I was glad to wake up this morning and see some college football news. Granted, it was a bunch of silliness and grandstanding by second tier programs but a football fanatic is well into the DTs this time of year and you take any port in a storm.
Colorado headed to the Pac-10? How pleasant. They may take the Texas delegation with them? Isn't that special? Looks like 16 programs? Maybe between all of them, they'll field at least one legitimate team. I'm really hoping they at least change their name to the Pac-16 instead of leaving us wondering which ones don't count even in their eyes like their Rose Bowl cohorts in the Midwest.
Speaking of the conference that doesn't count so well....
So the Cornhuskers are bound for the Big 10...11...10...whatever. Bo Pelini coached in the SEC. Yeah, he's probably going to own that conference. What with powerhouses like Northwestern and Illinois running around up there? What a joke.
So now there is talk of championship games for these realigned conferences. Welcome to the 1990's, y'all. People are even wringing their hands asking if the Pac-however-many should have an additional BCS automatic bid. They already had one which was at least three too many. I mean really, you played nobody all year, why break that trend in January?
Then there is the news that The Diploma Mill of Southern California has been slapped with a 2-year post season ban and 4 years of probation for something that happened when their current players were in middle school. I don't care for the over-rated Trojan program and usually don't feel sorry for them but punishing these kids for the transgressions of a multi-millionaire NFL player is really kind of sad. But Lane Kiffin has to take it too, so maybe it's a wash. Lane, can we borrow your dad in Tampa for a few years while you aren't allowed to play big boy ball?
Anyway, all this shuffling around and the SEC will still be by far the superior conference in college football. A mid-tier SEC team will still be a championship favorite in any other conference in the nation. The ACC will still be a distant second that is still miles ahead of number three.
And regardless of all this rambling above and who pulls what moves it is apparent that troy is still way too chicken to show their faces in Jacksonville. The Pit may look a little different, but it is still the place Bama trojans go to get whupped.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Forever After
I don't typically go to the movies. It isn't some political boycott or anything. I just know that if I wait a few months, I'll be able to see anything for a dollar from a Redbox - a price that is more suitable for the produce of most film makers these days. I still pass on the Will Farrell movies. Why waste a dollar?
That being said, my wealth of otherwise worthless knowledge was able to score me two free passes. I knew that the red poppy is the Memorial Day flower and the local radio station thought that the contents of my neurons made me worthy of a night at the moving picture show. They paid for my wife as well. She had a few passes for the kids. After we paid the 3-D fee for all five of us, we got in the doors for $12.50 - a bit steep for most movies, but I wouldn't be writing unless I was pleased or VERY disappointed.
Shrek did not disappoint. And the sounds of Lacuna Coil educating Depeche Mode on the art of performing "Enjoy the Silence" is helping my fingers tap away tonight.
There is a lesson in this...for me and maybe for you. If you hate spoilers, come back to this article after you see the movie. I'll try to keep them to a minimum.
Right out of the gate, I perked up to see Shrek's disillusion with the mundane life he found himself in and the pull to live up to the expectations of all these other people. There are times in all of our lives where we just wish there was more excitement or more "me time" or whatever. You know about that grass on the other side. It was very easy to see that "yeah, I know what he is saying". And like so many of us often do, Shrek did something stupid. "Hey, y'all watch this..."
My ability to relate to the characters continued on through a scene where a short man with incredible head covers is in a grand ballroom surrounded by intriguingly dressed women. I can't say that I have found myself in that situation but it was fun for a short man to dream...
I was feeling rather cozy with myself relating to the depressed dad and the ladies' leprechaun when Josh Klausner and Darren Lemke made me feel like I could crawl up under a door. I felt that way because our big green hero did. And I'm short but not that short.
As the story progressed, Shrek realized that while he was a hero that saved a beautiful princess as well as a kingdom of fans, he had to learn the lesson that living out in that swamp all alone was...well...lonely. The boy came to grips with the fact that he was rescued as much as he was a rescuer.
Eureka!
How could a short man be the least bit distracted by that ballroom, his selfish stupidity or even the throne itself when his "ezer kenegdo" (life-saver) is still standing beside him ready to take on all comers in a battle to the death? Yeah, he can't.
So I'd like to raise a glass of ice-cold sweetened Luzianne to my own Princess, children's movies that teach lessons - even to adults, and the timely revelations that can only come from above, regardless of the delivery method.
Seems like she said something about some more free passes and a date night....
That being said, my wealth of otherwise worthless knowledge was able to score me two free passes. I knew that the red poppy is the Memorial Day flower and the local radio station thought that the contents of my neurons made me worthy of a night at the moving picture show. They paid for my wife as well. She had a few passes for the kids. After we paid the 3-D fee for all five of us, we got in the doors for $12.50 - a bit steep for most movies, but I wouldn't be writing unless I was pleased or VERY disappointed.
Shrek did not disappoint. And the sounds of Lacuna Coil educating Depeche Mode on the art of performing "Enjoy the Silence" is helping my fingers tap away tonight.
There is a lesson in this...for me and maybe for you. If you hate spoilers, come back to this article after you see the movie. I'll try to keep them to a minimum.
Right out of the gate, I perked up to see Shrek's disillusion with the mundane life he found himself in and the pull to live up to the expectations of all these other people. There are times in all of our lives where we just wish there was more excitement or more "me time" or whatever. You know about that grass on the other side. It was very easy to see that "yeah, I know what he is saying". And like so many of us often do, Shrek did something stupid. "Hey, y'all watch this..."
My ability to relate to the characters continued on through a scene where a short man with incredible head covers is in a grand ballroom surrounded by intriguingly dressed women. I can't say that I have found myself in that situation but it was fun for a short man to dream...
I was feeling rather cozy with myself relating to the depressed dad and the ladies' leprechaun when Josh Klausner and Darren Lemke made me feel like I could crawl up under a door. I felt that way because our big green hero did. And I'm short but not that short.
As the story progressed, Shrek realized that while he was a hero that saved a beautiful princess as well as a kingdom of fans, he had to learn the lesson that living out in that swamp all alone was...well...lonely. The boy came to grips with the fact that he was rescued as much as he was a rescuer.
Eureka!
How could a short man be the least bit distracted by that ballroom, his selfish stupidity or even the throne itself when his "ezer kenegdo" (life-saver) is still standing beside him ready to take on all comers in a battle to the death? Yeah, he can't.
So I'd like to raise a glass of ice-cold sweetened Luzianne to my own Princess, children's movies that teach lessons - even to adults, and the timely revelations that can only come from above, regardless of the delivery method.
Seems like she said something about some more free passes and a date night....
Monday, May 24, 2010
The Gospel according to T.J.
People who know me well know that I have a very special place in my heart for Thomas Jefferson. Having been Virginia born and bred, he was one of the first Southerners - a sort of "charter member". I know all of the arguments about Jefferson and his "contradictions" - some of them confuse me and I've been reading about this guy and reading his writings all my life. There are a lot of issues that can boggle your mind.
I have this hair-brained idea about one of them. This idea is a recent development for me but it has a lot to do with where I am at this time in my own life - it's a "walk a mile in a guy's moccasins" sort of thing.
Jefferson is widely viewed as a deist by many scholars. Then there are those that point to his mentions of the Creator in the Declaration of Independence as well as other writings. He wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom and other documents that led people to believe that he had an interest in spirituality, theology and religion.
One quote attributed to him seems to cause some disturbance among church folks and, if he did say this, leads me to my theory.
And yes, he also goes on to share some points of contention that would get him branded as a heretic and shunned by most evangelical churches of today. He expressed fears to both Rush and William Short of what might happen if Americans at large were to discover his beliefs and assertions. Even in his day there was grave danger in swimming against the current - the President of the united States was not exempt from this scrutiny. But despite the other "heresies", the above statement, specifically the last statement of it, haunts me....because I say that very thing myself nearly every day of my life to people who are thinking the very same thing.
Jefferson was searching. He was on a quest for God. He was looking for the existence that he was encouraging us to question. He wasn't saying this in a spirit of atheistic evangelism but rather calling us to engage in that new activity of The Enlightenment - thinking for ourselves. Perhaps Jefferson was paraphrasing Philippians 2:12-13 - exhorting us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, knowing that God seeks our own devotion, our own faith, our own commitment, not that of our pastor or forefathers. He figured God must delight in the person that looks honestly and even skeptically for God and yet, still finds Him. Many Christians, including C.S. Lewis, started off as atheists that set out to disprove the existence of God but found Him to be the only viable option.
Maybe T.J. was on to something
...and maybe I'm a quack...you'll have to seek that out for yourself...
I have this hair-brained idea about one of them. This idea is a recent development for me but it has a lot to do with where I am at this time in my own life - it's a "walk a mile in a guy's moccasins" sort of thing.
Jefferson is widely viewed as a deist by many scholars. Then there are those that point to his mentions of the Creator in the Declaration of Independence as well as other writings. He wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom and other documents that led people to believe that he had an interest in spirituality, theology and religion.
One quote attributed to him seems to cause some disturbance among church folks and, if he did say this, leads me to my theory.
"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear."
Questioning the existence of God. Who does he think he is? Must be a deist
Or perhaps, along with being one of the first southerners, Jefferson was one of the first post-Evangelical Christians. Yeah, that sounds crazy and far-fetched. After all, it would be another two centuries before Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, Donald Miller, et al showed up on the scene. But give this idea a chance. Weigh it all out.
Jefferson was quite a free thinker whose life was thrown into revolutionary times. He personally set one of the many coffin nails to the time-honored tradition of "Divine right of Kings". He was an inventor of modern gadgets that would change the way many things were done world wide. He was a scientist that experimented with the world around him. He founded a fine institute of higher learning, even to the extent of designing the buildings.
And then there is that one little thing that has kept my theory hidden in a shroud all these years - Jefferson "wrote his own Bible". Turns out, that is a bit of a misstatement - not a Richard Blumenthal misstatement, but a real, honest confusion about the facts. What Jefferson actually did was take out his handy-dandy Bapt...er....King James Version and a sharp pair of scissors. Then he proceeded to edit out everything he saw as supernatural or superfluous. What was the extra stuff he removed? Anything that did not pass between the lips of Jesus Christ - specifically sparing His teachings. He went on to present his edited version to Dr. Benjamin Rush via a letter in which he said.
Jefferson was quite a free thinker whose life was thrown into revolutionary times. He personally set one of the many coffin nails to the time-honored tradition of "Divine right of Kings". He was an inventor of modern gadgets that would change the way many things were done world wide. He was a scientist that experimented with the world around him. He founded a fine institute of higher learning, even to the extent of designing the buildings.
And then there is that one little thing that has kept my theory hidden in a shroud all these years - Jefferson "wrote his own Bible". Turns out, that is a bit of a misstatement - not a Richard Blumenthal misstatement, but a real, honest confusion about the facts. What Jefferson actually did was take out his handy-dandy Bapt...er....King James Version and a sharp pair of scissors. Then he proceeded to edit out everything he saw as supernatural or superfluous. What was the extra stuff he removed? Anything that did not pass between the lips of Jesus Christ - specifically sparing His teachings. He went on to present his edited version to Dr. Benjamin Rush via a letter in which he said.
"In some of the delightful conversations with you in the evenings of 1798-99, and which served as an anodyne to the afflictions of the crisis through which our country was then laboring, the Christian religion was sometimes our topic; and I then promised you that one day or other I would give you my views of it. They are the result of a life of inquiry and reflection, and very different from that anti-Christian system imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions. To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed opposed, but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself."
And yes, he also goes on to share some points of contention that would get him branded as a heretic and shunned by most evangelical churches of today. He expressed fears to both Rush and William Short of what might happen if Americans at large were to discover his beliefs and assertions. Even in his day there was grave danger in swimming against the current - the President of the united States was not exempt from this scrutiny. But despite the other "heresies", the above statement, specifically the last statement of it, haunts me....because I say that very thing myself nearly every day of my life to people who are thinking the very same thing.
Jefferson was searching. He was on a quest for God. He was looking for the existence that he was encouraging us to question. He wasn't saying this in a spirit of atheistic evangelism but rather calling us to engage in that new activity of The Enlightenment - thinking for ourselves. Perhaps Jefferson was paraphrasing Philippians 2:12-13 - exhorting us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, knowing that God seeks our own devotion, our own faith, our own commitment, not that of our pastor or forefathers. He figured God must delight in the person that looks honestly and even skeptically for God and yet, still finds Him. Many Christians, including C.S. Lewis, started off as atheists that set out to disprove the existence of God but found Him to be the only viable option.
Maybe T.J. was on to something
...and maybe I'm a quack...you'll have to seek that out for yourself...
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