Fantasy Life, by Matthew Berry

This book is basically a bunch of anecdotes about fantasy sports leagues - 80% football, 19% baseball, 1% other. Those stories were sent in mostly by readers/listeners to Berry's EPSN content. The through-line of the book is Berry's story of how he came to be the Senior Fantasy Analyst at ESPN, and how his pursuit of that job has affected his life. His story is one of persistence (often to the point of stupidity), and trial-and-error.

Many of the anecdotes are jaw-dropping - because of the players' ridiculous dedication to their fantasy sports team, or because of co-incidences, or because of the players' circumstances (soldiers in the field of battle, husbands on their honeymoon, etc). There were a few heart-tugging stories as well - bonding father/son, husband/wife, etc.

It was a fun read - certainly a self-centered book, but that's to be expected: it is essentially a book about Berry.

He comes across as a "knocked down 7 times, got up 8" kind of guy. Humbled by the journey, yet also proud of his own persistence and success. He's self-deprecating and deflects his spotlight toward those he deems worthy.

In the last chapter, he mentions that this book is a "love note to fantasy" - and that is the perfect summary. He showed how he, above all others, loves fantasy sports.

2013, in order

2013, in order:
1.June
 Got married! Honeymoon! Moved into the barn! VU trip!
2.December
 Normal Christmas upheaval and fun. Found a major leak in the water lines. Most normal-feeling and restful month this year. Won a fantasy football league.
3.November
 Bought a washer and dryer. The Wife's Chicago trip. VU Jamaica trip! Wrestling with House Title Company about the Deed. Thanksgiving fun! Feeling very married and happy!
4.January
 Started preparing my house for sale. Life was pretty chill.
5.September
 Got a bad medical diagnosis 3 days after health insurance stopped. Arkansas wedding trip! Finally bought the house! Moved. Won a fantasy baseball league.
6.October
 My grandma died. Started another new job! Church Men's Retreat! VU Branson trip! Wrestling with House Title Company about unpaid fees and their foibles. Busted my finger up real good playing softball.
7.March
 Lived as a guest in my home whilst emptying it into storage units. Continued some pre-marital counseling from last year.
8.August
 Trying to piece life together (new stuff and repairing from the job loss). Car trouble, navigating buying a house, job search, health insurance? Got a new job! Long commutes with no schedule flexibility.
9.May
 Stress of continued planning for the wedding. And the honeymoon. Still homeless.
10.February
 Lots more prep work for the house (carpet, painting, cleaning, emptying). Life was less chill. Sold the house, which was a stressful debacle. Gave away (or threw away) a lot of my stuff. "My" started disappearing.
11.April
 Moved out of my home. Became "homeless" and felt very unsettled. Had to commute through nasty traffic every day. Throes of engagement. Had to leave The Fiancee every night. Planning a wedding. House hunting. Wedding shower.
12.July
 Wife's grandma died. Lots of house hunting drama. Found a house we liked! I immediately got laid off. Lots of not sleeping and anger.

Password security

Minor problem:
So, if you type in the wrong password 3 times, you're locked out, right? Well what if you're really close? I don't think that should count as one of your 3 chances - because you're probably not a hacker trying to brute-force your way in. I think there should be more lenience for close guesses.

My solution:
Have a higher threshold for number of incorrect guesses allowed. Say, 10. If your first 3 guesses are way off, you're locked out. But if you're pretty close, you can get up to 10 chances.
You may say, but wait, a bot might be able to see that it's guessing close because it got more than 3 chances, so it can narrow its search that much more.
To that, I would say, "Yes, that's a good point." To counter this, have two different "Locked Out" attributes for a user. One that is "Locked Out" and the other that is "Report Locked Out."
If 3 wild guesses are made, "Locked Out" is set. But "Report Locked Out" is not set until there are 10 incorrect guesses - regardless of how wild they are.
The response to the user is keyed off of the "Report Locked Out" field. If it is set, return "You're locked out" to the user, otherwise return "Login Unsuccessful" - or whatever you are saying for an incorrect password.

Now the only thing left is somehow to define what a "close" guess is.

Walking Alone At Eve

Walking alone at eve and viewing the skies afar,
Bidding the darkness come to welcome each silver star;
I have a great delight in the wonderful scenes above,
God in His power and might is showing His truth and love.

O for a home with God, a place in His courts to rest,
Sure in a safe abode with Jesus and the blest;
Rest for a weary soul once redeemed by the Savior's love,
Where I'll be pure and whole and live with my God above!

Sitting alone at eve and dreaming the hours away,
Watching the shadows falling now at the close of day;
God in His mercy comes with His Word He is drawing near,
Spreading His love and truth around me and everywhere.

O for a home with God, a place in His courts to rest,
Sure in a safe abode with Jesus and the blest;
Rest for a weary soul once redeemed by the Savior's love,
Where I'll be pure and whole and live with my God above!

Closing my eyes at eve and thinking of heaven's grace,
Longing to see my Lord, yes, meeting Him face to face;
Trusting Him as my all where-so-ever my footsteps roam,
Pleading with Him to guide me on to the spirits' home!

O for a home with God, a place in His courts to rest,
Sure in a safe abode with Jesus and the blest;
Rest for a weary soul once redeemed by the Savior's love,
Where I'll be pure and whole and live with my God above!

The Fiddler's Gun

I'm realizing that I can't remember the books that I've read very well, so I'm going to start trying to write "book reports" when I finish them. Maybe that'll help. Maybe not. Maybe I'll remember that I'm really bad at writing book reports. Oh well. Nobody reads this blog anyways ;)

Yesterday, I finished The Fiddler's Gun by A.S. "Pete" Peterson. This historical fiction is a beautiful tale of loss, love, action and pirates!
The setting for most of the book is colonial Georgia, around the 1770s. It doesn't take a historian to know that there is a lot of action to be found there, and Peterson finds it, to be sure. The protagonists is a young lady named Fin Button who is a stereotypical Tom Boy who is thrown into a set of circumstances that very unusual. At every step of the plot, the scenes, feelings and conversations are so decorated with imagery, that the reader is not only taken to 1770s Georgia, but he enjoys every nuance of the surroundings.
Not all of this book would be appropriate for young readers. There is death and slightly course language (though not nearly as much as one would expect, given the subject matter).
The weaknesses of the book were in the action scenes. They meandered and were sometimes hard to follow. Other than those blemishes, the book flows smoothly and the story is well-crafted.
The Fiddler's Gun is the first of a 2-book series. The last volume, The Fiddler's Green is due out on December 7th, 2010 and it is already on my Christmas list.
These book are (or will be) available at https://store.rabbitroom.com/


*SPOILER ALERT*
If you want to read this book, don't read any more of this blog post. It'll give away most of the plot.
Fin Button was born to a couple who had 12 girls. Her father was so disappointed that she (the 13th) wasn't a boy, that she was abandoned and sent to an orphanage in Ebenezer, GA. I wonder if this is a veiled allusion to Bilbo Baggins having 13 companions on his journey in The Hobbit.
She was a tough girl, living up to her fathers expectations (though he was completely out of the picture), beating up most of the boys in the orphanage... except Peter. Peter is the man she fell in love with and would eventually be engaged to.
One day, she was assigned to help Brother Bartimaeus in the kitchen. Because she was a teenager, and had antipathy for most authority figures, she grumbled. But she acquiesced. She came to love Bartimaeus (don't call him Bart) and he taught her how to play his violin. In the violin case, he also kept Betsy, his blunderbuss. Eventually, Bartimaeus (or was he Bart at this point?) used Betsy to save Fin's life after she ran away. This brought Bartimaeus out of the hiding he had been in and led directly to his being hanged for his past sins, when he was Bart. That of stealing, pirating, murder.
This ripped Fin up. She briefly took over for Bartimaeus in the kitchen until 6 British soldier came in demanding a meal. One of them was a near-victim of Bartimaeus's knife and Fin couldn't hold herself together. She killed all six of them and went on the run.
She left Ebenezer for the first time and landed on The Rattlesnake, a merchant ship headed by Captain Creache. Creache was a greedy, vile man who stayed in his quarters most of the time. Jack was the first mate and a bear of a man. He and Fin got along well, but her best friend on the ship was Tommy Knuttle. Knut was a shell of who he used to be, his life-force and sense beaten out of him by Creache some years ago.
Creache's greed put the crew in harm's way and Jack led an overthrow of the ship. The captain and his loyalists were set adrift and the rest of the 'Snake's crew took over.
Creache found land, reported the 'Snake's crew and what they had done and they were branded pirates. The British army wanted them for the Privateering they had done and now the colonies would hang them if they could find them. They had nowhere to go.
Eventually, the were captured and put on a British prison ship (the Justice), which they overthrew. This was rather worthless because the vessel was barely sea-worthy. As they sailed away, two British ships were easily gaining on them and when the ship-to-ship battle commenced, the colonial Marines stepped in to save the day. (It should be noted that the author is a US Marine.)
Jack, Fin and the rest of the crew make for Ebenezer which becomes the epicenter for the final battle scene. Creache discovered a map that Fin had, which told of a large cache of gold that Bartimaeus had buried at the orphanage. (Yep, 6 prepositions in that sentence.)
Creache was looking in the wrong place and Fin now knows where the gold is, but she doesn't dig it up.
The last action scene of the book shows Fin killing Creache, but losing a good crew-mate in the process. Also, Jack has lost the bottom half of one of his legs. I guess the pirate stereotype has to be achieved somehow, eh?
Peter rides in on a horse and tells Fin of the house that he has built for them. But both of them know that she has to run. She is wanted by the British for murder and she can't return unless and until the colonies win the war.
The book ends with Fin officially being made Captain of the Rattlesnake. They're sailing out into open waters to see how they can help the colonies win the war.

Andrew Peterson

I was reading The Fiddler's Gun (by Pete Peterson) today at lunch when a friend from church came over for a brief chat. In my attempt to describe how I came to meet this book, I started with "have you heard of Andrew Peterson?" AP has become so ubiquitous in my own life (and this friend is an avid and long-time church-goer), I assumed a quick "sure" would be the answer and I would move on to the subject of The Rabbit Room and then the Hutchmoot, which is where I met Pete and bought his book.
However, I received a "no." I didn't hide my surprise very well and the unexpected answer derailed my response to his question about the book. I stumbled through explaining that the "A.S. Peterson" on the cover is not Andrew, but his brother Pete (prompting more quizzical faces) and mumbled a few incoherent thoughts about Rich Mullins and The Rabbit Room. I think I successfully conveyed my passion for AP's music though because toward the end of our brief conversation, my friend requested that I send him an email with a "top 10" list of AP's songs to whet his appetite.
I was giddy with excitement over a willing subject to my proselytizing AP's music. However now that I'm facing the task of compiling this list, I feel a weight of responsibility. I want to craft this list as carefully as AP crafts his songs, to win another pair of ears for my favorite Truth-teller.
My plan was to send him an email with 2 options. 1. The ADD Option: simply the list. If he just wants to get the list and judge for himself, have at it. 2. The More Involved Option: includes a description of why I included each song.
Then I thought, "I wish I had written something on my blog that I could show him. That way, he'd see that I've been a fan for a while and that it's something I really care about." In an attempt to avoid that thought in the future, here's the list (along with the enhanced attention span version).
As an aside, the order is intended not as a ranking, but as a playlist - how the songs would best flow.

1. Hosanna (Resurrection Letters, Vol 2)
2. The Chasing Song (Carried Along)
3. Queen of Iowa (The Far Country)
4. Song And Dance (Clear to Venus)
5. Canaan Bound (Love and Thunder)
6. Deliver Us (BTLOG)
7. After The Last Tear Falls (Love and Thunder)
8. Love Is A Good Thing (Resurrection Letters, Vol 2)
9. Isn't It Love (Appendix A)
10.The Ninety and Nine (Carried Along)

Honorable mention:
Fool With A Fancy Guitar (Counting Stars)
All Shall Be Well (The Far Country)
Romans 11:33 (Appendix A)
God Of My Fathers (Counting Stars)
Have Your Way (Resurrection Letters, Vol 2)

The plain list feels so hollow. I have gotten to know these creations fairly well over the past few years and they have helped to shape me into who I am. I feel like I'm introducing you to a person I love by simply telling you their name. No! If these were people, I would tell you what they do, how I met them, how they've affected my life, what we have in common and maybe a funny story or two about them. It's a little different for songs, but not much. With that in mind, here is the extended version of the list.

1. Hosanna
The album title begs some explanation: no, there isn't a RL, Vol 1 right now. He's pulling a George Lucas on us here. The prequel is yet to be written. For a more complete explanation, buy the album. The liner notes give a beautiful description.
"Hosanna" is a song that caught me up and tossed me around. It sounds like something I would hear on Christian Radio (safe for the family) with a Praise Band chorus of "Hosanna! See the long-awaited King, come to set His people free!" Yet the verses describe something heavier, far from safe. He describes himself as a liar, a hypocrite, an addict, a self-centered sinner. And this is what makes the chorus make sense. "Hosanna!" means "Save us now!"
2. The Chasing Song
This one is on his first CD (that I know of). It calls to stories from the Old Testament and the New to describe what different characters chased after and it questions what we chase after.
3. Queen of Iowa
I hope I get this story right. I believe AP wrote this about a woman from Iowa who was raped and developed AIDS. For some reason, this increased her faith. I don't get that, but praise God! Her fiance (not the perpetrator) stayed with her and they got married, but her life was obviously devastated. Apparently, AP is one of her favorite artists, so he and Ben Shive went to her house to play a few songs for her. It is a beautiful song about a beautiful woman.
4. Song and Dance
This song is a river flowing from King David through nature and history into today, declaring God's unchanging faithfulness.
5. Canaan Bound
This, the first track on Love and Thunder, also speaks to God's faithfulness. This time AP uses Abraham's story.
6. Deliver Us
The title of this CD is Behold the Lamb of God: The True Tall Tale of the Coming of Christ. This concept album should be the subject of an entire blog post. But the idea of the album is to tell the story of the coming of Christ from Genesis through Jesus's life.
This song comes at the point in the story when the children of Israel are crying out to be delivered from Egyptian oppression, but is sung from an American Christian's point of view. (At least, that's my interpretation.)
Just as an informational note, Derek Webb sings this song on the album.
7. After the Last Tear Falls
This one cycles in and out of the #1 slot on my "favorite songs" list. I'll let it speak for itself though.
8. Love is a Good Thing
AP describes Love so beautifully. This is another example of that.
9. Isn't It Love
This song appeared on "Clear to Venus," but on his "Appendix A" album, he has a live version where it's slowed down to reflect the gravity of the message.
10. The Ninety and Nine
"But a Shepherd-made answer: 'This of mine has wandered away from me.'"

Honorable Mention:
Have Your Way
This one is #11. I love it, but it's kinda short. It's a beautiful Celtic prayer.
Fool With A Fancy Guitar
I felt like I should have a "Counting Stars" track on the list. Honestly, I don't like his most recent release as much. First, I haven't spent as much time with it, so I don't trust it as much. But secondly, he talks a lot about marriage, kids and family life on there - which is something that just doesn't connect with me in my current season.
I do like this song though, just not top 10 worthy.
All Shall Be Well
I love the melody, rhythm and storytelling in this song. Other than that it sucks. Haha.
Romans 11:33
I hope this makes it on a future recording some day. This is a live version of this song, but I love scripture songs and this is a good one.
God Of My Fathers
Another good one from Counting Stars - very family-oriented. Written by Ben Shive before he was married or had kids, interestingly enough.


Most importantly, if you have any interest in hearing any of these songs, please visit The Rabbit Room.
If you buy the songs through the Rabbit Room, they cost just as much as they would through iTunes, but a higher percentage goes to the artist.

Also importantly, please send me your input on these and other Andrew Peterson songs. I love discussing them.

Have a Little Faith

The following is an excerpt from Mitch Albom's book "Have a Little Faith." He's quoting a sermon delivered by the character he calls "Reb."
---------

A man seeks employment on a farm. He hands his letter of recommendation to his new employer. It reads simply, "He sleeps in a storm."
The owner is desperate for help, so he hires the man.
Several weeks pass, and suddenly, in the middle of the night, a powerful storm rips through the valley.
Awakened by the swirling rain and howling wind, the owner leaps out of bed. He calls for his new hired hand, but the man is sleeping soundly.
So he dashes off to the barn. He sees, to his amazement, that the animals are secure with plenty of feed.
He runs out to the field. He sees the bales of wheat have been bound and are wrapped in tarpaulins.
He races to the silo. The doors are latched, and the grain is dry.
And then he understands. "He sleeps in a storm."
My friends, if we tend to the things that are important in life, if we are right with those we love and behave in line with our faith, our lives will not be cursed with the aching throb of unfulfilled business. Our words will always be sincere, our embraces will be tight. We will never wallow in the agony of "I could have, I should have." We can sleep in a storm.
And when it's time, our good-byes will be complete.

A big week

So far this week, I've received two out-of-the-blue emails from men that I admire for various reasons, asking me to share a stage with them. One of those two opportunities could even take me to Africa.

As if that weren't enough, they named a sandwich after me at my favorite restaurant today.

Big week.

Running

Yesterday, about a mile and a half into my jog, I ran past a pond which two geese were standing near. For whatever reason, I really enjoy interacting with animals when I'm running. This usually takes the form of yelling "HEY COW!" when I pass by the cow fields or "Hey there puppy" when a someone is walking their dog. When I came upon the geese, I was feeling a bit froggy because I had gone farther with my run than I had anticipated, so I did my best gangsta impersonation, "Whad up, GEESE!" - complete with hand gestures, and repeated several times. It was fun.
Then about 5 seconds later, a nice young lady ran passed me from behind. It was obvious she saw/heard the whole thing. As she passed, I just meekly said, "sorry 'bout that." She didn't smile, but said, "that's alright" and sped up. I'm pretty sure I freaked her out. Oops.

Yesterday

Yesterday, for the second time in history, Murray State University won an NCAA basketball tournament game. The last time it happened, I was 8 years old and I remember it vividly. The guys had been to my house for dinner only weeks before - Paul King, Jeff Martin, Don Mann, Robert McClatchy, AJ Mensey and here they were: being referred to as "Cinderella" on national TV. My Dad and I watched MSU beat NC State, while my Mom took pictures from the baseline. Yep, Mom had traveled to Lincoln, NE for the game; it was so exciting to find her on TV!
I remember being so naif that I was genuinely surprised and upset when MSU lost the next game to the eventual tournament champion Kansas Jayhawks, led by Danny Manning. The refs called a foul on Carl Sias with seconds left that turned the game the Jayhawks way and I began to pout. I distinctly remember my father being amused at this and I got my first lesson in lowered expectations.
Over the subsequent 22 years, that lesson has come in very handy. The Racers tempted me many times to get my hopes up. In 1990, we took #1 Michigan State to overtime; in 1997, #2 Duke edged us out by 3; #3 UNC beat us by 4 in 2006. Each time, the thought crept in: "maybe this time." But no.
Yesterday, it was the same roller coaster all over again, except this time it was "this time." It's so weird that this team, whom I followed all around the OVC during my formative years, is now one of the main foci of the national sports media.
I honestly feel bad for my friends who are Vandy fans, but I have no idea how they feel. I can't imagine cheering for a team who's expected to win in the NCAA tournament. Much less, having that team just punch you in the gut. In Murray, we know to expect the punch.
But yesterday, at the apex of my celebratory leap, I took up that 8 year old's "blind optimism" and have been walking on air since then.

Thanks Racers.

My Work-Out Playlist

This will be interesting to no one.

About a year and a half ago, I was listening to some music while I was running at the Maryland Farms YMCA when Maroon 5's "Sunday Morning" came up on my mp3 player. I really like that song, so I perked up a bit. Suddenly, I realized that my steps were falling exactly to the rhythm of the song!
There have been a few moments of such epiphany in my life: a) my first kiss; b) the day I realized Excel could open web pages; c) the first time I tried hosting a website from my house and it worked; d) the day I downloaded autohotkey; e) the "Sunday Morning" moment. I remember each of these moments extremely vividly. Life changing. Seriously. Hey, stop laughing.
I'm focusing on "e" for right now, though each item on that list could be fodder for a long blog post.
When I got home from the Y, I listened to all of my favorite songs and tapped out the tempo for each of them. Sunday Morning turned out to be a 177, so that was my starting point. I sorted my work by bpm (thank you iTunes) and gathered the ones together that fell in the 160-210 range and grouped them by tens.
I immediately found that I could run about 75% farther than I was running - simply because I was running to the beat.
I've found that anything other than a 4/4 time signature doesn't really work for me, so after pruning 3/4 songs (etc) and ones that don't keep a steady tempo (live songs are bad about this), I settled into a nice playlist. Now each time I get a new album, I run it through my tempo filter to see if there are any additions. So after all this, here is my LONG list of workout songs. (Please don't read the whole list - I'm just putting it up here so I can look back at it later)

Here are the "highly recommended for running" ones
174 - Mambo No. 5 by Lou Bega
177 - Rock Me Amedeus by Falco
177 - Sunday Morning by Maroon 5
183 - That Swing Song by Two Or More
185 - Zoot Suit Riot by Cherry Poppin' Daddies
185 - Aserejé by Las Ketchup
187 - Albuquerque by Weird Al Yankovic
188 - All That She Wants by Ace of Base
189 - The Remedy by Jason Mraz

The first half of the list
171 - Me and Becky by Chris Rice
172 - Waterfalls by TLC*
172 - Leave Me Alone (a cappella) by John McLemore
172 - Shiver by Maroon 5
173 - Death By Beauty by Sylvie Lewis
174 - Live High by Jason Mraz
174 - Voice of Truth by Won By One**
174 - Mambo No. 5 by Lou Bega***
174 - God Is My Redeemer by Glad
175 - Good News by Chris Rice**
175 - I've Got News by Andrew Peterson
176 - Springs of Life by Ginny Owens
177 - Ramona by Randall Goodgame****
177 - Rock Me Amedeus by Falco***
177 - Sunday Morning by Maroon 5***
177 - He Restores My Soul by Kepano Green
178 - Secret by Maroon 5
178 - Pillar of Fire by Andrew Peterson
179 - You Found Me by FFH
179 - Hosea by Andrew Peterson
179 - The Difference by Rescue
180 - Shiloh by Andrew Peterson
--- - Love Handles by Sean Altman
181 - Sing To The Glory by Acappella
181 - Daisy Simone by Sean Altman
181 - Keeping the Faith by Billy Joel**
182 - Everything's OK by Chris Rice
183 - Rodeo Clowns by Jack Johnson
183 - Gloria by Glad
183 - Consume Me by DC Talk
183 - Free by Ginny Owens
183 - Love Enough by Andrew Peterson
183 - That Swing Song by Two Or More***
184 - Rocket by Andrew Peterson
185 - So Excited by Rescue
185 - Forgiven Not Forgotten by The Corrs**
185 - Next To You by Randall Goodgame
185 - Mrs. Robinson by Simon and Garfunkle
185 - Zoot Suit Riot by Cherry Poppin' Daddies***
185 - Aserejé by Las Ketchup***
185 - Africa by Toto
185 - Only Truth by Acappella
186 - Do Right by Take 6**
187 - Albuquerque by Weird Al Yankovic***
188 - All That She Wants by Ace of Base***
188 - The Rumor Weed Song by The W's
188 - Testify To Love by Avalon**
188 - Good to Be Free by FFH
189 - The Remedy by Jason Mraz***

Okay, this is getting ridiculous, so I'm going to stop. I'm still not sure why I'm blogging this, but oh well.

*Where I usually start these days
**Sometimes gets skipped
***Highly Recommend for running
****Where I used to start - I need to speed back up

My favorites

Top 4(ish) of 2009 - in no particular order

Books I read:

1. Lee Camp's "Mere Discipleship"
2. Don Miller's "A Million Miles In A Thousand Years"
3. C.S. Lewis's "The Problem of Pain"
4. David Sedaris's "Me Talk Pretty One Day" (not the first time I read it though)

Movies I saw:

1. Star Trek
2. Avatar
3. Up
4. Zombieland

Albums I heard for the first time:

1. Andrew Peterson's "Resurrection Letters, Vol 2"
2. Andy Gullahorn's "The Law of Gravity"
3. Derek Webb's "Stockholm Syndrome"

New TV shows I like:

1. Community
2. Glee
3. Modern Family
4. Sing Off

Youtube Clips (sorry, I got carried away):
1. Autotune the News #2 2:40
2. Autotune the News #6 3:01
3. A cappella MJ medley 3:56
4. Weird Al song- "CNR" 2:42
5. The Web for Beginner 1:37
6. ...Goes the Dynomite 3:54
7. Literal TotalEclipse 5:33
8. Letterman v. Phoenix 5:04
9. Murder News Hilarity 0:10


Top 4(ish) of 2010

Books I want to read (but haven't yet):

1. Andrew Peterson's "On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness"
2. Andrew Peterson's "North! Or Be Eaten"
3. Francis Chan's "Crazy Love"
4. David Dark's "The Sacredness of Questioning Everything"

Movies I want to see (but haven't yet):

1. The Fantastic Mr. Fox
2. Where The Wild Things Are
3. Inglourious Basterds
4. (500) Days of Summer
5. An Education
6. The Princess and the Frog

Artists whose new album I want to hear:

1. Caedmon's Call
2. Andrew Peterson
3. Vocal Union (yeah, like that'll happen)

TV Shows I'll probably stop watching:

1. Lost (it's ending)
2. The Office (losing interest)
3. The Big Bang Theory (meh)
4. How I Met Your Mother (we'll see)

------
Miles run:
2009 - 540(ish)
2010 - 701

Weight lost:
2009 - 5(ish)
2010 - 20 (6 so far)

New places:
2009: Belfast, Ireland; Saskatoon, Canada; Manitoba, Canada; Voodoo Doughnut; Glacier Nat'l Park, Montana; Coure D'Alene, ID; Erin, TN
2010: Congratulations! Today is your day. You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and away! You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go. Oh! The Places You’ll Go!

Hosanna

The following is an excerpt from a sermon by Russ Ramsey. To hear the context, you can download the free podcast called "The Rabbit Room Podcast." I transcribed this from Episode 12, so any typos or grammatical mistakes are mine. I pick up around the 24:08 mark, where Mr. Ramsey is discussing Luke 19:28-44, particularly verse 38.

--begin transcription
"Blessed is the King!" - those are strong words in the ears of Caesar. And everyone knows they mean Jesus. Some of the Pharisees who are present, they go up to Jesus, and they say, "Hey! Stop this! Make them shhhh! Because You know what could happen if this gets back to somebody in the higher ups."

...

See, Israel had struck a compromise with Rome and it is insidious when you look at it. The compromise was this: they (Israel) could continue their worship practices so long as they obeyed Roman rule, paid their taxes and kept the peace. But any hint of insurgency was going to be dealt with, make no mistake, swiftly and without mercy. And this, for Rome, was just brilliant. Because, think of it, Rome had persuaded Israel that their right to worship the God that their national identity was built upon was a privilege that was granted to them by Caesar. That is just politically brilliant. If you want to be an oppressor, and you don't want to constantly have to be bullying people to keep them in line, and their national identity is built upon their worship of one God in stead of many, let them. But make sure that they understand that you can take that privilege away in a heartbeat. And then they will worship with the knowledge that their privilege of worship is granted to them by Caesar. What this does, is it takes the religious leaders and it divides their loyalty between the God of their Bible and the ruler of their occupying force.
--end transcription

There is much more that Mr. Ramsey has to say, but this knocked me down with its available application to today's American Christians.
It is a brilliant political plot, indeed, to make sure that all religious Americans are constantly reminded that their religious freedom hinges on America's existence and domination. With an unspoken hint of "the ends justify the means," it's a quick jump to a holy war.
I do believe that God has blessed America. I balk at attempting to assign a reason for that blessing (or a reason for that blessing's apparent waning).
If America ends (and I have NO idea what that means), I will still be able to praise my Lord and Savior: Jesus, the Christ. Nor will I be beyond the reach of His Love.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Resurrection Letters, Volume 2

I just wanted to write a little something about an album I just on iTunes. It's been out for over a year, but hey I'm a little behind the times.

It's Andrew Peterson's "Resurrection Letters, Volume 2." To answer the first, obvious question, this is from the liner notes: "These songs are bound together by the theme of resurrection in our lives and in the world around us. It wasn't until we were recording the album that I knew I wanted to tell a bigger story, and that this would be part two. Part one is Christ's resurrection, which made a way for ours; it was the turning point in the Great Story. I'm currently working on the songs that will comprise Resurrection Letters, Vol I." -A.P.

Now that that's out of the way, I will try to express how this poet has touched my life through this album. The beauty of his myriad poetic and musical tools is surpassed only by the message they convey. The message I've received so far from this album is this: "For better or worse, God is Love. What's more, he wants you to experience His love. Yes, you. No really, you!"

From the first lines ("Come broken and weary / Come battered and bruised / My Jesus makes all things new.") to the Celtic end of the album there is a humble acceptance of all who'd claim the love of God.

His clever rhyming schemes and his use of the natural percussive rhythm of the lyrics combine to bring a smile to my face. It's clear that these works were carefully and purposefully crafted.

My current favorite track is "Rocket" - but I'll probably over-play it and eventually pick a new favorite. Fortunately, there are plenty of gems from which to choose. Possible usurpers would be "Hosanna", "Love is a Good Thing" or "All You'll Ever Need."

I don't know what the motivation behind "Hosanna" was, but I'd like to speculate. The song sounds like something you'll hear in every contemporary Baptist church every Sunday morning: a happy-clappy, up-tempo praise song. The difference is in the verses' lyrics: "I have lied to everyone who trusts me. I have tried to fall when I could stand. I have only loved the ones who loved me. Hosanna!" The verses confess a lifestyle of sin and the chorus announces the triumph. Brilliant!

Please listen to "Love is a Good Thing." Even with the limited versions of love that I have experienced in my life, I found it throat-lumpingly true and beautiful.

This post is becoming too long, so I'll just leave you with the last line of "All You'll Ever Need": "The blood of Jesus, it is like the widow's oil: when it's all you have it's all you'll ever need."

Andrew, thank you for this album.

Community

Yesterday was honestly one of the best Sunday's I've had at Otter Creek in a while (I guess since Dr. Camp's last sermon). I thought Philip Duncan did a GREAT job - like, really good - at song selection and just helping to mold the service. I couldn't even sing all of "Blessed Be Your Name" because I was so choked up. The thing that got me the most was seeing Doug Sanders sing those words on the front row with his glasses off and his eyes closed. And then seeing that guy (I can't remember his name, but he's a doctor that sits front-and-center every Sunday) limp over to put his hands on Doug. Sheesh, I'm even tearing up just thinking about it right now.

Josh's message was terrific. And Danielle's testimony was incredibly powerful too.

The message made me think of this past week's episode of Community - have you been watching that show?

There is a scene between a middle-aged African-American lady (Shirley) and a late-20s blonde white girl (Britta: the pervasive love-interest character). Shirley had been doing crazy stuff all episode - she was way too passionate about Joel McHale's character doing something she perceived as offensive - though in the universe of the ethics of that show, it was completely within bounds. Turns out that she was just projecting her anger about what was going on in her life.

Shirley: "My ex-husband came by this morning and he asked for his ring back. It was his mother's and he wants to give it to his new girlfriend."
Britta: "Shirley, that sucks."
Shirley: [Talks about her feelings on the issue for a bit]
Britta: "I totally get that."
Shirley: "I feel better now."
Britta: "Let's go check on Annie."

The scene I'm talking about starts a little after the 13 minute mark. (It may get taken down at some point - if so, sorry)



This formula gets screwed up from the start SO often. In stead of saying "Shirley, that sucks," the response is often, "You're better off without him!" or "It's time to move on - let's find you a man!" or some other form of "Stop feeling sad!"
As we saw yesterday at Otter Creek, sad feelings are valid. In stead of, "It was God's Will" or something like that, it seemed like Danielle would've appreciated a "Danielle, that sucks" mixed in there. It seems like even in trying to "comfort" someone in grief, the confidante still tries to turn the attention on themselves sometimes - wanting to be remembered as the one who gave the great advice or something like that in stead of letting Shirley/Danielle just talk through the crap that they're feeling. Like most things in life, real issue that are messy probably won't get wrapped up as quickly or neatly as the TV conversation mentioned above, but it's a good framework for starting to walk with someone through their suffering.

What's more, the final piece of the "Community" equation was "Let's go check on Annie." Annie was another character who was upset about something (comparatively trivial). Perhaps an important step in overcoming grief in her own life, Shirley needed to then go "check on" another member of their community.

Britta completely exemplifies a Christian example in this scene.

I'm not even going to apologize for using this cheesy cultural reference. There.


"One another" hits:

John 13:34 - "'A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.'"

Romans 12:10 - "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves."

Romans 15:7 - "Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God."

Ephesians 4:2 - "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."

1 Thessalonians 5:11 - "Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing."

1 Peter 3:8 - "Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble."

Inadvertent Volunteer Battle

Memphis. Sunday at lunch time. Cracker Barrel.

Our name was called, so we were the baby ducks following Mama Duck Hostess through the maze of tables. Suddenly she stops and we're just clogging up the aisles - apparently our table wasn't quite ready. Oops. I was feeling awkward - just standing there in the aisle - and I saw a rocking chair, so I sat down - mainly to get out of the way. Until then, I didn't see the man sitting in the other rocking chair - across the checker board from me. I had unwittingly challenged what appeared to be an octogenarian to a battle! He leaned over his folded up walker and accepted the challenge, "It's your move."
So, I picked up a checker and moved it. A twinkle appeared in his eyes - eyes that, by my estimation, have seen many days and many stories. "I'm not very good," he admitted. "Oh, uh, me neither," I said, unsuccessfully attempting to convey that I wasn't even sure of all the rules.
He corrected me when I tried to ignore a "jump" that I had to take. Eventually, it got down my two "kinged" pieces and his two "kinged" pieces plus one "non-kinged" piece. I was able to run down his "non-kinged" piece and he let out a frustrated monosyllabic disapproval of his own efforts. Then he looked up and said, "It's a draw. When you have two kings each, it's a draw game." "Oh, okay." I was undefeated!
We chatted for a few minutes: I told him I was from middle-Tennessee and he told me about a time he had visited Franklin - and that it was very nice. He then started talking about some Memphis-area politician, but I couldn't really hear him well because his voice wasn't strong enough to overpower the after-church crowd's volume. I got that his name was Lenny and then I went and joined my friends who had already ordered my pancakes and bacon for me.
After we finished eating, I noticed that Lenny was eating by himself. So, I went and patted him on the back and said that it was nice to meet him. He grabbed me by the arm and gave me a tourist tip:

"While you're here, you should visit the Forrest Memorial. You know who that is?"
"Yes."
"Well, it's very nice - you should pay it a visit. Did you know I was born on July 21st?"
"The 21st, you say?"
"You know what happened that day?"
"No sir, I don't."
"That's the day we started the war - the First Battle of Manassas. If General Forrest had gotten to Manassas, we would've won the war."
[Pause]
"Well, it was nice to meet you."

Just to complete the picture, about 75% of the patrons and employees that day were African-American.

I haven't done much fact-checking on his claim, but that's not really the point.
To say we're now a "post-racial" nation is, I think, naive and incorrect.

The week in review

This past weekend was filled with music. I spent the majority of Saturday and Sunday arranging "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz for Vocal Union (6-piece a cappella). Then we rehearsed at my house both Monday and Tuesday. Why? Well, we had an audition in Atlanta on Wednesday for an "American Idol"-type show for a cappella groups called "Sing Off." It was a lot of work and kind of fun to do, though I don't recommend using Audacity for Windows if you're going to do much recording. Anyways, we went to the audition and we weren't what they were looking for, but it was neat to see the process. Another group from The Acappella Company also auditioned (Durant) and got a similar summary dismissal. I was really disappointed that night because I had poured a lot of time and effort into it (as had my fellow singers), but I think I'm over it now because I really didn't expect that we'd make it. However, I did have to miss Wicked - which I heard was awesome!

Last night, I went to McCreary's pub with Breton and had a great time getting some relationship advice. For some reason, it's different coming from him now that he's married.

After work today, we leave for Snyder, TX. I'm usually over-the-top in my insults toward Texas (mainly to annoy my Texan friends), but I'm really looking forward to this trip. I always love a road trip and this one definitely qualifies. Estimated travel time to get to Snyder by bus: 17 or 18 hours. Sweet!
On our way back, we'll sing in Memphis on Sunday night, then back to work on Monday.
I believe over the next 2 months, we have 2 weekends off. I LOVE it!

Currently reading:
Mere Discipleship by Lee Camp - I'm at about 80% right now and can tell you I will read this book multiple times and so should you!

Want to read:
When You Are Engulfed In Flames by David Sedaris - I might need something a little lighter after Dr. Camp
A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Don Miller - he's the author of at least two books in my Y2K-America-Bible

Cool links from the week:
Michael Jackson Medley
Vocal Union on Twitter
Shuffletime - only if you want to waste a lot of time. (I ordered the Mystery box)

This I Believe

There's a series on NPR from time to time called "This I believe." It's very interesting to hear these passionate people proclaim their beliefs - I highly recommend it.

The following is NOT an entry from that program, but perhaps it should be. It is a prepared message by Dr. Lee Camp (yes, again) which was delivered this past Wednesday at a worship service at Otter Creek.

I've transcribed the whole thing (300-ish words), but here's a link to the audio. Again, I claim all typos and bad punctuation as my own.

"I believe in God the Father and Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit and the holy catholic church. Which is all to say, I believe in the Creed. I believe God is love - a love greater than my self-condemnation, greater than my lusts and greed and ambition, greater than armies and terrorists and weapons of mass destruction. I believe God is nearer than my very breath, knows me better than I know myself and desires good for me beyond anything pride or ambition could ever devise.
"I believe there are no tears more bitter than those that precede repentance, grieving the loss of our old ways. I believe that detoxing from the old man is a hard and narrow road, like grieving the death of an old friend who has kept us company for many lonely days.
"I believe there are no tears sweeter than those that come spontaneously while sitting on the porch alone early in the morning years later when one realizes how good God has been, and kind and merciful, keeping me from pits of death which would swallow me whole.
"Which is to say that the day comes when in grieving the loss of the old, we learn that we have been grieving the loss of but an illusion, a lie. And that what we thought was our friend was in fact our mortal enemy. And then, deep laughter swallows up the tears. And then one is free to live.
"I believe that I am like the demon-possessed man, set free from his bondage and sent home to tell how wonderful are the works of God.
"I believe the fact of my freedom does not mean the old man has left me. He is always there, looking over my shoulder, seeking always to engage me in pleasant conversation, offering me poisons which taste and smell, at least at first, like good wine.
"I believe the world desperately needs people set free from fear - fear of shame and isolation, free from the fear of prison and the fear of social stigma, free to love, to speak the truth, to share all things needful, free to sing and laugh and to tell good stories.
"And I believe that God is good. I have tasted and I have seen. And I love this Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Though so poorly do I love. But I do.
"Amen."

Neither Conservative Nor Liberal

Yesterday, Dr. Lee Camp presented a sermon at the Otter Creek Church of Christ (where I'm a member). Here is a portion of that sermon. I transcribed it, so if there are any typos or bad punctuation, that's my fault.

Here's a link to the audio of the whole sermon.

"[W]e need to be a church, it seems to me, that is neither right nor left. Neither conservative nor liberal.
"We do not need to be a conservative church because we know that the status quo of the world does not need to be conserved. For the status quo and conventional wisdom often opposes the will of God. We cannot be a conservative church for there will be, even this hour, even today, there will be somewhere in the world, lots of places in the world in which a mother grieves the death of a starving child or one more child that dies of diarrhea because they didn't have clean water. We cannot be a conservative church that seeks to preserve that status quo. We cannot be a conservative church because today in Nashville there will be another young girl who sells herself to some more empty and broken man, himself. We cannot be a conservative church because there are still young men and young women who are sent off to wage war. We cannot be a conservative church because bullets still tear through inner-city homes. We have nothing at stake in conserving any of that. We cannot find our identity in being a conservative church because we don't want to preserve the margin, the gap between rich and poor. We don't want the continued marginalization of women. We don't want an idolatrous trust in swords and tanks and weapons of mass destruction. We do not wish to be conservative as such. Only until the Kingdom of God has come, in its fullness, can we ever be conservative as such.
"And yet. We cannot be a liberal church. We cannot be a liberal church that plays these games because we know that the way, THE truth, THE life has already come in the midst of human history. We know that THE way, THE truth and THE life has granted us all things needed unto life and godliness. We cannot be a liberal church because we have something better than tolerance: we have hospitality. The world doesn't need more tolerance; the world needs more hospitality. The world needs more people who will sit down at the table with people who have no one to sit down at the table with, and eat meals with them, to break bread with them, to drink wine with them, to share with them the goodness and the wisdom of God. We cannot be a liberal church because secularism will not save the world. Rather than humanizing the world in all of its arrogant conceit, secularism has simply taught us to demonize the other. Secularism has taught us how to slaughter the unborn and to slaughter men, women and children with an industrialized efficiency never dreamed of in the history of the world.
"We cannot be a conservative church because the Kingdom of God has not come. We cannot be a liberal church because we've been given the Way, the Truth and the Life in Jesus of Nazareth. We've been given this incredible calling to be the Body of Christ."

Amen.

Wish I had it on video

This morning I was driving on 440 East. Traffic was moving significantly more slowly than usual because of the rain. Understandable. Up ahead I saw that there were a few cars off the sides of the road - maybe a fender bender. Traffic slows for rubber necking, of course. Then. I saw a car - maybe two or three cars in front of me swerve off the left side of the road. Huh. Then the driver got out before the car stopped moving. Huh. He proceeded to run with the car as it swerved back into traffic - probably going 6-8 mph at this point. Evidently, we were going down a slight hill because the car picked up speed, but Mr. Driver did not. There was an unmanned car careening down the road at about 10-15 mph. Obviously, we all stopped to watch for a number of reasons. Eventually, the car swerved off to the right and struck a road sign. Mr. Driver catches up with the (now wrecked) car and calmly pulls out his cell phone. Perhaps I should've stopped to see if I could help, but I didn't. There were probably a half-dozen other cars already stopped right there anyways - not sure why.

Weird start to the day.

P.S. I tried to fit this into a 140-character twitter post. Wasn't happening.