May 29, 2012

1. It's not often that you go to vote and see your friend on the ballot for the United States Senate. I have to admit, it's pretty cool.

            I have known Glenn Addison since our college days at ACU. Today he is one of several Republicans running for the Senate.

            No matter what party they are involved in, I have a high respect for Glenn and other Christians who are willing to participate in the political process.

            Creation is fallen, and as the medical field and political field demonstrate, we will never see complete and everlasting healing. Yet, it is nice to know godly people who try to do the best they can to serve God in either one.

2. Last night, I was working on my bank statement, and I was seated behind my daughter Abby. Abby, herself, was seated at our family computer with her ear plugs in, and she was watching a TV program on an internet service.

            Hard as I tried to concentrate on the bank statement, I consistently found myself distracted by what was on the screen. I found out that the show was called ONCE UPON A TIME. The premise is that several fairytale characters such as Snow White, the evil queen, Cinderella, and Rumpelstiltskin are transported into the modern world to a small town in Maine.

            The show has aired this year on ABC. I am definitely toying with the idea of watching the show on DVD or Internet.

3. Here is an interesting find. Jay Hunter Morris has starred in productions of the famous Metropolitan Opera of New York City. Jay Hunter Morris grew up in Paris–Texas! That's a definite example of a small-town boy who make good in his chosen field.

4. I’m so glad school is out for our girls and me. Timothy, and my wife, Judy, will be out of school by the end of this week. I truly believe I enjoy summer now as much as I did when I was a kid. It's good to see the kids get a break; it is also good to get to spend more time with them. While I don't particularly enjoy hot weather, I realize you cannot have summer without it. I like summer. 

5. I’m picking San Antonio to defeat Oklahoma City in 6 games. There: I wrote it.

   

*Thanks to Peter King for the inspiration for this blog's title.

May 22, 2012

1. I saw the final episode of HOUSE last night. My daughter, Haleigh, watched it along with me. I won't give away everything in case you got episode TiVo’d and have not seen it yet, but I will say that Haleigh was disappointed in the episode.

            I had more of a mediocre review. I think it could have been better, but I think it could have been worse.

            It has become so trendy to have amazing, closing episodes of TV shows that I believe the bar is set too high. Who knows, maybe the last episode of MASH is responsible as much as anything for that. That is still one of the highest-rated viewing events in United States television history.

            However, I personally believe the finest “final episode” was the old TV show NEWHART. When Bob Newhart wakes up in bed with his TV wife from his previous program–THE BOB NEWHART SHOW–the results were hysterical. Hard to top that!

2. Texas Rangers, you were starting to look normal again. Now with Nefteli Feliz on the D.L., you guys are really to be tested.

3. I almost halfway through THE PASSAGE TO POWER by Robert Caro. It is a spell binder so far.

4. I think I tweeted this, but it was great having Max Lucado speak at the ETCA fundraiser on Friday night, and at their senior graduation on Saturday. He did a great job and much was done to benefit the school. I had Max’s nephew, Taylor Preston, in my senior Bible class this year at the Academy. He is an extremely smart student and fun to have in class.

 5. Another book for the series that I am currently preaching, which includes a look at The Seven Deadly Sins, is THE 7 SINS OF HIGHLY DEFECTIVE PEOPLE by Rick Ezell. This is a smaller book, more practical, than most having to do with this subject.

*Thanks to Peter King for the inspiration for this blog's title.

May 15, 2012

1. I think President Obama has achieved a feat I had never previously thought possible. With his statement supporting gay marriage, he has evidently inspired millions of Catholics and evangelicals to passionately support—a Mormon for president.

            Some folks have sent or forwarded several interesting items to me since the President’s pronouncement. Here are a couple: http://danbouchelle.blogspot.com/2012/05/plea-to-christians-about-our-response.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9vQt6IXXaM&hd=

             The different writers I have read do not necessarily agree on everything, but they have been thought provoking in their words.

            I’ve got friends who plan on voting for the Democrats (most oppose gay marriage), friends who plan to vote for the Republicans (need I say how they feel about gay marriage?), and friends who plan to not vote (most oppose gay marriage); I love them all, and this year should prove interesting to our nation.

            At the end of the day, I think I join President Lincoln’s sentiments… if I may paraphrase: I am not so concerned about God being on my side; rather, my concern is that I am on God’s side.

            God is at work. He has got a lot to do. I want to join Jesus in being about the Father's business.

2. I found out a there is a lot of debate out there as to whether or not Abraham Lincoln said these words. About.com says the two earliest quotes that come closest were quoted by Rev. Matthew Simpson at a funeral service for Lincoln on May 4, 1865:

To a minister who said he hoped the Lord was on our side, he replied that it gave him no concern whether the Lord was on our side or not "For," he added, "I know the Lord is always on the side of right;" and with deep feeling added, "But God is my witness that it is my constant anxiety and prayer that both myself and this nation should be on the Lord's side."

            and from Francis B. Carpenter's 1867 book, Six Months at the White House with Abraham Lincoln, page 282: No nobler reply ever fell from the lips of a ruler, than that uttered by President Lincoln in response to the clergyman who ventured to say, in his presence, that he hoped "the Lord was on our side."

3. Judy, Haleigh, Abby, and I just completed watching the movie THE LIGHTKEEPERS. This was a classic case of a movie that probably looked good on paper but was poorly transformed to the screen. Richard Dreyfuss and Blythe Danner starred in this film about two men who hate women and keep a lighthouse going on Cape Cod in 1912.

            Richard Dreyfuss, in an interview, had a different take. To hear him talk about it, you would have thought these two guys saved the world for democracy before Woodrow Wilson.

            The movie was clean, and I cannot remember a bad word. Moreover, the scenery was nice.

            Sadly, did you catch the phrase “just completed” in the first sentence of number 3? That is because it took us several nights to watch the movie: we kept falling asleep.

            In other movie news, my daughter Abby recently read the novel THE NATURAL for school. We then watched the movie together. I have never read the book, so I found it interesting that she claims the novel is much darker and cynical than the movie.

4. I’ve got another book to recommend from my prep work for “Seven Life-Affirming Virtues" and the 7 deadly sins. This one is entitled GLITTERING VICES by Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung.  

5. I heard an interesting quote last week from ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser, “Football is over as we know it.” On the heels of the tragic suicide of Junior Seau, Kornheiser was addressing the immense problem the NFL is dealing with concerning concussions.

            He compared football to boxing, which at one time was America’s most popular sport. Today, boxing is way down the list of well-liked sports.

            The popularity of football, Kornheiser says, may descend slowly. However, it has peaked. It's arc will steadily decline.

*Thanks to Peter King for the inspiration for this blog's title.

May 8, 2012

 1. I ran in this blog a couple of weeks ago a blurb about Salman Khan. He has created a website designed to help teenagers with their education. My interest was in the subjects of math and science, because that is where I am of little help to my kids.

            Khan came up with this idea trying to help his teenage cousin solve algebra problems. Since she lived far away, he attempted to help her online. He succeeded.

            I have found this site very helpful.

            If you have teenagers, it will be helpful to you as well. The site is free, and here is a link http://www.khanacademy.org/

2. I think the new DICK’S SPORTING GOODS commercial-“Untouchable”-is one of most inspirational of all time. It features music from the movie RUDY, and shows athletes in the state of preparation for their particular sports. The ad’s culmination features the athletes competing in their respective events. I showed the commercial on YouTube to my four kids. Four out of four kids surveyed said they found the commercial highly inspirational. Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abd1OYiAcGQ

3. I'm glad to see vocational education is making a comeback. Guess where this quote came from:

            “Over time… public schools cultivated the theology that every child should go to college (a four year liberal arts college at that) and therefore every child should be required to pursue a college prep course in high school. The results have been awful. High school dropout rates continue to be a national embarrassment. In most high school graduates are not prepared for the world of work.”

Answer–TIME Magazine May 14, 2012 (Here’s a link to the article: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2113794,00.html)

            I agree with TIME. Too many students are destroying the integrity of high schools because they are being pigeonholed into something that is so disconnected from their temperament and future lives, they are willing to sabotage all school activity around them—and potentially their own lives as well.

            I knew that we have a deficiency of welders in the U.S.; I did not realize we're also running out of qualified auto mechanics.

            I hope vocational education in schools is trending up.

4. I recently started a new series at Shiloh that I am calling “Seven Life-Affirming Virtues.” The genesis of this idea came as I thought of doing a series on the seven deadly sins. After some study and reflection, I moved the framework for the series toward a more positive direction.

            I chose seven fundamental virtues that describe the location where one can find God. I decided to address the sins and the flanking either side of each virtue. For example, last week we looked at humility, which is a spot one can find Jesus (See Phil. 2:1-7.)

            On one side of humility is thinking too high of oneself; on the other side of humility is thinking too low of oneself.

            It so happens that in each one of these sermons, one of the corresponding vices comes from the list of seven deadly sins. Consequently, I have read several books on the Seven Deadly Sins as conversation partners.

            One I have found helpful is an older book that you may have read. SEVEN DEADLY SINS was written by Tony Campolo back in the 1980s. In this book, Campolo is typically thought-provoking, occasionally outrageous, and often practical.

            Another book, for those who would enjoy a more scholarly and classical treatment, is THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS by Solomon Schimmel. His perspective is Jewish, and it was written when he was serving as a professor of Jewish education and psychology at Hebrew College in Brookline, Massachusetts. What intrigued me about this book is the way he draws from classical, Jewish, and Christian traditions.

5. I like San Antonio, but for my Mavs’ sake, I am pulling for Oklahoma City or Miami to win the NBA championship. Dallas wrote off this season before it began. OC and Miami is bound to win a championship; why not let them get it out of their system this year?

*Thanks to Peter King for the inspiration for this blog's title.

May 1, 2012

1. I saw in this month’s SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN an article entitled “A Unified Physics?

New Efforts to Unite Quantum Mechanics with Einstein's Relativity.” Interesting–scientists, like people of religion, try to find a point of unity in the midst of intense personal belief.

2. Book reviews are being churned out across the planet about Robert Caro's new book PASSAGE TWO POWER. This is his fourth installment on the life of Lyndon Johnson. This volume covers a brief period: from 1958 through 1963, and concludes when Johnson becomes president after JFK’s assassination. I've got to admit I cannot wait to read it. Caro is 76. Here’s hoping he has the strength and good health to complete his work. There have been famous examples of biographers who were unable to do so. Two who come instantly to mind are Douglass Southall Freeman in his series on George Washington, and, more recently, William Manchester and his biography of Winston Churchill.

3. Guilty pleasure: I have now finished the first two seasons of the FX TV series JUSTIFIED. I checked out all of the DVDs from our local public library, which made it nice in that I did not have to use up my selections at Netflix. Timothy Olyphant always makes a great lawman, but in the second season, Jacksonville, Texas native Margot Martindale

steals the show. No wonder she won an Emmy. The series was intense enough to make the hours on the treadmill pass by rapidly.

4. All right, how many of you put money down that the Texas Rangers would be leading the Anaheim Angels of California by nine games by the end of April? On top of that, who would've imagined that Albert Pujols would not have a homerun in the entire month of April. Just for the record, he will start hitting soon. I feel confident that by season's end, he will have his fair share of home runs.

            b. It makes me nervous that the consensus of the experts of baseball is that the Rangers are MLB’s best team.

            c. I like it that the Cowboys traded up to select Morris Claiborne as the sixth pick in the draft. If the Cowboys secondary stays healthy, and they get good play out of their offense line play, they might have a shot to make a nice run in the playoffs.

            d. The Mavs are 0-2 in their series with Oklahoma City. This does not concern me because I have already written this year off. I hope they can make some healthy signings in the off-season.

            e. I used to be a huge fan of the Dallas Stars. Are they still a franchise?

            f. The Cleveland Browns did Colt McCoy a huge favor by drafting Brandon Weedon. Lacking a good offensive line and quality receivers, the Browns can fail offensively with Weedon for a while. Trent Richardson notwithstanding, Weedon (who is a few years older than McCoy) will not succeed until the other offensive needs of the Browns are met. By that time, it might be too late. McCoy, healthy and competitive, will be ready to lead the way.

5. I’ve never seen an episode of the TV show COMMUNITY, but from what I read, it sounds like another metaphor for the church as described by the New Testament.

*Thanks to Peter King for the inspiration for this blog's title.