Technical Problems

The first couple of times I saw Obama and McCain speak I thought, "If we are voting on oratory skills, Obama will destroy McCain." And I've thought that until I saw this video. Obama's teleprompter goes down and here's what happens...



Breathalyzer = Classic!

Fantasy Football '08

It's that time of year again, when I reveal who I drafted in our church fantasy football league. Going into the draft, I had a difficult decision to make. I had to decide who was going to be my keeper. I had it boiled down to either Earnest Graham (RB - Saints) or Brandon Marshall (WR - Broncos). Both of them were free agent pick-ups, which meant that I would only have to sacrifice my last-round draft pick from this year's draft to keep either. They were each rated at about the same place on the big draft boards I read online, so it was a crap shoot. After much deliberation - and some help from my friend Brian - I chose to keep Marshall. Also, I realized that I started the night with the #5 pick (out of ten teams), which is not a desirable location. One pick earlier and I could have gotten one of the true stud RBs, but instead I got a tier three guy. But Portis has been nice for me in the past, so we'll hold off on the judgment calls until then. Now, without any further ado, here is my draft, in order:

• Clinton Portis - RB (pictured here)
  
• Andre Johnson - WR
• Brandon Jacobs - RB
• Derek Anderson - QB (also, if he loses the job to Quinn, or gets injured, I still keep the Browns' QB)
• Calvin Johnson - WR
• Fred Taylor - RB
• Heath Miller - TE
• Seattle - Defense
• Anthony Gonzalez - WR
• Kevin Smith - RB
• Chester Taylor - RB (this was a block so the guy who had Adrian Peterson couldn't handcuff his pick in case AD gets injured - hee-hee!)
• Nate Kaeding - K
• Brandon Marshall - WR

The first game is Thursday night - Are you ready for some football?!

The Thirties

I just had my last birthday in my 30's the other day. It allowed me to reflect on the last decade of my life, and wonder what the next year might bring. In my 30's, I:

• Went to seminary
• Graduated from seminary
• Met, fell in love with, and married my lovely wife
• Started a career in full-time youth ministry
• Moved west of the Mississippi River
• Bought a house
  
• Got a dog
• Had the two most awesome children in the whole, entire world

It's been a great decade! The 40's will be hard-pressed to beat it...but I still have a whole year before I have to think about that.

Hanna Giggling

Here is our beautiful daughter with her first giggles. Seriously cute!

Consult, stupid!

As I was having my quiet time this morning - which has been increasingly not quiet with the addition of early-rising kids - I ran across this verse:

Joshua 9:14 - So the Israelites examined their food, but they did not consult the Lord. (NLT)

The context of the verse is a story of the Israelites being told by God to essentially rid the land of its inhabitants. But Joshua and the Israelites, instead of following that directive, made a treaty with a deceptive group of people who were playing themselves off as a hurting nation. In fact, the nation was not hurting, but instead were afraid of what Israel would do to them. When Joshua and the people found out that they had been lied to, they were true to their word and instead of destroying the people - like God told them to - they made them servants. They were basically deceived into not following God's explicit instructions.

It made me ask the question: How often do I not consult the Lord? Do I consult the Lord as much as I should with:

My marriage

My kids

My job

My career path

My finances

The use of my spare time

My temptations

My friendships

My lack of discipline is basically all areas?

Yeah, probably not (read: DEFINITELY NOT!). It smacked me across the face in the wee hours of the morning. My wife has desired for us to pray more as a couple, but even though she keeps asking, I don't consult the Lord. I work to plan out our youth calendar and I don't consult the Lord. Even this morning I thought, "Man, I really need to set aside the first few minutes of every day at work to consult the Lord." hen when I got to work, what did I do? Flipped on the computer and started checking e-mail. AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!! Why is it so difficult?!? It shouldn't be. But maybe the depth of my relationship with the Lord is not where it needs to be so that my first thought is, "Consult the Lord." Actually, not maybe, but definitely. Lord, remind me that you are there for me to consult.

Elmo's Not So Bad After All

My love and profound respect for Sesame Street has been renewed overnight. It had been tarnished quite a bit since it turned into the Cult of Elmo, but I find myself loving the Land of Muppets again. It all turned around for me during a short ride home from church last night. As we were riding home, Colin - who watches Sesame Street three times a week - was yammering away in the back seat. Marcy was apparently paying better attention than I was, because she looked at me and said, "I think he just counted up to twelve." I thought she was crazy, but I started him counting, and sure enough, he counted all the way up to twelve! I'm not sure if kids are supposed to do that on the eve of their second birthday, but as far as I'm concerned, it was pretty amazing. Thank goodness for a TV show doing the job of parenting that I'm supposed to be doing!

Wassup! Revisited

A friend from my Asbury days let me know via Facebook that a radio station in the Lexington, KY area got a hold of this video that I produced while at the 'bury. Apparently, they have been playing it quite a bit on the radio, and according to my friend, it is "the talk of the town." I put the video together for a social function we had called The Night of Classic Game Shows as a commercial break. I figure this is a good excuse to resurrect it. This features some of the prominent Asbury professors, plus the seminary president at the time. Enjoy!

Where the Honk Have You Been?!?

Sorry blog readers - all three of you - that I have been so out of pocket recently. Starting with the blog we were doing for our church, I kinda got overwhelmed with everything. But I'm back! I know, you're excited. You ain't gotta tell me. Here's a bunch of what's happening:

Fantasy Baseball

We had our fantasy baseball draft last night. I'm pretty sure I got suckered in to be the chump of the league. A buddy asked me to be in it, and I said yes before I realized that each of the other teams would have three three-year keepers, and I was taking over a team that had two players left on it, neither of which were worth keeping. Plus, I had a difficult time with the website, since I have never used it before. So, those are my disclaimers going into the season in case I suck really bad. Here's my team:

C - Benjie Molina
1B - Albert Pujols (guaranteed now to pop that ligament in his elbow)
2B - B.J. Upton
3B - Ryan Zimmerman
SS - Troy Tulowitzki
LF - Hideki Matsui
CF - Vernon Wells
RF - Magglio Ordonez
Util - Kevin Kouzmanoff (3B)
Bench - Ryan Theriot (2B, SS)
SP - Erik Bedard
SP - Rich Hill
SP - Dustin McGowan
SP - Zach Greinke
RP - Takashi Saito
Bench - Shaun Marcum (SP)
Bench - Brandon Lyon (RP)
Bench - B.J. Upton (RP - in the process of dropping for another bat - didn't mean to draft him)

So we'll see how it goes...

Six-Word Memoirs

I heard an interesting story on NPR the other day. A story was told about Ernest Hemingway. He was approached in a bar by someone that challenged him to write a story using only six words. He came up with, "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." Some authors got together and decided to compile six-word memoirs from people from all walks of life, writers and not, and put them in a book. It is called Not Quite What I Was Planning. The authors were on NPR discussing this book. And it got me thinking, "What would my six-word memoir be?" I had lots of time to think, driving back from Tulsa, but I have only come up with two so far:

• Being a Daddy - better than imagined!
• Living in Missouri, heart in Ohio.

It's not a lot, but it's a start. What would yours be?

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

What a weird weather year! We had two ice storms in February back-to-back, and yesterday a full foot of rain fell in Cape Girardeau. And it's still falling! This was the first time I have ever heard of a school being canceled because of rain. I am usually cursing the fact that we live on a hill because it's a pain to mow, but now I am thankful for that hill. Our basement would have been much worse if we lived in a valley.

And just because she's so dang cute and I haven't posted a picture of her in a while, here's Hanna:

Interesting Reading Options

I just noticed the interesting choices of reading materials that are currently in our bathroom. There are two books on the back of our toilet: My Utmost for His Highest and The Zombie Survival Guide. One the one hand, you have a timeless classic, a helpful guide to living life in all its fullness, and on the other, you have My Utmost for His Highest. What more do you need?

The Problem with God

Our church has started a blog to discuss some of the questions that are being raised in our current message series, The Problem with God, and I am one of the contributors. We asked our people before the series to invite their non-believing and maybe atheist/agnostic friends to come and dialogue with us. And at each service, we invite everyone to write down their questions about or problems with God and put them in a box as they leave, and we are doing our best to answer as many of them as we can. There have been, and continue to be, some fascinating and challenging discussions going on. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Fantasy Football Review

I had cause to look back at past postings on this blog and came across my fantasy football draft from this past season. Here's how my draft played out:

1. Larry Johnson - RB
   
2. Ronnie Brown - RB
   
3. Donovan McNabb - QB
   
4. Lee Evans - WR
   
5. Plaxico Burress - WR
   
6. Deuce McAllister - RB
   
7. Vernon Davis - TE
   
8. Mark Clayton - WR
   
9. Alex Smith - QB
   
10. Shayne Graham - K
    
11. Vernand Morency - RB
    
12. Bernard Berrian - WR
    
13. Baltimore - D/ST
    

Now, here's my roster on the final day of the season:

1. Derek Anderson - QB
2. Earnest Graham - RB
3. Fred Jackson - RB
4. Chester Taylor - RB
5. Fred Taylor - RB
6. Bernard Berrian - WR
7. Plaxico Burress - WR
8. Anthony Gonzalez - WR
9. Brandon Marshall - WR
10. Vernon Davis - TE
11. Phil Dawson - K
12. San Diego - D/ST
13. Indianapolis - D/ST
    

So let's see, my first two draft picks went out with injuries (and Brown was a stud before he went down); the third pick was less than great (except for the one week that I sat him) before I dropped him; my fourth pick did not live up to expectations; pick five, stud; pick six, nothing special; pick seven, dropped him and picked him up again; picks eight through eleven, not much to talk about; pick twelve had good weeks, but was handicapped by below average quarterback play; and pick thirteen was my keeper and was not good. 

My pick-ups did OK, for the most part. DA was great, most of the time (double bonus since I'm a huge Browns fan); my RB corps did alright, especially Fred Taylor; Marshall was a go-to R a good part of the year; and I had two good D/ST to choose from. Considering how pitiful of a draft it was, a sixth place finish, was not too bad. Here's hoping I draft better next year, though.

Touching Holiness

As I was reading the Bible yesterday morning - somehow, Colin and Hanna gave me a few minutes to do so - I came across a couple of verses that have never stood out to me before. In Leviticus 6, in the discussion about the grain offering and the sin offering, God tells Moses that anyone that touches them will become holy (v. 18 & 27). I have always known in the Levitical code that anyone that touches something that is unclean will then be considered unclean, but now I come to the realization that the opposite is true, that he who touches the holy will become holy. How cool is that?! Lord, help me to touch the holy. Help me to touch You!

Another thought that comes with that is that we are called to be holy in the New Testament. I wonder if anyone that touches me or comes into contact with me experiences holiness. Shouldn't they? Shouldn't they come into contact with me, or any follower of Jesus, and experience holiness? That is what we are called to be: holy. Unfortunately, I fear that others experience something far different in me: impatience, frustration, selfishness, etc. Lord, help me to be holy so that I can be holiness to the world that so desperately needs it.

A New Arrival!

This should have been posted several days ago, but things have been a little crazy around the Fitzpatrick household. You see, last Friday night, Marcy and I went to bed with Marcy feeling a little weird, not sure if she was having contractions or not. She didn't sleep well, and started timing contractions at 2:00am. They timed out at three minutes apart which, if you don't know about childbirth, means it's time to get to the hospital. However, the contractions were short in length, say 30 seconds or so. So she held out and woke me at 2:30am to confirm her times. She was right. She decided to take a shower and lay down. Now, the contractions were 1 1/2 minutes apart, which means it's about go time. But they were still short, so we called the doctor to find out what we should do. She told us to head to the hospital, which we did. I think we freaked out the security guards as Marcy kept having to stop and bend over from the contraction. We finally got upstairs and into a room at 4:23am. Marcy's contractions were very intense. She decided that she wanted to get up and sit on the birthing ball, but as soon as she sat up, a huge contraction hit and she had to lean on me. When it was done, she said, "I either peed the bed or my water just broke." The nurse confirmed that he water broke, which meant she had to lay back down. When the doctor showed up, she said two things: "I bet you feel pretty silly for calling me now, don't you?" and "Pay attention, Dad, because you might be delivering the next one at home." Not funny. Anyway, the contractions were quick and severe at this point. When Marcy rolled over onto her back, we could already see the baby's head. After a few pushes, out came the baby...at 5:09am! That's right, only 46 minutes after getting into the room, we had another baby. A baby girl! What a rush...with a lot of pain, of course. After a day or so, we finally settled on a name: Hanna (named after one of Marcy's grandmothers) Alice (name after my Grandma Alice). And she is a joy! She sleeps well, and so we feel fairly well-rested. And Colin has been absolutely sweet with her, giving her hugs and pressing his cheek against hers, all with a big smile on his face. So the Fitzpatrick clan grows by one more, and we are thrilled!

More Millions Out The Window

Throughout the years, I have come up with ideas for inventions that would be so sweet that, if I could patent them, would set me up for life. I remember thinking once that if nothing sticks to Teflon, then why not coat cars in Teflon. That way, no dirt or bird poop would stick to them. I know, brilliant! Then I hear later that some car manufacturer decided to do this very thing by mixing Teflon in the paint. Dang! The problem with these great ideas is that I have no way to implement them. I guess I'm an idea guy; I need to meet an implementation guy/girl and we'll be all set. My latest "D'oh!" is this one. I once thought, "How difficult would it be to have a car that drives itself?" you could have sensors that track where the road is, as well as all the other cars and other obstacles. Now, GM is planning on making that a reality. If they can get it to fly - not literally fly - how sweet would that be? I've often thought that it would be most excellent to vacation in an RV, but I don't want to drive it. This way, I wouldn't have to! I could just set the computer, and Marcy and the kids and I could head to the back to play, sleep, watch movies, or whatever. Of course, this is assuming a lot on a youth pastor's salary...

That's a Children's Book?!?

I was reading to Colin this morning. We were reading Richard Scarry's Best Little Word Book Ever! and testing him on various words and objects. At the end of the book, we were reviewing body parts, and as we did, I noticed a list of other Little Golden Books that are available. As I read through them, I discovered one that seemed a rather strange choice for a children's book. Oh, there were the normal kids' titles: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, How the Leopard Got Its Spots, and The Poky Little Puppy. Then, out of nowhere, jumping off the page is Dr. Ruth Westheimer: Grandma on Wheels. That's Dr. Ruth, sex therapist, of the "If it feels good, do it" fame. Call me a prude, but she seems like an odd choice to be the subject of a children's book. I hear their newest release is Jerry Springer and the Tiny Frog.

2007: Year in Review

Now that it is 2008 officially - I know that by the sheer number of college football games that are on TV right now - it's time to look back on 2007 for some standout events, happenings, and themes:

• Colin - He's probably the highlight of the year. It has been so much fun to watch him change from a baby into a little boy and develop a personality. We have experienced him standing, walking, talking, getting baptized, sleeping in a big boy bed (when he wants to stay in it), and wrestling. I never knew that being a dad could be this much fun and rewarding. It will be interesting to see how he adjusts to Baby Fitz #2, which brings us to:
• New baby - One day, as I was working in my office, I heard some footsteps coming down the hallway, followed by Marcy's voice whispering (to Colin), "Take this to Daddy. Go see Daddy." I turned around as Colin walked toward me holding something in each hand. I looked to see what he was holding, and in each hand was a pregnancy test, both with + signs. I didn't quite hyperventilate, but I did gasp a bit. It's exciting and scary to imagine doing this all over again, especially knowing we have the bundle of energy known as "Colin" already residing here. Per Marcy's desire, we did not find out what we are having, so come January 17th or so, we will know if Colin has a little brother or sister.
• Vacation - We took our first family vacation that did not include visiting family in Ohio. The three of us drove down to Gulf Shores, Alabama for a few days. Marcy loves the beach, which decided our destination. It was glorious for her! She usually likes to sleep in, but since it was the beach with beautiful sunrises every morning, she was up very early. Colin got pink eye on the trip down, so we got some good exercise on vacation trying to put his eye drops in. I am not normally a seafood fan, but we had the most tasty shrimp ever at a place called the Steamer, one of the only places along the Gulf to get seafood that is not fried (I was told by a local that they would deep fry a steak if you asked them to down there). All in all, it was a fun a restful time.
• Sports - All in all, it was a fun - and heartbreaking - year to be a Cleveland and Ohio State sports fan. The OSU Buckeyes got to and lost the national title game in both football and basketball, the Cavs got to and lost the NBA Finals, the Indians got to and lost the ALCS, and the Browns fell just short of missing the playoffs due to a tiebreaker. A good year, yes. A frustrating year, also yes. In addition, it was sheer ecstasy to see Michigan lose to Appalachian State (arguably the biggest upset EVER) and then lose yet again to Ohio State.
  
• Ministry - We have seen unprecedented numbers at youth group meetings, on youth mission trips, and at out 30 Hour Famine (which also raised more money for starving kids than ever before at our church - $7,500.00). We are always wrestling with the question, "How does transformation happen in the life of a student?" and the struggle of never having enough SIMYs (adult leaders). I have also had more opportunities to preach then ever, which I love to do. It hasn't always been an easy year for me, but overall it has been good.

I need to go reflect some more, I guess. I know more happened this year, but it's not coming to me. It must be the college football coma I'm in.

Empathy

The past couple of weeks have been hard on my family. To protect everyone involved, I will keep it that vague. But something happened recently that just blew me away. I came home after a particularly rough day and had a good cry in my bedroom. Then I came back out to eat dinner with my wife and son. I looked at Marcy and said, "You need to pray." The three of us held hands as she started to pray. Then, I lost it. I started crying uncontrollably over my dinner. In response to this and her own emotions, Marcy started crying, too. So here we are, in the quietness of the evening, holding hands and crying. Then, out of nowhere, Colin started crying. Not just crying, but wailing! He saw his mommy and daddy crying, and he completely lost it! Never have I seen such empathy before. Marcy and I had to compose ourself quickly to go and comfort him. It was about the sweetest thing I have ever experienced!

Romans 12:15: Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep.

NOOMA Shirts

I just received an e-mail from NOOMA.com. NOOMA is the company that produces the short videos based on sermons by Rob Bell from Mars Hill Bible Church in Michigan. The e-mail advertised an auction that is being held to sell the t-shirts that were used in the latest video, 018/Name. The t-shirts are single-color with one word printed on the back. I was interested to find out how much the t-shirts were going for, so I clicked on the link, which took me to the Ebay site with the merchandise. I was intrigued to discover which items were fetching the high-dollar bids, and which weren't:

• Committed - $115.50 - We all want to be seen as Committed...
  
• Kind - $102.50 - And Kind.
  
• Artist - $255.00 - I thought artists were starving!
  
• Stylish - $255.00 - Well, of course.
  
• Compulsive - $46.00 - I figured this would be more.
• Double-Degree - $61.00 - Yeah, that's prestigious.
• Insecure - $63.00 - That seems pretty secure to pay that much for a shirt that says that you're insecure.
• And the bottom four are:
• Self-Loathing - $17.50
• HIV+ - $17.50
• GED - $15.50
• Anorexic - $15.00

It just breaks my heart that our society - and the Church, in many ways - has so shunned people that they feel like they have to stay in the shadows. Let us be Jesus to the world and embrace people so that they can come out of the shadows to strive to be all that He wants them to be.

Here's a preview of the video, by the way...

When Do We Lose It?

Colin is at a stage in his life where everything is exciting. Not just exciting things. EVERYthing! Colin sees a ball - one that he has seen hundreds of times - and he shrieks out, "BAW!" Or we'll be in his bedroom and he sees his bed and he hollers, "BAW!" Or he hears the horn of a train going by and he squeals, "BAW!" (Pretty much everything is 'baw') This persistent excitement about everything prompted me to ask Marcy yesterday, "When do we lose it? When do we stop getting so excited over the smallest things?" When does life get so mundane and boring that we lose the zest we once had when everything was new? I hope Colin doesn't lose it for a very long time...but I do hope he starts calling things by their real names, and not simply 'baw.'

The above image has nothing to do with this post. It was just too cute to keep to myself. We took it last night as we went to bed.

A Bunch of Colin

Here's a little something I recently put together while goofing around at Photobucket.com. Enjoy!