“I Caught a Bat this Halloween…What Did you Do?”

Manu Ginobili, an Argentinian professional basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs, made headlines yesterday when he swiped an errant bat out of mid air….on Halloween.  The bat apparently swooped down on to the court, and after creating a panic, the bat flew off only to return a few minutes later.  It was then that Ginobili slapped the bat in mid flight, picked it up and went off the court to hand it to a impressed trainer.

Really…

On Halloween…

His thoughts on the subject: “When you can’t dunk anymore, you have to find a way to make it into the news…”  Mission accomplished my friend, mission accomplished.

Mate debate: Is monogamy realistic? -From CNN.com

Here is an article about the longevity monogamous relationships.  Is monogamy something in decline?  Is it something that is not worth expecting?  Am I stupid for only choosing my wife on a daily basis?  Please read this article and tell me your thoughts.  Is monogamy on the way out?

Mate debate: Is monogamy realistic? – CNN.com.

I gotta believe that we were created one way by God and have ended up another.  I love my wife and love that she only loves me.  Obviously that is my worldview, but is it unfair for to expect the world to live this way?  Again I say, we were created one way…now we are another.  Be defined by the way you were intended not the cultural around you…

This article was shared by using @addthis…

What Am I Doing With My Life…

I read a great article from Norman Chad in the Indystar today and found a link for it on SportsIllustrated.com.  Sports are an important part of life.  However, how much of our lives (including my own) is wrapped up in things that do not matter.

I watched most of the Dolphins-Saints game yesterday.  I found a link and streamed it online.  I watched up until I had to leave to pick up Krista.  It was a great game that went back and forth.  I was highly entertained.  When I left, the Saints were driving down the field for the go-ahead score with 10 minutes left.  By the time I got home, there was 2 minutes left and the Fins were down by 12, a score of 46-34.

I felt robbed.  Not robbed by my wife for stealing 8 minutes of game time from me.   I felt robbed, that at the end of the game, so went the last 3 hours of my life.  It was entertaining, but as I recalled sitting in front of my 13 inch macbook yelling at Drew Brees and clapping at interceptions, I felt embarrassed that this is what seems to get my blood pumping.  It’s not overtly bad, but I definitely felt robbed of things that could have mattered.

What Will Mark McGwire Teach Cardinal Hitters

A source within the St. Louis Cardinals organization has reported that Mark McGwire will be hired on as the Cardinals hitting coach.  I can only imagine what the first principle to being a dominate hitter will be.  Where to put the needle?  How to dance around questions being asked without giving a yes or no response?  Of course this is coming from an alleged use of steroids during his career.  Some of that career was with the Cardinals when McGwire was in a home run race with Sammy Sosa for the then single season home run record.

McGwire has never answered to allegations, only refusing to talk about the past.  If it looks like a duck, puts on 30 lbs of muscle like a duck, hits like a duck…then it must be…well you get it…

money money money money…MONEY

Money is never a comfortable thing to talk about.  And within Christianity there is a principle of tithing that seems to become even more uncomfortable.  Tithing is a command that is found traditionally in Malachi 3.  Tithing is used to fund the organized church, provide assistance within the church and as an outreach, as well as fund ministries that do not generate money of their own (like us!).  Knowing that we are direct recipients of people’s giving, money becomes an even more difficult topic to talk about.

I read a blog post from Mark Batterson on tithing that really sums up the things I feel about giving faithfully to God.  Giving financially is something that Krista and I have instilled in our marriage from the beginning and its the first thing that we do as our money comes in.  This is not to be pious Jones time, but to help some of our followers see how joyfully giving is so freeing and fun (sounds so cheesy, but it really is).  We support a few different international volunteers as well as tithe to the local church and God has never left us hanging.  There were certainly times, not too long after we got married, that the numbers just did not match up.  More was going out than coming in, but we never dipped into our savings and we never faltered on our giving.  All I can say is, the Lord provided and we were never in need (“In need” seems to change as you commit to giving as well).

I am challenged by money.  It’s an easy thing for me to want to hold on to.  When we joyfully give above and beyond, I feel so free from the things of this world and are taken care of by my Father.  We are excited to allow others to step out in faith in supporting our move to Bosnia.  It’s hard to bring that message and be recipients, but we know the impact of joyful giving and cannot help but want people to live in that place!  Read the quick blog post from Batterson.  I would love to hear your thoughts!

I Am A Blessed Man!

This is not new news to me or to anyone who knows me or my family.  However, today I felt the need to further explain my blessedness!  My family floors me at how successful they are in a worldly perspective and spiritually.  For those who may not know my family, allow me to introduce you to them

First and foremost, my wife Krista is an amazing woman.  She is a nurse in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and on top of that she is an ECMO clinician, meaning that is specialized in overseeing a heart/lung bypass procedure for newborns.  She is an angel.  She is a great wife and will be an even better mother.  I could not have asked for a better positive to my negative (or as we recently heard it at a wedding, “The sweetness to my sour”).  She is, by far, one of the most selfless people I know.  It is so much fun being on the journey of life with her.  She listens when I blab on and on about nothing and I love just being around her.  I have lots to learn from her!

My dad is a fountain of useful knowledge.  He has been in the automotive business for probably 25 years and a majority of those years has been with Hondas.  That man knows just about all there is to know about Hondas.  I have never seen someone who gets so much joy out of helping others.  I brag about him all of the time and I tell people that I wish I knew the information he knew about cars or history or sports and felt so happy to expose others to it.  My dad has never met a stranger and has the absolute ability of making people around him feel comfortable.

My mom has worked with Alamance County since I was a kid.  It started off as a case worker for county welfare office, then as a dispatcher for 911, and now back to the welfare office.  My mom has always been in a job to help the hurting.  Whether it be through her relentless hours of processing applications for food stamps so that families can have basics needed to survive or its calming victims down from an accident until help arrives, she has made it her calling to be in a place of assistance.  My mom is such a sensitive person who will really hurt when you hurt.  She will also tell you to get over it when you need to get over it.  She is a strong woman who has had no problem submitting for the sake of companionship.  Even when we were young, mom worked, and yet we never missed a meal (which is obvious for me!), the laundry was always done, the house always clean.  I have no idea how it all got done, but it did.  She really is super woman!  And again, I have a lot to learn from her.

My sister works at a church as their children’s director and balances a busy, busy life between running a large and successful children’s ministry, raising a beautiful and wonderful 4 year-old girl, Emma, and taking care of their household.  Even with all of those things I just mentioned about her, the greatest thing that I see in Abby is her willingness to take on new things.  New things are hard for just about all of us.  In the last few years she has seen the landscape of her life change drastically and even at times had to say goodbye to her husband as he had to leave for weeks at a time on jobs.  Although those transitions are not always as smooth as she would like them, she navigated the waters and has found a way to be joyful in that.  Another example of this is that she just started walking/jogging on a regular basis.  That may not be a lot to some, but to carve out enough time to exercise adequately in a busy life like hers says a lot.

My brother in law owns a small construction firm.  He is a man of integrity in a business where its lacking.  His good heart gets his screwed over at times and yet the Lord has never left him without growth.  There were times when he would put me to work, not because he needed me, but because I needed the money.  I know that, even in the 10 years that we have really known each other, I have a brother….not in law and not in Christ!, but a real brother.

Emma is my girl.  I can’t believe I would miss a little snot-nosed 4-year-old so much.  She is an animated little person.  She really is the princess of the castle and yet unlike other 4 year-olds, can sit in a room of adults and not suck the attention from them.  She has such a cool personality.  I miss her so much!

Sorry this is a long post, but like I said, I am a blessed man!

My father-in-law, Wes, and I have such an interesting relationship.  I think in a lot of ways we are built from some of the same parts and I like that there is no BS flying around when we get together.  I rely on him so much for advice, political information, and good conversation around the table.  At the risk of sounding insincere, I could not have asked for a better father-in-law relationship.  I am sure there were/are times when he wants to grab me by the neck and ask me what am I doing with my life and his daughter, instead he has been around for steady advice and support.  Cannot say thanks enough for that.  Wes was a big time political guy in his working days.  He worked for the Michigan State House of Reps as a Chief of Staff and a press corps director.  I am sure I am getting the titles wrong, but he has surrounded himself with politics his entire adult life.  He is now working with an independent online news source in Lansing called Lansing Online News and was recently on a round table forum for a long running Michigan show called Off The Record.  What a successful man who has done a lot for conservatism in Michigan!

Gladys, my mother-in-law, is quite literally the sweetest person I have ever met.  She spent most of her adult life as a Lutheran School Teacher, which I have come to find out is just under the Trinity and just above the clergy within the Lutheran Church!  The only time when she was not teaching was when she was raising her two kids.  She now helps tutor Burmese refugee kids and teens that have recently moved to America.  She has helped them learn English and is building such good relationships with them.  As far as I can tell, she has spent her life for the sake of others.  Krista and I said a few months ago that we have never seen someone who really does get so much joy from others around her being happy.  She is the absolute definition of humility.  There are probably a million things that we do not see her do that makes our lives run smoother.

Justin is a genius!  Justin knows all there is to know about computers, media and beer/wine!  He works for Clearspring,  the leading provider of widget creation, distribution, tracking and monetization services, used by the world’s largest media companies, advertisers, and widget developers (yeah I stole that from the website!).  Justin is the Community Manager which allows him to travel to different conferences and what not and promote Clearspring.  He is in his element as he is tech savvy and can still talk to people.  That is a rarity, I think, and he is a god in the tech work.  As busy as he stays, Justin has always had time to answer one of my dumb questions about iTunes or how to set up our mac for something.  He is a faithful person that would lay down in the middle of traffic for you if that is what you needed.  I have felt so welcomed in to a family that is so tight-knit.  Justin has led the way in that by sharing with me some of his things as if we grew up together our whole lives.  His response is simply that I am family.  That means a lot.

Well, I am sorry, this was long, but it needed to be said.  If you’re fortunate enough to spend 5 or 20 minutes around my family, your life is better for it (A little Jim Rome for all who are listening!).

Balancing the Book Scales

I am trying to balance two books right now and both are proving to be hard to put down yet also polarizing of each other.  I borrowed the book “Fools Rush In” by Bill Carter from our local library.  Carter was a rogue journalist/humanitarian volunteer who lived in the besieged city of Sarajevo during the Bosnian war.  “Fools Rush In” is a memoir about his experiences that led him to Bosnia as well as his experiences while there.  It is a tough read.  Intriguing, but tough.  I highly recommend the book if you want an accurate (as accurate as I know, at least) foreigners perspective of the Bosnian war.  I will say that at times it is graphic but that is something that we tend to forget…war is graphic.

I also found an interview done by Carter on a Dutch TV news program.  Take a moment to check out the interview.

The other book that I am reading is completely on the other side of the spectrum.  Francis Chan is a protestant pastor in Simi Valley that begins to expereiment with what it might really look like for someone to throw off all and follow Jesus in his book “Crazy Love”.  For someone from America and more importantly California, its an interesting look at modern-day self denial and unabound love for the Savior.  I just started it, so as I get deeper into I will share more.  If you have already read either of these books, I would love to hear your thoughts on them.

Do you have a problem with stray dogs in your neighborhood?

Recently we have seen an influx of stray dogs running around our neighborhood.  Some are cute, some are pit bulls, but all cause me stress.  I love dogs, I really do.  However, it does concern me when there are so many running around.  I love to run and I am constantly nervous that I will turn the corner and a dog will see me as a threat.  I am constantly passing housing and figuring out places that I could perch or hide if a dog comes at me. Do you have a stray dog problem?  Does it even bother you?

I read an article in the Indystar today where a 70-year-old man was nearly attacked by a pack of pit bulls.  Luckily he was able to jump. literally jump, into his truck and roll the windows up as they were jumping at him.  He called the police and the officer that arrived pulled his shotgun and was able to shoot the lead dog in the chest in mid air as it was lunging for the officer.  Can someone help me understand why we are still allowed to freely purchase pit-bulls?  I know that most are good dogs, but it seems that a majority of dog attacks are from pit-bulls.

I am sure pit-bulls are good dogs, but so are golden retrievers and German shepherds.  If we do continue to allow people to have pit-bulls, should there be tougher regulations for the owners?  We did that with pools as we discovered that they were dangerous if not properly fenced in.  I think that it would be a bit safer if all owners had approved fences and locking mechanisms.  It’s cool if you have one, just make sure it’s properly locked up.  Your thoughts?

Lansing Online News

My father-in-law has joined forces with some other reporter types in the Lansing area to put together an online news source called Lansing Online News. In a response to add some journalism competition to the failing and more and more insignificant Lansing Journal, Lansing Online News offers a news source that labels its opinion articles as opinion and reports news as it happens, not as its perceived.  If you are in the Lansing area or want to keep up with a grassroots, local news source, this is the one to start with.

With that said, the staff at Lansing Online News seeks to involve the community with a software program called Digi-Dollars.  Digi-Dollars is a program that will allow local businesses who seek to advertise on the LON website can credit the website with a specific dollar amount that will be redeemable for goods and services at their business.  In return, “citizen journalists” who contribute to the news source will be compensated in Digi-Dollars that will allow them to make discounted purchases from the advertising businesses.

It’s a novel idea that will supplement a relevant news source.  The staff at LON is applying for a grant that will help set the Digi-Dollar program up as well as help maintain the operational costs of running a web-site.  The grant’s recipient will be determined by the number of people who rate and comment on the grant that the staff has compiled.  I wanted to ask my blog followers to help a diverse yet reliable news source get off the ground and help educate the people in the Lansing area by going to this website and take a couple of minutes to read over the grant proposal, rate it and leave some feedback.

I was encouraged to find out that the staff is comprised of Democrats and Republicans alike, young and old, socially justice minded and concerned of the day-to-day happenings in Lansing.  The main concern for the staff is to report the news as it happens not as they would have wanted it.  Please take a moment to look over this.  Thanks!

The Box Movie Trailer

I just saw a trailer for an interesting movie called The Box that also presents a great moral debate within people.  Check out the trailer and let me know what you think.  Is this a movie you want to see?  What would you do if you were presented the same initial option?