Wow!



Now if we can just get a win in game three, then I'd be really impressed.

A Sad Day



I just learned from my weekly e-mail from Youth Specialties that Lee Eshleman, of Ted & Lee fame, died last week. Apparently, he has been suffering for a long time from depression. On May 17th, he succumbed to the pressure and took his own life. He will be missed by many in the field of youth ministry as he was part of a team that created great skits with excellent Biblical points that students enjoyed. We used their Insider's View of Jesus curriculum a couple of summers ago, which looked at the life of Jesus through the eyes of Andrew and Peter. Hilarious, and thought-provoking. I also greatly enjoyed seeing them at the YS National Youth Workers Convention each year. I will miss his contribution to the kingdom of God. Here is a bit from Ted and his partner in skit-crime, Lee.

Happy Mother's Day

For all of you mom's out there - because I know so many of you read this blog - this classic video is for you. Enjoy:

I Am Convinced!

• I am convinced that diaper rash is the worst plague known to man. Colin has a severe case of it right now and is completely miserable. He woke up this morning screaming and crying like I have never heard him before. And changing his diaper when he has The Plague is an adventure, and not a fun one. I guess I'll be heading to the drugstore later to find a better treatment for it.
• I am convinced that being a dad is the best thing in the world!
  
• I am convinced that Roger Clemens is the worst teammate in Major League Baseball. He is no more than a mercenary. When he announced his return to the Yankees, he spoke of how glad he was to be back in NY. Well, sure he was. They threw more money at him than did Boston or Houston. If one of those teams had given him more money, he would have been thrilled to be there, too. But what kind of teammate demands to be able to go home whenever he wants? It's one thing to want to spend time with your family, but for $28 million, I think you could maybe buy them a nice home in NY so you could be with them. And he doesn't just use that privilege to spend time with his family. He also uses it to play golf, according to his former manager Phil Garner. I would rather have a teammate that is committed to the team than one who is no more than a hired gun who can show up late and leave whenever.
• I am convinced that MLB teams are doing the right thing by banning alcohol from their clubhouses, in light of the death of Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock. I know, he didn't get drunk at the stadium, but why even have alcohol there? What other employer offers beer to their employers at their place of employment after a long day? None! Some - Colin Cowherd and Mike Greenberg on ESPN Radio - say that this is the wrong approach, that we need to stress personal responsibility instead. That's fine, but why put the temptation there for anyone that may be struggling with it? We might as well offer betting slips in the clubhouse but make sure we stress responsibility. Give me a break! I know that alcohol is legal, but also very damaging to many people. Get it out of the clubhouse.
• Speaking of ESPN, I am convinced that they are coming close to losing me as a fan of their establishment (I know, it would crush them to know this). It ticks me off that more and more of the articles that they posy online are only available to Insiders, which means paying X amount of dollars for the inside scoop. I know they are in the business of making money, but they won't make my money this way. I'll look at a different website instead.
• I am convinced that the local media in Cape Girardeau is too self-important. A couple of examples to prove my point. One, every time there is any kind of severe weather, the local TV station breaks into regular programming every few minutes for special updates, instead of breaking in once and then having the little map on the screen showing affected areas or the ticker at the bottom of the screen. For some reason, they feel it is vital to show off their triple doppler whatever and let Mom and Pop in Podunkville know that it will be raining in their neighborhood in seven minutes. And two, are there that many people in this area that care about SEMO baseball? While listening to the NFL Draft a couple of weeks ago, they were early in the broadcast of the first round when the local sports station cut away for a SEMO baseball game. OK fine, you have a contract with SEMO, but have the foresight to know when the second biggest day of the football season is so you don't have to cut away. Geez! And finally, when the shooting tragedy happened at Va Tech, and all of the national news programs were having special one-hour broadcasts instead of their normal half-hour programs, the local station cut away from the coverage to do their local news program. I know, local news is important, but I think that event takes precedence.
  
• I am convinced that British TV is better than American TV. OK, so maybe just the few programs I have watched have been better - thanks, Oral - but they sure seem better. My current favorite is Life on Mars. Other favorites have been , The Office (British version), Cracker and Dr. Who.

Enough ranting for now. I'm sure Colin will be waking up soon. Must be ready...

A Fun Thought...

Colin is at the stage in his life where he is all over the place. He walks really well now, and is on the verge of flat-out running. But while he is so good at getting around, he still falls down quite a bit. Not falling down and getting hurt, although he is getting good at that, too. I mean the kind of falling where he will be standing there one second, and the next he is on his butt. The other night, he must have fallen down five or six times in a row, which led to much laughter from his parents (we weren't laughing at him, we were laughing near him). Marcy thought that the dog toy he was holding was throwing him off-balance. I don't know that those few ounces made that much of a difference, but that's really not the point. The point is, he falls on his butt quite frequently.

I thought recently, as I observed Colin's sometimes inability to stand up, what if adults were like that? What if, randomly throughout our days, we would simply fall on our butt? And there would be no reaction at all; we would simply stand back up like nothing ever happened. Imagine the scenarios:

• You are looking at buying a brand-new car, and the salesman simply falls down on his butt.
• As you walk through the mall, people are dropping left and right, falling on their butts.
• While everyone is singing in church, people are sporadically falling on their butts throughout the sanctuary.
• You're getting ready to kiss that girl for the first time, and she falls on her butt.

You get the picture, and if you do, it's a pretty funny picture. I think it has great potential as a skit on SNL or Mad TV. What do you think?

What's Wrong with This Picture?

The Cavs just swept a playoff series.
The Indians are in first place.
The Browns just had a great draft.

All signs that the Armageddon is upon us...