an inheritance. We are God's workmanship, the highest expression of his valiant beauty and risky grace. Created in his image. Created to reflect him.

Something endowed with that kind of promise has potential for radical destruction. Made in the image of God, nothing on earth has the power to destroy like broken hearts. As much as the human spirit can inspire and lift us to our better selves, we know from our battered past that it can just as quickly drag us to numb cruelty. It is no small thing to be created in the image of the Almighty. It is glorious weight that we have struggled for centuries to carry well with little success.

And above our struggle to deal with our own dignity, there rages another level of struggle pitched on even higher stakes. Good battles evil. Light invades darkness. Hope, joy, courage and love trade furious blows with hate, cowardice, fear and despair. And the object of that struggle is the image of God. The human heart. Because nothing bears the image of God like the human heart, nothing is hated by Satan as much as we are. Sure, Satan loves to defile all of God's creation, from molecules to mountains, stars to stamen. But he reserves his darkest thoughts, his craftiest schemes for us. Our hearts are the crux, the ring that Frodo carries, the message for Private Ryan, Magua's captives, and Princess Leah's plans.

Nothing in the universe is in greater peril or under more harsh attack by the enemy. And nothing in the universe is more in need of redemption. As much as the Earth groans for renewal, and as much as God intends to restore it, hearts are more important. Nothing is higher on God's priority list for restoration.

Claws, Antlers, Friends and Fathers

2010-10-24T15:10:00.009-05:00

I am not a baseball fan. Never enjoyed the game that much growing up. Never built much of an affinity for any MLB team. I liked the accoutrements of baseball - the smell of grass and leather, the tension of a full count, the terrific father / son bonding opportunities. I still remember the first time my dad bought me a glove and showed me how to oil it and wrap a ball in it with a rubber band. But the game itself was just not that appealing. Of the four major sports, it's my least favorite and probably ranks behind some lesser sports like cycling and even soccer.

But three things have converged of late to pique my interest in baseball again. First and most importantly, my son loves it. It's strange to me that my four-year-old won't watch a fast-paced game like football or hockey but he wants to see every pitch of a Rangers game. I think it may be because he just loves to throw stuff. But whatever sport he chooses, I'm going to take an interest. If the kid wanted to sit and watch women's college field hockey, I would do it.

Secondly and most obviously, my hometown team is making one heck of a run. After a half century in obscurity, the Texas Rangers will make their first ever World Series appearance Wednesday. I know I'm a bandwagon fan and I'm not trying to pretend I've always been with them, but I've been following them through the playoff and will certainly be by the channel for some more DFW sports history.

Thirdly, one of my best friends just took a job with a baseball team. Not just any team though - everyone's lovable losers, the Chicago Cubs. Colin and Jaime Faulkner are dear friends and we're going to miss them. I intend to keep a much closer eye on the Cubbies than I ever have before. In fact, for irony's sake, I'm thinking of going to buy a Cubs cap (which would be the first piece of MLB merchandise I've ever purchased) on the day of the Rangers' first World Series game.

So I've got baseball on the brain more than ever before and it reminded me of this poem I wrote years ago. I wrote this when a friend's dad was going through some serious health issues so, to clarify, this isn't reflective of any health issues with my own dad. It just sort-of came to me from hearing my friend's plight mashed up in my head with the father / son relationship and this family-friendly sport. The poem was actually published once in a literary journal called The Coffee Faucet, but I think that publication has discontinued now, probably because they were accepting swill like mine. In any case, here's to watching October baseball with my son. Go Rangers.

Swing

All of life is in the swing of a bat.

That’s what Dad taught me, pointing to players and stances too far away to see while he held my Coke so that I wouldn’t spill.

In a sense, life is all physics. The ball is wound tight, stitched with knotty, red twine and hurled at you with speed. The bat is hardwood- sanded, polished, solid and heavy. There’s a pitch and a swing and life is ignited in the material.

But in another sense, the batter swings supernatural. With rhythm, timing, momentum, strength, hope. Toward the mystic union.

The critical time, the living part of the swing, is in the instant that contact is made. The hands feel the shock that reports that they’re alive and they’ve arrived at the right moment. The pitch is fast and the crack violent and stunning so that it feels like the bat should shatter or fall helplessly from the hands and the pitch continue on its ripping course.

But then the weight of bat and arms and the strength of hands and hips carry forward faith until, as quick as that, the course is changed and the bat swings away wide and shoulders open to the field before them and eyes look up to a sky of clarity and possibilities.

Last week, Dad’s doctor said “cancer.” The pitch was fast and, for a moment, I wondered if he would strike out. He seemed to swing free and I expected to hear the pitch forever sink into the padded mitt behind him, the chances gone.

But then the bat shook and hands and hips carried forward faith until, as quick as that, the bat swung away wide and shoulders opened and eyes lifted.

And all of life was in the swing of a bat.

Two Piles

2010-10-03T21:12:00.003-05:00

All of life can be sorted into two piles - the things we do to extend our number of days, and the things we do to make our days count. The first pile includes work and paychecks and healthcare and exercise. The second includes family and friends and service. God is in both. And if we're lucky, there may be some overlap where our work is also important or fulfilling.

Deep and Wide?

2010-09-28T10:06:00.003-05:00

Wisdom springs from the wise like water from a spring, not a well. It's not pumped out with effort or machinations. It bubbles up out of the overflow of its reservoir beneath the surface.

I think this is true of any expert. Anyone who has depth of knowledge in an area (I think of those tediously detailed discussions on Book TV or CSPAN) speaks about their chosen topic as if its history and issues are part of his personal past so that the players and events in those histories are more than facts in a mental catalog; they are memories with feelings and smells. Bob Sturm has assigned emotions to great sporting events in his lifetime as if he were personally invested in each. Phil Ligget can give details about every stage raced on the Alp d'Huez since 1965.

It inspires me when I come across someone with deep knowledge in an arena that holds my interest. John Kane knows more scripture by heart than anyone I know. He knows it by heart, not by rote, and when he recites it, he still registers emotion. He is identifying with it, taking it in, letting the word dwell in him richly. John Eldredge seems to speak out of a deep place about healing and warfare and intimacy with God. Thomas Merton never propped up a sentence in his life. His writing has always seemed to me to be eloquent without trying. He has known beauty in contemplation so when his pen is pressed to paper, beauty manifests in prose. I have a lot of respect for those men.

One of my fears is that I am not a spring but a vast and shallow sea - a pampas lake, a buffalo wallow. I like variety and I make brief sorties into new interests all the time. I like to meet new people and learn about their passions (if I can find anyone with any passion any more). And I can usually carry my end of the conversation - at least enough to properly interview them. But what is my passion? What subject have I studied so much, revisited so often, and meditated on so deeply that it reaches the core of my soul? What's yours?

Community Baby Steps

2010-08-06T08:17:00.003-05:00

The article below is under review by the awesome editorial staff at Chatter Magazine for an upcoming issue. The three of you who read this blog get a sneak peek. Enjoy.

There's an episode of Dharma and Greg that speaks to the deep things of my heart and a profound need of the American church.

Yes, you read that sentence right: Dharma and Greg.

In case you had better things to do in the nineties than watch second-rate sitcoms, here's a summary: Greg is straight-laced and conservative. His family and upbringing were formal, proper, respectable and uppity. His parents are members at the local country club. Dharma is a hippie, wild, passionate, reckless and carefree. She doesn't plan or dress up or think twice about discussing sex in polite company. Greg marries Dharma. Lifestyles collide. Hilarity ensues.

In the only episode of that show I can remember, Dharma and Greg are lamenting their loneliness. Their single friends have dumped them (of course) and they don't have any couple friends. And then they meet someone and it's like love at first sight. They have so much in common - he likes cars and baseball, so does Greg. She likes rock music and margaritas, so does Dharma. They like the same restaurants and the same movies. Piano music plays. Birds sing. Everyone laughs in slow motion.

But Dharma and Greg push too hard. They're too eager, and their new friends stop calling. Eventually, Dharma and Greg spot them at a cafe with another couple! Shocked and betrayed, Dharma storms into the restaurant and causes a scene.

"How could you cheat on us like this?! I thought you were our friends! Who are these people?"

It was a funny episode but only because my wife and I knew it too well. We've been in that boat. Who hasn't?

You're newlyweds and have better things to do at night than hang out with your single friends.

You're new parents and your childless couple friends don't understand why all you ever talk about is that kid and all you ever want to do is sleep.

You're new in town and no one really knows you yet.

Or you've just not had the time, the opportunity, or the relational agility to land a really good friend in a while. You meet someone interesting but then you zig when they zag. You laugh at something that wasn't a joke. Or your schedules just don't allow for the natural next step - that imaginary platonic courtship where you say, "Hey Mark, it was really good to meet you and Missie in line at Starbucks this morning. My wife and I were just on our way to a Toadies concert and we happen to have an extra pair of tickets." And they say, "No way! The Toadies played our wedding!" And a week later Mark calls to announce that Missie is pregnant and they were wondering if the two of you would consider being the child's godparents.

If you haven't already given up that dream, let me speak the truth in love: that only happens in sitcoms.

But hope is not lost. Since Dharma and Greg Episode 312 aired on December 14, 1999, my wife and I have experimented with many forms of couple courtship and many new friendships. Some have failed fantastically, but others have grown into deep, meaningful and abiding couple-love. So here are our tips:

How to Woo and Win New Church Friends in Eight Easy Steps.

1. Meet someone while passing the peace, waiting in line at the Mo, or attending a Bible Community.

2. Meet their spouse. Point out something small that you have in common, "Oh! Opposable thumbs, huh? Nice. Me too!" Smile.

3. Run into them a second time at church and invite them to lunch after the service.

4. At lunch, exchange surface-level information about your family, your career and your testimony. Don't overshare. Remember all you can about their stories and not just the stuff you found interesting.

5. Observe a three-day cooling-off period.

6. Start working an angle to have them over for dinner. Some suggestions are:

Stalk them so that you can sit at their table at Wednesday evening meals in the Commons.
Even though you never have dinner parties, throw one with your "some old friends" and invite them. (If they accept, bribe neighbors to show up and act like "some old friends".)
Just be bold; call them up and invite them to dinner.

7. Ask for a commitment, like a ring or a mention in their will.

8. Apologize for overplaying it in Step 7, but offer to make it up to them when you vacation together on a two-week cruise next month. You've already booked. They can't say no.

I'll admit that our Eight Easy Steps might need some tweaking, but the message is this: you have to be intentional. Jay Utley speaks the truth. Friendship, like marriage and prayer and anything else worth having, doesn't just happen. So even if your steps aren't exactly like ours, at least consider what steps you'd like to take to find community. Try having a plan. Try to find your own "baby steps" to community.

Deep and meaningful relationships are difficult and set against long odds. They are opposed by our self-centered, self-sufficient, alley-facing garage, drive-through, let-the-TV-be-your-friend culture. They are opposed by our work loads and pace of life. They are opposed by our enemy who wants anything but iron sharpening iron. So they are not going to fall into place. They will require some work, some inconvenience and some planning. It may be awkward, but it makes for great TV.

Gots iPhone Money?

2010-07-01T14:22:00.002-05:00

I held off as long as I could. You knew it was coming. Here it finally is ... THE iPHONE RANT!

I am among the millions of Americans who have invested large parts of their lives into the hunt for the ever-elusive iPhone 4. My journey toward wireless phone nirvana has been a long and treacherous one filled with clamshells and candy bars, Missing Sync and eternal contracts. Fully four years after the release of the first iPhone, I was finally in the perfect position to bag one. My Verizon contract expired in May; the new release was due in June. I was as giddy as a geek at WWDC. Little did I know my quest was far from over and I would have to endure retail travails not seen since Tickle Me Elmo before I could pierce the Apple veil and lay hold of the sacred circuitry.

I won't detail all of those hardships because to do so would produce a tome worthy of Tolkien and probably crash Wordpress servers. But I will mention that it would have been handy for Apple to let people know that Family Talk plans cannot be ordered via their website. And to the manager of the Southlake Apple store who sought to reassure all 200 of us by saying that his team had almost gotten the duration of each transaction down to seven minutes: Sorry man. You looked cool in your cargo manpris. But we were not reassured.

All of this has got me thinking (and now writing) about Apple, iPhone, Steve Jobs and Just Bieber. And I've come to the following conclusions about the (now) most valuable technology company in the world.

1. Apple: if they weren't so dang good, they'd be bad.

Apple is on the verge of making a classic branding blunder and the only thing, in my opinion, keeping them from shooting themselves in the PR foot is that they're so good at what they do. The problem is, they're losing sight of what they do.

Five years ago, if you had asked any random man on the street (henceforth to be referred to as "Streetman") what Apple does, he would have said, "Oh, they make iPods."

Ten years ago, Streetman would have said, "Apple? You mean like IIe? Yeah, we had those in school. I dunno."

Twenty years ago, Streetman would have said, "They make computers."

Today, Streetman might say, "They make and sell gadgets."

The devilish detail Streetman has given us is not in the ever-shifting Apple product line. It's in the subtle insertion of the words "and sell."

(Thank you Streetman. You may put your branded white earphones back in now and continue on your way.)

I understand the reasons Apple decided to get into the retail business a few years ago. Namely, no one wanted to sell their stuff and no one who did sell their stuff could answer questions about it. But now that Apple has seemed to clear those hurdles, I think staying in the retail business only hurts them. After all, what can you do at an Apple store that you can't do at other stores? (Save for getting ideas for where to get your next body piercing.)

Apple is not a retail company at heart. At heart, they are a technology company. By launching into the retail marketplace, and then Bogarting product launches to the point of overwhelming themselves, they are moving dangerously close to messing up the heart of their business.

Apple makes the best consumer electronics in the world. They should stick with that. They don't make the best retail machine in the world. Wal-Mart has that one cornered.

Now, I am not one to just point out problems without offering solutions. Here's my solution: Apple would be wise to seek out the best retail partner to help them with sales and delivery. A big one. One with a stellar logistics machine. One that can handle product launches with 1.7 million sales the first weekend. After all, the best of both worlds would be to purchase the best product in its class (iPhone) from the best store in its class (Best Buy?).

2. Steve Jobs: has just taken a bite of hot chili

My high school ag teacher (yes, I went to a school with an "ag" class) used to say that certain mistakes were like taking a bite of hot chili: whatever you do next is wrong. Jobs has backed himself into a similar corner. Based on the blundered release of iPhone 4 (not to mention the "just don't hold it that way" issue), I see only three possibilities:

Stevo and his friends are enormously humble. "Oh, we had no idea so many people would like what we make. I mean, we just do it for the love of the game. We weren't really expecting people to line up like that to buy this stuff. We're humbled and thankful."
Steve and company are enormously short-sighted. Maybe they rushed the launch? Maybe they had production delays they didn't want to make public? For whatever reason, they might have just decided, "Meh, we're going to sell out and make people wait, but who cares? We'll be alright."
They are incompetent at retail. A friend of mine tried gamely to come to Apple's defense in this iPhone4 bungle by saying, "Can you imagine what would happen if millions of people started lining up at Office Depot to buy toner? They'd sell out too." I think a lot of Apple defenders take this view. But the effective rebuttal is obvious. If Office Depot had four years to figure out their toner supply chain, I guarantee they would figure out a way to stock enough, sell enough, and deliver enough so that people weren't asked to order online and wait three weeks for shipping. The difference, of course, is that Office Depot has to compete with other stores who carry toner. Apple can afford to be laissez faire about sales because no one can compete with their product. And by hoarding the launch for a week, they ensured that no one was allowed to compete with their stores.

I guess the bottom line is that they flubbed up, but they can afford to. I and millions like me are sticking with them because for all of the headache involved in the delivery of their product, I'd rather endure the headache to get a phone and then enjoy it than get a phone easily with a BOGO coupon and then spend the next two years screaming at it. That's why I paid more for the Mac I'm using to write this. It's why I'll wait two weeks for an iPhone.

If you're waiting with me for you online order to arrive in seven to 10 business days, may the force be with you.

Getting My Head Around John's Beheading

2010-06-03T16:36:00.001-05:00

This morning I read the passage about the beheading of John the Baptist. I let the scene sink in a little more than I usually do. And I was repulsed. If it has been a while since you took a minute to sort through the details of that story, take a minute. But be warned: it's not a feel-good story.

The main player is Herod and here's what we know about him. He's a tetrarch which means he's a governor of some sort. Mark's gospel gives him the title King. He's a powerful man. He is married to his sister-in-law Herodias. John has pointed out to him that he probably shouldn't have taken his sister-in-law in marriage and so Herod has put John in prison. He would have preferred to kill him on the spot for pointing out his sin, but Herod didn't get to be tetrarch without some craft. He knows that wouldn't be a savvy political move. Instead, he'll just let John rot in prison.

For her part, Herodias seems just as depraved as Herod. She, too, is murderously angry at John for pointing out her sin.

So that's the situation with this royal family when we pick up the scene in Matthew 14. What happens next is even more sordid.

Herod is having a birthday party. Probably not an ice cream social. Mark says he invited many powerful men to a banquet. There was much food and girls dancing. The modern equivalent is pretty easy to see. Imagine our president treating his cronies to a good time a local strip club. We don't know the nature of the dancing or who performed, but we know that at least one dancer was particularly popular. The text says "she pleased Herod and his dinner guests."

Now I'm a recovering Baptist so I know what it means to assume that all dancing is suggestive. I don't do that. I don't mind dancing at times. But given the hints in the text, I don't think it's out of the question to assume that Herod wasn't pleased at the cleanness of her lines and the strength in her pose. We're not talking Ballet Folklorico here. My guess is that Herod was pleased by a lurid dance from his stepdaughter and pleased to share that lust with his buddies.

Then Herod makes an astounding promise. As a reward for her dance, he offers to give his stepdaughter anything she asks for - up to half his kingdom. Why would he do that? I can imagine a few reasons.

First, this is the reptilian impulse to contact and control the object of his lust, and to do so in front of his peers who might also have designs on her. He's flirting.

And he's showing off. What better way to impress your friends than give extravagant gifts? Besides, what could this girl possibly ask for? She'll want a bauble or a new room. Maybe a pony. She's inconsequential. We know Herod was a savvy politician. He would never make such an offer to a worthy adversary who might threaten his riches or power. But the girl is just a plaything. She won't have the mind to ask for anything that might truly cost him.

So Herod makes the promise which gives Herodias the opportunity to add violence and revenge to the list of improprieties in this story. She tells her daughter to ask for John's head on a plate. Herod, of course, grants the request because he can't be seen to back down in front of his buddies. Plus, a good beheading might serve as the perfect crescendo for a lovely evening with friends celebrating his birthday.

Besides the profanity of this story, two things stick out to me.

First of all, this is how John the Baptist dies? It's ignoble! It's sad. It seems like such a waste that the great herald of salvation comes to a pitiful end on the whim of an adulterer and a stripper.

But the hardest thing to face about this passage is our tendency to be just like Herod. I've been in his shoes: guilty of sin, aware of my sin, confronted by someone, and bitter at them. How many of us, if we had the power, wouldn't likewise imprison our accusers even if we knew they were right? We do it all the time - imprison them behind emotional or relational bars, accuse them wrongly out of spite. No, we probably aren't carousing as openly as Herod, but he comes to that end after making a start in unrepentance. Repentance is incredibly hard. Unrepentance is natural and easy. But Herod demonstrates that the easy way leads down a path of debauchery and violence and death.

In Defense of Fairy Tales

2010-05-25T10:22:00.003-05:00

I have a different take than many on this cartoon getting passed around the interwebz. I think the cartoon is pretty funny, but I also think it's message is just as misguided as the Disney Princesses it derides. Here's why.

Put simply, it is good and natural and healthy and beautiful for a girl to have this desire to be attractive. I have a six-year-old daughter. She wants to be noticed. When she was two she started dressing up. I didn't teach her that. It's innate. And it doesn't go away no matter how much we praise her for what's inside versus what's outside.

Stasi Eldredge makes this idea abundantly clear in her book Captivating. Women and girls long to be captivating. They want to be noticed. My daughter is terrible at hide-and-seek, not because she doesn't know when I can't see her, but because she doesn't want to be hidden. If I don't find her in the first 10 seconds, she makes herself known. She wants to be found. And she wants the finder to be the object of her affection. She doesn't care so much if the neighbor finds her hunkered behind the shrubs. She wants me to find her.

Now, here's the disclaimer: Has our culture emphasized physical beauty too much? Absolutely. Has our society confined physical beauty to one narrow definition (this color eyes, that shaped body, etc.)? Yes. Is Barbie or Bratz or Disney Princesses giving our daughters unreal expectations of what they should look like? For sure. And do many of our little girls continue to pursue those unhealthy avenues toward getting "noticed" into adulthood? Sadly, yes.

But I contend that there's a reason for that and it's not a Disney conspiracy to make money or steal our daughters' innocence. Disney has made all that money because they found a theme that works. And the theme works because little girls love fairy tales. And little girls love fairy tales because they long to be captivating.

Couldn't we offer the same objection to our own favorite films? Should we complain that Braveheart encourages men to be violent? That Gladiator promotes revenge? That Saving Private Ryan glorifies war? We could, but we'd be missing the point. Those stories don't appeal to men because our culture has trained us so. They appeal to men because they call to something we're born with - something deep and unspoken that tells us we were made for something epic. Something that asks if we have what it takes. Something that makes us long to be brave and strong and offer that strength to a beauty.

I understand that fairy tales are fairy tales. No real girl can look as good as Arial. I mean, c'mon! And no real guy will ever fight a wicked sea witch and defeat her by sheer force of valor and his love for his maiden. It's a fairy tale! But the fairy tale shows us a glimpse of what can be - of the larger story that we can be a part of. Fairy tales, whether they intend to be or not, are visual metaphors for adventures that are available to us all. I can be found brave and strong and offer that strength to my wife, even if our enemy manifests in debt or bitterness rather than sea witches mean stepsisters. And she can be beautiful and captivating even if that doesn't mean fin surgery or 1,000 year naps.

Sure, it would be foolish for us to teach our daughters that blond hair and skinny legs are their highest goals in life. But it's equally foolish to deride fairy tales because they don't look like our day-to-day lives. The solution to this problem is not to disdain fairy tales. It's to offer a better story. It's to teach our little girls that they can be beautiful, no matter what their dress size. It's to teach them to look for men who will offer them strength and sacrifice, not take from them in weakness and selfishness.

Now if you'll excuse me, I think my little princess needs me to rescue her from some dragons in the back yard. Where did I leave that sword...

Unplugging

2010-05-21T22:18:00.001-05:00

The Matrix was on TV last weekend and I plopped on the couch and watched part of it. I doubt the Wachowski brothers were making a statement of faith with that film, but it's hard to miss the parallels (for more on that, there are a ton of books, one of which I once owned, never got around to reading, and eventually sold in a garage sale.) The most meaningful metaphor for me is the Matrix itself. It's a fake world. A sham. An elaborate deception based on a former reality.

It's been a busy Spring. My company has had several very time-sensitive projects plus we've been busy with kid activities, church stuff, etc. And we've been sick a fair bit this spring. All of that combined has kept me "plugged in" more than is healthy. I have to get out of the Matrix often - and for at least a half hour at a time - to really get the stench off of me. To really see the Matrix for what it is. Otherwise, it starts to seem real. And important.

So after the movie I unplugged for a bit. Felt good. That's it. Gonna go unplug now.

Faith & Fandom

2010-05-06T10:14:00.003-05:00

I want so much to fix Tiger Woods and Jennifer Knapp, don't you? I have been a fan of both. Have seen both of them peform live. Loved both shows. I've bought their records and the merchandise. Tried to swing like one and play guitar like the other. I'm a fan. And now I'm facing what every fan has to face eventually - the object of our fandom is broken. Tiger is not a Jedi. Jennifer is not an angel. They struggle. They're broken.

It's hard to have anything new to say about either case. I can't condemn either for their brokenness, nor can I dismiss their sin as unimportant. Like Professor Barry Jones says, "Sin is a big deal to God." The tricky part is how to respond as a fan.

First, let me say I think it would actually be easier to respond to them if I were a friend and not a fan. At least it would be easier to know how to respond. Carrying through would be tougher. How would you respond if a friend of yours confessed sexual sin to you? Before you answer, remember you've been there. You've had sin to confess before. Have you ever trusted a brother or sister with it? Have you trusted the whole world with it?

I think it would be easier to respond to Tiger or Jennifer if I was in community with them. I'd give them a hug. I'd cry with them. And I would try to do the really hard thing of facing the sin with them - of telling them that what they've done does not reflect the heart and character of God. I would hold hands with them and pray and ask God for healing and clarity and redemption. And then we'd meet for breakfast at Corner Bakery every Friday and have to answer the question, "How is God redeeming your sexuality?" I would invest. I would carry burdens with them. That's how we do things in the Church. And actually I think we're pretty good at it. For all the mishandling that makes news (I'm looking at you, Pat Robertson), I know many cases of loving restoration, including my own, that never get reported.

But I am not Tiger's friend, or Jennifer's. So I have to decide how to react from a distance. Do I stand on principle and cheer for bogeys? Burn Kansas? Or do I go buy some tickets to show that I believe in forgiveness?

I don't know. If I'm gut-level honest, I have to confess that I'm skeptical of their repentances. Tiger's seemed forced, and Jennifer doesn't seem to think there's anything to repent of. I have a lot of thoughts about both - about how soon I expect Tiger to start carousing again; about how Jennifer seems misguided in her Christianity Today interview. Those thoughts are actually why I started writing this entry. I have piping hot opinions about their restorations and, in Knapp's case, about defense of the truth. But, it turns out, I can't issue those opinions. At least not with any genuineness. And not to anyone but Tiger and Jennifer.

In fact, I think to do so would be sinful on my part because who am I to judge that? I can't tell you if Tiger is sincere. And I can't tell you if Jennifer is using smoke screens or really struggling to understand scripture. And I would certainly be hurt if someone who doesn't know me decided to start scoring my confessions as if they issued passing grades for contrition. I've got my own plank to worry about and even if I didn't, I wouldn't be qualified to know their hearts. God judges the heart. We have to live with skin and bones. And that - especially the skin part - really seems to mess us up.

Puking Prayer

2010-04-27T10:26:00.001-05:00

Warning: This post is not for those with feeble stomachs...

The past 36 hours have been pretty rough at the Sanders home. This weekend, all four of us were hit with the same nasty stomach bug. On Sunday night, three of us (me, Christine and Bethany) were shooting off one after the other like geysers in Yellowstone. I counted 15 barfs in the span of 30 minutes. I'm thinking of calling Guinness.

But the barfing also taught me something about prayer.

Sunday night's trouble started with Christine. Just before the kids bedtime, she grabbed a barf bucket, collapsed on the couch and said she felt queasy. Being the spiritual giant that I am, I paused the Mavericks game and said a quick little prayer for her.

Lord, please heal Christine's tummy. I pray she'll get some rest tonight and feel better in the morning. Amen.

That was at 7 p.m. By 9 p.m. Bethany and I had both thrown up several times and I felt I had already met my annual quota of gallons-of-pizza-barf-cleaned-up. The Mavs lost and we all went to bed, each with our own bedside bucket.

This particular stomach bug was not only strong, it was punctual. For the rest of the night, we awoke at exact one-hour intervals. Every hour on the hour someone was puking. 11 p.m. Midnight. 1 a.m. 2 a.m. 3 a.m. 4 a.m. 5 a.m. All within 11 minutes of the top of the hour. Uncanny. The constant interruptions were not good for our rest or our recovery but somewhere around 3 a.m. I realized they were good for our prayers.

Lord Jesus, please come and heal us quickly. Just as you had mercy on Jairus, just as you had mercy on the centurion, please have mercy on us now. Heal us and our children. Remove this disease from our household and any foul spirit set against us, and we will praise you for it. We pray in the name and the power of Jesus Christ. Amen.

I prayed a radically different prayer at 3 a.m. than I did at 7 p.m. With my guts in a tangle and my head worried about my little girl getting dehydrated, I was much more invested, and willing to sacrifice much more than pausing the game to get an answer. I was getting desperate.

And that's when it hit me: I was praying down angels because of a stomach bug. My tummy hurt. I had to take some Pepto and clean up some mess. I cannot even imagine what Matt Chandler's prayers are like right now. Or Andy McQuitty's. Or Melinda Wells'. I had a tiny taste of desperation and I prayed with much more urgency. Lord, teach us to be pained by what pains you and pray with urgency for your healing in the world.

2010

2009-11-20T20:04:00.001-06:00

In 2010, I want to:
create more
stress less
write
design for purpose
play
play at work

I want to value:
glory of god
providence of god
redemption
ministry to poor

i want to work on:
telling stories
creating beauty
making my way

I want to engage projects and clients that are:
globally aware
personally satisfying

Remember Me?

2009-03-20T08:50:00.003-05:00

Just felt like blogging for some very random reason today. And so here are a few very random things on my mind this morning:

I love crisp, cool mornings. I really don't want to be inside right now.
I love March Madness. I really don't want to be working right now.
I have a funny habit of looking at my feet after I saw hi to someone in passing. I don't know why, but if I walk past you on the sidewalk or something, I'll say, "Hi" or "Mornin'" or "Sup" and then immediately look down. Seems weak and sheepish of me. Don't know why I do that.
Talking with some close friends over breakfast this morning and I realized that I'm always saying the same thing - that our walk with Christ is not about behavior but about relationship, passion, desire. That the fruit of the spirit is FRUIT - byproduct. Will I ever get tired of making that point or hearing it made?

2008-08-11T21:48:00.002-05:00

I read this quote by Thomas Merton this morning and really liked it.

Is there any vestige of truth left in our declaration that we think for ourselves? Or do we even trouble to declare this any more? Perhaps the man who says he “thinks for himself” is simply one who does not think at all; because he has no fully articulate thoughts, he thinks he has his own incommunicable ideas. Or thinks that, if he once set his mind to it, he could have his own thoughts. But he just has not got around to doing this. I wonder if “democracies” are made up entirely of people who “think for themselves” in the sense of going around with blank minds which they imagine they could fill with their own thoughts if need be.
Well, the need has been desperately urgent, not for one year or ten, but for fifty, sixty, seventy, a hundred years. If, when thought is needed, nobody does any thinking, if everyone assumes that someone else is thinking, then it is clear that no one is thinking either for himself or for anybody else. Instead of thought, there is a vast, inhuman void full of words, formulas, slogans, declarations, echoes – ideologies! You can always reach out and help yourself to some of them. You don’t even have to reach at all. Appropriate echoes already rise up in your mind – they are “yours.” You realize of course that these are not yet “thoughts.” Yet we “think” these formulas, with which the void in our hearts is provisionally entertained, can for the time being “take the place of thoughts” – while the computers make decisions for us.

A few months ago I critiqued a book on this blog by Susan Jacoby called The Age of American Unreason. My assertion was that the author’s idea that Americans’ use of common language was a signal that Americans were getting dumber. For Jacoby, there seemed to be a correlation between the use of the word “folks” and the corporate IQ of the nation. I found that absurd.

So it may seem like a reversal now that I quote Merton saying the same sort of thing here. The thing is, when I first picked up Jacoby, I expected her to be onto something. I sensed, for reasons I couldn’t quite articulate, that America is getting dumber. I’ve sensed this for some time. It just seems like we are not a society of thinkers. Certainly not deep thinkers. I don’t have any real evidence to prove this suspicion. And I further suspect that if I were a better thinker I would have the capacity to identify some examples and articulate my point. But I think no one thinks. I suspect that less than half of the people I know generate original, critical thought on any regular basis (if you’re my friend and you’re reading this please assume you’re in the thoughtful minority).

But my duplicity is justified, I think, and not just because I have a lot more invested in Merton’s writings than in Jacoby’s, because I think Merton’s point is less about education and more about contemplation. Our Sunday school class this week was about margin – how in our finances and schedules we Americans have come to live without margin – without any room for error or rest. We heard Andy Stanley teach that good relationships happen in the margins, and I would assert that original thought happens there too. I don’t have time to think critically about things when I’m running from one meeting to the next.

And our whole society is like that because we’ve come to equate busy-ness with significance. If you’re an important person, you must be busy. I wonder if all of the important people in our government are too busy to think and “letting the computers make decisions.” I can’t imagine how my clients would react if I gave them an invoice with a line charge for “thinking time.”

And as I write these words, I’m running late so I have to stop. I suspect that there is more to think about here, but I don’t have time for it.

Gratitude

2008-06-03T10:14:00.002-05:00

Just read a chapter in Erwin McManus's book Uprising about gratitude. McManus is kind-of wordy, but I've quoted a long portion of the chapter below because it's pretty insightful about how gratitude, forgiveness, optimism and wholeness are linked...

Forgiveness and gratitude are inseparable. When we receive forgiveness, we grow in gratefulness. When we grow in gratefulness, we are more willing to give forgiveness. Our ability to receive forgiveness is directly related to our willingness to give it. Beyond that our model for forgiveness is Jesus himself. Paul reminds us, “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

When we are grateful, we forgive freely. A direct benefit of gratitude is the freedom from bitterness. When we are grateful, we are not bound to grudges or vengeance. Gratitude enables us to be generous with love. Forgiveness is a significant part of this. When there is a deficit of love, there is also a reluctance to forgive. This is a significant dilemma for us in our journeys toward emotional well-being in that an unwillingness to forgive will circumvent the process of becoming whole.

In the same way that gratitude is intertwined with forgiveness, brokenness is often perpetuated by bitterness. It’s not that bitterness is the cause of our brokenness, but that bitterness will circumvent the healing process. What makes this even more complicate is that oftentimes a broken person is more than justified to be embittered. Sometimes when I hear the tragic stories and the horrific experiences others have gone through, it’s hard not to take on their offenses and become embittered with them. It’s not an easy thing to tell someone who has been deeply hurt that her own road to healing is to forgive those who hurt her.

Aside from the fact that offenders need forgiveness, to forgive is essential in the process of healing. You cannot remain embittered and find wholeness. Even when those who have hurt you neither seek forgiveness nor desire it, it is still necessary that we forgive. In a reminder that we should not grieve the spirit of God, the Scriptures call us to “get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Eph. 3:31-32). This passage beseeches us to replace bitterness with forgiveness. In a conversation between Peter and Simon the Sorcerer, Peter makes this assessment of Simon’s heart: “I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin” (Acts 8:23). When we forgive, it sets us and others free. Bitterness on the other hand holds us captive. When someone desires forgiveness, it is your gift to give out of the generosity of your spirit. Even if one does not desire your forgiveness, it is critical to be free from the bitterness that will enslave you.

Again, even as gratitude and forgiveness are inseparable, so are ungratefulness and bitterness. When we are grateful, we see and experience life with a healthy optimism. When we lack gratitude, we move toward pessimism and even cynicism. A ungrateful heart always see what’s wrong with life. The longer we live without gratitude, the more embittered we become. The more embittered we become, the more we find ourselves overwhelmed with depression. Bitterness in the end leads to hopelessness. If we are to enjoy lives of gratitude, we must break free from the gravitational pull of bitterness. For in the same way that gratitude leads to wholeness, bitterness will leave us shattered and broken. In this condition we will find ourselves unable to experience the life God dreams for us, and tat the same time we will leave others cut and bleeding as they press against our sharp edges.

Bitterness creates an illusion of control and power. Bitterness is a form of hate. It is anger facing backwards. When we are embittered toward someone, we hold him prisoner to an experience or action in the past. In our minds our bitterness hold him captive and does not allow him to move forward. The reality is that our bitterness traps no one but ourselves. If the offender genuinely seeks forgiveness, even when you are unwilling to give it, he or she is made free. The only person you keep trapped in yesterday when you are unwilling to forgive is yourself. If you remain bitter long enough, you will eventually move to despair. Bitterness requires that you live in the past; hope requires that you live for tomorrow. Gratitude not only allows you to enjoy the present, but keeps you looking forward to the future.

Contagious Laughter

2008-06-01T22:56:00.004-05:00

In 1962, there was an outbreak of contagious laughter that infected hundreds of people and forced several schools to close in Tanzania and Uganda. I am not making this up. Read about it here or here.
Also, this is pretty funny:

If you've ever called for a point of order in church...

2008-05-26T14:45:00.002-05:00

Christine and I invented a new comedy series this week that is sure to have evangelicals rolling in the aisles soon - and not from the Holy Ghost. With a nod to Jeff Foxworthy, let us suggest a few ways to know if you're a Southern Baptist.

If you've ever done anything "in view of a call", you might be a Southern Baptist.
If you've ever been upset about changing the name from "potluck" to "covered dish", you might be a Southern Baptist.
If your church posts attendance on a big wooden board, you might be a Southern Baptist.
If you've never sung a third verse, you might be a Southern Baptist.
If you've ever asked God to bless "the gift and the giver", "this food and the hands that prepared it," or "this food to the nourishment of our bodies and our bodies to your service", you might be a Southern Baptist.
If you've ever moved your letter, you might be a Southern Baptist.
If you've ever voted in church, you might be a Southern Baptist.
If you've ever checked a box verifying that you prayed, memorized scripture or brought your Bible to church, you might be a Southern Baptist.

These are the ones I can remember but there have got to be more. So jump in everyone! Let's get the "you might be a Southern Baptist" comedy series up and flying.

My one baseball post for the year

2008-04-01T20:23:00.003-05:00

Ok, I'm not a baseball fan, but I listen to sports radio all the time and I haven't heard anyone make this point, so I'm going to make it.
Has anyone ever heard of major league baseball doing so many wacky things in preseason?

Billy Crystal a Yankee for a day
Opening day game in Japan
And now some crazy game in LA with a left field fence about 3 steps behind the third baseman.

I just wondered if this looks like a desperate PR scramble to anyone but me: "Please forget Roger Clemens (et al) and think about Billy Crystal! He can't play, but at least now we can say that the league has one player who isn't juiced!

A Folksy Review

2008-02-18T16:24:00.005-06:00

Christine and I had a "nerd date" this week. That's where we go to Borders and each pick out a book and a comfy chair. We read for about 10 minutes and then discuss what we read. Do we know how to party or what?

Anyway, this time I picked a book called The Age of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby. The jacket said Americans are dumber than ever before and I have watched enough Jay Walking to think that might be true. But, it turns out, that's not Jacoby's point. Her point, as far as I could tell, is that we must be dumb because we elected a Republican president.

Admittedly, I only read the book for 10 minutes but I got a pretty good idea of Jacoby's thesis - enough to make me want to write a negative review. So here is a poorly-researched, yet passionately-delivered pan of The Age of American Unreason...

I started in Chapter 1 (why not?) where Jacoby laments about the "dumbing down" of public discourse. She uses the example of the word "folks" and points out how "folks" is used by news anchors and politicians and presidents with regularity and impunity. Jacoby thinks our society's use of colloquial language is proof of its ignorance. She asks us to image Abe Lincoln or Thomas Jefferson using a word like "folks."

I think Jacoby is absolutely right that American discourse has gotten considerably more informal and redundant in the past century. I don't think, for instance, that anyone among the current crop of presidential candidates really has anything new to say or says it with particularly powerful prose. But I don't think that's proof of an Ignorant America. Poor standardized test scores - falling American wages - these may be evidence of Americans becoming less educated. "Folks" is evidence of Americans becoming less formal.

So I skipped ahead to about the middle of the book to see if Jacoby would warm up to a more salient point. She didn't. Instead, she spent a few pages railing on Supreme Court Justice Anton Scalia (hmm, a conservative. whadya know?) and his position on the law (did I mention he's on the Supreme Court?) and God (he's also a Christian).

Jacoby disagreed with Scalia's idea that the authority to govern, while of course must involve at least tacit approval from those governed, ultimately comes from God. Then Jacoby attacks Scalia's comments about capital punishment. She quotes a speech in which Scalia said that the more Christian a society is, the less problem it has with the death penalty because, to Christians, death is "no big deal." Jacoby found this appalling on the grounds that it would, indeed, be a big deal for those in such a society who aren't Christian. But wait - didn't Jacoby just argue that authority to govern arises solely from those governed? And in an imaginary country where the majority of those governed are Christians who support the death penalty, aren't they entitled to establish government in whatever manner they see fit? By arguing in the negative, isn't Jacoby appealing to some higher law than majority vote and therefore shooting her previous argument in the foot?

Those are the only two points I read and then it was time to hear about Christine's travel book (we've gotta check out Kilimanjaro!) Bottom line: I doubt that folks who think critically will enjoy reading Susan Jacoby.

Continuing On Now...

2007-12-14T16:30:00.000-06:00

Ok, I'm really just posting something here to put the PaulTor debate behind us. But I do have two web giggles to pass along:
1. Go to YouTube and search for Chris Christmas Rodriguez. Then pop a can of Tab, sit back and enjoy the polyester.
2. When you're done voting for Chris to replace Santa this year, check out my friend Holly's blog here. The comment about toddlers "finding holes in themselves" made me wheez-laugh.

Heresy: The Sequel

2007-11-03T17:27:00.000-05:00

I'm starting a new post, but I can't promise it will be good. We posted FORTY comments on the last one. It was starting to bog down. If you haven't wasted hours of your life with us arguing ridiculous points with Paul and Vic, here's a quick catch-up.

Bob, a friend of mine, found this wacky site called The Path of Truth that is managed by two guys who claims to be the only two true Christians on Earth. The site claims that Kyle Lake, the Waco pastor who was electrocuted in his baptisery two years ago, died at the hand of God because he was a heretic.
A very good friend of mine recently lost a close friend of his who was also a promising young minister of the Gospel. The "Path of Truth" site really ticked me off because it kind-of hit close to home with what my friend was going through. So I wrote a scathing review and emailed the purveyor of the site to respond.
He did.
A lot.
His name is Paul Cohen. He has a buddy named Victor. They are sinless, omniscient and smart. Also really funny.
We argued earnestly for a while. Paul and Vic are still earnest. I'm bored.

That pretty much catches you up. I'm sure there will be more banter. Enjoy.

Path of Truth?

2007-10-26T13:17:00.000-05:00

A very close friend of mine just lost a very close friend of his - a young man in the prime of his life and ministry who was reaching people with the good news of God's grace. It's really hard to deal with and it reminds me of the story of Kyle Lake - the young Waco pastor who was electrocuted in his baptistry two years ago.

In discussing these events, another friend of mine sent me a link to a website called "The Path of Truth" which included an article about Kyle Lake that I've quoted below. I really don't know why I'm taking the time to refute this guy. Heaven knows I'd have my hands full if I decided to debate every quack that has a website. But I guess just because of what my friend is going through, this one really got me hot under the theological collar.

The guy's name is Paul Cohen and his basic assertion is that if you're walking in the fear of the Lord, then nothing bad will ever happen to you. It's clearly a well-constructed argument with plenty of scripture, church history and gray matter to back it up. Below is a quote from a pretty long article on his site and then a short rant from me. :)

What Jesus said, and what He is saying for those with ears to hear, is that God is over all events, and if you are walking in the fear, or reverence, of Him, you can trust Him entirely. Indeed, it is your duty to entrust yourself to Him. If however, you are walking in the fear of man, which is denying Christ before men, then Christ will also deny you before the Father in Heaven. Then you will be subject to the sudden and violent endings to life in this realm that are your inheritance from "the Fall"

Gosh, how this makes me crazy! Let us count the ways...

First, he mishandles scripture. The verse he quotes in this article (Mtt. 10:29) doesn't say that the Lord causes the fall of every sparrow that falls to the ground. It says no sparrow falls to the ground apart from the will of the Lord. Thinking people understand the distinction.

Second, I guess what Cohen is saying is that Kyle Lake - a pastor, whose career and passion was declaring the truth and teaching the word of God - was denying Christ before men. I guess that's what he was doing in the baptistry that day - denying Christ. I guess that's how people's lives were touched by his ministry of denying Christ. I guess that's why he stood in a pulpit and spoke publicly and led a church - because it was a good way to deny Christ.

According to Cohen (and I really don't even have to extend his logic to this conclusion; he actually asserts this himself), if we are walking in fear and reverence for God, then nothing bad will happen to us - least of all death! I can think of quite a few Christian leaders who would disagree with that position. The short list would include Joseph, Daniel, Job, Jesus, Paul, Peter, Polycarp, Bonhoeffer, Cassie Bernall, and a brother from Gaza named Rami who was kidnapped and killed Saturday night because of his faith. According to Cohen, these people were killed because the Son had denied them to the Father. Maybe I should find Cohen's address, vandalize his house, and then stand in the front yard and declare, "Sorry, Paul. Guess you weren't walking in the fear of the Lord."

But even if his assertion weren't patently wrong, it would still miss the point. That is that God doesn't save us from bad things - including death. He never promised to. In fact, he promised just the opposite. ("In this world, you will have trouble.") If Paul Cohen is trusting Jesus to save him from death or accidents or difficult circumstances, I'm afraid he's in for disappointment. As for me, I'm not trusting God to keep hardship from coming my way. In fact, I'm trusting him to send hardship in my life so that I can know him more. Like Paul said, "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings."

There's plenty more fuzzy-headed stuff on "The Path of Truth" to rant about, but I'll quit for now. Partly because I want this post to be about upholding the truth and correcting it in a brother and - to be honest - I'm getting way too much pleasure out of bashing this guy.

Anyway, I've emailed the guy and invited him to discuss his position on this blog (his website doesn't allow for feedback/comments). We'll see...

Romney. Stealing. Period.

2007-10-19T15:06:00.000-05:00

As of today, I am claiming credit for whatever success Mitt Romney's presidential campaign brings. I just saw a TV spot with this slogan:

Mitt Romney
Strong. New. Leadership.

Years ago, I created a tagline for Irving public schools:

Irving ISD
Growing. Strong. Learners.

The beauty of the above slogan is its flexibility. It can mean that Irving ISD is growing strong learners. It can also mean that Irving ISD is growing and strong and full of learners. But NAYOOOOOOO! All those English teachers in the district chided me for the periods. It didn't make sense! Was it a sentence or not? They didn't get it and they didn't like it. Well, now it's getting presidents elected! So how do you like me now, Ms. Bossyteacher!? Stick THAT in your Number 2 pencil and smoke it!!!

Marketing Guru out.

p.s. If anyone reading this is an attorney and would like to provide pro-bono services for what is obviously a slam-dunk intellectual property suit, please contact me at your earliest convenience.

Guru. Out. Again.

Game Notes

2007-10-13T18:34:00.000-05:00

I decided to take notes on the A&M, Texas Tech game today. Don't ask me why; I just did. Here's my gameday stream of consciousness.

2:27 pm: Ron Franklin has already said “in the high plain” twice.

2:30 pm: He just said it again, but this time said “high plains”

2:32 pm: Now it's “south plains”

2:34 pm: those wide splits again – why can’t anyone defeat that with stunts?

2:26 pm: I don’t like the solid white unis. Did we have to do that because they’re wearing all black?

:47 left in 1^st qtr: A&M’s first 3^rd down of the game

3:06 pm: TT does a good job of “red out”

End of 1^st qtr: TT doesn’t look like they belong on the field w A&M. only success they’ve had has been on underneath routes when they need a lot of yards.

Start of 2^nd qtr: “south plains”

That shot from the top of the home side press box makes Jones Stadium look so high school.

10:15 in 2^nd: This is how TT always beats us – looking like they shouldn’t

9:52 in 2^nd: “south plains”

4:37 in 2^nd: mike goodson running harder than usual

3:43: our kind of drive – 11 plays. 60 yards so far

Last play of half: I hate give-up plays

Third Quarter:

8:04: I wish Bob Knight and Ron Franklin would quit making out and let me watch some football

2:52: “south plains”

Apparently no one told Gary Darnell that Tech runs the spread offense.

Fourth quarter:

TT converts 3^rd and 12. I start fast-forwarding.

10:57: ballsy call on 3^rd and 2

7: mcgee cannot throw down field. If we’re ever down by more than 14 in the 4^th quarter, we should always go with Jerrod Johnson.

5:30: qb keepers down 28 w 5 mins to go

A quick browse of various Big 12 columns/blogs reveals leading candidates to succeed Fran are Jeff Tedford (Cal), Tommy Tuberville (Auburn) and Bo Pilini (LSU).

Ode to a Granola Girl

2007-08-30T09:23:00.000-05:00

We just got back from a trip to Colorado last week. Tough to re-enter the real world. I never get tired of the mountains. And I love what they do to Christine. She gets all giddy up there. And worshipful. I wonder if, had a few decisions gone another way earlier in her life, she wouldn't be waiting tables somewhere in Estes or Durango and hanging off rocks in her spare time and loving life. I hope I haven't robbed her of that tying her down with a husband and kids.

Contemplative Quick-Hit

2007-08-02T16:08:00.000-05:00

"We must boldly repudiate the cheap values of the fallen world and become completely detached in spirit from everything that unbelieving men set their hearts upon, allowing ourselves only the simplest enjoyments of nature which God has bestowed alike upon the just and unjust."

-A.W. Tozer

Holy Land Sesame Street

2007-07-30T22:27:00.000-05:00

Slate V posted this report a couple of weeks ago. It's still high in their rotation and still very disturbing.

Merton on Missions

2007-07-27T11:03:00.000-05:00

When I read good writing, I'm inspired to write. I'm reading (again) Thomas Merton's Seven Storey Mountain which certainly qualifies as good writing. Even though I am completely swamped with work and other responsibilities, I'm taking a minute to just retype some of Merton's gold because I'm afraid of what will happen if I don't. I understand the progressive nature of neglect just the same as the progressive nature of sin. Another day of choosing to meet deadlines will be another day of neglecting my talent and another day toward the forgotten life of an American suburban family man whose highest ideal is to make a good living, send the kids to school and watch cable TV on a big screen.

So here's a page from Seven Storey in which Merton (at the time not a believer) is telling about a Hindu monk that he knew called Bramachari (which is actually not a name at all but an Indian word that means monk)...

He was beyond laughing at the noise and violence of American city life and all the obvious lunacies like radio programs and billboard advertising. It was some of the well-meaning idealisms that he came across that struck him as funny. And n eof the things that struck him as funniest f all was the eagerness with which Protestant ministers used to come up and ask him if India was by now nearly converted to Protestantism. He used to tell us how far India was from conversion to Protestantism - or Catholicism for that matter. One of the chief reasons he gave for the failure of any Christian missionaries to really strike deep into the tremendous populations of Asia was the fact that they maintained themselves on a social level that was too far above the natives. The Church of England, indeed, though they would convert the Indians by maintaining a strict separation - white men in one church, natives in a different church: both of them listening to sermons on brotherly love and unity.

But all Christian missionaries, according to him, suffered from this big drawback: they lived too well, too comfortably. They took care of themselves in a way that simply made it impossible for the Hindus to regard them as holy - let alone the fact that they ate meat, which made them repugnant to the natives.

I don't know anything about missionaries: but I am sure that, by our own standards of living, their life is an arduous and difficult one, and certainly not one that could be regarded as comfortable. And by comparison with life in Europe and America it represents a tremendous sacrifice. Yet I suppose it would literally endanger their lives if they tried to subsist on the standard of living with which the vast majority of Asiatics have to be content. It seems hard to expect them to go around barefoot and sleep on mats and live in huts. But one thing is certain: the pagans have their own notions of holiness, and it is one that includes a prominent element of asceticism. According to Bramachari, the prevailing impression among Hindus seems to be that Christians don't know what asceticism means. Of course, he was talking principally f Protestant missionaries, but I suppose it would apply to anyone coming to a tropical climate from one of the so-called "civilized" countries.

For my own part, I see no reason for discouragement. Bramachari was simply saying something that has long since been familiar to readers of the Gospels. Unless the grain of wheat, fallingin the ground, die, itself remaineth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. The Hindus are not looking for us to send them men who will build schools and hospitals, although those things are good and useful in themselves - and perhaps very badly needed in India: they want to know if we have any saints to send them.

This conversatation with Bramachari happened in 1937 and I think our Western methodologies for missions have improved a lot since then. Still, it makes for interesting and not altogether irrelevant reading.

Cycling's Toughest Climb

2007-07-26T22:14:00.000-05:00

I'm so frustrated with my sport I'm almost ready to give up on it. Who is left to root for? And how can any fan be confident that his favorite rider one day won't be exposed and make him feel like a fool the next?

Last week, Tour de Fance favorite Alexandre Vinokourov was suspended from his team for testing positive for blood doping. Last night, yellow jersey leader Michael Rasmussen was fired from his team, Rabobank, after it was discovered that he lied about his whereabouts when he missed a team-level testing well before the start of the Tour.

The upside is that these really are proactive, rather than reactive steps. Today, the tour took the yellow jersey off a man's shoulders and his team fired him without any positive test results - only on suspicion of doping. Race director Christian Prudhomme seems determined to root out dopers from his race, even if it means serious damage to the sport and the Tour. I'm glad of that, and glad that cycling is willing to take a serious PR bashing to do away with even a suggestion of doping even without any proof of it. Thanks goodness there is no players union in cycling or this would all be about legal rights to privacy and what-not rather than cleaning up the sport.

This battle can be won and here's what it'll take: It will take a Tour de France winner who everyone KNOWS is clean. Then and only then other riders will start to give up their long-held notion that you can't win the tour without doping. How can we know for sure if a winner is clean - extensive testing (already in place) and his employment by a team like Jonathan Vaughter's that is proactive and outspoken campaigner against doping. I think that'd be enough to at least make riders believe that the guy was clean.

Maybe we should have seen this coming decades ago when sports started becoming such a lucrative business. In the meantime, I guess we'll plod along up this hill along with just about every other sport on earth, hoping not to be robbed of magical moments again by someone else's paycheck, needle and poor judgment.

Witnessing

2007-07-15T18:44:00.000-05:00

Talked with a Jehovah's Witness named Robert for almost half an hour yesterday in my driveway. I don't know why Robert's situation grieves me so much but I've been thinking about him and praying for him a lot since we talked. He says he'll come back to talk some more, but I kind-of expect that he was just saying that to get off my porch. It was pretty obvious that neither of us was going to change our minds. His theology seems awfully burdensome. I'm no expert on Jehovah's Witnesses, but if I understood him right, he believes that Jesus' sacrifice was not so much meant for propitiation and atonement as it was to "prove that created man can live a perfect life." In Robert's view, Jesus' life is only inspiring if he was fully man but not at all God. If he shared God's being, well then that would be cheating. Anyone who is God can live a sinless life. And so Jesus' sinless life is only to show us that it is possible to be perfect - to inspire us to do what he did. That must be an incredibly heavy burden to carry. I guess that's why I'm praying for Robert today. And why I'm soooo happy that God has afforded me teachers and opportunities to experience his grace. Heaven knows, if I had to "stand on my own two feet", as Robert said, I would be in serious trouble. Anyway, if you read this, say a prayer for Robert. I hope he comes back.

Among the Remnant

2007-06-21T09:32:00.000-05:00

My good friend Steve surprised me recently when he officially bailed on Bush. His declaration of such to the world can be found here. Steve makes good points. It's easy to be frustrated with this administration or, more accurately, the lack of control this administration has exhibited over its intelligence services and world affairs. Most of Steve's reasoning comes from Peggy Noonan's column "Too Bad" which also makes good points.

But I've been giving this some thought and I am hereby declaring that...well, nothing new. I'm not changing my opinion of President Bush. I'm not blindly declaring him the greatest statesman ever, but I'm not ready to predict that history will remember him a massive failure, either.

Noonan's assertion is that Bush has squandered an enormous opportunity to be popular. And she doesn't like him for that.

Bush the younger came forward, presented himself as a conservative, garnered all the frustrated hopes of his party, turned them into victory, and not nine months later was handed a historical trauma that left his country rallied around him, lifting him, and his party bonded to him. He was disciplined and often daring, but in time he sundered the party that rallied to him, and broke his coalition into pieces. He threw away his inheritance. I do not understand such squandering.

I understand her point, but it troubles me that she doesn't give me a cause greater than popularity to defend.

He sundered the party that rallied to him? This doesn't break my heart.
He threw away his inheritance? Hmm. Oh well. Hope he had a reason.

Should Bush have compromised to conserve the coalition of supporters and defend his high approval rating? Noonan declares that both Bushes (41 and 43) squander "political inheritance."

One of the things I have come to think the past few years is that the Bushes, father and son, though different in many ways, are great wasters of political inheritance. They throw it away as if they'd earned it and could do with it what they liked.

After some thought, it strikes me that this is exactly what I want in a politician! Someone who places little stock in "chits in the game". Someone who is decisive and willing to take risks. Someone who leads on principal, rather than follow the latest polling data. It seems to me that people in America either love Bush or hate him, which may be the greatest testament to his success as a statesman. If everyone could take him or leave him, we'd have to question his mettle. We'll never question that with 43.

But the points I've made so far may seem of little consequence when considered against the thousands of U.S. dead and wounded from the quagmire that is Iraq. Indeed, Iraq will always rank in the top two - along with 9/11 - as the most weighty and legacy-shaping issues of this administration. So let me address Iraq.

I, like many of my conservative brethren, didn't care much for Bill Clinton. Still don't. Nor his wife. But I always wanted to be careful not to slander him where he didn't deserve (after all, he gave us plenty of fodder for things he did deserve - no reason to dig up more). If Bill Clinton were in the White House for Bush's term and had invaded Iraq and Afghanistan and faced the same quagmire that Bush now faces - and I know this is easy to say since he isn't - I would not lay the blame for the deaths of American soldiers at Clinton's feet. Here's why.

I think both 9/11 and the strength of the insurgency in Iraq were both Black Swans. No one saw them coming. Indeed, no one ever would have. But in hindsight it becomes easy to think that someone should have. We think, "Someone should have known this would happen. Maybe not me, but someone in that arena. Who should have known and stopped this? TSA? Airlines? CIA? The military? The president? But such blame-gaming is both useless and senseless. If Iraq naysayers are so convinced that this war was a bad idea from the beginning, then where the hell were they at the beginning? The standard answer to that is that the country was in a patriotic frenzy following 9/11 and they didn't want to appear unpatriotic. They didn't want to rock the boat. To which I say, it's too bad they didn't share the president's lack of concern for popularity and save us from this mess!

I'll grant that it would have been better if America had the human intelligence network in place in the Middle East to warn us that Iraq was not ready - not socially, intellectually or morally capable - of welcoming democracy. If we had invested millions in intelligence in the region for decades before, then we might have had a clearer crystal ball to know that our actions there would not help bring peace and democracy but sectarianism and civil war. We also might have had the right answers about the existence of WMDs. But alas, we didn't have that knowledge. The knowledge we did have was flawed. And, again, blaming Bush for acting on the knowledge he had, now that we know what he didn't, seems like so much geopolitical armchair quarterbacking to me. "He shouldn't have gone for it on fourth down! Why? Because he didn't make it!"

Noonan's final paragraph - the summary of the damage this nincompoop president has done - is about squabbling within the Republican Party. About how Bush's actions have disappointed some in his own party. Again, it doesn't break my heart. I have trouble hating Bush for that. And I find it a little telling that Noonan can't help but call the president disciplined and daring while doing her best to insult him.

Our president is not a terrific public speaker. He hasn't proven to be a very good coalition builder (which was a big point in his first campaign - how he built cooperation and coalitions across the aisle as governor). He has made mistakes and he has rushed into decisions. But I won't go as far as to call him an idiot or a war monger as seems to be the case with a growing number of Americans. In fact, I have no doubt that America would face the same problems with Iraq - or possibly other problems, different but just as dire - had Al Gore or John McCain or John Kerry or anyone else had been in office for these two terms. Notice that none of those men are saying differently. No one but no one is daring to say that they would have acted differently, that they would have saved us from Iraq if they had been in office, because they know better.

Every president has his problems.
Bush has been overeager to strike back at terrorism.
Clinton couldn't keep his pants zipped.
Bush Sr. reneged on "no new taxes."
Reagan...well, I can't think of anything Reagan did wrong because he was freaking awesome!

But you get my point. So I'm not bailing on Bush. I, like the president, am staying the course. You may call it stubborn. I call it "strategery."

The Perfect Father's Day?

2007-06-18T15:19:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, Bethany napped on the couch with me while I watched the U.S. Open. Christine cooked mom's chicken enchilada recipe. Church was really good. I bought a new book (The Dangerous Book for Boys). And I got lots of alone time. At this stage in my life, it doesn't get much better than that.

Never Trust A Pirate

2007-06-16T22:08:00.001-05:00

Yeah, yeah. I know it's been a while. So here's a little something to ease the pain...

Who's the Loser?

2007-05-02T09:44:00.000-05:00

It's frustrating to lose to losers. I'd like to be the stalwart Mavs fan but I really think we might have dug ourselves too big a hole this time. But what's most upsetting about that is knowing that Golden State will lose immediately in the next round and that they are such a bunch of punks. Every time they have fallen behind in a game this series they've started picking fights - with opposing players, coaches, officials. They don't lose well. And come to think of it, they don't win well either. Mostly I'm talking about Baron Davis, Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes. (Monta Ellis might be a really stand-up guy but the antics of those three overshadow the whole team.) Last night, when it became apparent that they were going to lose, Jackson got himself ejected, purposely. That's a microcosm of how these guys behave. If the Mavs lose the series, you'll read quotes like, "We just didn't get it done." If the Warriors lose the series, you'll read quotes from Davis like, "I can't do it all," and quote from his teammates about officiating, and quotes from Don Nelson like, "Well, no skin off my back. I've got a house on Maui and a cooler of beer waiting for me."

A Walk In the Words

2007-04-17T22:27:00.000-05:00

I’m finishing up A Walk In the Woods by Bill Bryson. It’s a delightful book. “Choke on your coffee funny,” quotes Washington Post Book World on the back cover. It’s the story of a middle-aged, overweight, decidedly civilized white guy who decides to hike the Appalachian Trail (yes, the 2,100 mile Georgia-to-Maine Appalachian Trail). The first half of the book had me rolling – literally laughing out loud and insisting that my family “sit down for a minute so I can read you this.” Bryson is a clever writer, and the stories are even more enjoyable if you’ve shared similar experiences with overpriced gear, over-worried camping companions, or over-zealous nocturnal campsite intruders. It really is a fun read.

But halfway through the book, Bryson reaches Front Royal, Virginia, the terminus of the first “half” of his journey. In fact, he never fully returns to the trail in earnest – hiking smidgens of the northern half in five-mile chunks on looping day hikes, rental car never far behind. As such, his narration never seems to find its trail legs again. Instead, he rants. He rants about evolution. He rants about the U.S. Forest Service. He rants about national parks. He rants about deforestation. He rants about the Civilian Service Corps. He rants about the Corps of Engineers. He rants about overdevelopment and he rants about underdevelopment. I don’t mean to suggest that the Forest Service (or any government body, for that matter) is above reproach. And I don’t mean to say that an author shouldn’t express his opinions now and then. I like getting to know what the author thinks. But after several rants, the reader starts to believe that, instead of thoughtful criticisms from which to learn, Bryson’s chapters spring more and more from the I- read- all- these- books- and- hiked- half- the- AT- and- by- golly- I’ve- got- to- write- something muse.

Hiking the AT is a monumental feat. According to Bryson, only 20 percent of those who set out to achieve it ever do. I can’t blame him for quitting. But I wish – for my reading’s sake – that he hadn’t. I suspect that if Bryson had finished the AT, he would have finished a completely enjoyable book. As it is, he’s written half a hilarious, warming, genuine, inspiring and human book. And half a rant. Read Part 1 of this book, then return it to the library and go for a hike.

Tough Love

2007-04-10T16:01:00.000-05:00

One of the things I love most about my church is that people are real. I really don’t feel like anyone is putting on a show when they come to church. From the way they dress to their honesty about life, I think my church values genuine-ness (if that’s a word).

But it’s dawning on me that there can be a danger in genuine-ness. In saying things like, “I wish I was more passionate about ministry, but I’m just not there,” we sometimes move from honesty to mediocrity. I don’t mean to say that we should pretend to be passionate about something we’re not. That’s gross, and I really hate it. It’s easy to spot and it turns me waaaaay off. But often when I’m honest with a grace-filled brother about a struggle, regardless of how shocking or mundane the struggle may be, I get excuses from the brother rather than chastisement. The message seems to be, “You’re alright, man. We’ve all been there,” rather than, “That’s a bad place to be, man. That’s not where the Lord wants you and you need to get out.”

I know it’s really hard to chastise someone, especially if you’ve been guilty of the same sin in the past, but I think it’s necessary. Regarding ourselves as redeemed sinners doesn’t mean we should always keep our mouths shut because we’re sinners. It sometimes means we should remind our brother that he is redeemed. There are only a very few men in my life who have had the courage to talk to me that way. I respect them for it immensely.

Not long ago, I met with an older, wiser man and talked to him about my walk with the Lord. I mentioned my mediocrity when it comes to reverence for the Word. (I believe we were discussing Isaiah 66:1-2) and I said something like, “Come on. Who really lives like that? We’re all just people.” That’s when he stopped and looked at me with his head a little cocked to the side and said, “No, Ryan. There are a lot of people who live like that. I know several people who love God’s word passionately and hide it in their hearts.”

That comment has sort-of given me permission to be passionate – and a little eccentric – about getting the Word into my heart.

Dinner Conversation

2007-03-07T22:30:00.000-06:00

A transcript of a conversation I had tonight while trying to make small talk with my three-year-old over dinner:

Daddy: So, Bethany, you had a big day. You went to the gym, then to the store, then played on the swings, then had lunch, then rode your tricycle. What was your favorite part?

BG: The gym.

Daddy: Really? Not the swings? Why do you like the gym so much?

BG: Because they spit.

Daddy: Who spits?

BG (sheepishly): Zachary. (Her brother)

Daddy: Zachary spits? Where does he spit?

BG: Right on the carpet. Can I have some more fish sticks?

Churning It Out

2007-03-05T14:30:00.000-06:00

Since the day I graduated from college, the one thing that I have prayed most often for is productivity. I pray to bear fruit. I pray for a productive day at work, a productive week, a productive career. I pray for help in getting things done, reaching goals, achieving, clearing to-do lists. I pray for ministries to be productive and efficient in their benevolence and proclamation. I pray for our kids to learn things, reach milestones, become more self-sufficient and productive.

More importantly, I feel less valuable and more frustrated with life when I’m not productive. If I can stay on top of work assignments, working out, ministry, family time, etc. then I feel like I’m doing what the Lord wants. I’m producing. I’m getting things done. But when interruptions, setbacks or delays occur, it frustrates me.

This morning could not have been less productive. I got zero done. I gave up and went to a park with the kids. Even that didn’t count as “checking off” quality time from my list since the kids didn’t have that great a time and Zach barfed while riding on my shoulders (yeah – get that picture in your head.)

I guess my point is, I wonder if I’m too worried about getting things done. Life isn’t an assembly line.

Old Deuteronomy

2007-03-03T15:41:00.000-06:00

Deuteronomy 4:15-24 is about idols - it's Moses warning Israel not to worship idols when they cross over into Canaan without him. and then in verse 24 - after all the idol talk (ba-dump-bum) - he says, "For the Lord your God is a consuming fire."

I've never thought of that consuming fire reference in juxtaposition with idolatry. But it makes sense. God wants to consume me. He wants me to be consumed with his glory. Like the way I get when I get a new gadget or hobby - he wants me to be distracted by Him, my thoughts captivated by him (2 Cor. 10:5 in a new light) so that no earthly thing consumes more thought or threatens to be an idol. And so that earthly blessings, when they do come, are gifts to be grateful for - moments of blessing - not achievements to be proud of or desires finally fulfilled. Instead, if I've been consumed with God, then all earthly blessings are just langiappe - happy accidents, serendipitous blessings - not hard-fought medals that don't last. And so I can focus my hard-fighting on things that do last.

Simple Prayer

2007-02-26T12:25:00.000-06:00

Read the Lord's Prayer from Peterson's paraphrase:

Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right,
Do what's best -
as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You're in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You're ablaze with beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.

Try reading it for what it says without comparing it to the version you know.
I don't have anything too insightful about this except for...holy crap, it's simple! Man, my mission on Earth is way more simple than I make it. Mary has chosen the better way...

Connecting

2007-02-10T09:55:00.000-06:00

Christine and I went to a dinner party last night and realized how much we've changed in the last decade. We hardly knew anyone at this party, but they were all very friendly and we really enjoyed ourselves. The biggest thing we noticed about the crowd is how much they talked about the Lord. It was natural for them to talk about what he has done. They quoted scripture. They remembered prayers. We used to be like that. I remember parties in college - someone would always find a guitar, retreat to a back room somewhere, and pretty soon there would be 30 kids packed into someone's bedroom singing. It was spontaneous and it was natural. Since then, it has never been natural for us or our friends. We talk about sports alot. Kids. Work. Illnesses. Church. Not God. Certainly not "God's been showing me...". And I can't remember someone cracked open the Word at one of our parties. Last night, I kind of thought spontaneous worship might happen, but we fell just short. No guitar in sight.

Woods & Wooden Blocks

2007-01-27T15:07:00.000-06:00

Just a few bits of weekend cuteness...

BG's halo glows along the trail.

Zach wanders off the trail.

That's a snake face.

Photoshop is fun.

"Daddy, it's taller than me!"

Dissenting Opinion

2007-01-26T16:48:00.000-06:00

I have now given five hours of my life to Jack Bauer in hopes that he'll be my next favorite superhero. This is going to tick (tock) off some rabid 24 fans I know but...um...I want a little more for my five hour investment.

Actually, Jack is ok. I like Jack. I mean, yeah, he BIT a guy to death in the first episode but c'mon. We've all been there, right? And of course the show is impossibly impossible, but I can suspend reality for a bit. The parts of 24 that really leave me rolling my eyes are not the Jack parts but all the rest. I know I may be nit-picking but here are a few I noticed...

1. The president is negotiating a hostage situation. Really? Does that really happen? And even if it does, do I want that to happen? Don't we want the politician to sign things and leave hostage negotiations to crew-cut, flint-faced, colonels and generals who are just mean as snakes?

2. So not only is the President of the US negotiating a hostage situation, HE GIVES IN! He surrenders an agent of the U.S. military in exchange for a promise of information about terrorist attacks. Puh-lease! The U.S. does not negotiate with terrorists. That's how we roll. And we certainly don't do it with a covert agent who just got out of a Chinese prison, may be mentally unstable, is almost certainly pissed at his country, and has all kinds of secrets just waiting to be shared or tortured out of him! All this president is good for is gritting his teeth, bulging his temples, and speaking in a forceful whisper that makes us think he's really distraught over caving in to terrorists.

3. Have you noticed that Chloe can burrow through 53 million data records, reposition 14 satellites, hack into IBM's website, and investigate a terrorist's family history in, like 12 seconds. But then sometimes she'll be asked to open Microsoft Word and she'll say, "I'm really busy here!" Also, she looks like a Who from Whoville.

4. And speaking of technology, all of the laptops at CTU are Macs. Dumb. I like Macs. But my vote for the most outlandish thing to happen in the first five hours this season is not a nuke going off in LA. It's iBooks booting up in a government office.

Certainly the show is fun to watch, and I know, those are trifling things when there's a world to save out there. But those are the things I notice. I'll give it a few more weeks.

Sanders out.

Contentment

2007-01-19T10:55:00.000-06:00

Finally finished Desiring God this morning. I've heard more than one person say that this is a book that every Christian should read. You know what? They were all right. One of the refrains Piper repeats throughout the book is this:

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.

It strikes me that my sin is due, in large part, to my unbelief in the sufficiency of Christ. It is Christ whom I have short-sold most. As much as learning submission or fear, maybe it's about learning to have faith in his supremacy and sufficiency. To be content with him in all things at all times. Not to struggle and scheme my way to things that seem satisfying, but to relax in the One who is.

Epiphany

2007-01-07T21:23:00.000-06:00

You know all that stuff your pastor told you about how worshiping when you're NOT in church improves your worship when you are? He was right. I experienced it again today. I got to spend a lot of time in the Word today and tonight's service seemed as close to old-school-fall-on-your-face-grateful-for-every-breath worship as I've experienced in a long time.

P.S. Speaking of the Word, here's a verse to kick you in the I'm-a-mature-Christian teeth:

I have not departed from the commands of his lips;
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.
-Job 23:12

Hopeful Christmas

2006-12-25T10:48:00.000-06:00

If love is the virtue of Easter, hope is the star of Christmas. It strikes me this year that without Christmas there is no hope. No hope for mankind. No hope for meaning. No hope for civilization. My pastor said something like this last week: without Christmas there are no Presbyterian or Methodist hospitals. There are no Baptist missionaries. There are no Catholic schools. Without Christmas, there are no trucks drilling wells for clean drinking water in Sudan. There is no World Vision or Samaritan’s Purse or Union Gospel Mission feeding warm Christmas meals to cold and lonely homeless downtown. Without Christmas, there is no hope. There are certainly other virtues of Christmas. Peace. Joy. But neither can exist without hope. There can be no joy where there is no hope. There can be hope from which joy has yet to follow. But where hope is dead, so is the soul in which peace, joy and the like take shape. This has been a rather mirth-less Christmas for my family. But in one sense, it has been an unusually hopeful one. The infant king gives me hope that my sin is not permanent. That our poverty isn’t important. That our soul-less, peace-less, comfortable lives aren’t the only way. There was a baby like our babies born to a single teenage mother with more problems than ours and laid in a smelly box of hay. And somehow that lays the foundation of hope on which the Lord can build faith, joy, and love. Merry Christmas.

People Are People

2006-10-27T14:04:00.000-05:00

I keep repeating this idea to myself and others lately so maybe it’s blog-worthy. It’s pretty simple, really: People are just people. It’s amazing how often people forget that. We get so worked up over our differences (and we’re seeing that a lot with elections approaching) but we’re all pretty much the same, aren’t we? We’re all broken and precious. We’re all beautiful messes. And even though some people might behave badly, can I say that I’m better than them?

I knew a guy in college named Ron Shamberger. He was the nicest guy you could hope to meet. I didn’t know him well, but I knew him well enough to say, “Hi.” Talk to him over a PBJ at Noon Bible Study at the Baptist Student Union, that kind of thing. He always smiled and shook your hand. Always pitched in his 50 cents for a crummy PBJ. He was one of hundreds of normal, clean-cut, middle-class, college students I knew. Just like everybody else.

One night, Ron broke into his girlfriend’s apartment and shot her in her bed. He carried her body to his car and started to put it in the trunk. Then he saw a gas can and had a better idea. He carried her and the gas up to her apartment and torched the place. He drove around for a while and then went to his college pastor’s house in the middle of the night, knocked on the door, and confessed. Ron was put to death by the state of Texas a few years ago.

I understand that certain categories of people are more likely to behave in certain ways than others. Poor people are more likely to vote Democratic. Republicans are more likely to own guns. But I keep having to remind people I know that PEOPLE ARE JUST PEOPLE. I think that's my new slogan - people are just people. If I grew up in South Philly, I'd be more likely to vote Democratic. If I grew up in Corsicana, Texas, I'd be more likely to own a gun.

Sure, we’re all born with different passions, different temperaments. But we’re pretty much the same. Even those of us who are “new creations in Christ Jesus” are befuddled by the same human nature as the rest of our human brethren. Beautiful messes. Dirty and shimmering.

Consider this: If it had been the Kenyans – and not the English and Spaniards – who got the wild hair to explore the world and imperialize our continent; and it had been the white people whom those Kenyans later brought to America and enslaved; and it had been the white people who marched and rallied and suffered and persevered through the Civil Rights Movement, then it would be the white portion of our population today that would more often grapple with issues of fatherless families, violence, white-on-white crime, and poverty. If you don’t believe that – if you think somehow that people of the white race would have “pulled themselves up by their bootstraps” after emancipation or Brown v. Board of Education – then you’re six kinds of screwed up.

How about another scenario? Let’s say that the prophet who rose in the seventh century wasn’t named Muhammad but Maurice. Let’s say that the Ottomans, rather than losing their empire, kept their peace and their edge in math and science. Let’s say that Greece’s influence moved east instead of west. Let’s say that Europe became home to Islam while the Middle East underwent an enlightenment. If you think for one second that the fair-skinned Francs wouldn’t be blowing each other up and causing a lot of tension in the world community today, you’re not thinking at all.

People are just people.

I really think much of the Middle Eastern culture is barbaric. (I know, not a PC viewpoint.) But I don’t think it’s because Jordanians or Syrians are, in their mettle – in their genes, barbaric. I think if you plucked a young Iranian out of his home when he’s young and put him in my hometown, he’s much more likely NOT to grow up to wage jihad. (I know. He could kill his girlfriend. But Ron was a statistical anomaly that only proves my point.) On the other hand, if you took me out of my white, middle class home and dropped me into Fallujah as a baby, I would be just as likely as the next kid in the mosque to blow up a bus.

In the words of Depeche Mode: People are people so why should it be you and I should get along so awfully?

Partying Like A Rock Star

2006-10-23T10:01:00.000-05:00

I had the chance to hang out with Caedmon's Call this weekend - actually just a few members of the band - Todd Bragg, Jeff Miller and Andy Osenga. There were also four other people with us - Mandy Mann (who has been opening for Caedmon's), her beau named Kevin, a sound tech named Jacob, and a guy I talked to very little named Josh (I think). Oh yeah, and Steve Hayes, the reason I got to do this in the first place! (Yeah, I know, my blog is getting to be all Steve, all the time. I wish I knew how to quit him.)

Anyway, this post is just to say that the rock stars and roadies I went out with Friday night are the most unassuming, friendly, and fun-loving people you could expect to meet. They included me in the conversation when it would have been really easy to talk about "inside" stuff. We sat around a table and we didn't discuss theology or the emerging church or world hunger or the plight of the Dalits. We talked about our kids and goofy new names for bands. They're a fun group and it's easy to see why they've had such a long-lasting and effective ministry.

Baptists Fighting Over Tongues

2006-10-18T10:40:00.000-05:00

I'm glad the Star-T covers SWBTS so closely. I'm not so glad that this is what we give them to cover. Luckily, the most onerous fact in the article isn't revealed until the 19th paragraph:

Two months ago, McKissic was invited to speak at the seminary's weekly chapel service. He told students that he first privately prayed in tongues in a dormitory when he was a student at the seminary in 1981. He also criticized the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board for adopting a policy excluding missionary candidates who acknowledge that they speak in tongues.

Incredible.

Here's the first part of the article:

FORT WORTH -- Trustees at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary adopted a resolution Tuesday that clearly states the institution will not tolerate the promotion of the practice of speaking in tongues.
The resolution comes almost two months after the Rev. Dwight McKissic of Arlington said during a chapel service that he sometimes speaks in tongues when he prays.
That prompted Southwestern President Paige Patterson to issue a statement
that the video of McKissic's sermon would not be posted online or saved in the archives of the seminary, as are the sermons of all other chapel speakers.
Patterson submitted the resolution to trustees during their meeting Tuesday. It states: "Southwestern will not knowingly endorse in any way, advertise, or commend the conclusions of the contemporary charismatic movement including private prayer language. Neither will Southwestern knowingly employ professors or administrators who promote such practices."
The resolution was adopted 36-1.
McKissic, a new trustee, cast the dissenting vote.

Howling Review

2006-10-17T09:57:00.000-05:00

My friend Steve turned me on to a new band and I think I'm in love! Black Rebel Motorcycle Club makes the meanest, coolest, rockinest music I've heard in a while. I heartily recommend their album "Howl".

If you judge by the packaging, it seems like this band is trying way too hard. I mean how many words that say "we're cool" can you put in a band name? Likewise, the album notes try really hard to have lots of rocker angst written in Kerouacian prose. I think they took the same approach to some of their lyrics which seem to be pretty dense. But even if I never figure out what the songs are about, the music is worth the purchase. Lots of jangling guitar, breathless harmonica and organ - everything a rock album should have. Think young Bob Dylan music but with the voice of....um....well....someone better.

I have one nagging question about this band though....who's black? And who's a rebel? Do those words modify the club? Is it a club of black riders of rebel motorcycle? Or a club or riders of black Honda Rebel motorcycles? Or a club of motorcycle riders who happen to be black and rebellious? So confusing...

Where can I get a sandwich board....

2006-10-13T15:26:00.000-05:00

This story about street preachers ran in today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram (full story below). It made me think some thoughts in my thinking brain. So here they are:

The brand of evangelicals who engage in street-preaching, door-to-door evangelism, etc. are always talking about "going on the offensive" and the like. Who are they offending? Who is it they're playing offense against? If it's Satan and his lies to poor and hurting souls they might meet on the street, then I can think of more effective ways to combat the lies.
Having said that, I like street preachers. At least I like the ones who seem to do it as a form of self-expression. I like the guy who stands on the corner and plays the saxophone. So I like the guy who stands there and spits out what he's passionate about.
I don't like the idea of street-preacher boot camp though.
At first, I wanted to title this post "Crazy Christians" (yes, that's a Studio 60 reference) and decry another group of Christians embarrassing themselves in the public eye. But you know what? I'm tired of trying to police/disparage every group of fuzzy-headed evangelicals whose hearts are in the right place even if their heads aren't. So come on, street preachers. Meet me in Sundance Square and I'll listen to your rant and buy you a beer.

Preachers to 'invade' Fort Worth, Dallas

The Associated Press

DALLAS - A Texas-based ministry group plans to flood entertainment districts in Dallas and Fort Worth on Saturday with 500 street preachers trying to spread their faith, an event the group's president calls a "city invasion."

Darrel Rundus, founder and president of The Great News Network, said he hopes this first large-scale event will serve as a test run for future invasions across the country.

"Its a roll-up-your-sleeves, get-in-the-trenches, big-time battle in the street for souls," Rundus said. "We have an army of evangelists out there invading the city for Christ."
Street preaching, never entirely embraced by traditional evangelical churches, has been gaining in popularity, said David Allen, the dean of the theology school at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.

Most evangelicals take their biblical cue from a passage in the Book of Matthew known as The Great Commission, Allen said. In it, Jesus Christ tells followers to "make disciples of all nations ... and teach them to obey everything that I have commanded."

Evangelical Christians interpret the passage differently, and pastors from traditional churches say there are more effective and less threatening means than hitting the streets.

"The common perception people have of street preachers is someone out there who is on the kook fringe of things," Allen said. "You think of someone who wears a sandwich sign that says, 'The world will end tomorrow.' "

That confrontational style turns people away, said Jim Lemons, pastor of the River Oaks Baptist Church near Fort Worth. He does not encourage church members to conduct open-air preaching but prefers "servant-style evangelism," such as volunteering in soup kitchens or homeless shelters.

"I think there are ways to make a bigger impact, a more lasting impact than yelling for 15 or 30 seconds on a street corner," Lemons said. "If I were not a believer and I were accosted, I would say, 'I don't want anything to do with that group or with what that religion believes.'"
Rundus acknowledged the image problem but says his group teaches a non-confrontational approach.

Rundus has spent the past two years building a network he thinks will make a nationwide event possible. He has 133 local leaders around the country who organize groups of street preachers. His group has organized 16 "evangelical boot camps" that he said has attracted about 100 participants apiece from around the world.

Among the most important lessons: Preaching locales must be public property and popular. The group typically favors entertainment districts, such as the Deep Ellum neighborhood in Dallas or Sundance Square in Fort Worth.

At the boot camp, would-be street preachers learn to overcome fears of public speaking, to engage people in conversation and to preach in an "inoffensive and Biblical way," Rundus said.
David Bird, a veterinarian and a leader in North Carolina, came to Texas this week for the invasion. Street preaching is the "last thing in the world I ever thought I'd be doing," he said.

But Bird has been doing just that for about two years, using lessons from Rundus boot camps.

He will begin conversations by handing out a pamphlet made to look like U.S. currency. The pamphlet appears to be a $1 million bill, but it has Biblical passages on it.

If a pedestrian appears interested, Bird will ask what he calls the million-dollar question: "If you died tonight, where would you spend eternity?"

The Great News Network instructs preachers to then discuss the 10 Commandments, asking listeners if they've ever lied, stolen, cursed or lusted, making them unsuitable for heaven.

"If just one persons life was changed, then it's worth it all," Bird said.

Local leaders will ultimately determine whether Rundus ministry group is able to make its city invasion work on a national level.

"Its time for Christians to stop going on retreats," Rundus said, "and start going on the advance."

Soul Patch

2006-09-21T16:25:00.000-05:00

I’m limping back into the blogosphere and so I must resort to using some fodder from my personal life rather than the more universal themes like Aggie Football that I normally employ. So in weighing the twin evils of not blogging at all and blogging about what I had for breakfast, I’m venturing forth with these two personal revelations:

I’m learning more about myself lately. I’m being revealed to myself through my job, my friendships (or lack of friendships), some new acquaintances, my sin, some reading, and a not-too-careful look at the way I spend my thoughts and deeds. Here’s one of many things I’ve discovered about myself: I desperately need to be soulful. I need to see beauty or art, hear music, play music, read something written with feeling, write something compelling. I need this daily. I don’t think most people feel this need. Most people look at me like a freak when I say something about it. But without those experiences, my soul gets dry and flaky and takes my mind with it.

I sent my manuscript off today to the first agent who has asked to read the whole thing.

Mark Ye This Day, Scurvy Dogs!

2006-09-19T10:06:00.000-05:00

It has been almost a MONTH since my last post. My muse has returned but she is wounded deeply. It will take some time and a lot of nurturing for her to regain her strength. In fact, posting anything today is really rushing matters. But I couldn't let the day pass without reminding everyone of its importance. Today is National Talk Like A Pirate Day! Please mark the observance with the proper amount of reverence, mirth and grog. Also, be sure to check out the "How to Speak Pirate Video" about halfway down on this page.

Not In Training

2006-08-21T09:15:00.000-05:00

My brother and I are thinking about running the half marathon at White Rock this winter. We're quasi-training for it now (which means saying we would run if it weren't so danged hot outside!) It got us talking yesterday about training for godliness, like Paul tells Titus to do.

Tommy Nelson used to disciple a small group of college-aged men every year. They called them Young Guns. There was an application process for being in the group. Apparently, he put them through the ringer in terms of study, spiritual exercises and accountability. That always sounded like an awesome deal to me. And I've wanted a mentor ever since I heard about that. But here's the thing: I need a goal.

I'm not good at physical training for the sake of being in shape. I need a race or a game or a goal of some kind to train for. If the White Rock wasn't dangling out there in the near future, I wouldn't even be thinking about running this summer.

In a way, I wish my faith walk was like that. I know God is a person and my walk with him is a relationship - not a task to be checked off my list or a "personal best" to be attained. But I sometimes wish there were objective goals I could set in my relationship with God - something I could commit to and say, "I'm going to do this, by golly, even if it means getting up at 5am for training."

But I don't think those kinds of goals exist for the very reason that they do exist in other endeavors. If I were to have a goal like that, God would become for me a target - a challenge to be met. And then, once met, what? I guess I don't set those kinds of goals for any other relationships in my life (maybe I should?)

Once again, the Lord proves to be an uncontainable sovereign. Still, a mentor would be nice. I could stand to be "put through the ringer."

Missing Muse

2006-08-13T18:30:00.000-05:00

Wow. Two weeks since my last post. This is almost a dead blog! I sincerely apologize. I've had almost zero desire to write for the past two weeks. My muse is gone. She left me for a goatee-wearing 40-something with a Harley named Shara. I hope she comes back. It doesn't matter what she's done.

Satirical Soliloquy

2006-07-31T09:14:00.000-05:00

I've just discovered satire and it's a romp! Here's my intellectual confession - I've never read any satire...any. It has always just seemed out-of-reach for me, something I wouldn't really relate to and therefore not appreciate. But last week I picked up No Way To Treat a First Lady by Christopher Buckley only because Buckley wrote a guidebook on Washington, D.C. that I enjoyed during my trip there last month (Washington Schlepped Here: Walking in the Nation's Capital). It's a riot in a very reserved, tongue-in-cheek way. Sort of a quiet riot, I guess. Anyway, Buckley has opened my eyes to satire. Does this mean I'm going to start reading The New Yorker and shopping at Highland Park Village? I kinda doubt it. But I might buy a smoking jacket.

Landis Lampooned

2006-07-27T17:22:00.000-05:00

Guess my previous post about Floyd saving the tour was a little premature. But they still don't have solid evidence. For now, I'm choosing to believe the Flandis.

But even if the B sample confirms the A result, Landis is not necessarily guilty of taking an illegal performance enhancing drug to boost his testosterone. Some riders can prove that they have an elevated Testosterone/Epitestosterone (T:E) level, if they undergo an endocrine test performed by a credible doctor. Landis said he will use Spanish doctor Luis Hernández, who has helped other riders prove a high T:E count. "In hundreds of cases, no one's ever lost one," Landis told SI.
In 1999, Colombian rider Santiago Botero was able to prove his elevated testosterone levels (over four times the allowed limit) were natural. His doctor at the time was Kelme's Dr Eufemiano Fuentes.
Landis is looking for other answers too. He is allowed to take cortisone for his degenerating right hip, although he said during the Tour that he had only had a couple of injections this year. But he also told SI that he'd been taking daily doses of a thyroid hormone to treat a thyroid condition. Even if either of these can explain his high T:E ratio, Landis realises that it will be hard to convince people. "I wouldn't hold it against somebody if they don't believe me," he said.
-cycling news

Stuggling for Posts

2006-07-27T11:33:00.000-05:00

I'm having trouble with Blogger lately. Is anyone else having this trouble? In any case, I just wanted to fight through it long enough to give you a couple of links to great stuff.

Russ's blog has a post about a new book I've got to get on Spiritual Disciplines. I have this love/hate relationships with spiritual disciplines. I love them when they draw me closer to God, but I tire of them quickly. Then they stop bringing me into his presence and just start being a chore and then a lose them for a while and then, after a while, I rediscover them and love them. Russ has some good insights about the disciplines as well as some "How did he read my mind" insights about growing up Southern Baptist. Read the post here.

This blog is from some guy that Steve knows. I don't know him but his blog is genius.

TdF Wrap-Up

2006-07-24T11:37:00.000-05:00

This Tour de France started with a drug scandal and a weakened field. It could have made a lot of would-be watchers tsk-tsk and turn their heads. But for Landis’ exploits, this might have become an anonymous tour, given fringe fans reason to abandon the sport, and left American cyclists with an “at- least- we- did- such- and- such” taste in their mouths. I don’t think Landis was thinking about any of that when he attacked in Stage 17. I don’t think he was thinking about anything beyond his embarrassment, his ambition, and his team. From what I’ve read about him, Landis likes to keep his thoughts narrowed to those things. But without realizing it, Landis might have saved the sport this year. Or, at least, he turned a bad year for the Tour into a good year for American cycling.

Outside has an excellent profile of Landis that reveals some of his quirky, bold and simple personality.

That personality was also revealed in the way he handled his disgrace on Stage 16. The press conference, if you could call it that, showed something about Landis’ character but also something about the character of cycling. What other sport would ever see one of its star players address the press sitting alone on the steps of his hotel villa? If that were the NFL, we’d have had Drew Rosenhaus repeating “next question.” If it were the NBA, fines would fly. MLB? Forget about a major leaguer sitting on his front porch and chatting for free. The only other sport where something like this might happen is NASCAR. Cycling has its problems, but its athletes are accessible and its personalities are genuine.

Cycling News revealed that Eddy Merckx bet on Landis the day he lost 10 minutes. He got 75-to-1 odds.

Forgetting the World Cup (or trying to), America has done herself proud in international sporting events this year. We won more medals in the winter Olympics than expected. And yesterday there were two huge events in the world of sport, both in Europe and both won by Americans.

Message of Romans

2006-07-20T10:21:00.000-05:00

I love reading Romans in the Message. It seems to be the book where Peterson's paraphrase most dramatically enlivens the text for me. Here's how Peterson handles Romans 12:1-2

So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life - and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Mid East Musing

2006-07-17T10:01:00.000-05:00

Every so often when something erupts in the Middle East like it is now I can’t help but racking my brain to try to think of something that we could do – some way to help. As if there’s something that the brightest minds in diplomacy haven’t considered. I know there will always be conflict in the Middle East and I probably don’t have much to contribute. But I can’t help but wonder about options.
I had an idea this morning. When I worked at the newspaper, I covered something called the Ulster Project. It’s a week-long camp in the U.S. attended by Catholic and Protestant teenagers from Northern Ireland. It’s a way of exposing young people to people and viewpoints different from their own and pre-empting any indoctrination they might receive in the future that includes hate against another group. It’s a neat program. Of course, it has its limitations. Parents who send their teens to the Ulster Project are probably the same parents who would protect their kids from involvement in “the troubles’ anyway. But I still like the idea.
Is there a way to do something like that in Arab nations? Imagine Arab and Jewish teenagers at camp together! Wow! There are big problems with this – how are you going to get kids to take part? There are financial and huge cultural barriers. Kids would be taking a big risk aligning themselves with something like that. But if militant Islam can recruit and brainwash young men to carry out suicide attacks, is there a way for peace-loving people to recruit and educate those same kids? Or possibly just reinforce peaceful principles in kids who won’t be recruited by militant groups but who might turn out to be the next generation of leaders for their countries? How do we get to them? And how can they be protected once they do take part in something like that?
Anyway, just thoughts. I just bang my head against the Muslim/Jewish thing now and again and thought I’d share.

Sanitized Insanity?

2006-07-13T10:13:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I read this description of a local attraction - Legacy Town Center in Plano - provided by the city itself:

One of dozens of faux downtowns popping up across the country, spurred by a demand for urban living scrubbed of the reality of city life. A careful mix of retail, residential and office space built with traditional materials such as stone and brick, Legacy looks like a city but has neither panhandlers nor potholes. Legacy Town Center is built in a contemporary style, with hints of Frank Lloyd Wright. Its use of brick and limestone give it an old-time veneer. Retail buildings have been built a different heights to make the town center look like it’s evolved over decades with more than 1,500 apartments and town houses, some 80 shops and restaurants, two mid-rise office towers and a Marriott Hotel.

Someone tell me: isn't there something a little out-of-balance about this? Is this how our society thinks? This doesn't make me want to visit Plano. It kinda makes me feel sorry for the people there who are apparently all clean and rich and and safe and comfortable and - to use the city's word - feaux.

You Know What Today Is?

2006-07-12T10:12:00.000-05:00

Today is the day that the peleton's route turns skyward toward the high mountains where men dance on the pedals of anger and the roads lie on the hillsides like pieces of discarded string. Today, the Tour reaches the Pyrenees.

Scintillating Debate

2006-07-11T17:17:00.000-05:00

How come all the really interesting disputes happen on Steve's blog? Oh well, here's one that I've spent considerable time banging my keyboard over, and I figured "Why waste all that typing?" So log on people! And speak out!

Breaking News: Landis is One Hip Wonder

2006-07-10T15:32:00.000-05:00

Read the VeloNews story.

Floyd Landis's reputation as the toughest guy in the peloton took a quantum leap Monday when he announced that a degenerative bone condition is causing so much pain he will undergo hip replacement surgery "sooner than later."
Landis said he will be able finish the 2006 Tour de France, where he sits second overall, but added that the pain has become so excruciating that surgery could come as soon as this summer.

Matt. 23:11-12 (Message)

2006-07-10T09:24:00.000-05:00

Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you'll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you're content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.

2006-07-07T14:29:00.000-05:00

720 Dunk

If this isn't doctored video, this represents an enormous leap forward in dunkology for all of humankind.

Friday Fun

2006-07-07T10:33:00.000-05:00

This week brought the sad news that Pat and the Wild Hanlons were eliminated from Treasure Hunters, a new reality show that I’m hooked on. That’s too bad. I was seriously considering launching a website called PatHanlonIsMyHomeboy.com. At one point in last week's episode, the mullet-wearing redneck donned a bandana outlaw-style, over his mouth and nose for no apparent reason. The world needs more Pan Hanlons. But alas, when you’re dumb as a post, it’s hard to keep pace in a game about riddles.

A couple of notes on OLN’s Tour de France coverage:

Looks like L.L. Bean has provided two matching blazers and three matching shirts for Phil and Paul’s wardrobe. On Day 2, they wore the same thing and I’m pretty sure Phil wore the same shirt two days in a row.
OLN is the king of promos. They run so many of those on-screen teases that they run them over their own graphics.

Here's a funny read (thanks, Steve) about a book series that is on my To Read list: the Pocket Guides Theological Issues series.

Did you know George W. and 50 Cent share a birthday? Yesterday, one turned 60 and the other 30. You think they shared a party as well? Maybe a backyard BBQ or a trip to Chuck E Cheese?

Yahoo! has launched a new thing called Yahoo! Answers. You post a question and anyone can give you an answer/advice. To kick things off, they recruited Bono to ask his big question. Answers are many, varied, and interesting. Enjoy.

It's Hard To Be Lawless

2006-07-06T09:07:00.000-05:00

Here's part of today's reading that got me thinking. (Have you noticed the new addition to this blog? The lectionary at the right of this page updates itself every day!)

The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. And now what the law code asked for but we couldn’t deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.
Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that god’s Spirit is in them - living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end, attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on god.
Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing.
Romans 8:3-8 (Message)

As much as I understand this concept mentally, I still have a hard time living it. When I sin – every time I sin – I tend to hide from God for a few days until things “blow over”. I find it almost impossible to face God for a while after I sin. That leads to this whole mindset that I’ve been in for years – that things have to go right for a while before I can feel really comfortable praying, worshiping, etc. I have to have a winning streak before I can feel good about my relationship with God.
But at its core, that is living under the law, not under grace. When I fail, that is exactly when I should run to the Lord.
I understand Romans. I know the logic well. I don’t put it in practice very well, though.

Fourth & France

2006-07-05T10:52:00.000-05:00

You've got to feel good for Matthias Kessler. After his solo attempt failed Monday, he came right back and tried it again yesterday and this time got the win. Gutsy.

On the other hand, my fantasy TdF team is not doing well. Boonen is my sprinter and he's riding like a dummy - can't time anything. After Basso was DQd, I picked up Valverde and how he's out with a broken collarbone. This Tour is loosing big names every day (also yesterday we lost Freddie Rodriguez and Erik Dekker). This may come down to who can stay upright for 21 days.

Took the kidos to watch fireworks last night. The show wasn't very good and Bethany was terrified by the noise, but it was still a good feeling to watch them with the family. Our Independence Day included friends, burgers, cherry pie, Soussa, and fireworks. What else could you ask for?

Instruments of Righteousness

2006-07-03T09:52:00.000-05:00

I have come to have a very gnostic view of the flesh, and a verse in Romans that I read this morning is making me rethink that. I always think of my flesh as bad. Its desires seem to have no use in the kingdom. They only sustain life so that I can use my heart and mind for the kingdom. Obviously, my hands and feet - those parts of me that can do labor - can be useful. But my stomach? My libido? Sleepiness? Wouldn't I be such a better Christian if I had no need for food or sleep or sex?

Romans says no.

Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make
you obey their passions. No longer present your members to sin as instruments of
wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from
death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness.
For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under
grace.
Romans 6:12-14

"Present your members to God as instruments of righteousness." Not to get too graphic here, but I think that means every part of me - every hormone and hunger and hair - can be an "instrument of righteousness."

TdF Stage 1 Report

2006-07-03T09:29:00.000-05:00

A couple of images from yesterday's Tour de France Stage 1 (Yes, there's another off-beat, global sporting event we all need to pay attention to.) For a complete report on the Tour, visit www.velonews.com.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. I'm glad Georgie finally gets to wear yellow.

Thor, God of Blood.

Both Velonews and OLN reported that what caused the cut on Thor's arm was a plastic fan sign. Sure looked like a lot of blood for basically a paper cut. He had to have stitches. I know they were doing close to 40mph, but still - that couldn't have been a plastic #1 finger could it? In any case, looks like those fan signs are going to be banned.

Tour de Dopes

2006-06-30T10:05:00.000-05:00

Well, I keep saying this isn't a sports blog, but then I keep writing about sports. This one, though, is big. At least in my world.

Ivan Basso, Jan Ulrich, Oscar Sevilla, Francisco Mancebo and several other riders have been suspended from the 2006 Tour de France which starts tomorrow. All of them are suspected of doping. In all, 58 pro riders have been named in connection with a Spanish doping ring that has come to be known as Operation Puerto, the details of which have been trickling out for several weeks thanks, mostly, to the efforts of a Spanish newspaper called El Paìs.

For those of you who don't follow cycling, think of this as a confluence of the stories of Barry Bonds (doping), Sammy Sosa's corked bat (no one knew they were doping), and MLB Congressional hearings (more people were doping than we thought), all on the eve of the World Series.

Admitttedly, there has been no proof that these guys are guilty, but apparently the circumstancial evidence (which involves police raids on apartments where bags of blood and financial ledgers were found bearing the riders' names or "code names") is strong enough to convince the various team directors to suspend the riders.

There is good news and bad news here:

The good news is that these directors sportifs (team coaches) are the ones doing the suspending. Even if there is evidence that they know about that we don't that clearly proves guilt, it's a little refreshing to see those guys step up and do the suspending of their own riders rather than wait for UCI (cycling's governming body) to do it. Like Phil Ligget said, cycling has long been on the front lines of the battle against doping in sports. Now, cycling seems to be voluntarily taking it on the chin again.

For the U.S., there is also good news that none of the names released today in connection with Operation Puerto are American. In fact, all but a few of the accussed riders are Spanish. (The one exception is Tyler Hamilton who retired last year after being found guilty of doping. I've seen his name mentioned in stories about Operation Puerto, but to be honest, I'm not sure if he was connected with this particular "doctor" or someone else.)

The bad news is that this ruins my fantasy TdF league and will probably ruin this year's Tour for many American fans. It opens the door for more American riders to win, but the whole race will be overshadowed by the doping story, much like the Festina scandal in 1998 in which Marco Pantani was a primary player and now every time a commentator mentions Pantani's wins or records, you have to wonder if they should have an asterisk by them.

Of course, the other bad thing about this is the timing. I suppose that was dictated by El Paìs. I wonder how long they sat on names in order to release them the day before the Tour. Maybe there are other things at work but it seems like a dirty trick. With the TdF field set, none of the suspended riders will be replaced on their teams. This is also the first year for new TdF director Christian Prudhomme. Welcome to Pro Cycling, Chrissy.

The whole thing would, of course, be less frustrating if we had all the facts or at least a clearer picture of the facts that UCI has. European journalism is maddening in its refusal to attribute. They're good at using the words "alleged" and "suspected" but not good at telling us what lead to allegations and suspicion.

Oh well, I'll still watch. And we can all pull for Floyd Landis. If the Mennonite is doping, then we really are in trouble.

Movie Review - Syriana

2006-06-29T09:47:00.000-05:00

Here's what I like about mixed-up movies like Traffic and Syriana: they get you thinking. Here's what I don't like: they have no redeeming value. Christine and I watched Syriana last night. It took two hours to watch, but I think I can pass along the message in about two seconds. Ready?

There's trouble in the Middle East.

If that's a surprise to you, then maybe you should watch Syriana (or the national news). Otherwise, don't bother. I think there was a political message (oil companies=bad, republicans=bad, U.S. involvement in the Middle East=bad) but it was hard to care much about that because the story was so miserable. This is a movie like Cider House Rules in which everyone is a victim of his/her circumstance and no one rises above their circumstance. This is a story completely without virtue, meaning or beauty. It raises important and complex questions to be sure, but it does so while holding no hope for their resolution. It sheds light on a difficult political, religious, economic, and cultural situtation, but it does so while blending in disjointed, senseless misery. (I imagine at one point the writers said to one another: "We're not making the situation in the Middle East seem as bad as it should. We want the viewer to feel really bad about foreign oil and the like. Let's electrocute a six-year-old in an accident! Not because it makes sense. Just because we want this to be uncomfortable.)
Syriana has its points of good political philosophy. There are fleeting scenes, meant to be poignant, I think, in which Muslims wonder at Hollywood and capitalism. I liked those 30 seconds. The rest came off like a collaboration between Stephen King and Richard Engel.
I'd rather watch either.

Bad Writing

2006-06-27T14:07:00.000-05:00

Found this bit of wisdom on www.reallivepreacher.com.

Bad Writing Days

These are the mind games you play.

I have some writing tricks, but I never say that I’m going to put aside writing for a time in hopes that I can bluff my muse into giving it up. That’s like a cheap line in a single’s bar. That’s like telling a headstrong toddler that you are going to leave him in the grocery store.

“I’m leaving, Trevor. I really am. I’m going now. Goodbye Trevor.”

Here is a tip for you: Never try to bluff or seduce your muse. Instead, court her. Learn to love her. This is a marriage, not a one-night stand.

I'm in a long string of bad writing days, and I think it has to do with my keep- him- at- arms- length- because- he's- too- hard- to- seek- out- and- I've- got- other- things- to- deal- with relationship with God right now.

Still Grieving

2006-06-23T09:06:00.000-05:00

Today, for the first time since Tuesday night, I had the strength to read a newspaper story about the Mavs. The minute the game ended Tuesday, I flipped off the TV, threw the remote across the room, and began a half-week grieving sulk. I feel like a jilted lover - "I love you but you let me down!" So depressing.

Last night, Bethany and Zach experienced their first trip to the movies! The theater in Valley Ranch is re-opening today and we went to a family sneak preview night last night with both kids. I was sure it would be a mistake but they were both really good!

Here are a few more photos from D.C.

Capitol at dusk with U.S. Army Ceremonial Band playing on the west steps.

Best time to see the monuments is at night.

Jefferson's monument is more pretenteous than the others, but the inscriptions are more inspiring.

Honest Abe is very imposing.

World War II Memorial is new, and controversial.

That's the real deal. You can take pictures of it if you don't use flash.

West front of Capitol during daylight. The statue in front is Ulysses S. Grant.

Detail of some of the carving in the Capitol rotunda.

No Time

2006-06-22T17:06:00.000-05:00

Washington was cool. I'm glad I went but glad to be back.
Mavs are not cool. I'm going to sulk for a week.

No Travel Log

2006-06-18T15:32:00.000-05:00

Well, my moblogging dreams have been dashed. Blogger is rejecting emails sent from my phone and the rates for Internet usage in the hotel are outrageous. And I haven't found a cyber cafe yet. So this might be my only post from DC and, since there's no card reader here, it won't include photos, of which I have many.
DC is way cool. Very pretty and very clean city. Everyone here seems to fall into two categories: visitors who are happy to be on vacation seeing the sites, or locals who are happy to see the visitors seeing the sights. It's a shame I've seen three other national capitols before I saw my own!

Some highlights:
-Took communion at the National Cathedral this morning.
-Visited the big sites on the National Mall - Capitol, Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln Monuments, Vietnam and Korea Memorials. Awe-inspiring stuff. I think Lincoln is my fav.
-Saw the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. The actual original documents. Did you know a 26-year-old signed the Declaration?
-Stood in the spot where Dr. King gave his I Have a Dream speech.

There's more but I've got to quit soon. This is costing me $.79/minute.
Game 5 tonight. I'm nervous.

Not So Glorious

2006-06-15T10:33:00.000-05:00

Watched Glory Road last night. Is it just me or is this a movie full of look-alikes? The guy who played the coach reminded me a lot of Matthew McConaughey. His wife looked like Amy Poehler from Saturday Night Live. The guy playing Coach Rupp looked like John Voigt with swamp fever. And the guy playing David Lattin (the biggest player) looked like somebody, but I couldn't tell who.
Not only are the actors look-alikes, but so is the plot. Seemed to me like some execs sat around and had this discussion:
"Hey, what movie are we going to do next?"
"I dunno. Remember how much money the Titans made?"
"Yeah. Let's do that again."
Also, there were cameos in there by Stars announcer Ralph Strangis and Mavs color man Bob Ortegel.

One more note: this will be my last post from Irving. I'm leaving town tomorrow and, unless I figure out moblogging soon, I'll be blog-less for about 5 days. I hope we all survive the ordeal.

Postponing the Inevitable

2006-06-14T10:08:00.000-05:00

Game 3 was Miami's best chance to steal a game in this series and that's what they did - by the skin of their teeth, with the help of 2 Shaq made free throws, a missed Dirk free throw, and a Gary Payton 26-foot jumper. Ninety-nine times out of 100, those three things don't happen. So I'm still not worried about the series. The one thing that did bother me about last night was our rebounding. We outrebounded our opponents in the first 17 games of the playoffs and all of the sudden, we can't get one. And it wasn't all Shaq keeping us off the boards. We just didn't seem to be scrapping for them.

I'm also concerned about the state of sports journalism in Germany. Apparently, everyone else at ESPN Berlin is busy with World Cup so they sent Boris Becker to cover the Finals.

Neat.

When the mitten took a step inside the 3-point line and went up, I said "Good." It was good, but that's not what I meant.

Cold chillin'

"Dude, I'm right behind you."

Don't worry, Jet. It will soon be yours.

Fan Sightings

2006-06-13T09:27:00.000-05:00

I don't know if this is good luck or not, but in the last week, I have run into both Boogie Bob and Thunder (or Turbo or whatever his name is) the lip-sync guy. Boogie Bob was at Wal-Mart. I talked to him briefly. Above, he's pictured with Sarah Dodd, reporter for CBS11 and one of our guests in the suite during Game 1 against Phoenix. I sat next to Thunder at...ready for this...church! I didn't talk to him. He slipped out before the service ended. Probably had to go warm up for the game that night.

Only seven teams in NBA history have swept the finals. The last team to do it was the 2002 Lakers vs. New Jersey. The same franchise has never done it twice. Let's make it eight.

Since 1980, only eight teams have won the Finals: Lakers (8), Celtics (3), 76ers (1), Pistons (3), Bulls (6), Rockets (2), Spurs (3). It take a while to climb to the elite in the NBA, but once you're there, it seems to stick.

From the way-back machine: check out this scouting report on Dirk from 1998. Note his upside:

"At best, he's the next Keith Van Horn."

A few more notes from Game 2:

During some Dampier free-throw attempts in Game 2, a fan behind us was chanting "M-V-P! M-V-P!" Funny.
I can't wait to revisit "Ericka-talk" after the series. Shaq enjoys calling Damp "Ericka" and cracking jokes about him playing for the Monarchs, not the Mavericks. Funny, but not as funny when Shaq is the third-best center in the Finals.
Before Sunday night, there had only been six four-point plays in Finals history. Howard and Stack both had one. Stack's was tremendous - deep corner, end of the half, shot clock on his back.
As much as I enjoyed attending Sunday night, I've got to say that I was never really on the edge of my seat. Even when the game was close, I didn't have that worried, nail-biting feeling. During other playoff games, you could have found me pacing the floor in the luxury suite, yelling at a TV in a sports bar, or standing in front of my TV because I couldn't sit down. This time, even with the score close, it was never worrisome. (Is that a word?)

Hallelujah!

2006-06-12T11:04:00.000-05:00

Because God is good, he sent a messenger in the form of [name witheld for reasons of reputation] with the message, "Do you want to go to the game tonight?"
"Me?" I asked and fell on my face. "I am but a humble servant. I have no money or talent that you should condescend to me with such a worthy calling ... Ok, I'll go."

The game was awesome though not really as frenzied as I expected. The crowd was definitely into it (lady in front of me stood up for every rebound) but it was a blowout and, as I had heard, the Mavs did tone down the presentation a little (less Humble Billy, no sign of Champ, generally less on-court craziness).

I was so thrilled to go though. It was the first championship game I've ever attended (assuming high school and intramural don't count) and it was awesome. Did I say that already? And I think it may be the last game of the year in Dallas. A sweep is not out of the question here. And I certainly think the Mavs can win 2 of 3 in Miami. And thus two championship streaks will continue for Big D:

1. A professional sports championship has never been won in Dallas.

Super Bowls were, of course, at neutral sites, and the Stars won the cup in Buffalo.

2. Dallas teams with stars on their uniforms win championships.

Cowboys have always had the star helmet and have won 5.

Stars were winning as soon as they came to Dallas.

Mavs started winning when Cuban bought the team and introduced new unis with a star on the back.

If the Rangers know what's good for them, they'll put a big star behind that "T" on their chests.

Also, for the record, I think the confetti after Games 1 and 2 was premature. We should probably save that for finals and league series wins.

Let's Talk Sweep

2006-06-10T18:49:00.000-05:00

I know I'm waaay early in saying this but, the Mavs have got this thing in the bag if they want it. They're better. Just watching them you can see it. They are better players in a better system. I think if they keep their heads about them, this whole series could turn into a week-long parade.

Which brings me to the thing that Bob Sturm has been repeating over and over again the last few days: Miami = Finland. If the Mavs are the 1980 USA Hockey Team, then San Antonio is Russia and that means that Avery better ride his team hard these last few games just as Herb Brooks did the night his team won gold.

More than anything, I keep thinking not how good both of these teams are, but how they're both such a collection of spare parts. Rewind your basketball brain to the beginning of this season and tell me what you thought of the following players.

Udonis Haslem
Adrian Griffin
James Posey
Segana Diop
Jason Williams
Erick Dampier
Gary Payton
Jerry Stackhouse

Tell me you pegged those guys to be in the Finals. Sure, Dirk and Shaq are (although there's been plenty of debate about Dirk until he silenced the critics this season). But the rest of these gusy do NOT seem like NBA Finals material to me. Again, I think it's the coaches. Both of them.

A few other notes:

I love watching Shaq shoot free throws. Did you know he tied his own playoff record in Game 1 for most free throws attempted in a game without a make? Wonderful.
Remember when we traded for Jason Terry? Am I wrong or was that trade Terry for Antoine Walker. Man, I wish we had that one back. Pump up the volume, Twan! You're a shooter...keep believing!

Lift Off

2006-06-09T09:06:00.000-05:00

I'm really surprised at how easy that was last night. I may have to retract my post about the Heat being better than us on paper. They're not. Not even when Dirk and Josh BOTH have an off night. I know the Heat can play better, but so can the Mavs. After Duncan and Nash, it may turn out that Shaq and Wade don't measure up.

Game notes:

I'm so happy that Jet had a game like that. He's due. He's such a clutch player and seems to be a likable guy. Plus, he let Ben and Skin into his house.
I'm so happy when Antoine Walker touches the ball. I know he may break out of his 10-year slump any day now and torch us for 50, but for now, we need to get him more touches. After all, he's a "volume-shooter", remember?
I'd be happier if Dirk would get to the rim more. In the second half, he started doing that thing where he puts the ball on the ground for one dribble and then pulls up for a jumper - even if he had a lane to the basket. I know Shaq is lurking in there but let's take it to him, Dirk. You're a 7-footer and he needs some fouls.
Where was the halftime entertainment? Don't the Finals warrant an appearance by U2 or some other big-time act?
Back to Walker, has anyone else noticed that he takes tiny steps?
Remember when we called him J-Dub and he was on a Nike commercial? How the mighty have fallen.
I tried my darndest to get tickets yesterday. Next time, I'm going with these guys and getting in free:

Let's Get It On!

2006-06-08T09:29:00.000-05:00

Scattershooting on the day of Dallas first NBA Finals game:

Enough waiting, already! Let's get this pawty stawted!
I have so many non-Finals things to blog about (funny pro cycling quotes, Washington D.C. trip, William Shatner the Rocketman) but for now, they'll have to wait.
Do you know how hard it is to find Mavs gear in this town? All I want is a T-shirt!
Even harder to get tickets. I've been hawking stubhub, ebay, etc. and the prices are incredible. Cheapest I've seen is $225 for nosebleed. And I've heard rumors of $70k for floor seats. Let's see...pay off the house or go to Game 1...hmmm.
The Dallas Morning News had a funny Top 10 on their editorial page yesterday, "Top 10 Reasons Dallas Deserves the NBA Finals Trophy More Than Miami." Funniest line: "No one ever asks who shot Crockett and Tubbs." Second funniest: "If David Hasselhoff is for us, who can be against us?"
This series is as much about the coaches as the players. If you measure the player talent only, I think Miami has us beat. But the Little General's system makes our team better than the sum of its parts. Let's just hope it doesn't come down to Avery drawing up a last-minute play.

"Gentlemen, I think you'll find those the same measurements as our court back home in Hickory."

Ramping Up

2006-06-07T09:52:00.000-05:00

A few things to think about as the Finals draw near:

Shaq is getting better. He's still the least talented hall-of-fame player ever, but he's improving.
I don't think Avery will employ the hack-a-Shaq tactic. Doesn't seem like his style. But we WILL have to foul Shaq a lot becuase he WILL get the ball in the post and then we have no answer. We need big minutes out of Damp and Diop. And more than help defense on Shaq, we need solid peremeter defense on the guards so it's not easy for them to feed Shaq down low.
Shaq and D Wade will present the biggest problems we've faced on defense so far. San Antonio might have caused big problems but they decided to go small. Miami won't. Mavs fans should really be afraid of those two combining for 100 points.
We have a bad history of losing to Shaq.
But the last time we met Miami we beat them by a million.
This Mavs team doesn't score points in bunches. If they get a 20-point run, like they did in Game 6 vs. Phoenix, it's 28-8, not 20-0. They're much more methodic and plodding than Mavs teams of the past. So we need to have a lead or a small deficit going into the fourth quarter because we're not good at catching up quick.

Some other thoughts:

I like Avery's watch.

The big winner in this year's finals? American Airlines.

Halfway down the Mavs homepage under "Other News", you can download the "Diop Diop" video. Genius.

6.6.06

2006-06-06T14:16:00.000-05:00

Today is not a good day if you suffer from

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia

Finals, Finally

2006-06-06T11:21:00.000-05:00

Where to begin? So much to say about reaching the NBA Finals. I have so many people to thank and so many memories...

First of all, if the Mavs don't win another game this season, I believe the season is a success. I wouldn't have said that if they hadn't beaten Phoenix because the bar was set at a conference championship. That's one game better than the franchise has ever done and I think that's what Dallas was expecting out of this team. I also think that they've come far enough this year that if they lose the Finals, contrary to my earlier post, they still would have a good chance to win it next year. But still, I think their best chance is right in front of them right now.

No offense to Brad Davis or Rolando Blackmon, but I'm so glad that the Mavs finally have a real reason to hang a banner in the AAC! Our first real banner!

I haven't been following the Mavs for all of their 26 years, but I've been a fan long enough that this year's success feels well-deserved. Let's take a moment to thank all of those Mavs who helped (or didn't help) along the way. Remember when we used to hang our hopes on the likes of Gary Trent and Eric Strickland? When Gary Trent was our bruiser inside? And we relied on Calvin Booth to his a last-second bunny to win playoff games? I was at the game at Reunion when A.C. Green broke the record for most consecutive games played. And I rolled my eyes with the rest of Dallas when Cuban signed Dennis Rodman. Christian Laettner, Robert Pack, Kurt Thomas, Raef LeFrenz all carried our hopes along the way and, often, dropped them like a Suns second-half lead.

Some of those former Mavs (most notably and sympathetically Michael Finley) have been on the losing end against their former team this year. This playoff run has knocked our Finley, Steve Nash, Nick Van Exel, and Raja Bell. And next up is the "volume shooter" Antoine Walker. I felt for Fin and Nash when we beat them. I'm going to love beating Walker. I was never his fan.

That's enough Mavs Musings for today. Tomorrow, we'll tackle the Shaq factor, American Airlines, and what Vegas has to say.

Peace, out.

Potty Talk

2006-06-06T09:08:00.000-05:00

Big news from the Sanders home:
Bethany went PeePee in the Potty!
Bethany went PeePee in the Potty!
Bethany went PeePee in the Potty!
Bethany went PeePee in the Potty!

No Finals Yet

2006-06-05T09:33:00.000-05:00

If you've read this blog much over the past few weeks you know that it's been very Mavs-intensive. So you would expect the first post after the Mavs win the West to be about basketball. But I met a family yesterday whose character trumps basketball.

Ellen (my sister-in-law) moved to an apartment in Irving a couple of months ago and is still getting settled. A doctor who she works with is moving to North Carolina and offered to give her some furniture. I went over to the doc's condo yesterday to help Ellen move the stuff. When we got there, I learned that this was not a case of a rich doctor giving away junky old stuff to get new stuff.

First of all, the furniture was very nice. Had they sold it, I'm sure they could have collected $500 or so. But instead, they said, they decided to "give it to someone who could use it."

And the doctor is also an Army emergency medic, paratrooper, and police SWAT medic. He regularly goes along on Irving SWAT jobs to attend to wounded officers or suspects. He, his pregnant wife, and two-year-old son are moving to Ft. Bragg because Uncle Sam has "requested" such. And next month, he will leave for a tour in Iraq.

He helped us load, haul, unload, and set up the furniture and when I thanked him profusely as he was leaving, he said, "It was the right thing to do." Something tells me that the good doctor does a lot of the things because "it's the right thing to do."

I'll probably never see that family again, but it's encouraging to have met them and know they're out there.

Be safe, doc.

Give Me 50!

2006-06-02T08:44:00.000-05:00

Remember this line: 50 points, 12 rebounds, 5 three-pointers. In the second half: 33 points, 9-for-13 from the floor, 3-for-3 from 3-point range, 12-for-12 from the line, 8 rebounds. The big, goofy German did what Mavs fans have wanted him to do for three years - carry the team when it counted most.

I think NBA coaches and players overthing things sometimes.

Whether to play Diop or "go small" to match Phoenix. Is this really a hard choice? This is basketball. It's good to be tall and athletic. Play Diop. He rocks.
I know you don't expect Tim Thomas to beat you singlehandedly, but if he keeps hitting threes, put a man on him! We kept doubling Nash off the screen and leaving Thomas open. I think Avery was even yelling at Devin Harris to do it. Thomas wouldn't have been blowing many kisses if we hadn't been leaving him wide open looks. That leads me to a rant about defense...
Seems like all NBA defenses now are too help-oriented. There will be one guy on the ball and everyone else is sagging off their men waiting for the dribbler to drive. What if NBA teams played defense the way you learned in high school? If your man is one pass away, get up on him and put a hand in the passing lane. If your man is two passes away, sag and help. The only reason that might not work is that guys like Nash would get around there defenders more often. But my answer to that is that maybe our defenders should learn to move their feet. I never see a defender slide over to cut off a dribble any more. And if he does, he's doing it with the intention of flopping and drawing the charge. We could stop quick guys like Nash a lot more if we slid over in front of them, or if they're getting past, cross over and start to run with them. That's especially true with Nash since he doesn't change directions very quickly. And if he does get by, his dish options would be fewer if all our guys were covering their own guys. How many times have you seen Nash drive and by the time he gets to the lane he's got four Mavs collapsing on him and his choice of four teammates to feed?

Ok, but enough of the negative talk. What a game that was last night! Dirk was amazing. Here are a few other highlights:

Three shot clock violations by the Suns in the first half. They probably haven't had three shot clock violations in the whole season!

Two Mavs turnovers in the second half.

I wonder what our record is when this act performs at halftime.
Josh Howard: 23 points including five dunks and a block.

Here's a pregame pic of me, Dirk, and Mark Wahlberg.

The best sign of the night made a very brief appearance in the post-game: "Someone push Barkley back into the ocean."

Second best sign: "Free D.J. Mbenga."

Did anyone else notice the way Steve Kerr pronounced Mbenga during Game 4? "Mmmmmm-benga!"

I've decided that there is not a single basketball broadcaster in the world that I like. Plus, do we really need TWO sideline reporters?

TNT's best work is done away from the court. Funny Ali G spots here.

Terrific behind-the-scenes analysis from Matt Mosley here.

What's the deal with Avery and Nash doing post-game press conference in golf shirts? I thought there was a dress code.

Politics

2006-06-01T11:16:00.000-05:00

For the past three weeks or so, some friends and I have been cussing and discussing politics on Steve Hayes' blog. We're up to about 8,000 words now of what has turned out to be a very congenial, thoughtful, balanced discussion of topics as inflamatory as taxes and the war in Iraq.
You can read it here.

Streaks

2006-05-31T10:04:00.000-05:00

Last night was about streaks.

The run of seven Rangers/Mavericks identical outcomes ended. Rangers beat Seattle 6-4 but by that time, the freefall in Pheonix had already started.

Before last night, Dirk had scored 20 points or more in 42 consecutive games. That streak is over.

And then there's this kind of streaker. (Note: You Tube will warn you about nudity. Don't worry. It's not sexual. And it's all male.)

A few other notes from last night:

Apparently, Avery's wife is as much as fighter as he is.

I was so stunned I just sat there after the game and watched post-game interviews. Our guys did us proud in those interviews.

D'Antoni said words like "special" and "precious." Avery uses words like "rebound" and "defense." One of those two guys sounds like a basketball coach.
Both Avery and Dirk used the "next question" answer last night but both had good reason to do it and only did it once.
When an FSN Phoenix reporter gave Jerry Stackhouse a question that amounted to multiple choice regarding why the Mavs lost, Stackhouse said, "We're not going to make excuses when we lose. They were a better team tonight. They beat us. We're going to accept that and get ready for the next game."
Josh Howard said they let this one "slip away" and let Game 1 "slip away." I think that's this team's mentality. They're not thinking that they're up against this big giant who they can't stop. They all believe they can climb this mountain and it's up to them to do it. They act like the outcome is in their hands, not hinged on whether the Suns shoot better than 50 percent or something.

My prediction? The Suns have stirred up a hornet's nest. Mavs win the next two.

Catching Up

2006-05-30T09:55:00.000-05:00

I've become such a blog addict that being out of town for three days has really thrown me off. Here are a few thoughts to catch me up:

1. 95-88! Whoda thunk we could hold the Suns to 88 points! Heck, I figure if we hold them under 100, we have a good chance to win.

2. There's lots of talk about the Suns being tired. Sure, I agree that they've had a long playoff run and a lot of injury and their bench is short. But let's not count on Stevie Wonder going quietly because he's tired. Please.

3. The Rangers/Mavs win/loss streak has extended to 7. Rangers play Seattle tonight in Arlington. First pitch at 7:05. Game 4 tips at 8:10.

4. I watched Game 3 at the bar in a Buffalo Wild Wings in Pearland, TX. Even though I don't like wings, I'm now a fan of Buffalo Wild Wings.

5. Got the coolest gadget from WalMart.com this week. It's a little stick that plugs into the cigarette lighter in your car and plays mp3s from a flash drive! It'll also play from an iPod or other mp3 player with a 3.5 mm jack. Unfortunately, my phone/PDA/mp3 player has a smaller jack which makes it hard to integrate with car stereos, home audio, etc. But that's the genius of this thing - I just drag and drop audio files onto the flash drive and plug it in. It plays them via FM radio frequencies over your radio (so you probably lose a little quality but it's really not that bad). It has limited features (no shuffle or track display) but it works for me. Check it out here.

Bethany's First Gallery

2006-05-25T21:32:00.000-05:00

I interrupt this Mavs playoff coverage to bring you a photo collage by Bethany Sanders. My daughter took her first photos today. Some of them turned out pretty good, I would say. Good enough for me to proclaim her an art prodigy. Enjoy them now because soon you may have to pay $1,000 a piece for them.

My tie and fat belly.

Zach is worried. His foot is poised to attack.

Not sure how she did this.

Look at the way this is framed! Genius.

Feets!

Still life.

Um...she shoots what's eye-level.

There's a more flattering shot of Mom.

And Dad.

Laying Blame

2006-05-25T09:49:00.000-05:00

I have a bad feeling that we're going to get really tired of seeing Nash hit big shots during this series. Did I not warn the team with my pre-game post about that? His two threes in the last two minutes of play looked exactly like the daggers he used last year. I love him but I want to hate him.

But the real blame for last night's loss can only be placed in two places: me and the Texas Rangers.

I did many things wrong: bet on the game, failed to wear Mavs gear, and worked during the game in an AAC suite. Not good. A real fan would have stuck with what brung us.

And the Rangers lost a day game yesterday. Thanks to Andy for discovering this trend: the last five times the Mavericks and Rangers have played the same day, the result has been the same.

Game Face

2006-05-24T17:24:00.000-05:00

Getting serious about tonight's game. I'll be at the arena for this one and I've got some money on it so I'm way into it (as if I wasn't already.) A few thoughts:

It occured to me today that our road to the Finals may very well run through Tim Duncan, Steve Nash, and Shaquile O'Neal.
In the last 15 seasons, the team who won Game 1 of the Conference Finals won the conference 91 percent of the time.
Four seven-game series makes for an awefully long playoff season. That's a possible 28 games - more than a third of a regular season.
Let's not hate on Stevie like we did on Fin. Steve is a good guy. I wish we had him back.
Not to be negative here, but what Mavs fan isn't still haunted by Stevie's three at the end of Game 6 last year? Let us not do that again.

A few more Mavs/Spurs photos before we move on...

2006-05-24T10:37:00.000-05:00

He-man.

Josh got all growns up.

Now, tell me again, Spurs fan, how this wasn't a foul.

What will TNT do during dead balls if they can't show Eva?

Another pic of Dirk scoring over Manu. Familiar sight.

That's neat-o.

Happy.

Happy off-season, boys.

Game 7...OT...In-State Rivals....What Could Be Better?

2006-05-23T09:21:00.000-05:00

In the annuls of NBA history, last night will rank among the most memorable.

Only one other team has ever won a Game 7, on the road, in overtime.
Before last night, the Mavericks had never beaten the Spurs in a playoff series.
Only 15 percent of Game 7s in NBA history have been won by the visiting team.

A few observations about the Spurs:

I was thrilled to see Manu Ginobili make the bone-headed move to cost SA the game. The only thing that Pop said in the huddle before that play that tied it at 104 was "don't foul." Manu hit the big 3 to take the lead but then he committed that foul. The only way that could have been sweeter is if Tony Parker had been the screw-up.
I really feel sorry for Michael Finley. Let's remember, he is not the one who decided to leave Dallas. He also didn't ask to get punched in the crotch. He's always been a class act and, even though his new teammates have rubbed off on him a little, he whines less than most other Spurs. As a fan that watched Fin in the "green jersey years" when he was the only bright spot, I feel sorry for him that he went to play for the world champions and now gets beaten by his old team. Fin, I'll continue to wear your jersey with pride. (wiping away a tear....)
I don't feel so sorry for Duncan. And I have a prediction: Looking back on his career in a few years, Duncan will realize that he never won an NBA title without David Robinson. With the Admiral gone and the Little General on the other bench, Timmy couldn't keep his boat afloat. (Yes, I wrote that.)

A few observations about the Mavs:

Do free throws get any more clutch than the one Dirk hit to send it to overtime? Fire for brains, man. Fire for brains!
I loves me some DeSegana "You're-not-se-gonna-back-me-down-Timmy" Diop. Everybody say "Diop! Diop!" (Also, Diop is hard to type.)

A family affair:

All four members of my family were dressed for battle last night: I wore the Finley away jersey. Christine wore the Nash home jersey (yes, we specialize in jerseys of former Mavs). Bethany wore her Mavs cheerleader outfit. And Zach donned the Mavs onsie. It was fun but, in the light of day, I wonder if it was good family bonding or just pathetic. (Also, of the four outfits, I beleive Zach managed to spit up on three.)