Competing Urges

One of Colin's favorite things to do is to look out the window that is right behind our couch. Ever since he was very small, he has enjoyed seeing the sights, staring at all of the various colors, and especially watching the cars go by. When he was younger, and was particularly fussy, I could take him out to the front porch and he would completely chill out while the cars whizzed by. He still loves that!

One of his daddy's favorite things to do is to cuddle him on the aforementioned couch. When he starts to get tired and whiny, and it's close to nap time, I like to take him over to the couch and let him cuddle against my chest. He doesn't always cuddle as good as he use to. He's more active and mobile now, so he tends to move around a bit. But, since he is so tired, he will stop moving, plop his head down onto my chest, and suck his thumb. It's one of the best feelings ever!

It is during these times that Colin faces a competition of urges. He is so tired, and he knows that he wants to - that he needs to - go to sleep, or at the very least, rest on Daddy's chest. But, the allure of the window is strong. He doesn't want to miss anything that happens out there, so he strains his neck and body to peer out the window, sometimes even crawling over me and standing on me to get a better view. But then the fatigue takes over and he drops back down to my chest to take a break. Then, back to the window. "What's going on out there? I think I heard something. Look! It's a car!" Then, back to the thumb and my chest. And the cycle continues until I finally take him to his room, sing him his song, and put him down in his crib to sleep. No more choices. No more tough decisions. Just rest.

I am so much like my son, it's scary. I deal with the same competition of urges. Only my choices have nothing to do with the window and the couch. My choices look more like, do I take time to read my Bible or check on my March Madness bracket? Do I set aside time at work to pray for my job or do I just jump in with both feet and get to work? Do I sit up later than I should to do essentially nothing online or do I get the sleep I so badly need? There's nothing intrinsically wrong with March Madness, or work, or checking out my web favorites. Just like there's nothing wrong with looking out the window. But there is a better choice. I feel like Paul, who said that he wants to do one thing, but ends up doing something else. It's not like I'm choosing between praying and robbing a bank, or reading my Bible and getting sloppy drunk, but there is still a competition for my time. And no matter how seemingly harmless many of the things are in our lives, there are frequently better choices to be made. I just know that I don't always - and sometimes, seldom - choose the better thing. But those times that I do, I can rest.

Jesus, help me to choose the better thing, and give me rest.

Heaven - I'm in Heaven...

This is the life! I am home for the afternoon since I have a work commitment tonight. And what better afternoon to be at home than the opening round of March Madness? I can't think of a better day. So far, I'm 4-0 in my picks. That won't last long, though. I just noticed that Butler pulled ahead of Old Dominion. Bummer! Either way, it's the best weekend in sports as far as I'm concerned. This is when all of the upsets happen and teams come out of nowhere to shock the world. I'm all about rooting for the underdog, even if I didn't pick them to win. That carries over to life, too, but that's for a different post. All I know is, I'm glad it's March...

I'm also in Heaven because my son is still alive. Before anyone goes and freaks out, there's nothing wrong with him. But, I have had him to myself since Tuesday morning when Marcy left for a conference at Willow Creek. She gets back tomorrow night. Four days, just me and Colin. That's a recipe for disaster! But it has gone well. We miss Mommy very much, but it's good to know that I can take care of my Boy if I have to. And I don't think it's a problem at all that he has eaten buffalo wings and watched Evil Dead 2 every night. It's good for him...

It's a Nice Day!

I am sitting here, in my beloved recliner, thinking about how good of a weekend it had been. I am feeling significantly better than I did at this time last weekend, when I was just starting to come down with the plague. I am not at 100% yet, but I'm going in the right direction. The weather has been great! It is finally flip-flop weather. I know, I've done a lot of complaining about how we haven't had much of a winter to speak of, but that was February, and this is March, and I love not wearing shoes. The sun has been shining, it has been warm, and I've been loving it! We had two great friends come and visit for a too-brief weekend. And today, my Buckeyes sealed up a #1 seed in the NCAA Men's B-Ball Tourney. Now granted, I was jazzed about them playing in the national championship of college football, and that didn't go so well. Here's hoping this one goes much better. Either way, the ride sure is fun!


Today we had a SIMY meeting. SIMY is an acronym for Servants In Ministry to Youth. It's what we call our adult leaders in our youth group. We invited some of our students to discuss how things are going with the youth group. I think things are going well, but some of our students have had concerns, so I wanted them to be able to voice them. They did that today, and while I didn't like or agree with everything they had to say, I sure appreciate their guts to say what they did and their desire for our youth group to be all it can be for their spiritual transformation. As Emily's quote wall on Facebook says, "My kids are better than your kids!" Apparently, I said that somewhere along the way. It's true.

Thank you, Jesus, for the good life you have given me. Help me to not take it for granted...

I Ain't So Stupid

Strange Injury

And I thought I was out of shape. It turns out that John Daly had to withdraw from the golf tournament he was in when he hurt himself trying to stop his backswing when a fan took his picture. Hee-hee...

A Good Dad?

This weekend, our church is hosting author and speaker Tim Smith for a couple of parenting seminars. This morning's seminar was based on information from his book The Seven Cries of Today's Teens. The information in the book is pulled from research he did while a fellow at the Gallup Organization. He discussed the seven cries of teens: the cry to be trusted, to be loved, to be heard, for security, for purpose, and two others that I don't remember because I left my handbook at the church. We presented this seminar as a way to minister to our teens by ministering to their parents. It was money well-spent as it was excellent! I wish I could attend the seminar tomorrow also (based on his book Connecting With Your Kids), but I will be watching the OSU basketball game with Colin.

As I sat through the seminar, I kept fast-forwarding in my mind to when Colin is a teenager. I think I'm a pretty OK dad so far, but it's only been 10 1/2 months. I take time to hang out with him, I play with him, I kiss him and give him zerberts, I tell him I love him all the time, and try to make him a priority. But I wonder if I will still consider myself to be a good dad when he is 17 years old. Will I keep it up? Will I know and respond to his love keys so that he feels love how he needs to feel it? Will he feel trusted, and loved, and heard, and secure, and have purpose, and two other things that I don't remember because I left my handbook at the church? Will I be the spiritual leader that he needs me to be? It's an overwhelming thought, and it was this morning, as I found myself holding back tears a couple of times. Only time will tell the answer to these questions. Lord, help me to be a good dad and to point Colin to you...

She's Losing It

I know I already posted today, but I had to get this out there. Guess who that is in the above picture. Go ahead, guess. It's none other than Britney Spears. Apparently, she shaved her head and got a couple of tattoos. What won't she do for attention? Keep an eye on her. I predict some really bad stuff is in her future as she continues this need to be noticed.

What's Going On?

Maybe you've been asking yourself that since I haven't blogged in forever. And maybe not. I'll answer the question anyway. Here are some random things that have popped into my life and into my mind...hmmm, were have I heard that before?:


HIGHLIGHT
The highlight of the last couple of weeks concerns Colin. Surprise, surprise! Lately, he has been getting quite brave. He has, for several months now, been pulling himself up on furniture or on us and standing while hanging on. Only for the past few weeks has he been getting brave enough to let go. He will stand there, for 5, 10, 15 seconds or so, before plummeting to the earth, or to Mommy or Daddy. There have been a few times that he has swung his arms back and forth, enjoying the turning of his torso. But last night was the coup de grace. As I was playing with him on the floor, and as Marcy observed from the couch, he pulled himself up while holding onto my fingers. I encouraged him to let go, which he did. Then, IT happened. He took two steps toward me before falling into my arms. His first steps! It was so exciting, I started crying. Yes, crying! One of the hazards of having an extreme feeling-type personality. But I don't care because my boy just walked! WOO-HOO!

GRAMMYS
I was jazzed about watching the Grammys this year (no pun intended) as I heard that The Police were reuniting after being apart for 20 years. So Colin and I tuned in last Sunday while Marcy was at small group. They opened the show by exclaiming, "We are The Police, and we're back!" They then broke into a three-minute version of Roxanne, and that was it. As exciting as it was, it was also a little disappointing, as I was hoping for more. I guess it was just a precursor to their upcoming reunion tour. But seriously, how do you give The Police that small amount of face time, while giving Justin Timberlake two huge sets, including one of the most narcissistic performances I have ever seen (that mini-camera thing was just plain creepy)?! Screwed up priorities, I'd say.


THE INDIANS
I was pleased to watch as the Cleveland Indians made improving their bullpen a significant priority. I was, however, a little concerned because it seemed that many of the pitchers they were signing were older and had injury concerns/histories. It turns out that my fears were well-founded as Keith Foulke, the guy that was slated to be the closer, retired after experiencing pain in his throwing elbow. Yet another sign that the Curse of Rocky Colavito is real and alive, and that Cleveland is the most tortured sports city in America.


SNOW
Yet again, the weathercasters in our area got my hopes up. They were calling for a snow advisory and a blowing snow advisory for our area. Now in Ohio, when snow was coming, there was no advisory - it was just going to snow, that's all. You don't need a weather advisory. Especially for the amount that we get here. It was a dusting when I woke up. Since then, we have gotten some more to make it bearable, but it''s supposed to be 50 degrees tomorrow, so it will all be gone, dang it! But we did make sure to take Colin outside to experience the snow, because who knows when he will get the chance again. He either was not crazy about it, or not thrilled with his snowsuit. I think it was the snowsuit, since he started whining as I put him in it.

YOUTUBE
This is one of my latest favorite YouTube videos. It's what I wish Marcy and I had done for our first dance.

I guess that's it for now. Time to go start on the chores...

Six Degrees

Several years back, I heard about a great game called The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. In it, you had to be able to link any actor or actress to Kevin Bacon through working associations in movies or TV shows in six steps or less. It turns out that you can do this with anyone, even the dolphin Flipper. It also turned out that I was pretty good at this game. Today I discovered that Kevin Bacon is using this once-annoying-to-him game for good, as he has set up an organization that allows visitors to the website - www.sixdegrees.org - to donate to the charities of various celebrities. Or, someone can choose to be the 'celebrity face' for their organization and invite friends and family members to donate to their cause. I thought about setting one up, but it would be so hard to decide which cause I would want to put forward. Any ideas?

The Fitz Update

I am in Ohio, The Heart of It All, right now. I flew in last night with the single-minded purpose of watching the college football national championship tonight between The Ohio State University and some school from Florida. I'm very nervous about the game, but I think that's something that comes from being a sports fan in Cleveland - you can't imagine anything ever going well for your team. It will be a lot of fun to watch the game with my dad, cousins, and uncle. This was a plan by my brother who decided we should all come in for the game, and then backed out. What a goob! My best friend Joe said that it should be a Man Law that you can't plan something and then not show up. I agree.

My cousin Jason did something funny last night. I had reminded him of a time that we were up at 3:00am eating garlic bread and Breyer's chocolate ice cream. When I showed up, he had garlic bread in the oven and Breyer's chocolate ice cream in the freezer. Good times! It brought back fun memories and a not-so-good feeling in my stomach.

Christmas was good. We had fun hanging out with Marcy's family in Marietta, Ohio. I walked away from the holiday with an iPod charger/transmitter for the car and an Xbox, probably my two best gifts. We found out this Christmas that Colin enjoys all flavors of wrapping paper. He is so funny! He got all kinds of cool gifts for Christmas, but his favorite things at home are still the things he can't have: the dog's toys, the dog's food, the dog. Hilarious!

One last thing: Go Bucks!

A Whole Bunch of Randomness

• SABBATH: Marcy and I have been trying to be more intentional about observing the Sabbath. Since we are church-workers, it's really hard to do it on a Sunday because work calls. So, we have been starting on Thursday night at dinner - followed by date night - and continuing until dinner on Friday. We try to not watch TV, do worky kind of stuff, and instead we just hang out with each other and Colin and God, and rest. It's hard. Especially for Marcy. It's tough to sit around and do relatively nothing. Humans are so wrapped up in accomplishing and doing to create worth, that it's hard to shut down and not accomplish anything. It made me wonder: Did God get bored on His Sabbath? Heck, He just created everything that exists, and then He took a day to do nothing but rest. I wonder if He thought, "I need to get something else done today. I'll go over here and create another universe." Probably not...
• I AM THE MAN!: Time magazine recently came out with its annual Person of The Year issue. There were many worthy candidates, but they declared that I am 2006's Person of The Year. In their statement, they said, "The answer is, you do. And for seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game, TIME's Person of the Year for 2006 is you." OK, so they didn't mean solely me, but anyone that utilizes the world wide web for publishing and communcating (like blogs, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, etc.). You can read the article here...
  
• BRAWL: Which was more wussy, Carmelo Anthony sucker-punching a Knicks player and then running away like a little girl (no offense to little girls, because most little girls are more manly than him), or TO spitting in the face of D'Angelo Williams? Both actions were incredibly unmanly...
• BRAWL II: Another Brawl at Madison Square Garden thought: Is it any surprise that the coach of the Knicks, the team that flagrantly fouled the Nuggets player, is Isaiah Thomas? He was a part of a team that was the biggest collection of thugs ever, the Bad Boys. Alongside him on that Pistons team were Bill Laimbeer, Dennis Rodman, and Rick Mahorn, just to name a few. You can take the man out of the fight, but you can't take the thuggery out of the man...
  
• COLIN: It's amazing how having a child allows you a little more insight into what God might be feeling and thinking. The latest realization of this was the other day when Colin was inconsolable, we think because he is teething. Man, was that difficult! I wanted to say, "Colin, I am so sorry for your pain. Here, let me take it away for you. I'll even take it on me so you don't have to deal with it." That's pretty much what God did in sending His only Son to take away our pain of separation from Him...
• COLIN II: Colin is crawling now, as you can see here. This is exciting, but also adds a whole new set of challenges: baby-proofing, making sure the basement door is shut, etc. But it also adds what could be hours of entertainment: Watching Colin chase Attie all over the house. She's still not too sure what to make of him..
• If I don't post again before Christmas, I hope you have a very Merry and Christ-centered Christmas...
  

Apparently, they don't watch college football in Salem, Oregon...

The Heisman Trophy award ceremony is tomorrow night, recognizing the most outstanding college football player of the year. Most pundits say that Troy Smith, Ohio State's quarterback (67% completions, 2,507 yards, 30 touchdowns, five interceptions), will not only win the award, but some predict that he may win with the highest percentage of first-place votes (Reggie Bush is the current record-holder at 84.9%), and could come close to the highest margin of victory ever (O.J. Simpson currently holds that distinction). The other finalists invited to the ceremony this weekend were Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn, and Arkansas RB Darren McFadden. But, according to one less-than brilliant fellow from the great northwest, none of these players even deserved a mention on his ballot. I guess he knows more about college football than the rest of the country combined. Or maybe he is simply trying to make some sort of silly statement or trying to arouse a controversy. Or maybe, he wants to be known as the guy that didn't vote for Troy Smith. Whatever his motivation, his Heisman voting privileges should be revoked.

Friends, real friends, are hard to come by.

Friendship doesn't happen overnight nor does it come easy. Usually it takes time and it takes sacrifice.

It takes treks in the woods, time spent fishing, time enjoying a cup of coffee, time spent at some volunteer project, time spent praying, time spent around the table eating simple foods, etc. It takes time like sitting in front of a TV watching the A-Team with popcorn. Or maybe it will take times like sharing a baloney, onion, cheese and tomato sandwich.

I guess for me it was the time spent together, and not what we were doing.

Friendship is one of the most valuable commodities in the world today.

Your friend,
Rennie

This was written by the Maintenance Guru at La Croix. I thought it worthy of publishing...

Are You a Racist?

Ran across a series of tests that are part of Project Implicit at Harvard while reading Malcolm Gladwell's blog. Try one of them out to see if you have any subconscious preferences based on race or other factors. Go here and click on Demonstration and choose a test to take. Interesting stuff...

Ugliness, Ugliness, It's What I Long For...

Fox Sports has posted a list of the Top Ten Worst Sports Uniforms. I can't disagree with any of their choices, but how can the old Houston Astros uniforms be exempt? Seriously. Not to mention the fact that The Astrodome's colors reflected the uniform colors also. Ick!

I'm back...

OK, again it has been a long time since I have updated. I know there are those of you out there that pay attention to this blog - all two of you - that have been concerned. Sorry about the lack of communication. Life has just been really busy. I will try to be back and better than ever (to steal a line from Mike and Mike in the Morning).

This morning, I woke up a little cranky. The weather "professionals" were calling for 1-3 inches of snow for Cape Girardeau overnight. But, as should be expected by now, there is no snow. Just grey and cold outside. I like the cold, but I like it better when there is snow on the ground. I didn't particularly care for snow when I lived where we got a lot of it, but now that we never get it, I sure miss it.

Our trip to Ohio for Thanksgiving was very good. We visited my family in the Cleveland area. It was a great visit and much fun to see how much all of the kids have grown. My nephew Matthew is very scary because he is so big. I made sure that I was nice to him and didn't pick on him. And Kaylee and Mikey are getting so big and mature as well. We got to see cousins and their kids as well (except for my cousin in Arizona). It was insane at times, so it was good to get home to relative quiet and normalcy. And we discovered that Colin travels like a champ. He took three good naps, and only got really fussy once. But when Marcy climbed in the back seat with him, he calmed right down. Ten hours, fifteen minutes total, and that includes getting lost once.

Before our trip to Cleveland, I was at the other end of Ohio - Cincinnati - for the National Youth Workers Convention, put on by Youth Specialties. As always, this was a great time of refreshing, rejuvenation, and reeducating for my job as a youth pastor. The main stage speakers this year were especially good. Donald Miller, Brenda Salter McNeil, and Mike Pilavachi all hit home runs, as far as I'm concerned. The worship leaders were excellent: David Crowder Band (of course) and Starfield. It was great to catch up with some good friends, Trey and Jonesy in particular. But the highlight of the weekend had to be Ohio State laying the smackdown to Michigan for a trip to the national championship game in January. It was a great weekend, and I am already longing for my next conference. Marcy called me a conference junkie. She's probably right, but I'm not ashamed. Only ten months 'til Catalyst!

OK, I think I'm caught up now. Have a great day, and thanks for reading...

Funny Stuff

Last week at The Porch we had our usual "Dress Up Because It's Halloween" night. There were several creative costumes, but my highlight of the night came from Logan. He had a Grim Reaper hood and a scythe, and yet he was wearing his usual Hawaiian shirt and shorts. I told him I liked his outfit, to which he replied, "I'm on vacation." I laughed so hard I had to sit down! I can just imagine the Grim Reaper sitting under a beach umbrella sipping a pina colada. Now that's one funny kid!

Repentance

New York Mets pitcher Guillermo Mota has been suspended for 50 games by Major League Baseball for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance. In response, he made this statement:

"I have no one to blame but myself," Mota said in a statement that did not explain how he ran afoul of baseball's drug rules. "I take full responsibility for my actions and accept MLB's suspension. I used extremely poor judgment and deserve to be held accountable."

"To my teammates and the entire Mets organization, I am sorry. I truly regret what I did and hope that you can forgive me. To baseball fans everywhere, I understand that you are disappointed in me, and I don't blame you. I feel terrible and I promise this is the first and last time that this will happen. I am determined to prove to you that this was one mistake."

How refreshing! An athlete that comes out and says, "I did it, and I'm sorry. Forgive me." Compare this to some other recent athletes when faced with the same issues :

• Rafael Palmeiro, in front of Congress: "I have never used steroids. Period." - He tested positive five months later, and claimed that he took the steroids unwittingly.
  
• Mark McGwire, in front of Congress: "I'm not here to talk about the past." - Maybe he never used stuff, but that lack of a statement sure is condemning.
• Barry Bonds: Claims he unknowingly used steroids that he thought was flaxseed oil. Seriously.

Granted, Mota made his admission after he had been caught, but it was still nice to hear an athlete own up to their failings, instead of trying to make all sorts of excuses.

Shouldn't we follow that example in life? Instead of making excuses for the way that we are and the ways that we screw up in our relationship with God and others, shouldn't we just say, "I screwed up. I'm sorry. It will be the last time"? Isn't that what repentance is all about?

Time to Vote...or Not

You can tell when it's election season. The leaves are starting to change colors, there's a chill in the air, and mud is getting slung all over the television. As a result, I hate election season. No, I like the colorful leaves and the chilliness in the morning, but the negative political ads make me a little puky. It's a shame that no one running for office has stances on any issues anymore; they only know every thing that their opponent has done wrong in their lives...or at least it seems that way to me. "Vote for me because that other guy/lady is a moron with no ethics whatsoever. Here's exactly how bad of a person he/she is." And so on. One particular set of ads have been running for months and months for someone named Judy Baar Topinka, and the tagline, "What's she thinking?" Not, "Vote for me and here's why," but, "You can't vote for her because she's that stupid. (paraphrased)" And I still don't know who she is or what she is running for. These types of ads - and the ones for prescription drugs - almost make me want to stop watching TV...but Prison Break keeps bringing me back.

We did a teaching last week at The Porch. We are in the midst of a series we titled GodSpace: A Space for God (modeled after the popular MySpace website). The idea is, what does it look like when you give God space in your life. The focus last week was on the Comments section, specifically, when you give God control of your life, how is your tongue/speech/comments affected? We found ourselves in James 3, where the tongue is compared to a bit that controls a large horse, a rudder that controls a large ship, and a spark that can start a huge fire. It can do a lot of damage, and it can do a lot of good. If you can control our tongue, it makes controlling the rest of you that much easier.

As I thought about this teaching, I thought back to my repulsion for political ads. I had this thought: What if we chose to not vote for anyone that ran attack ads on their opponent? By voting for the individuals that "approved this message," are we not saying, "I condone your methods of advertising"? I would have a hard time looking the attacked opponent in the eye and saying, "I agree with all of the awful things that [my candidate] said about you." If we made that kind of a stance, with massive support behind it, we might actually have some ads aired that were helpful and informative, instead of nasty and dirty. Granted, that kind of movement is more than this lowly blog could ever generate. So the more applicable question is, if we each made that stance, to not vote for anyone that ran negative, attacking policital ads, would we have anyone to vote for? Or have they all gone over to the dark side?

Catalyst Conference

This isn't so much an update as it is a question. I am heading to Atlanta next week for the Catalyst Conference. Anybody else going that would want to hook up for a cup of coffee? If so, let me know. I will also try to blog when there...