Two Great Reasons You Should Write About Your Ministry

A little over a year ago, I suppose, our church started doing a sweet weekly newsletter.  It’s like a mini-newspaper.  You can check it out here. The staff was “encouraged” to add content and use the paper as a resource.  But seriously, I have really fought it because:

1.  Writing articles for the church newspaper is not my idea of a good time

2.  I have a really hard time writing
3.  Writing takes me sooooooo long

However, our Director of Education, Libby Eaton, from the start has tried (and I think succeeded) in having something in the Light (our newspaper name) every week.  And being a dad, I love to see my kids in there.  And I was impressed at how much response she got out of the paper and what it communicated to the people who never even step foot into her ministry area.

So maybe 6 months ago…probably less…I tried to steal some of the spot light from Libby.  I have definitely not been as diligent as her but I have tried, especially all summer long, to get something in the Light once a week to spotlight middle school ministry.

Then two cool things happened:

A couple weeks ago I was having lunch with one of the people from our congregation and he says, “Man, your student ministry is really booming!!!”  How did he know?  Had he been with us on a trip?  No.  How about in Sunday School?  No.  Had he heard from a parent?  Nope.

He read it in the Light!

Here’s the second cool reason…it’s a bit longer.

I get this phone call yesterday from this sweet little old lady named Carol.  She tells me that her daughter doesn’t attend church but has two boys and mom is considering bringing them to the parent meeting later that evening.  Carol is obviously sad that her daughter doesn’t attend church and has “fought and fought” to keep her daughter on the mailing list and now that she’s coming she wants to make sure they have a very pleasant experience and that she’ll be praying the whole evening.  Nothing like a little pressure.

So we’re eating dinner before the meeting and there is a woman there with two boys I’ve never seen before.  Low and behold it’s Carol’s daughter and her two boys are in middle school!  So I’m talking to her and she offers up this statement:  “Every week I read the paper and there’s something about middle school.  Middle school this and middle school that.  I figured that I needed to check out this middle school thing for myself!”

Wow….As someone who readily understands the pain and prayers of having a loved one disconnected from the church, it’s humbling to think that my toiling out stories about middle school for a couple hours each week could result in a doorway to reconciliation with the church and an elderly woman’s years of answered prayers.

Pen Tricks

I still remember one of my best friends Jeff Threet practicing and practicing two of these pen tricks. I never had the patience to learn them, so I'm posting this for him as I know he'll want to learn the other three on this video.

My buddy Bob Tinker has the same pen trick OCD.

Maybe some day I'll get the hang of it...

On a Mission From God

No, this isn't simply a quote from Blues Brothers, although while a Sophomore in High School my offensive line coach dubbed me, "Belushi" for my messing around during practice and an alleged spitting image of the famed heroin overdosed comic.

No, this was told to me tonight while on a middle school youth event.

We took our middle school students down to Oklahoma City for an NBA game. The New Orleans Hornets (formerly from Charlotte) have been displaced the last two seasons from thier home because of hurricane Katrina. So last year they played all thier "home" games in OKC and this year they are playing half thier home games here. Next year, they'll be back in the Big Easy.

So this is pretty much a last shot at seeing a real NBA game, of which I've never had the opportunity along with most Kansans. Long story short, we took a couple vans full.

Before the game we stopped at the world's worst McDonald's. I don't know if it could even qualify as a full McDonald's experience. In fact, one of my students', Jonathan Buster, called it "McConoco" because it was half Conoco gas station and half McDonald's.

I finished eating and went to the gas station part and picked up a Reese's Big Cup. Put it on the counter and the clerk asked, "Are you in charge of the church group?"

Reluctantly I looked down and said, "Yeah...." And then it happenned.

I thought, I should say what I want to say, "FORTUNATLEY!" But, I thought that would be too awkward and wierd and I thought the typical thing to say is "Unfortunately" because, after all, who likes working with middle schoolers?

Except that...I do. In fact, my buddy Kirk affirmed just that afterwards when we were gassing up the vans."Man, I'm so glad that you love being with Middle Schoolers," said Kirk. "Because I was ready to leave half of them at a rest stop in Oklahoma" he said with a grin.

Not me. I love working with middle school students. But, that is the wierd answer. Plus, I was pretty stressed out because the McDonald's had gotten numerous orders wrong, was super slow, and I thought we were going to miss the start of the game.

Of course, the Holy Spirit was whispering in my ear, "Don't worry. Don't hurry. Don't be anxious about anything but in prayer....that's when I shut him off. Cause I was STRESSED. And angry. And worried. And who needs to hear from God when you have all of that going on!

So I answered the polite clerk with what I thought was expected, "Unfortunately."

Nanoseconds before I muttered the 5 sylable word, I thought, "Watch, you are going to say this and this guy is going to call me on the carpet." But of course, what are the chances of that? Yeah right.

The word dripped out of my mouth, "Unfortunately."

Right away, I was doomed.

Delightfully.

"Nah man, don't say that." The tall and athletic looking clerk said to me behind the counter. "You are on a mission from God. When I was kid I had a guy just like you who took me to games and hung out with me and..."

The guy said a couple other things that I'm sure were very encouraging, but I was so busy trying to get my jaw untangeled from my shoe laces that I missed the rest of whatever he said. I think I said, "Thanks," smiled, and made my way out the door.

And once again, God spoke to me. He affirmed my calling. And from the lips of a 20-something, African-American Brother, He said, "I love you, Ken. Keep doing what you're doing. I'm with you and love you."

Like Chariots of Fire, really, gosh this is so tacky and lame, but when I am with Middle School students, it is one of a few things that when I do it, I feel God's pleasure.

Who knew that today, on my way to take a group of students to an NBA game, that I would come face to face with Jesus.

Freaky.

Cool.

Stuck In The Middle 2007 Rocked

Driving through the Flint Hills, eating at different restaurants, staying up late, waking up early, crazy guys in tuxedos, inflatables, mechanical bull riding, video games, Karaoke, the band staying in the same hotel, on the same floor no less, and giants burgers at Red Robin. All of this was part of an incredible weekend our middle school students spent just a couple weeks ago in Kansas City.

On March 9th, eleven middle school students and three adults headed out for the 2nd annual Stuck In The Middle Conference, being held at The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas.

Stuck in the Middle is a dynamic three day experience created for middle school students to experience God’s love and grow in their relationship with him. This year’s theme was “Encore” and it didn’t disappoint.

Stuck began with an incredible video opening along with recording band Jackson Waters leading worship. Nearly 700 students filled the youth room where most of them swarmed the stage during the worship as they sang their hearts out to God. The worship was set up so that we sang before the message and also after, in response to the message.

Each session also featured a comedy improv group, led by comedian Billy Brame and his buddy Brian Lechner, which had our students cracking up! From their two headed juggling where the guys shared one shirt and juggled, and their games throughout the audience before each session began, to their improv games before the main speaker, Brame and his Lechner were great.

One of the aspects that sets Stuck in the Middle apart from other events is their style of having some type of sketch in the middle of the main sessions. So a main speaker will be in the middle of their talk, and the improv group will come out and do a sketch that gives students the break in the action that they need and nails the point home that the speaker is trying to make.

Dynamic speakers invited our students to know Christ and gave practical encouragement on the best ways to make middle school not just bearable, but incredible!

Veteran youth pastor of the Kansas City area Alan Mercer from Christ Community Church in Leawood, Kansas kicked off the event challenging our students to live an “encore” type of life. They should desire to live the kinds of lives that make their friends want to keep coming back for more, just like an encore at a concert. This happens when we love God and we love our neighbors.

Saturday morning, Heather Flies, the Junior High Pastor at Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, MN and an incredible speaker, taught from Psalm 37:4 about being content with where you are as a middle schooler instead of rushing to be older than you are and comparing your life with the lives of others around you. Lastly she dared our students to do ministry and not wait till their older to do something significant for Christ.

Chief Scientist of Discovery Channel, and member at Chapel Hill UMC and Epworth UMC, Steve Jacobs did a science show where he simultaneously told his story of becoming Wizard #4, blew things up, and shared from the second half of Psalm 37:4 where it says, “Delight yourselves in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

Saturday evening, twenty plus year youth ministry veteran Eric Venable told some great stories of God being actively involved in students lives and invited us to practice spiritual disciplines. He said, “Students who talk to God…connect with Him. Students who listen to God…connect with Him even more.”

Sunday morning, Owner and Founder of Stuck in the Middle Ministries, Sean Meade closed our time together reminding students to be real. Life happens quickly and before you know it, before you expect it, it’s gone. Sean shared about losing one of his best friends this year in an auto accident and a student in his youth ministry at Journey Church here in Wichita. His message was for students to not pretend to be something they are not, and to believe in Jesus.

After each session we met as a church youth group to debrief what each speaker talked about and our students didn’t miss anything. They were able to recall what stood out to each of them from each speaker. This immediate application helps students apply the lessons to their lives right away.

On Saturday our students were able to participate in workshops throughout the afternoon that dealt with guys only stuff and girls only stuff as well as many other topics that middle school students deal with every day.

The “Stuck” experience was incredible and left us with loads of memories: Katie Ahrens non-stop picture taking, Janelle Vulgamore’s mad foos ball skills, Bob Tinker winning a CD, Levi Ferris trying to buy candy bars at 1 AM, Frazer Rymph feeling Heather’s muscles on stage, Ken Rawson getting mocked on stage by Steve Jacobs, Aubrey Maxwell’s crazy bull riding, Deacon Lancaster’s crazy allergies, Taylor Wolfe’s wild hair in the morning, Kati Apsley soaking up every second of Stuck and didn’t want to go back to the hotel, Jonathan Buster’s “Stuck” gear and crazy dancing, Max Sherard representing our church with the hand slapping game, Micah Williams’ great van conversations about dating, and Jason Ream letting nothing get in the way of watching the KU/K-State game.

Stuck in the Middle was amazing! Thank you to the students who took part in Strive which made this weekend affordable for our students going. A thanks also belongs to the United Methodist Women who gave $500 so that no student would be unable to attend. Thank you also to Bob Tinker and Janelle Vulgamore who gave up their weekends so that our students could experience Stuck In The Middle.

The only thing left is getting the dates for next year and signing up! I hope you’ll be a part of that journey in either attendance and/or prayer.

For pics of SITM: go to our flickr site.

Open Course at MIT

This has got to be one of the coolest things I’ve ever heard of.  The possible ramifications of this are absolutely endless.  The effects this could have on society could be amazing.  Wow.

 

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/cmit

 

http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html 

 

 

Lame article

You’ve got to love the title of this article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070102/us_nm/teens_drinking_dc

Teens binge drink, government study finds

In a related story, The Sky is Blue.

What I do think is ridiculous is that they take a questionnaire that most students probably don’t take seriously, have less than 15K teens take the survey, then make this ridiculous point that because of their findings, HALF of all HS students binge drink…uh, I don’t think so. Half? Why don’t they spend the government money on a survey that would give us some insight into students. The next headline will be, “Teens listen to Music.”

UPDATE: Okay, so evidently I'm an idiot. I did my own little survey and found that 5 out of 5 of us had drank before graduating HS but only one of us had gotten plastered.

So maybe there's more truth to the article than I was aware of. Maybe I need to be more aware!

Christmas and My Sweet Wife

Here is something really funny happening in our lives right now. My sweet wife is a saint and had she not gotten me pregnant, I’m sure she’d be a nun right now.

So a couple weeks ago we received a catalog from Compassion about Christmas gifts you can give to the poor. Like, for $25 you can give a family this structure that lets them hold 200 gallons of water and provides them fresh water. Or for $75 you can buy a family a goat. You get the idea.

So you buy whatever things you want and you can put it in people’s names. So for xmas, I would get a card that says, “instead of buying you a present, I bought worms vaccinations for 50 children in Niger in your name. Merry Christmas.” Or something like that.

Again, my wife is a saint. She is getting a book published and when she received her first check from the publisher for $2,700 she immediately sent a check for $500 to the poor. So she is pretty intense, etc.

So her parents call her and say, “What do you want for Christmas?” Jen spends a day thinking about it and can’t think of anything. So she finally goes, “You know what I want? I don’t need anything. I want you to take whatever you were going to spend on me, and buy me stuff from this catalog. That would be the best present.” And then her mom says, “What can I get Charis?” Again, Jen is like, “You know, Charis doesn’t need anything either. But if you are going to buy her something, buy her $1 coloring book, cause she would love that. If that’s not enough, buy her a warm coat and donate it to a child in need.”

Nevertheless, this is not going over so well. Jen’s dad is like, “Just do what your daughter wants.” But mom is still not ready. She really wants to buy Jen something.

So she emailed me yesterday saying what should I get her.

I emailed her back with a bunch of sweet ideas.

I told Jen about it and she sent the following email to her mom:

ken told me you asked him for more ideas for me...

I am not kidding. I really do not need anything. What is worse is that he said he gave you some good ideas. There is nothing you can get me that is more important than showing me what went to these children and families instead of me. Honest.

Love you,

Jen

So Mom emailed me going, “What do I do now?”

I talked to Jen for 45 minutes and then sent her mom this email:

Ah…your daughter…sigh…she is serious. She did not tell me the same thing because I had already bought her presents before she came up with this clever idea.

Alas, she is steadfast.

Really.

Nevertheless, this IS her Christmas wish.

I think she’s going to send you an email letting you off the hook, but really, this is what she wants and this is what would make her so happy. Even if it means that the rest of us feel like idiots because we were pretty pumped about receiving gifts.

Good luck!

So who knows what will happen now, but it all is cracking me up. On the one hand, this is why I love Jen so much. She really is the most Christ-like person I know. She is gentle, humble, patient, and so kind. She doesn’t force her beliefs on others. She just loves.

But I can’t help all the comedic happenings that are going to go on with us all receiving presents and everyone going from, “Ooh, this Christmas has really rocked. I’ve gotten some sweet stuff!” to “Ah shit, I feel like a dumbass because I didn’t ask for little hungry children to be fed with the money that was spent on my worthless gifts.”

And here I am, standing on the fence between…loving my wife, being awed and inspired by her, and totally understanding where she is coming from…all the while also lathering myself up with the materialistic desires bred by this Holiday Season…and just enjoying the preshow that is taking place before we head up to Christmas.

Hanging with Tony

Tony was very gracious a number of months ago to invite readers of his blog to hang out with him. I took him up on the offer and tonight Kirk drove up and Josh, me, and Kirk took Tony out to Applebee's to talk about what we are going to try to do next at First. Kirk did a great job of giving our church history and the opportunity before us.

He shared that the church in a church model hasn't worked. He gave examples of three churches, the only one I can come up with is Graceland and Dan Kimball. He did say there was one that he knew of, that was similar to our situation, was a church in Edina, MN called The Upper Room. He invited us to come up there and see what they were doing.

The other thing he said is to get a group of people together. A group of people who are tired of the church and disenfranchised, people who are just hanging on by a thread almost giving up on the church. Get those people together and start sharing life and talking about what the church needs to be and letting those people form the core for the start.

One other thing he said that was interesting is of these people, we should ask them to make a serious commitment to the community. Ask them to stay here and partner with us. To not move. To not take other jobs. But to commit to being there.

That is GREAT! And that's what Jen and I are longing for. To meet with people and do life with them. The more I am involved in this emergent conversation and the more I think about what church can be, the more pumped I get at doing it. It is going to rock.

Sidebar: Tony was great. A great guy. Great thinking. compassionate. Caring. great to be with. Time well worth spent.

Tony at the banquet

Ah, Tony in his usual form, trying to get everyone riled up and thinking. They had people talk at the tables about what thier dream church would be, what three things do we think the church can be and needs to be. Then they had people share. One lady said that she thought we should make love more (pause) real to people, or something to that effect. A lot of us in the room couldn't help but chuckle at the awkward placement of the pause.

Tony said something that really stuck out to me when people were sharing. Someone said that the church needs to be more relevant, which is something I've said before. Tony said he was more concerned with the church being more authentic than more relevent. That authenticity was more imporant than relevancy.

He also shared that we need not be afraid of the troubling texts in God's Word, but we do need to acknowledge it, and take the good with the bad instead of pretending the bad doesn't exist. He used Jephthah's story in Judges 11 as a text of something incredibly sad and horrendous.

Workshops with Tony

This morning Tony spoke about contemplative prayer and spiritual disciplines. The afternoon workshops were on body prayers and postmodernism.

Good stuff.

Josh and I were both taken back with the idea that conversational prayer, in the form that we know it as today, has only been around for 40-50 years! I wonder how people prayed 60 years ago...

I told Tony that I thought he was going to easy in the postmodernism workshop, but I think it was more of a passive (anabaptist pun) group than I have experienced with Tony before. When I've heard him before it's in a room of youth pastors and they are defending and fighting and arguing. This group was pretty tame. He talked about Solomon's Porch, Jacob's Well, and a church in Seattle and UMC in Florida.

Tony Jones, 2nd session

Moby, a Christian, as a picture of postmodernism.

Human objective truth is a myth. There is objective truth. But our minds are finite and it makes it hard to really know all the facts possible. And so human objectivity is a unicorn. Never existed. Instead there are authoritative communities of interpretation.

The interpretation of MLB’s strike zone is not a science. It is an art. The community of baseball changed the strike zone over time. It has been pulled down and outside. 2001 MLB tried to go back to the fundamentals of the strike zone, but by 2002 it had gone back to down and outside. “Balls and strikes come into being only on the call of an umpire.”

What is church? What is the church? On one level, the church is nothing, until we decide what it is.

Acts 10. Peter’s vision. Don’t let your blinders, like Peter, keep God from doing what He needs to do. Don’t let yourself be blinded from what God is doing throughout Christianity. God’s activity is not contingent on the church.

The church of my dreams, maybe God’s dreams, has bands of covert believers who are committed to interpreting God’s activity in the world through authoritative communities of interpretation.

Sidebar: Two interesting twists about this conference. First, they have flown in young adults who are sharing their thoughts on the church, and a lot of their experience of church and how church is now. The second thing is that they have an open mike at every session to allow immediate feedback and conversation. As in, Tony is not the only authority but that everyone has something to share. It’s very, very interesting.

I am Tony Jones

Josh and I are in Hesston for the Anabaptist Vision and Discipleship Series where they have brought out postmodern guru Tony Jones (who is a spitting image of our very own Todd Ramsey!).  And I stole Tony's name tag, much to his approval.

 

Tonight was just an intro.  Some great stuff though!  Other than some young kid flaming about being brainwashed as a creationist and biblical literist.  Don't get me wrong, I get what he's saying.  But he needed to pull the ejector seat badly! 

 

Tony shared about the idea of Globalization.  That there are three options:  Secularism (which is dead), Fundamentalism & Ethnocism(?), and what he believes is the only answer, postmodernism.

 

A couple things he said were key to this conversation.

 

#1.  Didactic Tension.  As in, holding two things that don't really go together, but holding them much like a paradox.  As in, how can I be a robust Christian, believe in Jesus, love Jesus, etc. and also be truly authentic, open, and interested in another's viewpoint, regardless of view point, because he is a child of the Creator.

 

#2.  Epistomological (?) Humility.  As in, understanding the process of thinking and how we think and believing that we truly do not know everything, do not process information the same, we do not fully understand nor comprehend the process of thinking, as in, we truly may not fully understand.  We don't have the corner.

 

I felt like I butchered both of those.  Maybe Josh can add something here.

 

Nevertheless, he ended with a sweet story about his son that is a great illustration of these, especially the first.  It reminds me of my sweet boy Noah.

 

His son was in first grade and they were at home doing the dishes when his son asked, "Dad, how come kids at school call each other 'kid'?" 

 

"What do you mean?" said Tony.

 

Tony had his son repeat the question to which Tony replied the same.   This led his son to explain.

 

"Well, like today.  I was at my locker putting on my backpack when this fourth grader bumped into me and said, 'Hey, Sorry, Kid.'  Like, why would a 4th grader call another kid, 'Kid.'  Why wouldn't he say, "Hey, Sorry, friend'?"

 

Tony of course got a couple laughs with this.  But what a great illustration.  We are not enemies with everyone.  Everyone is not against us.  Instead of starting off against each other we should start off with "Friend."

 

Jen Rawson, my sweet wife, totally gets this.  I struggle with this.  I am always so defensive.  Hard of listening.  And many times when I'm listening, I'm really just looking for loopholes in someones logic so I can throw them down.  I have to be proven wrong. 

 

What a bad attitude.  I need to listen more and start off with "Friend."

Me love some Tony Jones

Tonight begins a conference in Hesston, KS. Hat tip to the college there for bringing out Tony Jones to talk about doing church in an emergent culture. It all starts tonight and Josh Melcher and I are heading out for that.

With my renewed desire to cultivate my soul as well as my body, I'm excited to learn from Tony and his workshops on prayers as well what I'll learn that will impact what we're doing at First.

Sometimes the Bear eats you and sometimes you eat the bear

So I was talking to my Senior Pastor, a great guy (and I wrote that even though he doesn’t know I have a blog), about my struggles with feeling overwhelmed, lack of time, can’t get things done, etc.

And he said to me, “Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you.”

Yeah, except that the friggin’ bear has been eating me for weeks!!!  I rarely eat the bear.  And the next month I am going to miss Saturdays with my kids for the bear because of my bad planning, not saying “no,” and my insatiable appetite for people to like me and feel validated.  I’m going to a conference with Tony Jones this Saturday.  Youth event on the 4^th.  Then I’m speaking at two workshop things the next two Saturdays.  I want to be with my kids, but obviously not.  So much to do and so little time.  I’m always feeling overwhelmed!

 

Lack of Blogging

So I’m blogging a ton at the wichitasbiggestloser site.  Hardly anything here.  And I thought this morning, “Man, I’m blogging a ton and really enjoying sharing my journey of weight loss and what I’m doing.  So, I’ll blog a ton about the transformation of my body, but what about the transformation of my soul?

Paul says that physical exercise is good.  But working our souls is for eternity.  And the fact is, I don’t have much to share.  The transformation of my soul has really taken a back seat.  Isn’t that sad.  I’m so delussioned.  But here is to a renewed effort to continue keeping my soul healthy, fresh, and alive and blogging about it here.

Next, I’ll have to blog about what some of my fellow youth workers shared yesterday about their theology of war.

 

A Sweet Weekend

So Sunday after church I take my kids to the Wichita Wranglers last game.

And had a couple absolute best highlights!

Baseball isn’t the most exciting sport for a lot of people. Heck, I love it but even I struggle at times. So taking Ciera and Noah to the game is always a mix up of not wanting to spoil it too quickly. We got there a little early and watched the Tulsa Drillers team warm up and got to get upclose to the pitcher. Noah was SUPER wiggly through the game but Ciera was just chilling.

Then it happened. At some point Ciera turned to me, GLEAMING with delight and said, "I LOVE baseball."

What dad doesn't want to hear that?! She’s all, “Baseball is fun when you can understand what’s going on!” Ah yeah! Barring her becoming a devil worshiper, I think my job is done here…

And if that wasn't good enough, I got to finally be the “funny heckler guy” too.

The Tulsa Drillers have the bases loaded. Their giant first basemen is up at the plate. Dude takes a freaking MONSTER homerun swing...and the swinging bunt is recovered by the charging 3rd basemen who easily flips it to first for the out.

The first baseman is at the foot of the stairs to go down into the dugout, and there is hardly anyone at the ball park, 2500, and I shout out, "WAY TO CRUSH THE BALL #28!!!"

The dude smirks, looks my way, and waves. So freaking funny.

Yes, unload your jokes on how this will only snow ball and now I'll be the guy whose kids don't sit with me anymore because I say obnoxious things at every batter hoping to relive my one moment of comedic genius.

For an instant, it was great to be the funny guy in my section.

Lastly, we don’t have “Headache” at Lawrence Dumont Stadium, but we have someone just as bad. The Wranglers let kids run the bases after the games so I’m over on the 1^st base side and my kids are in line to run the bases. There’s this 50 year old dude, balding, there with his 60 year old friend just talking the usual lame baseball nonsense.

Then it happens.

Foul ball.

So all these kids start running for the ball. Including this 50 year old dude. He cuts the conversation off in mid sentence, BARRELS through the line of kids waiting to run the bases, nearly knocks kids down trying to chase down the freaking ball!

This happens THREE times while I’m sitting there in the bottom of the 9^th. The dude, jean shorts, tennis shoes, plaid short sleeve button up shirt, bad moustache, glove in hand, and his comb over standing straight up like a sail boat as he charges over, through, and past kids trying to get a foul ball. Freaking classic.

So there you go boys! Another sweet day at the ball park. Even if it’s AA and not the Giants.

Just a little bit of hope...

Okay…I’m feeling it. I know I’m a jackass, but listen…with Bonds playing like this…only being 25 HR’s away…man, I’m beginning to have second thoughts. I’m beginning to want him back. No one is going to pay him first rate cash. NO ONE. So if he’ll play for less cash, what’s one-two more years? IF HE’S PLAYING LIKE THIS.

I guess therein lies the problem. He probably won’t. But dude, the guy single-handedly puts us back in games!!!!!

Of course, we are still 4.5 games back in the West and 2.5 in the Wildcard…

It's done

Well, it was good while it lasted.

 

The Giants suck…still.   We aren’t making the playoffs.  I was suckered in again.  How can they play so well, and then suck so bad?!

 

A buddy of mine told me to just forget about them and the 49ers.  The Barry Bonds deal did him in and he totally gave up on the Giants and 49ers, fantasy baseball and everything!!!  He said life is so great now he doesn’t have to worry about them anymore.

 

I asked him if it hurt when his balls were cut off.

 

Okay, I didn’t ask him, but I was wondering…just kidding, he’s a great guy.  But nevertheless…

Funny Verse Time

So I'm reading 1 John and I come across this totally funny Scripture. I don't think that it was Our Lord's Brother's purpose in writing this, but it comes across a little awkward:

6We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. 1 John 4:6

Am I the only one who thinks this could be totally manipulative? "IF you don't listen to us, you must not be from God." HA!!!

I never here this critique of Scripture, cause I'm sure not many non-Christians read that far. But man, that is pretty bad logic. So funny.

overwhelmed!!!

So much to do. So distracted.