A Win

Props to the New Orleans Saints and their win over the Colts last night. I was quite surprised I thought that Peyton and the Colts who walk away with it. This is one of those feel good stories, four years ago the future of the Saints and New Orleans was a little unsure. Now with this victory it seems the heart of that proud city is alive again. Sometimes you just need a win, and that is what they needed. I guess it could be considered a moral victory of sorts.

Moral victories are good things, and like the Saints sometimes we all need them. Life is full of ups and downs. It is probably good advice to never get to used to the highs or too distraught by the lows because life will soon change. It is unrealistic to expect life to always be up, but it sure does feel good when you get there. It is comforting to know that whether you are up or down God is always there.

So when you are up, praise God for the gift of joy, and when you are down praise him for the gift of presence!

Zingers

There is a snack cake found in most convenience stores called Zingers. It is a little like a Twinkie but it is inside out. I do like them and they are quite addictive so I do not eat them much. I was reading this news story about some thieves who evidently liked them well enough to steal them. It is rather humorous, evidently they had a craving and would have gotten away with the Zingers but the snow gave them away. I guess that is what you get for not being able to control your desires.

I often read stories such as this and just laugh, because well, they are "dumb" criminals for they way they got caught. Also because it seems that impulsive desires rule their lives. Maybe we should take a minute and look inwardly. How many decisions do we make that are ruled by impulsivity? Retailers know that the best location for small unneeded merchandise is right near the cash register, because they know we will buy because it is there.

Same principle is true for our lives, we just got done studying through Proverbs here at CP. One Proverbs relates that it is better to be quiet than to speak up and let everyone know you are a fool. How many of us have opened our mouths on an impulse and ended up sticking our foot in it? Gaining control of our human impulses is key to following Christ. We replace our desires with his desires.

This ends up being a tough situation, trying to shut down the part of our being that causes us to act impulsively, but then once we adapt to Christ's way of life and thinking there are impulses we need to heed and act on. I cannot tell you the number of times I have walked or driven by someone knowing I needed to act yet I did not. This is a difficult thing because we find ourselves caught between who we want to be, and who we truly have become.

This Sunday I am going to begin a study in the Young Family/Adult class at CP based on the book "The Me I Want To Be" by John Ortberg. I am deep into the book now and I think it will be a good study. Come and join us if you can.

The Office (no not that one)

I do watch the comedy series The Office that comes on NBC but I am not talking about that one. I am talking about the one I am sitting in now. For those of you who have stopped by my office the one word that probably comes to your mind is 'mess'. I am not known for keeping a clean office, very rarely do I get to see the top of my desk. Last week I thought I lost a thumb drive on my desk, only to discover that it was not even in my office. I am considering calling Mike Rowe and seeing if he wants to come and film a 'Dirty Jobs' episode in my office.

I would like to claim that it is not really my fault. There is so much stuff that flows into my office I cannot keep up with it all so it ends up in piles on my desk. I often spend a day cleaning off the top of my desk only to find it piled back up in less than a week. I wanted to take a picture of my messy office and put on this blog, but I cannot find the cord that attaches the digital camera to my laptop. I am pretty sure that it is on my desk somewhere. Oh well, I have heard it said to never trust a man with a clean desk, I guess at the very least I am trustworthy. I think I will put it on my list of New Year's Resolutions for 2011.

I do like my office, it is a little small, but it is mine. The one thing I am not as happy about is the fact that I do not have any windows. The offices here are located in the basement and so I have to go walk around to see what the outside world looks like. Usually this does not bother me, especially when it is hot out there and nice and cool in here. But in the winter, I do appreciate the heat, I guess the lack of sunlight or any outside light causes a change in my disposition. I think they call it SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). Now some of you may disagree, we used to just call it the winter blues. Whatever it is I am ready for consistent warm weather and green grass. How about you?

Dare to Dream

The Art of Apologizing!

So as most of you know I am an avid baseball fan. I, like many others, was not surprised when Mark McGwire admitted to using steroids while playing baseball. We all knew ,even if he would not admit it. After McGwire fails to make it into the Hall of Fame again he finally decides to come "clean". This is great, he gets a load off his chest and we all get to say I told you so, but that is not quite how it went down. He admits to using the juice, even during the year when he broke the home run record, but when asked he stated that he does not think it impacted his home run hitting. Evidently McGwire was given a gift to hit home runs and the extra arm strength had nothing to do with it.

Some might say that the timing of this revelation is questionable and may be a plea to get into the Hall of Fame, but he shot himself in the foot when he tried to hold onto to his HR record. Whatever happened to just saying you are sorry and meaning it. No qualification, no buts, just I am sorry. I guess humanity has never really been able to just apologize, we can go all the way back to Adam. When he was caught with the fruit, his first reaction was to pass the blame. Why is that? Why is it that the idea that we are at fault creates an automatic response of finding someone else to blame?

I think it has to do with pride. The admission of wrong doing is in some way damaging to the ego and thus something we fight against. It is bad enough that this problem plagues our earthly relationships but it also hurts our relationship with God. For whatever reason we cannot accept the guilt or reality of our sin and instead must fight against coming clean with God. Too often it is the devil that is the recipient of blame. "The devil made me do it." "The devil put that thought in my head." No you may have been faced with a choice but you made that choice and the consequences are no ones but your own. May God grant us the ability to tear down the walls of excuses we have built and live in open and honest relationship with him.

2010

Hello and welcome to 2010. Yes, I know it is the 11th! Well, 2010 has to be a better year than 2009 and I look forward to the challenges and triumphs of 2010. Olsa has told me that I cannot talk about the accident any more, and I am sure many of you are tired of hearing about it. So I will try and not refer to it in sermons and lessons this year. Of course she is not being mean but we are both ready for this all to be gone. Just a short note on my health, I am healing well. After the accident I made big strides in my rehab, and now the positive steps are smaller and less evident. I still go to rehab once a week, and I will be on blood thinners through the middle of February. My left shoulder is giving me trouble, but after I get off the blood thinners I will be able to get some shots that will hopefully help. My back still aches and my left leg/foot hurts regularly, but I am making progress. Now onward and upward.

We started 2010 here at Central Pike with a study through the book of Proverbs. We have committed to reading a chapter a day, we are studying it in our Bible classes, small groups and sermon time. If you are interested you can find the study materials on our website. It is a great way to start the year, and hopefully it will put us all in the habit of being in God's word daily. I hope this year has been great already and I pray that God blesses you in amazing ways!

Warning - Soap Box Post

So here is an issue that has been agitating me for a few months now and I must let it out! I think the cell phone was a needed invention. Being able to always be in touch is important. I have long felt like the ability to always be in touch has come at the price of us losing our manners. Generally it bothers me when people go to restaurants, banks, stores and cannot hang up their phone long enough to carry out the business at hand. I believe this behavior communicates that service personnel are unimportant.

I become even more disappointed when I go to a movie and hear a phone ring behind me and someone answers it. Answering it is bad enough, but then they talk at a regular conversation level like they are the only ones in existence. I did not pay $8 to hear you talk to uncle Al about his car, take it outside. If you are ever talking to me and my phone rings I will not answer it, I think it is rude. If you do this to me know that it bothers me. Now if you get a call you have to take excuse yourself and GO answer it. I get especially agitated when my wife calls me, I answer and all I can hear is her carrying on a conversation with someone else. Generally I will hang up or tell her to talk just to me.

All that is not my soap box, this is, hang up and DRIVE. Because of my rehab I have to travel downtown at least twice a week, and at least once a week I have a near miss with someone because they are talking on a cellphone. The biggest red flag for me is when I see a truck driver driving with one hand, shifting gears and holding a cellphone. This is not safe! Especially at interstate speeds. One day I saw a driver trying to pull his long truck out into a busy section of traffic on Broadway. It was nearing rush hour, there were a lot of cars, and he was going to have to block all three lanes of traffic in order to get his truck out. I looked at him and he was holding his cellphone while trying to do all the other stuff.

Most of you all know how much I value my Blackberry, and when my wife reads this she will have one critique, I tend to text and drive. I know this is perhaps more dangerous than talking and driving. So this is my commitment to you I will quit looking at my BB when I am driving and will definitely stop texting immediately. If you call while I am driving I will put you on speaker phone or return your call later.

Safety First!