CAP & GOWN

So I went over to Bethel and picked up my Cap and Gown for graduation on Sunday afternoon. It was just a cool feeling to finally have it in my hands, you know? I still can't believe that in a few days I will have my Masters Degree. It was pretty awesome to see the tassle with "2008" on it!

APRIL RUNNING

With the fourth month of the year gone now, here's some of the stats from the month that brings May Flowers (hopefully) ...

The March Running Stats:
Total Miles Run - 154.62 (according to mapmyrun)
Days of Running - 17
Longest Run - 20.0 miles
Times on Treadmill - 0 (Yes, Final Zero!!)
Approx. calories burned - 19,916

In 2008 I have logged approx. 503 miles and that is well on my way to reaching at least 1,000 for the year.

SERMON LISTEN

I just listen to my talk from April 6 at Waypoint Community Church for the first time. I got to tell you, it is really odd to hear your voice coming through the speakers of your vehicle. Overall, it sounds fairly good and pretty raw but for a first attempt I will take it. Still a solid "B" effort in my book.

If anyone out there wants to give a listen to the 40 minute talk, let me know and I'll burn you a copy and mail it out.

DOLPHINS DRAFT

Welcome to Jake Long ... May you protect our quarterback (whoever it will be) and create many holes from our running backs! Should have a successful NFL career. Good Pick!

OIL TROUBLE

The tipping point for America has officially been found.

If you didn't think that America was in trouble before gas hit $3.00 then you better start believing it now. Not only is gas going to be $4.00 shortly, this country is going to fall into more trouble.

Nervous yet? I know I am. It does kind of boggle the mind that this nations livelihood depends so much on oil. Really, it is quite amazing that one thing drives everything.

From grocery prices, to school lunches, to your paycheck, to housing prices, to ... well, everything depends on that all mighty barrel of oil that is costing more and more by the minute. And the thing that continually frustrates me is that these oil companies are posting record quarterly earnings.

There seems to be this intersection between being patience and being frustrated about the situation and I'm not sure which way to lean anymore. Being patient was good for a while but this is getting quite scary. Now more than ever.

PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY

* Is this process still going on?

* If Hillary would win (heaven forbid), would she be called "Queen Hillary"

* Make this process STOP!

RUNNING LOVE/HATE

I absolutely love this new ad campaign that New Balance put together for running. Granted I wear Brooks running shoes but the idea is still the same.

I have thought about breaking up with running but I don't think that would be a good idea.

THE POPE

So this picture of the Pope got me thinking about a whole lot of questions about his visit to the U.S. last week.

I might the anti-christ or something along those lines for bringing up some of these thoughts. Please be gentle with your reaction(s).

* He looks like a mint tic-tac in that enclosed vehicle.

* Why all the extra security? I'm pretty sure Paul, Peter, etc. didn't have 1,000's of armed officers protecting them. In fact there were probably 1,000's of armed officers wanting to kill them. Is his safety that important? You know, what would do more good in advancing the cause of Christ - his safety or his potential martyrdom?

* The pope is potenially no more spiritual than your neighbor or best friend, right? So why all the extra fuss? He can't connect you to God anymore than those in your closest circle of friends.

* With 10's of thousands piling into Nationals Park and Yankee Stadium it makes you wonder how desperate Americans are for a higher purpose and spiritual guidence.

Ok, like I said my views might be totally opposite than most but his celebrity-type treatment just got me a little stirred up.

FOOD SUPPLY

Thanks to my good friend John Pauley for finding this gem --


For more information on the Haiti food crisis - here

EXTRA INNINGS

In honor of the Padres, Rockies 22 inning game on Thursday night in San Diego I took a moment to recall some of my fond memories of extra inning baseball games I attended:

July 27, 2002 - Lynchburg Hillcats vs. Salem Avalanche (16 Innings) ... I remember that Lynchburg won the game although I don't remember the score. After the 13th inning me and my friends were determined to stay until the end. If I remember correctly, the game ended around 11:30 p.m. or roughly 4 1/2 hours after it started.

April 11, 2003 - Lansing Lugnuts vs. South Bend Silver Hawks (15 Innings) ... The home opener for the 'Hawks that seasons and I was running on roughly two hours of sleep. I just wanted the game to end because I could barely stay awake. Thankfully the Lugnuts ended my misery with two runs in the top of the 15th!

June 1, 2003 - New York Yankees vs. Detroit Tigers (17 Innings) ... It was Roger Clemens' second attempt at career win 300 and I kept score for all 17 innings (it's pretty sweet looking scorecard too)! After 5+ hours in the afternoon sun I was fried! But at least the Yankees won with homerun by Alfonso Soriano and Jorge Posada in the top of the 17th.

"This is a game to be savored, not gulped. There's time to discuss everything between pitches or between innings."

- Bill Veeck

QUESTIONS PT. 1

(Since finishing Donald Millers first book, I have been really thinking about some of the thoughts and ideas he presented. So, let's journey with some of those questions)

Is Sunday church like a coaches pep talk before the game?

This might be the best description of a Sunday sermon I have ever heard of. Granted I am big into the sports realm but I think the analogy between a pregame pep talk and Sunday sermon is dead on.

When I used to play organized sports the last thing on my mind near the end of the competition was what the coach said right before we left the locker room. In the same way, the last thing I seemingly think about when confronted when an opportunity to advance God's Kingdom is what the Sunday sermon was about. Or what action steps can I tie-in with what the preacher talked about when posed in a real life situation.

You know, many people that go to church are just spiritually bulimic. They gorge like crazy on the message or talk on Sunday morning but just vomit it up the remainder of the day and/or week. Then go back the next Sunday and do the same OR get angry when the "menu" (i.e. message) isn't what they like.

It's makes you stop and wonder how "church" would be different if there wasn't a Sunday talk. What would that look like? Might be kind of cool and awkward all the same. Might even be worth trying sometime.

QUOTABLE JIMMY EAT WORLD

There's this song on the current Jimmy Eat World CD "Chase This Light" called "Here It Goes" that has really intrigued me. So check this out ...

"Don't accept critique or credit .... Definition always changes .... It's not the same as yours .... You could be so much more the closer that you get"

Made me kind of stop and really think. Kind of makes you question how stubborn you are or makes you wonder what are the true core values that you hold onto.

MARATHON TRAINING ...

... is really hard! In fact, it might even be more difficult than the actually race. I'll let you know if that turns out to be true after May 24.

So I am about five weeks away from my first attempt at 26.2 miles at the Bayshore Marathon. My longest run up until this point has been 18.25 miles. This weekend I have my first of two 20 mile long runs (the longest I'll go before the race). Although, my legs are some what sore, I am feeling fairly good physically. You know, nothing a little ice can't help heal.

What I am fighting more than anything else is the mental battle. One side of my brain keeps telling me that I am going to run a marathon well and I should be happy with that. The other side of my brain tells me that it will only be a happy experience if I run a time that would qualify me for the Boston Marathon. Those two forces are in an epic dual that Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed would be proud of!

So to qualify for Boston would mean running the race at an average clip of 7:17 (or 3:10:59 total time) mile splits. Pretty much what only eight percent of male marathoners can accomplish. AND I am right there! Seriously, thisclosetothatpace. Then consider that in my age group (25-29) the average finish time for a marathon was 4:25. Barring a major meltdown I won't have to worry about going over the four hour mark.

Who ever thought running would be so mental. You know, it seems fairly simple to go out and run and that's it. Oh no! It's more mentally consuming than I ever could have thought. Yet, amid all those fun mental obstacles I am dealing with, I understand that I am actually going to run a marathon. I mean, how freakin' cool, awesome, amazing is that?!? That's what I have to continue to remember ... I can't wait for May 24!

The training continues ...

FREE RICE

I have no clue why on earth I didn't know about this site earlier. I know it about now and just wanted to pass it along. Go feed some hungry people!!

Free Rice

INTO THE WILD

Finally, got to see this movie I have wanted to see since it came out in theaters. Unfortunately, it was a limited release movie and limited means it never came to the South Bend area. Oh well, not a big deal.

It's quite the amazing story of a young man (Christopher McCandless) who is extremely adventurous but in many ways fairly stupid. I applaud his efforts and resourceful-ness for making it from Atlanta, GA to the middle of Alaska via hitch-hiking and other various means.

Yet, the kid was running. Running from problems from his childhood, running from forgiveness and running just to get away from all the "crap" of life. Unfortunately, in the end, he paid the ultimate price for all his running.

At the end of the movie he is journaling some final thoughts and this is what he finally concludes:

"Happiness only real when shared"

Rather unfortunate that his adventure took him all over the country and interacted with all types of amazing people but his running kept him from realizing the important things in life. He just thought he could run and never forgive.

It is an absolute brilliant movie that you can think and mull over for quite some time.

FIRST KU GAME

... And only KU game I have ever been to. I will never forget when they announced the selections for the 2000 NCAA Basketball Tournament. Kansas was paired with DePaul in an 8/9 match-up in Winston-Salem, NC. Just a 90 minute drive from Radford University!

Thankfully my roommate lent me the money to scalp a ticket (at face value I might add) to attend the game. Kansas escaped with a 81-77 OT win over DePaul that evening at Lawrence Joel Coliseum. I pulled out this picture from that evening --->


I still own that t-shirt and fortunately I lost the beard, grew out my hair more and lost some serious pounds since that picture!

ER - ONE MORE SEASON

NBC announced that there will be one more season of ER and that's it. The 15th season will be the final one for this hospital drama. Of course, this begs two questions in my mind --

1) What took them so long to realize this show has run its course?
2) Why am I still watching it?

Regardless of those questions, here's some thoughts on ER --

* I was in high school (yes, high school!) when this show started!
* Remember when four different actors that played in the movie "Top Gun" were also in ER?
* George Clooney owes a whole lot to this show. His character was great!
* I miss the subplot when Luka and John Carter were both going to Africa on a regular basis
* What ever to this cast --->

QUOTABLE ROB BELL

I was listening to a recent Rob Bell message called "I Do Not Know" and it was based around Paul's experience in prison. He was unpacking this idea that Paul at one point had thoughts of ending his life even though he knew that his convictions would not allow that to happen. Yet he struggled at times with harsh, and maybe unbelievable, thoughts.

Make no mistake that these thoughts happen in the 21st century. This is what Bell said about dealing with the harsh/troubling thoughts and the convictions people hold to ...

“For some of us we need to go all the way back to actually doing something very simple for someone who needs it because our faith as gotten so lost in the theological clouds and the doubts, the despair, and thoughts and feelings and fears of these philosophical conundrums because sometimes we need to bring somebody water who doesn’t have it because that’s what going to save us.”

- Rob Bell

JAYHAWKS - NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!

What a freakin way to win a National Championship! Just as a college basketball fan, that was one of the best title games in recent memory then to have the team you cheer for actually win the game is almost unbelievable.

I would like to thank the following individuals for their efforts in helping Kansas win their first championship in 20 years:

1) Mario Chalmers for his amazing clutch three-pointer
2) Memphis Free Throw Shooters
3) Bill Self
4) Past Kansas teams who couldn't quite bring a title to Lawrence (Jacque Vaughn, Drew Gooden, Keith Langford, Raef LaFrenz, etc., etc.)

5) Brandon Rush for tearing his ACL and pulling out of the NBA last summer
6) The Kansas frontline of Aldridge, Arthur, Jackson and Kahn for banging around the paint on Saturday vs. UNC and Monday vs. Memphis

7) The Jayhawks backcourt of Robinson, Chalmers and Collins for swiping all those loose balls
8) Danny Manning and the Miracle from 1988
9) NCAA Selection Committee
AND
10) Greg Ostertag for going to Kansas and making me a Jayhawks fan 15 years ago!

I must admit that with a nine-point deficit with just over two minutes left that I thought the dream of winning the title was over but the Jayhawks played perfect down the stretch and in OT for a dream come true.

That three-pointer Chalmers hit was absolutely stunning. It took me five different looks at the scoreboard on the TV to make sure it actually went in. Just unreal!

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!

SUNDAY TEACHING RECAP

I feel extremely fortunate to have been given the opportunity to speak on Sunday morning. Not quite sure how else to put it. To be given a platform for a few brief moments and to be able to influence well is quite a blessing.

So the talk "Woo Me ... Please" went about as well as I could have hoped for. I took most of my teaching from Eccl. 4:7-12 about being in together-ness and not being alone in the world breaking the message up into three separate stories from my experiences:

Who Cares? (v.8)
Who do you pay attention to? (v. 9&10)
This idea of Team (v. 11&12)

The goal in my mind was just to get people to think. To think about what it means:
- to help those who need help
- to find out what it means to step into un-comfortable and awkward moments to advance God's kingdom
- to understand that loving God means loving everyone in there "sphere of influence"

Did everything go perfect? By no means did everything go according to the way I planned them in my head but overall I was satisfied. I should have bullet pointed my notes better and worked on better transitions from what point to the next but my inadequacies are more than made up by God.

Until the next one ...

PRIDE (IN THE NAME OF LOVE)

For the 40th anniversary (+1 day) of Martin Luther King's death.

"For the revered Martin Luther King, sing!"

WOO ME ... PLEASE!

Over the past few weeks I have been gathering the information. Since Tuesday evening, I have been trying to put together all that information into some sort of organized chaos for my first attempt "behind the pulpit" by myself on Sunday.

The whole thing started with a text message that said "wanna talk about single-ness" on April 6? So the talk is called "Woo Me ... Please!" and it's about being anything but alone. Not so much dating v. non-dating but more about the drive and the hunger each person has to be in community. And, well, it should be interesting.

FINAL FOUR

I don't think I have ever been more excited for a Final Four.

Ever since the Jayhawks held off a furious Davidson comeback in the final two minutes last Sunday, that put all four No. 1 seeds into the biggest stage in college basketball, the excitement has been building for a variety of reasons --

1) These are the four best teams in the country. Through out the year these four have been the best. No Duke, No Tennessee, No Georgetown. These four are the best.
2) Kansas vs Roy Williams
3) UCLA makes their third straight apperance in the Final Four. Is this the year they break the drought?
4) Is Memphis as good as advertised?
5) So many good one-on-one match-ups - Kevin Love vs. Joey Dorsey, Darren Collison vs. Derrick Rose, Tyler Hansbough vs. Kansas' big men, Kansas' run-and-gun offense vs. UNC's run-and-gun offense

So without further waiting, here's what I believe will happen on Saturday evening:

UCLA 75, Memphis 71

I think the experience of playing in the Final Four from previous years proves to be the difference. These two teams match-up perfectly against one another. Both have great big man and guard play but, again, the experience is "X" factor.

UNC 85, Kansas 83

Roy Williams does just enough coaching to take out his former team. It kind of gives me a small ache to pick against my beloved Jayhawks but UNC does just enough. Of course, if I had an unbias opinion I still think I'd take UNC.

SUMMER CONCERTS

Since in most calendar years I see more concerts than I see movies, I was looking at the summer concert schedules and here's a list of some potenial shows that I'd love to see:

* Jack Johnson
* Death Cab for Cutie
* Dave Matthews Band
* Pearl Jam
* Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

I'm pretty sure that Jack Johnson on June 13th in Indianapolis is going to happen for me. Death Cab for a Cutie is playing in Chicago in early June and there's probably a 65/35 chance for me to attend.

The Dave Matthews Band experience just seems like something all concert goers should attend at least once. It's just not something I'm ready to drop $50+ on right now. That's pretty much the same way I feel about Pearl Jam or Tom Petty.

Then there is the possibility of saving some coin for a potenial U2 or Coldplay tour that may start in late 2008. You know, that's something worth saving for.

FINAL FOUR PREDICTING

So now that both the men's and women's Final Four are set, I just want to take a moment to show something:

Men's Final Four - UNC, Kansas, UCLA, Memphis
Stephen's Predictions - UNC, Kansas, UCLA, Texas

I guess that three out of four isn't bad.

Women's Final Four - UConn, Tennessee, LSU, Stanford
Stephen's Predictions - UConn, Tennessee, LSU, Stanford

That's right, four for four on that one!

Out of numerous combinations between 129 total teams over two tournaments to get seven of the eight teams correct -- oh yeah! Life is good! Ok, back to humility ...

ALEX -- UNION RESCUE MISSION

Just wanted to post this four-minute video to give some props to Alex. I got to meet him during the summer of 2006 while I was volunteering at the Union Rescue Mission. He is an amazing individual and his story is the reason that hope really does exsist. That people can change from a destructive life style.

Congratulations on your successes Alex!