Overheard At Home 3/12/06

UPDATED: 3/13/06

• I could hear the boys fighting in the other room when Brennan came running to me crying. "What's wrong son? Why are you crying?" Between sobs, he spat out, "Because I don't want Tanner to tell on me!" Hmmm…
  
• Shannon caught Tanner rapidly eating the sugar-substitute Splenda out of the sugar bowl. He was trying to get as much of it polished off as he could, pinching it with his fingers and stuffing it in his mouth. Not only is that gross, it was kind of expensive.
  
• Brennan asked for his old curtains back the other day. Shannon had made new curtains, in part to block out the light during nap times. So Brennan and Tanner have long, heavy navy blue curtains. But Brennan wanted his old, flimsy, white curtains back. "Why?" Shannon asked, "Is it because you want to read after bed time?" Busted! Brennan just smiled, he had been pulling his flimsy curtains back and reading his dinosaur books by the light of the street lamp. But the new, heavy duty curtains have hindered his late night study time.
• Elijah has been mooing when he sees a cow on tv. He also moos at giraffes and horses. I'm not real sure why.
  
• Brennan told Shannon this evening, "Mommy you have silver hairs." I'm still trying to comfort her.

Divorced From Reason?

My sermon on divorce was well received I believe. I always think it's going to be worse than it really is. We have several folks who are divorced and they seemed receptive and patient in hearing my explanations. It also helps that I'm not a bigoted loon.

In fact, part of my sermon dealt with the assumptions about divorce that people make that don't actually hold any water. Some people say…

It's no big deal. Really? Try looking at some statistics. It's devastating like almost nothing else. Even a death is only bereaved for a season. But divorce can hang over a family, actively disturbing it for generations. Granted it's not the kind of thing that sends you off the deep end, but it tends to downgrade the lives of everyone involved in almost every way, spiritually, physically, and emotionally. Women are almost always worse off and children are wounded for decades after a divorce regardless of age. No wonder God says he hates divorce. The best you can say is that it is less bad than some alternatives.

It leaves a divorced person in a perpetual state of sin. Wow, that's quite an accomplishment. If someone was a murderer, even though they can't undo it, they could repent and be forgiven. But divorced people can't receive this grace? I'm not sure if I can name a sin that carries that kind of stigma.

The divorced person must go back to their first spouse. You've got to be kidding. All of those people I know whose second marriage is a lasting union of two Christians – I should tell them to destroy that good marriage in order to go back to the dysfunction of the first? Why must we ignore the redemption the Lord has brought to their lives?

The divorced person cannot hold office in the church. I know why they say that; the qualifications for Elders include the need for him to be a "one-woman-man." But this seems better applied to mistresses, affairs, and polygamy than divorce. What if a man's first marriage ended before he was a believer? And should remarried widowers also be disqualified by this logic? Just like the previous misconceptions, it misses the point about Grace.

There are countless other facets to this topic – more than can be covered here. But it helps tremendously to understand the historical context in the Bible. Understanding the debates of the time, the chauvinism that existed, and Jesus' counter-cultural responses cause confusing texts to become much clearer.

Consistency also helps. Before you too quickly condemn someone (or dismiss it altogether), consider the whole counsel of scripture. Don't withhold mercy or sanction selfishness but instead speak the truth in love. There's not been a lot of that in some churches.

Hail Damaged

We had an incredible hail storm before church this morning. There were about 15 of us already at church when we got news of a tornado warning and the sky turned dark. The wind blew and and it rained just a little but then we heard loud sounds like gunshots.

At first we almost laughed at the sight of these hailstones hitting the ground. It was so loud and they hit so hard – like they were shot out of a cannon. And they were huge! A little larger than golfballs (racquetballs maybe?) they exploded when they hit the pavement and bounced on the grass. It was such an awesome sight as it intensified to the point you wouldn't dare stick your arm outside for fear of being hit. It was pouring hailstones and a hit looked like it might be lethal!

There were only six or eight cars in the parking lot but a new VW Bug had it's windshield broken in several places and the back window on my Honda was shattered into thousands of pieces. I had broken glass filling my backseat and even on my dashboard. All of our vehicles had serious hail damage.

When we got home after church even the siding on our house had been punctured in several places. Yikes!

Glutton for Punishment

I've felt like I've been in the shadow of the gallows all week.

You see I'm preaching about divorce from Matthew 5 Sunday. Thus I will probably be looking for gainful employment on Monday (just kidding… I hope). There's hardly a topic under the sun that can so quickly upset people like divorce can. People assume judgment and condemnation when it's not there and others provide it when it's not necessary. I can't wait to wade into that killing field.

Anyway… here's a couple of statistical notes that I found while doing research for the sermon.

Percentage of married people who reach their 5th, 10th, 15th, 25th, 35th, and 50th anniversaries:
5th: 82%
10th: 65%
15th: 52%
25th: 33%
35th: 20%
50th: 5%

[Shannon and I will have our 10th anniversary in a few months.]

The average first marriage that ends in divorce is almost eight years long.
The average wait before getting remarried is about three years.
The average second marriage that ends in divorce only lasts seven years.
Almost two-thirds of second marriages end in divorce.

Growth Spurt?

I guess that our due date has kinda changed again. We were almost certain of April 14, but…

Shannon had an appointment this morning and Graham has grown! The doctor says Graham has grown to where he measures 38 weeks and as much as 7 pounds already. Yet he's only about 35 weeks and change. Thankfully, he's reaching the point where it's safe for him to arrive a few weeks early, and he's certainly large enough, so our doctor won't stop labor if he comes any day now.

And if we make it to April? We're looking at a nine pound plus baby. Good luck with that Shannon!

I Will Survive, Week 6

**Spoiler Warning**
Do not read this post if you haven't yet seen this week's episode of Survivor.



…you've been warned!




NO! Say it ain't so! The Alliance is broken!

The guys are forced into voting off one of their own (Dan the Astronaut), leaving Terry, Nick & Austin at a huge disadvantage. Or at least they would be if the Casaya tribe wasn't a dysfunctional bunch of nuts. Casaya's issues are the only hope for the La Nina tribe.

But what a smart move Casaya made after their recent victory. If any member of Casaya makes it to the top four, it's because of this decision to grant Sally immunity and break up the La Nina male alliance.

With ten players left and Casaya ready and willing to fracture, the alliances will likely change if the merge happens soon. Aras and Shane, at least at first, would sooner line up with the La Nina guys than with Courtney and Danielle, who in turn should quickly pick up Sally. That's potentially 5 on 3 but surely the girls will see that and begin to do something about it. And what does Cirie do? She can heavily influence the game in this scenario.

Bruce doesn't seem to be with it at this stage. What's up with him? [see notes below]

The big winner for now seems to be Sally. Not only was she granted immunity by her friends in Casaya in the face of a certain departure, but she will probably survive to the merge and be able to reunite with the other young women. That said, swing voters like Cirie still control the fate of these mini-alliances.

Random Observations:

• It looks like someone is going home due to sickness or injury after all (according to the previews). Shane's comment this week about Bruce (and Bruce's behavior) makes me think it's him. But it could be the underfed Nick or Austin, who both seem to be having a rough time and are cursed by the La Mina bad luck.
  
• So much for the "tribal council like never before." Basically, Dan knew he was going. That doesn't seem that ground breaking.
• My wife, especially, is growing weary of the dysfunctional team winning and the optimistic, friendly guys getting decimated. Casaya is ready to sell each other down the river at the drop of a hat but they keep winning. Just like in real life, the good guys often lose.
  
• If the young women form the stronger alliance (by turning the younger guys?) will they target Terry first? And then what happens when he reveals his immunity idol? Terry can single-handedly break up that alliance if he gets targeted. Nevertheless, Terry needs to win "hearts and minds" fast after the merge, if that's even possible.
  

Kansas Billionaires

The World's Billionaires list according to Forbe's includes some Kansans. Actually, I wasn't sure if these folks are Kansans or if they just live here but if you had a billion dollars why would you live in Kansas?

Anyway, here are the ones I found at a glance. I'm still searching for phone numbers…

[World rank, name, home, age, $, source]
33. (tied) Charles Koch, Wichita, 70, $12, oil, commodities
33. (tied) David Koch, Wichita, 65, $12, oil, commodities
428. Donald Hall, Mission Hills, 77, $1.8, Hallmark
486. Min Kao, Mission Hills, 57, $1.6, Garmin GPS receivers
606. Phillip Ruffin, Wichita, 70, $1.3, casinos, real estate
698. Gary Burrell, Stilwell, 68, $1.1, Garmin GPS receivers

[Shout out to Mindy for the help. Thanks!]

Hitched Again

I watched Dial M for Murder (1954) the other night, the last in a long line of Alfred Hitchcock films that I had TiVo'ed over the last year. It's been sitting on my menu of movies to watch for four or five months but, as it turns out, this one may be my new favorite!

Above all else it was an intelligent plot, a rare commodity in movies old or new. The main character plots the perfect murder but when his ingenious plot goes awry, his "Plan B" is still better than the plotting of most movie bad guys. It's also fun when the protagonist is the bad guy, leaving you to root against him instead of for him.

As I found out later, this movie was based on a play by the same name. Since the movie takes place almost entirely in one room with a cast of only five speaking parts, it felt a lot like a play; and I'd love to see this one performed live.

More Raptors

Here's one more gratuitous shot of some Raptors. These F-22A Raptors are the first planes of another new squadron that's being formed to replace the F-15C Eagle.

Legends in the Air

The F-22A Raptor and the P-51D Mustang – two of the most beautiful planes ever built.


The Mustang was the pinnacle of piston engine fighter aircraft while the Raptor may be the zenith of manned jet engine fighter aircraft. Though seperated by nearly 60 years, both planes have a beauty that's hard to put into words. Happily, the laws of aerodynamics tend to create aesthetically pleasing lines and appealing shapes. In other words, attractive planes usually fly well. Few people would call the P-51D Mustang ugly, and the F-22A Raptor, designed by computers to be the most aerodynamically efficient aircraft ever, is also rather easy on the eye.

Random Sports Thoughts 3/9/06

• Which is more important – the regular season Big 12 championship or the Big 12 Tournament championship? Texas and Kansas share the former but Texas will be ranked first this week. Since the regular season determines the seeding for the Big 12 Tournament, giving advantage to the better teams, I feel the outcome of the tournament, which is on a neutral site, should be the final word on who's champion.
• The grotesquely muscular Barry Bonds reportedly took an astronomical amount of steroids and performance enhancing drugs to increase his homerun hitting ability. A new book is out about him and Sports Illustrated is running an article on the issue. Yet he still claims his innocence. Good grief, does anyone even doubt it?
• I've got a feeling that the NFL will finally work out its issues before 7:00 tonight. There's just too many negatives for the owners not to give in. But it still surprises me that the players union will come out on top. They're playing Russian Roulette here and if the deal does not get done tonight, the union has catestrophically failed the players they represented – as I said before, it's the average player who will suffer the most.
• Did you catch the latest changes to the Royals' uniforms? Minor changes mostly, just variations on earlier themes. But you can see them here.
• Will the Royals and Chiefs get their old stadiums renovated? At a mere BILLION dollars, it'll be the most expensive renovation ever… anywhere… for anything. We could build new, better, and more attractive stadiums for that kind of money. I'd like to see them build a downtown baseball stadium, implode Kaufman, and build a new and improved Arrowhead stadium with a retractable roof at Truman Sports Complex. Will the teams leave? No, that's an empty threat. Would you lose the chance to host a SuperBowl? No, not if the new stadium is ready by 2015. And if we do lose it, that's ok. Kansas City in February is not the kind of city that would make money on a Super Bowl anyway. And what happens if the voters pass this corporate welfare? We don't get new stadiums in our lifetime, we go to ballgames amidst a construction zone for several years, and we end up with a big, ugly, quonset hut-ish, bi-state eyesore – which we'll see in all it's televised glory as we watch the Super Bowl at home just like every other year. Look at it here at the website for those who actually want this thing. It's a big hideous hangar!
  

Dude Where's My Civil War?

Ralph Peters reports on the deficit of civil wars and good reporting in Iraq. Peters writes:

In place of the civil war that elements in our media declared, I saw full streets, open shops, traffic jams, donkey carts, Muslim holiday flags - and children everywhere, waving as our Humvees passed. Even the clouds of dust we stirred up didn't deter them. And the presence of children in the streets is the best possible indicator of a low threat level.

Read the whole thing here.

9000 Hits

9000 hits! Thanks for reading. At this pace, we should hit 10,000 by the last week of March.

I especially appreciate your encouragements over the last week or two. We, uh… well… we've had some interesting comments made. But I feel it's important that I allow critics (and hecklers) to speak their peace. Often, letting them speak freely is the most effective rebuttal I could offer.

The great thing about a Christian worldview is that it stands up to criticism. It can be questioned and tested; it is rational and consistent. I hope "anonymous" comes back and engages in some dialog. I'm always ready.

Conservative Movies

The American Film Renaissance is a group that celebrates conservative themes in movies. According to the president and founder of AFR, "Our voters [choose] films that are not only of high aesthetic quality, but also have redeeming qualities that most Americans identify with."

AFR's website says, "AFR champions films that reflect the principles that made America great, such as free speech, free enterprise, freedom of religion, rugged individualism, and the triumph of the human spirit."

Here is the AFR Top 10 Movies of 2005:

10. King Kong
9. Capote
8. The World's Fastest Indian
7. Batman Begins*
6. Pride and Prejudice
5. Downfall
4. Crash*
3. Walk the Line*
2. The Chronicles of Narnia*
1. Cinderella Man*

The movies with an asterisk are the ones which I've seen. I'll probably see the others in the next month or two.

• Batman Begins was significantly better than I thought it would be. I was stunned that it was so well done (Spider-Man 2 surprised me in the same way).
  
• Crash, which won the Oscar for Best Picture, needs a big WARNING. It's full of objectionable content. It does say some interesting things about racial tensions and people in general, but I don't necessarily recommend it.
• We watched Walk the Line just the other night. I was very impressed, as it was probably the best movie of the year. So why didn't it win the Oscar? The Academy isn't likely to nominate a movie in which the main character becomes a Christian at the end of the movie (Ben Hur is the only one I can think of and that was 45 years ago).
• The Chronicles of Narnia was the big Christian movie of the year. It was fantastic to behold but it pales in comparison to the books – most movies do. I still enjoyed it.
  
• Cinderella Man was an excellent movie with one of the best portrayals of a father since Mel Gibson's Patriot. Like all the best boxing movies, it's not really about boxing.

AFR's documentary of the year was March of the Penguins. I thought it was interesting but it traumatized my kids. Be prepared for starved and frozen penguin babies and sea lions chomping on penguin moms!

The links in this post take you to Focus on the Family's Plugged-In. It's a great magazine and an excellent website if you want to know what your kids might be watching or listening to but you don't have time to preview it yourself. Every parent should have this website bookmarked.

Super Woman

My wife, nine months pregnant, decided this morning that she was going to take our boys to the park. Sure, why not? She's due in a few weeks and our three rowdy boys, ages 5, 4, and 2, are bouncing off the walls – why not load them up and chase them at the park?

And here's the kicker. She decides to call our friends and offer to take two more boys, ages 3 and 2, with her! So she loads up Brennan, Tanner, Ethan, Sean, and Elijah and shuffles out to the park.

She received several long stares and one woman approached her and said, "Please tell me you're babysitting!"

But Shannon didn't bat an eye. They played for an hour and half without a hitch and came home. No biggie.

She's incredible.

Mud I Can Do

If we'd had girls we would have never gone through things like this:

Tanner came to the back door today, proud to report on his contribution to fraternal harmony. "Mommy, I helpt 'Lijah! I made mud for him!"

"What?! How did you make mud?"

"I peed in his dirt!" Tanner reported with glee.

"Where's Elijah?"

"Playin' in his mud!"

And sure enough, there in the backyard is our two-year-old, covered head-to-toe in mud – mud made from his brother's urine.

And they were each so pleased that Tanner had discovered such a brilliant solution.

Random Thoughts 3/5/06

• I'm actually watching the Oscars right now. It's always too long and there's always so much that I cringe at. I'm not particularly star struck and I don't have any favorite movies up for Best Picture. But who knows, some of this stuff may come up in a future Trivial Pursuit game!
• As a matter of fact, writers and directors do fascinate me. They communicate ideas; they are the story tellers. I can appreciate that, even if I don't care for the particular stories.
  
• I was down in the back this week for a few days. I walked home from work twice this week for the exercise and, by the end of the second trip, my poor state of physical conditioning was rearing its ugly head – I could barely move Friday. And with Mom nine months pregnant and Dad not making any sudden moves, the boys were nearly able to take over.
• My folks took our boys to McDonald's today. They are brave, brave people.
• The extension to iron out the NFL's problems didn't work as talks broke off late today. Most teams will now make major cuts. All players will lose benefits and some may lose their career prematurely. Parity between teams may be gone forever. This will get ugly. Why? Because of unadulterated selfishness, on both sides. UPDATE: They extended talks for another three days. The Apocalypse now begins Wednesday at midnight.
  

Two People In Love

Today we celebrated Shannon's birthday. Her mom came over and afforded us the opportunity to eat out and see a movie. So we went to Zona Rosa and ate at a nice Chinese restaurant there, Bo Lings. I asked our waiter what "Bo Lings" means; is it someone's name or a Chinese word? At a loss, he ran his fingers through his blond hair and said, "Uh, dude… I asked and, uh… I dunno know. I think it's the owner's name or something."

Thanks.

There wasn't much playing but we had a movie gift card burning a hole in our pocket, so we saw Nanny McPhee. It was a really nice movie but it made us miss our own mischievous children.

On the way home, we stopped by Pride of Kansas City where Shannon found a sign to hang in our house.

She said it's "sentimental and romantic." It would have been more romantic if she would have let me go back and get it on my own. Instead she literally pulled me back into the store to buy it on the spot.

Oh, the memories.

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart

Tomorrow is Shannon's birthday. She turns 29 for the very first time!

I wish I could say her health is better but she's been sick most of the last month and is nearly immobilized because of the baby. We're expecting baby Graham in 3 to 5 weeks.

I Will Survive, Week 5

**Spoiler Warning**
Do not read this post if you haven't yet seen this week's episode of Survivor.



…you've been warned!



To flop or not to flop. That is the question – or at least it will be soon.

In Survivor, you eventually get down to one tribe of about 10 people. This is called the merge and it's likely just a few episodes away. The question is whether or not you'll "dance with the girl that brung ya." In other words do you stay with your previous alliance or do you flop to new alliances in order to survive?

Bobby swears (on Shane's son, no less) that he won't flop. Uh, yeah, right. His tribe doesn't believe it and they bump him off before he can do any damage. But who else might be Machiavellian floppers?

The most obvious choice on La Mina is Sally. I mean, does she really feel like one of the guys? Surely if she sees a chance to tip the scales, she'll betray the men on her tribe.

Who might flop on the Casaya tribe? How about everyone? Whatever they have, it's the opposite of esprit de corps. Most of dysfunctional Casaya would rather side with the La Mina men than their own tribemates. The only exception might be Courtney and Danielle, who would naturally gravitate toward Sally. But the three young women would need at least two or three others to avoid being in the minority after the merge.

After the merge, I think the La Mina men could draw in Cirie, Aras, or Bruce into their alliance, and if I were Terry, I would pursue them in that order. Anything could happen but I would be surprised if the three young women would be asked to join. Shane is such a wild card, I just don't know.

Random observations:

• I called it about Bobby, they got rid of him for being lazy, rude, and untrustworthy. Go figure.
• I was also right about Cirie latching on to Aras and Shane. Cirie is the best player in the game right now (Terry is a close second and my favorite to win).
  
• As noted above, my gut says Terry should bring Cirie into his sphere of influence after the merge (and yes I think Cirie and Terry will make the merge – they're the two I'm really certain of – and maybe Aras).
• How does someone not go home sick? At some point you'd think a few of these folks (Nick and Austin!) would throw in the towel. But maybe not.
  
• What if next week's "tribal council like never before" is Casaya in a two or three way tie? I think Survivor has had ties before, but who knows how they will resolve it this time?
  

Nacht der langen Messer

It has begun. ESPN reports:

The Chiefs started their salary cap purge Thursday by terminating the contracts of four veteran players: cornerbacks Eric Warfield and Dexter McCleon and linebackers Shawn Barber and Gary Stills.

The moves cleared out $6.3 million, but the Chiefs have more work to do to get under the $94.5 million salary cap. They started the day $18.1 million over the cap, so these moves leave them $11.9 million over.

The Chiefs are in the process of restructuring contracts and considering other releases of veteran players.

Other veterans who could fall under the salary cap knife are guard Will Shields and safeties Jerome Woods and Greg Wesley, but nothing is done at this time.

Hopefully, if Shields is cut he can be re-signed for less money (his family is established here in KC after all). And, though I never thought I'd be saying this, I'd like to see the Chiefs get Warfield back also. But teams like the Eagles and Cardinals will be looking to take advantage of this situation, so it's anybody's guess what your favorite team will look like next year.

And a big shiny nickel goes to whomever can tell me to what the title of this post refers and/or why I chose it.

Killing the Golden Goose

The NFL is in the midst of a labor dispute. Both the Players Union and the owners would like to make more money, so naturally they're deadlocked. It gets complicated quick, but the owners are offering the players more than 56% of the total revenues. The players want more than 60% of the money.

The first step is that each team will have to get under the salary cap ($94 million) by midnight Thursday. The contracts are written in expectation of a salary cap in excess of $105 million, so lots of big names will get a pink slip in the next few hours. The Chiefs will likely lose Will Shields to start with and it goes downhill from there. We'll see how things pan out.

I can't help but think that the Players Union is hurting most players. Only a few guys are going to benefit from that extra 4%. Because of this impass, the players are getting hurt because:

• The NFL will stop paying some benefits like the 401k the league had been matching 2-1. In effect this will be like a pay cut across the board. But the average guys who take home $300,000 will be hurt more than the star who takes home $3 million.
  
• Older players or players with expensive contracts will get cut in droves. The older players may never play again, ending their career too early. The expensive players, even if re-signed, will be restricted by the rules from getting the same kind of money anywhere else.
• Free agency will require six years, instead of four. Young players will be stuck with old teams and old contracts, with no way out.
  
• Rookie contracts will be up in the air, even though some teams, like the Redskins, will need to be composed of almost a third new players. We might see mass rookie holdouts.
  
• Average players in competitive positions are at risk if this leads to a strike in 2008. The replacement players may not be that much worse than some of the blue-collar guys who might find themselves on the outside looking in. This actually happened a little in the 1980's.

Ultimately, the players need the NFL worse then the League needs these specific players. Why? Because everytime an undrafted player becomes a starter (Priest Holmes for instance), or everytime a backup quarterback wins the Superbowl (Tom Brady), or everytime a team plugs different players into the same scheme and gets the same results (Broncos' running game), the Players Union is undermined. Even with 32 teams, there are more players out there than opportunities.

Advantage: Owners.

So You're Saying There's Chance

KU could still win the Big 12.

Texas lost last night at the buzzer, so both Kansas and Texas are 12-3 in the conference with one game left. KU plays K-State Saturday but Texas plays a very good OU team Sunday afternoon. If Texas loses and KU wins, KU comes out on top of the Big 12. Sure that's a big "if" but you never know.

Rest Easy Brave Warrior

I thought this picture was great (click to zoom):



What a fantastic photo! These soldiers, mostly Army (10th Mountain and 101st Airborne), are returning to Iraq from a two-week leave. What's so beautiful about it? It's so egalitarian. Captains are sitting next to Privates (I even spotted a Lieutenant Colonel wedged in there); mixed together you'll find men and women, old and young, white and black, soldiers and airmen, regular army and reserves… you can find almost anyone, right there together.

I'm reading another book by Victor Davis Hanson right now about Western culture and what makes our military unique and ultimately unbeatable. Here's a great article from Hanson about Iraq. If you don't have a moment to read it yourself, well, a picture is worth a thousand words.

These people represent what's best about our nation.

Feeling the Love

Anonymous wrote:

The invitation is very tempting. Change my mind? About what? Only if you promise that when we are done I will want to vomit at the sight of homosexuals, make Pancake Day a National Holiday and decide that the best way to study human nature is to watch hours of mindless drivel.
Son, I think you are missing the point. Thanks to your rantings on here, I wouldn't trust you with the care of my house-plants, let alone my soul.
That is your choice, you absolutely have every right to say whatever you want on here, but just so you know, a lot of people think you are an idiot.

That's a fact, and that is the fact that I am bringing to the discussion.

Isn't that lovely? Oh, well. I don't have any ill will toward them at all. In fact, it's instructive to hear this kind of thing. On multiple levels.

And just so that nobody else takes my words out of context, I said that the act of sodomy disgusted me. And it still does. Think about it. I also think that smoking is disgusting. But I know people who do this and far worse things and I still love them. Why? Because I'm just a sinner too.

Therefore, I certainly won't treat them like I've been treated today, no matter how much they provoke me. Oh, well.

Whoever you are, I hope you write back (or just call me). You're visibly upset with me and trying to provoke me; I'd like to sit down and talk as friends.

Winning Friends and Influencing People

We had another hit and run today. "Anonymous" wrote:

Man, word is starting to get around about this here blog, and I didn't believe some of the things that were being said, so I decided to check it out.

It's not that I (or others) dislike you for our opinions, it's just that you are so BORING! Most preachers, revs, priests, whatevers that I have came across had at least a spark of charisma (including Dr. King, who you are not worthy of even mentioning). You are a fat couch potato, which I am sure bides fine by the portly Eastern Kansas folks.

Here is what you say the pupose of this blog is :

I want this blog to show why I'm so content with God and the life He's given me.

Apparently you are content with God because he gave you IHOPs and Television.

Don't try to posture as some kind of intellectual.. the Church has always hated those anyway....

Thanks for that. One of my friendly debate opponents fired back at them though…

Wow, that was below the belt and the ref is going to need to take a point away. I am getting sick of this battery on Jared. He will take the abuse and even show your side of the story. Yet, these anonymous posters come in and take shots and run away ANONYMOUSLY. At least Jared puts his name behind his comments like a man. He has the gall to stand up for his opinions unlike some who post here.
Like anonymous has never watched Television and eaten out. Besides, the main reason Jared has this blog is so that his children have the opportunity to see and hear what their father was feeling and doing on a daily basis after he is gone (hopefully this doesn't happen for a long time). So before you open your mouth and spout off make sure you have the facts and the courage to put your name at the end of your post.

~Chad

Thanks Chad, and you're correct, there's a lot on my blog that is only going to be of interest to my four boys (or my mother). But they got several other things wrong also.

• I have a leather recliner and thus rarely sit on the couch while watching television.
• Most of the Kansans I know are not portly but rather are in excellent health, including my fit and trim, beautiful wife (now I'm trying to push their buttons). Kansans are often hard working, outdoors-y kind of folks.
  
• I'm guessing they know little or nothing about MLK, or theology, or the ministry in general. If someone with a degree in theology and more than a decade in the located ministry has an honest assessment of the writings of another minister, it is by definition "worthy" (even if it's wrong).
• I thank God more for McDonalds – they have a play area for my kids.
• Blogs are a poor tool for determining if someone is interesting. It's my blog you find boring, not me, not my life, and not my ministry.
• My posture is terrible, thank you. I'm just not very pretentious: no hair gel, no fake tan, no diploma-mill degrees on my wall, no fancy clothes, no disingenuous posturing. What you see is what you get.
• And you're way off base with the Church and intellectuals. History proves that the Church practically invented the professional scholar. To say otherwise shows either your ignorance or your bigotry.
  

I've been getting a lot of feedback from folks about these conversations, but I'm not going to delete you or ban you or make you sign-in or anything of the sort. I would like you to identify yourself and give me a call on the telephone. Come visit our church and let's put your preconceived notions to the test. I keep a spare room for guests and my wife is a great cook. If you're traveling, I'll even pick you up at the airport. Let's sit down face to face and talk into the wee hours of the morning. I promise it will be worthwhile and won't cost you a thing (once you get here). The greatest danger to you is that I might change your mind.

Random Thoughts 2/28/05

• I walked home from work today, just for the exercise. All kinds of people slowed down with pained looks on their faces but I just smiled and waved them on. It was a two mile walk (about 30 minutes) and not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. My knee hurt a little at the end and one arm went numb, but other than that, no problems!
• I saw an interview with the comedian Drew Carey. He almost convinced me to be a fan of the USA Soccer team. And that's saying something – I know nothing about soccer! But he made an interesting case for the game and the players and how other nations view our team. Hmmm… Oh well, when does the NFL start again?
  
• To celebrate Pancake Day (and the end of a pay period) we went to IHOP twice today, for breakfast and supper. Free pancakes and water make for an affordable meal; we even splurged and got the boys chocolate milks! Shannon wasn't with us this evening because of a meeting and again I drew quite a few stares as I navigated my three little guys through the crowded restaurant.
• We reached 8500 hits. Thanks.
  
• Kaitlyn Anderson was born early this morning. Baby and Mom are doing well. It's funny but we've never had a minister at our church before who had a daughter, so Kaitlyn is a bit of a novelty. Between our two families, we have six boys and one girl. Shannon is jealous but we still have another four or five weeks before Graham gets here.

Like I said…

UPDATE: I had a case of mistaken identity. Sorry about the error; I don't mean to put words in the mouth of the wrong person. Nevertheless, I stand by the basic sentiment of what's said, even if it's not applicable to the person who wrote it.

"Anonymous" replied:

...And, the great part about this country is we have the freedom to choose where we go to church and if we go at all. Therefore, if you don't like the Minister, FIND ANOTHER CHURCH!!!

I'm sorry that you don't like me. But that's not a reason, it's a feeling. And it's a poor excuse to leave or avoid a church; your bitterness will only follow you wherever you go. And you'd be happier and healthier if you make amends.

Besides, I'd like to hear your side of the debate on these issues. Instead of running away, come back with facts and reason to support your views. I hope you will. It'll be better for both of us.

Feel free to email me or call me also.

No Idea Where I'm Coming From

Here's what "anonymous" wrote:

This is something you wrote last year:
"With Fred Phelps (the Topeka anti-gay bigot) and the KKK (supposedly still active in rural Missouri if you ask around) this open bigotry is becoming all too common. I thought Christians were supposed to be known for their love. I thought Jesus and his disciples were Jewish. I thought we were supposed to love our enemy. Have I misunderstood the Bible?"
But now you have written about the oscars and the gays, and have even criticized Martin Luther King, Jr. in your blog. I dont think its appropriate to attach your personal blog to a church website. But I am glad you have for one reason, so I will not attend your church. Its ok to have a personal life, but when you attach your personal blog to a church website, you are preaching politics which is actually against the law, you are also mocking grown ups who although may not agree with you, still love the Lord...as if we are too stupid to understand and you have to explain to us what is wrong with the world. Can democrats be a christian?
Now as for your personal life, your choices of television kind of worries me...survivor, a show that pits people against each other for money and glorifies it, and also just the fact you have so much time to write every detail and explore so many other things.

Here's something about me. If you disagree with me on my blog, I don't delete your comments (although I could). In fact, I'll go out of my way to show everyone (mostly my friends and family) what you said, even if you're upset with me.

I also don't take things too personally here. I love people, even when they hate me or oppose everything that I believe. It just doesn't bother me that there are people out there who disagree. What really raises my ire is the debate of ideas, principles, and truth. For example, I don't hate Fred Phelps, but I'm disgusted by his bigotry and I'm not afraid to stand opposed to him. I don't hate George Clooney or Michael Moore, but I'm flabbergasted by their slanderous propaganda and baseless conspiracy theories and I'll gladly hit those softballs out of the park. I don't hate gay people, but the mere thought of two men sodomizing each other is enough to make me vomit and I think it's as unnatural, warped, and harmful as child molestation or beastiality. Don't I have the right to be sickened?

But some people don't understand (and take personally) the distinction between criticism of positions and criticism of people. For me, it's very much a "love the sinner and hate the sin" kind of thing. You might be surprised what kind of people I meet in my job. As a minister, for almost everyone I know, I know their worst secrets. I've met child molestors and rapists. I know homosexuals and transvestites. I know thieves and liars and adulterers and gossips and perverts and convicted felons. And I honestly love these people like everyone else. But I never condone the evil in their lives – I'm able to make that distinction.

And Dr. King is no different. His theology was atrocious and he deserves criticism for that. That doesn't make me racist, anti-civil rights, or even anti-MLK; it just says I have an educated assessment of his theology.

How can I make these stands with such arrogance? Because the truth I believe is not my own. My convictions are based on an authority external to me. I had to change and conform to it, not vice versa, and sometimes against my own selfish desires. If I take a serious stand on something, it's not because of my opinion, it's because of my convictions regarding absolute truth.

And as for preaching politics, it's not illegal. It's only illegal for me to endorse a candidate from the pulpit – so I don't. I don't even preach from a political view point, but I do cover all kinds of political issues. After all, if political overtones reach into issues of ethics, morality, law, civics, family, sexuality, religion and philosophy, then politics has invaded my territory not vice versa. There's no such thing as an issue that is not religious or philosophical and it's my job to apply God's Word to the whole of life. What would I do otherwise – dust pews and change the candles?

And did you know that I made the choice to move to the most Democrat county in my state, even though many Democrats openly deride people like me? And did you know that the church I serve is probably more than a third registered Democrat? And that I don't have a problem with that? I might know and love more Democrats than you do Republicans.

And finally, thank you for your concern for my personal life but I hope that you see by now that my whole life is being a minister of God's Word. I'm never off the clock; it's even how I watch tv. Survivor, more than most shows, is a case study in human behavior. Or do you think that backstabbing and lying only happen on tv? If you knew me, you'd know how big a nerd I am: documentaries and news make up 95% of what I watch. I've lost interest in most sitcoms and tv dramas. And what tv I do watch, I usually watch while I read a book or work on the computer. That's who I am. Can you love me anyway?

Well, I hope that clarifies things, and I'll be happy to see you Sunday.

A Welcome Call

Normally, when I get a call in the middle of the night, I assume the worst. As a minister, I'm always on call for all kinds crises and emergencies, and many occasions are less than joyous. In this case, however, when the phone rang at 2am, it was for good news.

You can ask Jay-rod and his wife if you want more details. Perhaps they'll comment if they get a chance in the next day or two.

Random Thoughts 2/27/06

• I posted my 400th article to my blog recently. That's better than once a day, so I'm pleased as far as that goes. Thanks for reading.
• Here's something to make you feel a little better about your own relatives. A 40-year-old man in Scottsdale was found by the police unconscious in his home with a blood alcohol level of .345! At .35 you go into a coma. Experts said the effect on him was akin to surgical anesthesia. And to top it off, he was watching his 5-year-old daughter while the mom went on vacation in Hawaii. The little girl called the police on him and the man is being charged with child endangerment.
• Because I know many of you are in the early stages of NFL withdrawal, here's a run down on the NFL offseason calendar:
  March 3: Free agency period begins
  March 18: NFL Europe League begins
  March 26-30: NFL Annual Meeting
  April 21: Signing period ends
  April 29-30: NFL Draft
  Late July: Training camps open
  August 7: Pro Football Hall of Fame Game
  September 7: 2006 Season Begins
  
• I added some more quotes to the sidebar on my blog. It now randomly cycles through over 90 quotes that I've selected on the topic of contentment and Godly satisfaction.
• I'm not sure who's causing more damage to my yard: moles or three little boys.
• Iran officials believe that Tom and Jerry are part of Jewish conspiracy. Supposedly Jewish-controlled Disney created the cartoon to make mice, i.e. Jews, seem more likeable and clever. But almost everything about that theory is incorrect. Walt Disney wasn't Jewish and had no connections to MGM's Tom and Jerry cartoons which are now owned by Turner. And there are no Jewish connections.
• Did you know Eminem was born in St. Jo, Missouri and grew up in KC (and Detroit)? Other Kansas Citians, by birth or by residence include: Walt Disney, Casey Stengel, Joan Crawford, Ginger Rogers, Don Cheadle, Ed Asner, Jean Harlow, Walter Cronkite, Count Basie, and many others. In fact, the legendary Yankees manager Casey Stengel's real name is Charles Dillon Stengel, but was nicknamed "KC" because that's where he was from.
  

Free Pancakes!

Tuesday, February 28, is National Pancake Day!

IHOP, the restaurant formerly known as the International House of Pancakes, is going to help you celebrate by giving you a free short stack of pancakes. Here's the scoop, straight from IHOP's website:

On February 28, 2006 from 7 AM to 2 PM IHOPs across the country will celebrate National Pancake Day (also known as Shrove Tuesday) by offering our guests a free short stack of pancakes*. This is going to be our biggest one day celebration in our history.

National Pancake Day has a rich history that stretches back centuries and has always been a time of celebration. National Pancake Day always falls on Fat Tuesday and this year it will be a celebration at IHOP.

So gather your friends, family and neighbors and come to your local IHOP and enjoy a short stack of pancakes on us. All we ask is that you consider making a donation to a great charity like First Book or other local, worthy cause. Where else would you celebrate National Pancake Day than IHOP? See you there.

* Limit one free short stack per guest. Valid for dine-in only, no to go orders. Not valid with any other offer, special, coupon, or discount. Valid at participating restaurants only, while supplies last.

Olympic Gold, Part 2

The Winter Olympics are over and here's the results using my MTMS system:

Germany, 63 points
USA, 52 points
Canada, 48 points
Austria, 48 points
Russia, 44 points
Norway, 31 points

Norway jumps from 13th place to 6th under my point system and Canada jumps from 5th to a tie for 3rd.

The top group of nations stayed the same as 2002 but the USA and Germany were a little less dominant, taking seven and nine fewer medals respectively. Norway dropped off by taking far fewer gold medals than in past Olympics. Take that Norway!

As for medal-less skier Bode Miller, Steven Wright said it best:

• If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.
• If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
• For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.
• The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up.
• Half the people you know are below average.
• It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it.
• The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
  

Ok, not all of those have anything to do with Bode, but they made me laugh.

See you at Vancouver, 2010, ay.

Rather Have a Root Canal

I'd rather have a root canal than…

• listen to Dick Vitale yammering while the Jayhawks get beat by 25 points. Actually, I'm not sure if I want to hear, "IT'S AWESOME, BAAAABY!!!" under any circumstances.
  
• hear one more figure skating commentator gush over the contestants like Paula Abdul does on American Idol. Can someone still be "gutsy, fearless, and a champion at heart" if they are only doing a double lutz? And honestly, how many people can Paula really be a "big fan" of anyway?
  
• be sick one more day.
• watch the Oscars next week. Jon Stewart, gay cowboys, George Clooney conspiracy theories, unfettered liberal agendas, and four hours plus of Hollywood's self-congratulating glurge. Where do I sign up! Seriously, I would watch Robert Altman receive his lifetime achievement award from the Academy which has snubbed him for almost 50 years. Altman is a native of Kansas City and is known for being very anti-Hollywood. Maybe he'll give them a piece of his mind.
  

Out of the Fog

We've been sick in just about every way imaginable over the last few weeks. By my count, at least one of us have been ill everyday since Super Bowl weekend – basically the entire month of February. I had another spell just yesterday, sleeping fourteen hours, up for a few, then back down again. Yikes!

Shannon is taking the brunt of it though. Because a lot of her reserves are going to Graham, she's not been able to fight off anything for any length of time and has been the slowest to recover from each wave of illness that's swept over us.

The boys and I should be fine for church tomorrow but Shannon went to bed just after eight this evening and looks doubtful.

I Will Survive, Week 4

**Spoiler Warning**
Do not read this post if you haven't yet seen this week's episode of Survivor.



…you've been warned!



How do you balance the needs you have now against the needs you're going to have later? The alliance of guys in the La Mina tribe had to choose which woman they were going to toss overboard. You've made a deal with the older but more loyal Ruth Marie, so toss the young and capricious Sally, right? Not so fast, you're going to be down five-to-seven in manpower and Ruth Marie is physically weak, likely the weakest link in the chain. Sally ought to be more helpful winning future contests but can you trust her as far as you can throw her? Ruth Marie is low-risk, low-reward; Sally is high-risk, high reward. Pick your poison.

The La Mina men decide to keep Sally with only Dan keeping his promise to Ruth Marie. I'll bet they just missed their best chance to get rid of Sally, who'll probably remain more of a threat than an asset. They should have listened to Dan.

Cirie of the Casaya tribe is in a good place now. The obvious odd-woman-out early on, Cirie has played perfectly the hand dealt to her – and it's all jokers. Because of all the infighting and irrational behavior of her tribe-mates, Cirie might be the only one of the seven without an enemy right now. Not only is she not at high risk of being dumped, she's put herself in the position to decide the fate of the others. Each faction will need her vote and she can just pick sides! With the shattered alliance of Shane, Aras, Danielle, and Courtney fighting each other, I predict that Cirie will sail into the merge, at least making the top eight. Who knew?

Terry has a leg up late in the game now that he has the immunity idol. If he can take that into the merge, he can orchestrate the downfall of his rival, whoever that may be at the time. It's easy to imagine scenarios where he can turn the game on its ear and single-handedly eliminate a powerful opponant. He's the early favorite.

Random observations:

• This is the first time in Survivor history that the first four eliminations have been of one gender. In this case, the men now outnumber the women 2-to-1.
• The original Casaya tribe of four older women has been wiped out… except for Cirie.
• I see Cirie aligning herself with Aras and Shane, and with Bruce and possibly Bobby, they can eliminate Courtney and Danielle. Cirie and Sally could easily be the last two women in the game.
• I would eliminate Bobby asap. He's coasting now (shame, shame) and could be a threat later because of his physical strength.
  
• Only Bruce has not yet cast a vote in tribal council.
• Ruth Marie, on the other hand, has been a tribal council fixture. She has participated in three of the four and been voted for six times (twice by Sally), more than anyone else to date.

By the Seat of Your Pants

Here is the future in Missionary Aviation:



It's the Quest Kodiak, the lastest and greatest thing for the backcountry flying that missionaries do. A larger airplane than the Cessnas it will replace, it is designed to carry more cargo to the same remote airstrips the smaller planes have been using for years. It can seat 10 with a useful load of almost 3500 pounds. It has a thousand mile range and a takeoff ground roll of only 700 feet.

MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) plans on replacing 12 of their 54 planes with Kodiaks starting early next year. New Tribes Mission and Wycliffe Bible Translators have similar plans.

It's designed by Quest Aircraft Company, a company founded in part by a pilot from MAF, for the purpose of developing this plane for missionaries. For every 10 airplanes sold, the company intends to donate one Kodiak to the organizations that invested in them.

So Sean Cannon, what do you think. Will this plane be everything it's advertised to be? Will you be flying one anytime soon?

Center of Attention

What happens when you go to Google Maps and just zoom in? You find yourself looking at Coffeyville, Kansas. What about the program Google Earth (basically Google maps on steroids)? You find yourself looking at Lawrence, Kansas. But is Google correct to place either of these towns at the center of the country? Read this clever little article about it at Wired.com.

My Mom is from the questionably named Kansas town of Centropolis. It is neither the center of anything nor is it a -polis, i.e. city. But that's ok, none of the Kansas towns of Centralia, Clay Center, Lincoln Center, Rush Center, Smith Center, Valley Center, or Yates Center is either. Not one of these towns is the exact center of the country; that honor goes to a pig farm four miles west of Lebanon, Ks.

(…)

Yay, Kansas.

(…)

We also have a really big ball of twine.

It's up toward Lebanon.

You can see both the same day.

If you want to.

Oh, nevermind.

Of Full Quivers and Foul Constitutions

There's been a lot of sickness lately. Attendance at church has been down the last few weeks (February is usually an "up" month) and we even had to close the church nursery for a week to sanitize and disinfect. The boys and I have had a couple rounds with the flu since New Year's and most families we know have been down the same road.

But Shannon is in a bad way.

Not only is she almost nine months pregnant, she has been sick – a lot. In fact she is sick right now with a virus that the doctor said may be difficult to throw off at this stage in her pregnancy. And this has been the most difficult pregnancy yet, with a myriad of ailments and injuries, some unrelated to pregnancy. With a stress fracture in her foot and inflamation in her hip, she has been hobbling for almost six months. Her emotions have been erratic since before we knew she was pregnant, often leaving her in the position of a passenger on a runaway train – keenly concerned but unable to intervene. And this is only the tip of the physiological iceberg.

At this point, I have a growing apprehensiveness about additional children in our future. Though we're not yet 30, I fear the option of more children has been taken off the table. And though we were not necessarily seeking to go beyond the four boys we have, there's something disquieting about not having the choice – especially for folks who love parenting. But Shannon's health has been so seriously devastated this time around that I cannot prayerfully discern this to be anything other than a "closed door."

Either way, please pray for my dear wife. Mercies from the Lord would be warmly received.

Random Thoughts 2/20/06

• Sony's in trouble. The highly touted and long-awaited Playstation 3 might cost as much as $800, and that's including an industry standard $100 per unit loss. That's right, when you buy a game console the company actually loses money, but of course they make it back and then some on the individual games. But the processor and high definition DVD player in the Playstation 3 are both so new and so expensive to manufacture that the total cost may near $900, twice as much as the rival Xbox 360 and more than many home computers. And even worse, the whole shooting match may be delayed by as much as a year, putting the debut in early 2007. This article explains more.
• Osama bin Laden says on a recent tape he'd rather die than be caught alive. Maybe I'm wrong but I was thinking the American military was perfectly willing to accommodate that? Hey Osama, be careful what you wish for.
  
• Speaking of tapes, a number of recordings (think Oval Office - Watergate era tapes of Nixon and company incriminating themselves) have Saddam Hussein and his officials talking about having and hiding WMDs during the years between the Iraq wars. My question is this: will all the haters who've claimed Bush lied about WMDs kindly approach hat-in-hand and apologize to him? I'm thinking not.

• Support Free Speech, Buy More LEGOs! Here's a link to Michelle Malkin's page encouraging just that! The Islamic cartoon controversy has the Danes on the forefront of the battle for Free Speech. Malkin's site also has a list of Danish companies and products (like LEGOs) and other useful links and information. By the way, the LEGO website is really pretty neat; LEGOS were probably my favorite toy growing up.
• Brennan is by far our most accident-prone child. If someone can find a way to fall down and get hurt, it'll be Brennan. Just moments ago I caught a glimpse of him running with, you guessed it, scissors! He's survived this long only by the Providence of God.
• Is homosexuality an innate and fixed trait, i.e. something you're born with? If your politics require a "yes" answer, you're going to hate this article. It may turn out that homosexuality is a complex state that depends heavily upon an individual's choices, environment, and conditioning.
• Finally, here's my "goosebump moment" of the day. I just watched the two commercials available at this location from MidwestHeroes.com. Wow. I think everyone should see these, but the Democratic Party in Minnesota disagrees. They are trying to get these adds removed because they are "un-American, untruthful, and a lie." Watch the ads yourself and see if you agree or not.
  

Sports Thoughts 2/20/06

• Are you a new fan of curling? The Winter Olympics tends to generate interest in some obscure sports and curling may be as obscure as it gets. Yet it turns out that there is a Curling Club in Kansas City and for $10 you can learn how to curl! Wear warm clothes and clean shoes, they'll provide the rest if you RSVP.
  
• The Jayhawks are on a win streak and are ranked for the second week now. The Sportsline Top 25 has them ranked at 21, the AP at 16, and the Coaches Poll at 18. Not bad for a "rebuilding" year! I wasn't even expecting them to make the tournament this year.
• Here's everything you ever wanted to know about the this year's gold medals.
  
• How long was the Daytona 500 yesterday? Do race fans watch the whole thing or do you pop in a movie and come back for the big finish? When do you take breaks to, uh… er… for when nature calls? It's not like racing has a halftime or even timeouts. Or is this the kind of sport you can watch while reading a book or magazine, like golf?
  
• Ricky Williams, the talented NFL running back, has failed another drug test. Way to go. After quitting on his team at the last minute in order to pursue his marijuana habit full time, he was forced back into the game last year (otherwise the Dolphins wanted their millions returned). But now with his fourth failed drug test, he's facing a minimum 1 year suspension. This will probably cost him every penny he has and he may never play again. I hope the dope was worth it, Ricky. And by the way, shame on his "friends" and family for not doing more to prevent this. Good grief – his life may be ruined now.
  

8000 Hits

We hit 8000 hits today. Thanks for reading!

For the first several months I was getting less than 20 hits per day. Then it bumped up to about 30 daily hits, which was thrilling because I figured I only had family reading this stuff. But the last week or two I've been getting something more like 70+ hits per day. I'll try to have good articles and links for you when you visit.

Upcoming:

• Church Membership: Can you have Dual Citizenship?
• Church Membership: Free to Belong
• NFL Draft: Who should the Chiefs pick?
• Family news and happenings
• All the latest news in tech, politics, philosophy, sports, etc.

Ruffing Up the Ruffians

KU smashed the Missery Tigers 79-46 today, out rebounding Mizzou 23-5 on MU's end and 33-19 overall.

I'm sorry that's so easy to enjoy. I only wish I could have watched the game.

So Blog Already!

Hey Sean and Rebecca Cannon!

C'mon! You've got news. You've got a blog. Let's hear your special announcement!

Read the witty and engaging blog of a Missionary Pilot and his wife (my cousin) at www.jungleaviator.blogspot.com. They are currently in Costa Rica but will soon be in Ecuador.

You can also find this link on my sidebar anytime as "My Favorite Missionaries."

I Will Survive, Week 3

**Spoiler Warning**
Do not read this post if you haven't yet seen this week's episode of Survivor.



…you've been warned!



Well, I didn't expect to see Misty get voted off the island but I guess I can imagine why. If you're not specifically targeting the weakest person, you may want to break up the other alliance, which is exactly what happened. In fact it left the LaMina tribe with a strong 4-person alliance (Terry, Dan, Austin, & Nick) and two nearly helpless outsiders looking in (Ruth Marie & Sally) should they lose again. In fact, you ought to be able to expect those four men to sail on through to "the merge" as long as disaster doesn't strike.

That said, couldn't the young guys, Nick and Austin, have voted for Ruth Marie without actually hurting their alliance with the older guys? I guess I'm not clear on the exact reasoning for getting rid of Misty in the first place. Ruth Marie can barely stand at a whopping 85 pounds, Sally's the one who lost the fishing spear, and I couldn't tell where Misty hurt them during the immunity challenge. The info I need is probably on the cutting room floor.

Which begs the question: wouldn't Survivor benefit from extended scenes on the internet? Obsessive fans could watch a longer version or view deleted scenes or extras online. Extra "confessionals" or even a podcast, perhaps with commentary by Jeff Probst and the booted survivor, would draw a certain amount of attention. Lots of other shows do this but maybe they're saving it for the DVD.

I did find out some interesting tidbits after reading some interviews with the booted players. Why did Tina the Lumberjill get booted off in round one when she was obviously the best survivalist on her tribe? It turns out the quiet but conniving Ruth Marie approached Melinda and Cirie, who had an alliance from day one, about getting rid of the strongest player. Tina never even tried to form an alliance, which is kind of the point of the show, so she took all of her lumberjacking skills and went home. The Cirie-Melinda alliance backfired in round two and got Melinda booted next. Her only way to survive would have been to turn on her friend which she wouldn't do. So she lost. I guess if you're going to form an alliance, don't make your own demise part of the deal.

Now I'm waiting to see why exactly the older men had it out for Misty.

I'm also going to brush up on my knowledge of Machiavelli (the Italian philosopher that described how people deceive and manipulate others for personal gain). Or maybe that's what I'm doing by watching Survivor…

Marine Hero Honored

Read previous posts about Brad Kasal here and here.

Marine Sergeant Major Brad Kasal (recently promoted!) was honored by the State of Iowa for his heroism in Fallujah, Iraq in November, 2004. Kasal is up for the Medal of Honor, a process that takes up to two years. We should know in coming months if he becomes the first living recipient of our nation's highest honor since Vietnam.

Follow this link and click "play video" to see a two minute video interview with him.

Chopped Liver

Each night when Brennan and Tanner go to bed, we pray with them. I kneel by Tanner's bottom bunk and Shannon stands by Brennan's top bunk. Tanner prays first, then Brennan, then Daddy, then Mom.

When the boys pray they often list all the things and people they're thankful for and, meandering all over the place, it's easy to miss someone. After leaving me out a few times, I playfully protested, "What am I? Chopped liver?!"

Brennan and Tanner thought that was hilarious (not that they could tell you what liver is). So now each prayer time, one or the other will deliberately list everyone in our family but leave me out, as they giggle with glee waiting for me to respond, and then burst with laughter when I say the magic words.

The other night Tanner added a new twist. He prayed, "Tanks for Daddy, he's topped libber."

Carrying Water

Here's exactly how I view the life the Lord gave us. I couldn't agree more with what it says about contentment and our purpose in life.

The grass is not, in fact, always greener on the other side of the fence. Fences have nothing to do with it. The grass is greenest where it is watered. When crossing over fences, carry water with you and tend the grass wherever you may be.
–Robert Fulghum

Thanks Alanna A. for the heads-up.

Baa Baa Humbug

The student senate at the University of Washington rejected a memorial dedicated to Medal of Honor winner "Pappy" Boyington of World War II fame. Why snub this famous UW alum? According to one of the students, "[I don't] believe a member of the Marine Corps was an example of the sort of person UW wanted to produce." Another member of the student government said, "many monuments at UW already commemorate rich white men."

…?! [That's me going crosseyed in shock and disbelief.]

You've got to be kidding. Please read this short article about the controversy.

Boyington, who was neither white (part Sioux) nor rich, was an excellent example of a hard working, self made man who volunteered to protect others and suffered greatly for it (he was a POW in Japan for 20 months).

A known alcoholic, Boyington was certainly a flawed character, but he doesn't deserve to be slandered by ignorant people. And since these people happen to be students, maybe they could do a little research and learn who this person really was. Or better yet, they can join ROTC or enlist to serve their country like Boyington did. If they knew anything about the military they could never have said such foolish things.

I Know Kung Fu

Ft. Leavenworth includes the Command and General Staff College, the National Simulation Center, and the United States Disciplinary Barracks (the Military Prison, not to be confused with the Federal Penitentiary which is seperate and unrelated).

We've known several folks in the area and at Church that have worked at the Fort and but most of us don't have any clear idea on what's going on there. Well, here's a short article about some of the simulations they use to train Army officers. It's interesting stuff.

Olympic Gold

The USA officially pulled into the lead in the medal count today with four golds and two silvers. But that's only because those silly Olympic committees don't count the total number of medals but the number of gold medals first, then silver, and then bronze, creating all sorts of confusion. For example, a country with one gold and no other medals is still ahead in the standings compared to a country with ten silvers and ten bronze but no gold. I look at that and see twenty athletes on the podiums compared to one.

In 2002, Norway was supposedly victorious with 13 golds (but only 25 medals overall), Germany had 12 golds (36 overall), and the US came in with 10 golds (34 overall). Looking at this, didn't Germany actually do best?

Personally, I would score the Olympics with a MTMS (Makes Too Much Sense) system: 3 points for gold, 2 for silver and 1 for bronze. This would be fairly simple but then again so would a playoff system for college football.

Using my MTMS system, the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics actually looked like this:

Germany 76 points
USA 67 points
Norway 56 points
Canada 34 points
Russia 27 points

So let's put those snobby Norwegians in their place and count the medals properly!

But first let's fix college football.

Weighty Issues

My wife's voice echoes through the house, "I'm so fat I broke my foot!!!"

Shannon came hobbling in the door, just back from the doctor's office. It turns out that she has a stress fracture in her foot – from just walking around. It's not bad, but it'll take a little while to heal. Until then, she won't be winning any races.

And she actually isn't fat at all; she's in great shape. But she is almost nine months pregnant. And that does weird things to your body.

Families United

Check out this website for Families United. This group is essentially the opposite of Cindy Sheehan. They support the efforts to bring democracy to the Middle East to combat terrorism, even though some of them, like Diane Ibbotson, have lost loved ones in combat.

Ibbotson says, "My son gave his life for this cause and so it isn't hard for me then to put my efforts into continuing the battle."

1st Anniversary

How the time flies.

In mid-February 2005 I began blogging with a few simple goals in mind:

• Learn more about web publishing and the internet in general.
  
• Discipline myself to write regularly.
• Improve communication to friends and family.

Why? Well, I want to know how the internet can be used for ministry. If there is an opportunity for me as a minister or for the church I want to be web-savvy. I also feel like it redeems the medium a bit. There's so much spiritual polution out there, it feels right to be a counter-weight.

I also want to be in the habit of putting pen to paper on a routine basis. The only way to be a successful writer is to overcome the resistance of procrastination and be diligent. I really feel that the Lord will have me write a book or two during my time here so I better start practicing now.

I also want to communicate with those I love. I detest the phone and it's difficult with a young family to make a roadtrip, but this medium allows us to stay in touch. Surprisingly, writing out my thoughts and feelings has brought me closer to those I see everyday as well as those far away.

After a while I realized that the greatest value of this blog is that my four boys will know what kind of man I am, even if something happened to me. I'll have opportunity to speak to them for decades to come and that means a lot to me. This world doesn't offer a lot of positive guidance for young men.

Since blogging has gone well so far, I'll continue for the foreseeable future. So for whatever reason you come to read this, thanks for dropping by.

And boys, stop fighting and listen to your mother!

Stats for Year 1: 379 posts, 7550 hits, averaging 900 hits/month over the last quarter.

Random Thoughts 2/11/05

• I noticed that the last four digits of the phone number for the local emergency room are 5050. Fifty-fifty? Shouldn't you have better odds?
• We're all sick and tired of being sick and tired. Shannon is nearing the "get me out of my own body" phase of pregnancy. The boys and I have been ill off and on for four days now. I've settled in to a pattern of getting ill every night/morning and rebounding in the afternoons, only to repeat the cycle the next day. Stick a fork in me, I'm done.
• Art Shell has been re-hired by the Raiders. Since his firing eleven years ago the Raiders have gone through five other coaches and have had only three winning seasons. Shell, a Hall of Famer who played for the Raiders in two Super Bowls and eight Pro Bowls, had four winning seasons and three playoff appearances in five years as the head coach. He was 9-7 when Al Davis fired him.
• We flew past 7500 hits yesterday. Thanks for reading my blog.
• Does anybody notice that the President has a weekly radio address on Saturday mornings? I'm an avid talk radio listener yet I usually don't hear it or anything about it. I wonder if most people know such a thing still exists.
• Can you get more weird than an Olympic Opening Ceremony? I missed this year's ceremony at the behest of my eye-rolling wife who just wasn't interested.
• The US has it's first gold medalist. On day one, speed skater Chad Hedrick won the Men's 5000 meter. Yay. See the medal count at NBC's Olympic site.
  

Quinn Not Essential

Sub-.500 Missouri is now rid of the boyish basketball coach Quinn Snyder, who "resigned" today. A few years ago I would have been lost in schadenfreude about now. But the more I learn about how that school is run (by the Athletic Director, Chancellor, and assorted fat cats) the less Quinn Snyder himself embodied what is Mizzou in my mind.

In fact, I have the same feeling toward Quinn Snyder right now that I have toward Norv Turner, formerly head coach of the Oakland Raiders. It's not the individual coach or player, it's the organization. In Oakland's case, until the Raiders have a true regime change, their head coach will continue to have the worst job in professional football. The Missouri regime that pushed to have Norm Stewart "retired" to make room for "their guy" may need to go as well.

So Quinn's departure may not be that significant. Whether you want to see the Tigers squirm or you want to see them rise like a Phoenix, getting rid of Quinn may have been curing the symptom, not the disease.

Starve a Cold, Feed an Eli

Elijah woke up this morning after a brief fourteen and a half hour nap with a fever and a weary look to him. The poor little guy's appetite (and I use "little" in a purely figurative way) was not diminished however. He drank two cups of juice, ate two large servings of lunch, and is still going strong as I type, eating every snack and side item I can throw at him.

With four boys, our grocery bill is going to get increasingly interesting in coming years.

Due to be Confused

Shannon went to the doctor today and received her fifth different due date. Graham will be here somewhere between late March and late April, leaning more toward March.

Please pray for us. There's no sign that anything is wrong, but this degree of uncertainty about his size and level of development is unusual. And that's a sure fire way to upset Mom.

I Will Survive, Week 2

Ok, Episode 2 made a little more sense, from a Survivor-novice point of view.

• Two tribes made a lot more sense than four. With four tribes it seemed obvious that the short tribe would be at high risk of losing again, basically dooming them. I also like how they split the teams school yard style. That said, I feel the La Mina tribe is significantly stronger than Casaya, both mentally and physically. And if Casaya keeps losing, they'll probably need to reshuffle again.
  
• I like how they did the exile island thing this time. In fact, they could do something similar everytime they have an odd number of contestants. Leave one exile behind in order to make the tribes even and then the exile could join the losing tribe after the tribal council and bring that team back up to an even number. It mixes things up a bit because the exile might have to switch tribes and adds some strategy if the exile stands out – for better or worse – or especially if they find the immunity idol.
• My favorites? I'm rooting for the Terry and Dan alliance. Go old guys! A former astronaut and an F-14 pilot, how cool is that?
  
• My least favorite? Cirie. She seems out of place and a total liability. I've heard rumors that she goes far but I can't imagine how. Actually I can. It's the old "faster than the bear" adage. "You don't have to be faster than the bear, just faster than the slowest person running from the bear." Coming in next to last each week, Cirie may be with us for awhile.
  

Sicky Poo

Sorry for not blogging the last couple of days but, like almost every family with kids at our church, we've been sick this week. Elijah and I have the flu again. Brennan has been having trouble hearing and his doctor said he has fluid on his ear and a "cobbled" throat, so he's on anti-biotics and allergy meds for a month. Shannon's nearly eight months pregnant, so she's never alright, but we're hoping she doesn't get the flu as well.

Also, thanks to everybody for covering my Bible Study class last night. I was going to come anyway, but Jay-rod and Shannon vetoed me.

Al for Oswald and a Cartoon to be Named Later

In case you find the machinations of corporate big wigs interesting, here's one involving my favorite sport, football, and tv's most prized show, Monday Night Football.

The NFL gets billions of dollars from television rights. This money pays salaries and pensions, builds stadiums, and generally makes professional football happen. The networks are glad to pay this money because even bad football gets pretty good ratings, which equals advertising dollars, which is how the studios make money. For years, ESPN has done the Sunday Night game, ABC has done the Monday night game, and NBC has been left out in the cold.

That changes this next year, when ESPN takes Monday night, NBC takes their place on Sunday, and ABC gets left out… sort of. These days, ABC and ESPN are both owned by Disney, so in a way, nothing really changed hands there. But the PTB (powers that be) have plans of their own. So…

Good bye, John Madden. Yes you have more football knowledge than any person alive but you also have a less than average ability to communicate it. Good luck with those video games and good luck with your new job at NBC on Sunday Nights. NBC was frantic to get anything NFL, even the indecipherable Madden.

Good bye, Al Michaels. What? I thought Al said that after 30 years he would never leave Monday night? Well, it turns out he doesn't have the final word. Michaels recently had a sudden change of heart and was traded to NBC for all kinds of benefits for ESPN (and Disney), including "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" cartoons done by some guy named Walter Disney in 1927, but owned by Universal, forcing the young cartoonist to invent a new cartoon mouse named Mickey.

Besides consolidating the Disney archieves, ESPN gets rights to the Kentucky Derby and expanded privileges to various sports such as Notre Dame football, the Olympics, and NBC's own Sunday Night football. And by getting rid of Michaels, ESPN has unloaded a prima donna past his prime.

As punishment for working out such a great deal, ESPN must now keep Joe Theismann in the booth because otherwise Monday Night football would be way too good.

Random Thoughts 2/7/06

• We had opportunity to see the movie End of the Spear last week. If you're going to see it in the theater, time is running out. After three weekends, it has barely made back its production costs and ticket sales are dropping fast. Many theaters may not run it much longer, so don't miss your chance to see this beautiful film on the big screen. And don't forget the documentary Beyond the Gates of Splendor, available at video rental stores.
  
• Are you interested in seeing that new movie about the Naval Academy, Annapolis? You might want to read this review first. Movies that get all of the details wrong are pretty common, but when they are about the military or something else historical, it's just about unwatchable.
• Your 0-2 Arena League football team, the Kansas City Brigade, play their first home game this Sunday. Good luck with that.
  
• Auctions on eBay are becoming a thing of the past and CEO Meg Whitman likes it that way. More than one third of all purchases on eBay were bought at "buy it now" fixed prices instead of via auction. It turns out people don't want to wait for the auction to end and will pay for the convenience of getting it now. And eBay, as a company, prefers to see you actually buy the stuff you're shopping for, rather than getting sniped, losing your auction, and taking your business elsewhere.
• According to the bracketologists, KU has a 75% chance of making the NCAA tourney and a one-in-three chance of getting a top-4 seed. Texas and Oklahoma both have better odds and only Colorado is even close (60% chance). Unless something changes, the rest of the Big-12 is looking at the NIT or a big cushy seat in front of the TV.
• I had to get a new stereo for home this week. The old one, a ten year old Sony, finally gave up the ghost. I was shocked to see how easy it was to spend $2000-4000 on sound for your living room. We spent $90 and it nearly killed me to do it. That said, I'm quite pleased with it. I watched My Fair Lady last night, and "with a little bit o' luck" it sounded great!
  

McCain Dresses Down Obama

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) just took Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) out behind the wood shed!

The former Navy pilot and POW sent the new young senator a biting letter, apologizing for believing Obama at his word and trusting the Illinois Democrat to do the right thing.

As I noted, I initially believed you shared that goal. But I understand how important the opportunity to lead your party’s effort to exploit this issue must seem to a freshman Senator, and I hold no hard feelings over your earlier disingenuousness. Again, I have been around long enough to appreciate that in politics the public interest isn’t always a priority for every one of us. Good luck to you, Senator.

I don't always agree with McCain, but you can't doubt the man's personal ethics anymore than you can question his ability to verbally dress you down (both lessons he would have learned at the Naval Academy in Annapolis).

Read the entire letter here.

Congrats Steelers

Though not a very exciting game, it was easy to be happy for the Steelers in their win over the Seahawks in Super Bowl XL. It's nice to see Jerome Bettis retire on the high note of a Super Bowl win, to see Ben Roethlisberger become the youngest winning QB in Super Bowl history, to see Bill Cowher solidify his position alongside greats like Chuck Noll, etc, etc.

I didn't make a huge effort to watch the action during the game, though I don't think I missed a commercial (which seemed funnier than previous years). My five-year-old, Brennan, liked the FedEx Caveman commercial where the caveman gets stepped on by a dinosaur.

I was partial to Mastercard's MacGyver commercial, BudLight's "Secret Fridge," and Sprint's "Crime Deterrent" cell phone.

For those of you with the NFL Network, they are showing the Super Bowl commercials in one show tonight.

Super Bowl

I've always been an AFC guy, and it's hard not to root for the Steelers, but I'm thinking that the Seahawks will probably win.

I say it will be a close game for three and half quarters but Shaun Alexander finally puts it out of reach in the end with a tough, clock-eating running game and a final TD.

Seahawks 27, Steeler 17.

I Will Survive

Ok, I watched my first episode ever of Survivor.

(…)

WHAT WERE THOSE GALS THINKING?!?!?! AHHHH!!!!

Ok, I can see why people like this show.

The Babysitter?

Here's the side of my kids I recognize best sometimes…



That's Tanner (4), Brennan (5), and Elijah (2). I think.

Aborting Ethics

Here are a few ethics questions I've been asked concerning the abortion issue. I'll try to keep it concise but here is my earlier article.

To begin, murder, by definition, has three parts. It has to be 1) killing 2) an innocent 3) human being. If you kick an innocent person in the shin, it's not murder. If you kill a person who is trying to choke you to death, it's not murder. If you kill an innocent fly, it's not murder. But if you kill an innocent person, you've murdered.

Does abortion meet these terms? I think so. It is destroying a living thing to the point where it ceases to function. It is done to someone who has made no offense. It is done to the unique, distinct, and growing embodiment of a being with full and complete human DNA.

If you accept my premise, an abortionist murders. The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates equated abortion with poisoning people and both actions are forbidden in his Hippocratic Oath.

Q. What if the child is handicapped or has a disease? Or what if they are unwanted, because of rape?

A. What makes a person valuable? If I cut off a finger or a leg am I less human? What if I'm paralyzed from the neck down or debilitated by Parkinson's, has my uselessness forfeited my right to life? What if my wife and kids reject and abandon me, may I still be permitted to go on? And what if a parent decides they don't want their toddler anymore, may they kill him?

Your nature is not determined by the physical state of your body or by the opinions of others. You have intrinsic value which I believe is endowed by God. Regardless, you are a human being and words, politics, theology, and emotion do not change that.

What kind of life would a handicapped person have? Ask Stephen Hawking or Ludwig van Beethoven. We do not have the right to determine which handicapped children will have an impact on this world, even if they only live for mere minutes.

Q. Shouldn't we show compassion to the mother who would be reminded of the rape?

A. Yes we should, and part of that compassion is preventing a second dreadful act. Aborting the child will not undo the rape but it will add the additional burden of guilt; multiplying the anguish of the women. Anyone can see that murder is a greater victimization than rape, so why compound one evil with an even greater one? It becomes a ticking time bomb, gnawing at the heart perhaps for years and decades.

I am not forcing the women to have the baby; the rapist did that. But I hope to prevent her from complicity in an even greater injustice, which leads me to my final point:

What about compassion for the child? Why should the innocent receive the most severe punishment?

Answered Prayers

I'm happy to report that Shannon's health is much improved. She was having blood pressure problems but she's been fine since the weekend and the doctor says she should be ok. Shannon is still having bad headaches but pregnancy can be a tough row to hoe for anyone.

Last week we thought our minivan was dying. But in the last day or so the problem just went away! I'm not going to ask why.

I was also having some health problems this last week, but I started exercising and I feel much better already.

Thank you for keeping us in your prayers and God bless those of you who've done things for us this last couple weeks. Our hearts are touched by your expression of love.

Random Thoughts 2/1/06

• Citizen Kane is on Turner Classic Movies tomorrow afternoon if you've never seen it and know how to work your VCR or TiVo. I asked my Sunday School class to watch this movie if they had a chance (we're studying Ecclesiastes) and here's your chance.
  
• John Kerry, bless his heart, said this morning that 53% of our kids don't graduate High School. Really? According to the Census Bureau, 85.9% of Americans age 20-24 are High School graduates. According to my public school math skills, that's 14.1 per cent, not 53 per cent, Senator Kerry.
• Western Union no longer sends telegrams. 145 years continuous service stop sorry for any inconvenience stop use your phone, fax, or email stop pony express and carrier pigeon also discontinued stop
• Here's a good article about casualties in Iraq and why they are so low.
  
• Chiefs President Carl Peterson says he is considering troubled receiver Terrell Owens. All of Kansas City cried out in unison, "Nooooooooo!" The opposite of that would be the signing of Pro Bowl guard Brian Waters to a six year extension announced today.
  
• I watched a documentary the other night and it turns out that President Roosevelt had American hero Charles Lindbergh wiretapped because Lindbergh spoke at anti-war rallies. Then I heard that Kennedy wiretapped Martin Luther King, Jr. to catch him in an extra-marital affair and discredit him. This peaks my curiosity. How many times have we illegally wiretapped our own citizens? It puts Bush's wiretapping of Al Qaeda in perspective.