fortune cookie

"you do not have to know where you are going to be headed in the right direction."

Bowl Games

Since the college football season is about over, I figured it might be fun to have a bowl game challenge. See who can pick the remaining games (well the big games).

Gator Bowl: West Virginia over Florida State. I understand why this game is being played, Bobby Bowden's old team versus his current team. Sentimental value or something. WVU wins a close one, 21-17.

Capital One Bowl: PSU over LSU. I have to take the Nittany Lions, what kind of fan would I be if I did not? The Lion's chances hinge heavily on Clark's performance. If he can do something in this game, they should be able to score some points. I believe it will be 24-20.

Rose Bowl: Oregon over Ohio State. If the Ducks can force Pryor to make mistakes, they should come away with an easy win. I have a feeling it might not be a close game, 31-14.

Sugar Bowl: Florida over Cincinnati. A few weeks ago, I might have picked Cincinnati, but not now. This game is going to get out of control very quickly, but then the Bearcats will show that offense and make a comeback. I say 41-35.

Fiesta Bowl: TCU over Boise State. I wish this was played on the cool blue turf at Boise, but alas it's not meant to be. The Horned Frogs have the coolest team name out there, how can it lose? I think this might be one of the closer games, and it may end up being very exciting or extremely dull. I have a feeling that both teams feel cheated and may not really show up for the game. They played each other in a bowl game last year, not so much fun when you could have been playing one of the powerhouse teams...Anyways, my score prediction: 24-22.

Orange Bowl: Georgia Tech over Iowa. In all honesty, was Iowa that good this year? I mean they seemed to just squeak by everyone. Their defense is good though, but good enough to stop an explosive offense like GT? Probably not. I say 21-10.

BCS National Championship Game: Alabama over Texas. Ugh, I really do not care about this game. If 'Bama wins we get to hear how the SEC is the greatest conference, if Texas wins we will have to listen to stories about how they have been the underdogs and won two national titles. Blah blah blah. I will probably root for Texas though, just because I almost always cheer against the SEC. Unfortunately, the score will probably be 35-10.

And the bowl match-up we have all been waiting for...
GMAC Bowl: Troy over Central Michigan. I see a blowout for the Sun Belt Conference (bonus points to anyone who can name another school from the Sun Belt without looking it up). 54-10.

Leave your picks in the comments.

35°

It's quite literally almost freezing here. Typing this is actually a bit of a treat because my computer, by the mere fact that it is on, produces minute amounts of heat. I'm sitting in front of my little heater and still, freezing.

I'm considering putting on gloves. Maybe mittens.

Best of 2009

It's that time of year, the end (in case you wondered), where I tell you the best of whatever I feel like.

Best Movie: This came down to three choices for me: District 9, Watchmen, or The Hangover. In the end though, I had to go with District 9. It was a very cool movie.

Best Book: Since I cannot count books that came out before this year, I have to choose Joe Abercrombie's Best Served Cold.

Best TV Show: Sons of Anarchy. No contest.

Best Comic Book: I honestly do not remember anything from this past year that really stuck with me. I guess the best superhero series would have to be umm, ahhh, hmmm...Batman and Robin? Seriously, was anything even remotely good this year?

Non-superhero series? Walking Dead. Continues to amaze me.

In all honesty though, I felt like this was a down year for comics, or maybe I am just imagining that.

Let me know what your choices would be...

Avatar

I finally got a chance to see Avatar today. It was basically as good as I expected it to be. It was not the greatest film of all time, nor was it terrible. The special effects were pretty awesome, but as most people have said, the story was lacking.

In fact, let me sum up the movie for you: Humans are bad, we go to a magical place where the natives commune with a great tree. Humans destroy the land to get the raw materials they need. One male human becomes involved with one female native and helps the natives stop the humans. The end.

Yes, this is the exact same premise as Fern Gully. Actually if Fern Gully and the Matrix had a kid, it would be Avatar. Other than that though, I had no real complaints.

It did seem to take forever though, especially the beginning with Jake learning to be one of the Na'vi. Those scenes seemed to me to only serve the purpose of showing off how amazing this world looks and how creative James Cameron can be.

It was a decent movie, not really Best Picture worthy, but decent.

What Will You Sing Tonight? . . . .

I love talking to youth workers about kids. What I don't like hearing are the seemingly endless stream of stories about churched kids. You know, the ones who have seen, heard, and done it all over and over and over again. Churched kids from Christian homes can be the most apathetic when it comes to understanding, engaging, and appreciating the great drama of redemption that is unfolding in them and around them. I know. I was one of those kids. Familiarity didn't breed contempt. It bred a "ho-hum" attitude.

I might still be one of those kids if it hadn't been for God's great gift to me of hurt, brokenness, and pain. My suffering hasn't been great. But it's been enough to show me how helpless I am in and of myself. Suffering is like an axe in the hands of God which He uses to chop away at the legs of the idols we worship known as "me," "myself," and "I." The brokenness I've experienced has been enough to show me how great and wonderful it is that the Creator of the universe became flesh and blood and - as Eugene Peterson says in The Message - "moved into the neighborhood." When life beats us down and leaves us looking and feeling like an old sea captain who's been thrown around over the years. . . well. . . that's a good thing. . . if we allow it all to force us to drop our arms to our sides and look to God saying, "Okay. . . I've got nothing." God wants us weak. I increasingly believe that this is what prepares us to see and understand and embrace what's great about Christmas.

Tonight at 10pm, my family will worship with other members of our congregation in celebration of the Incarnation. This will be my 54th Christmas. I will sing and hear songs that are way too familiar. And if I'm not careful, I will entertain the ghost of my Christmas's past by engaging in a sentimental reflection that is more about family memories than it is about thinking carefully and deeply about what it is that we sing and celebrate. I'm not sure what deep and great songs of the faith we will sing tonight. In year's past I have been blessed to focus on certain lines in certain carols that have come to have very personal meaning for me. Perhaps we'll sing some of these. . .

". . . He will give to all the faithful His own self for heavenly food."
-"Let All Mortal Flesh"

". . . come to earth to taste our sadness, He whose glories knew no end."
-"Come Thou Long Expected Jesus"

". . . the hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight."
-"O Little Town of Bethlehem"

". . . pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel."
-"Hark the Herald Angels Sing"

And my favorite. . .

". . . He comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found."
-"Joy To The World"

What will you be singing tonight? Do you have a favorite line?

I trust you will have a blessed Christmas filled with a deep knowledge of what God has done for us in Christ. . . and the resulting wonder and awe.

Don't be one of those kids.

To Give or To Get? . . . .

The other day I was driving down the highway with the 24-hour Christmas station putting out a steady menu of nostalgic old favorites so familiar that I hum or sing-along without really paying attention. Every now and then a new Christmas tune would be thrown in. My unfamiliarity would make me listen. One such tune that's been out for about six years is Ashanti's "Hey Santa." I focused on the song's lyrics and couldn't help but wonder, "Wow! Is this what we've become?"



Ashanti voices the collective request of a culture wrapped up in a Christmas built around wonder, joy, and hope placed in salvation by stuff, rather than salvation from sin. . . . including the sin of belief in salvation by stuff. She sings, "Hey Santa, can you bring me something good?. . . Hey Santa, can you bring me something nice? . . . something new? . . . Like a diamond bracelet or a diamond ring? How about a shiny new, baby blue convertible? . . . Hey Santa, can you bring me everything?"

In Acts 20:35 the Apostle Paul quotes the Savior whose birth we celebrate in a couple of days: "It is more blessed to give than to receive." I heard that lesson from parents, pastors, Sunday School teachers, and others while I was growing up. But I wonder if I got it. Do you feel the tug of war this time of year?

A couple of years ago a large local family taught me a wonderful lesson about Christmas. For a good many years they had been supporting the work of the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding financially. Around this time of year, we always step up our fundraising efforts so that we can begin the next year on a strong note. We received a letter from the family informing us that instead of giving gifts to each other, they would pool the cash they normally spent on those gifts and send it all to CPYU. Enclosed was a check that just about took my breath away. What they had done was humbling. Sadly, it was also unusual and out-of-the-box in today's world. They had challenged me deeply and blessed CPYU greatly.

I've been thinking about all this over the last few weeks as we're in the midst of our end-of-the-year fund-raising initiative here at CPYU. The economy has been difficult on us all - individuals, families, and non-profit ministries alike. Here at CPYU,we're praying that we end on a strong note so that we can plow ahead as the new year begins.

The generosity of this family has combined with the call of Jesus and our current economy to spark a challenge I'd like to pass on to you. While you most likely have most or your gift-shopping completed, it's not too late to prayerfully consider a sacrificial gift to the Lord's work in your local community above and beyond your giving to your church. Hey, we're always excited to receive your support here at CPYU and I know that many of you who follow my blog are already supporters. But can I encourage you to also consider a gift to someone on this list I came up with the other day? Here are some possibilities to think about. . .

Your local Rescue Mission - These organizations provide physical, emotional, and spiritual support to the forgotten members of your community who so easily fall through the cracks.

The Salvation Army - I can't say enough about this organization. They are the Lord's hands and feet to so many people in so many different ways. You've been passing the bell ringers for weeks now. Why not make one last trip to the store for the sole purpose of sticking a sizable gift into the slot?

Your local Youth Center - We've got them all over the place here in Central Pennsylvania. I am continually blown away by the committed adults who are giving their lives to see that kids who have experienced extreme brokenness and don't normally darken the door of the church have the opportunity hear the Gospel,receive love, and find a place to belong.

A Seminary - Sometimes we forget how needy students and their institutions really are. The fingerprint of the Bible-believing seminary I attended is all over everything we do here at CPYU. Those seminaries that equip students to know and teach the truth without compromise are worthy of our support. . . particularly in today's culture.

A Child Relief Organization - Countless children around the globe are surviving and thriving thanks to the sponsorship of individuals like you and me who sponsor kids through organizations like Compassion International, World Vision, Food for the Hungry, etc. Lisa and I have seen firsthand how child sponsorship through Compassion International transforms individuals, families, and communities. This is something every individual, family, and church youth group should be doing.

Missionaries - ask your church about the missionaries your congregation supports. Find out who among them has the greatest needs. Because of the current economy, many missionaries are very, very close to having to return home due to lack of support. It doesn't need to be that way.

A local Crisis Pregnancy Center - I can't say enough about these organizations. These are usually staffed by a group of very dedicated Christian women who minister deeply to other women and girls who find themselves in great need.

Your Church's Youth Ministry - I know very, very few youth pastors and youth ministry volunteers who couldn't use more in the way of financial resources for their ministry. Budgets are being cut left and right. Again, it doesn't have to be that way.

A local Christian Counseling Center - I have served on the board of one of these organizations locally. If you don't use their services, you most likely don't know how valuable they are. Out of sight, out of mind. But the waiting lists are very, very long. The services are increasingly needed in the midst of our broken and hurting world. Most are over-extended and need more help.

A local Women's Shelter - Again, these ministries are staffed by highly dedicated people who minister to very needy people. . . and they do so with very little in the way of resources. Domestic violence and sexual abuse are on the rise. Sadly, this is what some might call a "growth industry." They need our help.

The other day a friend at Compassion International sent me a copy of an unusual prayer book entitled God Is No Stranger. The book is filled with the prayers of Haitian believers. The prayers have been written and prayed by very, very poor people who are very, very rich in the Lord. Perhaps this little prayer I found in the book can offset the skewed Christmas message of "Hey Santa":

Jesus,
You are our garage.
You give us cool shade.
Make us last longer for service.
Only then do we have value.

Deconstructing Tiger. . .

A few weeks have passed since the Tiger Woods we all knew was eclipsed in our collective consciousness by the Tiger Woods who is. I'm not a golf fan. I don't watch it on TV. I find it boring. I don't play it. . . except once in a blue moon. And then, I'm not really playing as much as I am trying. To be honest, the price of golf balls and the fact that I go through about a dozen-and-a-half per round makes the game unaffordable. All that to say, my knowledge of Tiger Woods is that he's a good golfer and a cultural icon.

Still, I've spent portions of the last three weeks trying to figure out what the Tiger Woods story tells us about ourselves. I don't claim to have any kind of solid grip on this thing, but there are some thoughts that have been rattling around inside this head of mine since the media reports broke about Tiger's wife using a golf club for something other than the game it was intended for.

To me this story has been like a double-edged sword. Both sides are equally sharp and dangerous. On the one side is the edge that's all about our ridiculous obsession with celebrity. . . a celebrity obsession that manifests itself in both our following and our becoming. We adore the rich and famous, setting them up for worship much like the biblical sacred cow. Yes, we were created to worship. The only problem is that we consistently get the object of our worship wrong. . . over and over and over again. In this case, it was a man we thought to be perfect. In addition, our media-saturated world of reality TV and YouTube have made it all the more possible for us to indulge and pursue our ridiculous celebrity fantasies where we take center stage while the whole world watches and worships us as we worship ourselves.

The other side of the double-edged sword is all about denial. What we deny is the fact that we really are rotten to the core. In my faith tradition we call it "depravity." We're broken. Messed up. Fallen. And, we can't get up. . . at least not on our own. At first, the world saw Tiger as a good guy. Now, the world sees Tiger as a good guy who messed up. The reality is that Tiger's a messed-up guy - just like the rest of us - who did a good job at indulging and then covering up his messed-upness. Until now.

With Christmas just a few days away it might be good to reflect theologically on Tiger Woods and what the story tells us about ourselves. . . and Christmas. You see, what we celebrate (which has by and large been forgotten in today's consumer culture) is the coming of the God-Man Jesus Christ into the world to do what we cannot do for ourselves for the simple reason that we're so rotten to the core that we need God to initiate the picking-up. And pragmatically speaking, when I realize God has done that, why in the world would I want to worship anything or anyone else? As Timothy Keller says in his wonderful new book Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope That Matters, it is through a living encounter with the one true God that we can have hope and life.

So, maybe we shouldn't be surprised by what's come out about Tiger Woods. Shouldn't we have known all along that he has feet of clay? And shouldn't we know that our feet are made of the same stuff? And shouldn't we avoid the temptation to excuse his and our own immoral behavior with something like, "After all, he's (I'm) only human?"

Following Tiger Woods over the last few weeks forced me to think about some words of warning Gordon MacDonald wrote after the truth about Ted Haggard was told a few years ago (MacDonald, by the way, had the truth told about him several years before): "I have come to believe that there is a deeper person in many of us who is not unlike an assassin. This deeper person can be the the source of attitudes and behaviors we normally stand against in our conscious being. But it seeks to destroy us and masses energies that - unrestrained - tempt us to do the very things we 'believe against.' If you have been burned as deeply as I (and my loved ones) have, you never live a day without remembering that there is something within that, left unguarded, will go on the rampage. Wallace Hamilton once wrote, 'Within each of us there is a herd of wild horses all wanting to run loose.'"

The Apostle Paul said it this way in Romans 7 - "I know that nothing good lives in me. . . I want to do what is right, but I can't. . . Oh what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is Jesus Christ our Lord."

We desperately need perspective on Tiger, on life, on ourselves, and on Christmas. What a joy to know that the Savior has come!

INjustice For All

Does anyone remember when I got jumped? Well it was 18 months ago. The trial was postponed three times and it finally got underway on Wednesday. Let me tell you about my dealings with the court system.

Day One
So, Tuesday I left work and drove straight down to Pittsburgh to stay at Steve's place. We got up at like 6:45 and headed down to the courthouse. We arrived around 8 a.m.

They make you go to the witness room and hang out for about an hour. We see the witness (Tim) and a little bit later the arresting officer (OW). We make our way to our courtroom and wait outside for our assistant district attorney (ADA). ADA gets there and tells us that the defendant has decided on a jury trial. We have to wait for them to pick the jury.

By 11 o'clock it seems that nothing has happened and ADA comes back and informs us that the jury will be picked on Thursday. Another day wasted at the courthouse. We meet with ADA and go over the strategy and he has us go over the events of the night. We head back to Steve's place after getting some food.

Day Two
We get to the courthouse around 10:30. They have started picking the jury, but it is slow going. Tim, OW, Steve, and I head to lunch. We come back and ADA informs us that they still need to pick four jurors. Ugh. We stand around until about 4 o'clock.

Finally the trial begins, opening statements are made. We have to wait outside. Steve gets called in and begins his testimony. He testifies for fifty minutes (we timed it). He comes out and says the defense attorney (who apparently the defendant's parents mortgaged their house to pay for) tore him apart. This makes me slightly nervous.

ADA tells us that this judge might go as late as 8:00 p.m., which is good because Steve and Tim have already missed enough work due to the case. He then comes out and says the judge decided to rest for the day and begin again on Friday.

We leave the courthouse and head home, getting stuck in rush hour traffic. We go to the mall because I was out of clothes. I decided to buy a new suit (the county gave me plenty of money for driving down). We then head to Smokey Bones and eat a good dinner on the county's dime. Why not, Steve drove everyday, I was sleeping on his couch, least I could do was treat him to a good dinner.

Day Three
We arrive at the courthouse 8:30, and find a huge line to get in. Apparently Friday is DUI day or something. We finally get through the metal detectors and some guy asks a sheriff if this is the third floor. She laughs at him because he is stupid.

We head to the courtroom and ADA tells us the order we will go in. I am to be third behind Mike (the accomplice who turned his friend in) and Tim. My time finally comes and I head into the courtroom.

I am very nervous. ADA asks me to go over what happened that night and I do so. He then has me identify the attacker, which I do. The defense attorney gets his chance. He asks questions that are similar to ADA's, yet he says them in a very disbelieving tone. For example, ADA asked if I was drinking. Defense attorney asks it this way "Would you say you were drunk, or were you FLAT OUT drunk?" I tell him that I was drunk.

The worst part is that he constantly switches gears, he asks a question and then the next question is totally unrelated. I know that he is trying to throw me off, but it is not going to work, I am not some moron.

I come out of the courtroom and Steve says I was only in there for seventeen minutes. Interesting. OW goes in and he is in there for another 45 minutes. The prosecution rests.

The defense is waiting for a character witness, so they take a five minute break (actually lasts 15 minutes). The witness shows up (he is some kind of private investigator), but the defense does not use him, so the defense rests.

We are allowed inside to hear the closing arguments. Defense attorney goes first. He is good, he makes grand gestures, he talks about how reasonable doubt works, he makes an analogy to buying a house. He explains how each witness (and victim) could be confused about the attacker. Hell, if I was on the jury he would have had me sold.

Then it is ADA's turn. I was nervous about him. He is young, most likely younger than me, probably fresh our of law school. He tells us later that this was his first case with actual victims, usually he does plea bargains and trials for gun charges and whatnot.

He gives a very good closing statement. He also explains reasonable doubt to the jury and says that they do not need to be 100% sure, but that with the evidence provided by the commonwealth, that they have a puzzle. And if you lose a few pieces of the puzzle, you can still tell what the picture is, and that is the same with this case.

He then closes the whole thing with turning the whole "the defendant is the victim of misidentification" by saying "there are only two victims in this trial, and they are over there." He points at us. I get chills.

The judge now explains each charge and how they are to determine guilt. It is the most boring moment of my life. Some jurors are nodding off. I will explain court time in a little bit.

The jury heads out to deliberate. We go outside for a smoke. We come back inside and bullshit with OW, he is a funny guy. We discuss how a bunch of the jurors are really hot. Fun times. The jury comes back around 4 o'clockish.

Foreman: Charge of Aggravated Assault, Not Guilty.
My thought: Okay, maybe they did not feel he tried to kill us, they will hit him with simple assault.

Foreman: Charge of Simple Assault, Not Guilty.
It feels like someone hit me in the stomach with a sledge hammer.

Foreman: Charge of Robbery, Not Guilty. Charge of Theft, Not Guilty. Charge of Disorderly Conduct, Not Guilty...

I am shocked, I cannot think of how this can happen. Where is justice? Why does the court system suck so bad? I mean, not guilty? This guy beats the living crap out of us, sends us to the hospital, and they believe we have mistaken his identity. Let me tell you something, when someone stands over you demands your phone and then hits you again, you remember that face.

We leave the courtroom and talk with ADA, he is clearly upset. We shake hands with him and tell him he did a good job. He admitted that he should have done some things differently, and I hope that this was a good learning experience for him. I hope the best for him and if I ever see him out in the city I will definitely buy him a drink.

Assistant district attorneys do not get enough credit, they do not make great money, which is why they usually use the position as a stepping stone. Sadly though, they are needed. The judge talked about how the jury was to be commended for doing an important civic duty, well I think ADA should be commended. He was seeking justice for a crime. He may not have won, but there will be others and hopefully if he learned some tactic from this case that helps him put someone else away, then I guess it was not all for nothing.

As of now, I am bitter. I am angry. Most of all, I am emotionally drained. My faith in people make smart decisions is at an all-time low. The evidence was there, yet a high-priced lawyer can make it seem like the evidence was tenuous at best. The say Lady Justice is blind, but the joke is that she is a just an expensive whore.

Court Time
They tell you to be at the courthouse at a certain time, say 8 a.m. They make you sit around until 9. Then you hurry to another room, and they make you wait. They say that closing arguments and the explanation of charges will take an hour, they take about an hour and a half. It is very frustrating.

Rights
I understand that the defendant has the rights. However, how shitty does that feel? If Steve and I got stuck in traffic, and were running late, the judge would have a fit. The defendant's one character witness is running late and we take a break. If OW or any of us would want to postpone the trial, it would be a major hassle, yet the defendant can postpone it multiple times. Actually OW said that if he needs to postpone it, he better have an excuse like "my wife died today."

The Good
I met some great people because of this trial. OW is an outstanding police officer and has my respect. He seems like a great father and someone that we should be proud to have wearing a badge. The same goes for Tim, he came to court everyday because he wanted to see justice. He did not know us, yet he took off work to try and do whatever he could for the case. Again, the jury gets all the thanks, but I would like to thank Tim. He could have closed his blinds and just pretended it was not happening, but he did not, he called the police and described what he saw happening.

The defendant has another case coming up. I do not know all the details, but it sounds pretty bad and he might be looking at jail time for it as well. Although, I am sure his lawyer will do the same stunts. Part of me hopes this lawyer pumps his family for all their money and he goes to jail anyways.

I also wonder if this (coupled with the fact that he has a newborn and wife now) will wake him up and make him become a responsible human being. Maybe he will settle down and not harm others. That would be a good thing, unfortunately I do not believe that will happen. He just beat the system, he thinks he is invincible. I am sure he will be bragging to people about how he got away with it. I am also sure that he will eventually end up in jail. I just hope it is not because he kills someone. I hope those jurors that let him walk today can live with that.

Funny Pictures of Manny Pacquiao

Here are more funny pictures of Manny Pacquiao! ROFL!

Girlfriend of the Week

This week's GOTW was going to be dedicated to Lady Justice, unfortunately things did not go our way so I feel that Lady Justice might be a dirty whore. Instead of Girlfriend of the Week though, she will be the Whore of the Week. Tune in tomorrow while I explain where I have been for the past few days and where this rage is coming from...

Clash of Kings

I recently finished the second book of Martin's series. A Clash of Kings was very good. It picks up where the first book stopped and continues to amaze me with the number of plot twists. Whenever you think something good is going to happen to a character, then something new and worse happens.

-My prediction about Jon Snow still stands. I believe he is the son of Lyanna and Rhaegar.

-The dreams the Stark brothers are having, are they a result of the dragons being born? The pyromancers claimed that at a certain point creating wildfire became easier, almost as if dragons were back. I also wonder if the Red Priestess' own powers increased with the birth of the dragons?

-Arya is an interesting character. I constantly think something good will happen to her, yet it never does. I kept thinking that Syrio the water dancer (her sword instructor) would miraculously come to her rescue and take her away and train her. Unfortunately, it appears that he died helping her flee the guards.

Then it seemed like Yoren would get her back to Winterfell, but then he died and she has been moved from place to place. Jaqen then shows up and proves to be a pretty cool guy. He is some kind of assassin, and towards the end he removes his face for another one, which leads me to believe he is one of the Faceless Ones. He gives her a coin and says that if she ever has need of him to take the coin he gives her to Braavos. I wonder if she will go there and become an assassin? Probably not, but something tells me this guy is not going to disappear.

As for Arya, she is on the run at the moment (I do not understand why she did not just tell Roose Bolton her real identity, I suppose she fears he would not believe her, but still...) Her goal is to make it to Riverrun, but we all know what will happen. Someone will catch her and I would almost guess that she makes it back to King's Landing.

-Why do I believe she will head back to King's Landing? Because the Lannister's will need her. Sansa is going to be leaving their clutches to visit Highgarden, hard to refuse the King's new wife's family? She may, or may not marry the son there. Why do the Tyrells want a wedding between themselves and the Starks? Maybe to switch allegiances to Robb? I find it interesting that the Tyrells already know that Joffrey is a jerk (well at least the women know this).

-Here is my grand overall prediction for the series. Dany will raise a very large army in the East. Not sure how she will do it, but she will. The Greyjoy army will be destroyed when the Others come across the Wall and start marching and killing everyone. This will cause Robb to focus on them. The rest of the kings will the greater enemy coming and will join together, but there will be multiple allegiances and deals made.

It will seem the Others are winning when an army will arrive with a Queen who has some dragons to back her up. They will defeat the Others and Dany will take her rightful place on the Iron Throne as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms.

Girlfriend of the Week

This weeks GOTW is Natalie Portman. I am not sure if you have ever seen her, but she is pretty hot. Last night I went and saw the new movie, Brothers, which was not all that good. Fortunately Portman was in the movie and helped bump it from a really shitty-movie to a not-so-bad-because-there-was-at-least-a-hot-chick-movie...

Sex Tails, A Woo Hoo Pt. 4

In this installment of the wildly popular Sex Tails, I will be focusing on another person's funny stories. I have a few more of my own, but these are pretty funny and should entertain you. Anyone wants to send me their own stories and see them here, feel free to email them to me.

Anyways, my friend Justin worked with this guy (Rich) at Champs. Rich was a bartender and about eight years older than us. I would not really call him a friend, but I drank at his bar and he told some of the best sex stories. These are just a few that I recall (one is not really a sex story, but funny nonetheless).

Southern Belle
One night Justin and I are downstairs where Rich is tending bar. We are drinking and shooting pool and watching Rich hit on this girl from Memphis (that is in Tennessee for you geography morons out there). As it approaches it closing time, Rich comes to us and says we need to go now so he can finish up and take her back to her hotel.

One thing you should know about this girl, she had a very think southern accent. Rich is at her hotel, bangin' the hell out of her, and that magic time is almost there: Rich is about to explode. Right before he does though, she screams out "Ohhh Reech, cahm on mah belleee!" Apparently that caused him to start laughing at her (and also cum on her belly). Needless to say we used to yell that all the time at Champs.

The 18 Year Old
Rich was quite good at getting the very young servers at Champs into bed. For those of you who never go to Champs, you should know that the owner only hires hot girls. For a few days Rich is trying very hard with new girl, who is 18. One night she comes over to his place and they watch a movie.

During the movie, Rich realizes he is not going to get any from her. In fact, he is worried that she might be a virgin. He looks at his phone and texts another girl, who is easy and wants to have sex that night. The movie finishes and Rich walks the girl to the door. She gives him a hug and then without hesitation drops to her knees and starts performing fellatio (a blowjob).

As Rich put it, she was amazing. She is working it like (insert lame metaphor here). Rich is about to blow when the girl suddenly stops. She stands up and looks at Rich, who is quite perplexed, and says "that was just a little preview of what you could get next time." And then she walks to her car and leaves Rich standing there with his dick hanging in the wind (almost literally if it were a windy night I suppose).

Now, a normal guy would just jerk off and figure out a way to get her over there tomorrow. Not Rich, he calls the other chick, has sex with her, boots her out of his place and then decides to never call the first chick ever again. We asked him why and he was like "fuck that cock tease." Must be nice to get chicks with such ease.

Seattle
This is not a sex story. Rich moved out to Seattle for a little while. When he got there, he found a construction job and one night after work he goes to his nice sports bar which reminded him of Champs.

He is in there watching some game and talking to the bartender. They talk about fishing and after awhile the bartender asks if he wants to go fishing on Saturday. Rich is like "hell yeah." He knew no one out there and wanted to find the good holes.

Saturday he and the guy go fishing all day and have a great time. The guy drops Rich off and asks if he wants to go out drinking that night. Rich says sure and the guy says to meet him at the bar.

Rich shows up and sees his new found friend, who is wearing a very tight shirt and leather pants. Again, Rich thinks nothing of this. They sit at the bar and they are talking and Rich starts to notice that there are an awful lot of guys at this bar. He then begins to notice the way his friend is staring at him and keeps touching his arm. Rich panics and asks "is this some kind of gay bar?"

The guy is like "of course it is, why else would there be a huge rainbow on the sign?" Rich had no idea there was a rainbow, and up until this point had been oblivious to the fact that there were no hot girls around. In fact, he just figured it was because it was a sports bar. Rich ended up staying at the bar, and I guess he and the guy became friends, but I would have loved to have seen that moment of realization on Rich's face...

I know these stories were not nearly as funny to you guys since none of you know Rich, but they crack me up. Tune in next week for one of my own.

Pop Culture. . . A Sign Of Life. . .

Every now and then I find something positive in pop culture that's worth passing along to our CPYU constituency. This morning I found one of those things while doing some writing for the upcoming January/February edition of Simply Youth Culture that we producing in partnership with our good friends at Simply Youth Ministry.

We're including one of our unique CPYU 3D media reviews in every edition of Simply Youth Culture. Our 3D media evaluation paradigm is something we want to see taught to every child, teen, and adult. A few years ago we produced our How To Use Your Head to Guard Your Heart: 3(D)Media Evaluation Guide for youth workers to use with their kids as they teach them how to think Christianly and biblically about media by funnelling everything they see and hear through the three-step Discover, Discern, Decide process. (By the way, the guides - along with everything else in our resource center - are 15% off this month).

For this edition of Simply Youth Culture I decided to find something positive to review. I ran across a wonderful new video from Travis McCoy that premiered last week on MTV. The catchy and upbeat "One At A Time" delivers a straight-on challenge to kids, encouraging them to get involved and make a difference in their world. McCoy - the lead vocalist for Gym Class Heroes - is also an ambassador for MTV's Staying Alive Foundation, a group that promotes and funds grassroots HIV and AIDS prevention efforts globally.

While you and I might not agree with the presuppositions the Staying Alive Foundation holds regarding sexuality and sexual ethics, there's no arguing with the song's challenge to step up, see the world's need, make a difference, and address issues one person at a time. As McCoy walks through the South African landscape issuing this challenge in the video, you can't help but think about Jesus and His heart for the poor. In a world where too many Christians erroneously equate the Gospel with personal salvation and personal salvation alone, it's time we start to think more seriously about the implications of the Gospel in relation to how we function in a world where all things groan and cry out for redemption. Are we called to simply hold on until the end and Heaven becomes real for us? Or, are we called to serve as Kingdom ambassadors obsessed with bringing Heaven into every nook and cranny of the earth? The answer is all too clear. Yet, for some reason, we ignore it.

Travis McCoy's "One At A Time" is worth watching and talking about. It's a great springboard for discussions about what it means to seek justice for the poor, sick, and oppressed.

Travis McCoy - New Music - More Music Videos

Sara Groves. . . .

Last night my daughter Caitlin and I shared a wonderful evening out featuring a meal and a concert. Sara Groves and her ensemble were in town to play at the Hershey Free Church (thanks to Bob Sproul and his crew there for making this happen) as a stop on their "O Holy Night" Christmas tour.

I'm not sure how to put into words what the evening meant to me. Maybe the best word I could use is "refreshing." It was nice to slow down and be with Caitlin. And, it was nice to be able to spend time with my daughter listening together to someone who has great talent and who recognizes the source of that talent.

I've never met Sara Groves. I have, however, listened to lots of her music. I didn't realize it until it was over, but last night was one of those nights that reminds you of the way it's supposed to be, along with who the people who represent the way it's supposed to be are supposed to be.

Sara Groves defers to her Maker. She doesn't want to get in the way. It's obvious. She just does what she's called to do with great passion and excellence.

Sara Groves is humble. She doesn't get in the way. Perhaps the most significant moment of the evening came near the end when she thanked the audience for being there. She broke down while thanking God for the opportunity to write and sing. Then, she confessed that she's aware of the fact that the hook could appear to pull her off stage at any time. The way she said it was deeply sincere. She doesn't want to be a celebrity. She simply wants to be faithful and obedient. Why don't more Christian celebrities seek the place outside of the spotlight?

Sara Groves is a mom and a wife. She treasures both callings.

Sara Groves is studious. . . and she gets it. Her understanding of the theology of the incarnation is deep, yet simply stated. She makes it understandable to others. Last night, she made it new again for me.

Sara Groves is plain. No fancy make-up. No fancy clothes. No pretentious attitude. It was like sitting in the living room and listening to your sister play and sing.

Sara Groves - for all the aforementioned reasons and more - is worth listening to.

This morning, my mind is focused on things it might not otherwise be aware of or thinking about two weeks before Christmas. Thank you, Sara Groves, for being a messenger who doesn't get in the way.

all i want for christmas

'TIS THE SEASON!

The holiday season is definitely not turning out the way I'd pictured it but I think we may be on the brink of one of the best Christmases to date.

Well, miraculously, I managed to NOT die of mono though it was not a completely unreasonable thought for a couple weeks there. But I am happily on the mend now and it looks like I might even be able to go outside today (like a normal person, whee!)

The only downside now is that I'm here and not in Portland but, my wonderful parents and a certain Indiana gentleman (without whom I might not be here right now) conspired while I was ill to bring said Indianian to California for Christmas... Amazing.

So without being too longwinded here I'll just leave off for now with the note that I am finally feeling better, there is a holiday chill in the air and I can't wait for this Christmas!

Columbine Reality. . . .

Last week I finally got around to a book that's been sitting on the pile for quite some time. I wanted to read Dave Cullen's Columbine before the 10th anniversary year of the watershed school massacre came to an end. Riveting reading, it was difficult to put down. Considered the nation's foremost authority on those who perpetrated the event now known by the simple one-word name of the school, Cullen has spent ten years investigating every nook and cranny of what happened in Littleton before, during, and after April 20, 1999.

I remember where I was when I first heard the news. I was in the car driving from speaking to an English class at Lancaster Bible College, heading a few miles south to speak to some at-risk students in an after-school program at Lancaster City's McCaskey High School. An initial radio report had informed me that there had a been a school shooting in Colorado and a few kids had been injured. By the time I got back in my car a couple of hours later, a more grim story was unfolding fast. I was up all night glued to the TV. Since then - in fact before the bodies were removed from the school - Columbine reality and myth have been woven together in a mix that's allowed the truth to get muddied by chaotic confusion, trauma-fueled desire, misinformation, hasty assumptions, false conclusions, irresponsibility, and lies.

Yesterday, after finishing Cullen's book, I ran across this quote attributed to John F. Kennedy: "Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." Timely. The age of rapid information has combined with our desire for easy answers, our lack of good research, our need for Evangelical heroes, and our bent towards believing what we want to believe to cloud the truth about Columbine. And this bad habit is not only limited to the Columbine massacre. We do it all the time. And Evangelicals - a group I'm a part of that values truth and integrity - is usually no different. Mainstream media, viewers worldwide, Columbine families, and my own Christian culture jumped to some hasty conclusions. Then along comes Dave Cullen, shedding light on the facts and thereby illuminating the truth about Columbine in some undeniable ways. Granted, Cullen doesn't know everything and he has the advantage of post-dust-settlement hindsight. But he's helped us know more than we've ever known before.



Cullen's desire is to tell the truth and to get his readers to learn from Columbine. . . . about the mind and motivation of the school shooter, about the best way to respond, about the way we handle grief, about the need to forgive, and about how to find the truth in the midst of absolute chaos. Like so many others, I was quick to believe reports of a Trench Coat Mafia, jock-targeted killings, revenge on bullies, anti-Christian sentiments, a unified police response, violence born out of disengaged parenting, and modern-day martyrdom. Very little of this was true. Dave Cullen took me on an eye-opening journey into Columbine's before, during, and after.

More than anything else, Dave Cullen's Columbine reminded me to carefully seek, find, and consider the facts in an effort to be a person of integrity. Because we say we value truth, we need to value truth. . . even if it means having to suffer the discomfort of doing an about-face on long-held assumptions and opinions that we'd like to be true.

Here You Go Philipsburg

Here is a video of the Oakland Raider's long snapper Jon Condo doing some fun stuff in the city. You may be wondering why the hell I would care about a long snapper for Oakland, but he went to my high school and graduated a year after me.

The "Old Guy's" Necessary Questions. . . .

Sometimes the passage of time brings the clarity that you were erroneously convinced you once had. Thinking, learning, listening, praying, and experiencing combine in a mix that makes the murky waters you once believed and defended as crystal clear, to be seen for what they were. . . murky. And then, clarity comes. I think that what this is called is "wisdom."

I remember some conversations I had with my dad around 25 years ago. I was a fresh-out-of-seminary young know-it-all who was on a mission to challenge the status quo of our church culture - a church he pastored with great insight, skill, and faithfulness. Specifically, I was questioning a variety of issues related to worship. To be fair to my 25-years-ago-self, my motivation was to see the kids I had been charged to minister to in the church embrace the corporate worship experience in more meaningful ways. And to be honest about my 25-years-ago-self, I allowed my youthful idealism and pragmatism to serve as blinders that kept me from seeing the bigger picture and all the related questions that needed to be asked. My recollection is that my dad patiently listened to my concerns, offered some thoughts and pertinent questions in response, and then remained quiet in the hope that eventually my perspective would be informed by something more than my idealism and pragmatism. I remember getting a bit frustrated as other churches I knew were making adjustments that swelled the ranks and made kids happy. Those were the front-end days of making big changes in church. Since then, Evangelicals have turned this type of thinking and doing into an art.

In hindsight, I appreciate my dad's patience. Watching culture, studying marketing techniques and how they're used to manipulate young (and old) people, studying the Scriptures, and thinking theologically about cultural accommodation(thanks to a multitude of older and wiser folks who have committed their thoughts to writing)have all combined to lead to a gradual yet monumental shift in my thinking that I would have said wasn't even possible. Still, here I am.

If my present-day 53-year-old self could somehow travel back in time to sit across the table from my 29-year-old self, I'd work hard to convince the younger version of me to ask the right questions and to think deeply about the answers before pursuing matters of style over matters of substance. I would ask myself, "Do you really think the things you want to have happen will wind up bringing results that are marked by spiritual maturity?"


I was reminded of all this the other day when I was catching up on my magazine reading. While leafing through the November issue of Christianity Today, I ran across a column by one of my favorite writers, Philip Yancey. I was surprised (and saddened) to learn that the November column was going to Yancey's last for CT. He actually started writing "The Back Page" back when I was a seminary student in 1983. In fitting fashion, Yancey used this last installment to make some observations on the evangelical movement that he and CT have been a part of for so long. The entire article - "Oh Evangelicos!" - is worth reading. Since it's Saturday night as I write this, perhaps it's worth reading before you take your seat in worship tomorrow morning, or at a Saturday evening service tonight. With apologies to Philip Yancey, I appreciate the wisdom he's passed on to us younger folks as an older guy who's done some pretty serious thinking on his many trips around the block. In particular, I like the questions. . . the necessary questions. . . he asks in these few paragraphs.

"While staid churches change slowly, evangelicals tend to be light on their feet, adapting quickly to cultural trends.

The Jesus movement, the house-church movement, seeker-friendly churches, emergent churches—evangelicals have spawned all of these. In their wake, worship bands have replaced organs and choirs, PowerPoint slides and movie clips now enliven sermons, and espresso bars keep congregants awake. If a technique doesn't work, find one that does.

Although I admire the innovation, I would caution that mimicking cultural trends has a downside. At a recent youth workers conference I attended, worship meant a DJ playing techno music at jet-engine volume while a sweaty audience crowded the stage, jumping up and down while shouting spiritual one-liners. At the risk of sounding old-fashioned, I couldn't help questioning the depth of worship. Seminaries now recommend 15-minute sermons in light of shorter attention spans. Publishers want slimmer books, with simpler words and concepts. Will we soon have a 140-character Twitter gospel?

Perhaps we should present an alternative to the prevailing culture rather than simply adopt it. What would a church look like that created space for quietness, that bucked the celebrity trend and unplugged from surrounding media, that actively resisted consumerist culture? What would worship look like if it were directed more toward God than toward our entertainment preferences?"

This weekend I had the privilege of spending time with a bright and energizing group of United Methodist youth workers and some of their best and brightest kids in Louisville, KY. As we chatted back and forth about what it means to do ministry as cross-cultural missionaries in today's world, I had the sense that these kids want to go deep. I'm hoping and praying that they'll embrace substance, and then make style subservient to that substance. . . not vice versa. I'm hoping they channel the wonderful blessings of their youthful idealism into asking and thinking long and hard about the right questions. More than anything else, I hope and pray that they are faithful to the unchanging Gospel and the power that exists in the simple, straightforward preaching of God's Word. I hope that they don't fall into the market-driven trap of thinking that just because a messenger is gray up top, he or she has nothing to say that anyone who isn't gray up top would ever want or be able to hear.

If this keeps up, we're doing nothing other than making sure that style trumps substance. And when that happens, we have to think twice about what kingdom we're really promoting.

t r u t h

Carl's Video

This week Carl rants about Tiger Woods and Michael Vick. This is really for all you Eagle fans out there...

Girlfriend of the Week

I saw these girls over here and decided that it was a worthy cause. AIDS is bad, and girls should definitely get mostly naked to help me raise something in support...

A Whole Lotta Nothin'

It is five minutes until five p.m. I just woke up. For the past six days I have worked second shift and every night I get home at close to midnight. Unfortunately I am all hopped up on Mountain Dew, which causes me to sit up and watch TV or read until about 5 a.m. I usually wake up around 12 and get ready to do it again. Needless to say, my body has not enjoyed this. Apparently it just shut down on me and decided to choose when to wake up.

Anyways, here are some odds and ends that have been going on. Not enough to fill up a post, but some interesting stuff.

Court Date
Steve and I have our court date Wednesday the 16th of this month. This should be it, no more postponements. About damn time, sick of waiting. Apparently the guy who jumped us is really serious about fighting it instead of taking a plea bargain. That means we will have to testify and be part of a real court case...

Speaking of getting jumped...a guy I work with got jumped the other night. They almost killed him and pretty much made his face a complete mess. He needs multiple surgeries I think to repair his eye socket and jaw bone. Or maybe one massive surgery. He came into work the other night and I thought he was a zombie from Dawn of the Dead.

I only bring this up because there are people at work who keep saying it is funny and he probably deserved it. Let me explain something, even if he did get into a fight and lost, he would not look like this after. His face is the result of being knocked and someone kicked his face repeatedly. That is something no one deserves.

Baseball
All sorts of exciting news regarding the Pirates. Or not. I mean, Rick Ankiel, JJ Putz, Noah Lowery, Justin Duchscherer. Actually these are not bad players to be looking at, but they all have similar problems: injuries. I understand the Pirates are not likely to go out and sign John Lackey or even Rich Harden, but it would be fun to pretend, right?

For those of you who hate baseball stats and want better explanations of them, please head over to WHYGAVS and check out his glossary.

Sons of Anarchy
Did anyone watch the season finale? It was insane. Talk about a twist you did not see coming, that ATF chick is a bitch. Framing Peg Bundy for murder, causing Jax's kid to be kidnapped by the Irish. I do think that with Jax and Clay on the same page, they will be a pretty much unstoppable force.

Previews For New Shows
-There is another season of 24, dear god, why?
-Human Target is based on a comic, which I have never read. I bet it will either be really good or really shitty.
-I think the new FX show is called Justified, but I am not sure. I have no clue what it is about, but it has Tim Olyphant and it is on FX, probably be decent.
-Lost is almost here...getting excited.

Support Ribbons
Let me tell you about something I hate: ribbons. You know the ones, breast cancer, AIDS awareness, blah blah blah. Okay, actually, I do not mind those ones. I just wanted to piss everyone off. I prefer the yellow ones that support the troops, but the others for disease are fine. The ones I am talking about are the ones designed to show support for a sports team.

Yesterday I was driving to work behind an SUV with a yellow ribbon and a black ribbon. I knew the yellow one was for the troops, but could not figure out what the black one was. Support death? As I neared the vehicle, I realized it had gold trim and said "Support the Steelers!"

Does that seem like a slap in the face to all the soldiers risking their lives? "Hey, I support the troops, as long as it does not interfere with football!" These ribbon companies should be bombed. Although, if anyone ever finds a black ribbon that says "I Support Death." Please buy it for me.

Christmas
That time of year is almost upon us and I need to start shopping for a few people. This year I want nothing. That should make it easy on all you bastards out there who never get me anything. I am looking right at you Ryan. Just kidding, the usual stuff works this year. Prostitutes.

The Lie of Christmas. . . .

It's getting crazy around here. . . . Christmas crazy. I look around and see - as Dave Matthews sings - "ants marching." It's the craziness of the Christmas rush. Why? Rather than ponder this anew, I thought I would pass on something I wrote several years ago about what is at the root of all this craziness. . . .


I believed it would change my life. Even though I began my impatient wait for its arrival sometime in September, it usually arrived in our mailbox at 1162 Beverly Road a few weeks before Thanksgiving. Its shiny full-color pages consumed my thoughts and attention for weeks. I ignored the first two-thirds of the book. Those pages were covered with boring pictures of clothing, tools, artificial Christmas trees, and a potpourri of boxed holiday fruits, candies and nuts. For me, “glory land” was contained in the back third of the book - those pages that quickly became tattered and worn from the constant perusal by me and my two very wishful younger brothers. The back third was where we would spend our time drooling over page after page of the latest in games and toys.

If you were a child in the 60's or 70's, my story is probably similar to yours. I would sit with that book for hours, using my signature colored pen (keyed for my parents as “Green = Walt”) to circle anything and everything that I’d like to find under the family tree on Christmas morning. During my younger years, I wielded my pen with reckless abandon. As I got older, I would sit under my covers with a flashlight and the catalog, secretly breaking curfew while ranking my material desires numerically and calculating prices while wondering just what “Santa” might be able to afford that year. The fruit of my labors was a neatly written and ranked list to pass on to my parents.


And if you had siblings, the Sears and Roebuck Christmas Catalog - a.k.a. “The Wish Book” - was the source of numerous family fights. The fights weren’t just over who got to study the book and when, but why three selfish kids from the same family couldn't circle the same item with their respective colored pens. If my brothers wouldn’t comply when I tried to pull rank based on seniority, I would hijack their pen(s) and alter their wish list by going to the first two-thirds of the book and secretly circling an itchy shirt or some other article of clothing that - if it appeared under the tree - would ruin their Christmas and force them to feign a disappointed “thanks” on the big morning.

Then came the night before the day that would change my life. If there ever was a time when my mind was totally sidetracked during a worship service, it had to be Christmas Eve. All I could think about - besides “when are we going to sing the last hymn?”- was toys, toys, and more toys. I can still remember the excitement of getting home, ripping off my Sunday clothes, and slipping on my pajamas. We’d stay up later than usual running the HO trains, sipping on non-alcoholic eggnog, eating my Aunt’s famous Christmas cookies, snarfing down chocolates from a Whitman’s Sampler, and chewing on a piece of one of the many fruitcakes bestowed upon my pastor-father from his grateful parishioners. But the only thing in our house thicker than those fruitcakes was the excitement of those three little boys.

Bed time arrived - which was only a signal for us to take our excitement and move it from a vertical to a horizontal position. There were never any sugar plums dancing in my bedded head on Christmas Eve. Instead, my eyes remained as wide as saucers for what seemed like an eternity. And when sleep finally came, my anxious conscious thoughts of what I’d find under the tree soon yielded to unconscious dreams of the same stuff. Those wishful thoughts and dreams that had consumed me for weeks could be summed up in one thought: “Tomorrow morning, my life will be complete.”

At my house, we were usually up long before the sun on Christmas morning. It was my mom’s responsibility to repeatedly tell us to “Wait at the top of the stairs!” while my dad took what seemed like forever to set up his 8mm movie camera while shouting “Not yet!” over and over in response to our endless impatient shouts of “CAN WE COME DOWN NOW?”. When the words “Okay, now” were finally spoken, we began our trek down the steps to the living room. The descent was always somewhat hairy as the three of us were blinded by the moose antler-sized rack of heat radiating spotlights on top of my dad’s movie camera. But once we reached the bottom of the steps and our eyes adjusted, we beheld the promised land right there under the Christmas tree.

Just as I remember those excited feelings of pre-Christmas anticipation, I also remember the empty and disappointed emotions I felt in the minutes and days after all the wrapping paper had been ripped off and thrown away. Don’t get me wrong - I was happy - but only for awhile. Some of the stuff under the tree just didn’t look or work like it had in the Sears Catalog or on the television commercial. Other gifts broke. And it wasn’t long before the novelty wore off and everything wound up in the back of my closet or bottom of my toybox. I had believed, in my childhood naivete, that all that stuff under the tree would somehow make me feel better, make me happy, and make me complete. It was nothing but a lie. But stupid me. . . each and every year it was the same thing as my yearning for completeness, peace, and satisfaction led me to buy into the great “lie of Christmas” one more time.

Even though I know better, I sometimes still find myself unknowingly falling back into those same old patterns. You think I would have learned by now. Maybe it’s not the stuff that appears under the Christmas tree. We don’t even get a Sears Christmas catalog anymore. Now it’s any of a number of attractive lies floating around the cultural air we all breath that are full of nothing but empty promises. Yes, the “lie of Christmas” lives on strong in our culture year-round.

Saint Anselm prayed about the “lie of Christmas” about a thousand years before I was born: “Lord, give me what you have made me want,” he prayed. “I praise and thank you for the desire that you have inspired; perfect what you have begun, and grant me what you have made me long for.” Anselm knew that the longings and desires we all experience originate in God and can only be filled by Him. He had discovered the only truth that can satisfy the hunger we all try to fill with the lie.

Six hundred years later, the French philosopher Blaise Pascal pondered the same thing: “What else does this longing and helplessness proclaim, but that there was once in each person a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? We try to fill this in vain with everything around us, seeking in things that are not there the help we cannot find in those that are there. Yet none can change things, because this infinite abyss can only be filled with something that is infinite and unchanging - in other words, by God himself. God alone is our true good.”

The gnawing desire to fill Pascal’s “God-shaped vacuum” isn’t limited to kids at Christmas. It’s a daily battle for all people, of all ages, in all places in today’s culture. On a trip to Barnes & Noble, the cover of an issue of Men’s Journal caught my eye. This “10th Anniversary Special” edition of the magazine promised readers the same thing I longed for at Christmas. Inside I found “the list of a lifetime - the sixty things every man must do at least once.” The article promised male readers that by experiencing everything on this definitive list, you’d wind up living a life that’s fulfilled, peaceful, and complete. In fact, “it could be the last to-do list you’ll ever need.” After reading through the list, I realized I’m only batting a measly and less-than-manly .150 and therefore, pretty far off from experiencing complete fulfillment. The nine listed things I’ve done in my lifetime include owning a dog, watching your child arrive (truly amazing!), riding a motorcycle, acting like a kid (something some say I’m pretty consistent and good at!), building something, and planting a tree. Apparently I’ll be a miserable and unfulfilled failure until I do the 51 other things on the list including living like a king (renting a $6500 a night suite in a Hong Kong hotel), reveling in the “raw sensuality” of Rio’s Carnival, wrestling a bear, climbing Kilimanjaro, and experiencing sex with two women at once. Yes, the great “lie of Christmas” lives on in today’s culture. We believe we can fill the gnawing hunger with anything and everything but the one right thing. What a lie!

Without a doubt, the greatest inheritance we can pass on to the kids we know and love is the truth about the lie. Not only that the “lie of Christmas” is a lie, but that the “truth of Christmas” is the truth. My parents passed on that truth in many ways. But as I think back on my memories of childhood Christmas’s past, it was their Christmas lists that told the truth so clearly. Every year, when I would take a break from my selfishness to ask them what they wanted for Christmas, the answer was always the same - “We don’t need anything.” Then, when Christmas morning would arrive, I would feel bad for them as they opened boxes of socks, sweaters, tools, kitchenware, and itchy shirts - all stuff from the first two-thirds of the wish book. Much to my surprise, they were never disappointed. Why? Because they had already been satisfied by the truth of Christmas. . . . they had embraced the gift of the baby whose Birthday we were celebrating. Sure, my parents thought Christmas gifts were nice and they appreciated every one of them. But the hole in their souls had already been filled. Because they didn’t want anything, I quickly learned they already had everything.

Shortly after Blaise Pascal died, someone found a piece of paper sewn into the lining of his jacket. Pascal had placed it there as a constant reminder of what the “truth of Christmas” had meant to him when he first believed and experienced it. On the paper were recorded the words he had written when the God-shaped vacuum of his life had been filled by the baby Jesus: “From about half past ten in the evening to about half an hour after midnight. Fire. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob. Not the God of philosophers and scholars. Absolute Certainty. Beyond reasons. Joy. Peace. Forgetfulness of the world and everything but God. The world has not known thee, but I have known thee. Joy! Joy! Joy! Tears of Joy!”

The old man Simeon waited in great expectation for the arrival of the promised Messiah. He knew what it was he longed for. The Holy Spirit had shown him that before he died, he would see the baby Jesus. Eight days after Christ’s birth, Simeon held “the truth of Christmas” in his arms and praised God with these words: “God, you can now release your servant; release me in peace as you promised. With my eyes I’ve seen your salvation.”

While the “lie of Christmas” lives on strong, it can’t compare to the life-changing power of what Christmas is really about. This truth of Christmas is the very thing - the only thing - that answers our deepest of longings and fills the most empty of lives! Perhaps as you gather around the tree this Christmas you’ll make it your prayer that the kids you know and our culture-at-large would behold the same “glory land” that filled Simeon’s eyes and countless hearts since the day God became man.

Game of Thrones

Before I tell you my thoughts on George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones, let me give you a brief history of how I got interested in this series.

When I was in Jordan, I had finished all the books I took with me. Drew let me borrow one of his, which was the short story anthology called Legends Vol. II. That is where I first read "The Hedge Knight" and enjoyed it immensely.

A few years later as I tried to decide on some new fantasy books to check out, I noticed that Greg's blog has book reviews. I started going through them and saw this review and the author's name jogged my memory. I definitely put it on my Christmas list way back in '06.

With that being said, I would like to thank Greg and Drew because the book is awesome. It definitely hooks you right from the beginning and keeps you on your toes. There are funny parts, sad parts, and shocking parts. You can go from kids being thrown out of windows, to a deformed dwarf mocking everyone, to graphic sex with minors in just a few chapters.

I want to make some predictions about a few characters, there could be some spoilers in here.

-Jon Snow, the bastard son of Eddard (Ned) Stark, will turn out to be someone very important. I wonder if he is actually the son of Lyanna (Ned's sister) and Rhaegar Targaryen. Ned keeps remembering Lyanna as she died and how she kept saying "Promise me." At first we are led to believe that she means that he must promise to take her back to Winterfell when she dies. Later when Ned is delirious he remembers when Rhaegar wins a tournament and gives the crown of beauty to Lyanna instead of his own wife. I believe that instead of kidnapping and raping Lyanna, they ran off together, had a kid, but she died during childbirth or shortly after. Ned came and found the child and promised to raise him.

-Dany and her dragons will raise some kind of army and come back to reclaim her throne. In fact, I am kind of rooting for her. I wonder if she and Jon are destined to be together...since the Targaryen's married brother and sister to keep the lines pure.

-Arya will find her direwolf at some point. Plus she will become a great swordsman.

-Hopefully Robb and Joffrey square off in battle. Joffrey is easily the most unlikeable character in the book. The way he changes when he becomes king is cool. Or it would be great if the Hound killed Joffrey while protecting Sansa.

Anyways, just a few of my thoughts on the book. I started the second book, and should be done with it in a few days.