Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Pintel and Ragetti

Pintel - "What are you talking about, you can't read"
Ragetti - "It's the Bible, you get credit for trying!"
Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest

What an interesting thought...

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

"Jesus Loves the Little Children"

"...Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." Mark 10:14,15

Jesus loved children and God gives them to us as a blessing. I am saddened by many of the depictions of Christ as a sullen, introspective, morose person. How much the opposite!

When Jesus was on this earth thousands followed him for many reasons, but I am assured that one of those was his charisma...you KNOW he was a joy to be near. He loved to laugh, he has a great sense of humor. It's hard for us in this time to read the Bible and see it because of the great differences in culture and time but it's there.

For example, sometimes Jesus called Peter by his old name Simon. It's interesting to think about, but if you look close it was Jesus' way of slapping his loved friend on the side of the head and saying "Duh!"..."remember where you came from..." Not much different than your big brother calling you a "dork" again as an adult when you do something stupid and you both have a quick laugh about it.

Anyway, it's no wonder that children were drawn to Jesus, the fact that they were is proof enough that he was fun to be around. Believe me, kids don't go looking for the old "skulky" guy in the corner, they make a bee-line to the person that makes them laugh, is full of life and spends time with them.

My youngest son is a precious gift that God gave us (so is my oldest) and one of the little things that makes me smile during this time of year is that he wears a droopy little Santa cap around...even in public! At 11 years old, it shows me how confident he is with himself, but it also reminds me of how much fun he is and that one little gesture gets me more in the "Christmas spirit" than just about anything else.

Monday, December 04, 2006

"Pin me down, show me how"

"Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint;
O LORD, heal me, for my bones are in agony.
My soul is in anguish. How long, O LORD, how long?
Turn, O LORD, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love. "

Psalms 6:2-4

It's comforting to know that someone as mighty as King David felt like I do now. Sometimes I just want to know what God has planned for me..."my soul is in anguish. how long, O Lord, how long?". I lose patience and I yell at the sky "what do you want from me?!, stop dropping barriers in front of me!!" Later, when I step back and think about it, I wonder if God is more concerned with teaching me patience than I want him to be. Maybe I'm really going to need to have patience down the road. Maybe I really need it now.

Maybe he is teaching me humility. He knows my deepest thoughts, even before I think them, he understands how I am going to react to what is happening around me. I find myself literally battling my own thoughts, I give them up to the Lord, I ask him to take the selfish thoughts away because I can't do it alone. It just wears me out.

Is there some way to work through my thoughts in a positive and uplifting way? Can I turn what is happening around me into something good? Only if I let go and give God the reigns of my heart. The process of handing those riegns over saps me of my energy, the battle within me is big. I don't want my emotions to control my life anymore! Yet my emotions are part of who I am...

Its' all very confusing.

Here are the words from another "David" (Grohl).

A little bit of resolve is what I need now
Pin me down, show me how
"Resolve", Foo Fighters

Sunday, December 03, 2006

"Ain't gonna be no rematch."

Apollo Creed: "Ain't gonna be no rematch."
Rocky: "Don't want one."

"Don't want one"...that's what the BCS pollsters said today...

Let's review the highlights of the last few weeks...
  • Ohio State is ranked 1st, Michigan is ranked 2nd.
  • Ohio State beats Michigan in Columbus by a mere three points allowing 29 points.
  • Michigan remains in 2nd place. Most analysts are soundly convinced that OSU and UM are the two best teams in the country.
  • Lots of discussion about Michigan, USC, Notre Dame and Arkansas playing OSU
  • USC takes over the 2nd spot in the BCS after they beat Notre Dame at home (which UM beat at ND), Florida is a distant 4th place in the BCS. Everyone assumes USC will win out and play OSU for the national championship.
  • USC and Arkansas both get beat.
  • Michigan and Florida move up one spot each taking over #2 and #3 respectively...

Oh wait, this is the BCS...things are not supposed to make sense. In the magical, fantasy world of the Bowl Championship Series Florida, jumps over UM to take over the 2nd place spot and play for the national championship.

Translation...

No one expected USC to get beat by UCLA, so they put Michigan in the 3rd spot because in their hearts they knew that OSU and UM were still the best two teams in the nation, but it made sense for USC to play OSU for the national championship. When USC lost, they said "Uh..oh, even though UM is really the 2nd best team in the nation it wouldn't be good for the BCS to have two teams from the same conference play a rematch for the national championship game. So...

They looked around and said, who's closest...Florida! So, a bunch (just enough) of those pollsters that had put UM just behind USC the week before VOTED AGAINST A REMATCH and moved Florida up to 2nd. It wasn't a mandate FOR FLORIDA, but AGAINST A UM / OSU REMATCH.

What a joke.

Well, there's still one more game left for each team and when UM beats up USC and OSU beats up Florida, then we'll end up with...drumroll...OSU #1 and UM #2...back where we started!

We really need a playoff system.

P.S. Let me make one thing clear, I think Michigan had their chance to play in the national championship game, they just had to beat their bitter rival on the road and by the way that rival is the best team in the country. They almost did it. My beef is that nothing on the field happened on Saturday should have resulted in Florida moving up over Michigan.

By the way, standing shoulder to shoulder with those that do not want a rematch are those in Ohio (check the ESPN polls)...and can you blame them? If I were an OSU fan I would rather beat up on Florida than give UM another chance to beat them on neutral ground.

More fuel:
"People can debate forever whether the Wolverines deserved to play in the BCS title game instead of Florida, which landed the spot opposite Ohio State. But there's no debating U-M lost out for the dumbest reason imaginable, in the dumbest way. U-M fell in the rankings two straight weeks without playing a game, so let's cut through the garbage and admit what this was about. This was about too many people -- especially voting coaches -- getting squeamish about a rematch"..."This was the strangest, wildest season, so naturally, there had to be a controversial twist at the end. It was a turn you could see coming, as CBS commentators campaigned shamelessly while Florida was beating Arkansas 38-28 in the SEC title game Saturday night."..."U-M's only loss was by three points on the road against the undefeated No. 1 team. Florida's loss was by 10 points at Auburn, which finished with two losses. So yes, if the point of the BCS title game is to match the two best teams, regardless of conference affiliation or previous meetings, there's a decent chance the voters got it wrong. But if the unspoken point of the BCS title game is to match the two most deservingteams, it's hard to argue too vigorously against Florida. Bob Wojnowski's from "U-M Denied"

The voters have spoken. Between Gator chomps, here's what they said:
Never mind.
Never mind what we did the last couple of weeks, voting Michigan ahead of Florida. We've changed our minds because, hey, we can.
Because the rematch thing suddenly became too real. Because when Urban Meyer politicks, we listen. Because we thought it was time to throw the embittered SEC a bone after stonewalling Auburn's national title bid two years ago.
We thought the Wolverines were better than Florida back in November -- and even though Michigan hasn't played a down of football since Nov. 18, we've decided that we don't think so anymore. We were dazzled by the Gators' work since that date: a seven-point victory over Florida State and a 10-point win over Arkansas. And we decided that Ohio State-Michigan was not in need of a sequel.
That's our story and we're sticking to it. Now if you'll excuse us, we'd like to put our fake nose and glasses back on and return to anonymity. These publicized ballots make us more accountable than we'd prefer. Goodbye.

Read the rest at
Pat Forde, "Whining, politics, voting reversals part of BCS system"

One more..."Does anyone see the irony of (Urban) Meyer successfully lobbying about the unfairness of an OSU-Michigan rematch, when the only national championship trophy in his program's history came courtesy of a rematch in 1996 after a regular-season loss to Florida State? "
Ohio State, Michigan prove to be class of Big Ten

Let's end on a very astute quote from Lloyd Carr:

"I don't think they (Florida) would have moved ahead of us if USC would have won the game,"
That just says it all. Florida's move in the polls had nothing to do with what they did, but what everyone else didn't want to happen.
"...Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." 2 Corinthians 3:7-18