its been a nice ride

Well, one year and five months to the day after I started Sports & Convictions, I'm moving the site to a new home. There, it'll be easier for me (which I hope means a better site eventually!) and more eye-appealing to you (partly b/c I've dropped the black background that I switched to while mourning over John Smoltz's departure to the Red Sox.)

So, here's hoping you make the switch with me to the new digs over at WordPress, where I'll work under the same title, just a new home...

http://sportsandconvictions.wordpress.com/.

So long, Blogger...

mark richt should break the rules

Check this out from the AJC's college recruiting beat writer, Michael Carvell:

the headline - "UGA's Mark Richt should break the rules in the name of academics"

And I couldn't agree more. Check out the story (it's a one-minute read).

The snippet is this: UGA has recruited a blue-chip lineman, Chris Burnette, who also happens to be in the running to be the valedictorian of his graduating class. The stud lineman apparently is a stud student, carrying a 5.12 GPA with about a month of class left. From an earlier story I read it sounds like he decided to skip graduating early to play in spring practice (and try to earn a higher spot on the depth chart) in order to stay in high school, get the grades and graduate first in his class.

Richt, supporting Burnette's decision, told him if he graduated #1 and got to speak at his graduation ceremony, then Richt himself would attend his graduation.

Until the NCAA threatened to slap UGA and Richt with a recruiting violation for it.

Well, Coach Richt, I'm okay with this violation. Do the right thing; show strong support for academics. And, in effect, show the NCAA how they've got their priorities all wrong.

hudson taylor's "exchanged life"

I just wanted to share a bit from a chapter of Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret, the biography of missionary Hudson Taylor.

This below is taken from a letter Taylor sent to his sister from China, after he had experienced a deep time of feeling away from God. It's bit long, but I've tried to shorten where I can while keeping the meat of it. If you want the whole thing, let me know...
-------
"Well, dearie, my mind has been greatly exercised for six or eight months past, feeling the need personally and for our Mission of more holiness, life, power in our souls. But personal need stood first and was the greatest. I felt the ingratitude, the danger, the sin of not living nearer to God. I prayed, agonized, fasted, strove, made resolutions, read the Word more diligently, sought more time for mediation--but all without avail. Every day, almost every hour, the consciousness of sin oppressed me.

I knew that if only I could abide in Christ all would be well, but I could not. I would begin the day with prayer, determined not to take my eye off Him for a moment, but pressure of duties, sometimes very trying, and constant interruptions apt to be so wearing, caused me to forget Him. ... Each day brought its register of sin and failure, of lack of power. ...

Then came the question, 'Is there no rescue?' Must it be thus to the end--constant conflict, and too often defeat? How could I preach with sincerity that, to those who receive Jesus, 'to them he gave the power to become the sons of God' (i.e., Godlike) when it was not so in my own experience? ...

I thought that holiness, practical holiness, was to be gradually attained by a diligent use of the means of grace. There was nothing I so much desired as holiness, nothing I so much needed; but far from in any measure attaining it, the more I strove after it, the more it eluded my grasp, until hope itself almost died out ...

All the time I felt assured that there was in Christ all I needed, but the practical question was--how to get it out. He was rich truly, but I was poor; He was strong, but I weak. ... As light gradually dawned, I saw that faith was the only requisite--was the hand to lay hold on His fulness and make it mine. But I had not this faith.

I strove for faith, but it would not come; I tried to exercise it, but in vain. ... Sins committed appeared but as trifles compared with the sin of unbelief which was their cause, which could not or would not take God at His word, but rather made Him a liar! Unbelief was, I felt, the damning sin of the world; yet I indulged in it. I prayed for faith, but it came not. ...

When my agony of soul was at its height, a sentence in a letter [received from a friend] was used to remove the scales from my eyes, and the Spirit of God revealed to me the truth of our oneness with Jesus as I had never known it before. [The friend wrote,] I quote from memory:

'But how to get faith strengthened? Not by striving after faith, but by resting on the Faithful One.'

As I read, I saw it all! 'If we believe not, He abideth faithful.' [2 Tim. 2:13] I looked to Jesus and saw ... that He had said 'I will never leave thee.' [Heb 13:5] ...

I saw not only that Jesus will never leave me, but that I am a member of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. ...

Oh, my dear Sister, it is a wonderful thing to be really one with a risen and exalted Saviour, to be a member of Christ! Think what it involves. Can Christ be rich and I poor? Can your right hand be rich and your left poor? ...

Again, think of its bearing on prayer. Could a bank clerck say to a customer, 'It was only your hand, not you, that wrote that check'; or 'I cannot pay this sum to your hand, but only to yourself''? No more can your prayers or mine be discredited if offered in the name of Jesus ... on the ground that we are His, His members.

The sweetest part ... is the rest which full identification with Christ brings. I am no longer anxious about anything, as I realize this; for He, I know, is able to carry out His will, and His will is mine. It makes no matter where He places me, or how. That is rather for him to consider than for me; for in the easiest position He must give me His grace, and in the most difficult His grace is sufficient. ... So, if God should place me in serious perplexity, must He not give me much guidance? in positions of great difficulty, much grace; in circumstances of great pressure and trial, much strength? ... And His resources are mine, for He is mine, and is with me and dwells with me.

... I am no better than before. In a sense, I do not wish to be, nor am I striving to be. But I am dead and buried with Christ -- and risen too! And now Christ lives in me, and 'the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.' ...

truth prevails

"Faithful Christian, seek the truth; hear the truth; learn the truth; love the truth; speak the truth; adhere to the truth; defend the truth to the death..."

These are the words of John (Jan) Hus, the so-called pre-Reformer, martyred after a life of defending the truth 100 years before Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the door at Wittenburg. Hus was the subject of a lecture given today by Dr. Josef Solc at SEBTS Chapel.

Of Hus, Solc said, "the success in his preaching lay in the fact that John Hus was a sermon before he preached it."

throw him a bone

After I've had a little time to settle down, I've decided to give Damon Evans (above, left) the benefit of the doubt in his hiring of Mark Fox. Evans is, after all, the Athletics Director at a major university and I'm only ... well, I'm only some guy who likes to think he might know something, but in reality is guessing just like everyone else.

Evans gets paid to make these decisions. I pay to watch his decisions play out on the court.

Initially, I told friends here that it seems to me Georgia was going after an "established" winner from a major basketball power, and we ended up with some schmoe from Nevada who nobody's ever heard of. Who the heck is Mark Fox? (Seriously, I can barely remember if his name is Mike or Mark...)

And while his 123-43 record is pretty impressive, you've got to remember that it came at Nevada, a far cry from the SEC (well, maybe not so far after how poor the Southeastern Conference played this season...).

He did take his team to the Dance three out of five years and has five straight 20-win seasons.

But the big question is, how will that transfer to Georgia, where he's competing with Kentucky, Florida and Tennessee in conference, plus Georgia Tech, Clemson and many others for recruits?

My initial thoughts: It won't transfer. We'll be doing the same search four years down the road.

Part of me wished we kept Jim Harrick and just swept the infamous test scandal and the Tony Cole saga under the rug.

But I've got a new-found hope in my boy Damon Evans. I'm gonna give him credit for what I hope turns out to be a smart and savvy hire, because all signs point to that being exactly what Evans thinks he's done.

He gave Fox a six-year deal with a $2-million buyout - neither commonly done to coaches you expect to be mediocre at best. His deal totals near $8 million, and he gets 75% of that if he's fired without cause. Again, Evans has high expectations that Fox will be around for a while.

The man has interviewed with Cal and Nebraska in the recent past - as in, he's been on the radar screen for big opportunities for a while now. Thankfully (I hope), Georgia got him before someone else did.

He's noted as a workaholic, constantly learning and preparing, expecting his teams to win.

He might not be Anthony Grant (Alabama's new coach via VCU) or Mike Anderson (who re-upped with Mizzou) or Tubby Smith (the one time UGA coach, national title winner with Kentucky and now with Minnesota), but the biggest difference between those three guys and Mark Fox is opportunity. They've had it on a big stage, he hasn't.

Now he's got it.

So, Damon Evans, this is me trusting you. Hope you made the right call.

tourney update

With the Final Four this weekend I wanted to give a quick update on where Steph and I stand in our head-to-head matchup.

My final four:
Louisville (lost to Michigan State)
Memphis (lost to Missouri)
Syracuse (lost to UNC)
Pittsburgh (lost to Villanova)

Steph's final four:
Michigan State (beat L'ville)
UConn (beat Mizzou)
UNC (beat Syracuse)
Duke (lost to Villanova)

Somehow or another I went from correctly picking 14 of the Sweet 16 to getting exactly ZERO correct in the Final Four. That's right. I'm 0-for-4 (first time in my life!), while my wife, who I think picked by choosing the school's she's simply heard of before, is 3-for-4. This is going to be a long year between now and my chance at redemption in next year's tourney.

tournament time

So Stephanie and I are having a little head-to-head bracket competition with this year's NCAA tourney and, thankfully, after a horrid day one, I've taken the lead.

It's tough to be a huge sports fan (heck, I majored in "Sport Studies" at UGA...no joke...) and be down to your wife in the bracket. But that's exactly where I stood when I went to sleep after the first day of the tourney.

I spent that evening hearing Steph with excitement proclaim "I voted for them!" each time one of her teams won.

Apparently the NCAA tournament is now a democracy. Who knew?

Somehow or another, though, the tide has turned and she's no longer happy when her team wins; now she's only happy if her team wins and my team loses. So it goes.

But, as I type at 7:32 on Saturday night (UNC 74, LSU 63), I'm 24-for-32 in the first round, with only one team out of the second round and Steph's 23-for-32 in the first with five teams out of the second.

Not trying to brag about beating my wife and all. Or maybe I am.

My ego needs all the help it can get.

----

For what it's worth...

My sweet 16: Louisville, Arizona, Kansas, Mich State, UConn, Purdue, Marquette, Memphis, Pitt, Xavier, Villanova, Duke, UNC, Illinois, Syracuse, Oklahoma.

My Elite Eight: L'ville, Mich State, UConn, Memphis, Pitt, 'Nova, UNC, Syracuse.

My Final Four: L'ville, Memphis, Pitt, 'Cuse.

My Championship Game: Pittsburgh over Memphis.

stanley and vestal on expository preaching

Once again, I'm straight stealing a blog post. This came off of two posts from my friend David Wilhite. (By the way, his blog is one I highly recommend.)

The first bit is from Andy Stanley in response to a question Ed Stetzer asked in a recent interview. If you don't know him, Stanley is pastor of mega-church North Point Community Church in the north Atlanta suburbs. I've been there a couple times. It's huge. He's a great communicator, but his comments below confirmed my suspicions...

----

Stetzer: What do you think about preaching verse-by-verse messages through books of the Bible?

Stanley: "Guys that preach verse-by-verse through books of the Bible--that is just cheating. It's cheating because that would be easy, first of all. That isn't how you grow people. No one in the Scripture modeled that. There's not one example of that.

All Scripture is equally inspired, but not all Scripture is equally applicable or relevant to every stage of life. My challenge is to read culture and to read an audience and ask: What is the felt need? Or perhaps what is more important, what is an unfelt need they need to feel that I can address? Because if they don't feel it, then they won't address it."

-----

Today, Wilhite posted a response to his intial post that he got from another friend of mine, Michael Vestal. Its a little lengthy, but I thought it was very insightful and worth a read. Here's what Michael said:

"I think it is a subtly self-centered or man-centered basis that leads us to despise exegetical preaching. If we believe the task is to 'read the times' and then apply an appropriate answer from the whole scope Scripture, we must believe that the fundamental need lies in a smart use of Scripture. We've assumed a role that's not ours; we've assumed we have something to offer, something to say. (And sometimes there might be good reason for that approach - in writing a book, in giving a specific seminar, teaching a class, or just in discussion with friends, etc.)

But if this approach is taken in the time slot traditionally assigned to 'preaching the Word' then we forfeit (at least one opportunity for) what we need most of all: to hear from God Himself. Do we trust in our own insight and resourceful citing of Scripture (almost as a tool to support our message)? Or do we believe, whatever our current situations might be, that what we need more than anything else is to see and treasure Christ? If we're trusting in Him - not in ourselves, at some level - then we'll want to hear His Word, to get on His 'agenda,' to absorb His perspective, even if to do that I am required to put my personal issues on the back-burner and trust that He cares for me.

I would not think that a strictly verse-by-verse approach is always necessarily called for. Of course, some consideration for the particular audience and thoughtful selection of the Word is required - essentially the same reasons that we have services in English instead of Latin or Greek or Hebrew. So, I definitely think that pastors must thoughtfully consider their congregation's particular need and should responsibly seek to bring the Word to them.

And I would be very comfortable giving Andy Stanley the benefit of the doubt - that he's doing just that. But underneath whatever particular approach we take there should be a fundamental trust in God's Word, not our own. Our mentality should be that people need to hear from God - and not necessarily on the topics they would choose - or that we would choose for them. In some respects, the very thing we need is to be removed from our own perspective, to be immersed in a Biblical perspective. Then, when we return to the everyday practical concerns, we'll see them more accurately. And we'll have a high view of Christ's glory, and if we embrace Him, we'll have what we essentially need in any setting.

Consider what Dietrich Bonhoeffer says about reading the Psalms: 'We also ought not to select Psalms at our own discretion, thinking that we know better what we ought to pray than does God himself. To do that is to dishonor the prayer-book of the Bible' (Psalms, p.26)."

censorship in the 21st century

Apparently, according to WND, Wikipedia doesn't allow anything negative to go on Barack Obama's page on the online "encyclopedia", even if it's something that's been published in reputable sources.

Still think Wikipedia's legit?

(HT: Tim Challies)

Sexting and Abuse in Teen Relationships

I've got two separate topics today that I'm going to deal with together because they both should give us great concern for our teens and the direction in which our culture is heading.

Post #1:

Teenage "Sexting" Statistics are Alarming.

I checked this out after seeing a spot on the "Today" show this morning discussing an 18-year-old girl who committed suicide after a nude photo she sent by cell phone to her boyfriend was forwarded to dozens of people after they broke up.

These numbers blew my mind:

Percent of teens who have sent or posted nude or semi-nude pics of themselves:

20% of teens overall
22% of teen girls
18% of teen boys
11% of teen girls, age 13-16

Percent of teens sending or posting sexually suggestive messages:

39% of teens overall
37% of teen girls
40% of teen boys

15% of those who sent pictures did so to someone they knew only from online.

21% of teen girls and 39% of teen boys send these messages to someone they simply want to hook-up with.

36% of teen girls and 39% of teen boys say it is common for these photos to get shared with people other than the recipient.

12% of teen girls report feeling pressured to send this type of content.

The numbers are very alarming. As I said earlier, at least one suicide has been linked to this messaging, after the breakup of the relationship found the pics distributed freely. More frequently, teens can face felony child pornography charges due to spreading these photos.

There are so many layers to this societal problem that I'm not sure that I could unpack them all. It's easy for me, a 26-year-old with no children, to blast parents for not being involved enough to know what's going on when I don't have kids of my own and have no way to know what raising teenagers in today's society is like. But something's going on here that must be discussed. For some reason we've got a generation of girls and boys who want to be adults, who want to "feel sexy" and who morally have no reason not to attempt to act on these desires.

In a world whose standard of right and wrong is now determined only by causing harm to another, teen sexting then only seems like a "no harm, no foul" issue to these teenagers.

And speaking of this standard of right and wrong...

Post #2:

Some Teens Say Dating Violence is Normal.

In the wake of the Chris Brown/Rihanna abuse case, more and more is coming out about teenagers' view of violence in dating relationships.

I read this story (from the Chicago Tribune) in yesterday's Raleigh News and Observer. Listen to these teenagers own words about this type of violence:

"People said, 'I would have punched her too!'" one girl said. "And these were girls!"

"She probably did something to provoke it!"

"There was a girl this week at school with a scratch on her eye," another girl said. "She was talking openly about her boyfriend hitting her, but she was smiling and saying it was funny."

The numbers say 1 in 10 teens experience such abuse, and females age 16-24 are the most likely to experience violence in romantic relationships.

Again, I'll leave it to you mostly to draw conclusions. But, as I told my wife last night, what can we expect in a society where there is no standard right and wrong. If I'm okay with it after you hit me, then it's okay for you to hit me.

Moreover, in a culture that is rapidly losing it's distinction between males and females, it only follows that it becomes increasingly acceptable for men (and boys) to abuse women (and girls). I was raised in a home where hitting a girl was more or less a capital offense. Sadly, those types of homes today seem fewer and farther between.

All in all, the church has to do something. From calling on fathers and mothers to shepherd their children carefully through our dangerous culture to youth pastors and pastors engaging the church with stories like these. If the numbers for so many areas of life are virtually the same in the church and outside of the church (e.g., divorce, etc), we'd be naive to think these two issues are any different. As SEBTS President Danny Akin says, for ministers not to engage churches over this would be ministerial malpractice.

cleaning the inside of the cup

Jesus has seven "Woe's" that he pronounces on the religious leaders of his day recorded in Matthew 23:13-36. It's easy for me to read these on cruise control, smugly thinking to myself that I'm glad I'm not like those Pharisees.

Only, after further inspection, the comparison isn't as far-fetched as I'd like it to be.

So here's the brief version of the Woe's, with one question for each that I asked myself this morning:
____________________
1. You shut the Kingdom of heaven in people's faces, neither entering yourself, nor allowing others who would to enter.

Q: Am I bringing others with me into the Kingdom of heaven, by grace alone through faith alone?

2. You travel abroad to make a single convert and when you do, you make him twice as much a child of hell as you are.

Q: Realizing that my practices are multiplied into those I lead spiritually, is my life following in line with Scripture or with mere tradition? Have I examined it carefully?

3. You say it's more important to make an oath by the gold of the temple or by the gift on the altar than by the temple or the altar itself.
[Christ is calling out the Pharisees as "blind" and "fools" b/c they neither see nor understand that God calls for utter faithfulness to Him that is not dependent on nuances of words.]

Q: Am I walking in faithfulness to God's word or am I trying to find loopholes and ways around wholehearted obedience?

4. You tithe mint, dill and cumin and neglect the more important things of justice, mercy and faithfulness - which you should do without neglecting the other.

Q: Am I following the "weighter matters" of the law, even when it goes unnoticed, while still obeying the more noticeable commands, or am I only doing what will be seen by others?

5. You clean the outside of the cup but the inside is still full of greed and self-indulgence.

Q: Am I concentrating on my outward appearance of righteousness for the approval of others or am I focusing on the inward and true righteousness of faith in Christ and obedience from the heart, even when unseen by man?

6. You are whitewashed tombs - you appear beautiful on the outside but are dead on the inside, you appear righteous but are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Q: Am I seeking conformity to the law of Christ or merely giving lipservice and ultimately following my own law?

7. You build the tombs of the prophets saying "if I lived in the days of my fathers I wouldn't have murdered these prophets" -- and in your lives you show that your are the murderers sons.
[By only outwardly honoring the prophets but not following what the prophets preached, they show that they do not honor them from their hearts.]

Q: Am I honoring Christ with my life - day in, day out; seen or unseen - or just with my words and outward appearances towards others?

be a Caleb

I read Numbers 13-14 this morning and wanted to say a quick thanks to some people out there.

I've had a handful of people in my life be Caleb to me. Like Caleb, who was among the spies to go check out the Promised Land and then urged the people to follow God faithfully in the face of seemingly overwhelming opposition, these people - in Athens, Dahlonega and now in Wake Forest - encourage me to keep trusting, keep following, and keep seeking to obey God's voice.

In my estimation, I can think of no higher way to love a fellow Christian.

In times of great need - when I felt ready to "throw in the towel" - and in the day-to-day walking with God, these people have been there. Standing beside me. Walking with me. Encouraging me, at times with urgency, to go into the Promised Land of trusting in God's word.

I'm thankful for you guys. You make me want to be a Caleb as well.

Government-Approved Prayer

Al Mohler offers his thoughts on President Obama's troubling practice of vetting prayers before public events in order to avoid any controversy due to ministers using the name "Jesus."

In my opinion, these sorts of things are troubling certainly, but probably point at worse things to come...

Hello, I'm Johnny Cash...

Side Note: This is more or less a shameless reposting of a blog from another site, as listed below. It's worth a look though... For anything coming from my own pea-brain, see my other post from today below...

You need to go to Justin Taylor's blog and check out his stuff on Johnny Cash today, what would've been Cash's 77th birthday. I've put a good bit of it below, but the whole deal is here (JT has links to more stuff on Cash).

First, Mars Hill Church's video bio on Johnny Cash:



From Russell Moore's essay on Cash:

"Johnny Cash is dead, and there will never be another. But all around us there are empires of dirt, and billions of self-styled emperors marching toward judgment.

Perhaps if Christian churches modeled themselves more after Johnny Cash, and less after perky Christian celebrities such as Kathy Lee Gifford, we might find ourselves resonating more with the MTV generation. Maybe if we stopped trying to be “cool,” and stopped hiring youth ministers who are little more than goateed game-show hosts, we might find a way to connect with a generation that understands pain and death more than we think.

Perhaps if we paid more attention to the dark side of life, a dark side addressed in divine revelation, we might find ourselves appealing to men and women in black. We might connect with men and women who know what it’s like to feel like fugitives from justice, even if they’ve never been to jail. We might offer them an authentic warning about what will happen when the Man comes around.

And, as we do this, we just might hear somewhere up in the cloud of witnesses a voice that once cried in the wilderness: 'Hello, I’m Johnny Cash.' "

____________

And, finally, two videos: "Redemption" and his last video, "Hurt"

applying Romans 1:18-32

One of the things that is easy for me not to do while reading through the Bible (as opposed to studying smaller passages) is think through ways of applying the scripture to my life. If I'm honest, there have been several days when I've closed my Bible and went on without letting it engage my mind and my life. And today that was the temptation.

So the challenge for me today - and everyday - is to apply the passage. The goal is life change, and that does not happen without seeking to put what I read into practice.

A couple days ahead in my reading plan, today one of the passages I read was the second half of Romans 1, where Paul describes the "unrighteous" who continue to "exchange the truth about God for a lie and worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator..."

And my question, How does this - with no clear, practical exhortations - apply to my life today?

I thought of a few places, but I want to share one.

The thing for me this morning was realizing that what is going on in this passage is so evil and debase that it is bringing about the wrath of God. And what is going on here? Idolatry, sexual perversions, covetousness, malice, envy, murder, strife, deceit, gossip, slander, haters of God, insolence, pride, folly, heartlessness, and ruthlessness.

That list comprises the bulk of cinema and television plot lines. It is the majority of what we see on the front pages of the magazines in the checkout lines at Wal Mart. What is going on here is what Hollywood and mainstream America feeds on for entertainment's sake.

One application of Romans 1:18-32 for me is this: Do not glory in what God hates. As I think about the movies I like (or don't really like but still laugh at and enjoy briefly), all too often they are promoting and lifting up things on account of which the wrath of God is coming to the world. How can I honor those things? I can't. Philippians 4 calls me to think on the things that are pure and worthy and honorable, and the things that bring about the applause of the masses and that are marketed to me by the world are not usually those things.

I am not going so far as to say don't watch movies or don't watch TV or don't listen to music or don't read magazines, I am saying that I need to do so more discerningly.

I've been reading through Jonathan Edwards' The End for which God Created the World recently and one quotation that stood out to me earlier applies here:

"The applause of the multitude very frequently is not founded on any just view of things, but on humour, mistake, folly and unreasonable affections. Such applause deserves to be disregarded."

Lane Kiffin

Ok, Ok, one more quick link. This one is HILARIOUS. If you follow the SEC, then you know about Lame Kitten's tendency to stick his foot in his mouth. (Which is great, b/c the guy's been at UT a month and at this rate he'll be fired for saying something obscenely stupid by mid-July...)

Anywho, here's a link from Third Saturday in Blogtober with a fictional meeting between Kiffin and UT's AD, Mike Hamilton. ... Genius ...

Kurkjian & Stark on Chipper and the Braves

The Worldwide Leader has two good spots on the Braves right now worth checking out. The pieces are the usual, looking at the past success of the Braves and comparing it to what's going on in Atlanta today. This practice, I imagine, will continue until Cox, Chipper and Glavine head outta town (5 years more years for Chip?).

Anywho, here's the links:

Jayson Stark on Atlanta's starting pitching, yesterday and today. Well worth the read for the Braves fan. Stark's thoughts (one year after he predicted the team to win the World Series): "This could be a team capable of a big turnaround."

Tim Kurkjian on Chipper Jones, making him out to be Chingaachgook, the Last of the Mohicans. Chipper gives his take on finishing his career with the Braves, winning the batting title, playing in the WBC, as well as, briefly, on steroids & A-Rod, saying "I think A-Rod, with or without steroids, is a Hall of Famer. Same as Barry Bonds." Interesting, Chipper.

(1) Obama, (2) Jesus

So a poll came out today from Harris Interactive of who Americans view as heroes. I'll give you a hint, the title to this blog wasn't something I came up with...it's how America ranked 'em. True story.

As far as commentary is concerned, all I'll say regarding the order of the first two spots is this: I'm excited (honestly) about Barack Obama's presidency. This really is an historic moment for our nation. Do not read this post as a knock on this event for our country. This poll just underscores the increasing secularization of our society and the overwhelming need for gracious biblical proclamation and teaching to take place.

Here's the top 15:

1. Barack Obama
2. Jesus
3. Martin Luther King, Jr.
4. Ronald Reagan
5. George W. Bush
6. Abraham Lincoln
7. John McCain
8. John F. Kennedy
9. Chesley Sullenberger (pilot that landed the US Airways flight in the Hudson R.)
10. Mother Teresa
11. God
12. Hillary Clinton
13. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
13. Billy Graham
15. Mahatma Ghandi

A few observations:

-Interestingly, God made the list twice. God the Son came in at number 2 and God the Father (at least I'm assuming that's who they're referring to) came in at number 11. I'm trying to find the positives here, people.

-While John McCain lost to number 1, Barack Obama, in the elections, maybe it's comforting for him to know that he could've beaten John F. Kennedy, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and George Washington (who came in tied for number 16), three of America's most prolific and influential presidents.

-Somehow, America's least popular president ever (depending on which media source you listen to), George W. Bush, made the top 5. Maybe the guy wasn't viewed as so bad after all, ey?

One more thing:

As for reasons given to call someone a "hero", the number one answer given (89%) was this: "Doing what is right regardless of personal consequences."

Isn't this a funny answer coming from our relativistic, "what's right for you isn't right for me" society? Maybe there is an embedded sense of right and wrong after all...

statistical shift in the NBA

Just got finished reading one of the most fascinating articles I've read in quite some time. The NY Times story is about NBA player Shane Battier (formerly of Duke and now playing with the Houston Rockets) and how the Rockets management is now crunching stats in the same way that much of baseball (famously, Theo Epstein) does.

Eye-opening in this piece are the stats of Kobe Bryant, whom Battier has famously kept off-balance in their last few encounters. For instance, how 'bout this: "Since the 2002-03 season, Bryant has taken 51 3-pointers at the very end of close games from farther than 26.75 feet from the basket. He had missed 86.3 percent of them."

And, in this number-crunching manner, Shane Battier, averaging a meager 6.1 points per game this year, is one of the best players in the NBA. Seriously.

For sports fans, this is a must read. I kid you not, 10 years from now the basketball landscape will look much like baseball statistically-speaking, affecting not only how games are analyzed, but how teams are built and trades are made.

kohls

So I guess because my diverse readership hails from around the globe (or, uh, around the I-85 corridor between Atlanta and Raleigh), I at least ought to use the medium to provide occassional updates on the Life of Steph and Bert in addition to my rantings about sports, politics and Christianity. So here goes...

So I had an interview with Kohls yesterday, and for those of you praying for my job hunt I ask that you keep doing so. I should find out something soon (within the next week) about this one.

It was a weird interview. They're opening a new store in the WF (that is, Wake Forest... is this town hip enough to call "the WF"?) and are hiring about 130 part time employees to run it. Apparently that's the way to go these days - staff everything with part-timers. Good for the store, bad for many of the workers, but so it goes. Kinda makes me think of this cartoon I saw on Wilhite's blog: (click on it to enlarge)



That cartoon was originally published fifteen years ago, by the way...

Gotta love Calvin and Hobbes. If I could, I'd keep a book of them by the toilet along with my handheld Yahtzee game and Golf Digest magazines. (Steph's not going to like me revealing my man-throne secret stash on the internet...)

I wonder if they'll have a Calvin and Hobbes book in the Kohls employees' bathroom?

Anywho, the interview was a group one (to speed up the process for them of interviewing 1000, literally, candidates) and so I was sitting around a conference table with 11 other folks as the interviewer asked five questions to each of us. Afterwards, he had to go "check to make sure all the forms were filled out correctly", and the " " marks aren't there to signify a direct quotation. He actually came back and asked for me and two others to stay behind because we "didn't fill the forms out correctly", he ushered the others out of the room and shut the door to inform us that we've made the cut. Whew.

I felt like I was auditioning for American Idol...only this guy wasn't Simon Cowell and (thankfully) I didn't have to sing. Which, if I did, I would find myself on one of those first few shows where they make people look like fools.

So anyway, apparently I'm going to find out soon if I get another interview after I filled out a few more forms yesterday behind closed doors. Hopefully though they'll be more honest throughout the rest of the process...

So there it is. If you're of the praying sort, pray that I am gainfully employed soon.

And while you're at it, send up a little prayer for a Calvin and Hobbes book to be in the employee bathroom.

great interview to read

C.J. Mahaney recently did a GREAT interview with John Piper (that I think was a form he filled out...see response to "What do you do for leisure time?" Kinda funny...).


Here's one blurb:

CJ: "What single bit of counsel has made the most significant difference in your effective use of time?"

Piper: "A great tree will fall with many small chops. Pray daily for grace to keep chopping."


Take five minutes, read the interview and be encouraged.

(HT: Justin Taylor)

three messages

Note: I attempted to put up the below post on Friday. I tried unsuccessfully for quite some time to get the video messages referenced below to stream directly on the blog from the SEBTS website. Sorry for the inconvience of having to use *gasp* a link! Also, I'll drop some thoughts from the recent conference with Driscoll, Mahaney and Akin soon.

We have Chapel twice per week here at Southeastern Seminary, and so far this semester it has not disappointed. Thursday, Mark Driscoll gave an excellent sermon on the differences between "Religion" and the Gospel, and the other three chapel services (preached by Daniel Akin, David Nelson and Jimmy Scroggins, respectively) were equally compelling. You can go to the SEBTS chapel website, click on the message you want, and either watch it online or download the audio version.

Here's three quick blurbs on the first three chapel messages:

SEBTS President Danny Akin's message - "Passing on God's Truth" - was a very strong message from 2 Timothy 2 about this generations call to pass off the baton to the next generation. Included is a passionate and thought-provoking call to consider world missions. This is a highly recommended way to spend 30 minutes...

David Nelson (Dean of Faculty, SEBTS) followed up Akin's call to follow the Great Commission by clarifying what exactly the Great Commission is. "What we mean by the Great Commission" is a great exposition of Matthew 28:16-20, especially for those of us (like me) who struggle with doubt.


And finally, Jimmy Scroggin (pastor of First Baptist, West Palm Beach, FL) gave a message centered around the struggle with pride that many serving in ministry roles face. While the message is application-centered towards seminary students or those in "full-time ministry," the principles in "A Warning to Young Men in Ministry" are valid and meaningful for everyone. A great message from a great preacher...

heads up...

just a tip...there's a free shipping deal going on right now at Monergism Books, if you put in a code you can find on Challies.com...

it's under a post from 2/2.

things said...

Three things I heard this week...

"You won't lose anything worth having walking within God's boundaries."
-Dr. Hammett on Psalm 84:11

"Being a soldier in Christ's army is no place for sissies; it is no place for wimps."

-Dr. Daniel Akin at Spring Convocation, January 27, 2009.

"Jesus is not saying that 'you ought to be witnesses', but that 'you, by the fact that you bear My name, are My witnesses.'"

-Dr. Beck on Acts 1:8

Redeeming Movies

Christianity Today's top ten (plus a few) "Most Redeeming Films of 2008."

It's worth checking out... As for me and my wife, it may be a guide to our next few rentals...

(HT: Justin Taylor)

Many convert to 'The Way'; Barnabas leaves

Maybe that was the news headline the day Barnabas walked away from Antioch.

Who knows? But can you imagine what this new, groundbreaking church must have been thinking when Barnabas walked away?

Let me set the scene. We're about a third of the way through the book of Acts and the church is still almost entirely Jewish. In fact, as Acts 11:19 informs us, the Christians outside of Jerusalem were "speaking the word to no one except the Jews." But that's about to change. At Antioch, we're about to see the real beginning of the Gospel finally going to the ends of the earth - to Jew and to Gentile. So (in Acts 11:20) when some Christians get together and share the message of Christ with some Gentiles here in Antioch, and "a great number" (11:21) of the Gentiles respond in faith, this is a watershed moment in the history of the Church.

(Interesting side note here: those preaching the gospel to the Gentiles in this passage go unnamed. How many times does that happen in the book of Acts? It seems that just some average Joe's head out to follow Christ's call to seek and save the lost ... interesting concept ...)

This mass conversion is so unprecedented that the news is heard a few hundred miles away in Jerusalem. So the big-wigs in Jerusalem send one of their own, Barnabas the encourager, up to Antioch to see what's going on and to help out.

This must've come as welcome news to the young church in Antioch. Now they'd have someone to help them grow. But, to their surprise I'm sure, Barnabas gets there, sees this growing and paradigm-shifting church, and walks away.

What would compel him to leave a place where God was doing so much work?

Simple, a rough-edged young convert named Saul.

Barnabas walked away from Antioch and the opportunity for instant successful ministry, seemingly trading the masses for a man. He left, traveling on another long journey, to head "to Tarsus to look for Saul" (11:25).

Ultimately, Barnabas and Saul return to Antioch and eventually are sent from there on their first missionary journey. Out of this movement, much of the New Testament was written, much of Europe and Asia-Minor was won to Christ, and historically the world has never been the same.

What's interesting for me to see, though, is Barnabas' willingness to leave this growing church for one man. Yes, Barnabas knew he would return. (Although I'm not convinced he knew for certain he'd find Saul and return with him.) But traveling took so long in those days and while he was gone he was missing crucial ministry time. He was leaving the mission to which he specifically was appointed!

Yet Barnabas believed in the importance of the man, he believed in the idea of bringing others with you into the labor and thus training and developing other leaders for the work of ministry.

Barnabas saw the best way to reach the world in developing one man.

How many of us would turn away from an opportunity for instant "successful" ministry in order to do what it takes to bring a rough-edged young believer into that work with us? How many of us see reaching the world through impacting one man at a time?

Barnabas did. And he must've left a profound imprint on Paul, who did the same thing later (2 Cor 2:12-13).

More importantly, Christ did. The more I read it, the more it seems all his time in the masses was aimed at developing the men around him, specifically Peter, James and John.

Would I do the same? Would you?

waking up to snow

So I went to the grocery store yesterday, good husband that I am, before Stephanie got back from her weekend trip so she wouldn't have to go later. Little did I know that I would be in the middle of the southern ritual of ambushing the bread and milk aisle before a little of the white stuff fell out of the sky... To my shock and utter disappointment, one hour later (yes, one HOUR) I was finally able to make it out of Lowe's Foods (this was after a failed attempt to land a parking spot at Wal-Mart...you think that would've clued me in that more people than usual we going out for their MLK-day shopping spree) only to find out when I got back to the apartment that snow was on the way. At least that explained the crowds...sort of... But why anyone in the south actually thinks he is going to be snowed in is beyond me.

The good news: I don't have to go to Greek class at 8:00am. The bad news: It was only pushed back to 10:00... So it goes...

So, here it is, as of 7:00 am this morning, Flaherty Farms under a blanket of snow, with more forecast to come during the rest of the morning and perhaps into the afternoon.

Behold the Man!

O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent?
Who shall dwell on your holy hill?

He who walks blamelessly and does what is right
and speaks truth in his heart;
who does not slander with his tongue
and does no evil to his neighbor,
nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
in whose eyes a vile person is despised,
but who honors those who fear the LORD;
who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
who does not put out his money at interest
and does not take a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things shall never be moved.

Psalm 15 (ESV)

The more I think about it, the more I think King David's question should be the question asked by all who say they love God.

To dwell with God is to reach the end for which we were created. It was the joy of Adam in the garden. It was the hope of the men and women of faith, as shown in Hebrews 11, the men and women who longed for "a better country, that is, a heavenly one." It is the hope still of all the saints yearning for heaven, where it will be proclaimed, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

But what's interesting is David's answer to his own question. For most of us, we have the Sunday School answer ready. "Who can dwell with God? The one believes in Jesus can dwell with God." True. This is true. But this isn't David's answer. David didn't explicitly call for a faith looking to the Messiah or a faith in God the Father to save, but he instead describes a man with a transformed heart.

This is the man who stands before God -- the man whose heart has been transformed by God. This is not a list for us to check off, but a list at which we can aim, through which we can pray and from which we should long to be changed. I long to be this man. To do what is right and walk blamelessly; to guard my tongue from slander and do no evil, to keep short accounts and commit no wrong against my friends. To see the sin and sorrow of the godless and hate it instead harboring this secret longing in my heart to live their life. To give freely and justly and to seek the good of the innocent, the lowly, the weak.

I want to be this man... But when I look at my life, I know I am not. When I look at this list as the answer to the question, "Who can dwell with God?", I must ask myself, "How can someone like me ever hope to stand before the Almighty God?"

And so one of the reasons that I praise Christ is that He is this man. He was "in every respect ... tempted as we are, yet without sin." And through Christ's death, I have hope to dwell before God. "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God." (1 Peter 3:18). This is why Christ lived and died - that someone like me may dwell with God. As the writer of Hebrews states, "Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." (Heb 10:19-22).

And so, by faith in Christ, who was this man, I am being transformed more and more, bit by bit, into this man. This is the paradox of the Christian life. Because Christ is this man, I am this man -- There's a definition of grace! -- by virtue of my union with Christ through faith. But I know in my flesh I am not this man. I long to be this man to honor The Father, my Father. His grace sees me as this man in Christ -- so I too shall never be moved -- and His loving Spirit compels me to live now as this man in abiding in Christ.

I want to be this man and dwell with God. Christ is this man, Christ is God, and Christ dwells with me, enabling me to be this man. Now may I (and you) live accordingly...

Say it ain't so...

HT: AJC Sports.

the day the Braves died.

It's something sad and shocking enough that Don McLean could write a song about.

I cannot remember when I started watching the Braves. That is to say, I cannot remember life without watching the Braves. But as long as I have watched my beloved team, I have watched John Smoltz.

I was 4 and a half years old when Smoltzie was traded to the Braves from Detroit. I was 5 and a half when he made his Major League debut in August of 1988. I do not remember either of these events. All I have ever known, to this point, is John Smoltz is a Brave.

Today -- the day the Braves died -- I am 26. After more than two decades of wearing the Tomahawk, John Smoltz is gone.

I'm not trying to sound like John Smotlz is dead. He's not. (Though it's probably just short of that shocking for me.) He's just a Red Sock (or is it, "a Red Sox"?).

Initially, when I first heard the report yesterday, he was dead to me. But now, after the fact has rolled around in my stomach like a bad burrito, more and more the Braves are dying to me. (They're not dead to me yet...they're just on life support. Or, to mix metaphors, the way I see it is that being a fan is akin to being married. It is for better or for worse. Me and the Braves, we'll be alright. This is just part of "the worse.")

Do I blame John Smoltz for leaving the only Major League club he's ever known? No. Not one bit. Quite simply, I blame Frank Wren - a good GM in my book (see below). But he royally screwed up in this one.

In any normal situation, I say let someone else gamble (to steal Chipper's word) on a worn-out arm. But this isn't any normal situation. This is the face of your franchise. This is a man with an exceptional history in rebounding when he's down. This is an athlete known as one of the most competitive men on your team and one of the greatest leaders in your locker room. This is a pitcher who is an invaluable resource for your young pitchers (à la, Jair Jurrjens). This is a man - if there ever was one - deserving of a farewell tour. And this is a pitcher fully capable of winning 12-15 games (or saving 25-35) for your team in the process. (A team in deep need of pitching, I might add.)

But Frank Wren and the Braves passed on all this over a paltry $3 million. For a team with (reportedly) $25-$30 million left to spend in a tumultuous offseason of failed signings, this is an absolutely unacceptable and completely avoidable development.

But the Braves went in another direction, either due to botching another negotiation by assuming that Smoltz would automatically re-sign with the only team he's ever known (in which case, Wren is no longer a "good" GM in my book) or due to making a conscious decision to move on (which is a poor decision in my book and a slap in the face to one of the greatest players in your team's history - both also, potentially, demoting Wren's status in my book).

So, for this fan, the blog has been changed to black for my mourning process; Frank Wren is now in a probationary period regarding my support; I will still continue to cheer for my favorite Brave, even while he is in Boston; and I will still continue to back the Braves, even after 'the Day the Braves died.'

___________________________

not checking off the Bible in 2009

As has been my custom for the past several years I am embarking on a quest to read through the entire Bible in this calendar year. After a successful 2005 I vowed to continue to practice this discipline yearly, the goal being to do so as long as I walk the earth. A pretty intense goal, yes, but hey - it's got all the marks of a "good" goal. It seemed attainable (I had just completed it, why not continue!), it had a set duration (every single year of my life!) and I knew in a good way it would stretch me and my commitment to the word of God.

Since 2005 I'm Oh-for-3.

So, batting .250 and still swinging away, I'm starting again on the Discipleship Journal one-year reading plan.

Over the course of my attempts at this in the past, there have been stretches of great insight and depth and worship and adoration of the God who gave us His very word, and there have been times (often, I confess) of quick reading and checking off a line on a list. There have been times of satisfaction from feasting on the Bread of Life; there have also been times of the momentary satsifaction of seeing all (or many, or some) of the little boxes checked off.

What have I learned? I've learned that despite all that, I still believe that reading through the Bible regularly is a good discipline, one that is honoring to God and one that is fruitful for the reader. I've learned that I don't need to stop a good practice because my motives aren't always right, but instead I need to seek God's face in repentance over bad motives and pray for the grace to move forward with godly motives.

And from the good times I've learned that reading God's word prayerfully and thoughtfully is a feast for the soul.

So I'm moving forward again this year, not to check off the Bible as if it were merely "empty words," but to see it as my "very life." (Deut 32:47)

How do we read the Word of God in this way? How do we do this when, for example, we're reading four chapters of Leviticus, a Psalm, and a handful of verses from a Gospel and the book of Acts? Let me offer a few humble suggestions from my limited experience.

First, read the Bible with questions in mind. Questions I like to ask the text (even Leviticus!) are like this: "How does this passage point me to Christ and the gospel?" "What trait would God have me 'put off' and what would He have me 'put on' as revealed in this passage?" (See Eph 4:20-24) I cannot express how helpful this has been to me while reading longer passages of scripture. Instead of a story about a man, his boat and a huge flood, I'm seeing how seriously God takes sin, how intent He is in punishing it and how He graciously gives salvation to His people. I'm seeing how Christ is the ark by which we are saved from the penalty for sin.

Second, read the Bible while remaining in a spirit of prayer. Talk with God about the text through which He is talking to you! Jude writes, "But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith [which is what we do reading the word of God] and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life" (Jude 20-21). I am not perfect at this, nor is there some magic spell that if we speak it will automatically bring us rich and full times of reflection every time we open the Bible. But we come to the Bible to meet with God, and we are dependent on God for that. Ask Him for it, interact with God over His word to you and pray continually, keeping yourself in an attitude of humble submission.

Third, and finally, actively remember that these are words of God for the glory of God. The bible is the very word of God - the same God who created everything (everything!) we see, taste, touch and feel (and more!) by His very word! I say "actively remember" because remembering this does not come without concious effort. But remember it we must. His words are powerful, they are life-giving, they reveal the God who called you, saved you, adopted you and loves you.
And His word does this for the sake of His name and for His glory. The word of God is not primarily "a roadmap for life." It is primarily the revelation of God in order that His people might know Him, love him and be transformed into His image "from one degree of glory to another." (2 Cor 3:18)

So, let us read the word. Let us ask questions and engage the text prayerfully and with humility. "For it is no empty word for you, but your very life..."