NBA Jayhawks Update

Here's how the NBA reshuffled the Jayhawks who play (and will play) in the pros:

Ben McLemore and Jeff Withey were each drafted slightly lower than predicted.  McLemore went to Sacramento with the 7th pick and Withey went to Portland with the 39th pick.  Sacramento is generally considered a poor team and thus a good place for a dynamic rookie to get immediate playing time.

No other Jayhawks were drafted, but Travis Releford will play two stints in the NBA summer league for two different teams and then go to play in Europe.  If an NBA team makes him an offer he can leave his team in Belgium.  Elijah Johnson will also play a stint in the summer league for the Clippers.

Paul Pierce, who has been a Boston Celtic since 1998, was traded to the Brooklyn Nets, where Tyshawn Taylor is a reserve player.

Darrell Arthur, was traded from Memphis, where he spent his first five years in the league, to Denver.

Ben McLemore and the NBA Draft

KU's Ben McLemore is going to get drafted by an NBA tonight, probably in the top 5.  Here's a great round-up of pre-draft rumors and speculation from our friends at KUsports.com.

In summary:  Ben McLemore will go in the top 5, Jeff Withey will be picked at the end of the first round or early in the second, no other Jayhawks are likely to be drafted but some some Jayhawk veterans might be part of draft day trades.

Random Thoughts 6/25/13

• Football is a dying sport and that breaks my heart.  It's rules are changing, it's very existence at all levels is being threatened by lawsuits, it may have already peaked in popularity, and it cannot exist in its previous or current form a generation from now.  Participation in football used to be the badge of masculinity (inherited from boxing) and it's appeal was in its danger.  Now that we live in a nanny-state of over-managed maternal protection, football-as-we-knew-it will be punished by lawsuits and cultural shame.  In 2050 we may have a co-ed game of tag (basketball on grass?) played with a football, but it won't teach young men to face real fear of pain and injury and press on.  And our culture will be poorer for it.
• I'm still preparing for fantasy football but I'm worried that as interest in the sport wanes, hobbies like fantasy football will fade away too.
• So, something like 20 people each year are lost overboard on cruise ships.  Wow.  There's your danger.
• The Army is cutting 10 more combat brigades, or about of a quarter of the combat units.  This will affect Fort Riley, Kansas.  The Army has been transitioning from a division (10,000 men) based structure to a brigade (3-4,000 men) based structure.  This may be more effective but if there's not money, it won't matter.  I worry what kind of force young soldiers will be a part of in the next few decades.
• Minecraft 1.6 next Monday.  My boys will be thrilled; horses!
• KU signed a deal to get more coverage locally and nationally, not just for basketball and football but for other sports like volleyball and track (by the way, congrats to the Jayhawk women's track team that won nationals!). 
• I've awoke the last two mornings to a painful ear ache that fades over the course of the day.  That's not fun.

Camp Season 2013

We've had a great church camp season thus far.  During Junior High week (last week) we had 8 out of the 35 students make first-time decisions for Christ, including two of my nieces, Grace and Cora, and three total from the six kids that go to our church!  We came home last week and had those three baptisms on Sunday morning.  Cora's mom baptized her, Grace's dad baptized her, and Halie Baldwin's sister, Paige baptized her with a large portion of the congregation there to witness it.

This was the first time I've worked at a junior or senior high camp with more than one of my children as campers.  I had both Brennan and Tanner there while I was on staff and I couldn't have been more proud of them.  They were polite, well-behaved, and well-adjusted (take that homeschool critics!), and Tanner earned camper of the week, despite being one of the youngest campers there.

I had a wonderful time working with old friends, like Bart Hinz from Show-Me Christian Youth Home, and met some wonderful men and women on staff together with me for the first time.

This week Elijah (9 years old) is at camp, with cousin Kelby there too, and cousin Hannah as a high-school-aged counselor. 

Graham (age 7) will go to Day Camp this Saturday.  Anneliese is my only child that is not a camper yet.

Getting Old

I'm starting to feel my age here at church camp. 

I haven't been able to sleep well at camp for several seasons now.  Playing basketball and hand golf everyday, which I really enjoy, leaves me limping and hobbling.  Even sitting and working on my sermon in the cafeteria hurts my posterior.  And getting up up from these low-slung cafeteria tables?  I move and sound like a wounded water buffalo dying in the mud.

I try to remind myself that these kids are making decisions for Christ every day and I have a truly special opportunity to teach them and encourage them.  Not to mention I get the opportunity to bond with and enjoy my fellow ministers and volunteers. 

But as much fun and as worthwhile as camp is, I'm kinda ready to go home!

Seek and You Shall Find

So you drop your black tungsten wedding ring in the grass while playing basketball at church camp.  You come back a few hours later and…

…there it is.  No sweat!

First Day of Camp Complete

It's Junior High week here at camp and things are going great.  We're having beautiful weather, which in Kansas this time of year means the thunder storms hit the counties on either side of us and spared us… for now.

I'm here as a teacher and sort of the staff chaplain.  I did a devotion this morning for the staff about the envy we sometimes feel toward worldly people who always seem to be healthy, carefree, and prospering while we suffer for no reason.  But then I read from Psalm 73  …yeah, it's better to be on God's side.  And what does this world really offer that's more valuable or more lasting than our God?

Most of of my responsibilities involve trouble-shooting and gopher-ing for the dean, Bart Hinz.  I love that guy dearly and serving him is a breeze.  I'm also so impressed with the staff he's assembled; some I've known for years (like James Garner) and others are new to me.

Two of my boys (Brennan and Tanner) are here with me.  I'm absolutely bursting with pride at what polite and spiritual young men they are.  Having multiple people come to me praising their virtues is a father's dream.

Beautiful Middle Earth… er, New Zealand

The Desolation of Smaug!

Random Thoughts 6/7/13

• I don't ever want to hear again how supposedly evil George Bush was.  Five years of President Obama's administration has been as corrupt as the day is long, setting new records for welfare and government bloat.  Benghazi, the IRS, wiretapping, NSA snooping, the Arab Spring turned radical, unemployment, guns sold to Mexico… it goes on and on and on.  If you had problems with President Bush, President Obama's administration is doubling down on more of the same.  Or did he close Gitmo while I was reading about all the drone strikes?
• Newly retired NFL star Matt Birk didn't visit the White House this week with the rest of the Baltimore Ravens because of his pro-life stance.  He cited the President's recent speech in which he said "God bless Planned Parenthood."  Sports writers (who seem to be surprisingly liberal politically) are now reproaching Birk because the President actually said, "Thank you, Planned Parenthood. God bless you. God bless America." The writers then assert that this is a "huge difference."  Is it?  Maybe I should brush up on the rules about the closest antecedent, but I believe Birk is essentially correct.  The President said, "God bless you [Planned Parenthood]."
• Birk then clarifies that because Planned Parenthood performs a third of million abortions per year, he can't endorse them in any way.  God bless you, Matt Birk, for making a stand against something plainly evil.
• On the side, does anyone think a politician (such as the President) means "God bless [insert noun here]" the way most religious people do?
• There was a headline today that said, "QB Alex Smith encouraged to make big plays."  Really.  Coaching like that must be worth millions.
• What do I use Evernote for?  Everything.  Photos of my license plates, meeting notes, sermon ideas and illustrations, jokes and funny pictures from Facebook, recording my vehicle mileage, movies I've watched, ideas for blogging, shopping lists, prayer lists, inspirational quotations, business cards, and almost every piece of paper that crosses my desk.  
• And finally, Justin Bieber to be blasted into space?  I'm okay with that idea.

You Are My Sunshine

I know this has been posted a few times on Facebook and such but I thought I had re-post one more time… it's that good.