SALT, LIGHT & THE CHURCH

So I'm sitting in seminar today at Bethel and we are talking about Matthew 5:13-15 and being the salt and light of the earth. The professor made these two comments:

“The church should be hospital for sick sinners, not a museum for saints.”

“You don’t help a cancer patient by making him more comfortable with their cancer. In the same way, you don’t help a sinner by making them more comfortable in their sin.”

I was intrigued and wanted to pass them along.

DEVIN HESTER

This past weekend Devin Hestor single handedly willed the Bears to victory (see video). Check out these stats:

Devin Hester has 10 kick return touchdowns in his first season and a half -- not counting a missed field goal returned for a touchdown last season and a touchdown return on the opening kickoff in the Super Bowl. The NFL career record, held by Brian Mitchell, is 13 kick return touchdowns, which Mitchell accomplished over 14 seasons.

Broncos Punter Todd Sauerbrun --
''We're not going to play chicken-bleep ball. We're not going to kick away from him. Hey, we respect the hell out of him and he's the best, but we have guys on our coverage teams that are paid to make big tackles.''

Just for the record Todd Sauerbrun is the one Hester hurdles during the punt return and is the guy who makes a lame tackling effort during the kick return.

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

* Paste Magazine has listed their Top 100 Albums from 2007 - here.

I was especially happy to see "Not Too Late" by Norah Jones (#44), "Magic" by Springsteen (#3) and "The Ringing Bell" by Derek Webb (#27) make the list.

* A filmaker in India is making a film about Jesus and his evil Twin Brother called "The 13th Disciple" - here.

U2 - "PLEASE"

I have no idea how I have never heard this song or seen this video before but ... ummm ... woah! What an amazing piece of art put together by one of the best bands ever.

Watch

"Please"
so you never knew love until you crossed the line of grace
and you never felt wanted till you had someone slap your face
so you never felt alive until you almost wasted away

you had to win
you couldn't just pass
the smartest ass
at the top of the class
your flying colours
your family tree
and all your lessons in history

please... please... please get up off your knees... please... please... please...
leave me out of this please

and you never knew how low you'd stoop to make that call
and you never knew what was on the ground till they mad you crawl
and you never knew that the heaven you keep you stole

your catholic blues
your covent shoesyour stick on tattoos
now they're making the news
your holy war
your northern star
your sermon on the mount
from the boot of your car

please... please... please get up off your knees... please... please... leave me out of this please

so love is hard and love is tough
but love is not what you're thinking of

september... streets capsizing... spilling over, down the drain ...
shards of glass splinters like rain but you could only feel your own pain...october...
talking getting nowhere... november... decemeber... remember...are we just starting again... ?

so love is bigger than us
but love is not what you're thinking of
IT'S what lovers deal it's what lovers steal
you know I've found it hard to receive
'cause you my love I could never believe

IN THE "PULPIT"

So that was fun.

I've wanted to get up and give a talk, a sermon, a teaching or whatever you want to call it for a little while now and this past Sunday I was given the chance to teach alongside my friend Blair. We did our teaching from Matthew 6:19-24 and tied that in with Black Friday and Christmas shopping.

Certainly there were things that I could have said better or presented more clearly but overall I was rather pleased with the way the morning went. I'm not really sure how you measure success but from my perspective it was good for a first-timer.

FAMILY MAN

There's something mindless about watching Nicolas Cage movies. There's no a whole lot of thinking that goes into watching a movie like "The Rock", "National Treasure", "Gone in 60 Seconds" or "Con Air" to name a few.

I've already seen "Family Man" a few years back so why not watch it again? Sure watching it on network TV can be annoying with those commercials but I had nothing better to do and it's an entertaining movie.

However, what in the world was I do actually thinking during the movie? I couldn't just watch the movie just to be entertained but I was actually chewing on the theme of the movie. It's a Nicolas Cage movie for goodness sake. You don't watch his films to think!!

Granted this probably isn't always the best line of thinking when making a decision but what's worse - regret or failure? Freakin silly movie making me think!!

TURKEY TROT

So most normal people sleep-in, relax or something simple on Thanksgiving morning. As the Nike running ads once said, "Runners are different" so I enjoyed a nice run on Thursday morning at the Niles/Buchanan YMCA Turkey Trot.


I was rather surprised at the number of people (about 2,000) that came out and ran either the 5K or 10K. It was a nice chilly morning with a few snow flurries. Maybe a little damp from the night before but overall a fairly pleasant morning all things considered.


The course was one of the most non-flat courses I have ever been on. During the first mile there was a fairly good climb and then quick decent. Then another solid climb just past mile three with another quick decent. A roller coaster with legs is how I would describe this course. It did everything but take you upside down. I was hoping for a something less than 46 minutes and never really thought about coming close to my P.R. (44:55) for a 10K.

I don't do a lot of speed work but when I crossed the finish line at 42:10 I finally did something that I have been trying to do in a "longer" race. I finally broke a seven-minute mile barrier! My time came out to an average mile of 6:51. It is a great feeling in taking one more step in being a faster runner on a more consistant basis.

QUOTABLE C.S. LEWIS

Read this quote at least three times and let it sink in ...

“The idea of Good Work is not quite extinct among us, though it is not, I fear, especially characteristics of religious people.”

TODAY'S STUDENT ...

The current 20's-something generation is quite an interesting one to say the least. I stumbled across this five-minute video a few weeks ago and wanted to share. Some of the stats and quite mind boggling and scray. It's worth watching ...

A Vision of Students Today

JOB HAPPINESS

The most recent issue of Time Magazine is chalk full of stats about America. It's really quite a fascinating read. One of the topics they brought to the forefront was Happiness on the Job. Here are the top (and bottom) three most happy jobs:

TOP 3
1) Clergy
2) Housekeepers and Butlers
3) Fire Fighters

BOTTOM 3
3) Roofers
2) Slicing and Cutting Machine Operators
1) Gas Station Attendants

Just a thought here on being employed -- is it more important to be happy in your current job situation OR is it more about being grateful for the fact that you are employed? Seriously, you can be happy and not be grateful. However, I'm not sure that you can't have at least some level of happiness if you are grateful.

SUNDAY IN THE NFL

For the first time this season, I spent an entire Sunday watching football. And by an "entire Sunday" I mean all afternoon and into the night. It was a personal vacation. What a crazy day in the NFL. Here's my thoughts and observations:

- The Dolphins still can't win!! Please just win one time this year ... Pretty please! I'm begging for the pain to stop!

- The most crazy field goal ever - here.

- I think the Packers are the most overlooked 9-1 team in NFL history.

- The Colts better get healthy soon or they have absolutely no chance at beating the Patriots but ...

- The Patriots might be unbeatable. There performance on Sunday night was nothing short of perfect.

- Rex Grossman can't really be an NFL QB can he? Maybe a third-string guy but not a starting QB!?!

FIVE IN "THE BEND"

Five years seems like a long time but really it isn't. On Nov. 16, 2002 my good friend Willie and I unloaded a Uhaul truck filled with "stuff" into my place at Castle Point apartments. Here's a list of five reasons why I have enjoyed living in South Bend:

1) Friends - I have met some great people. In fact, some of the best individuals anywhere.

2) Notre Dame - Never thought I would be so lucky to do what I am able to do on a regular basis under the Golden Dome

3) Bethel - I got my Masters Degree (well almost got it). Never (and I mean never) thought of attending school after my undergraduate work.

4) Silver Hawks - the job that got me here. It's still great to go over to the ballpark to watch some free baseball ;-)

5) Close to Chicago - The Windy City has so much to offer!

How much longer will the stay in South Bend last? Well, that's a good question with absolutely no concrete answer ... yet.

NOTRE DAME/DUKE

Mercifully the Notre Dame home schedule concludes on Saturday afternoon when Duke comes to South Bend. Nothing says NBC like two 1-9 teams competing on national television, right??

On the bright side of it, I get one more meal out of the home season. Can someone say BBQ chicken and pasta salad?

Someone at Duke created this great website - here. The game is apparently the biggest game in the last two decades of Duke football. I especially like the use of the Lucky Charm guy as ND's mascot on the website. Fairly creative.

Has anyone stopped to realize that the women's basketball team at Notre Dame already has more wins this year than the football team?

U2 "WAVE OF SORROW"

So maybe one of the best albums (in any genre) just got better. "Wave of Sorrow" didn't quite make the cut for U2's Joshua Tree album back in the mid-80's but what a song. The lyrics are outstanding. The video and sound quality aren't the greatest but just listen to the lyrics and the meaning behind the song ... Wow!

KARCH KIRALY

It's not everyday you can say you meet a person who was the best in their given field. I will probably never get to meet Bill Gates, Michael Jordan, Bono or who ever but on Sunday afternoon I got to meet and chat with the greatest volleyball players who ever lived. Karch Kiraly.

What a freakin thrill! He signed a volleyball for me and we chatted for a few moments about California and what not. It was great. Of course, it would have been a little better if I had my camera with me but oh well it was still awesome!

"THE ND EFFECT"

When I first moved to South Bend (more on that later in the week) I actually thought that this town could survive just as well without Notre Dame. Well, that thought was quickly put to rest.

Check out some of these numbers from an article in the South Bend Tribune.

- ND accounts for over $870 in economic activity in St. Joseph Country
- Approxiately 12,000 jobs in St. Joseph Country can be attributed to ND
- Did you know ND employs over 5,000 full- and part-time people?

I'm pretty sure South Bend and St. Joseph County need ND more than ND needs them.

80's ROCK SONG

What is the best rock song from the 1980's?

I have been pondering this question for a little while now. Not sure why or how this question started floating around my head but it's there.

There is one main criteria for this questions, the song can not be from a hair band. So that eliminated Poison, Motley Crue, Cinderella, etc., etc. There have to be rock song so nothing like "Jessie's Girl" from Rick Springfield allowed on this list!

With that in mind, here's what I have come up with as the top rock songs from the 1980's (in no particular order)

- "Where the Streets Have No Names" U2
- "Jump" Val Halen
- "Pour Some Sugar On Me" Def Leppard
- "Summer of '69" Bryan Adams
- "Back in Black" AC/DC
- "Wanted Dead or Alive" Bon Jovi
- "Welcome to the Jungle" Guns N' Roses
- "Born in the USA" Bruce Springsteen
- "Rock You Like a Hurricane" Scorpions
- "Eye of a Tiger" Survivor

That's what I'm going with for now. These seem to be the 10 or so song that keep floating around in my head as the top songs.

WINLESS DOLPHINS

I have enjoyed watching the Dolphins for over 20 years now. They have been my favorite team since I was six years old. In fact I haven't cheered for any team longer. My affection for the Dolphins is well into its third decade of existence.

This season has been, well, quite a challenge. I knew they had no shot of making the playoffs but I was hoping they could at least get to the .500 mark for the season. So here they are just past the halfway point in the season with an 0-9 record. That's right a big fat zero in the win column.

So with seven games left on their schedules lets breakdown the possibilities for a win:

at Philadelphia - less than 20 percent
at Pittsburgh - not going to happen
New York Jets - real chance here, 65 percent
at Buffalo - tough call, about 35 percent
Baltimore - another tough call, about 40 percent
at New England - ummm ... should the Dolphins even show up?
Cincinnati - could happen but probably won't, 30 percent

So there you have it, the Dolphins are looking a 1-15 record for their 2007 season. It could be worse but I'm just not sure how at this point. I just want to see the Dolphins play in the Super Bowl before I die. Is that to much to ask? Please, just one time!

ER

So I was watching ER last night when I should have been focusing more on my homework. Yeah, I know what you are thinking is that show still on NBC?

The show is still on but it might need to be dead soon. It is one of my favorite TV shows on all-time but the storyline are awful. It's becoming this combination of Grey's Atomoy and Friends were everyone is seemingly "hooking-up" and sleeping with everyone else. What's the deal!?! The 10 p.m. slot on Thursday evening's was one of my favorite and now it's making me sick.

Bring back Dr. Greene (even though he's dead) or Doug Ross or anybody else ... Please! Save my show! Don't make me do my homework instead!

WWJB?

This is fairly interesting. What a unique angle to take on the Christmas shopping season. I'm very curious to see how this film turns out. Is it me, or does the main character have a Bill Hybels look to him?

What Would Jesus Buy - Trailer. (You need quicktime to watch)

CRAZY ARKANSAS FAN

I enjoy college football just like most sports fan do. However, I don't consider myself overly crazy about the sport like this guy does.

Just a little back story to this story about "crazy Arkansas fan" ... he wants the coach fired and refuses to go to anymore games until that happens. Talk about a way to make your point!

SNAKES IN A TUB?

Somethings in life I will never understand even if it means a world record - here.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

When did the college hoops season start? I'm watching Sportscenter this morning and they are showing college basketball highlights. Holy cow! I thought the season started next weekend but, like many things, I am proven wrong once again!

Since the season is now officially upon us, I did some crack research through out the day and came up with a list of teams that will compete for the Final Four come late March.

CONTENDERS:
North Carolina, Kansas, UCLA, Memphis, Louisville, Georgetown

WATCH OUT FOR:
Missouri, Indiana, Tennessee, USC, Michigan State

CURIOSITY REIGNS (they could be good):
Notre Dame, UConn, Washington State, Texas, N.C. State

We'll see what happens in a few months but for now let the fun begin because college basketball is one of best sports to watch year-in, year-out.

NAVY 46, ND 44

You know it was probably one of the more entertaining games I have ever witnessed. Granted the two teams involved weren't good but the game was fun to watch. Did the better team win? Probably. What made the day more exciting for me personally was being able to interview the Navy players after the game.

I don't know if I have ever seen a football team more euphoric after a victory. Wouldn't you be pumped up after ending a 43 game losing streak to one team? The reaction from the Midshipman was that of a team that just one of the Super Bowl. It was quite fun to be around.

The best quote was from the quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada (seriously, that's the guy's name). Selfless, mature and noble --

"It's not just a great win for the team, it's not just about stopping the streak. It's about recruiting now. Not just for football, not just for athletics but for the whole Academy. This opens up a lot of people's eyes that the Naval Academy is maybe a good choice. For the young kids out there who are thinking about joining the military, it's a great option. Number one, you get great leadership and you are around outstanding people. Number two, you can be set-up for the rest of your life."

RUNNING PHOTOS

So I got an e-mail telling me that the photos from the Grand Rapids Marathon have arrived. Thankfully I look like I knew what I was doing ...

Look (if you dare!)

BEST "CHRISTIAN" ALBUMS

Remember that phrase "Christian Music"?!? The thought of that actually makes me some what sick in my stomach. Regardless, here's a rather interesting post of the top Christian albums of all-time.

Here

NBA SEASON

Is it me or did the NBA season start off with very little buzz this season? While I'm certainly not a huge NBA fan by any means but there are certainly enough story lines to keep me interested.

- Can LeBron James take the Cavs deep into the playoffs again? Let's be honest here, Cleveland is not a good team but they have a stud leading them.

- How will Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen (see picture) get along in Boston? If they can coexist, they are a scary squad

- Can the Dallas Mavericks stop anyone on defense? They can out score any team but as witness by their first-round playoff exit last year, defense wins championships.

- Where will Kobe (that selfish punk) finish the season? It certainly won't be with the Lakers.

The Best Teams:

- Dallas, San Antanio, Phoenix, Boston, Detroit, Chicago

Other Contenders:

- Miami, Denver, Utah, Houston