Lambeau Leap

Posted on September 9, 2008 by Jason


Enjoy your first Lambeau Leap, Aaron. After enduring the past 4 or 5 months, you deserve it, kid!

Posted in Football | 2 Comments

Empty Bowls

Posted on September 8, 2008 by Jason

Three months ago, I was part of a mission team that traveled to San Marcos, Honduras to work with Mission Lazarus. I took this picture in one of the outlying villages where poverty runs rampant. The Seventh Day Adventists in this little community donated their church building to Mission Lazarus. It seems that after years of failing to grow and watching their members slowly die off, this church decided that someone else could make better use of their facility. So they just donated it to Mission Lazarus because they heard they were doing some pretty cool things in the name of Jesus.

Some of the preachers from other communities drive over to the old Seventh Day church building every day and prepare lunch for the local children. These children come out of the woodwork for this meal. They arrive at the building to sing Bible songs and to pray while the meal is being prepared. There’s only one rule: BYOB – bring your own bowl. As the aroma of stew fills the neighborhood air, these children come bounding out of their homes carrying the biggest bowls they can find. For most of these children, this is the best meal they’ll have all week. Because of the tremendous number of children in the area and the limited funds the Mission has to feed them with, most of these children are only allowed to come eat one day a week. But on that one day, you won’t find brighter smiles anywhere on the planet.

Three months later, I’m still thinking about all those empty bowls. According to the United Nations Statistics Division, more than 1.2 billion people are living near the edge of death because of their impoverished living conditions. Thankfully, these children have access to this kind of benevolence at least once a week. But what of the others? What of those whose bowls remain empty? And what am I doing to help fill those bowls?

Sadly, these are the kinds of questions the Christian community has failed to ask, at least with any degree of consistency. In an ironic twist, the prophetic voice to the world on the subject of global poverty has not come from the church but from the “secular” world. Somehow, in our insistence that the sole purpose of our existence is to save people’s souls for the life that is to come, the Lord’s church relinquished her role as mouthpiece on behalf of those who have no voice today. Thankfully, even the rocks will cry out when Christian witness is lacking. Bono, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and a host of other celebrities have championed the cause of the hungry and the impoverished around the world through the ONE campaign, an effort to bring awareness about global AIDS and extreme poverty. People around the world are being inspired to action, inspired to pull together on behalf of the poor around the globe. The humanitarian call to help those who live in squalor resonates with us. Now more than ever before, people are rallying around the image of the empty bowl. How can I ignore that image when I live in such abundance?

It took me going all the way to Honduras…it took me seeing a community of empty bowls…for me to really begin to understand why ministry to the poor is a priority to Jesus. It matters to Jesus because He feels their pain. He bears their plight. He aches along with them.

“I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matt. 25:40).

And I wonder why I can’t shake the image of all those empty bowls…

Posted in Jesus, Poverty, Scripture, Social Issues | Leave a comment

The Baptism of Guitar Hero

Posted on September 5, 2008 by Jason

This absolutely cracks me up:For those of you who were feeling sketchy about the Guitar Hero fad, never fear: Guitar Praise is here to assuage your guilt. Now you can rock out to your favorite Skillet and toby mac songs in wireless USB guitar controller style! From the Guitar Praise website:

Grab the guitar and play along with top Christian bands! Shred those riffs or blast the brass…you add a unique sound to the solid Christian rock. But watch out: if you can’t keep up, the artists will take a break and stop the music. Crank it up and try again – you’ll soon be rockin’ with the best while praising the Lord!

Like I said, it just cracks me up. Guitar Hero has been redeemed.

Posted in Humor, Random | 3 Comments

2008 NFL Picks

Posted on September 3, 2008 by Jason

Time for my annual NFL picks. Let’s hope I do better with these than I did with my baseball picks. I may have really blown those picks, but I did have this little nugget way back in April:

And look out for the Rays. You heard it here first: in two years, they’ll be contending for a championship.

OK, so I was off by a year. But did you have the Rays running away with this division. Yeah, I didn’t think so.

Back to football, I love the NFL. In fact, I follow the NFL more closely than college football. I know, that’s heresy here in the deep South, but that’s how I roll. Without further adieu, here are my division picks for the season.

NFC East: Dallas Cowboys
This has to be the best division in the NFL. Last season, three of these four teams were playoff bound. I don’t know if that’ll happen again, but I expect each of these teams to be solid. Despite the Giants’ improbable Super Bowl run last year, I still see the Cowboys as the class of this division and the conference. The offense is high octane, the defense is solid, and 13 Pro Bowlers return. I know this is the consensus pick, but I don’t expect anybody to push them. Philly comes in second and vies for a wild card spot.

NFC North: Minnesota Vikings
With the much balleyhooed departure of #4 in Green Bay, this division is completely wide open. Enter the Minnesota Vikings. This is a football fan’s football team: a great running game bolstered by five hawgmollies up front; a tough run-stuffing defense to dominate the line of scrimmage. If Tarvaris Jackson can continue to progress at QB, this team could be one of the best in the conference.

NFC South: New Orleans Saints
If the NFC East is football’s best division, this might be one of the worst. Who do you pick here? By default, I’m going with N’Awlins, another consensus picks. I could see Carolina contending here, too, but everything has to go right for them and I think they just have too many question marks (Delhomme’s health? Steve Smith’s temper? Julius Pepper’s return to form?). The Saints’ trot out a high-powered offense and the addition of Jeremy Shockey only makes them better.

NFC West: Seattle Seahawks
This seems like an easy pick. The last time anyone other than Seattle won this division was 2003. And I can’t see how either of the other teams in the division can seriously challenge them again this season. Ho hum.

NFC Wild Card picks: Philadelphia Eagles, Tampa Bay Bucs
This is where it gets dicey. Philly is already banged up and Donovan McNabb hasn’t stayed healthy for a full season since a gallon of gas was less than $2. Still, I think they’ll emerge from the NFC East battle-tested and playoff-bound. As for the Bucs, yeah, they’re old. But this veteran team won the division last season and I think they’ll have one more good one in the tank. Carolina or New York could also vie for this final spot.

AFC East: New England Patriots
The easiest pick of the lot. I know Tom Brady hasn’t taken a snap all preseason. Big deal. The Pats will roll.

AFC North: Pittsburgh Steelers
This is a division in disarray. I think the Browns played way over their heads last season; the Ravens always seem to have quarterback issues; and the Bengals are just a mess. Pittsburgh boasts a well-rounded squad and I see them beating up on the weaker sisters in this division.

AFC South: Indianapolis Colts
This pick assumes Peyton Manning’s surgically repaired knee is OK. If it’s not, this pick is out the window. But if Peyton continues his Iron Man routine at the helm of the good ship Indy, I expect the Colts to contend for another Super Bowl. Look out for the Jags, though. They could play the spoiler here.

AFC West: San Diego Chargers
I’d have a lot less heartburn over this pick if Shawne Merriman weren’t playing hurt. As it is, I still see San Diego as one of the better teams in the league with plenty of talent on both sides of the ball. Plus they play in a weak division. Another easy pick.

AFC Wild Card picks: Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Jets
Jacksonville is another solid squad: good D, solid running game, efficient QB. They could win the division outright, but it’s more likely they earn a wild card berth. Either way, I think they’ll be one of the better teams in the NFL. As for the final AFC Wild Card spot, the addition of Brett Favre could be enough to push the Jets into the playoff picture. I say they go 9-7 and sneak in by a hair.

Super Bowl pick: New England over Dallas. Not really going out on a limb there, I know. But I gotta pick something. I’ll be making my real playoff picks at the end of the season. Hopefully I can convince Sunny to pick again, too!

Posted in Football, Sports | 6 Comments

eMusic?

Posted on September 2, 2008 by Jason

I was an eMusic member a year or two ago. If you’re not familiar with eMusic, it’s a great online subscription music store. Anyway, when I signed up, I got like 50 free downloads, plus the 20 or 30 you got with your monthly subscription. You can cancel anytime, so I basically paid for one month of service ($11.99), got my 80 downloads and quit.

Last week, I got an email inviting me back to eMusic with an offer that was too good to turn down. Pay for 30 downloads (still $11.99, or $12.99, I forget) and you get 70 downloads for free. So I basically have a month to find 105 songs I want to download and then I’ll cancel again. And this time next year I’ll probably sign up for a third tour of duty.

Anyway, I’m soliciting any and all music suggestions. What are you listening to right now that you would recommend? I don’t listen to very much CCM and I don’t listen to any rap or metal. Otherwise, I’m wide open. So far I’ve downloaded songs from the following: Arcade Fire, Conor Oberst, Doc and Merle Watson, the Hackensaw Boys, Michael McDermott, Neutral Milk Hotel, Old Crow, The Avett Brothers, Radiohead, Spoon, Storyhill, The Everybodyfields, The Gaslight Anthem, The National, The Real Tuesday Weld and Townes Van Zant. Any other suggestions?

Posted in Music | 10 Comments

Gustav

Posted on August 31, 2008 by Jason

If you’re looking for something to pray about, look no further than the Gulf Coast. With Gustav furiously approaching the United States after ravaging Cuba over the weekend, cities up and down the coast have been evacuated.

That is, those with the means to leave have evacuated.

As always, situations like this seem to hurt the low-income and the working poor the most. This CNN article describes the plight of several NOLA residents who are either too broke or too stubborn to vacate. This quote by Jeremiah O’Farrell pretty well sums up the article:

“If I left, I’ll probably lose my job,” said Jeremiah O’Farrell, another dishwasher who is staying put. “I really don’t have anywhere to go if I could leave. I could go home, but that doesn’t seem like the thing to try. Too far, I guess.”

Thankfully our government seems to be better prepared this time around. Maybe Katrina taught us something. Maybe our officials simply don’t want to be caught sitting on their hands again. Whatever the case, there seems to be ample motivation not to repeat the mistakes of three years ago.

Even so, you know this will be the end for some.

Like I said, if you need something to pray about, this is it.

Posted in Poverty, Prayer, Social Issues | Leave a comment

Figs Out of Season

Posted on August 27, 2008 by Jason

Recently I realized how skeptical I can be when it comes to acts of kindness. Last week my family and I were the recipients of a tremendous act of kindness. These individuals provided us with some help free of charge. No strings attached. Which makes me suspicious. There’s gotta be a catch, I thought to myself. I kept waiting and waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it never did. This was a legitimate act of grace that we didn’t merit or deserve. It’s pretty sad when you’ve conditioned yourself to be skeptical anytime somebody does something kind. Proves what kind of world we live in these days.

I guess that’s what Jesus meant, though, when he cursed the fig tree in Mark 11. This has always seemed like a weird story to me, like it shouldn’t be in the Bible. Jesus just walks up to this fig tree and curses it for not bearing fruit, which seems like no big deal until you realize that it wasn’t even the season for bearing fruit. So why does Jesus fly off the handle? I think he does it because in the Kingdom he’s inaugurating, you should come to expect the unexpected. Swords are beaten into plowshares. The lion and the lamb lie down together. Enmity dissipates. Love is the language we always speak. He curses the fig tree because it represents old wineskins, an old world order, which is altogether inadequate to hold the new Kingdom wine he is pouring. Which leads me back to my original thought: it’s those moments of grace that break through and capture our hearts because they are so uncommon, so otherworldly. But in the Kingdom, those acts of kindness and acts of grace are normative. In the Kingdom, enemies are loved. In the Kingdom, the last comes first. In the Kingdom, figs bloom out of season.

I guess I’ll always approach things like this with a certain amount of skepticism. It just seems to be encoded onto my DNA. But I hope I can get to the point where I see things with Kingdom eyes. I want to see acts of kindness and acts of grace as conduits for the in-breaking of the Kingdom of God.

Else I’m afraid I’m no better than the fig tree.

Posted in Devotional, Jesus, Scripture, Theology | 2 Comments

I’m NOT Michael Phelps!

Posted on August 27, 2008 by Jason

I don’t know why this video cracks me up so much, but it does. It reminds me of that commercial of the guy wearing the Red Sox cap and everybody thinks he’s Big Papi. What gets me is the way he keeps saying over and over, “I’m NOT Michael Phelps! I’m Steve Parry…from Great Britain!”

I know I have a weird sense of humor.

Props to my boy Jake for showing this to me. Hilarious.

Posted in Humor, Olympics, Video | 3 Comments

Villains

Posted on August 26, 2008 by Jason

Cher to play the Catwoman in the next Batman flick? Yikes! You’ve got to be kidding me. I’ll admit, a year ago I probably would’ve doubted that Heath Ledger could play an adequate Joker (and, boy, would I have been wrong!), but come on…Cher? Twenty years ago, maybe.

The article also suggests that Johnny Depp could be tapped to play The Riddler. Now that’s a bit of casting that sounds just about right. Any other ideas? The only other guy that comes to mind is Steve Buscemi, but he’d probably only get the role if the Cohen brothers directed the next Batman installment.

As for Ledger, I have to say his performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight ranks right up there with the best TV / film villain performances of the last 30 years. Here’s the short list I came up with; tell me if I left anybody off.

Darth Vader – Still the #1 baddie in my book. This one’s probably not ever going to change.

DeNiro in Cape Fear.

Phoenix in Gladiator.

Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter, although I don’t think he was the principal “bad guy” in those movies. I only saw Silence of the Lambs once (and hated it), so this one may not fit.

Nicholson as the Joker, although Ledger’s performance makes him look like a circus clown.

I never saw it, but they say that woman from Misery was pretty creepy.

Of course, I’d have to put Michael Emerson from LOST on the list.

I’m thinking Ledger’s Joker ranks only behind Vader when it comes to villains on the screen. I’m probably leaving off some pretty big ones, but they don’t come to my mind.

Posted in Movies, Television | 7 Comments

My Idea of Heaven

Posted on August 25, 2008 by Jason

Posted in Baseball, Blessings, Kids | 2 Comments