Random Thoughts 4/5/12

• Best headline I saw this week: "Chevy Volt pays for itself in just 27 years."  Wow.
• A recent poll said that 58% of church goers have had their feelings hurt by a church leader.  I'm hoping the other 42% are willing to go more than just the one time.  Seriously, 44% of the people surveyed said they left the church over the hurt feelings and 22% said they left the faith entirely.
• Also, 64% of church goers reported being hurt by fellow parishioners.  Interestingly only 33% admit to being guilty of hurting others.
• I think the likelihood of having your feelings hurt in church are identical to the chances of having your feelings hurt in any family, about 100%.  The same goes for perpetrating the hurt feelings.  We're all guilty at some level at one time or another – so shame on those who fail.  Assuming the hurt feelings aren't over something criminal… then we need to grow a softer heart and thicker skin.
• I also think that when serious offenses do occur, like child abuse scandals and the preacher running off with the secretary or stealing money from the church, that there are layers of offense.  The first layer is the specific people who were betrayed and directly wounded by the offender.  But then there's a second layer of folks who may be quite a bit removed but even a little bit of distrust in church leadership is more than a delicate, immature faith can handle.  For lack of a Christian mentor or example in their life, they can get derailed by the failure of someone with whom they may not of even known on a first-name basis.
• Rumors are that Danny Manning's son, Evan, may try to walk-on at KU.  He's a 6-2 guard but still, he's a Manning.
• From the people who brought you the uniform decisions of the Oregon Ducks, Nike recently redesigned all 32 uniforms in the NFL.  Yikes.  Actually, only the Seahawks look much different.  Most of the teams are virtually the same except for the cut of the uniform or an extra stripe or two.  The Chiefs only real change was moving the smaller "TV numbers" from the sleeve to the shoulder.  Oh, and now every team has those silly gloves that show a logo when you hold your hands together for the TV camera.  Yeah, we needed more of that.