Football Friday: Round Two

Posted on January 9, 2009 by Jason

Well, if last week proved anything, it’s that football prognosticating is an inexact science. It also proved that my son might be an NFL Pick ‘Em prodigy. After the first weekend’s batch of games, Joshua sits atop the leaderboard with a 3-1 mark. Mom fared somewhat better with a 2-2 mark. As for yours truly, I’m firmly entrenched in the basement with a 1-3 record.

It looks like this week’s picks won’t allow for much movement in the standings as the entire Bybee household pretty much made identical picks. Abby Kate decided to chime in with her picks, too. Here they are:

Baltimore Ravens vs. Tennessee Titans
The game I clearly care the most about this weekend. My Titans had a storybook regular season, riding a stingy defense and a ball control offense to the best record in the league. But it all goes for naught if they don’t follow through in the playoffs. The Ravens are a nice story: rookie head coach, rookie quarterback, that same tough defense. But we all expect the home team to hold serve in this tight matchup. I say Titans win by 3.
Sunny’s pick: Titans
Joshua’s pick: Titans
Jason’s pick: Titans
Abby Kate’s pick: Titans

Arizona Cardinals vs. Carolina Panthers
I expected Joshua to continue with the Cardinals here, but he consistently says the Panthers will win here. And it’s hard to argue with him. Carolina very easily could’ve been the #1 seed in the NFC. They’re unbeaten at home and I don’t see that changing. You have to be able to run the ball in the playoffs; the Cardinals can’t do that.
Sunny’s pick: Panthers
Joshua’s pick: Panthers
Jason’s pick: Panthers
Abby Kate’s pick: Panthers

Philadelphia Eagles vs. New York Giants
Let me just say that a few weeks ago, the Giants were my NFC Super Bowl pick. But the loss of Plaxico Burress makes them so much less explosive offensively. I do like their stable of running backs and I’m probably crazy to pick against them at home, but I have a feeling about this one. Donovan McNabb has been a man on a mission since his mid-season benching. I’m going against the grain here. Gotta do something to try and make up some ground.
Sunny’s pick: Giants
Joshua’s pick: Giants
Jason’s pick: Eagles
Abby Kate’s pick: Eagles

San Diego Chargers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
I’m sure the suits at CBS hated to see the Chargers give Mr. Marketable Peyton Manning the ol’ heave-ho last Saturday night. I know I sure did. What I don’t get is why the Steelers, the #2 seed in the AFC, get to face off against the 8-8 Chargers while my Titans have to face the far more formidable Ravens. Once again, you BCS haters should realize that even playoff systems can be flawed. Anyway, the Steelers should roll in this one. Yawn.
Sunny’s pick: Steelers
Joshua’s pick: Steelers
Jason’s pick: Steelers
Abby Kate’s pick: Steelers

Posted in Football, Kids, Sunny | Leave a comment

LOST Questions

Posted on January 8, 2009 by Jason

Well, we’re T-minus two weeks and counting from the return of the best show on television. Save for the one or two video clips ABC has released to promote the premiere, I’ve avoided Season Five spoilers like the plague. Instead, I’ve been going back and watching some of my favorite episodes from seasons past. It’s been great rewatching some of my favorite moments from this great show.

In anticipation of the upcoming season premiere in 13 days, I decided to post 13 of my thoughts / questions about the show. A couple of us had a separate LOST blog that we maintained for a while, but now that it’s defunct, I’m going to try and bring that discussion here to this page. If you’re not a LOST fan, you probably quit reading in the last paragraph; but if you are a fan, feel free to chime in with your own thoughts in the comments section.

  1. It’s interesting that in the Season 4 premiere, Jack was willing to put a gun to Locke’s head and pull the trigger and yet, in the S4 finale, he’s completely distraught over Locke’s death. I’m sure much of the reason for his despair has to do with what Locke told him about what happened on the Island after the Oceanic Six left. But I found that dichotomy interesting.
  2. In the S4 finale, Ben tells Jack that they all have to return to the Island, including Locke. But what about Walt? Why is he somehow exempt? Is it because Walt was “supposed” to leave but the others weren’t? But then, if Walt was “supposed” to leave, why does the Island summon Michael, implying that he, too, wasn’t “supposed” to leave? This makes my head hurt.
  3. It’s interesting that in S1, Christian leads Jack to the cave where he finds the rest of the wreckage (and the empty casket). But this is also the place where Jack and Kate discover “Adam and Eve”, the decomposing skeletons that supposedly hold the keys to the nature of the show. Thoughts on who they could be? Remember, Jack took a black stone and a white stone from the bodies. The easy bet is Jack and Kate. But I’m wondering if it might be a peripheral couple. Bernard and Rose, perhaps?
  4. I’m wondering when we’re ever going to get some answers about the four-toed statue. I’m willing to bet our boy Richard is missing a digit on his foot. (And I’d make the same bet about Charlotte, the red-head from the freighter.) And while we’re at it, when are we going to find out the significance of that bird that calls out Hurley’s name in the S2 finale?
  5. Everybody’s worried about Locke, Sawyer, Juliet, and the rest of the ones who remained on the Island. My question is: where’s Vincent? He’s only the second “character” we met on the show…he’d better still be on the Island somewhere, or I’m gonna be upset.
  6. The more I watch S4, the more I like Miles. I missed how sarcastically great his character was last season. I’m curious why he doesn’t want Sayid to know his last name though.
  7. Farraday’s statement that “light doesn’t scatter” the way it should on the Island seems significant. But I have no idea what it means. I do know that the Island’s relationship with time will be a major theme going forward.
  8. The more I watch S4, the more I like Sawyer, too. I couldn’t stand him during the first two seasons, but the redemption of Josh Holloway’s lovable rebel has been one of the more enjoyable parts of the show for me.
  9. In S4.3, the “economist” is referred to as “very old-fashioned”. I’m wondering if this is a reference to Widmore (is he somehow able to defy time when he’s on the Island?) or a member of the Hanso family.
  10. I still don’t understand why Naomi had a picture of Desmond when she parachuted onto the Island. I know she’s working for Widmore, but why would he want Desmond?
  11. While we’re talking about Desmond, the phone call scene between Penny and Des at the end of “The Constant” is absolutely one of the best moments in the show’s history, right up there with “live together, die alone”, the raft setting sail, and the S3 closing scene.
  12. Although Sayid and Desmond are friends, expect to see the two of them square off at some point in the future. Ben has sworn to avenge Alex’s death by killing Widmore’s daughter. But I think this war will be waged between Sayid and Desmond at some point.
  13. I hope Jin is alive somehow. I know it’s a long shot, but I’d love to see him reconciled with Sun. Doubt it’ll happen, though. And you know who else I’d like to see brought back from the dead? Mr. Eko. That dude was awesome.

Well, there you have it. LOST returns on January 21 with an all-new episode.

Posted in Television | 6 Comments

One Word

Posted on January 7, 2009 by Jason

On his blog, Mike Cope once commented that each year he tries to choose a “theme word”, a word to focus on over the course of each year. A few years ago, he chose the word “listen”. Great word. Great idea, too.

I suppose last year, my word was “reconciliation”. Not a real flowery word, mind you, but it best expressed who I was aspiring to be in 2008. As I posted earlier, I’m not sure I always succeeded here, but it was still an incredibly rich and rewarding experience. 2 Corinthians 5 is now my favorite passage of Scripture.

So I’ve been reflecting on what my “word” will be for 2009. And the more I think about it, only one word seems to fit: hope. I’ve already written about my recent discovery of Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” But I keep returning to the idea of abounding Spirit-animated hope as my prayer for 2009.

So that’s my word: hope. What about you? What’s your word?

Posted in Devotional, Hope, Kingdom Values, Scripture | 4 Comments

New Playlist

Posted on January 6, 2009 by Jason

You’ll notice I’ve added a playlist to the blog from Playlist.com. If you’re looking to add some music to your blog, it’s pretty simple to sign up and create a playlist of your favorite songs. These are a few of my favorites I’ve been listening to lately, so I thought I’d share.

By the way, I got an iTunes gift card for Christmas, so I’m looking for some ideas. I plan on saving some of it for the new Springsteen album, but I’m open to suggestions.

Posted in Blogging, Music | 2 Comments

The Intersection of Hope

Posted on January 5, 2009 by Jason

It’s easy to look back and see that 2008 was a difficult year. The economy is on everyone’s mind; each day brings news of more corporate scandals and massive employee layoffs. But 2009 is upon us and with the new year comes a blank slate, a fresh opportunity. The start of the new year is one of the most hopeful times of the year. There’s a certain freshness in the air right now. Resolutions are being made, commitments are being renewed.

As we turn the page on a brand new year, our prayer is that the upcoming year would be one of hope. Yes, we find ourselves in hard times, but these present difficulties only serve to underscore even more fully the richness of the Gospel message for us. As God’s Word tells us, nothing can separate us from the love of God, not even the hard circumstances of this life. The message of the Gospel is that life is ours in Christ, no matter the circumstances.

With that in mind, may we devote ourselves in 2009 to making this new year a year of hope. May we be strengthened by the great hope we have in Christ. And may this hope intersect our lives…..

I spent some time this week looking at different texts that speak about the incredible hope that is ours in Christ. But I couldn’t help but notice how often hope is spoken of in conjunction with another core concept in Scripture. The biblical writers seem to understand that hope has this way of spilling over and making these intersections with other elements of the Christian life. Here are just a few of those intersections I came across:

1. The intersection of hope and joy

  • Proverbs 10:28 – The hope of the righteous brings joy… What is the hope of the righteous? The righteous man wants the will of God to be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). Untold joy is found in the passionate pursuit of the righteous reign of God.
  • Romans 15:13 – May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. I’ve somehow missed this passage over the years. But this is such a powerful Word. God is the author of hope, the source of hope. And God’s Spirit is powerful to unleash hope in us, for us. He works to fill us with “abounding hope.” He places hope in our hearts, so that we may know true joy.

2. The intersection of hope and faith

  • 1 Cor. 13:13 – Now these three abide: faith, hope, love. These three seem to be bound together. Paul is identifying the core components of the Christian life. His point is that the greatest of these is love, but hope and faith are significant, too.
  • 1 Peter 1:21 – Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. Christian faith and hope are rooted in the resurrection of Christ. Through faith in Christ, our hope for life beyond death is actualized. Which leads to yet another intersection…

3. The intersection of hope and life

  • 1 Peter 1:3 – According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The resurrection stands head and shoulders above the other miracles of God in the Scriptures. The God of creation is also the God of new creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15). As an act of incredible mercy, God births a living hope within me by raising me to new life in baptism.

In the year to come, amid all our fears and anxieties, may we find all the small and unexpected intersections hope makes in our lives. Or, as N.T. Wright puts it, may we find ourselves “surprised by hope”.

Posted in Devotional, Hope, Kingdom Values, Preaching, Scripture, Theology | Leave a comment

A Chip Off the Old Block

Posted on January 4, 2009 by Jason

Today, while the other children were napping, I introduced Jackson to the greatness that is Madden football. He loved having his own controller like Daddy; he had fun pushing all the buttons and moving the little joystick around. After a few minutes he got up and walked off; I just thought he lost interest. But he came back a few seconds later with his milk cup in hand and he hunkered down in his seat and sat there for a good 10 minutes while we played. He was copying me because I always have a Mountain Dew or a cup of coffee while playing.

That’s my boy!

Posted in Football, Games, Kids | 4 Comments

High School Musical?

Posted on January 3, 2009 by Jason

I just heard my kids saying to each other, “Hey! Let’s play High School Musical!”

What? Where did that come from? Who told them about “High School Musical”? And other than singing and running around all fruity, how exactly do you “play” it?

On second thought, I don’t want to know.

Posted in Kids, Random | 2 Comments

Football Friday: Round One

Posted on January 2, 2009 by Jason

For the past couple of years, the NFL has dwarfed college football for me. There are just more intriguing players and storylines in the NFL. It’s hard for me to get jazzed up about the myriad BCS implications of a Troy / Wichita State Thursday night game, but I have no problem watching any NFL game. I know I’m in the minority on this, at least locally. Of course, Tennessee’s lousy showing this past season only reinforced this.

But every year, one of the things I love to do is make my NFL playoff picks with Sunny. She knows sports, probably baseball more so than football, but she always holds her own when we do this. Each Friday in January, we’ll make our predictions for the upcoming weekend’s slate of games. This year, we’ve added a new wrinkle. When we were talking about making our “football picks”, Joshua came running in from the playroom and said, “I want to make football picks!” So, just like American Idol, we’ve added yet another critic to the booth. And he has his own opinions on who he thinks will win as evidenced by the fact that he took the opposite team from me in every matchup. I thought I had a few more years before the “Dad doesn’t know anything” attitude surfaced!

Without further adieu, here are our picks for Round 1.

Atlanta Falcons vs. Arizona Cardinals
Ordinarily I don’t like road teams to do well in the playoffs. But this year is kind of an anomaly. The Falcons could’ve very easily been the #2 seed in the NFC; as it is, they’ll travel west to face an upstart Cardinals squad. Kurt Warner has been a nice story this year, but this is a team that just two weeks ago lost to New England by 40. Atlanta is clearly the better team. But it looks like I’m the only Bybee who sees it that way. I’m pretty sure Joshua’s choice was biased by his devotion to the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team.
Sunny’s pick: Cardinals
Joshua’s pick: Cardinals
Jason’s pick: Falcons

Indianapolis Colts vs. San Diego Chargers
For all you BCS-haters who are convinced that a playoff will solve all that’s wrong the collegiate football’s postseason, I submit to you this matchup: the 12-4 Indianapolis Colts, who haven’t lost a game since Halloween, have to travel to 8-8 San Diego, a team tied for the 17th best record in the league. Even a playoff system has flaws, people. Anyway, the Colts should handle this one pretty easily. In fact, they might be my pick for the Super Bowl. Of course, Joshua has other ideas. We shall see, son.
Sunny’s pick: Colts
Joshua’s pick: Chargers
Jason’s pick: Colts

Baltimore Ravens vs. Miami Dolphins
I can’t believe I’m about to pick my 3rd road team to win in one weekend, two of whom are helmed by rookie quarterbacks. I feel less secure about this one, but I don’t think this one comes down to quarterback play anyway. What Bill Parcells has done with this Miami team is just incredible; one year removed from a 1-15 nightmare, he has this team in the playoffs as AFC champs. Granted, Tom Brady’s knee and Brett Favre’s bum wing had a lot to do with that, but still. But I love Baltimore’s style of play and as long as Ray Lewis is still playing, that defense will clamp down a less-than-scary ‘Phins offense. I see this being a close one, but I’m going with the Ravens.
Sunny’s pick: Ravens
Joshua’s pick: Dolphins
Jason’s pick: Ravens

Philadelphia Eagles vs. Minnesota Vikings
As much as I personally like Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb, I still can’t believe they made it to this point. I have to pick a home team to win and I like the Vikes chances better than any of the others. AP should be able to dictate the flow of this game. Abby Kate decided to chime in on this game, so I’ve recorded her pick, too. Who knows, maybe next year Jack will get in on the action, too!
Sunny’s pick: Vikings
Joshua’s pick: Eagles
Jason’s pick: Vikings
Abby Kate’s pick: Vikings

It looks like the competition between Sunny and myself will come down to Saturday’s Falcons / Cards game. Of course, Joshua could end up winning the whole thing with his renegade selection style. We’ll see!

Posted in Football, Kids, Sunny | 2 Comments

Compelled: Looking Back

Posted on December 31, 2008 by Jason

With my first post of 2008, I laid out my New Year’s resolution: to do only those things that were compelled by the love of Christ. With 2 Corinthians 5 as my motivation, my goal for the year was to immerse myself in Christ’s love and the ministry of reconciliation. To let Christ’s love have the first, last, and only word in my life.

I wrote about this resolution a couple of times here, but I pretty quickly decided against this. Some of my friends understood this lack of blogging about the resolution to mean that I’d given up on it. That’s not it at all. It’s just that some of the things I wrote seemed like boasting, and 1 Cor. 13 says love doesn’t boast. So I decided to maintain a private blog where I could keep a record of this year long journey.

By and large, I have to admit that I failed miserably with this resolution. If anything, this resolution made me more aware of all the ways in which I don’t act in love or speak in love. On my private blog, I labeled each post with labels like “Prayer” or “Scripture”, things like that. As I look back over the year, I realize I wrote about “Disappointment” more than any topic but one. All in all, as far as my resolution is concerned, I’d have to say that 2008 was a disappointment.

The area of greatest disappointment for me has been in my relationships with some of my friends. In fact, “Friends” is the topic that I wrote about more than any other this year. The irony here is that, in a year when I’ve supposedly committed myself to the principles of reconciliation, I feel even more estranged from some friends than ever before. I’m still committed to the principle of being compelled by Christ’s love, because I truly believe it’s the only way to go forward. But I’ve learned that reconciliation can be a knotty, difficult task. And I’ve learned that I have a long way to go to be an effective minister of reconciliation.

And yet, there were plenty of positive moments sprinkled throughout, not as many as I’d like, but enough to give me hope for change going forward. 2008 has been a year in which several of my friendships have grown deeper and I directly attribute this to the love of Christ at work in those relationships. I am so blessed to work alongside my fellow ministers at Mayfair who model the love of Christ in incredibly consistent ways. I serve a group of shepherds whose thoughts and prayers are dripping with Christ’s love. I’ve realized that the greatest, most consistent conduit for the love of Christ in my life is my precious wife and my three children. There were life-changing revelations of the Word. 1 John 4:18 (“There is no fear in love“) has become a mantra of mine. Passages like Deuteronomy 6, Matthew 22, and 1 Corinthians 13 all have an even more special place in my heart after this year. And even though this year has been disappointing on several fronts, its those moments of transformation, slight as they might be, that will sustain me and give me hope for the year to come.

And so, I’ll end 2008 the same way I began it: with Paul’s prayer from Ephesians
on my lips. This is my prayer for each of you, my dear friends. May 2009 find you living full lives, full in the fullness of God.

My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.

Posted in 1 John 4, 2 Corinthians 5, Blessings, Deuteronomy 6 (The Shema), Disappointment, Friends, Kids, No Fear, Scripture, Sunny, The Resolution | Leave a comment

My Roof, My Rules

Posted on December 30, 2008 by Jason

Back in the summer, I shared with you all the mischievous antics of the little ghost that lives in our house. “Casper”, as he’s come to be known here, has made his presence known through a variety of light-hearted little capers: we’ve had baby monitor issues; we’ve played games with the lid on the washing machine; there was the night of the beatboxing hyena; and the post that started it all, the shampoo bottle incident.

But tonight may take the cake.

Tonight I’m taking all of the Christmas stuff up to the attic. I get a couple of boxes up there, I’m stacking them up where they belong, when I notice the light glinting off this shiny object about five feet away. I creep my way over, bend down and here’s what I found in our attic, lying on top of some insulation:


That’s right. A crumpled up beer can.

Looks like our Casper decided to have himself a holly jolly Christmas.

Now, I’ve been up in our attic a couple dozen times since we moved into this house last year. In fact, I was just up there a little over a month ago when I got down all the Christmas paraphernalia. This insulation is right there by the attic steps. There’s no way this can was there a month ago. No way.

Sure, the “logical” explanation is that the previous owners of this house accidentally left behind this little “gift” before moving off. Chances are it was swept into the insulation and over the past 18 months, it’s been slowly rising its way back to the top until I just happened to see it tonight.

But I’m inclined to think otherwise. Turns out Casper is even more mischievous than I realized.

Here’s my question: why light beer?

I guess even the netherworld is counting calories these days.

Casper, I only have one thing to say: My roof, my rules.

You’ve been sufficiently warned.

Posted in Casper, Humor | 6 Comments