Pro's vs. College

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!!!

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

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

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....

...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!!!

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...

...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.....

...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

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

....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!!

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.....

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

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???

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!