COLDPLAY

What an amazing evening of music, entertainment, excitement, energy, etc. This was the biggest concert I have ever been to and it did not disappoint. They played every song that I wanted to hear. First the setlist from the evening at the United Center:

Square One
Politik
Yellow
Speed of Sound
God Put a Smile Upon Your Face
What If
Don't Panic
White Shadows
The Scientist
Til Kingdom Come (acoustic)
Ring of Fire (acoustic)
Trouble (acoustic)
Clocks
Talk
-----
Swallowed in the Sea
In My Place
Fix You

Chris Martin had so much energy the entire show. The guy is just a show-man through and through. There wasn't one moment during the show that it looked like he wasn't enjoying himself. Visually the entire show was amazing. There was a laser show, the screen behind the stage was awesome. The videography was second to none.

Some of the highlights ...

POLITIK

Just watching Will Champion (the drummer) during the song was awesome. He was just freakin pounding away at the drum set like there was no tomorrow. The question was posed by Jen, "I wonder how many drum sticks he goes through during a concert"? My guess is quite a few.

YELLOW

About midway through the song (which by the way sounded awesome) about a dozen or so huge yellow balloons fall from the top of the building. They start bursting and Chris Martin yells from the stage, "they cost like $100,000 don't bust them!" Yes, he is joking.

SPEED OF SOUND

The videography during this song was stunning. They had the "X&Y" logo scrolling all over the arena during the entire song.

RING OF FIRE/TROUBLE

They just love Johnny Cash and they did a great version of his classic song right after they played "til Kingdom Come" then they start off with "Trouble" and totally screw-up the second verse. They completely stop and Chris Martin says, "that was awful, let's start the second verse again" ... Kind of funny.

CLOCKS

Just one big amazing effort during this song. The laser show, the video, the energy ... I mean just everything was awesome!

THE ENCORE

The last thing songs was worth the entire evening. During "Swallowed in the Sea" it looked like pieces of his journey entry was scrolling across the screen. Very Cool! ... "In My Place" is just an awesome song then near the end Chris Martin sprints (yes, sprints) from the stage all the way to the other end of the floor to finish the song. Very Awesome! Then "Fix You" was just unreal and a great way to close the evening!

STARBUCKS ON HOLD

For the past several months I have had some days of incredible pain in my stomach and I figured it was something I was eating that caused this. I tried getting rid of bagels but that didn't help. I stop drinking milk but still hurting. Then recently I stop drinking coffee for like 2-3 days and my stomach felt fine!

I was just hoping that coffee wasn't the cause for my sick stomach but after starting to drink coffee again, yes I became sick again!! I can't drink coffee without getting ill!! WHAT'S THE DEAL?!?

So it was either have an upset stomach all day and not have a headache OR have headaches, because I am addicted to caffeine, but no upset stomach. Unfortunately I am no longer drinking my beloved Starbucks or any other coffee drink right now! Of course, on the brightside my headaches aren't too bad and my stomach doesn't hurt.

PRICE IS RIGHT

Today is a good day to be an alumni of Radford University. One of the softball players was the Showcase Showdown winner on the Price is Right this morning!! Check out the story on Brittaney Brown - Here

FINAL FOUR

George Mason v. Florida

I am one of the few people in America who has at least one Final 4 team left (Florida), but I just don't think they are going to beat George Mason. This is a great match-up and probably is the better game between the two on Saturday. I just gotta believe that the Patriots are a "team of destiny" at this point. They've beaten Michigan State, North Carolina and UConn who have acounted for four of the last seven national champions.

GMU - 74, Florida - 68

UCLA v. LSU

I was extremely shocked to see LSU beat Texas. I'm going to go with UCLA in this game. Along the same lines of George Mason, I think the Bruins have this "destiny" thing going for them. Glen Davis will get his points for LSU but the Bruins prevail.

UCLA - 68, LSU - 61

MISSIONARY POSITIONS

This past Sunday at GCC the "Pure Sex" series concluded with Craig Gross from xxx church knocking out a great message on the problem with porn.

The xxx church ministry is in their fourth year and half way into it they made a documentary film called "Missionary Positions" about the ups and downs of starting a venture like this.

What an amazing look at the porn industry and what these guys and their team are doing. It's really is just awesome. They have something really great going and what a roller coaster ride they have been on.

The thing that stuck out most to me was how much grace and tolerance they give to those who are bashing what they are doing. They are attacked constantly and yet they never do anything that hurts the cause (at least not that I saw). In addition, you can read some of the hate e-mail they get about their ministry - here.

The other thing that struck a cord with me was the question, what can I do in my life to put myself "out there" like these guys are doing. Like I said earlier these guys are constantly mocked and trashed but the amounts of grace and "cheek turning" that they do is worth imitating. Whether or not you agree or disagree in their cause, you can't help but be in amazement of their graciousness. As Christians we should be showing the same.

NEW BLING

The Silver Hawks 2005 Midwest League Champions rings just came in! I'm blinging large now!

VINTAGE 21

(Special props to Dr. Pauley for this one ...)

I have seen seemingly a lot of weird things on the web and this ranks up there.

Click on the link for Vintage 21 > click on the media icon (the old style projector outline) > go to video > click on the "2" for page 2 (kind of tiny) and just watch any of the four videos.

It's really not hard to navigate. I'm not sure how to describe it.

BRACKET MADNESS

I'm not sure how to describe my NCAA bracket as the Sweet 16 starts tonight. I have correctly picked 10 of the 16 teams still left. I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing Duke and Gonzaga lose during this round.

I still have three of my final four teams left: Florida, UConn, Texas. I had Kansas in the Final Four and a first round loss for my beloved Jayhawks isn't a recipe for success. I'm still going with UConn beating Texas in the finals.

I would love to see George Mason continue their run toward the Final Four. I won't be surprised if Bradley some how finds a way to upset Memphis.

Enjoying the madness ...

UNTITLED

I'm not sure what to call this ...

24

Prior to the start of this season of "24" I was debating whether or not the fifth season was worth a day of my life. It seemed the last season was getting pretty predictable and kind of boring.

Well, I am glad that I have "invested" an hour of each week for 24 straight weeks to this show. This is by far the best season ever ... ever!! There is finally some shock to each episode that can't be predicted. At the risk of sounding cruel; some of the main characters are finally dying!! That makes for more excitement.

Jack's Torture Report

RETURN TO THE COLD

After a nice week in the warmth of 80-something degrees Orlando, I have returned to dark, cloudy 30-something degree South Bend.

The tennis team went 4-3 during the season opening spring break trip. Not bad but certainly not great either. We still have a lot of potenial that can be reached. Aside from the array of injuries and such the four wins is nice but I think we should have had one more. I take the blame for that. Some dumb thinking on my part.

Outside the tennis deal, I was able to attend the Yankees-Cardinals spring training game! What an experience to finally watch some live baseball in Florida! I also got to see some old friends and catch up with the Radford University men's tennis team (they are really good!).

Check out some of the pictures of coach/trainer Hinkel and the team photo!

Notice the "coaching" done under the shade! The sun was a bit warm on occasion!

Not only do I coach but I can tape injuries as well!

COUNTDOWN SAYS ...

So I will be apart of my first tennis match as a coach next week during the Spring Trip to Florida for the tennis team.

My Goals for the Saint Mary's Tennis Team

1) We have fun!
2) Every player gets better each match
3) We play consistant and with confidence
4) We will play as a team
5) Win the MIAA Championship! -
If we do the first four, there's no doubt this will happn

BLOG OF THE WEEK

Norah Jones has finally come out with a new album. Sort of. She has the joined with four other people who were doing their own projects and formed the band "The Little Willies"

The Little Willies

Yes, Norah Jones is one the best things in music!

SOLD AGAIN

So the Silver Hawks are sold ... Again! I am kind of mixed on this because I like the fact that Joe Kernan bought the team because he will keep the team from moving. On the flip side, however, I fear he is going to bring in a lot of new people in the front office and thus the people I worked with for three years won't have a job anymore.

I have no clue what Kernan intentions. None. But when the G.M. announces he is taking a different job in sports the same day that the team is sold makes me nervous as to what will happen to the rest of the staff.

Back in July when the team was first being sold to another group, I remember the sick feeling the next few days around the office and I knew that I was leaving after the season and it made me sick to my stomach. I can only imagine what my former colleagues are going through right now. I wish them all the best of luck!!

Joe, if for some odd reason you are reading this, please keep the front office in place!! They will do you and the city proud!

NUMBERS

Ok, so my blog has turned into this site where you go to other blogs to read better posts. Sorry, kind of. This guy Perry Noble has this really interesting post on numbers in the church and how numbers did matter in the New Testament. I new twist that I never thought of before.

Do Numbers Matter?

Kind of lenghy by the end but stick with it. Solid read!

CHURCH ATTIRE

Interesting insight ...

Can I Wear Shorts?

Be sure to check on the NLT version of James 2:2-4 at the bottom.

HOOP IT UP

While ESPN's "Championship Week" is in full swing for the past week or so, the major conferences are just starting their respectively tournaments. This is one of the best times of the year to be a sports fanatic. Yes, that would be me.

Here are my predictions for some of the bigger conferences:

Big East: UConn
Big 12: Texas
Big Ten: Illinois
ACC: UNC
SEC: Florida
C-USA: Memphis
Pac 10: UCLA

More hoops to come next week as the field of 65 is announced! I love March Madness!

STUCK ON "BEDLAM"

A few weeks ago I broke down and bought James Blunt's "Back to Bedlam" CD at Target. It was only $9.99 plus tax so I gave in! (I need to stay out of the the music section.)

This CD hasn't left my player since I purchased it about five-week ago. There's something about this guy. His writing is pretty much brilliant and it's no wonder his show in Chicago sold out in less than a day. The 28 year-old has this perfect combination of David Gray, Coldplay and Damien Rice all mixed into one package. Seeing that all of those artists are some of my favorite then it really isn't a shock that I enjoyed this album.

Although the entire album is a little less than 40-minutes, it is really witty as it tackles issues like relationships, war, peace. It's almost like he is younger Bono but that guy is in a catagory all his own. Songs like "High" and "Goodbye My Lover" are brilliant. I remember hearing "Goodbye ..." while in Barnes and Noble once just browsing around and I was hooked on this guy since.

Solid album! There's a big huge drop of "F-Bomb" in the middle of "You're Beautiful" that definitely isn't on the Top 40 radio stations.

SIMPSONS

Check out this real life Simpons intro video - Here

It's absolutely amazing. I'm not sure where the British family found the time to put the piece together put it's pretty cool none the less!

LUST

So, I think my church is doing a series called "Pure Sex" right now. I'm not really sure but, hold on, yep we are currently doing a series about sex.

Yesterday was the second of the five part series with the topic, "The Language of Lust" ... So yeah here it goes. This is a topic that I know I have always struggled with. At the risk of stereotyping all males, I am a guy for goodness sakes. Women are great.

I remember way back to my sophomore year in high school when my youth pastor told me that for 30 days I should memorize a verse each day and anytime I think lustfully then just say the verse over-and-over in my head. Kind of corny but, hey it worked!!

As Rob Wenger was unpacking this message on Sunday I kept thinking back to some of my various encounters with guys and the infamous line of guys who are constantly lusting, "I can look at the menu but I don't have to order from it." I especially get fired up when a married individual says that! You are freakin married and you have a child!!

Rob said this great quote during the sermon that resonated with me, "Giving into lust robs us of real love." You know that sums it up so well. Do you want real love or "fake love" is the question. For me, I'll take the real thing thank you very much.

So what do I do now? The verse thing still works well but really I just don't look at all. There's something better to look at like a book, the bible, a rack of Yankees jerseys (oh wait, sorry) or just whatever. You know that whole Matthew 5:29-30 thing about gouging your eye out.

I'm looking to keep both my eyes til the day I meet my maker.

CRASH

I couldn't believe it when Jack Nicholson announced "Crash" as the movie of the year last night at the Oscar Awards. Just stunned yet very happy.

It's a great movie that brings out just about every emotion possible in your brain. You hate it, then you love it and then you realize at some point you find a direct correlation between the movie and your life. Great Flick!

(On a totally random side note, I had a dream last night I won best actor award. I just don't remember the movie I was in or what year it was.)

BLOG OF THE WEEK

With the college basketball season coming to a climax over the next few weeks with conference tournaments, the field of 65 and the Final Four, I have to give some props to my favorite college hoops team my blog of the week:

Phog Blog

Rock Chalk Jayhawks!

MYERS BRIGGS

For one of my internship applications I had to get my Myers Briggs personality type. After taking the 20 minute test in which it felt like almost all 126 questions were in some way the same question just worded in a different manner. I have found out my personality type:

ENTJ

So here's what those letters mean:

E - Extrovert over Introvert
N - When getting information I take Intuition over Sensing
T - In making a decision: Thinking over Feeling
J - In orienting with the outer world: Judging over Perceiving

There's a really awesome sheet that comes with it and as I was getting explained all this information, this test is pretty must dead-on. Here's the quick description of my personality type:

Hearty, frank, decisive, leader in activities. Usually good in anything that requires reasoning and intelligent talk, such as public speaking. Usually well informed and enjoy adding to their fund of knowledge. May sometimes appear more positive and confident than their experience in an area warrents.

Here are some famous example of ENTJ's: Richard Nixon (that worked out well for him!), Harrison Ford, Jim Carey, David Letterman, Franklin D. Roosevelt AND Al Gore (yuck!)

NEW LOOK BLOG

Jen just finished a great looking template for the new nevaeH blog. Make sure to check it! The pictures changes like every five seconds.

It's great! Solid work Jen!

FUN AT THE BALLPARK

I'm not a fan of Barry Bonds. Never have been and probably never will be but what he did during the spring training initiation at Giants camp on Tuesday was probably one of the most creative/fun things I have ever seen from a "super star" athlete.

The initiation was to have the first-time Giants do there version of "American Idol" and so Bonds decided to come out in a Paula Adul outfit. Absolutely hilarious.

Check out the story from ESPN - here. Be sure to watch the video if you can from Fox Sports. You'd probably have to be a sports fan to really appreciate it but it's funny none the less.

EVANGELISM

There probably isn't a subject closer to my heart when it comes to the Kingdom of God then evangelism. Everything revolves around it. As Erwin McManus says, "evangelism is the center bass drum." Don't get me wrong there are important things in the Body of Christ like leadership, praise/worship, theology and a strong message just to name a few but if you are not evangelising then what in the world are you doing?

This little "cartoon" is perfect. The goal of the Body of Christ is not to reach other Christians because well, they are already Christians. Don't get me wrong, building into other Christ-followers is extremely important but I think to often is the only thing Christians are doing.

It really goes to this one question, when Jesus told the 11 (because they already lost one) to make disciples was it a call to reach those who do not believe OR those who already believe? Obviously it was a call to reach non-believers because there wouldn't be any Christians if those 11 just tried to reach each other. Same thing in today's society, Christ-followers need to spend time with those who do not believe.

Go coach your a co-ed league softball team, take your unchurched neighbor or co-worker to lunch but just to do something. Your life is the best testimony you have and you are being watched. If you don't have a life worth living, well go get one. As Christians we need to let "people see us" and get out of our safe "bubble of Christianity." It's not about your comfort. You think Paul was comfortable getting beaten, chased, lashed and spit on while advancing God's Kingdom?

Like I said, don't get me wrong, building into other Christ-Followers is extremely important but just go invest sometime in some of your unchurched colleagues and friends. If you are a Christian you are called to do that.

... stepping off the "soapbox"