A friend of ours is a finalist in the sing-off for singing the national anthem at a Buffalo Bills game this fall! It’s kinda like American Idol, probably… 🙂 She’s great (you’ve heard her on a few of our CDs!) So, when the time comes, I’ll put up a link, and you can vote for her!! 🙂
Click the photo for the larger version, and you can see her name all circled and stuff!
Or, click the link below for the full article at the Bills website:
Bills Anthem Finalists Announced – Buffalo Bills
Just found this out via my “This Day In History” widget on the ol’ Tiger Dashboard…
History of Memorial Day:
Several communities claim to have originated Memorial Day. But in 1966, the U.S. government proclaimed Waterloo, New York, the birthplace of the holiday. The people of Waterloo first observed Memorial Day on May 5, 1866, to honor soldiers killed in the American Civil War. Businesses closed, and people decorated soldiers’ graves and flew flags at half-mast.Major General John A. Logan in 1868 named May 30 as a special day for honoring the graves of Union soldiers. Logan served as commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans of the Civil War. They had charge of Memorial Day celebrations in the Northern States for many years. The American Legion took over this duty after World War I.
So, Happy Memorial Day from 30 miles northwest of Waterloo. 🙂
I play basketball on Wednesday mornings from about 8am till 9am. It’s an hour of playing hard and having fun. We have anywhere from just two players to one time we had five. Most commonly we have three. So, we have had to be slightly inventive in the format of our games. And, on occasion, no one but me will show up, so I have had to be even more inventive. 🙂
I came up with a game a while back that I thought was pretty challenging and fun for a solo player. Yes, basketball solitaire! I was solo again today, so I tweaked it a bit, and thought I would share my nameless game here. It could be called just Basketball Solitaire. Or, maybe 5-4-3-2-1. That’s kinda long.
You let me know what you think it should be called…
Nameless One-Player Basketball Game
A turn consists of up to 5 attempts to score. The game is divided into quarters. The action does not stop until five turns have been completed. After you have completed a quarter, you may shoot one (1) foul shot per turn where no points were scored. So, if you had two turns where you scored a zero (0), you may take 2 foul shots, which are worth 1 point each.
Tally your score. Best score would be 25 points. After a break, continue with the next quarter. After four quarters, tally your score and try to beat it next time!
So, that’s the game. Have fun!
Now, I’ve never actually said those words. I can’t recall ever having been to an actual “pub”. Oh wait, one time we took a group of students from our campus ministry to a pub to hear a friend’s Celtic band. Was that a pub or a bar? I know I’ve visited several bars, but, I don’t know about pubs. Is there a difference between a pub and a bar? Pub sounds more friendly?
Maybe that’s it.
Let me back-track here. I’m not just engaging in trivial chit-chat about places of druken revelry.
Today as I was driving around town, listening to the local sports station, one radio guy was trying to convince the other radio guy that an evening at our town’s soccer games was worth the trip. The convincee just doesn’t think he likes soccer, so the convincer says to him, “It’s not really about the game. My wife and I go, have a couple beers, talk with the people around us, and it’s an overall, enjoyable evening.”
Somehow, that got me thinking about my friends from Bible college who went on a mission trip to Ireland, and spent a majority of their time in the pubs. (Which was not standard practice when they were back at Bible college.) 🙂
See, the reason people go to a pub, from what I have gathered, is not so much for the event, or even (dare I say it) for the drinks. I think (though I have no authority in this matter, to be sure) that the majority of the folks who frequent a pub go there to “talk with the people around [them]”. The evening is not as much about what they are doing, but more who they are doing it with.
As my mind is always connecting things, I quickly thought of the weekend programs most Christians attend or serve in. I think many people are part of such events not for what they are doing, but rather who they are doing it with. It’s a meeting place. A connecting point with people who have a common purpose or direction in life. And are in the same family. It’s an essential part of who the church is. We are connected.
But the problem is, over time, the event has overtaken the connecting. For various reasons, we end up “going to church” more for what we do there than who we are there with. The schedules, the people flow, all of the activities… these end up dominating our time together, and not a simple connection. Partly it is the fault of we who plan the events. We feel a burden to provide something worthy of attending. Perhaps instead we should treat it like the local pub? There are some good extras (a pint or two, some pretzels, some games) but the real reason to be there is to just be together.
So, a few quick mental connections just had me thinking today that maybe we (the church) could benefit from a little trip to the pub.
This is a good article about the strategy and success of the Apple Retail stores. We definitely love them! Thanks for the link, Chi.
I am so glad that OLN (yes, the Outdoor Life Network) is carrying the NHL playoffs!!! It’s been so great to watch playoff hockey again. But even better than good playoff hockey is your team advancing in the playoffs!!!
The Sabres won their first round series tonight in game six by a 7-1 margin!!! Whoa!! They won 8-2 in game two. They can obviously score, and having seen a couple games now, I can attest to their potential. They look great!!
Looking forward to the next round. They take on the Ottawa Senators, the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference. Should be quite a challenge, but they look up to it!
Go Sabres!!
Read the Full Article:
Sabres Rout Flyers to Win Series in 6
This is too funny! I was laughing out loud every time! Had to share. 🙂
My favorites are “Restarting”, and “WSJ”.
I have been monkeying with a new idea for the layout of GregsHead.net, and thought I had it just fine… however, blogger does something strange once the page is published. It adds code dynamically. This is not bad, except that the preview they give me (above) looks just fine. The live version does not.
Sorry about that. But, it is completely functional, so you can use the links above to go places. I’ll have the book page up soon so y’all can pre-order if you like! More to come on that…
For now, gotta get to some other projects!!! 🙂
We continue to read through Matthew, the boys and I, and this morning’s very short story had a gem I wanted to share. We only read about two paragraphs or so a day. Enough to get a story to talk about together. And today’s was your run-of-the-mill miracle (if there could be such a thing), but there was a short phrase that even our seven-year-old picked up on that must be heard and understood. It is the thing I so often will miss, and the thing that so clearly reveals the heart of our Father.
As Jesus came down the mountain, he was followed by large crowds. Suddenly a man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus. He said, “Lord, you have the power to make me well, if only you wanted to.” Jesus put his hand on the man and said, “I want to! Now you are well.” At once the man’s leprosy disappeared. (Matthew 8:1-3)
The part that I so often miss is that Jesus wants to. I am the man who has a sickness, or a problem, or something I can not handle on my own. I come to Jesus and kneel before him, knowing he is more than capable of handling my problems. He is far greater than anything that could trouble me. But the issue is not knowing his greatness, it’s understanding his willingness.
I’m like the leprous man who says, “If you want to…” So often my lack of faith is not in the power or ability of God. Rather, if I lack faith, it is my lack of faith in his willingness or desire to help me. Who am I to deserve such favor with God? Why would he want to help me?
Jesus’ response is incredible. Simple. And so full of what I am learning is the heart of our Father.
“I want to!”
We will often quote from the first chapter in Ephesians where it talks about God’s plan to redeem us. To give his own life for us, so that through Jesus we would be holy and blameless, without fault in God’s eyes. The plan involved pain, suffering and even death. And yet, before anything was created, God cooked up this scheme and Paul says that it “gave him great pleasure.”
For me, this is key. God does not love us because he has to. (Being Love, he could conceivably love us out of duty, or obligation.) Instead, he loves us because he wants to. How amazing.
I hope you hear Jesus’ words today, and the next time you are speaking with him about something that troubles you. Try not to worry about whether or not it’s important to him, or if he even wants to help you, or listen. I think we already have his answer from this story in Matthew.
His answer is, “I want to!”
Three years ago today God blessed us with a house. We have had two more children since then, a new van, a few new computers, and so many great friends here. Thank you God for three years. May there be many more in this place, or wherever you lead us. Thanks for loving us and letting us love other people like you have loved us.
Just wanted to celebrate with you three years in our Big Yellow House. 🙂
Apr 25, 2003-Apr 25, 2006
