Black Friday is upon us…

Is it just me, or are you amazed at the craziness of Black Friday too? Am I the only one that finds the whole concept of Black Friday ridiculous?

We are going to be starting a series in Jr. High this week that is called Advent Conspiracy. This is not something of my own creation, I am just 1 of many that is jumping on the bandwagon of this movement. Here is the concept: we as Americans spend a ridiculous amount of money each year on Christmas. Christmas has become about consuming and not celebrating. So we are saying “enough”.

I am preparing for this weekend, and just for fun I thought I would look up some things on Black Friday. So, naturally, I go to YouTube. It is here that the madness is exposed. Videos of people doing insane things for “stuff”. People standing (actually more like camping) in line for hours, days, just to save $100 on a TV that they probably don’t need. (no actual stats on that, just an assumption on my part)

What does this say about our culture? I am afraid it says a lot. We are willing to spend countless hours in line to buy stuff. Meanwhile there are pressing issues around the world, but we so much as blink. Clean water? sorry, there is a sale at Walmart. Starving children? sorry Best Buy has a 10% off sale for all used video games. Orphans? sorry, Dillards is having a sale on their dishes. I think you get the picture.

So, what do we do? I don’t have all the answers. I do know this: my favorite memories from my childhood have nothing to do with the presents I got. It had more to do with the presence of my family and friends. If we give more of ourselves and less gifts, what would happen?

Check out this video. I hope that we can take back Christmas. No more stuff.

It’s just softball

It’s just softball, It’s just softball. This is what I need to keep telling myself right now. Every Monday night I get to go out and play softball (which I love) with some great guys. I can honestly say that I Love my Monday nights. I look forward to them every week.
But… when it comes to softball there is 1 thing that can ruin a night for me. Not a bad hitting night, not a bad fielding night, but when the other team is a bunch of trash talkers.
So tonight… we played some major trash talkers. I mean these guys were downright jerks. They were yelling at the ump for no reason at all, they were actually calling him some pretty ridiculous things, and they even started saying some things to us. The guys I play with are some pretty level-headed dudes, that never get into with anyone, we don’t argue calls, we just wanna go out and have some fun. But I could tell that I wasn’t the only one that had the night almost ruined because of these guys. One guy said something to my buddy Jeff, then the whole field went dead silent. It was kind of creepy, no one said anything. We all just stood there. It was a real damper.
I talked about taming the tongue this weekend to our jr. high and high school students. I found myself having to swallow some of the words that wanted to creep out. I am not a big talker, but I HATE it when guys come out and take things too seriously.
What gets you going?

September 11, 8 years later…

I keep hearing people say ” I can’t believe it was 8 years ago already”, and I totally get that. Maybe because we all remember so vividly what we were doing that day. I remember almost everything from that day. The image of the planes going into the towers, over and over and over and over again. The towers falling to their end. The cloud of smoke that covered the sky of NYC.
I can almost feel the tears welling up inside of me right now as I recall that day. I am saddened that we live in a world where something like that is a reality. My heart breaks for the families that lost loved ones that day.
As I was driving on the freeway this morning I couldn’t help but think how quick we seem to forget in this country. The popular phrase for 9/11 is ” we will never forget” or something along those lines. In that we will never forget that day, we seem to forget easily some things so closely related to that day.
Do you remember how much the people of this country seemed to come together as a result of that day? Everyone all of the sudden became a life that we cared about. We almost instantly felt drawn to people, our neighbors, and strangers. There was a sense of togetherness that swept through this country. I don’t know if that is so much the case anymore. Or, how about the lives of our soldiers. It seems so crazy to me how we have lost so many lives in Afghanistan and Iraq, and yet we don’t so much as blink at the death tolls. Not that we don’t care, but we certainly don’t lament in the same way. The current wars have cost our country and other countries exponentially more lives than Sept. 11 did.
I hope we never forget. It was such a sad day.

a plea for sanity

I love dogs. In fact, I am in the process of trying to convince my wife to let me get a dog. I think what Michael Vick did to those dogs was a terrible thing. BUT…… Come on people. The longer I live, the more I am surprised at how ridiculous we can be as a society.

Right now, there are groups of animal activists that are spending big bucks to rent billboards around the Eagles stadium to boycott and protest the signing of Vick. People are spending crazy amounts of resources (money, time, and energy) to show their anger at Vick for taking part in dog fighting years ago.

Meanwhile…

27 people lost their lives in Iraq on August 13, 2009 due to the on going war in Iraq.

There are still Millions of people in Darfur that have been driven from their homes and are displaced with inadequate resources to live.

There is something like 23,000 people dying every single day in Africa due to the lack of basic needs like food and water.

There are more families that are calling the streets home everyday due to job loss right here in the States.

There are countless people that are calling trash dumps home in Mexico and South America because they are so poor.

BUT…. that stuff isn’t enough to cause a stir. These facts don’t upset people all that much. But Vick coming back to the NFL has somehow shown  itself worthy of massive amounts of attention.

My plead is that we would somehow re-evaluate our priorities and begin to care about what matters. I hope that I will always place a higher value on human lives than on other things. I hope that one day the injustices in the world will start to get more air time than Brittany Spears, Michael Vick, or what Paris Hilton dressed her dog in today. I hope that we will start to pay our teachers decent wages, and begin to see how crazy it is to pay an athlete $10 million to put a ball in a cylinder. ( I could go on all day about these issues, but I will jump off the soap box for now)

As for Vick, he deserves a second chance. I got a second chance, actually, I have been given countless second chances. Michael Vick: I forgive you.

A Baby Boy!

Liz and I found out last week that we are going to be having a boy!! The more this sinks in, the more excited I get about being a dad (that is weird to say) of a boy. There are so many things that I am looking forward to: teaching my boy how to hit a baseball, how to throw a football, how to read, how to swim, and so many more things. But then I also think about the weight and responsibility that comes with having a child.  Am I ready for that kind of responsibility? Are we ever?

I think about the culture we live in, and the mindset that comes with being a man. The images of women that are scattered everywhere, the underlying belief that a woman’s worth comes from their looks, the idea that woman are here to serve us men. This is just a glimpse into the world that my boy will experience.  My job is to bring my boy up to be a MAN. A man that will show respect to women, that will see them for who they are on the inside not their looks. I have this responsibility to be the example for my son.  Wow, that is heavy.

Above all else, I pray that my son will know the saving grace of Jesus Christ. I want him to experience the love and mercy of my God.

I have so much to learn.

I am so excited, but I am so scared.

location location location

If you could choose anywhere to live, where would it be? Why?

I have that place. Ft. Collins. This place has everything that I want in a place to call home.

Liz and I have been here in Ft. Collins since Thursday night, and I can’t get enough of it. The homes are beautiful! The landscaping here is perfect, the weather is awesome, the people are friendly, the food is great, the scenery is beautiful, the location is ideal.

I love it. If it weren’t for my job, and the fact that we own a house in PHX I would be fighting for a chance to be out here. I lived here in 91 and 92, and I am ready to come back. BUT… I love my job and I love what is going down at Mission Community Church. I wish I could take all of Mission and bring it out here.

Where would you live? What is important when considering a place to live?

Guns in Church

I saw this article through Eugene Cho’s blog.

Guns in church? Really? There was one quote from the article that really scared me.

“I want to be part of what makes criminals wonder if the next person they choose to assault may be the one that ends their life,”

As I was reading this, I couldn’t help but think of what Jesus would say to this quote. Oh, how far we have come.

So what do you think? Should we have guns in church?

What about playing patriotic music in church? Is that what Jesus was talking about when he referenced serving 2 masters?

Amazing

Ok, so maybe I am not so creative, and I just repost things that 100 other people have already posted. My buddies Nick and Joel are the type of guys that find the diamonds in the rough type videos. I am the guy who goes onto youtube and looks under the most viewed section and starts browsing through videos. I have to say that this video I found is AWESOME. It is from the show “Britains Got Talent”. I have recently become a fan of this show because they have some awesome entertainers. I watched this video and was amazed for several reasons. 1. Simon seems like a likable guy on this show 2) the dancing is incredible and 30 this kids smile is super contagious. If you are one of the 1.25 million people to already view this video then I am sorry, but if your not…. then enjoy.

Short Sale

So I am in a bit of pickle. So my wife and I bought a house 3 years ago. We paid x amount of money on it. Now our house is worth (x- 70,000 ish) So we have lost our butts on the house so far. We are making our payments just fine. But then there is this thought that if we were to short sale our house, we could have an opportunity to move into a different house, that is “better” and much cheaper. So… we save money (thousands) by getting into a house at the current value, we get a newer bigger house. Here is my dilemma: 1) is this ethical? 2) is it possible? 3) why would the bank do this? 4) is it smart?

If you know anything about the housing market, short sales, ethics about this issue, then please chime in. I am open to opinions and facts!

80’s movies

Here are my top 10 80’s movies. I may have some bogus choices on here for you, but for me they helped shape who I am! (that might be a stretch, but just go with it)

10. Young Guns ( you gotta be handy with the steel if you know what I mean, earn your keep)

9. Fast Times @ Ridgemont High – Spikoly

8. Good Morning Vietnam – one of the funniest movies I have seen. Robin Williams did most of his dialogue in improv

7. Batman – classic

6. The Breakfast Club – cult classic and for good reason

5. Back to the Future – “McFly”

4. Karate Kid – Daniel Son – best martial arts movie ever made!!!

3. Big – Every kid wanted to be like Josh and have their own Manhattan apartment. 

2. The Wizard – “the power glove, I love the power glove” – one of the best all-time movie quotes

1…. Top Gun – i know, too cliche, but I love this movie, no 80’s movie list would be complete without Top Gun, it just happens to be my favorite

 

What am I missing that is on your list? What movie do you see on mine that is ridiculous?