A Mind Straining Project

Football Time 2010

2010-09-09T12:33:00.003-04:00

....yes I know I am one week in to college football but I had this post drafted before that I just never proof read. So here we go.....(Edited from draft)

Ok so I looked over my picks from last year(champions and what not) for NCAA and Pro and discovered I'm not real good a predictions but they are fun so I am going for them again. Since I'm an unabashed SEC homer I will only predict the SEC and the overall NCAA Champion. Unfortunately for all I think Boise State will be in the national championship game because they only have one true game to win. So this year is who is competing to face Boise. What a sad fact! (Edited from draft- I was right on with Boise beating VaTech)

SEC East - Georgia
SEC West - Alabama
SEC Champion - Georgia

NCAA Championship - Georgia vs Boise State

After a crazy off season for my Vols with the departure of the Lane Train Im not sure what to make of Dooley. Good background, been successful everywhere he was, and he seems to have a grip on discipline for a team that has struggled with it. The loss of Brown at RB will hurt but we have a favorable schedule. 8 - 4 with losses to Oregon, Bama, Georgia, Auburn. Improved but more improvement to make

Pros
AFC East - Miami
West - Chargers
South - Colts
North - Bengals
Wild Card - Texans
Wild Card - Ravens
Champion - Ravens

NFC East - Giants
West - 49ers
South - Panthers
North - Packers
Wild Card - Vikings
Wild Card - Saints
Champion - Packers

Super Bowl - Packers(I think it is their year with so much talent)

Proverbs 1

2010-03-01T05:53:00.003-05:00

As i mentioned in my previous post I am going to work on a serious of post for my son based around my study of Proverbs. God has given us all the "one-liners" we need to instruct and teach our children in His ways if we are just willing to use them. So I started with Proverbs 1. I don't know how long I will spend in this book. Most people do a Proverb a day. Not sure if that is where this is going yet or not, we will just have to see. As for Proverbs 1.....

I have read through the Proverbs many times and one of my favorite verses of Scripture is Proverbs 1:7, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction." I think if you had to put a big bow on the book of proverbs this verse is it. Now just a few notes I wrote as I read.

- Prov 1:5 "A wise man will hear and increase in learning, and a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel"

- To have knowledge is to have understanding of information about something. To have wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge to daily life.

- Major Themes of Proverbs 1

* v. 1-10 A call to knowledge and wisdom

* v. 11-19 Evil seeks possessions and destruction

* v. 20-33 Judgment

- Prov 1:31 "So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way and be satisfied with their own devices"

Lesson's to my Son

2010-03-01T05:35:00.002-05:00

I decided some weeks ago I had a lot of little tidbits of knowledge and wisdom I wanted to pass down to my son I started formulating a way and manner in which to do so. My dad taught me so much about what it means to be a man that I feel like I need to pass that blessing own to my son(never mind it is a biblical mandate). So when I started thinking about it I could not wrap my mind around a "method" to get this to my boy. Even doing a blog post did come to mind but the manner I was going to go about it was completely different than where I am now.

I had decided I was just going to put out the "one-liners" on the blog with a little bit of information about each one then in a couple of years I would just go to the blog when I had a lesson to teach. Well as so often is the case God had other plans. Yesterday while assembling my new Grill that I got with my Christmas gift card God started to speak to me. As I was thinking about all these little clip of information I wanted to pass down I kept coming back to thoughts of which I considered those of the evil one. Thoughts like "are you living these out?", "How can YOU teach these", and "Why would the boy listen to you?" Because I had cast them out as not my thoughts or God's voice I kept on pondering until this morning....

I rise most days around 5am. It is a time for me to be by myself. I don't have to think if I don't want to, I don't have to read if I don't want to, I can just sit and meditate if that is what I'm feeling, I can watch TV, I can surf the web. It is "me" time. As I walked away from my sleeping wife and warm bed at 5am this morning I was hit figuratively to the floor. God was talking to me yesterday. He was trying to tell me he has already done this series of post for me in the Bible in the book of Proverbs. Why would I re-invent the wheel when the wheel that has been given is PERFECT. So as I walked away I went in to the office grabbed my bible and started with Proverbs 1 this morning. I will in no means learn or pass on everything these snipets of wisdow contain but it is better than trying to make it up on my own.

Missing Home

2009-12-16T10:10:00.004-05:00

11 down 5 to go. If you don't know what I am referring to let me clue you in right quick and in a hurry. I decided back in July'ish this year that the next step in my professional career was to get some certifications. I don't remember who told me this statement but it rings VERY true. If you want to be successful, find someone that is successful and ask them what they did to become successful. So I ask someone whom I have a lot of respect for professionally. I will leave the name out as it doesn't matter but he/her was kind enough to give me a little of their story. After listening I spent sometime researching to try to find what was the best option for me. I came to the understanding that the next step was Microsoft Certifications. The MCSE(Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) is the industry standard so I started searching for classes around Louisville and found a 2 week boot camp to get these certifications. Well long story short the boot camp in Louisville was canceled and I was moved to take the class in Atlanta Ga. Remember me saying 2 weeks? ok just wanted to make sure.

So after much talk with Crystal we decided it was in our family's best interest for me to go ahead with the classes especially considering my work(THANK YOU!) was willing to give me the time off to take them. So i arrived in Atlanta on Dec 4th and will not be back in Louisville until the 20th. That is along time to be away from your family and I am really feeling it on day 11. Crystal is feeling it too and it is apparent that this was a lot harder than either of us thought it was going to be. For me it is so hard because of my schedule that i have maintained since I got here and let me shared that quickly:

5am - 7am : wake up, coffee, study, coffee, study
7am - 8am : breakfast and commute to training center
8am - 5pm'ish : lecture/study time/simulation, lunch
5pm - 6pm : commute to hotel, eat
6pm - 7pm : break(sometimes)
7pm - 11/12/1 : study

So as you can see I have literally ate, sleep, breathed, studied, and tested. The class requires 8 test in a two week period so as you can imagine I am overloaded and tired which only helps the situation. Crystal on the other hand is doing EVERYTHING at home and is pregnant with our second child. Talk about the double wammy and is still working 20 hours a week. She is tired and it is wearing on her too.

Finally I really miss my little boy. I get to see him on skype just about everynight we can but still isn't the same. he even looked at the babysitters computer the other day and said "Da-Da". That about crushed my heart cause I miss him and Crystal so much. It is amazing that sometimes it takes being pulled away from something to realize how much you need it/love it.

I have discovered a lot of things about myself I knew but didn't really "know" through this expedience. A#1 - I love my family! It is far to easy in the normal daily life to take it for granted but being away for 11 days(so far) has made me appreciate Crystal SO much more, respect her for how she loves, cares, and cherishes our family, and LOVE her more. I would die for that woman right now and would kill anyone that hurt her in any way. Same for my son. He is such a joy and it is far to easy to lose sight of that on days where all i want to do is rest and not chase him around telling him no and yes. But I will follow him and cherish every moment of it. Finally I have learned I'm not as bad at this learning thing as I thought. So far I have passed every test and with 4 more to go I don't see anything stopping me. so 11 days down 5 more to go. Can Sunday at 1pm'ish get here soon enough?

Authentic

2009-09-02T14:53:00.004-04:00

..and I don't mean "authentic" Mexican food you get a taco bell. I mean being authentic as a person, as a man or woman, as a Christian, etc. I had a very interesting conversation with a man at my work today that I highly admire. I will leave his name out as it isn't relevant to this post but the topic is relevant.

He came to my office this morning as ask me what I like so much about my church. As any of my readers have found I reference Sojourn quite a bit. It is hard not to when the place has had such a dramatic impact on my life in the past 2 years. I think I can sum it up with two things.

Number 1 - The first Sunday I went to Sojourn Daniel got up and made a statement to this affect, "We are a church for the over-churched and the under-churched". This statement spoke volumes to me. Sojourn was fresh and new and they didn't just stick to the old models and traditions of church because it was the way it has always been. That isn't to say they don't like tradition but they do want to make sure the tradition isn't just a "tradition" that there is a good relevant reason for it.

Number 2 - Sojourns focus is the gospel. They believe it doesn't just changes non-Christians but it changes Christians too. They believe it an authentic Christian life which includes the reality of hell, the ugliness of sin, our completely fallen selves, and our ever need for a Savior as we couldn't do it ourselves. The people are encouraged to be themselves in community and be AUTHENTIC.

Some people from the older generations want to know how to connect with my generation and the generations younger than me. It is really simply answer(doesn't mean simple in practice) Be authentic! Young people don't believe in the suit and tie Sunday morning where we all come in a sing as robots(that isn't to say that all churches like that aren't relevant as I am using generalizations)and everyone's lives on Sunday morning are all put together nice and tidy. We are pessimist and don't believe that your lives are truly put together but we believe you are simply living a lie(not being authentic). We believe in the Christian faith is something to be rejoiced but it is also messy, ugly, and hard. No single sinners prayer will save someone if they don't truly understand the implications of that prayer. You want to reach a younger generation....Be Authentic!

Football Time 2009

2009-08-28T12:21:00.003-04:00

Ok so I looked over my picks from last year(champions and what not) for NCAA and Pro and discovered Im not real good a predictions but they are fun so I am going for them again. Since I'm an unabashed SEC homer I will only predict the SEC and the overall NCAA Champion. This year I think there are probably 5 teams that could end up in the NCAA Championship game(not necessarly the best 5 teams mind you).

SEC East - Florida
SEC West - Ole Miss
SEC Champion - Ole Miss

NCAA Championship - Texas vs USC

My Vols will be improved on the field but still lose 5 going 7-5 this year but being very competitive in every game.

Pros
AFC East - Patriots
West - Chargers
South - Colts
North - Steelers
Wild Card - Titans
Wild Card - Ravens
Champion - Colts

NFC East - Eagles
West - Cardinals
South - Falcons
North - Bears
Wild Card - Vikings
Wild Card - Seahawks
Champion - Bears

Super Bowl - Colts in the rematch!

Ever lost an arguement...

2009-08-25T14:07:00.002-04:00

....? A number of months back I was hit with a statement by Daniel Montgomery. I don't recall the context but I know it was in regards to the Old Testament(probably in the first 5 books) as that is what we as a church are walking through this year.

"If you have never lost an argument, Your aren't teachable"

I am still chewing on all the implications of this statement but it has been kicking my butt for sometime as I am not one to lose an argument. I will argue a point to the death to not be wrong. I don't know why i do that but it is obviously something I need to change and I have been working on. Have you ever lost an argument?

Legalism and Christian Liberty

2009-08-25T13:35:00.006-04:00

...This post should probably be titled "Legalism vs Christian Liberty" but you can decide for yourself what you think. I have spent a great deal of time in the recent years "re-programming" my heart and mind from my early days in the church. I have spent a lot of my years in the church(I don't use "C"hurch because this is a building not the group of people though some crossover does occur) with the understanding that if I didn't hold steadfast to the "Spiritual Disciplines" and the "Rules" that I wasn't a good Christian. I lived with guilt, fear, and disappointment that I couldn't seem to be good enough.

Context
I became a Christian in 10th grade. After becoming a Christian I was mentored by many people at my local church. One of them basically handed me a list of scriptures and said, "Read and Study". I did read and study and the more I did the more legalistic and judgmental I became. I began to see scripture as a black and white book of rules instead of a living document. Before you jump out of your chair I'm not saying that the meaning of scripture changes but merely that it is not a list of hard fast rules. I became about the rules, they gave me clarity, they gave me power, they gave me control, and they boxed in God to something I could wrap my mind around.

The Change
A couple of years ago I was in a class with a group of men the the church Crystal and I attended at the time. As we discussed the divinity of God a man by the name of Todd, as he so often had the ability to do, laid me out with this statement, "God is God, I am Todd." Now this simple, yet to the point, statement set into motion something in me that has led me to where I am today. No matter how many rules I put in place, no matter how much time I spend in studying theology, no matter how big a box I put God in I am NEVER going to understand everything in this world and the box I place around God will never be big enough. If I did understand everything then I would be God and well we know that to be false.

The Deliverance
Through a series of events God led Crystal and I to Sojourn. We are so thankful for the family of believers that God has placed us with. I have grown more in the past 2 and a half years than in a long time. When the teaching is brought forward I learn, when the community gathers I grow, when conviction is placed at my feet I seem to see it more and I am more repentant than I have been in a long LONG time. Why one might ask? Liberty is the answer! One Sunday Daniel(our teaching pastor) was preaching about Israel wandering in the desert for 40 years because of their unfaithfulness. I had heard this story before but something brought it to new light. Israel wandered because they didn't believe God is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do. Instead they boxed him in and suffered for it.

Liberty vs Legalism
I spent a long time chewing on this and discovered this concept applies across the board. Legalism is a box! Legalism is our way of Not believing God is who He says He is. We made him in a list of easy to understand rules and we suffer because of it. Legalism is our way of not believing He will do what He says He will do. We made the things He can do in to a list that we pray asking him to do. Legalism is our way of believing he has not done what He said he has done. We have said the bible doesn't understand our modern culture so these rules have to be in place to help us in this day and time and we suffer for it. Where does liberty come in you might ask. Liberty is the opposite of Legalism. Liberty frees you to see that it isn't about the rule but it is about God. Take the use of "foul" language. In a Legalistic sense swearing is considered something a believer doesn't do. You don't ask questions you just don't do it. Ask why! The journey of the Christian faith is partially filled with asking why. God is big enough for you to ask why but also ask why about the "rules". I'm not saying I walk around cussing like a sailor BUT if I do say a cuss word it isn't something that I feel guilty about or worry that God will look down on me unfavorably because I did. Christ came to free us from our own guilt. We took something as glorious as the 10 commandments which were to help lead to God and made them the 10 commandments of guilt. Christ helped us to see it isn't about the "rules" but about the relationship.

Book Update and Short Review

2009-08-21T12:08:00.002-04:00

I am a lazy blogger so I am going to roll two post in to one about my current reading.

After my last review of the book Unchristian I was challenged with a few things that I want to put out. I made a statement that the things posed in the book as problems aren't anything people don't already know. I was challenged in that that the problems wouldn't be problems if people knew them. The truth of the manner I think is we have our heads in the ground(me included) to the problems facing the church today and that is why this book was so shattering for so many people. It made people take their head out of the ground and see that the church does have a problem with addressing our views concerning Homosexuality and our Political involvement.

Since that last review I have finished reading a book my brother-in-law challenged me to read called "Calvinism:A Southern Baptist Dialog". I was unsure about reading this book but I am glad I did. A few points of interest I would put out about this book.

- I really appreciated the general tone of this book. It was very cooperative in nature and really seemed to try bridge the gap in regards to the issue of Calvinism in the SBC. With exception of two authors(one on each side of the debate) This was the general tone.

- The two articles that spoke to the heart of the problem are the two I just referenced in the previous point. They are heated, conflicting, and seemed to be down right un-cooperative in nature. Both articles carried the tone of "I am right, Our church is right, everyone else is wrong". It isn't as simple a issue as these two chapters made it to be which was quite disappointing

- Nothing in the book really shifted my feelings about Calvinism really. It was good to understand that history and context of the issue. I would say the most shattering thing to me was the number of strands of Calvinism and the fact that most SBC Calvinist aren't true John Calvin Calvinist. One illustrations of this is Calvin's belief that Evil could have had no other source that God, and Calvin's belief of salvation was also deeply rooted in his belief about infant baptism. Neither of these things SBC Calvinist believe(if you want the paragraph that this is spoke too I will be happy to find page numbers to give to you).

- Moleism is quite interesting. Im not saying I am believe it but since one article of the book was about it I am going to study more about it at a later time. My brother-in-law basically said it is a form of Armenian-ism. I will study this eventually.

- The two points I got hung up on in the book are these. 1) if SBC calvinist believe God is sovereign over EVERYTHING then explain the fall. Did God cause Adam to fall? 2) How can one believe that God selects who is saved how is that not selecting who isn't(ie double predestination as many referred too). Hyper-calvinist believe in double predestination but most SBC calvinist do not. I simply don't understand that.(that is not me asking for a 5 page dissertation on it but I welcome a short comment).

- I LIKED THIS BOOK AND WOULD RECOMMEND IT TO ANYONE. I know that is worth about 2cents and a cup of coffee but from someone who would not affirm all 5 points of SBC calvinism I think that is a good thing. Everyone on both sides so work to cooperate better without letting this become a dividing issue.

Ok to wrap up this post I am going to say that due to some changes in life I am going to have to put my reading plan on hold. I have been given an opportunity to further myself professionally and that is going to require alot of reading and study which means no time for outside reading that I had be doing. I would be happy to post about my studies in IT but I figure discussing Network security combined with VLAN's and MS server 2003 would be boring so this will be my last book review of this year more than likely.

**disclaimer - I have not read calvin's institutes so I cannot speak to ANYTHING in them. I am only speaking to the book and the things wrote about it in the book. If you have a problem with something I wrote then you will need to take it up with the author of the particular article in the book because that is where I got my information from and at this time it is all I have and probably will have to go on for the foreseeable future.**

OO high school...

2009-08-04T05:55:00.002-04:00

....So it is 5:50am EST and Im up watching a little TV and checking around on Facebook. Early morning is my time and sometimes I like to read on a book or sometimes I search the web for news but today I spent a little time facebooking. I came across alot of photos from my 10 year high school class reunion. Looks like alot of my former classmates had a great time!

Well I did not really have a "big ol" time at my 10 year class reunion. I honestly can't really tell you why I went. Crystal and I stayed about 45 minutes then went to get some dinner as we had babysitting for the night and really just enjoyed being just the two of us. Now I will say it was nice to see a few people from my high school class(Micah good to see you, Kevin wow alot of memories we caught up on, Seth, Candice Im sure I will see you again before 10 years is up) BUT 9 out of 10 people I had not talked to since probably before graduation. Now this is not a "give brandon sympathy" post because quite frankly Im not sure my feelings are hurt. See I didn't have a lot of close friends in Athens High School. I had a very few people from my high school I have actually kept up with. That isn't a knock at anyone of my class as I was just different! I wasn't one of the popular guys, I wasn't a jock, and I wasn't really that smart. I would classify myself as fairly level headed. I was a swimmer and swimming took up all my time. Most of my friends where in Huntsville with my swim club. I actually ended up being the only person in my high school that swam. i went to High School state meet as the only representative of AHS my senior year. So I was considered an odd duck. I had nappy green hair and I smelled of chlorine all the time so I wasn't someone the ladies really went after either.

But I do have one little thing that was quite weird and quite annoying. As Crystal and I started to head to put our drinks in the trash can and leave I was pulled aside by one particular person with whom I had not talked to since BEFORE we graduated. We didn't really talk in high school, we didn't have any classes togethor, matter of fact and I can't tell you we even had a meaningful conversation in all out years of school together. Well said person pulled me aside and seemed really interested in my life now. A little funny. Now I tried my best to be nice but it really was just fake and I am fairly confident in saying said person was putting on a good show too as I don't really think either of REALLY cared about what the other was doing. The problem with this situation wasn't that it happened but that it was pretty much what happened all night long or at least the 45 minutes we stayed.

So why this post. It isn't a piss-and-moan session that I promise and let me tell you why. I turned out pretty good. I have an aweseome God, I went to college on a swimming scholarship, meet the girl of my dreams, got a good job, a home, a dog, and a handsome baby boy! Those of you that know me and have actually kept up with me since high school know that I am glad you are part of my life and I would not be where I am today with out your impact on my life in some form fashion or manner. If you are EVER in Louisville please don't hesitate to let me know as I would love to take you out and enjoy an evening together. Those of you I haven't however lets not be fake. You don't really care what happened to me nor do I care what happened to you and all of that is ok! AHS the 10 year reunion wasn't something I REALLY enjoyed(no fault of the planner at all as she worked REALLY HARD to make this a great night and seems that alot of people really enjoyed it) and I am pretty sure 20 year...well i won't be there.

Unchristian - A brief review

2009-07-01T16:18:00.004-04:00

...AND I MEAN BRIEF. I finished this book back in feb 09 so going back i am just remembering a few things off the top of my head.

1) being that I took three years of stats in college this book was quite interesting to me. One of my stats professors had a saying about stats...."They don't tell stories, they don't answer questions, they are numbers!" I think this is important to remember when reading this book

2) The nature in which the questions had to be ask to gather the research. To garner the information they did the questions had to be rather direct. A draw back to this is it is really hard to get a general feel. They had to address specific issues in the questions.

3) The book doesn't point out anything no one with a brain doesn't already know. We have an image issue in Christianity. Ghandi replied, "Oh, I don't reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It's just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ."

4) This book tries to claim that it points to an issue, gives statistical evidence to it basis and then provides solutions. You can't get from stats to solutions. Stats are numbers! But even so the solutions are generic and don't really try to address any one issue in a direct front manner. They "beat around the bush". This was a disappointment.

5) I HATE the use of the word "outsider". Because the words saved and unsaved are christian words we can't and or should use them. This might be true but outsider is just as offensive. Why don't we drop labels and just live out the gospel.

Overall the points of the book are quite predictable and generic. I don't disagree with alot of the premise of the book and even some of the solutions/ways to address the problems where ok I didn't come away changed in one way or another by this book. That is a sad fact to me!

Refocusing

2009-07-01T15:58:00.002-04:00

....after my last post I felt the need to get away. Get away from religion. Not that I'm renouncing my faith or anything like that but RELIGION. I found myself in a situation that I don't normally get to or enjoy being in. I found myself so wrapped up in the politics of the SBC that I could not see Christ! That is a horrible place to be and it isn't a place I venture very often. Matter of fact it isn't normally religion that takes me away from my focus on Christ but normally worldly things such as family, garden, and music to name a few. So I sat back a few nights ago after reading Crystal's blog about re-gaining her focus and it helped me. I realised I needed to get back to the one goal I was very serious about.....reading! Reading scripture and reading books!

Referencing back to my reading post from a number of months ago I am behind. I finished Unchristian and will post a brief review of it soon but then I feel off the wagon. I started to read 2 different books and for someone like me that was a mistake. I am back to reading one book but the one I picked up was honestly the last one I wanted to read 6 months ago. I have picked up and started reading a book at the request of my Brother-in-Law called "Calvinism: A Southern Baptist Dialog". Honestly I thought I was through with this topic a year ago when I investigated the scriptures for myself and came to my own belief about salvation. I will save that for another post if anyone actually cares else I will leave it alone. But it is amazing that I started reading this book because the point of the book is how can we put down a lot of the things that divide us and help get us back on track of working together for the Gospel. I am very thankful that God placed my family at Sojourn Community Church because it has helped me to be more open to differing theology. Also it is hard to have an opinion on a matter if you don't know all sides of the issue. So for the first time in as long as I can remember I am approaching a book and The Book with an open heart asking God to teach me and not me going in to it with my own motivation.

Am I always going to be successful at this goal....No! But that doesn't mean that I can't and shouldn't try. Here is my list now and if you have any suggestions I am definitely open

Original list:
Unchristian(reading right now)
UnChurced
Whats so Amazing About Grace
Calvinism - A southern baptist dialog

New list
Unchristian (complete)
Calvinism - A Southern Baptist Dialog (reading)
UnChurched
The Shack(I gotta konw what all these people are screaming about)
(another book - any suggestions and it doesn't have to be religious in nature)

A debate that should be had....

2009-06-25T15:25:00.005-04:00

I really REALLY hesitate to write this post but I feel overwhelmed at this point and feel it is necessary to write. Many of you are aware that the Southern Baptist Convention met this past week in Louisville KY. I live in Louisville and work for the Kentucky Baptist Convention so this event held some significance to me and to this area. This year there was a lot of talk/excitement about a motion/resolution called the Great Commission Resurgence. Basically they have in a way piggy backed off of the Conservative Resurgence of the 1980s but with the focus on fulfilling the Great Commission. This is a good thing in concept but like many things a concept is always good but putting the concept in to practice is where the rubber hits the road as they say. Hang with me as I am going to get to the point of this post soon. As a KBC staff employee I am quite proud of many of the ministries and services provided by the state convention. No one can question the impact of Disaster Relief and Youth Evangelism just as an example. Are there things I would change....YES. So for me evaluation is always a good thing and if change comes from it then it isn't a bad thing. I have a saying(and I don't remember where I got it from) but it goes like this...."Sometimes change is good, sometimes change is bad, and sometimes change is just change." The GCR task force has been challenged to make change a good thing and not just change!

Now to the point of this post. If you follow the SBC at all you would be quite aware that alot of things get brought up that don't necessary represent the majority of Southern Baptist. Often as well we can be seen(and rightfully so) that we argue quite a bit among one another. Weather it be on specific theological points such as Calvinism/Armenianism or something as simple as something like what translation of scripture we use. These debates are not bad in and of themselves BUT they have a huge potential to become something horrible and down right dividing for the churches of the SBC. Why does it have to be that way? It doesn't! The biggest strength of the Southern Baptist(excluding missional work) is our cooperation(or at least it should be if it isn't right now). So the debate that needs to take front and center has nothing to do with who is right or wrong with regards to non-essential doctrines and everything to do with how can we all better cooperate to see the expansion of the Kingdom! A personal story might help to clarify what I mean....3 years ago God called Crystal and I to leave our church and placed us in to Sojourn Community Church. Sojourn is an openly Calvinist church and I personally am not. Sojourn Community Church has been nothing but a blessing to Crystal and I and I am truly thankful for a body of believers that isn't afraid to tackle the hard issues yet wrap their arms around you and walk forward in cooperation on Non-Essential doctrine. The point of this story is just that....we are cooperating Oglethorpe for the gospel. I am blessed by the teaching at Sojourn and am VERY grateful for a church that defines what is essential for cooperation. The following is a quote from the Sojourn website that I think is important:

In ESSENTIAL beliefs, we have UNITY.
In NON-ESSENTIAL beliefs, we have DIVERSITY.
In ALL of our beliefs, we promote LOVE.

You can read the points that Sojourn says are essential for being a partner(member) and I think is pretty good starting point if not the final destination. So I believe that the debate that needs to be had is one of defining the essentials so we have a frame of reference to base all our debates on so that we can lock arms in the expansion of the Gospel. Isn't that what we should be about?

My attempt ....

2009-05-29T06:24:00.003-04:00

...so after reading Cheye Haste blog this morning about her square foot gardening I decided I should post about mine. This is not a "im better than you thing" but merely it is something I am proud of, much like her, and I want to share. My desire to start a garden began a couple years ago with a short conversation Crystal and I had about how little we truly understood what things where like for our parents and grandparent. Both of my grandfathers had been HUGE gardeners. My dad and mom both grew up gardening. My "papa-grew"(my dads dad) would get some much stuff "granny-grew" would can so much food they could feed the whole family(7 kids and 2 adults) for the entire winter. Papa-grew worked as a school teacher, a pastor, and a gardener. This was truly a man who spent his life living out the providers role for his home. The arts of gardening and canning are becoming a lost art to my generation because we go to Kroger and get canned veggys and fruits. So I wanted to learn a little bit about what has been a large part of my family history and an added bonus was it was alot cheaper and as we are coming to find out now a whole lot more tasty. I started last fall with turning over the soil and prepping it for the winter frost. I have worked weekly on it since the final frost of the year up here and I REALLY enjoy it. I am growing in a traditional garden method of rows and mounds and am pretty satisfied at this point with my progress. I enjoy it so much I am thinking about doubling my size from a 10'x15' to 10'x30' next year. Crops this year are: Lettuce, Broccli, White Onion, Cucumber, Squash, Zucchini, Ocra, Green Peppers, Roma Beans, Celebrity Tomatos. Pics below.

Mothers-Day isn't just for Moms

2009-05-13T12:11:00.005-04:00

Ya know every year mothers day rolls around and it goes just a fast. This year however did take on a new meaning for me as a man. I absolutely adore my wife. I would not/could not be the man I am today without her. She is an absolutely amazing woman or God, Loving wife, and AWESOME mother. Sawyer and I are both so blessed by her. The traditional "mother-day" is a time to reflect on moms and show our thankfulness to mom. Now I didn't get to take Crystal out or buy her a big fancy present(I would have but she had already picked out something she wanted) but I did spend some time in reflection. As I look at the way she handles our family I am consistent amazed at how much this woman can take on. She is a full time mom, works 20 hours a week in marketing, does the laundry, cleans the house, puts food on the table, feeds the baby(Im not blessed with the right equipment for that job being that Im a man) and puts up with me just to name a few. Now no one of these items is overly difficult but you pile them on top of one and another and HOLY COW! All that and she probably doesn't sleep 6 hours a night. Now all of that has made me fall ever more in love with her. The final thing that consistently amazes me is how much of herself she gives vs how much she gets in return. Crystal and I always joked before we had sawyer that we knew then we weren't ready for children because we both were too selfish. When we decided to have children it is because we both came to a point that we became ready to try to take away the selfishness of our lives. Is it easy.....NO but it is worth it....YES. I am amazed every night when after I bathe Sawyer and she feeds him and puts him down she comes in to the living room and just about nearly collapses. She has given everything she has that day to our family. Not just me, not just sawyer, not just work, not just home but to everything. There is nothing left in the tank. She is always absolutely beat and yet she finds energy for me! I won't begin to compare my wife to anyone else because my bias would shine but lets just say i don't know anyone that works harder than Crystal. There might be women that work just as hard but no one works harder.

Being Torn....

2009-03-25T14:17:00.002-04:00

...I can't explain how much I love fatherhood. It is the most enjoyable thing I have every had the blessing to be a part of. Sawyer is so much fun and he is learning and growing more every day. BUT one of the things I have learned about myself is that I need and cherish "my" time. When you are newly wed you can spend a lot of time with your wife but you can still get away. Crystal and I have always been pretty good about that. We love each other and love to spend time with one another but we also both cherish our alone time. Well in the first few weeks of sawyer's life I began to get quite grumpy and short. I felt bad and I didn't know why. I have figured out why. I was spending all my time with sawyer when i got home, which isn't a bad thing, and didn't get any time to myself to recharge my own battery. Well since figuring out this fact I have been sure to take time to myself. I get up between 5am and 530am and read and watch tv and drink coffee and just be me. If I don't get that time I can tell. One other thing I do is play some music with a group of guys. It is a BLAST! we get together every Tuesday and just jam for a couple hours. It is a big time of just relaxing and letting the music just flow. BUT this takes away time from sawyer and Crystal. So I am torn! I absolutely love spending time with them but I also need to get away a little to be the best man I can be for them when I am there. anyone else have a situation like this where to be all that you can be you have to get away a little bit?

ps I am formulating a post about some religion/legalism things....be on the look out

Some times it just pours

2009-03-14T21:09:00.003-04:00

Well I'm finally getting around to blogging about crystal and I'sweek. It was one high intensity week. We are both worn out mentally and physically. So let uss take it from the top.

On Monday we received a call from crystal's mom telling me she just saw a close friend of ours father was killed in an tragic accident. I did not know the man but I know his daughter and son in law well so the news was just guy wrenching for us and I can't imagine what it is for them. But I will say before I move on that this event has helped me and crystal to keep the rest of the weeks events in proper perspective.

On Wednesday I was in a meeting when crystal called me. I ignored the first 2 because it is just rude to answer your phone in a meeting but by the third call I knew something was up so I answered. Crystal told me the front door of our house was open. Neither crytal nor I ever go out the front door so we knew something was up. Wanna guess??? If you guessed a break in you guessed right. It is the most violating experience I have ever been a part of. The thieves broke down our back door and stole about $5000 worth of stuff and damages. Doesn't appear to be a professional job as they broke down our back door but where nice enough to unlock the front door and storm door on the way out with our stuff in our pillow cases. The biggest hassle is the hassle of having to change bank accounts and credit cards. But in all we are thankful as it could have been worse. It was just stuff. The blessings of people from my work,our family, and friends has just bee overwhelming. We are ok now and just needing to get a new back door which is all the major damage that was done. They did really make a mess of our house but nothing that couldn't and hasn't already been cleaned up. Thank you to all for your prayers and encouragement!

Finally on Friday we found out that crystal's grandfather has to have heart bypass surgery on Monday. This has been one rough week but God is sufficient and good. We are thankful for the blessing we have received and for the way he is coninually providing for us!

Hard to be this productive......

2009-03-10T14:53:00.002-04:00

.....today at work I had what we in IT call a non-expected outcome to a solution provided or aka "a screw up". I was working today on an agent(small little program) that would send out a weekly reminder to our building about our accounting reports being updated. This agent was to run once a week and should send out less than 100 emails. A nice, easy programming project....or so I thought. I wrote my agent, changed the program from one that ran against an event(ie a mouse click) to a schedule. There is one final setting to change before creating a simply mail agent and that is to tell it what data source it should run this agent against. YOu have 3 options:1)All documents in the database, 2) All new and modified documents in the database, 3) None. Since I didn't need this agent to run against anything I set it to none.....or so I thought. Apparently when I was starting the programming I missed a small little detail which is when you change the type agent from a script agent to a simple agent the "none" option disappears and the All documents option becomes active. I missed this critical piece of information! So when I saved my new agent that I was so proud of I was greeted about 5 minutes later with my blackberry vibrating and it wasn't stopping. Then I noticed it was still counting up and all the messages coming from my agent that I was so proud of. So as I am working try to figure out what happened I was helped by Troy and Michael to discover that critical change. So what happened was a reminder email was send to every person in the building from me for every email in the inbox of one of our accounting ladies. By the time we stopped the bleeding the agent had sent out some 600+ emails to all 100 people in our building. Doing the math that would be 60,000 emails in about 5-10 minutes. Think you can be that productive?

You be the judge...

2009-03-09T09:13:00.002-04:00

The mornings are Sawyer and I's time. After Crystal leaves for work we play a little, I get him dressed, sometimes we sing, sometimes we chew on our lion, and then I get him ready to go to the babysitter. Now once he is packed up and ready to go I load in him the car along with all of my stuff. Then when I get in I general pull out the iPod touch, switch to the songs view and select shuffle. Now I do this because I have a lot of music and a lot of different types of music. Normally the first song that comes up is the artist I stay on in the morning. Sometimes Sawyer sleeps to my music, sometimes he starts talking, and sometimes he screams. NOrmally vie these responses I can tell if I should change it or turn it down if I really want to hear the song. Well this morning the first song that came up was......Free Bird. You heard right....the time honored southern redneck anthem Free Bird. The song that all people all over know that when it starts you pull out the lighter, hold it high and proud, and strike it(Does anyone know why we do this...?) Soon as it came on I said to Sawyer, "Son, this is a classic!" to which he responded to me this morning with an ....."UUAAHHH!" Now this wasn't an cry, it wasn't sad, but it certainly wasn't happy either. Do this mean my son isn't going to respect the classics?? or worse like R&B? Please tell me it isn't so! What do you think?

men don't need instructions....

2009-02-26T13:04:00.003-05:00

Well I gotta tell a story on myself. If you can't laugh at this one there is just something wrong with you. So some of you have children and you understand this but it wasn't something i expected. We started feeding Sawyer rice cereal about 3 -4 weeks ago. We thought that he was getting hungry at night so we started with that. He didn't take to it right away and we didn't really know what we are doing so it took time but starting last week he started taking it well and then over the course of the weekend he took off with it and by Monday night he had taken about 2 1/2 tblspoons. That is a good meal for a little guy. Well we had notices his dirty diapers had slowed down but as we got to thinking we realized that he had not had a dirty since Saturday and it was Tuesday. Poor guy was backed up! So my wife being the loving woman she is bought some apple prun juice to give him to "clean out the pipes" which we tried on Tuesday night. Well he didn't take to it to well but when I got home on Wednesday after work I decided that I would give him a little more. Now two things need to be said here....

1) Crystal had not informed me he had a dirty diaper that morning at the baby sitters house.

2)Now when I decided to get the juice for him i reached in the frige, grabbed the tiny bottle of juice, poured it in his bottle and feed away. Did I read the package....NO. Well Sawyer proceed to take down about 1 oz of apple prun juice by the time Crystal got back from the gym. So I informed her that he had taken about 1 oz. Now much to my surprise I did not get a thank you or a that is nice I got a question....

Crystal ..."Did you add any water to the juice?"
Brandon, ..."No why would I do that?"
Crystal, ... "Because it was concentrate....."

So in summary my son sucked down 1 oz of concentrated apple prun juice. Needless to say I was greeted this morning at 7:40 with a nice smelly surprise. I apparently flushed him out like an oil change on a car.

...just a thought

2009-02-16T06:42:00.003-05:00

But as i read the morning news after getting back from my work out I stumbled upon this article. I have never been in favor of embryonic stem cell research and this is why. In my college ethics class one of the things we discussed was "Why go for the path that can lead to questionable moral/ethical practices when it isn't necessary?" When there is no other alternative then we have to deal with the moral/ethical concerns but not when there is another path. We don't need embryonic stem cell to treat diseases because of great minds creatively coming up with new ways to use non-questionable ethical methods. Adult stem cell research is booming right now and mostly because of the restrictions placed on embryonic stem cell research by the previous administration. We are starting to see the fruits of hard working scientist who see that there is another path to cure disease WITHOUT having to destroy embryos. Next step.....get fertility clinics to stop taking more eggs than they are going to implant during IVF! Then the scientific community's arguement that these embryos are going to be destroyed anyways arguement will have no legs because there should be no "left over" embryos.

Sports Update

2009-02-06T13:07:00.002-05:00

As many of you know I LOVE sports. especially football. But this is just a quick run down of some national sports news

Swimming - I know what he did but I think we are missing the point. Michael Phelps has been smeared all over the media and probably i some homes for smoking pot and getting a photo of it published. Is what he did wrong .....YES. Is what he did forgivable...YES. People want him to be a role model and I think he should be but a role model is not just a person who does nothing wrong. What better role model is there than someone who makes a mistake, takes responsiblity for the mistake, doesn't piss and moan about it, and accepts the weight of that mistake. If Sawyer was old enough now for me to explain this to him I would tell him to look up to Michael Phelps because thought he did something wrong he has handled himself in the correct way. What if more people in this world acting in the same manner on mistakes...would be a completely different world. Thank you Michael Phelps!

Basketball - Well UK started 5-0 on in SEC play and fell hard to 5-3 and now the Fire Billy websites are rolling strong. Apparently UK fans(the ones that want the coach fired) forget they don't have a great amount of talent. You have Patterson and Meeks! Not many other players are serious threats. It takes time to convert a program from on coach to another. Besides who you going to go get.....You truely think a coach is out there that is going to do better with this talent pool than he has done....I only know one and im sure he isn't going anywhere....Tubby Smith! *just a little jab there*

Football - Well my favorite thing to talk about. How about national signing day in the NCAA. What a ride. My boys in orange didn't do to bad considering 4 out of 8 top commitments under fulmer went else where....and who could blame them. BUT Lane Lane Lane....man I like this guy. He got good talent and he picked and fight with Meyer. For those out there that don't know Meyer has taken the top of my crap list away from "The Ol Ball Coach". Lane called out Meyer on a "rules violation" that wasn't a rules violation in the least BUT it was simply bad form! Meyer should not have called which the recruit was on a visit to UT. Some people will say that Meyer didn't know that recruit was there.....BULL! Recruits are closely monitored and if Meyer really wanted him he knew exactly where he way. Lane probably shouldn't have called him out in the national public but you know what....I like that he has fire and spunk because that is what it is going to take to compete in the SEC. People said he was goin gto get run over by the likes of Saban, Meyer, Richt, MIles, and Spurrier. Well i think it is safe to say he won't get run over. Couple more years with his passion and recruiting ability I think we are going to be right back to competeing for SEC East titles every year! GO VOLS

If it walks like a duck....

2009-01-31T10:26:00.003-05:00

...and quacks like a duck then guess what....IT IS A DUCK. Now if you read any of my previous post you know that I did not vote for Obama BUT that I was willing to give him a chance. A chance to prove to me that he was going to try to change the culture in Washington. A chance to prove that he can work with both sides of the aisle. A chance to prove that his "moderate" position he ran on after the democratic nomination was the true Obama. Well so far he has struck out on every single thing he has done. My patience is already being put to the test. Now dont here me wrong....I HATED DUBYA. So this is not a "the previous 8 years where great".

So let me present a little of what I call strike outs. Now in fairness not to appear as if I am just ranting...I am also going to put forth some things he COULD have done to "moderate" Washington and prove to the people like me(what I would call the majority of Amercians) that we aren't extreme left or right and what we want is someone who IS in the middle.

Strike 1 - First thing Obama does is to remove the ban that Bush imposed allowing tax dollars to go to out of country family planning organizations. Now for those of my readers who don't know what that means....basically it is Planned Parenthood just without the federal restrictions due to the fact it is out of the country.

Why this is bad - These international parenting organization do preform so VERY good things however they are pro-abortion places. Now this is not the "we are killing innocent babies" arguement however(thought it does apply). What these place have is the ability to do things not regulated by our government because they aren't part of our country. SO one example is this....texas teenager (17 years old)gets herself pregnant, doesn't want parents to know, she drives across the border to Mexico, gets herself an abortion and no one has to know! THIS IS A BAD THING. Instead of giving the parents the option to parent we are saying the government know better for our families than we do. What this also does it take MY tax dollars and put them to work on abortions.

Solution - Fund these organization, as they do preform good services as well, BUT require them to have to abide by our laws put forth at the federal level. So when a teenager wants an abortion she has to have parental consent. This would have been at least a step in the right direction because the extreme left aren't going to like this nor are the extreme right. This would have been a step towards the middle but instead Obama listened to and pleased those high power donors that got him elected.....but then are we surprised?

Strike 2 - Stimulus Package....Obama has proposed a package that will be a spending and tax cut package however the tax cuts are a smoke screen because they are payroll tax credits and you have to be working to be able to benefit from this.

Why this is bad - I think on the whole this is a good idea but it needs to be modified a little. The extreme left want MORE GOVERNMENT which means more taxes which means less money in my pocket to use how I see fit(ie giving to my church or other organization that help people) They don't want tax cuts because it means that they can't do as much at the federal level(which might I add I think is a good thing becuase I the federal government can't manage the money I give them now much less more). The extreme right ONLY wants tax cuts because it would shrink the governments ability to do more because they would have given back money(this is a smoke screen too because the government doesn't care if they have the money or not but that is a topic for another time). As it is right now the extreme left is getting everything they want because they don't have to give back money, they get more government programs, and keep themselves elected because that is what union labor wants!

Solution - The only true way to stimulate the economy is a combination of true tax cuts and true government spending. Go ahead and create these jobs by spending our tax money BUT don't smoke screen the tax cuts. Go ahead with the payroll tax cut but half it and take the other half and send people checks for the money. This would give the left what they want...more programs and give the right a little slice of what they want which is money back in their pockets. This way you are in the middle and you are stimulating the economy and you aren't playing to your extreme left while showing that there are people in this world who don't agree with MORE government. When you combine the two what you do is do more government for the time being to help get us back on track but with the tax cuts you will have less money in the future to continue these programs without restructuring the federal government which if you don't agree needs to be done you got your head in the ground.

Strike 3 - Increasing the power of organized labor. He has withdrew some of the restrictions placed on organized labor(unions) that the bush administration put in to place to help bring union labor more in line with the world economic line of labor.

Why this is bad - to explain this you have to understand unions and their history. Unions came to be because companies took advantage of their employees to help the bottom line(cutting wages and making work less safe instead of more) and make more profit for management and share holders. I don't think anyone would look at this and say a bad thing at the time. BUT now we have federal regulations in place to regulate safety and wages. WHY should any Tom, Dick, and Harry be paid 100K to screw in a couple of screws in to a car in a GM auto plant. This is not skilled labor and it is not worth 100K for Tom to be paid that much. What this does is undervalue skilled labor and college educated people. So thanks for making my degree worth even less than it is already worth. Also this hurts our competitive edge against foreign companies that DONT have to pay as much for non-skills labor.

Solution - Keep Union restrictions in place BUT force the federal government to put further restrictions on employers to further prevent what caused unions to happen in the first place. You could require a minimal amount of health care to be paid but the company to all full time employees, mandate vacation time be given(more than already given), or even require employers to pay for well checks/physicals on all employees. This would improve our workforce, productivity, and competitive cost with foreign companies.

So far Mr. Obama you have not fulfilled your promises about working to bridge the divide all you are doing is the politics in the same on manner. You are working only for those that funded your campaign and that isn't CHANGE!

Holy CRAP its 2009

2009-01-08T05:53:00.003-05:00

Nine years ago it was Y2K and being in the technology field that was like dooms day. But the world didn't end and everything came out A.O.K from all that so here we are.....2009. Alot of people like to look back to the previous year and remember all the things that happened as a way of closing out the year and moving to the next. I have been accused of doing and being many things in my life but sentemental is not one of them and though I have SO much to be thankful for(nearly 5 years of marriage to the woman of my dreams, the birth of my Son, etc..) I am going to post a few things about this coming year. These are NOT resolutions!

"....and here we Go!"

I always try to draw inspiration and challenge from people around me of which I have high amounts of respect. Some of the influential people in my life, Crystal, Mom, Dad, Keith, Jeremy, Bryant to name a few. But in December I had a break through moment. Do you realize the smartest people in the world are readers! People that enjoy reading, learn from reading, get ideas from reading! Most of these people could care less about TV....give them a good book. Me I hate reading. I always figured why use my imagination(that takes work on my part) when I can let the writers of TV shows do that part for me and I can get to the entertaining part by just enjoying it. But in December I was rocked a little on this feeling. Due to a work trip i got an opportunity to witness a very smart man and his library. Gene Parr is a Campus Minister at Morehead State University in Kentucky. This man literally has thousands of books. I don't mean he has a couple book cases full. when you grew up did you watch Beauty and the Beast.....do you remember the library in that story...that is what I mean. Gene is also one of the most enjoyable people to talk to and you can just tell he is a VERY VERY Intelligent God fearing man. I was inspired by this to commit to get past this hatred I had of books. So with my wife sitting in the living room with me I told her my plan. I am going to read 6 books (non-fiction) over the course of the next 12 months. Now for me this is a huge huge goal because i am the worlds slowest reader and combine that with my lack of desire I have had....it is a lofty goal but to this point i am actually getting to a point where I can say I am enjoying and looking forward to my morning time of sipping coffee and reading my book. Hopefully this is going to translate in to me being a smart God fearing man, husband, and father. More details to come later but I will post my reading list, at least as it is right now, and then hopefully this will give me some stuff to blog about as the year goes on....

Unchristian(reading right now)
UnChurced
Whats so Amazing About Grace
Calvinism - A southern baptist dialog
(to be named later)
(to be named later)

Pro's vs. College

2008-12-06T19:30:00.004-05:00

I have made it no secret in my life and in my blogging that I am a football fan. Doesn't matter what type of football I love it. I like high school, college, pros, little league, backyard, so on and so forth. So Saturday's and Sunday's around our house have become quite the football watching place. My wife in her love for me has learned to and appreciates football now. She is always asking me questions about the the game and I am always happy to answer her with the answer IF i know it.

Now I started this way because I just finished watching the SEC championship game. I also make it no secret how much I dislike Florida. Urban Meyer has taken over the top spot on my crap list away from the "old ball coach" Steve Spurier....no surprise they are both tied to Florida. But with that said I must congratulate Florida and also say how impressed I am with Tim Tebow. This is a special college player. He absolutly beat Alabama on his own. He accounted for close to 80% of the offense. This is amazing.

Now I have praised him enough(and being that i HATE florida that is about to end) it is time to debate a serious topic. Does Tebow have a future in football? He is a double threat in college. He can beat you with his legs and his arm isn't to bad either. My brother-in-law and I had a debate about this and if you know either of us very well you know this was a "spirited" debate to say the least. Jeremy thinks that Tebow is going to be a great pro quarterback. I do not. Let me give a couple of reasons why i think this and then i will let the discussion take over.

1) Who was the last great "mobile" quarterback in the NFL? let me throw out a few names people might be thinking. Michael Vick, Steve McNair, Donavan McNabb, and more distant past, Randell Cunningham. These are all good names in the pros and all had nice careers in the pro BUT not a one of them has won the Super Bowl. The ONLY elite quarterback to be considered elite without a Super Bowl was Dan Marino and lets face it....Tim Tebow is no Dan Marino. If you think so then this post isn't for you.

2) Mobile quarterbacks don't win in the NFL. Every thing in the pros is bigger, faster, and stronger. Mobile QBs have to change their game to win in the Pros. Tim Tebow is a brusing runner which I will confess is different than the others mentioned above but lets think about this....you have Tim Tebow running the QB draw and Ray Lewis is the Middle Linebacker. Im sorry my money is on Lewis. Matter of fact I am pretty sure that Tebow might last two or three hits like that but it wouldn't be many more. His game would have to change to the likes of McNair or McNabb to be successful and to be honest I don't think he has the pocket presence to be like either of them.

3) What makes Tebow so great in college? I would argue his legs. Ask any SEC coach about Tebow and I promise none of them are going to say he is going to beat them with his arm. His threat to run is what makes him GREAT in college. The option doesn't work in the Pros either so he can't run that in the pros.

4) Tebow is a product of the spread option. This is probably the one point people can argue with but it is how I feel. Place Tim Tebow at another school and his numbers aren't even close to what he is at Florida. He has HUGE running lanes because Meyer spreads the field so much that you might only see 5 in the box and 1 safety over the top. This is very successful in college but not in the pros

5) Tebow isn't Michael Vick. Of all the names listed above Vick is probably the only mobile QB to be successful staying true to his game. Vick however is lightning fast and elusive. Tebow is a bruiser. He isn't light on his feet and he doesn't have any moves to fake out people. He trys to run over them and that is easy in college when the average backer is probably 225 lbs. The average pro backer(minus my Colts) is around 250 to 260. You don't run over people that come in at 250lbs.

I think Tim Tebow is an AMAZING college player and quite deserving of the Heisman he got last year and is equally deserving of it this year but I do not think he will be an elite level QB in the pros. I don't even think he is a first round draft pick for the reasons listed above and because pro teams only draft a QB in the first round if they think that guy can be their franchise QB(ie Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Aaron Rogers, Philip Rivers). Does anyone here think Tebow is a franchise pro qb and if so Why?

...im as giddy as a school girl!!!

2008-12-01T09:08:00.002-05:00

I was going to wait to make this post until after the press conference today but I can't wait especially since the AD of UT said they are announcing the Lane Kiffin hire!!! I am very excited about this hire. He was the coach I thought UT should go after. He is a young, resourceful, motivator, and one heck of a ball coach. Let me give a couple of quick notes as to why this was a good hire.

1) National NAME! - Call is the whole "there is no bad press" ideal but he is nationally know because of what happened at Oakland. Im not saying he is Nick Saban at all BUT to get a name known nationally IS HUGE! Lane was a good recruiter at USC and UT needs someone that can recruit west of the Mississippi and Lane can and will.

2) Bright Young Coach - Kiffin was heralded by many of the anaylist on TV for being a great coach and for how he handled the Oakland job. People want to point out his record there but the comments of other coaches means alot to me. Check out what Jeff Fisher said about Lane. Comments Kiffin had Oakland playing tough and competing each week. Look what they have done without him.

3) All-star staff -
DC - Monte Kiffin, Lane's Father, is one of the leading DC in the game of football. He is the architect of the Tampa 2 defense, sorry Tony Dungy. ESPN has talked alot about the elder Kiffin. Monte wanted to go to Oakland with his son but Crazy Al wouldn't let him on account that he, Al Davis, is Nuts. Can you imagine the Tampa 2 at UT. We have the speed and we get the talent. This could be just sick. I would like to see Urban Myer crapping in his boots to think that the /Tennessee 2 is coming to the SEC.

OC and Recruiting - Ed Orgeron is widely consider one of the BEST recruiters in the nation. Look at the talent he brought to Ole Miss. I know what Ole Miss's record was under him but look what he has done as a coordinator and look at what Nutt is doing with the same players!

4) Probably the most important point I can make is the nature of the college football player has changed. Most great high school football players have one goal in mind.....get to the NFL. They don't care where they are all they care about is the possibility of going NFL. SO to compete nationally we got to get some of those players and UT can! Lane Kiffin is thought of highly in the pro circles and coached a number of current pro players at USC . His fathers record speaks for itself. Player are going to want to come play for UT because it will present them a good shot at the pros especially on the D side of the ball where the cover 2 style defence is competing with the 3-4 as the most used and hardest to beat defensive scheme's in the pros.

****One Draw Back**** Can Lane Kiffin translate his coaching style and the coaching style of his OC and DC to the college game. That point could be argued all day long but only time will tell. I for one think it will. GO VOLS!!!!

I'm Good

2008-11-17T15:01:00.003-05:00

As I said I promised to get away from political post so i thought this was worth while. My wife sent me this video(taken on her phone) and I am still just smiling ear to ear as I post this. Please enjoy the video and talk about how cute my kid is :-)!

Quick thought

2008-11-05T15:12:00.002-05:00

Im at work but I have to get this off my chest. FOLK JESUS ISN'T A REPULICAN NOR IS HE A DEMOCRAT! It is about time people get off their horse of "this country is going to hell because we elected a democrat" and "well great...abortion will never be over turned now". Folks God is in control so before you start down either of those paths remember that God put Obama in office! Is that a sobering thought to you?? It should be. Christ gave us two commandments..1) Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. 2) Love your neighbor as yourself. So it is time we as the "Church" start doing what we are commanded to do which is lead people to Christ. Once we get our focus set on that all other things will work there way out. And one more thing....some people seem to think things in this world are going to get better....read the book of Revelation and I think you will find that to be incorrect. It is going to get WORSE before it gets better!

Obama said last night that though he didn't earn my vote he wants to be my president...well Im willing to give him that shot. Obama is my President and I pray that God give him guidance, wisdom, strength, and safty in the next 4 years.

** addendum **
This is not be saying I agree with Obama's policies cause I don't

** addendum 2 **
This is not me saying that Obama's election signals the end of time...Im pretty sure the 3 horse man will be a give away to that not the election of Obama

** addendum 3 **
Abortion will never be over turned....Bush was in office for 8 years and nothing changed...the Supreme Court didn't even hear an abortion case(that revolved around its outright elimination) and even if they did people need to understand how the courts work...it take a lot to overturn a precedent like the abortion precedent.

** addendum 4 **
What is the number of people I piss off this time?? Comment your guess.

** addendum 5 **
This is my last political post from here on out it is back to my family and technology.

I voted....

2008-11-04T07:49:00.002-05:00

...did you. I don't really care who you vote for but what I care about is did you vote. One of the things my mind just cannot understand is people NOT voting. People died for that right for us and we take it way to much for granted. Go vote!!!! Go Exercise your right!!! Now with that said I will give a brief discourse on who I voted for in the major elections.

President : I was very torn on this one. I don't like either McCain or Obama. Both are big spenders and both aren't going to trim the fat in Washington(I don't believe Obama is going to bring change because he has voted 98% of the time with his party). McCain has been labeled as George Bush(Excellent strategy by the Dems) but if you look at his record thru his years of service he has voted against his own party more than any other elected official in that public of an office. Now Sarah Palin scares the sh$% out of me but I did vote for McCain and here is why in one sentence. This country(with exception to the past 2 years) ALWAYS functions better with checks and balances are in place and having a democrat congress and a democrat white house basically does away with checks and balances in those two branches of government. So here is to me hoping some radical feminist doesn't go ape on McCain(if he gets elected) and we end up with our first woman president because Palin scares me more than Obama.

3rd District : On this one I was not really torn. Though I have a lot of respect for Yarmuth(he has done a good job in the house much to my dismay) the one thing I want done here in Louisville is the new bridge projects. I don't think the hospitals in the area need more money(Baptist, Jewish, and Norton are all building new hospitals so they don't need money). I want the east end bridge done and that is IT!! So I voted for Northup though i won't be disappointed in a Yarmoth victory in the least.

Kentucky Senate : McConnell vs Lunsford. Holy CRAP did i hate this race. This was the most negative campaign I have ever witnessed and it made me sick. I almost didn't vote for it but then i would be stupid because I believe everyone should vote. I voted for McConnell for one reason! WKU. He has done a tremedious amount of work to secure funds for WKU and I for one have see the benefits of that.

Brief conclusion : Though it seems I voted republican alot I really didn't. In most of the local elections I voted for democrats because they don't have alot of funds to work with, they aren't getting more, and they get alot done with what we give them now. Plain and simple my view of government is this.....I always want less government, less taxes, less spending, less interference, and less general crap from washington. I dont need them to tell me how to live, how to work, how to pay my taxes, how to support the poor, and how to have morality. The federal government, This includes Dubya, can't manage what I give them now so what makes me think that giving them more is a good idea. I will always lean towards this feeling so when someone tells me they are going to raise taxes and start new spending project(even if it is on the wealthy), for what ever it is, I don't like it and will no support it.

Making Bundy Proud!!!

2008-10-24T09:57:00.006-04:00

My son did this himself...I didn't pose him or anything. All i did was set him up against a few pillows and what do you know....Al Bundy would be proud. OO I LOVE BEING A DAD!

Im as mad as...

2008-10-20T06:13:00.006-04:00

...a one legged waitress working at the IHOP(Thank you Larry the Cable Guy). I have stayed out of the political talk and all of that but no more. If you are reading this and you don't like it when people talk about politics this this is your chance to leave this post because I won't be offended. However I would like to point out that this is not an endorsement for either politician or Party. Matter of fact I dislike both candidates ALOT and like the parties they work for even less!

This post is partly a story. Since the majority of my life now revolves around my family we start there. Crystal, Sawyer, and I took a trip to Hubar's Orchard and Winery on Saturday. We needed to get out of the house and it made for some great pictures that Sawyer will never remember but we will for the rest of our lives. We wanted to go pick a pumpkin and carve it up for Halloween. On the way out there Crystal and I both admired the country side and how beautiful it was and how much we both wished we could have a little country house in that area. It is close to the city and yet far enough out that we don't have to deal with the hassle of urban life. But as we are driving we pass this little country church with a ton of little white crosses in the yard. WHen I say a ton I might be under-estimating it. I saw nothing in the way of signage about what is was for but I suspected it was probably the fallen solders or something like that. Now that burned me up a little bit but not enough to get me to make this post.

AS we are on our way back from the orchard we pass by that little country church again and this time i see a sign that says what is is about.....wanna guess....Abortion. NOw i don't like abortion any more than anyone else but I was really really mad by this and here is why. Isn't it about time the church got back to doing what the church was designed to do. The church was designed to help people and lead people the Christ and Salvation. How does making a political statment help do either of those goals. Im surprised that so few churches have missed this one fact....if you have Jesus in your life you are much less likely to see abortion take place! So instead of trying to brow beat non-believers in to holding you a Christian's moral values...why don't you try to lead them to Christ. I would love to see the amount of people this little country church has led to Christ in the near past but I can almost promise you isn't many. Church(believing Christians) get back to doing what we are suppose to do!

**addendum** this does not mean you should not exercise your rights and vote your morals but it does mean we should concern ourself less about what is legal or illegal in this country, minus the right to worship freely, and spend that effort leading people to Christ

**addendum 2** care to take a guess how many people im going to piss off with this post.?

Spiritual Head.....

2008-10-02T14:34:00.002-04:00

...well it has been nearly 4 weeks since Sawyer was born and I can still say at this point I wouldn't trade any of those 3am wake ups. Now I reference back to my previous post about being a wuss because my wife is does almost all of the work. She is breastfeeding so I can't help her in the middle of the night because quite frankly I don't have the right equipment. But that got me to thinking.....which is a very dangerous thing for me but hear me out.

Since I was not designed to "feed" our baby the way my wife does how can I "feed" him. I have to be a better man that I am now to do so. I am beginning to understand, in a very humanized way, what it means to deny yourself. Crystal is the nurturing, loving, kind, and all those things a God fearing woman should be. I however am called to be all those things as well as the Spiritual head of my household. Now I will confess to this point(before Sawyer's birth) I was terrible at this. I have always viewed Crystal and I's relationship as one that is rooted in and having deep respect for God and for one another. I'm not a bully nor do I try to tell him how to worship, live, work, cook or anything else for that matter and nor does she to me. I am however stubborn and so is she. The majority of our fights as a married couple have been rooted in both of our selfishness/stuborness. I always joked that I knew when I would be ready for kids when I was able to think about my child before myself. This doesn't mean I neglect myself now but it does mean in all decision making I have to think about more than myself.

So how can I be the spiritual leader in our home? It has to start with my making sure the main thing stays the main thing(God for those wondering). Second I have to make sure my wife is doing the same thing. I won't lie this is going to be a struggle because I am an in the face kind of guy with everything but when it comes to mine and others walk with the Lord. But I don't have to be that way with Crystal....I can encourage her by my actions. I have to serve her better, love her better, be there for her, and help her to make sure she gets time to herself. Third I have to pray daily that God would/will help Sawyer to look past my many flaws and see the desire for him to grow in to a God fearing man. I can't do this by myself with any teaching, rebuking, or training. It will have to be God being a part of all things in his life. I love Sawyer and want to make sure he can be the man he should be and that has to start with me loving God more, my wife better, and myself better.

My Own Reality Show

2008-09-30T19:43:00.003-04:00

Just a quick note to my 5 readers.....my wife has re-entered the blogosphere. Check her out at My Own Reality Show. I love her and my boy more than anything and she is just going to be putting down her thoughts about the baby and herself and our life on this blog.

I'm a wuss

2008-09-23T10:38:00.002-04:00

....and I really and truely mean that. Any man in this world who tries to tell me they are tougher or have a higher tolerance for pain than a woman is absolutely NUTS. If you are one of those who thinks you are I beg you go and watch a woman in labor and your opinion might change.

I start this post in this manner because the most common question Crystal and I get is how was labor? I can only give you my perspective because other than being a little tired she did ALL the hard work. I was there with her in every contraction and push but it was her body not mine doing it physically. But I can honestly say it was the hardest and more rewarding thing I have every had the opportunity to be a part of. Let me give you a brief run down of what and how everything went down.

First things first....Crystal came to me within the first 3 months of finding out she was pregnant saying she was thinking about delivering naturally(ie. no drugs). Now at first I was thinking she was nuts but after reading and researching I to agreed that I thought it was worth the try if that is what she felt was right. So we did all the classes (Bradley Method of Childbirth), learned how to work with her body, learned how to relax through all stages of labor, etc. Needless to say we felt prepared. I say "we" because the Bradley method is also known as husband coach childbirth. This means I was an active part of the labor. You could say I was the substitute for the medications. So I was there for her to put pressure, makes sure she said hydrated, make sure she ate, keep hotpacks on her back(cause she had back labor), and just be there to support her as she brought our child in to the world(and no Im not forgetting who actually brought Sawyer in to the world and I praise God everyday for the blessing).

Now for the good stuff(with out to much gross imagery). Crystal's contractions actually started on Monday the 8th. This is known as early 1st stage labor. Her contractions would come every 10 to 15 minutes for a while then they would quit or drastically slow. This type of labor can go on for a very long time and in Crystal's situation it did. This happened until Thursday morning. Her contractions started to be more regular. They came every 10 - 12 minutes and they were consistent(meaning they didn't stop) and the intensity grew. These are all good things. The only problem was she stayed here for a long time. Finally, after a basically restless night Thursday the 11th, friday night about 9:30 her contractions sped up to 7 minutes apart and again the intensity grew. Then things began to pick up till finally about 2:00 am Saturday morning she was contracting 3 minutes apart lasting 1 minute. This is an almost dead giveaway of 1st stage labor. So we packed up and headed to the hospital only to come back home because she was not as far progressed as we thought. So Crystal labored with contractions coming between every 3 - 7 minutes until finally about 8pm Saturday when things REALLY picked up. This time they went to 3 minutes and stayed there for nearly 2 hours. So off to the hospital we go and when she is checked she is 8 cm dialated and 100% effaced. This basically means she could enter transistion and be pushing at any point. Needless to say we were overjoyed. But this is where everything changed.......

...Crystal progressed nicely with in 2 hours to 9.5 cm dialated. But this is where normal labor completely changed. Instead of most labors in transistion where contractions last a minute coming 2 minutes apart poor crystal's contractions lasted 1 minute 45 seconds coming 2 minutes apart......meaning she was getting about 15 seconds of rest between contractions. This completely wore her out when combined with no sleep for nearly 3 days. Finally about 5 am she tried to push at the advisement of the Dr. only to be disappointed when she was still 9.5 cm dilated. So she picked her self up by her boot straps to gear in to finish this off and trudged along in this pattern of labor until she couldn't bare it anymore. Finally at 7am she was checked again only to be disappointed because she was still 9.5 cm. At this point we are on hour 33 of active labor!!!

Crystal's body simply gave out. She couldn't do it anymore due to simple lack of energy(food, water, and sleep). The midwife knew that Crystal in the very least wanted to deliver instead of a C-section so she advised Pitosin to help the body get to 10cm. This would have been a great idea except that pitosin makes contractions even harder. So the only choice that Crystal had was to take the medicine for pain. From here it was clock work. She got a bag of fluids, took the pain medicine, slept for 3 hours, woke up and 45 minutes later Sawyer entered the world. I have never been more proud of my wife than I am right now. She is the most amazing woman I know and I will never forget everything she went thru to bring our beautiful baby boy in to the world. I love her dearly and realize I am a total wuss when compared to her!.

What a Rush!!

2008-09-18T10:06:00.004-04:00

HOLY COW!!!!! That is all I can say. This past week has been one of the highest and lowest weeks of my life! Watching my God fearing, beautiful, and tough wife be in labor for almost 40 hours was so hard. She came thru everything like a champ. I can't even talk enough about her right as I am so proud of the way she handled herself in all of it. But I will be working on a blog post here soon with the birth and labor story because this post is about my BOY (the Highs!)!

Almost all of you are aware of the arrival of Crystal and I's first son Sawyer James. He was born on Sunday Sept. 14th at 10:55 in the morning. As all parents say but it won't feel right to not say it...I think he is the most beautiful boy i have ever seen. I told Crystal that dang we made one cute kid:-P. that isn't ment to be offensive to anyone else but would you think anything less of the blessing that God has given you in this world. I can honestly say at this point nothing I have experienced has been like the first time I held Sawyer at the hospital. I was so nervous and yet so excited all at the same time. I was nervous because I was holding a baby that was 5 minutes old and I was excited because I realized how awesome the blessings of our God truely are. He entrusted this new life to Crystal and I to raise and bring up in His ways and that challenge isn't to be taken lightly. I didn't know if I was ready for that challenge until he was born. Now I know I am ready!!!!It has been God giving Crystal and I the strength, comfort, and heart to walk down this road and say that we are ready to do the VERY best that we can. That does not mean that we aren't going to fail cause we will and it doesn't mean that we will do everything right but what it does mean is that Crystal and I realize this is a blessing that God gave us and we are giving it back to Him because we can't do this on our own and to be honest with you I don't want to do it on my own. I want God to guide my family's steps.

Now for an update real quick. Sawyer is home as of Tuesday and doing very well. He is a little Jondus so he has to be on this little UV live blanket to help clear that up but with time he will be perfectly normaly. He is taking to the breastfeeding which is an answered prayer for Crystal and I as that was something we both are very passionate about. He isn't sleeping much in the night and sleeping alot during the day which is very normal. He was born at 7lbs 5oz and was discharged from the hospital at 7lbs .09 oz but as of yesterday he was already back up to 7lbs 2oz which is awesome that he is gaining weight back to soon. I will be posting photes on the web very soon on my Picasa Web Album. Final note......Thank you all SO MUCH to everyone for your prayers and support and I apologize if I didn't get to call you. We had a phone tree of people to call but with everything that went thru I wasn't mentally enough there to make the phone calls I needed to make and I am sorry. Just know that your warm words and encouragement has been felt by us all!

I'm Back.....

2008-08-16T09:05:00.002-04:00

Well Im back. Been a long time since I had a post but figured it was about time to get back to blogging. I do not know how long I will be on this blog as I might start playing with hosting my own blog in the future but that is a little down the road and besides I have alot more to write about and be thankful for.

For those who do not know Crystal and I are expecting the arrival of our first kid. His due date, if he makes it that long, is September 11. Guess if he came that day I would have a reason to like that day. But we are VERY excited and have been extremely blessed by all the support and all the gifts from showers we received. Before anyone ask...no we don't have a name yet. We can't seem to decide. We are stuck between two names that we both really like. Hopefully we will be able to decide before his arrival but if not I guess we will just wait to see him.

There is alot of other things going on too but not nearly as important and my first boy. Football season is upon us and once again I am out doing myself in the fantasy realm. Currently I am enrolled in 4 fantasy football leagues, 1 baseball league, 1 nascar league, a survival football pickem, college football pickem, and a Pro football pickem. UGH!!! Im am going to have to start getting to work at 7:30(we start work at 8:30) just to get all my fantasy stuff laid out each day. Not sure I why i do this to myself so don't ask. Anyways have a few other post in mind but keep an eye out for post concerning the baby cause I am sure that will now be the main thing I post about.

WOW what an article

2008-04-19T09:41:00.006-04:00

Sojourn Community Church, the church that Crystal and I are members, was featured in an article in the LEO(Louisville Eccentric Observer). What an article! I could see many people getting upset about this but not me! I find it very interesting! The writer no doubt has a bias about religion but i will give him credit for the attempt to not be. He did a good job in presenting the facts about the church(the things he calls good and bad).

Now a little details from my perspective. It seems the author is quite unaware of about Christianity and what it means to be Christian. He seemed to get stuck on the fact that Sojourn says that the homosexual lifestyle is a "sin". I can see why he would hung up on that. If you aren't a Christian and you don't understand what sin is, which I would argue that outside of the faith you can't understand what sin is, you would have a problem with someone telling you that a particular lifestyle is wrong. Now with that said it needs to be pointed out that Sojourn doesn't take this stance on its own and it isn't the only thing that the church would label as "sin". Sin is not a complex thing and it is something we all do and we are all called to turn from. So the "sin" of homosexuality is no less or no greater in the eyes of God than the "sin" of drunkenness, adultery, idolatry, murder, and pride(which is a message he preached here).

So to isolate one sin, in the case of this article homosexuality, is misleading. The sermon that is referred too in the article was also about Adultery as well and is one sermon is a line of many sermons being delivered this year by Daniel in the Book of Romans from the New Testament. Daniel does one thing if nothing else well and that is that he sticks to the scriptures. This is where the entire problem between the Christians and non-Christians arises. The belief in the bible and its words. Either you believe that the bible is the inspired Word of God or you don't. If you don't then the words of the bible are nothing more than foolishness to you, or as one person put here nothing more than mere fables for good living. If you believe the bible is the Word of God then you have to believe that he can change your life and the lives of those around you.

So for me I don't take this article as an attack on Sojourn. This is merely a non-believers take on the Church. I don't expect him to have a correct analysis of Sojourn or the beliefs of the Christian faith. Just as I would hope he would not expect me to have an understanding of how journalism is suppose to be done as I have no clue about journalism in the slightest.

more evidence of cultural influence in the Church???

2008-02-28T10:14:00.003-05:00

I have been absent from the blogging world for a quite a while. Im not going to say I am sorry because plain and simple I just was not inspired to write anything and when that is the case what is the point in blogging. So with that said I guess you could say I got a little inspiration and decided to write some thoughts down.

This weekend Daniel(teaching elder at Sojourn) was preaching in Romans but he said something very quickly that caught my attention. He did not give a long draw out sermon about it(was said and passed by in less than a minute) but it was important. He said...why don't we celebrate people who have been raised in the church more than we do? What does he mean by this...well I think it is this! Think about the last time you heard a testimony. Most testimonies of salvation we hear are of people who i have come up "from the pits of Hell as a sinner and have been saved by the grace of God". Alot of times you hear the "i was a horrible sinner(ie partying, sexual sin, selfishness, etc)then God got my attention and I started to live for him. Now don't hear me wrong!!! that is AWESOME!

That is my testimony almost to a tee so I am not hating on that. But what does this do to those Christians who where raised the church and do not have that same "came from the pits of hell" testimony. Ask some of them and you might find Christians who are ashamed of that and I blame the Church. When you ask someone who was in church at an early age and became a Christian at a young age because their parents cared enough to get them in church you might hear something like, "well I was raised in the church" and they say it in a negative light.

This is a shame and I believe it is evidence of culture influencing the Church in a light that we don't ever think about. What light is that???? The fact that we have idolized testimonies that are "pits of hell testimonies" and downgraded (or at the very least not celebrated them in the correct light that they should be) those who aren't. I for one want to say to those who have been raised in the church....BE PROUD and THANKFUL. As the body we need to make sure we aren't idolizing the gift of salvation in certain peoples life and I feel that in many of our churches, in an attempt to create that "shock" factor we place certain ways in which people are saved on top of the mountain. Does this not take away from what God is doing in salvation...remember it isn't by anything we have done that we are saved!

So sad for my Volunteers!

2007-09-17T09:25:00.000-04:00

How about them Vols showing up to play against Florida....o wait...they didn't!! Ok I have been one of the people saying stay off Phil Fulmer. He has won a national title, numerous SEC east titles and numerous SEC titles but this is starting to get sad. I am not sure what he needs to do but it is time to start looking at some changes. I don't mean fire Fulmer as he is always getting great talent in the recruiting(always in the top 25 of recruiting)but a change needs to be made. What has been the staples of UT football? On offense the Power I formation! We don't run that anymore but I will give Cutcliff a little slack as we are putting up nice Offensive numbers. The other staple has been shut down defense!!!We always run a 43 defense and we STOP THE RUN! Well we don't do that anymore. John Chavis is a good coach but change is not always a bad thing thus my question is it time for UT to make a move to improve our defense as it seems that has been the thing that is lacking in the recent years?

Why use titles?

2007-08-29T14:55:00.000-04:00

Ok I had a very interesting discussion at lunch today with some friends and it led me to get inspired to make a second post today. Why do we use titles and more specifically in the Christian world. How often has someone walked up to you and ask, "Hey what religion are you?" and what they really meant was, "What denomination are you?" This question led me many years ago to start responding to that question as "I am a Christian!" Now this answer seemed to puzzle those who meant to ask what denomination I am a part of and I would always reply with "I attend a Baptist Church." This used to be enough of a response but it seems as though here recently....and maybe it is because of my work and because of my location...that to be labeled a Christian is not simply enough anymore. Let me go in to a little detail....

In Louisville the hot button issue is Calvinism. For those not familiar Calvinism, it is a particular theological view of salvation. It is one of many views on salvation. Well the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, which is located in Louisville, has a president who labels himself a Calvinist. But what makes this interesting is this...Calvinism has 5 point of belief about salvation commonly referred too as the T.U.L.I.P. Now I have studied these 5 point and do not agree with all 5. I agree with 3 or 4 depending on who the context of the conversation I am in places these points. None the less I do not agree with all 5. Calvinism = 5 points thus Brandon <> (that means doesn't equal to in programming language) Calvinist or for you math folks out there 4 doesn't equal five. This seems rather basic to me or so I thought.

Well that isn't the case. Apparently the new trend(and I am not sure why) is that if you agree with 4 points you are a Calvinist. Now this is a very strange concept to me because that is like saying you are 80% pregnant. IT DOESN'T WORK LIKE THAT...you are either pregnant or you aren't so to me you are either a Calvinist and you believe all 5 points or you are not. So I guess my question is this, "Why label yourself something if you aren't that?" I am really interested in answers to this question because we had 3 people at the table at lunch and really came up with 3 different answers!

Football Time

2007-08-29T09:40:00.001-04:00

It is the most wonderful time of the year and no I am not talking about Christmas. I love football. I love all kinds of football. I love Pee-wee thru Pro. I could seriously watch football 24/7. So with all that said looks like it is going to be a good year for football starting this Saturday with my VOLS taking on Cal. GO VOLS!!!! I am going to make a few predictions on college and pro football. Give me your feedback and or your picks for the winners.

College football - I am an SEC homer so I will start with them.

SEC EAST - Georgia will win the east this year much to my dislike
SEC WEST - Bama. How can you pick against Saban with the amount of talent there.
SEC Champ - Georgia

Tennessee will finish 9 - 3 and Fulmer will be on the hot seat. Not sure he should be but he will be none-the-less.

Nation Champion - USC. I don't like it at all but GEES they are deep and talented

Pro Football

AFC
North - Cincinnati
South - Colts
East - New England
West - San Diego

AFC Champions - GRRRRRR!!! New England. I hate to say it but gees they look scary on Defence and well Tom Brady just plain and simply wins alot of games

NFC
North - Chicago
South - Dallas
East - New Orleans
West - San Fransisco

NFC Champions - Dallas

Super Bowl - New England. You have no idea how much i pain in writing that name.

Let me know your picts

I'm drinking the Todd Agnew Kool-aid

2007-07-23T09:47:00.000-04:00

As many of my friends know, I have a serious guilty pleasure when it comes to music. My favorite artist is with out a doubt The Dave Matthews Band. I am not sure why i have this un-natural love of them. Some say I have a man crush on Dave Matthews and that might be true but the music just speaks to me. I say all that to say I now have a number 2 on my list.

I have liked Todd Agnew for sometime just as many other. It started my dear friend Brooke Hall, God rest her soul, lost her life to cancer at the age of 22. She was an amazing woman of God. She was so amazing that she planned her own funeral and not only did she plan it but she made it a worship experience and took the focus off her death and put it on the right spot....life in Jesus Christ. But at her funeral she had Grace Like Rain played. The song spoke to me on that day and since then I have like Todd Agnew.

Well this weekend at Six Flag he preformed. Now anyone who has every run sound or tech for a concert knows how horrible a "change of the bands" is and can understand when I say the change went horrible. Nothing patched correctly and so when they started the set nothing worked. They finished the first song and Todd began to stall. What came after this was amazing. I heard a sermon to the likes I have never heard before. I mean I have been to a number of churches in the resent years and never heard anything that challenged me more. I would pay to hear him speak much less hear his music. But with that said as they start get things finished in the world of sound he picked up his guitar and started to lead in worship and it was one of the most amazing times of worship I have been apart of in a long time. The spirit moved and you know what, it did matter what church you attended or denomination you claimed to be....all that mattered at that time was the un-matched love of Jesus and what He has done for us.

One final thing that moved me....As he was stalling he made this statement, "God didn't call me hear tonight to make you feel good. God brought me here tonight to challenge and change you." Some people in the crowd(including myself) yelled AMEN and he said(and I won't ever forget this), "hold on now....you better be careful because God will hold you to that." Far to often when we hear something that is true we scream out AMEN as if we knew it but the truth of the matter is that I nor did anyone else in that crowd before that truly believe that God was going to change us. Well he changed me and I don't mean that lightly.

I am drinking the Todd Agnew Kool-Aid!!!

Al Molher repondes to the Catholic Church

2007-07-13T08:38:00.000-04:00

Not very often do I read a blog entry by Al Molher and come away thinking "WOW he really hit the nail on the head on this one." Now in that statement I am not saying I am smarter or have been more enlightened to the ways of God more so than him but merely pointing out that on a diverse issues of theology we differ. The beauty of this is we can. But I am off point. He wrote an article on his blog this morning about the document put out by the Roman Catholic Church(The Vatican) claiming that they are the only true church due to the papacy and the fact that Peter was the first "Pope". Now most chruches founded from the reformation do not recognize this as truth according to scripture. You can agree or not but his entry about this is 100% on target and he as a key voice for Southern Baptist did exactly as he should have done. Read this article and I think you will see what I mean.

So I must say Thank You Al Mohler to putting this issue in to the right context and having such a great insight in to how we as "protestants" should respond.

Sad Day!

2007-07-10T09:38:00.000-04:00

Dan Patrick is leaving ESPN. Thus no more ESPN Radio Dan Patrick Show. I am very sad by this because I love to listen to him during the middle of the work day. I am SAD!

Dan Patrick Leaves ESPN

Interesting debate on Baptism

2007-07-09T09:12:00.000-04:00

Ok.. I have been involved in an interesting discussion on some blogs about the act of baptism and thus I feel a need to make a short post on it. This will be quick as I do not feel that the debate on this topic is generally helpful anymore nor do I feel like any resolution will be come too.

The discussion is about the forms of baptism in the Christain churches ie immersion, sprinking, pouring. Are all of these forms acceptable and if not why? These topics can range and can get very heated and i have experienced myself. The simple point I have tried to make was the Jesus was baptized by immersion. It is amazing to me the number of people who want to debate this text in Matthew 14 but if you do a little, very little research, in to the words used in the Greek you find the word in the original text was baptizo. The root word for baptizo is the word bapto. Now people want to argue the context of baptism of Jesus simply because Mark and Luke do not account the baptism of Jesus of coming "out of the water" This is clearly stated in a way in the greek that should not be confused. If that is a dogmatic and legalist way of reading the scriptures so be it but let me make my point a little more.

Definition
Bapto: to dip, dip in, immerse
Baptizo:
1) to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge (of vessels sunk)
2) to cleanse by dipping or submerging, to wash, to make clean with water, to wash one's self, bathe
3) to overwhelm

Commentary on both words:
"Note on Baptism in Ac. Baptism in water (such as John's) is distinguished from baptism with the Holy Spirit (i. 5, etc.). Those who receive the latter, however, may also be baptized in water (cf. xi. 16 with x. 47); and there is one example of people who had previously received John's baptism receiving Christian baptism as a preliminary to receiving the Spirit (xix. 3 ff.). John's was a baptism of repentance (xiii. 24; xix. 4), as was also Christian baptism (ii. 38), but as John's pointed forward to Jesus (xix. 4), it became obsolete when He came. Christian baptism followed faith in the Lord Jesus (xvi. 31 ff.); it was associated with His name (ii. 38; viii. 16, etc.), which was invoked by the person baptized (xxii. 16); it signified the remission (ii. 38) or washing away of sins (xxii. 16); sometimes it preceded (ii. 38; viii. 15 ff.; xix. 5), sometimes followed (x. 47 f.) the receiving of the Spirit." (F. F. Bruce. The Acts of the Apostles [Greek Text Commentary], London: Tyndale, 1952, p. 98, n. 1.)

This word should not be confused with baptô (911). The clearest example that shows the meaning of baptizo is a text from the Greek poet and physician Nicander, who lived about 200 B.C. It is a recipe for making pickles and is helpful because it uses both words. Nicander says that in order to make a pickle, the vegetable should first be 'dipped' (baptô) into boiling water and then 'baptised' (baptizô) in the vinegar solution. Both verbs concern the immersing of vegetables in a solution. But the first is temporary. The second, the act of baptising the vegetable, produces a permanent change.

Final point. Why is this such a source of debate for people? Why do people want to pour or sprinkle for baptism instead of following the model of Jesus. I can see a few extreme situations, new believer no in a place where immersion could happen, where this would be challenging but plain and simple in the church today this situation isn't a problem on a large scale. Everyone basicaly has the opportunity to be immersed. I don't care how many people want to argue the context of the Baptism of Jesus it doesn't hold up. The words of Matthew speak for themselves so I don't have to argue context on that.

1st and 2nd Commandments

2007-07-07T17:35:00.000-04:00

1st commandment - "Thou shall have no other gods before me" Exo 20:3

Seems like a reletively easy commandment to follow in my opinion. Not a lot of meat to dig in to on the surface but let us look a little below the surface by asking a few questions and hopefully a few of you readers will respond to this.

Question: In this command is God acknowledging the existence of other "gods"? and if so what are some of these "gods"

The word that we translate for before is also used in the Old and New Testaments for a different word....besides! This word surely changes the way this commandment reads.

Question: So if God is or isn't acknowledging the existence of other "gods" why did he feel the need to give this command?

The men teaching in my bible study almost compounded the 1st and 2nd commmandments on a surface level to answer these questions and I am curious if I am the only one who really doesn't think that these two commands are explanation for one another.

2nd commandment - "You shall not make for yourself and idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above and on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth" Exo 20:4

Question :What is an idol?

Websters defines it like this which I like : "an image or other material object representing a deity to which religious worship is addressed." SO an idol is a representation of a believed to exist deity or god. So an idol is not a god thus you can not link these two commandments together on that foot. They are separate and they can stand alone with out using one another as an explanation.

Final Question : Are material objects such as a car or cloths idols? aka is the "American Lifestyle" a "god"?

I don't line up revisited

2007-06-26T15:28:00.000-04:00

Ok I have to start off by saying that I have sat back and really thought about my last post and although it was a good post I am not going to follow thru on my idea about discussing the 9 points of the 9 Marks Ministry. I think they are trying to do some good things and I believe that the common goal of the great commission is seeking to be filled by this group so I can't really knock them on that.

I think part of the problem with Christianity today is we spend more time debating and arguing with one another on things that aren't really relevant and let them divided us. Some people believe in election and some people don't, some people believe in expositional preaching and some believe in topical preaching...and so on. Most of these things are not relevant in my opinion to the good new of Jesus Christ(I know someone will argue with that point but then they are just re-enforcing my belief about to much debate)

So with that behind me to my next topic. I am in a bible study with some men at church whom I respect highly. We have been studying together for over a year now and it has been very good. I have grown to respect them more and hopefully they respect me more as well. We are starting down the path of studying the 10 commandments. This is a great topic and one that I enjoy to talk about because we in Christian circles have forgotten what the 10 commandments say much less the why and how they are important to us today. So I am going to email my bible study guys with a link to this blog and I am going to start a discussion on the 10 commandments hopefully. If you want to comment please do. My next post will come in the next 24 hrs hopefully and it will be on the 1st and 2nd commandments. I will email those guys and lets see where this little adventure will go.

I don't always line up....

2007-06-19T13:31:00.000-04:00

....with what most people say, do, or believe. This is not merely in my character but also in my beliefs, my relationships, and my life. I don't like to follow crowds. This is sometimes a problem for people but it is the truth of who I am. I think far to often crowds of people believe in something simply because that is what they are told to believe and they don't feel they have any reason to question the teaching or words of those that are doing the teaching(this is not correct as we are challenge to test and approve what God's will is but that is for another time). Now this can in certain situations be a good thing so I am not bashing people who are like that. I actually am a little jealous because I wished I could take things are face value but I have never been that way. I have always investigated the validity of the teachings in my life. This is very true of my walk with Christ. When a pastor or teacher is teaching me something I always investigate what they are talking about to make sure it lines up with the teachings of the bible. If that course is inline with someone or something well then fine but sometimes it doesn't and I dismiss what that teaching and move on.

With all of that said I have a few thoughts and statements. My favorite question to ask is Why?. Some call that psychology but I simply think it is responsible. The why question is never fully answerable without a firm understanding of God. Don't believe me.....next time someone tries to tell you something then ask them why. They will try to answer it and then ask them why, rinse and repeat...what you will find is them getting frustrated because they can't answer that question fully.

Now you ask why I believe that hopefully...here is why. God can't nor will He ever be fully defined in human terms and or characteristics. Everything in this world was caused by something...if you believe in the big bang or in creationism something caused it to happen. Ask an evolutionist why did the monkeys evolve(if you believe they did) and then take their answer and ask why?. Eventually they won't be able to answer you. Take someone who believes in creationism and doesn't have a firm understanding of God and ask them why. What you will find is an inability to answer that question and here is why.....Nothing caused God! God was and is. He was here before the world and He will be here after the world. Science can't answer that question no matter how hard they try. So now that I have proven that you can't answer the questions of this world without believing in God it is time to move forward and tell you why I am writing a post like this. (if you wish to debate this point about science not being able to answer the question why feel free to comment. I welcome all points of view on this topic.)

A couple of weeks ago I was surfing the web and browsed over to 9MarksMinistry website. Now I have and had heard of this group before and heard some very good things about then. They basically want the church to be the church that God designed in the bible and they have 9 marks of what this church in the modern times should do. Now this is all well and good. They can hold to these ideals all they want but that doesn't mean they are right. This also doesn't mean they are wrong either. The why question can be used to analyze the nine marks and decide if these points are good and right according to the scriptures or if these nine marks are the what the founders of this group sincerely believe that the scriptures say according to human understand of God. I am not against what they want nor am I saying they are wrong but I think a series of post on this topic would stimulate me and hopefully stimulate you to ask the hard questions that need be asked and I simply picked this group because they are a popular group and powerful group of people in the Christian community. I am not trying to pick a fight nor am I going to. I believe that sometimes agreeing to disagree is ok and I am sure that on some of these points that will be the case with me. That is why i don't always line up!

The Gospel in Batman Begins pt3

2007-05-28T09:40:00.001-04:00

This is another exchange of word but the message is awesome. The exchange happens between Ras Aulgoul and Bruce Wayne on an Ice Lake while training with Samurai swords

Ras: "Your parents death was not your fault"
(Sword Exchange)
Ras: "It was your fathers"
(Bruce is visibly angry)
(Heated Exchange with swords and fist)
Ras: "Anger doesn't change the fact that your father failed to act."
Bruce: "The man had a gun"
Ras: "That wouldn't stop you"
Bruce: "I've had training"
Ras: "Training is not good for anything(knocks Bruce back down)...without the will to act."

This part of the movie is the key part where Bruce realizes what has been bugging him and he is beginning to learn about himself and what is inside of him. He is angry and is without the ability to seek vengence(See previous post or watch movie to understand that part). He must find his healing from somewhere else. He eventually finds it but I won't spoil the whole movie.

Ok I must approach where I am going with this in relation to the scriptural application to this quote. I don't want to make anyone mad but I also must speak in truth. It seems that most of Crystal and my friends are in seminary. I first must say that I don't envy them in the least but I do respect them for going back to school. Many of them see it as the only way to do what they what to do, be in the ministry. I have challenged many of them on this because(not 100% on the exact number but I am clost enough) I believe some 60% of KBC pastors are bi-vocational and those pastors don't have to have a masters of Dr. to preach the gospel. Sorry got on a soap box there.

Anyways to the point. Far to many of us (me included with all my studies)are sucking up all this knowledge from the scriptures and that is great but if it does not change us at the core of our being then it is pointless. We can spend 20 hrs a day in the study of scripture, learn about eschatology and epistemology, and not change a bit. My point and the link to the quote, "The will to act" is the most important part of our Christian walk. I don't mean simply evangelism although that is important. I mean in our fight to become more loving, our fight against sin, our fight to witness. We can be trained all day long and still not change a single soul. I challenge myself and those who want to spend all their time in the study and research of the Word to make sure that what we study is it "...grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to Him be the glory now and forever."(2 Pet 3:18). Notice here that Grace is before Knowledge and not the other way around. If our knowledge doesn't led to grace and wisdom then it is pointless!

The Gospel in Batman Begins pt2

2007-05-28T09:33:00.000-04:00

This is not mearly a quote from the movie but a segment that I think is wonderful. I am paraphrasing so if you want the full text watch the movie.

Segment
Rachel : I am sorry you had to see Schill die like that..
Bruce : I'm not sorry.
Rachel : You don't mean that..
Bruce : What if I do? My parents deserve justice!
Rachel : Your not talking about justice you are talking about vengeance
Bruce : No! Sometimes they are the same.
Rachel : They are never the same! Justice is about what is right and fair, vengeance is about you getting revenge for yourself.

This is the turning point of this movie. It really defines who Bruce Wayne really was and then you see who he becomes. How often when something happens do I want justice and how many times do I actually want revenge. Most of the time I have to confess I would like revenge when I have been wronged.

Now the God aspect of this concept of justice verses vengeance. I have a ton of thoughts and directions I could do with this so it is hard to nail it down to one thought but I think below is the direction I am going today.

God is not in the business of vengeance. Some who read the scriptures would think that because God displays his wrath at points in the Old Testament that is an example of revenge. That is simply now true. That is perfect judgment. God doesn't condemn humanity based on the fact that he wanted revenge on us because of what Adam and Eve did. God doesn't need to have revenge on us because he is God and we aren't. What more of an example of the fact that affirms this stance than the life of Jesus Christ. Roman 6:23 says "for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus." The gospel is the greatest example of God's perfect judgment!

The Gospel in Batman Begins pt1

2007-05-25T17:47:00.001-04:00

I really wished I had a way to write down all the thoughts I have while I am cutting grass. It seems that I have my best thoughts during that time. Anyways with that said I need to move on to the subject of this post. The movie Batman Begins has moved in to my top 5 favorite movies of all times and is closing in on my favorite movie(s) of all times in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. The story, the action, and the one liners are all very very good. So I have given some thought to this and decided that I am going to go over a couple of these quotes. Now anyone who knows me also knows that I try to come up with biblical themes or at the very least a biblical principle that can be seen. Thus I am going to take this quote and hopefully place a biblical concept to it.

Quote: "It is not who I am but, what I do that defines me!"

Bruce Wayne (Batman) says this quote at the end of the movie to Rachel, the girl whom he loves, as a way for her to know who he is because she said the same thing to him earlier in the movie. Now I love this quote because it speaks very specifically to the the fact that it doesn't matter how good we want to be or are on the inside but that it is our actions that define who and what we are.

This is a very biblical concept. How can we know God and not do what he ask us todo. What defines us as a Christian is about what we do. We are called to love people. We are called to be Christ example in this world. That defines us. James 2:20 says, But are you wiling to recognize, you follish fellow, that faith without works is useless. Now do not hear me saying that being a good person will get you to heaven because that is clearly not truth according to scripture but our works do define who we are to those who are not believers.

Adopting a Child....

2007-05-22T08:25:00.000-04:00

Bet this title got your attention. No Crystal and I aren't adopting a child so don't panic. But I did figure I would get your attention. This post is about something different. My brother-in-law came to visit Crystal and I last night. He will be leaving for a mission trip to Nepal this Thursday and just wanted to come see us before he left. It was a great visit with him. As some of you know however it always seems that him and I end up in some kind of in-depth spiritual discussion that I think mutually challenges us both. However this is not the reason for this post. He was presented with an interesting question and he posed it to me. This question got me to thinking and thus I think it would be good to discuss this in a public forum. NOTE: the key word in this was discuss...there will be no argueing and if I since that going on in comments I will delete them!

Question: What if a 35 year old single woman with no kids and no family came to me(in the context of the conversation is me = pastor) and ask what I thought about her adopting a child?

My Thoughts: WOW what a loaded question this is. I will present my viewpoint in this but first let me start with saying there is nothing in scripture that speak 100% directly to this situation. Thus any points made are merely my feeble interpretation of the Holy Scriptures of our Lord. Also this is a complex question and I am not sure that any answer we come up with is completely right or completely wrong. Reason I believe that....simply put is the context and matter of the situation.

1) Jeremy stated that he would advice in a gentle and loving manner against the adoption on the grounds that it was not the way God designed the family to be. This is a very scripturally supported point and I don't think him wrong to make it. The ideal biblical family is not a single parent. Key word there is ideal! That is not to say that a single parent is not Godly nor is it to say they can't raise their children in the Lord. Simply stated I agree with him in that the best design(if marriage can be defined this) is how it is defined in scripture which is both a man and a woman not one or the other.

2) We live in a non-ideal world. In our creation we were designed not for this world but for perfect harmony with God(this can be summarized in a number of words but you get the idea). At the fall that all changed thus we are not living in the ideal. Now this does not change the gospel at all. To me this realization makes the gospel much bigger and a much more central point to our theology. So if we do not live in the ideal how do we reconcile this problem about a single woman wanting to adopt a child.

3) Maybe to me the most critical question to ask is what is the woman's desire for this child rooted in. Does she want a child because she wants a child or what if this desire was sincerely God's desire. Some are going to say well God desires the ideal thus could not want anything less than the ideal. You would be correct there except as I stated previously ideal is not possible until the second coming of Christ. I would also say that this is a very narrow approach to the interpretation of the characteristics of God. Thus point 3 answer is what is the motivation behind the desire. I think it has to be taken in to account. If the woman wanted a child out of selfish motives then I would also have to advise against it.

4) What if this woman's motives are pure. Now granted this is not something we can fully know because we aren't God but all intentions that we can logically see are pure. Reason I ask is simply this....is it not better for this child to be raised with one parent that is loving and willing to bring them up in the Lord than to not have one at all. Are we willing to say that the foster care system is more loving and caring that a single mother could be. I am not willing to go there.

So to bring all this to a close I am not fully against a single Godly woman adopting a child but I am also not fully for it either. In this situation One size cannot fit all. As with scripture everything has to be put in to context thus every situation would be different. Let me hear what you think because I am truly interested to get some feed back about this topic.

Happiness or Holiness

2007-05-13T10:20:00.000-04:00

Now this title is a little miss leading. I know some of you are going to think about your personal life but I am not going to talk about that.

This past week I was in Chicago and I got to spend a good amount of time with a very dear friendfrom college who lives in Chicago. I admire, respect, and geniunely value him and his views on the Christain walk. But he made a very deep statement that I need to wrestle with. At first glance I agree with the statement but as with all things that are new to me I have to investigate further and make sure it is sound
scripturally.

The Statement
"Marriage is not about our happiness but yet about Holiness"

My Thoughts
I agree with this at first glance but I will expand a little on his statement. A few points that will hopefully give you an idea of where I am going with this.
1. The Christian walk is not about our happiness.
I know people don't like to hear this but it isn't. Happiness is an emotional reaction to events in our lives. Christ never once tells us that our walk with him is about our happiness. This about that last statment and how it ends....."our happiness". This is selfish and if you are following Christ for happiness you are missing out on the true blessings.
2. The Christian walk is about holiness.
Now don't take me to say that this is the only purpose of our Christian walk but it is one key part of it. "Be Holy just as He(God) is Holy" Holiness doesn't always make happiness. But holiness will bring Joy.
3. The Christian walk is about Joy
Joy is not an emotion but an yet a choice we make in our lives. I choose to be joyful or not. I don't want to go deeper in to this but this is, I believe, Scriptural truth.

So with all those points stated there is little room to talk about marriage. But I will say this...My wife doesn't always make me happy. When she ask me to serve her in one form, fashion, or manner I am not always happy about it. But I choose to be joyful and serve her...an act of love. choosing to serve her over myself is a step towards holiness. She challenges me spiritually. She is seeking to make me holy.

"Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her"

Christ made the church holy. I should make my wife holy and she should do the same. So at first glance the statement is correct but I think it should be expanded. Let me here what you think. Do you agree with this statement?

Vacation....

2007-05-05T10:27:00.000-04:00

We are on vacation this week so I won't be posting anything new after this post unless it is pictures or just tidbit notes from the trip in the big city of chicago. I will say this....we are on the 34th floor of the hyatt regency hotel in downtown chicago. I am just a big ol high class redneck for 7 days!!!

To conform or...

2007-04-26T14:49:00.000-04:00

not to conform...that is the question?

I was lucky to be a part of a blog meeting this morning at the KBC. It was a gathering of all the KBC sponsored bloggers and me being the I.T. who helps support them. But we had an intresting converstaion about "what is off limits" in the blogosphere. I have always had a blog and it has been fairly private to this point so for me alot of topics that had been on the table probably shouldn't have been in the public sector but I discussed them anyways. But it was pointed out to me that the context of the conversation is always the most important point in your post. I mean for me to talk about religion is like second nature because it is so important to me. I have always felt that questions about doctrine and theology should be discussed in the open forum. I do not believe in conformity in any sense of the word. I have always made my faith and my beliefs mine. If someone taught something I would always investigate the truth of the teaching and if it was I applied that teaching to my life. I do not view that as wrong. But it was pointed out to me through this discussion that I do have to conform to some extent. I conform in marriage. If I had my heel set in the ground my marriage would fail. A good leader has to be willing to hear all sides of a discussion. I am seeking to conform in Christ. So I am a conformist just not in the sense that our culture views it. So the question is why is doctrinal/theological/spiritual conformity seen as a must in our Christian walk? Lets face it....we don't always agree and if we did then I fear that is worse than us not.

The Invitation

2007-04-09T10:16:00.000-04:00

This post has been a long time coming and I probably will make someone mad but I don't really care to much about that. So I am going to start with a question, give the answer, show the history, give the problem, and provide a solution so hold on to your pants cause here we go.

Question :Why in the Baptist Church do we feel a need to issue an "Invitation" at the end of ever service?

Answer:The church answer, view point, to the question is that we are extending an opportunity for those who have never accepted the message of the gospel to accept the Good News of Jesus Christ and make that public.

History: This is where you have to hang on with me. In the life of church history an invitation was something that has come about in recent church(by recent I mean 19th century). The invitation was something that when someone who heard the message of the gospel and responded to it would make that acceptance public. They would generally be introduced before the congregation at the very time they responded. I think this is a great idea. I think the body of believers should accept those who have responded to the gospel message with joy and prayer for the new believer and doing it at the very moment is fine.

My Beef: The reason for the invitation is two fold 1) Response to the Gospel message and 2) make that response public. Thus my beef with the invitation is two fold. I will start with the second part of the purpose of the invitation.

First:In the church I attend, presentation of a new believer is not done at the end of the invitation. We present new members the following week. Now I am not saying I think sticking to history is a good thing nor am I saying I think that presenting new members the following week is a good thing either. I am simply stating the facts of Church I attend. I believe the minute you ask Christ Jesus in to your heart you are saved and the public profession before the congregation is nothing more than obedience to the commands of Christ. But a public profession before the body is not required for salvation. Now some bible scholar out there is going to say that making your salvation known is a requirement for salvation. This is correct but is not speaking with a pastor, another believer, your spouse, etc. making that known? Does that not show that you are not ashamed of the Gospel? In the New Testament one of the main purpose in confessing Jesus is Lord was to show that we are not ashamed of Christ(there are others too so don't start bashing what I am saying). So again I say that a profession before the congregation is not required for salvation. There are a whole host of other things that do require the profession before the body but salvation does not! (Hope I was clear enough with that!)

Second: Now it is time to tackle the first part of the purpose of an invitation. The opportunity to respond to the Good News that Christ died for our sins so that we might have eternal life with God. You would be hard pressed to find a believer in Christ that says that this purpose is not a good thing and you will not find one here either. But I will say this....I don't think the modern invitation is living up to this opportunity. How may church services have your been in where the pastor extended the invitation longer than it should have been extended? A lot of times when a pastor does this he is also talking to you trying to get you to respond. The problem is for a non-believer this ends up becoming about the emotions of a decision. Let me be clear here....following Jesus is not an emotion! Emotions manifest from following Christ but it isn't the other way around! If you ask most Christians if they feel saved in the morning after 8 hours of sleep they are going to tell you no. But if you ask them do they know they are saved after 8 hours of sleep they will say YES! That is because salvation isn't an emotion. So when a pastor draws out an invitation he can play to the emotions of a person and if they accept Jesus because of an emotion we are doing this person wrong. Think I am wrong? Look at the numbers, a large number of people baptized are out of the church and claim they don't believe within 5 years. I credit this to people accepting Christ when they are emotional(the other part is lack of discipleship to the new believer but that is another post for another time).

Also besides the emotion I have heard pastors make the statement, "I know there is someone in the audience who needs to respond to message presented here today." Hey bud don't be so arrogant as to believe that your preaching was so good that someone has to respond. The only way someone should respond is if the Holy Spirit is moving in their lives and you can't know if the Holy Spirit is moving in someones life by simply gazing out over an audience. If someone wants more on this I will be happy to go in further detail but not in this post.

Solution: I hate to present a problem that I see without giving a way to resolve it. The solution is plain and simple. The invitation does not have to be given at the end of every service. If you are preaching from or listening to a sermon from I Kings chances are that the message is more about growth in your walk and less about accepting Christ. Thus you don't need an invitation. I am not down playing the work of the Holy Spirit to speak to a non believer thru I Kings but simply making a statement at the end of the service that if someone would like to speak with the pastor or other church staff member that they will be available in the same location every week is enough. When you preaching about the Gospel then an invitation is needed and should be offered but don't draw it out. If someone doesn't move from the chair then cut the invitation short and make sure they know that the pastor will be available to speak to after the service. I think it better to preform the invitation in this manner than to have Non-Believers accept the Gospel based on emotions.

A Great Conversation

2007-04-04T19:53:00.000-04:00

Very VERY rarely does a forward come across one of my many emails that I actually enjoy reading. Even less frequent is the fact that I might forward it on to someone. But today something is going to happen that has never happened for me. I am going to put a forward I received in the public sector for all to read. I read an article on CNN today by a Scientist who believes in God. I don't think this so far of a stretch as others do. (Disclaimer : I do not agree with this mans ideology on evolution but as for everything else...pretty close). *Collins Article* After reading this article I remembered this forward I had saved. I thought this very applicable. Bare with this post as the conversation below is fairly LONG

Setting: An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem Science has with God, The Almighty. He asks one of his new Christian students to stand and.....

PROF: You are a Christian, aren't you, son?
Student: Yes, sir.
PROF: So you believe in God?
Student: Absolutely, sir.
PROF: Is God good?
Student: Sure.
PROF: Is God all-powerful?
Student: Yes.
PROF: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal Him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn't. How is this God good then? Hmm? (Student is silent.)
PROF: You can't answer, can you? Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?
Student: Yes.
PROF: Is Satan good?
Student: No.
PROF: Where does Satan come from?
Student: From...God...
PROF: That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?
Student: Yes.
PROF: Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything. Correct?
Student: Yes.
PROF: So who created evil?
(Student does not answer.)
PROF: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don't they?
Student: Yes, sir.
PROF: So, who created them?
(Student has no answer.)
PROF: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son...Have you ever seen God?
Student: No, sir.
PROF: Tell us if you have ever heard your God?
Student: No, sir.
PROF: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God? Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?
Student: No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.
PROF: Yet you still believe in Him?
Student: Yes.
PROF: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your GOD doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?
Student: Nothing. I only have my faith.
PROF: Yes. Faith. And that is the problem science has.
Student: Professor, is there such a thing as heat?
PROF: Yes.
Student: And is there such a thing as cold?
PROF: Yes.
Student: No sir. There isn't.
(The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.)
Student: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don't have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.
(There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)
Student: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness? PROF: Yes. What is night if there isn't darkness?
Student: You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light.... But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and its called darkness, isn't it? In reality, darkness isn't. If it were you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?
PROF: So what is the point you are making, young man?
Student: Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.
PROF: Flawed? Can you explain how?
Student: Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?
PROF: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.
Student: Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?
(The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument is going.)
Student: Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?
(The class is in uproar.)
Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor's brain? (The class breaks out into laughter.)
Student: Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's brain, felt it, touched or smelt it?.....No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?
(The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his face unfathomable.)
PROF: I guess you'll have to take them on faith, son.
Student: That is it sir... The link between man & God is FAITH. That is all that keeps things moving & alive.

Now I don't know if this actually happened but it is great either way.

Bible Study Quote

2007-04-02T08:14:00.000-04:00

I am in a bible study and we meet every monday morning at 6 am. This is way early but very well worth the time that i devote to this because of the things I learn. But this morning we had a a great discussion on Evangelism. We where discussing the facts about speaking verses living out your faith. We all agreed that both are important and needed but I think we all agreed that to speak your faith and not live it would simply be wrong.

One of the men in the class had a great quote that made me laugh so hard I just had to post it. Context of the quote. Discussion about study of the bible and how it relates to the "sowing" vs. "reaping" in the terms of seeing people come to Jesus. Quote from Todd. "If you plant taters.....Ya get Taters". This was so funny but very very theologically sound in my opinion. The do as I say not as I do type of Christianity is just wrong. You can't expect to not study and learn the scriptures and then when as a question about scripture be able to explain it. Also you can't plant taters in peoples lives and expect to get a steak. Plant the seed that God commands us to plant. There are many other theological perspectives that could be taken here but I thought that this was by hilarious and very applicable.

The Gospel in Song

2007-03-30T21:45:00.000-04:00

From time to time I think it is important that I post on somethings that I find very enjoyable. I have over time really started to enjoy to listen to Todd Agnew. He is insightful, theological, and just plain deep. I rejoice when I listen to his music and I have some of the best times of worship just simply listen(and singing) to his music. The song lyrics below are from a song of his called "Something Beautiful". I will let the song lyrics speak for themselves. I will say that I totally 100% agree with every word of this song.

"
I am struggling to find a way to make myself attractive to You, attractive to You
I am trying to be more deserving of the gift You have to me, so free

(Chorus:)
It's funny how all I can be is someone completely ugly
And yet when You look at me, You don't see a wretch
You see a reflection of something beautiful

I am searching for the water that can wash me clean enough to earn Your love
I want to stop all the things that break Your heart, but come so natural to me, naturally

(Chorus)

I can't believe you could fall in love with me "

Expections vs. Entitlement

2007-03-27T19:49:00.000-04:00

Ever had one of those "AA Ha" moments? I had one of those this weekend as I was working on the house. If you don't know crystal and i have done alot of work to our house. We have done nearly all the work ourselves to help save money. But no matter how much work we do on this house it never looks as nice as I think it should look. I want our house to look like a $250,000 in Prospect(a very nice sub-division in louisville). What I came to realize is this. No matter how much work or money we put in this house it is never going to look like one of those houses.

Two thing are at work here. First, this is sinful because basically I am trying to "keep up with the Jones" instead of being content with what God has provided for Crystal and I. I keep thinking "if i could just fix this or replace that" then this house would look like that "dream house". So basically I have unrealistic expectation of what this house should look like.

Secondly, this problem of expectations goes deeper. I feel like I deserve to have a big, fancy, nice, prospect type house. This is very cultural. We as a culture believe that we deserve it because someone else has it and we want it. Truth of the matter is that is sin plain and simple. Tha that is the pure definition of envy. So I have two things to work on in my personal life but I am not done yet.

I have for a long time had a problem with UK basketball fans. I couldn't really tell you what it was that i didn't like but UK basketball fans are just different. Ok let me be clear here...I am not speaking of all UK fans but a large group of fans that I am going to describe are like what I am going to say. For a while I thought it was the expectations they put on their program. I thought it was the expectations that drove Tubby out. But then I got to thinking. I am the first person on the wagon to see Darrin Horn be fired from Western Kentucky. He has not taken us to the big dance yet in four years. This is unacceptable for WKU...PERIOD!!!Heck if there isn't a band wagon yet, i will start the dang thing. I WANT DARRIN HORN FIRED!!!! Then it hit me, I expect WKU basketball to be in the big dance every year. I have high expectations. This is no different than UK fans wanting to be in the final four every year. Thus it is not the unrealistic expectation on the program that are what I don't like. I mean every fan has unrealistic expectation on the team they pull for and if you say you don't then you aren't a true fan.

Then it hit me. The problem is no different than what I experienced over the weekend. The feeling that I deserve a big fancy house. ENTITLEMENT! What drives me nuts about UK fans is just that. A lot of fans of UK think that simply because of their tradition that they are entitled to the final four, the best coach, the best recruits, etc. This is simply FALSE. Past preformance are no promise of future results. I as a WKU fan do not feel like WKU basketball is entitled to the NCAA every year. I think they need to work to get there but this seems much different from UK basketball fans. They feel like they are entitled to Billy Donovan. They are entitled the top 5 recruits. Now let me be fair every sport has this at different schools. Alabama and Tennessee football for example. So I am not condeming UK fans simply stating the facts. I am no different than then when it comes to tennessee football but we all should keep this in mind because our sports teams are ENTITLED TO NOTHING!!!!

Sporting Report

2007-03-21T20:03:00.000-04:00

This is the sporting report....it is the long and the short. This one will be short and sweet. How about some NCAA basketball. This is the second best time of the year for the sporting person only second to the NFL playoff!!

Disciple vs. Christian

2007-03-14T19:06:00.000-04:00

Something that has been bugging me for some time is this statement I hear alot from Christians. "Well I got my fire insurance, I know I'm not going to hell". Now that is a nice statement and I am sure that the heavens rejoice on high that you have accepted Jesus Christ as the only son of God, that died on the cross for your sins, and was resurrected 3 days later. But the next thing that comes to mind is this....is it merely enough to accept that Jesus is Lord or does it require much more of us.
If you look at the great commission in Matt 28:28 it does not say go and make converts. It does not say go and make Christ like people, it say make Disciples and teach them everything that Jesus commanded. What a pitiful job we have done at this command. I for one was horrible at this. I always thought it was simply about seeing people come to accept who Jesus was and what he did. I never thought about the next step which is instruction and training in the Lord.
Now don't read in to my statements...I am not saying that if you accept Jesus in your heart and confess with your mouth that he is Lord that you aren't saved because scripture is very clear in this regard that you are forgiven of your sins and are going to spend eternal life with God. But how when you accept Jesus can you not thirst to serve him and serve others, by not being transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. The process of being all that God would have us to be is a long process and requires a lot of time, prayer, and study. I simply hope that anyone reading this post would hear my heart....I want to see people live the abundant life that God as planned for them and a relationship with Jesus is the only way to do that. Anyone reading this knows that a relationship of any kind requires more than one day a week for 2 hours. Saying that you believe Christ is who He says he is would only be the first step(The most important step as we can't go any further with out taking it) but there are many other steps in the life of a Disciple of Jesus.

Been Absent for a While

2007-03-13T21:17:00.000-04:00

Ok I'm back. This has been along time coming but I have been so out of ideas that blogging just wasn't appealing for a while but I have some creative juices flowing again and time to get some folks caught back up.

First off lets do the "I havn't heard from you in a while thing." Crystal and I are fine. Work keeps us both busy and the house continues to keep us busy. In December I laid tile in the kitchen, entry way, and both bathroom. Here very very soon We will be replacing all the carpet in the entire house. Let me say Carpet is freaking expensive but all you married, or been married folks, know that if she ain't happy...you ain't happy so we get carpet. I am not against carpet at all I just can't believe the amount of money we have to spend to get it.

Now for some random thoughts from my mind and then I leave you hangin for the next post because it is going to be a good one I think
1) This years NCAA bracket is a pain in the neck. The matchups are not very good and the mid-majors got hosed really really bad.
2) Can UK fans please read the this article below and leave Tubby alone. Tubby Test
3) WKU Please fire Darrin Horn. I know he is the prodigal son and all but most of the boosters dislike him, he has made enemies out of the other coaches on campus with his "I am better than you" attitude and lets face it. He has yet to do anything in the post season. I am no UK fan but at least tubby is a good person. Darrin Horn isn't.
4) WKU Please fire David Elson. I know he is a good guy but no coach in the history of the NCAA has run an elite NCAA D1 2A program in the ground quicker than him. They are going to D1 1A football soon and lets face it, Elson is not going to bring us a Sun Belt title in football.
5) Final though. If you don't already listen to Alistair Begg you need to. This man is one of the most amazing expository preachers I have heard and he is also very down to earth in his preaching. If I lived inside of 2 hours of his church I would drive to it every sunday. Alistair Begg

Next post will be coming shortly but it is going to be a post about discipleship and what it means to be a disciple of Christ.

I love Robin Williams

2006-10-11T11:41:00.000-04:00

I know I have been on a roll lately with my post but I couldn't help repost this article for some to read it you haven't. Robin Williams is so right when it comes to politics.

Politics Suck!

The Sporting Report

2006-10-09T13:52:00.000-04:00

SPORTS ARE BACK. Man I love football. I was talking with Crystal the other day and just expressing my love for the sport. I love little league football, high school football, college football, and pro football. I just love football. I love football as much as my bother-in-law loves pie and that is saying alot cause he really likes pie. But two notes on some sporting news

First, HOW ABOUT THEM VOLS. Man they are rolling. The had the one little hiccup on Florida where fulmer pulled a Johnny Majors and tried to sit on a lead but now with Florida being the #2 team in the land it sure makes that one point loss and the fact that we should have won that game look alot better. Also we put up 51 on UGA this weekend. The stingy defense of the dawgs couldn't stop Ol Smokey come round the bend. All I have to say is "in David Cutcliff I trust."

Second, Far be it from me to jump on the side of any hot headed, better than anyone else NFL player but I have to take up for T.O. today. I watched that game and boy what a game. Now T.O was Teed off about the game and I don't blame him. Drew Bledso couldn't get have hit T.O with the ball if he was as big as the broad side of a barn. TO had single coverage all day long and he only caught 3 passes. Now I know T.O.'s history but lets also give the guy some credit because the news that has been made in Dallas has mostly been the media blowing it up. The Media is horrible about going for the jugular when they can get away with it. T.O. is selfish but he has been handling this year with stride...he hasn't bad mouthed the coach or the QB...YET so give him some cred because when you get one on one coverage and you are 6" taller than the corner just throw up the stupid pigskin and let Terrell Owens bring it down.

Finally, how about them Colts. Pulling another one out of their rear ends. The titans pretty much beat them the entire game and didn't win. O well. Tony Dungy said it right..."we have yet to play our best game." That is scary when you beat the teams they have beat and haven't played your best game yet. Peyton(the former U of Tennessee stand out) is the best QB in the league right now...PERIOD.

This has been the sporting report

Part 2

2006-10-02T15:57:00.000-04:00

Its seems as though I have made some people upset with my previous post about Religion and Politics. Maybe I took to harsh a tone or something like that but I get really upset at people in this country who want to take the history of this country out of context. I believe context in all situations has to be taken in to account or else history is not relevent.

Now to those people I might have upset with my comments I am sorry. My frustration should not have been so openly seen or "heard" thru this blog. My justification for my points is the fact that to many christians worry about what the federal, state, or local government is doing and no worrying enough about there own walk with the Lord Jesus. That is bearing false witness when we aren't living what we profess yet we expect other too vie legislation and governmental laws.
All i can think about with reference to this is the laws of the old testament and that bugs me. Jesus fulfilled the law not created more of it. Either way I hope this post clears up a few things.

I pray that all who read this and know me know that my desire in life is to be living sacrifice for Christ Jesus. I hope that my perspective is pure and that I put Christ first in my life, others second, and myself third. I shall do as the law of the land is set before me. I will vote, pay my taxes and obey the laws of this wonderful country and I hope that I become an example of Christ in this world with out having to become "aligned with one political or governmental view".

Religion and Politics!

2006-09-27T12:15:00.000-04:00

I am probably going to get in trouble for posting this but it is time for me to put my 2 cents in to this discussion. With the upcoming election and political wheels in full motions people from all sides of the pulpit and pew in churches are getting involved in to political scene. Some democrat some republican. I personally don't really care for all stances of either party because parts of each party are correct. Thus to quote one of my favorite comedians, "What is the similiarity between the two(Democrat and Republican), the fact that they are both wrong!"

Now as I was reading this morning on my news sites and blogs I came across this article on CNN from the very intelligent and informed Lou Dobbs. (Article)This is a very respected and respectable man but in his article he claims that is wrong for the churches to endorse a political candiate. I AGREE WHOLE HEARTEDLY. But Mr. Dobbs makes the same arguement about why that I have heard a hundred times and it is wrong!!! He says the first amendment is there to keep the government out of religion and religion out of government. Now this is true but only partly. For someone as smart as he is surely he knows and has researched the history of this but incase he hasn't let me put it plainly with this next paragraph.

Why did the pilgrams leave England? For religious freedom! That is it. They where being told my Henry the 8th that they had to become church of England and that they had no freedom to worship how they choose but only as he saw fit. Thus they came to America. Now in the consitution it does not say " Total Seperation of Church and State" it doesn't even say "seperation of church and state" at all. It says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." This was to keep the government from making a State Sponsored church!!!! I am completely for that and if you are under the impression that the United States should make Christianity the religion of the country you are WRONG! Period and if you don't like it I don't care!

Now let me address christians on this quickly as well. We "vote our morals". Well guess what, your morals transend a party. Democrats want to help the poor with more government programs. This is a very christian act. Replicians want to help protect marriage. This is a very christian act. Neither of which provide salvation! Thus politics is not the place for our morality to work thru this country. That is not to say your should not vote because you have an obigation in my opinion to do so but you can not legislate morality. That is impossible and it not the place for it. Morality, and better yet Christian morality, should be seen only thru JESUS CHRIST! So the next time someone the the Christian right tells you to vote for one canditate because they are the moral one tell them they are wrong. Jesus needed no government in his time on earth to expand his kingdom and not time after that either. No law will help this country come to know God any quicker. That can and will only be accomplished by God's will working thru the hearts and minds of his people.

Sin is at your Door Step

2006-08-28T09:48:00.000-04:00

This morning on the way to work I was listening to the Truth for Life radio sermon. I sometimes listen to this on my way to work because it does tend to put me in focus on my way to work. But this morning was really intresting to me. It was title "Why good people do bad things."

"Humans do bad things because we make bad decisions." Now I really like this because some people want to make that old statement , "The devil made me do it." That is a load of hogwash. Satan has no power in thie world other than what we give him. Now he did go on to say that other factors are in effect, like the pleasure of sin. Lets face it sin is appealing and if we try to say it isn't then we aren't reading from the same bible.

This sermon was basically about personal responsibilty. One of my biggest problem in our culture, the Christian faith, and in our work is that we as human beings try to put the blame on someone else. But that is is just a pathway to sin. If you flirt with it enough you will be burned. Same applies for all sins, sexual impurity, anger, envy, etc. So remember sin is pleasureable and appealing, "knocking at your door step", but thye choice is yours.

Meebo Me

2006-08-14T09:34:00.000-04:00

Ok I am now on board with the testing of a really cool product, or so I think. Meebo is a all in one HTML/web based chat client for the major chat services, ie. AIM, YAHOO, GTALK, etc. But the cool feature about it is that it also has a plugin that you can post on your website/blog that allows people to talk to you when you are signed in. I want to encourage anyone who reads this to send me a chat and let me know what you think about it. Please change your name at the bottem of the chat client so I will know who is talking to me.

When did I become a Geek!

2006-08-10T09:57:00.000-04:00

Ok I must confess.....I used to get really REALLY mad at the stupid best buy Geek Squad. It gave IT people like me a rap as a geek just because I work in the IT field. I hated the thought that I was a geek because I didn't feel like I was one. I guess that goes back to high school because no one in high school can be cool if you are a geek. But then I really thought about that and I was not cool either so it was a failed attempt anyways.

Well I think now my opinion has changed. The other night I was driving to watch a play with my wife and some friends and I received a phone call from a family friend. He was having some problems with his computer and accessing the internet. So while driving I started talking with him and troubleshooting the problem. After about 10 minutes I was able to find the problem and give him a detailed list of steps to resolve this issue. Ok some of you might ask the same question he did...."How do you know all this?" I mean I could literally see the desktop and the icons and telling him what to do. At that moment it hit me.....either I am incredibly gifted at what I do or I am a GEEK!. Well I don't think I am incredibly gifted because I know a lot of people who could, can, and do the same things I do. Thus the only other solution is I am a GEEK!
This all got me thinking thus I had to find the definition of a geek and I found this at dictionary.com

"A person who is single-minded or accomplished in scientific or technical pursuits but is felt to be socially inept."

I guess the definition sums it up...I am a partial geek but is that any better in the eyes of the world than a regular geek?

Ministry vs "Church Ministry"

2006-08-04T10:27:00.000-04:00

OK This is a very personal post for me and I am really searching for answers so if you have some input please post. When I was 17 I "accepted a call to ministry on my life". Now at the time I thought that might be Church ministry, aka Youth Ministry or something like that. But over time I came to realize that the Lord had not called me to that type of ministry. He called me to ministry for my life. Now I realize that is a little hard to understand so I will go a little further in depth.

In college I began to realize the Lord had gifted me in the area of computers. Programming, hardware, support, etc. I love to work with computer, ticker with them, and enjoy educating myself about them. Then over time it became apparent to me that a job in the field of computers was not "ministry" and was afraid that the I was being disobedient to the "calling" I had received. But was I really?

This was a struggle for a while in college until I got my internship with the KY Baptist Convention. I then began to realize the calling God had placed on my life. I am performing that ministry everyday by serving those in this building and providing computer support to them. But that is where things then get a little gray for me.

Is there a difference between being a Church Staff and being in minister? A lot of people I talk to say yes but I am not sure what I think at this point. I view my job not as a job but a ministry and if you aren't sure what I mean I will say it this way...I view the KBC as the body of Church and I view what I do as the legs of the body. The ministers here are the head and arms. So please give me your input.....Am I am Minister or not?

Self inflicted pain

2006-07-25T08:59:00.000-04:00

This title pretty much sums up the triathlon experience. Many of you may be aware that this weekend I competed in a triathlon. Crystal and I have been training for about 5 months. The training went very well and it was an over all good experience. I learned a lot about myself and the differences between different athletic events. I was a swimmer and trained a lot for my sport. I will confess that I did not train as much for this as I would have trained for a conference championship in swimming but none the less I trained a good amount.

So the results are in......I FINISHED. This was my goal from the beginning. Now I am my father's son and my competitive nature took over and I thus even though I finished and I was HAPPY about that I was unhappy about my place of finish. I finished 41st out of 96. So I was in the top 50% of the field but I think with more training, a little better bike, and better practice of transitions I could easily improve this finish. But either way I am very happy and proud that I can say I finished.

Now I started this post by calling this event self inflicted pain. This is a true state and it was the most athletic event pain I have ever experienced but.............I am HOOKED. I can't wait to start training again and Crystal and I will be competing in a triathlon in bowling green on Labor day. I will post the distance and splits below from the event

Swim 500 meters (approximate) = 6 min 29 sec
Bike 12.5 miles = 36 min 45 sec
Run 3.1 miles = 26 min 12 sec
overall transition time = 3 min 25 sec

Overall time 1 hour 12 minutes 49 seconds
Overall place 41st!!!

I am in Shock

2006-06-29T12:33:00.000-04:00

I had heard on the news that a vaccination had been found to prevent HPV. If you don't know HPV is a sexually transmitted disease that "can" cause cancer. Ok I understand the want to prevent cancer but this is absolutely crazy. I have a sure fire way that will prevent the spread of this type of cancer. It is call don't have sex if you aren't married and if you are going to then at the least don't have unprotected sex PERIOD. This vaccine is 99% effective, well with abstinence or not having unprotected sex is 100% effective. Now I would not be on a soap box about this except for one thing. The government "could" make this a requirement for all girls and boys who wish to be admitted in to public schools!!!! So we have gone past the diseases that kill themselves, such as polio, to required vaccinations for things that "can" turn in to a disease that kills! The government would be over stepping its bounds if it required this for kids. See this article below if you are interested in this at all.

HPV Article

** Addition to Original Post **
I best be stating something about this post. I am not against a vaccination that will help with the reduction in cancer but what I am against is the government telling me that my kids, when I have them some day, they have to have this vaccine because they "will" be having sex. I hope and pray that my children will adhere to the teaching of Jesus Christ and keep themselves pure and holy for the spouse that God has put on this earth for them. It is my responsibility to teach them this lesson and do all in my power to prevent harm from coming to them. What requiring this vaccination will do for parents is undermine the lessons they are trying to teach with regards to purity and holiness. Do I not have a right to not have my authority undermined by the government? Please if you read this start a little fire in your circles about this....

How Great is Our God

2006-06-28T13:09:00.000-04:00

There are times when our days are crappy and there are days when our days are great. But I just came back from lunch and as I walked in my office this song was on the radio. Now normally this would not be a big deal but I could almost have sworn that I turned off my radio for lunch. If I didn't, which is possible cause I am not claiming a miracle or anything like that, this song playing was divine intervention. No matter how bad or how good my days are he is still the Name above all names. He is great to you, to me, and to the world. I don't care if you don't believe me because someday, all be in maybe judgment day, you will realize how Great is Our God. Thank you Jesus for loving us.

"The splendor of the King, clothed in majesty
Let all the earth rejoice
All the earth rejoice

He wraps himself in Light, and darkness tries to hide
And trembles at His voice
Trembles at His voice

How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God

Age to age He stands
And time is in His hands
Beginning and the end
Beginning and the end

The Godhead Three in One
Father Spirit Son
The Lion and the Lamb
The Lion and the Lamb

How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God

Name above all names
Worthy of all praise
My heart will sing
How great is our God

How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God "

Dilbert Cartoon

2006-06-26T14:51:00.000-04:00

I love dilbert and just had to share this.

Idiot on ESPN

2006-06-20T15:44:00.000-04:00

Ok I have been absent from the posting world for a few weeks. Mainly because I didn't have anything good to write about. Not a lot is happening in my life that is really worth talking about. The only thing in the past weeks that has happened is that Crystal and I celebrated our two year anniversary. BUt in the grand scope of things we are going to be married for 50 + years, baring good health and fortune, so 2 is not that huge of a deal. so i was sitting at my desk this afternoon catching up on the news and sport when I can across an article on ESPN that just ticked me off.

Idiot on ESPN

If you read this article you will find a guy who expects something out of the NBA that the NBA is not going to produce. Lets think about it.....do you think high school kids want to be Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, Shaq or do you think they want to be Jason Terry or Tony Parker. People don't watch the NBA for team play. Lets face it, we watch the NBA for the ENTERTAINMENT. If this guy is so concerned about "team play", which i don't see how you can say no team play is on the Miami Heat because they heat the "Team" in Detriot, watch College sports. Professional sports are not about team. They are about individual and money. I don't care what anyone says. It is entertainment. So I think Wade hitting 20 ft jumpers and slashing to the basket and dishing to a big dunk for Shaq is awesome and what the NBA is about and should be about. I won't go off about Jordan era bulls but lets look at the Bird Celtic's or the showtime Lakers. They where entertaining and good basketball. But in the concept of team they lacked compared to most college basketball teams. So this Idiot wants the NBA to become college basketball and limit guys like Wade, James and Bryant. Hey jerk! we, the younger dreaming generation, love these guys and what they do.

Linux

2006-06-05T08:48:00.000-04:00

Ok I am not a huge Linux buff or anything like that...I like what it offers but I understand and use a lot more on Microsoft than Linux. But here lately I have been testing Red Hat 9 and have grown to love it. I like the GUI for Linux and I like that I can customize it and make it what I want. One of my biggest complaints about Windows is the fact that you have to go thru a ton, or install a bunch of software to make everything do what you want it to do. With Linux out of the box you can configure the darn thing the way you like it. But a couple of things are happening or are going to happen in the near future that are going to make my use of Linux go up so I thought I would list them.

1) The Mozilla Corp. keeps on putting out a just flat out better web browser and email client than anything Microsoft offers, PERIOD! Some nut is going to say, "ooo IE 7 is so great and IE Vista is going to be even better." Well I am testing Vista and have IE Vista on it and I am not impressed...It is clunky and hard to get around to say the least in my opinion. Firefox is just flat out better. I don't use IE unless I absolutly have to and the only thing I have hit that I can't do to this post is adminstrate my companies Call Mananging system. THAT IS IT!!!

2) IBM and SUN. This partner ship means big things for Linux because both companies are rock solid and make great products. The Lotus Suite soon to be out, code named Hannover, will be running on Linux for the client and the server already runs on Linux. And now with the inclusion of an office suite built in to Lotus Notes using the open document format means a revolution is coming for Office Products. Now I will give Microsoft props here because I am testing Office 2K7 and it is really sweet. The GUI is eye candy and it is very good at what it does. But lets face it....OpenOffice.org v2 will do 95% of what MS Office will do and OpenOffice is FREE. Will since IBM will be including an Open Document format in Notes and OpenOffice is free I can see some companies who have been Microsoft locks on the office suite considering a move to OpenOffice which in its self is a BIG thing.

3)Finally GOOGLE! This company is the lovable company for IT people around the world in my book. They do alot of thing REALLY well and the things they don't they have bought. Let us take for the example Picasa. It was a great little photo program that google bought and Googlfied it. Now they are coming out with a Linux version of this program. I have heard, not 100% on this, but google does not use the microsoft os and that the majority of things they write and produce are going to be able to be used on LINUX because that are pushing for completly web based services. This will push the envolop for Microsoft.

Don't get me wrong Microsoft does some good things and they do some not so good things. On a whole MS is the best product for basic ad beginner computer users but as more people enter in to the life of computers they are going to want more flexiblity in what they do thus MS will not prosper in this type of world because they are very closed off. They want you to do it their way or no way. GO LINUX!!!!!!!

Running is different from Swimming

2006-05-22T09:26:00.000-04:00

Ok many of you may know Crystal and i are training for a triathlon that is to happen at the end of July. we have been training now from a little over 3 months and I must say I think it is going really really well. Crystal could not run for more than 5 minutes when we started and now she is up to running 25 minutes, riding 45 minutes and swimming 20 strait. These are all big steps for her especially seening that she never has done any true cardio training in her life. She was a cheerleader in high school but they didn't do a lot of Cardio training like the way I did when I swam up to college. So I am extremly proud of where we are and if we both just finish the tri-athlon that will be a huge huge step or both of us. The tri-athlon is a .6 mile swim, 12 mile bike, 3.1 mile run so it is considered a sprint but that is still a lot of stuff.

Anyways this post was not about that. This was about my learning that running is different from swimming. When I was a swimmer I was a distance swimmer. This basically ment that my body, heart, and lungs break down a lot slower in a race than a sprinter. This also means that I am no 100 dash kind of guy. I am short, stumpy, and not loaded with big honkin muscles for great amounts of power. So I signed up for a 5K (3.1 mile) run with my church this past weekend. I thought it would be a good test to see how good of shape I was in seeing that I had only been working out 3 months I was not expecting to much. Well in distance it is important to build to your race speed not to start out there. This means the 3rd mile should be your fastest mile or atleast no slower than your 2nd and 1st mile. Well I took this race out like a mad man, died on the 2nd mile and got my 2nd wind for the third mile. I did pretty well though I finished 24th overall out of about 200 and won my age group of 20-24. I ran 3.1 miles in 24:36. Not to shabby but if I had ran my own race, like I used to swim them, I would have been faster...just another learning expierence.

Man I am tired of being busy

2006-05-17T11:11:00.000-04:00

Ok one of the things I wished I had known before I got married, and this is not a bad thing or me saying I don't love being married because I absolutly 110% love my wife and being married to her, is te fact that when you are a young married you are hardly ever not busy on the weekends. I mean is college the weekends where the downtime. Now we are always on the go or doing something or being somewhere. It is crazy! Let me just give you a heads up on our schedule for the next few weeks and months
Last weekend - Brother-in-law's graduationg
This weekend - Church 5K run and Dave Ramsey Totle money makeover live event
next weekend - My parents are coming to town for a visit
then we actually have a few weekends home but I am sure I will have yardwork, building work, or something to keep me freom being lazy. this is the norm of the married young working adult. Can I be a kid again?

HOWDYYY!

2006-05-16T08:28:00.000-04:00

I just had to get in really quick on the Presidents address to the nation last night. For the most part I agree with his points on the way to handle the aliens in this country. I like the idea of them having to pay their taxes and go to the back of the line to receive citizenship. I think the people how have come her the right way and those who are trying should b given first right of passage. But let me just say one thing.....Does anyone else feel like they where watching a robot or a puppet during that speech. I mean to quote Robin Williams(althought he was talking about Reagan)"Don't you feel like you are watching a MUPPET!!! I was seriously afraid that there was some idiot behind the camera going, 'move the arm'." I mean I can't say anything about the way I speak because I am a redneck and my language and speech prove it everyday but I AM NOT PRESIDENT!!! My wife always says we, as Americans, got spoiled because Bill Clinton was probably one the the greatest speaking president ever. I am not going to go off on the war, the fact that nothing has happened to social security, and the fact that I really feel like our president should not come from TEXAS ever again. But come on at least someone in that White House could teach this man the art of public speaking or at least maybe a class in college could do it.!!!
** this has been a rambling moment brought to you from the mind of .......ME!

Obedience

2006-05-08T10:46:00.000-04:00

I heard a hard to receive message this weekend at church. It was about obedience! This is not always an easy subject to hear about because I can always justify my actions that I take in my own mind. I used to justify my use of alcohol because everyone I hung out with drank. But everytime I got drunk I said to Jesus that I do not love you. I may have not meant it that way but that is what I was saying. I am going to paraphrase the story that Cameron Mills told this weekend at church and let all my 2 reader, ok maybe 3, sit on it for a little while.

"What is high school all about, what do all high school aged kids want to do/be? Cool. It may not be that exact term anymore but basically that is what they all want. Cool just mean popular, which just means in with the crowd. Well after I won my second national championship ring(He was a University of Kentucky Basketball player from 96'-99')I wanted to go back to my old high school and brag. It was my moment, or so I thought, to enjoy the glory I had. I walked to walk around and just show off that ring. But I most of all wanted to see my old high school basketball coach because he invested so much in to me that I wanted him to be proud. As I walked in to the gym I noticed that the students where doing their most hated part of PE, Square Dancing. Lets face it square dancing is the opposite of cool. But as I looked out on the crowd of students on the floor I saw this one little girl out there who was not pretty, not popular, not smart, and was generally the opposite of the high school definition of what it takes to be popular. I saw this girl with tears running down her face because no boy wanted to dance with her. As I looked at this girl God spoke and said, 'Get up and go dance with her'. This was not what I wanted to do at all. It was my moment to be the popular guy, to be the guy everyone wanted to be and God was crashing my party. So i started to visualize how this would go, I would get up and walk over to the girl, lift her head and say, 'I will dance with you.' And the tear would no longer flow and all the boys would realize how selfish they where. So after my visual I got up and ran out the gym door as quickly as I could. God did not ask me if I would consider dancing with her, He told me to dance with her. Sure I could justify it but in the end I was selfish and disobedient. I said 'Jesus I don't love you enough to obey you.'

Cameron Mills

Now even thought he said to Jesus that he didn't love him, Cameron went on to say but God whispered back, "yeah but I still love you". That moment changed his life. How many times has God ask you to do something and you said no. I have done it a number of times and all that is plain disobedience. Don't be this way. Remember what Christ has done for you.....Imagine if he got to the cross and said, "nah I don't feel like it."

Before and After

2006-04-29T19:08:00.000-04:00

Im sorry to those who care that it has taken me so long to get these pictures posted but things have been nuts around here and we had an accident with our digital camera and thus I had to scan all the images before I could post them. Anyways check out the links and tell me what you think......Little different I am sure.

Our Home Before
Our Home After

Picture of the house and Moses

2006-04-23T12:39:00.000-04:00

Couple of pics for you all. First is a picture of the outside of our house after all the work has been done. Will be posting more photos on that a little later.

Next is probably the best picture of my dog that we have taken.

Final Home Update

2006-04-22T10:32:00.000-04:00

WE ARE DONE.....How about that for an update. Crystal and I got the house painted, the fence painted, the driveway pressure washed, the mulch laided, the bushes trimmed, and last but not least a new Bradford Flowering Pear tree planted. So as you can imagine we have worked our butts off and now I am ready for a vacation. Anyways check back later, probably tomorrow or Monday, for before and after photos of the Extreme Home Makeover Exterior Edition.

Happy Easter and a home update

2006-04-16T18:00:00.000-04:00

Well just wanted to take this moment to wish everyone a happy Easter. Remember that we should be joyful and happy that on this day we celebrate new life. The life that was destroyed arose from the dead and thru that gave us eternal life. Thank you Lord Jesus.

Also just to update those on our extreme homemake over (exterior edition). We have the fence wire brushed, the weeds on the fence pulled or killed, the lawn mowed and trimmed, new grass seed laid, the skirting and rain shield all replaced on the house, the siding replaced(that needed be replaced), and all the wood patch work complete. We will be starting in the morning with the painting at the butt crack of dawn and hopefully if things go smoothly we will be done with painting of the house by end of Tuesday. Then we paint the fence and hopefully after that take a day or two to enjoy our "vacation". Isn't this how you would like to spend your vacation?

Blogging on hold

2006-04-10T12:47:00.000-04:00

Aight, I know I don't have a huge fan base or anything like that for my blog but those who care starting on Thursday Crystal and I will be working on the outside of our house for about 9 days. I am going to take some before and after photos for everyone to see but during that time I will not be blogging as I will be a little busy with painting, landscaping, and repairing my house.

Windows Vista???

2006-03-22T15:34:00.000-05:00

Ok I anybody who knows me knows that I am a tech junky. I love computers, games, TVs, DVR's and sound systems. So it is fair to say that I keep up with quite a bit of tech news. So when I found out that the newly, soon to be released for second half of 2006, Windows Vista(aka longhorn) was delayed I was not shocked. Microsoft yet again proved that they are the only company in America that can get away with putting out a half finished product and offer "Service Packs" to fix the bugs they missed and/or not meet any deadline they ever set. If anyone remembers XP was late too. I am really getting sick of this crap from Microsoft. Unfortunitly I have to use it but I don't rely on it anymore. My company uses Lotus Domino and Notes, by the way IBM is a great company who actually puts out a quality product and they are always ontime, and I have quit using Office for anything that I can get from Open Office by Sun, another quality company. So with all of this said I thought I would link a few of my favorite software packages and a couple of good blogs for anyone who cares about tech.

Mozilla Firefox(Web Browser)
A quality Microsoft Office Replacement
IBM Lotus page
From there you can download a free Lotus Notes client that will do all your email needs
A Blog about IBM and Domino

These are just a couple links to some good software that isn't microsoft. So i guess you could say I have joined the anti microsoft group. GO LINUX!!!!

Pride

2006-03-15T21:27:00.000-05:00

Have you ever let pride get in the way of letting you do something you know you should do. The speaker at my church last weekend had a great definition of pride and humility.

Pride: Caring about what other think of you.
Humility: Caring about what God thinks of you.

That is a tough pill to swallow cause I want everyone to like me and sometime in my life I have do so at the expense of my Heavenly father.

Sporting Report

2006-03-11T12:30:00.000-05:00

Aight I admit I have slacked off quite a bit here in the recent weeks but things have been crazy. But for once I actually heard from a few people asking me what happened so that is encouraging me a little to blog some more. This is the sporting Report volume 1 , ed 2

Basketball (March Madness Style)

Nice of Syracuse to show up finally, tough lose for UConn, and what the heck happened to my Vols. Bruce Pearl said, "We aren't playing our best basketball right now, and haven't been for some time." HELLO march is the only time that really matters. Granted the season is important and the SEC tournament is important but you better get them boys playing some ball before Thursday cause I got you to at least win one game in my bracket. Also once again Gonzaga proved why they are the most underachievers, overhyped team in the land. Before their conference tourney they probably would have gotten a 2 seed. THEY ALMOST LOST!!!!!!! And I have to give DAP where it is deserved, Tubby has the Cat playing well at the right time again in the season. I am sick of UK fans bashing on this man because he doesn't go undefeated or play Basketball the way Rick Petino plays it. Hey they win alot and are always a force in the tournaments so UK fan i got a little something for you......SHUT UP, LEAVE THE MAN ALONE, AND BE HAPPY. YOU COULD HAVE LOST IN THE FIRST ROUND LIKE UT.

Winter Olympics recap (Scooby Syle)

Rodey Rucks. End of story. The man that was the biggest hype for America in the winter games stunk it up on the slopes. Yet again America also proved where our hearts, mind, and stomachs are at. The Flying Tomato won the half pipe. Go figure that Igor Molsitiv didn't win...he doesn't smoke weed, talk like a hippy, and does have a nickname like the Flying Tomato. GO USA!!

Pro Sports

Praise the Lord the NFL owner quit arguing over a couple hundred thousand dollars. They finally got smart and realized they have a great thing going with the salary cap and screwing that up would be a mistake. We still have football and I am thankful. Hey Miami is showing up on the basketball court just at the right time of the year. If they get Wade back heathly I think they got the talent to win the NBA Championship but who actually watches NBA when March Madness is in full swing.

Other sports

Hmmmm...Nothing interesting right now. If you know something from other sports post it!!!

David and Goliath

2006-02-12T14:33:00.000-05:00

Went to church this morning and the speaker was preaching on David and Goliath. Now most of the time when you hear this you are in awe about that facts of this story and more sermons on this are more of the historical and fact based and not so much life application. Now this fits right up my alley because I really hate it when a speaker trys to make something life application that really isn't or shouldn't be life application. Alot of what we are suppose to learn from the bible is the facts and to "learn from the mistakes of the past" in my opinion. But none the less let me expand a little on what I am talking about.

David = Us
This guy made the arguement that we are David in our own war. Pick your war but you are in one on this earth. This was an intersting thought because we where nothing, like David before Goliath, but after finding Christ we are more than just a little sheppard.

Goliath = Our Sins
I don't know if i agree with this analogy because although all sins of our lives are big and they are all equal in the eyes of God that isn't to say that overcoming sexual impurity is just a easy as overcoming respecting one another. I do think there are things in this world that are "Giants to over come" but i also think there are just small hurdles as well. But never the less it was intresting where he went from here.

David's attack = Running, not walking, straight at our sins
David didn't over come his sin by walking at it leasurely. He also didn't over come his sin by running from it and acting like it isn't there. The only way to defeat the enemy is to face him and over come him not leasurely walk up to him and say, "I think I can overcome you now." NO you run up to the enemy, smack him in the face with honesty, and say, "Get behind me Satan!"

So pretty good life application lesson from a story that I had only really heard in a historical and factual sermon.

This is the Sporting Report

2006-02-08T11:19:00.000-05:00

I am now going to start posting once a week on all sporting actions(that I care about)just because I like to talk about sports

Basketball
It appears and youthful Kentucky and Louisville are not what the Big Blue and Cardinal Red nations where looking for this year in basketball. But on a brighter note my Vols finally got that cat off their backs and one a big one in Rupp. If they continue at this rate they should get a 2 or no lower than a 3 seed in the dance.
Also in the basketball world the Pistons actually lost another game. It is so rare that it deserved a comment.

Golf
Tiger wins again. Nothing new there i don't think.

Football
My turn on the Superbore. That was probably one of the worst Superbowls I have ever watched. I love defense but it wasn't even that...it was a sloppy game and the commercials weren't up to their usual humor. For such a boring event the only thing the sporting world aka PTI and Around the Horn could talk about is the refs. Bad calls didn't affect the outcome they just gave the media somethin to harp about

NHL
Say it isn't so.....Pete Rose all over again except in a different sport. Wayne is going down on this one and that is a shame considering he is THE GREATEST OF ALL TIMES!!!

Winter Olympics
The old fart Michelle Kawn, or what ever her name is, didn't even compete in the nationals and still get to go to the game. THAT IS WRONG!!! If you get injuryed in another sport, say swimming, you don't go plain and simple. The little girl that got third at nationals get a pat on the back for preforming so well and getting nothin in return....how STUPID.

Soccer

On a lighter note....Soccer fans aren't cause bodily injury to anyone right which is almost a first!

This has been your first weekly sporting report
ed 1 vol 1 post 1 :-)

Great Sermon

2006-01-31T22:08:00.000-05:00

At church this past weekend(I attend Crestwood Baptist Church in Oldham County Kentucky) Bob Russell, the soon to be retired senior pastor for Southeast Christian Church, delivered our message. As I have sat back and thought about it I thought this message was so simple yet so easy to miss that I just had to blog about it. The scripture passage is probably the shortest pariable in the bible.

"The Kingdom of heaven is like a tresure hidden in the field, which a man
found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he
has and buys that field"
Matthew 13:44

Bob Russell posed this in the context of our church but it is very life related as well. "Why do you serve, give, and particate in this church?" Now don't go reading in to this I am noty saying that you can earn your way in to heaven but what he did say was absolutly true. Because of the joy we recieved from Christ would you sell everything you own to see its advancement.

Let us put this in realms of Christ. Really easy to see that correlation. Jesus saw a tresure in his creation and thus "because of the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God".

I thought that thru such a simple pariable we could see the unequaled teachings of the bible. Hope this benefits someone out there.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose

2006-01-29T21:21:00.000-05:00

Crystal and I watched a pretty good scary movie the other day called "The Exorcism of Emily Rose." It is set in a court room because the priest, whom you learn more about later in this post, is on trial for negligent homicide of a freshman college girl who became possessed by demons and died. The reason he was on trial was because after lots of medical treatment Emily Rose and he decided that it would be best to forgo the medical treatments and try the route of exorcism. Now what you find out during the exorcism is that it is not just one demon that has possessed this girl but 6 and one of them is the devil himself Lucifer. Well the exorcism fails and at the end of the movie Emily says that "The Holy Mother", a catholic term for Mary the mother of Jesus, spoke to her and said that her suffering was all for the glory of God.

Now that was the very condensed version and you really should see the movie to understand better but at the end of the movie Crystal hit me with a question that I have never even thought about. Can demons possess people?

Now to start to figure this out we first must ask the question "Do demons exist?" Now I am the kind of person that likes to deal with facts and facts alone. But my facts are what I hope are biblically based so some who read this might not share my evidence but this is my post and my blog so deal with it! First I recognize the existence of God. Seeing that I believe in God then I also have to believe in his counter-positive Satan(aka "tha Devil"). I also believe that God has angels, Satan was an angel before his fall, and that satan took some of these angels with him and they became his minions(aka demons). So with this group of facts I guess I would say that I believe that demons are real so the first part of the question is answered Yes.

Now I also believe that Christ will not rule this earth until his second coming and I also believe that the Satan is "the Prince of this world" this he has some bearing on what is happening in this world. That is not to say that God isn't fully in control so you Baptist out there hold on to your pants. So the next question that was posed logically was, seeing that God is in ultimate control, would God allow someone to be possessed?

My first thought immediately was no! When I accepted Jesus Christ in my heart I was given the gift of the Holy Spirit(part of the holy trinity) to live in my heart and to be my helper in this world. With the Holy spirits presence in my life I couldn't be possessed because it would seem to be completely against the fact of the holy spirit living in me. Seemed pretty logical except two facts. One: God allowing thing to happen to his people so that the end result would be his glory. Two: What about people who don't have the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is where I am stuck and torn. If you have any insight in to this please respond because I am searching.

What a strange winter

2006-01-28T16:44:00.000-05:00

I know this may sound crazy but what about this weather. I played golf yesterday and then Crystal and I went for a long walk today. It is sunny, warm, and nice to be out of the house but it is WINTER! How crazy.

Sour Milk Shakes

2006-01-23T21:52:00.000-05:00

"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone"
Hebrews 2:9

WOW!!! All I can say is wow and OUCH!. I mean that is wording that only our God could come up with to describe his own death. It was by grace that Jesus "taste death for everyone". If you have read any of my post you know I am a definition kind of guy and I really like the definition of grace my bible study uses.

Grace: This refers to God giving us something we do not deserve, cannot earn, and can never repay.

Now since Jesus was fully God he gave us this great gift but i want to flip it a little bit. Jesus was also fully human which means he gave himself something he didn't deserver, couldn't have earned, and will never be able to repay. If you don't know the answer is was HIS LIFE. So think about that last tasty milk shake you had from Steak and Shake and then think about it being made with Sour Milk and putting dirt in it. That is the shake that Jesus tasted and yet He still did it. He could have called the angels, whom which are subject to Him, but he didn't because of his love.

Crazy Day in College B-Ball

2006-01-21T22:26:00.000-05:00

What a crazy day in the world of college basketball. Who would have thought that all three undefeated teams would fall all in one day. Hey get this ESPN and AP, My Vols handed your # 2 team in the land a loss. That scrappy little team beat a team who surely would have been the #1 if they had won game. So if Tennessee isn't in the top 25 after this I don't know what it is going to take. Oo and on a side note....Who would have thought that Kentucky would learn how to shoot a basketball again. Seems like them boys couldn't have thrown it in the ocean if they had been standing on the beach but hey they finally got a few buckets to fall so it is time for everyone to jump back on the UK bandwagon and put them back in the top 25 right???? He He He.

God's Grace

2006-01-19T19:54:00.000-05:00

Well as a christian I have to post at least once on my blog about grace. Some might say talking about grace is over done but when you read God's love letter to us one could not help but see His grace painted all over it for us. Take this quote from my Life Application bible about verses 9 and 10 of Hebrews chapter 2

"God's grace to us led Christ to his death. Jesus did not come into the world to gain status or political power, but to suffer and die so that we could have eternal life("bring his many children into glory"). If it is difficult for us to identify with Christ's servant attitude, perhaps we need to evaluate our own motives. Are we more intrested in power and participation, domination or service, getting or giving"

This is one of those gut check quotes for all Christians. This goes all the way from SBC leadership and boards to the pastors of our local churches to the "walking to church up the hill both ways in 2 feet of snow on Sunday morning Christians". IF we have trouble identifing the pain Christ suffered when God turned his back him for us then we need that gut check.

As I close this post a little food for thought. At what point to you think Christ realized his purpose on this earth was to be the perfect lamb to be slain for a world that would still reject him?

Just a bad year for sports

2006-01-16T09:33:00.000-05:00

Man as I watched this weekend I have to say this has been a bad year in sports for me. Now some who know me know that i won my fantasy football league and my fantasy baseball league but other than that every team i pull for, excluding UT basketball, has fallen.

Let me list a few
1) UT football was in the toilet this year.
2) WKU football was #1 for 6 weeks then didn't make the playoffs
3) The SEC went 3-3 in bowl games
4) THE DANG COLTS LOST THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!!!ARGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!1
5) UofL lost to UofK

Now i could just post this and be done but I am not because there is a commen theme to all these. I actually watched more sports this year than I have in the past 5 years. It seems like every game I watch the team I want to win LOSES!. I am done with this. I can't win. It is a sad sad day when a Tennessee fans rest his hopes for a sports year on the basketball team! O well life in the world of sports. You win some, you lose some, and then there are those that just SUCK!

Cry out to Jesus

2006-01-13T15:29:00.000-05:00

Hopefully this song will bless some others lives the way it has blessed mine. Thank you Third Day once again.

lyrics as follows

"To everyone who's lost someone they love
long before it's their time.
You feel like the days you had were not enough
when you said goodbye.

And to all of the people with burdens and pains
keepin' you back from your life.
You believe that there's nothing
and there is no one who can make it right.

There is hope for the helpless, rest for the weary,
and love for the broken hearts.
There is grace and forgiveness, mercy and healing
He'll meet you wherever you are.

Cry out to Jesus. Cry out to Jesus.

For the marriage that struggle just to hang on
have lost all of their faith in love.
and they've done all they can to make it right
again 'til it's not enough.
For those who can't break the addictions and chains
and try to give up but you come back again.
Just remember that you're not alone
in your shame and your suffering.

There is hope for the helpless, rest for the weary,
and love for the broken hearts.
There is grace and forgiveness, mercy and healing
that meets you wherever you are.

Cry out to Jesus.

When you're lonely and it feels like the whole world is falling on you
you just reach out, you just cry out to Jesus

Cry to Jesus.

To the widow who suffers from being alone,
wipin' the tears from her eyes.
For the children around the world without a home,
say a prayer tonight.

There is hope for the helpless, rest for the weary,
and love for the broken hearts.
There is grace and forgiveness, mercy and healing
that meets you wherever you are.
There is hope for the helpless, rest for the weary,
and love for the broken hearts.
There is grace and forgiveness, mercy and healing
that meets you wherever you are.

Cry out to Jesus. Cry out to Jesus.

Cry out to Jesus. Cry out to Jesus."

GO VOLS

2006-01-09T16:39:00.000-05:00

Well just a quick post. My Vols are still rolling on and with on exception, a lose to Ok. State, are 10-1. How about ol Smokey stepping up on the basketball court in the absence of a football team this past year. Yet again I write this post and they are in the SEC, 10-1, victory over Texas, and the only 1 loss team in a power conference that I can think of that isn't in the top 25. COME ON people give me a break. Give the boys from the Vols a little love.

The Gamecocks get beat up on!