Skiing and Brobee

This week Brenton, Brady and I are headed to Colorado for a little Skiing action. It has been a crazy couple of weeks, and I am so excited to be hitting the slopes

Take the saying "hitting the slopes" very literally, because most likely I will spend most of my time on by bum. 

A few weeks ago, one of my awesome youth gave me a little dude named Brobee (thank you Ty). He is, well heck I will say it, he is the star of the Nick Jr. television show Yo Gabba Gabba 

(If you have never seen any Yo Gabba Gabba stuff click here...you WILL NOT regret it) 

We decided that he should be the new mascot for our Youth Ministry. So, we decided that we would take Brobee with us to Colorado (he hasn't traveled very much, he was born in China and then he ended up here in Texas).  So, here are some awesome pics of Brobee on the Ski Trip. I will update more pictures as we take them. 

Demanding God

Daniel 4:35 

All the people's of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the power of Heaven and the peoples of earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: "What have you done?" 

I am in the process of reading Francis Chan's "Crazy Love." I am really enjoying the book so far. It is pretty challenging, and I am not even too far into it. I will say, this line from the first chapter has been hard for me to shake off: "Can you worship a God who isn't obligated to explain his actions to you?" 

Wow. That is a challenging line. He goes on to say that it is our own arrogance that demands explanations for God. He is the God of the universe. Psalms says that "Our God is in Heaven, He does whatever pleases Him." I will be completely honest with all of you (the 3 people who read this), that is incredibly challenging for me. When stuff happens in my life, there are times when I feel like God owes me an explanation. Yet, that couldnt be further from the truth. Our God created everything. He loves us, but he never promises us that he will explain himself. It is good that he doesn't even attempt to explain everything to us, because our minds couldn't even comprehend it. 

However, that isn't the most challenging line of the first chapter. He says this....

We keep on questioning Him: "Why did you make me with this body instead of that one?" "Why are so many people dying of starvation?" "Why are there so many planets with nothing living on them?" "Why is my family so messed up?" "Why don't you make Yourself more obvious to the people who need You?" 

The answer to each of these questions is simply this: because He's God. He has more of a right to ask us why so many people are starving

Far too often we as Christians are frustrated with God and ask him why he is doing this or that, when really we have no right to demand an explanation. 

I will end with this last quote from Chan...Colossians 1:16 tells us that everything is created FOR God....Don't we live instead as though God is created for us, to do our bidding, to bless us, and to take care of our loved ones?" 

Sometimes it is hard for me to remember in my prayer time to just praise God for who he is. For all that He created. For everything he decides to do in my life. For everything. Instead, I usually spend my prayer time asking God why he is doing this or that, or asking him to do something. And that isn't bad, we are told in scripture to present our requests to God...The problem is, is that sometimes that is all we do, and we don't just spend some time praising God for all that He is and all that He has done oris doing. I guess If I can leave a challenge for you this week let it be this...In your prayer time just thank God for all that He is. 

This whole post is kind of a endorsement for the book I guess..It seems pretty awesome so far...You can buy it here. 

Disc Golf

Today was my day off. On my days off I really like to play a great little game called Disc Golf. The picture below is of me when I made my one and only hole in one.

It definitely isn't as easy as it sounds. You are throwing a 6 inch disc 250-800 ft into a 2.5ft diameter basket. I am actually (NERD ALERT) a member of the Abilene Disc Golf Association. A few months ago I actually broke my finger, and was unable to play until just a couple of weeks ago.

That really had nothing to do with what I was saying, I just think that x-ray of my finger is really gnarly. And yes, I know that me even using the word gnarly makes me even more nerdy than being apart of the ADGA (I even abbreviated it HA).

The main point of this post is to say that there are 4 main reasons why the 2.5 people who read this should start playing Disc Golf.

1) It's Awesome and Relaxing. One of the main reasons that I like to play disc golf on my days off is because it is so relaxing. It is usually quiet. When I play alone I will listen to some good chill music, but even when you are with people it is still pretty quiet out there. You just walk around, throw your disc and relax, that is pretty awesome.

2) It's Easy to understand. It is the same rules as regular golf. Almost everything is a par 3 (there are a few exceptions). The goal is to throw your disc into the basket (or pin). Pretty simple.

3) Its cheap. Once you buy your discs it is actually free. Buy a couple of cheap discs, throw them in a backpack, and you are good to go.

4) All the cool kids are doing it. Okay, I know that this logic never worked with your parents. And usually when this line is used something illegal or immoral is going on. Not this time though, look  at these cool kids that are doing it...

(Okay these pictures may refute my "Cool Kids" theory but....whatever).

Here is what you need to do. Go buy some cheap discs (email me if you want to know where to get some). Find a disc golf course, we have 3 of them here in Abilene. Then have yourself a merry little time. You can thank me later.

The Naivety of the Female Mind (at least some of them)

Allright I will be honest with all of you (the 2 1/2 people that read this blog). This  a rant/frustration thing with me.

Let me start off by saying this. I am all in favor of raising awareness for Breast Cancer (and any other kinds of cancer for that matter). I actually feel like one of my main frustrations with the church of America is that we too rarely support worthy causes. Finding a cure for cancer is MORE than a worthy cause, it is something we should all strive towards. So, whatever you read below this, DO NOT HEAR that I am bashing raising awareness for cancer, because I am ABSOLUTELY NOT.

That being said, the recent "Show Your Color" nonsense on Facebook frustrated me to no end. If you don't know what I am talking about here is the gist of it. Last week  a campaign started where girls would post a one word status, a color, it was supposed to be the color bra they were wearing. The purpose was two-fold. First it was supposedly to raise awareness for breast cancer (more on this later), and to see how long it would take guys to figure out why the girls were posting colors as their status.

I could probably give you a hundred reasons why this frustrated me, but I will spare you and only give you a couple. First, I am amazed that so many women would participate in something where one of the main purposes was to see how dumb guys were. Really you think that you can just post a color and people are not going to start trying to figure out what in the world you were talking about? Seriously? I know that it is a big joke to say guys are dumb, but this is ridiculous. I started asking what the color thing was and the first person I asked told me. Girls, please stop generalizing men into the one big glob of idiotic-ness. I know there are dumb guys out there (I have met a few of them), but there are dumb girls too! However, this was not even close to the main reason that this whole dumb thing frustrated me.

Girls, let me drop a big heaping cup-overfloweth bucket of reality on you here...Take a deep breath, and trust me on this one, because I am not joking at all. Facebook is a social-networking site where hundreds of people can see your profile. When you post your bra color on there 99.999999999% of guys who saw your status immediately thought of you, without a shirt on, in that color bra. We as guys are extremely visual creatures (you can thank God, he is the One who made us that way), and when you put stuff like that on there most guys immediately think of you in that. I talked to some of my youth guys about it, and they absolutely agreed with me.

Can I just beg one thing of all the women on here? Please, please, oh please with a giant stinking cherry on top, help protect our young men. It is said that a majority of men will look at pornography at some point in their life. Is this their fault? Absolutely. I am not taking any blame away from them, because it needs to sit right on their head. However, we live in an extremely over-sexualized culture. It is impossible to watch a football game and not see some smutty commercial (thank the Lord for DVR). You, as Christians sisters, have to help protect our young men.

That is the main problem I had with this whole color movement. I know that the Susan G. Komen foundation came out and said that it raised awareness for breast cancer, but just because something is a good cause does not mean that we as Christians are supposed to act inappropriately. Thats like saying that as a missions fundraiser we should open a bar and only sell hard liquor so that everyone gets trashed and gives great tips (hey, it is for missions!) The end does not always justify the means, and it definitely didn't in this situation. Thousands and thousands of Christian young men lusted in a movement that, in my opinion, raised less awareness than it did seductiveness. It just didn't have to happen. You really want to raise awareness? Wear a breast cancer awareness t-shirt, put something productive on your Facebook status (such as a statistic about cancer), or (and here is a shocker), actually talk about breast cancer instead of putting the color of your bra. No one needs to know that, I promise.

Geoffrey

(For those of you that want to rebut my "No one needs to know that with",  "guess what, I am married, and my husband may want to know"....I will say this as delicately as I can, as a husband....It isnt the bra that he cares about.........)

Why the Cowboys beating the Saints means that Wade Philips should get fired...

If you were to interview all of the sports journalists in the United States on Friday morning, I promise that 97 out of 100 would have picked the Saints to beat the Cowboys. The 3 that wouldn't have picked them were the 3 that had been drinking Hennesy since they woke up...The Saints went into the game with a sweet record of 13-0. They were going for history in a city that could use some good history. The Cowboys on the other hand were going in the complete opposite direction. For the 12th consecutive year they were heading towards a losing December. This team has been called "soft" among many other more profanity laced things. They had already lost their first 2 games in December, and were realistically looking at going 1-4 to finish the year. Everything spelled d-o-o-m for the Cowboys and their serial under-achieving coach. then came Saturday night...

The Cowboys went into the Superdome in Louisianna and shocked the unbeaten Saints. They outplayed the Saints in every area except 24yd field goals (Folk signed his own pink slip on that one...) Tony Romo was outstanding and Drew Brees was pedestrian. Romo guided the cowboys to 24 points and a shocking zero turnovers. He had a 104 quarterback rating for the game. Then there was Brees. The New Orleans offense had averaged over 30 points per game coming into this contest. They were held to only 17. They had 3 turnovers, and looked outmanned by a Cowboys defense that has overall played pretty well this year.

The talk this week is that the Cowboys will probably finish the year 1-1 (beating the Redskins and losing to the Eagles), and they will make the playoffs. The ESPN pundits have said that if they Cowboys DO make the playoffs, and then somehow manage to win a playoff game then Wade Philips will probably keep his job. In my humble opinion that is ludicrous. This New Orleans game just proves everything that has been wrong with the Cowboys since the Jimmy Johnson years.

First, lets imagine if the Cowboys had of played that way the entire year long! They would easily be 11-3 instead of a measly 9-5. There is a HUGE difference in 11-3 and 9-5. The Vikings look like they may be coming unravelled, and that 11-3 record could have easily turned into 13-3 and that might just have been good enough to have gotten the Cowboys a first round bye and a playoff game in the megachurch known as "Jerry's World". The problem is that they haven't played that way the entire year. There have been many quarters and even games where the Cowboys look downright un-inspired. You can't have that in the NFL and win. The Cowboys underachieving however isnt the only reason that I believe that Philips should lose his job, because I believe that some of that responsibility must be put on the players. However, that is not the real reason that I believe that he should be looking for a job...

I heard on a radio broadcast after the game that the Cowboys coaching staff showed the team Tony Dungy's comments about the Cowboys not having any chance to win the game. Some of the players said that made them want to play that much harder. Seriously?!? It took a sports analyst to get you motivated to knock off an un-beaten team in their home field? Your head coach couldn't do that during the week? Then it all hit me like DeMarcus Ware...That has been the Cowboys problem all year! Many times they looked un-motivated. They looked like they lacked a fire and an intensity. This is the NFL, you shouldn't need bulletin board material to get excited about knocking off an unbeaten team or a division opponent, and yet that is what it took for the Cowboys to play with a fire.

That is why Wade Philips should be fired. He personally lacks a fire for winning. Did you hear his interview a couple of games ago? He got into an argument with a reporter about calling the Cowboys "Winners"...IF only he got that excited DURING the football games. He can't motivate the players to play hard, because frankly he doesn't care enough. I want to see him get excited. I want to see him throw his headset. I don't want to see my uncle out there pouting when a field goal is missed that could have put the game out of reach. I want him to run over to Folk, grab his facemask and tell him that if he doesn't make every dadgum kick then he will let Roy Williams start kicking (seriously, shouldn't we be getting something out of him...) Yet, we didn't see that. We saw him make his little pouty face and move on. Sure, Bobby Knight crossed the line and did some stupid things in his college coaching career, but you always knew that he wanted to win, he HAD to win, and his players played their butts off every single game. Probably because they feared for their lives if they didn't. I am not saying that Philips needs to grab a player by the neck, but show a little fire out there. Lets not make some television commentator get your players fired up, you should have had them fired up the whole week leading up to the game.

My Heisman Ballot

My Heisman Ballot: 1) Ingram, 2) Gerhart, 3) Suh, 4) Tebow, 5) McCoy I know that all of you Texas lovers are going to freak out, so give me a chance to explain my picks. I picked Ingram #1 for a variety of reasons. 1) He plays in the toughest conference in college football, and he still rushed for 6.2 yards per carry. That number alone is ridiculous. 2) In the biggest game of the year, and the biggest of his career, he was awesome. Not to mention that game was against the #1 defense in the country, with a ton of soon to be NFL players, and that didn't stop him from dominating. 3) Without him Alabama is not in the title game. 4) The Heisman is supposed to be for the most outstanding player, to me, that was Ingram. I picked Gerhart #2. He was amazing all year long.The problem for Gerhart is that Stanford plays in the Pac-10, which is generally not looked on as favorably as the SEC or the Big 12. He had 26 rushing touchdowns, and he only had 2 games were he was held under 100 yards, and one of those games he had 96. He is the only reason that Stanford was any good this year, and in the big games he dominated. I picked Suh #3. The argument could be made that he deserves to be #1, and I feel like when it mattered he was awesome, many times throughout the year he was incredible. However, he still only ended up with 12 sacks in 13 games. 4.5 of those sacks came in the Big 12 championship game though, and they came against one of the best offensive lines in the country. Without that Big 12 Championship game he doesn't even get invited. I picked Tebow #4 and McCoy #5. Now before all of you crazy people start threatening my life and mocking my sanity let me explain. I believe that Tebow and McCoy both had mediocre years. You can't just make it about the numbers either, because McCoy is a passing qb and Tebow is a hybrid between a giant fullback and and a qb. That being said, Tebow had a better quarterback rating than McCoy (106-100). McCoy has more passing yards and touchdowns, but he also threw the ball a lot more, he had more attempts and interceptions than Tebow. Neither McCoy's nor Tebow's numbers are anywhere close to where they were last year, and they didn't win the award last year with MUCH better numbers. Neither of them deserves the award, and I don't think that either should have been invited. Neither of them were good in the biggest games of the year, the Big 12 Championship game and the SEC Championship game, but Tebow was better. That is saying something, because he didn't look very good at all, and Alabama's D dominated the game. BUT, McCoy was terrible in the Championship. Granted, he did spend most of the game on his butt, but when he had time he still had a very hard time hitting the open man. AND if it weren't for the gracious Big 12 referees at the end of the game, he could have single handedly lost the game by his poor decision. In my opinion they were both invited to the Heisman ceremony because they have each had fantastic careers. McCoy has more wins that any starting qb in Division 1 history, and Tebow is considered by many to be one of the greatest college football players of all time. So, they are both incredible players who had mediocre years. They were both invited to the Heisman ceremony, and therefore the only thing I can think is that they both lead great teams this year and they have both had incredible careers, and their careers is the reason they were invited. Tebow (National Championship and a Heisman) has had a better career than McCoy, and that is why I ranked him 4th and McCoy 5th.