I Guess It's True

We officially have visual confirmation...in case you haven't heard yet, Marcy and I are expecting our first child on April 4th, 2006 (although I'm hoping it comes on April Fool's Day)...it's one thing when your wife tells you through tears that she is pregnant...it's yet another when you start going to the doctor and they take the blood and urine - from Marcy, not me - to confirm what you think you know...but when you see a picture of the little critter - who we are lovingly calling 'Flipper' at this point - and hear it's heartbeat, it takes on a whole new level of realness...I'm pretty sure it still hasn't hit me full force yet, but when it does, YIKES!...I don't know exactly how I'll react...but for now, it's just pretty cool...

The Porch

We had our first youth group meeting of the year last night...it is now called The Porch, based on Acts 5:12...there was a lot of change that went into this year, all in a couple of week's time...we changed the name from The Deep End...we changed the meeting room (we now meet in the former auditorium that the Big Kids used to meet in)...and we changed the structure...now, both junior and senior highers meet on the same night for dinner, hang time, and worship...then we split them up for large group teaching and small group discussion times...all in all, I think it went quite well...there were a few bumps in the road, but that's bound to happen with anything new...we'll work out the kinks as we go...but I think overall, for the 70+ kids that were there, it was a good experience...but man, does my throat hurt today...

My Youth: What Did I Do With It?!?

I was talking with Kat Renfrow the other day, and she told me all about her summer...it only consisted of about 14 week-long camps over a ten-week stretch...I think she was home a grand total of seven minutes this summer...then I heard an 18-year-old St. Louis kid on the radio who landed an interview with O.J. Simpson through mere perseverance (not to mention his other interviews with Muhammad Ali, Pete Rose, Jim Brown, and George Stephanopoulos, among others)...these two incidents made me pause to think about my own youth...I have to say, their stories and mine sound remarkably similar...if you consider sitting around my town home, running up my mom's electicity bill because I had the air conditioning set at 60 degrees, eating all the food, watching lots of MTV and VH-1, while dreading the start of soccer season to be similar to the kind of work that Kat and Graham have put into their youth...probably not, though...

Another Black Eye

And we are puzzled by the fact that some people won't come to church because there are too many hypocrites there...here is yet another example why I sometimes cringe to be lumped together with others who claim to be Christians...whatever happened to taking care of the least of these in the name of Jesus?...of course, I'm sure there are things in my own life that make people shake their heads and say, "He's a Christian?"...so who am I to throw the first stone?...I'm just glad that God still takes the time for us no matter how big of a jerk we sometimes are...

No More Indian Mascots

Word came out today that the NCAA has banned all Indian mascots from postseason tournament play...this would mean that teams such as the Florida Seminoles and the Illinois Fighting Illini would have to cover up their names and any references to their mascots during the tourney...my question is: will they be brave enough to enforce the same rules with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish...I, being Irish, have hated that mascot for some time and think it should be banned...I'm Irish, and I'm a lover, not a fighter...

Steroids and Moral Relativity

OK, it's one thing for Rafael Palmeiro to get busted for doing steroids, even after denying it...it's much worse that he lied and said he did it unintentionally, when in fact, it was revealed that it was a hard-core steroid he took, so he had to have known about it...but what really bugs me is that it now comes out that Major League Baseball and the Players' Union actually found out about his failed test long ago but held onto the information - and the suspension - until after Palmeiro had reached 3,000 hits...come on, MLB!...if you are going to make a stand on drug testing, do so all of the time, not just when it is convenient and works for your timetable...just because Raffi is a good player and future Hall of Famer (although, maybe not anymore), he gets a pass for a while, while other not-as-good players get busted right away...nice message you are sending to baseball fans, and especially kids: if you are good enough at hitting a ball with a stick, it doesn't matter what you do - it will still work out in your favor...

Fashion Rant

First off, allow me to apologize to my loyal readers for my lengthy absence from this space...both of you must be getting quite fed up :-)...my summer has been a little insane to say the least...I just returned from Xtreme Camp at Blue Mountain, at which I had a great time and got to see kids' lives changed...however, the downside to that was that it meant more time away from home...counting this past week, I have been away from home close to an entire month this summer...needless to say, it is good to be home for a while...of course, my next trip is just five weeks away for my sis-in-law's wedding (which I am co-performing - how crazy is that?)...I will enjoy home while I have it, I guess...

Now that I have gotten my excuses out of the way, I should probably say something about fashion, since the title of this entry is Fashion Rant...I have recently become more aware of a fashion trend that simply bothers me...maybe it has been around a long time and I'm just clueless, but I doubt it in this instance...the trend is that more and more youngish people of the female persuasion wearing lingerie as regular, wear-around-town clothing...and I don't mean under other clothing, either...I mean, that is their clothing...they will wear a lingerie top or two, layered, with jeans or shorts or a skirt...check out this picture of a recent American Idol contestant if you need a visual (she was famous for this fashion trend)...

whatever happened to modesty and certain things being saved for the privacy of one's own bedroom?...it's just that it is difficult enough for men to control their minds when it comes to sexual thoughts...we are bombarded by sexual images, from television to magazines to movies to advertising...experts say that men are more visually stimulated than are women, so this trend of sexual imagery will likely never go away because it is clearly making people money...but have we come so far that lingerie is now common wear?...if it is, what is being saved for the bedroom?...the intrigue, excitement, and curiosity that would normally be experienced on a couple's first night together - hopefully their wedding night - is slowly being stripped away (no pun intended) so that nothing will be a surprise when they get to it...I guess this is my way of saying, "Ladies, before you put something on, regardless of how fashionable it may be, simply think about it first."...at least, that's the way I see it...