Huge Win for Veritas Church

I'm not spiritualizing here when I say "Huge win."

We're talking literal win for our church. 29-27.

The Veritas softball team was in a bad way. As I understand it, there are 4 city wide softball divisions. There's the A league all the way down to the church league. Scott Chandler, a guy in our church, cajoled me into rounding up some guys to play softball this summer. He assured me he would sign us up for the church league. The next day he came back with the good news that "we got signed up" and the bad news "the only spot was in the A league."

We were 0-3 heading into last Thursday's game against the undefeated dental students.

After some shuffling of personnel, manager Chandler put us in a position to win. The shuffling involved getting me into a position where my inept softball skills could cause the least damage.

You see, my greatest softball skill is that I take the game from being "fun" to "funny". The first night I threw the ball in from center field and literally hit the unsuspecting cutoff man. What's wrong with hitting the cutoff man- aren't you supposed to? Well, I was aiming for 3rd and hit the short stop (Thune) in the back. Some of you are thinking, "If you're playing center field, how would the 3rd baseman ever be the cut off man?" Softball is 99% boredom and 1% sheer terror. In that moment of possessing the ball as people are rounding the bases, my eyes blur, my mind is in a fog, and I just throw it... wherever. That's what I'm saying- it's terror out there- one percent of the time. In another center field debacle, I almost got hit in the face with a fly ball to center.

So Chandler moved me to catcher, where I'm known for occasionally skipping the ball back to the pitcher. The "yips" happens to everyone at some point in their career. As a fellow catcher, Mackey Sasser's inability to throw the ball back to the pitcher ended his major league career with the Mets. I tell myself I'm in good company. It happens to the best...or worst, however you want to look at it.

But Thursday was our moment of glory, and we chalked up our first win for the Veritas Church softball team.

Veritas Church, you can hold your heads high this week, knowing that your church has posted a win in the A division. And also rest secure that your pastors are hard at work, refining their skills on the diamond.

Here's to being thankful in all circumstances, especially after such a sweet victory...

In other sporting news...

I busted out the clubs and showed off my sweet skills on the golf course. Dale Mullikin commented on my clubs, "I haven't seen wood drivers in forever... wait... those aren't wood, they're plastic!" It turns out my Wilsons are a step way below TaylorMade and just above Fisher Price. But the clubs were hot... just ask Dale to tell you about my putting.

Here's Thune putting with an apple in his mouth.

Congrats to Jeff and Ashley with the birth of Kota Ryan... what a sweet baby girl!

Boom, I'm out.

It was- IS- worth it

Before we came to Iowa City, people would say, "If you go and only one person comes to know Jesus because of it... it would be worth it." I know that's a nice Christian thing to say, but I thought, "If only one person comes to Jesus... we should stay in Ames!"

But as Lance Allgood watched his friend Nick get baptized, he told me later, "If it was just for Nick, it WAS worth it!"

Below you can watch Nick's (and 6 other) baptism. But by God's grace he is not the only one...

Baptisms - May 1, 2011 from Veritas Church on Vimeo.

Some people from Veritas helped us host a graduation party for Jarryd Cole on Saturday. He's persevered through so much during his time at Iowa (3 coaching changes and multiple injuries). This past year God has done some cool things in his life, and it was fun to celebrate his strong finish to a great career at Iowa.

Once again, we say with gratitude and awe... Soli Deo Gloria

What we've been up to

I haven't posted in awhile, mostly due to a combination of business and laziness.

Here's some of the busyness: keeping up worthless life skills, like getting a skateboard over a ladder.

This was the last nice day of November...

Anthem song writing retreat...
There are some more good worship songs slow cookin' in the studio...
Unsupervised kids.
I put off getting my axle fixed- it broke as I rolled in to the shop. The van asked me to move and I said, "Sorry, my car won't move." They had an open spot, pushed me in and 45 minutes later I was back on the road. Thinking of all the places this could've happened reminds me that God answers the Lord's prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread..."
The last Salt Company of the semester. A view of the bar from the stage.
Thiessen's gives out free popcorn. They regret it every time they see me rolling in with the five kids. I was there buying bullets, license, etc for hunting. I got skunked, and I'm wondering if hunting just isn't my thing. It's going to take the encouragement of all my redneck friends to keep my head in the game. Stan, you out there?
Makai said there were some big birds in the tree in our backyard. We said, "That's nice Makai" but didn't believe him. He was right- 2 bald Eagles! More of God's goodness to us.
Christmas at Papa Jack and Grandma Linda's. Who knows what the kids will find in the basement?

Travis Pastrana's Record Jump Last Night

Dude is crazy...

Last Week

One of the highlights of my week is meeting on Thursday mornings with a group of new believers. Last week, Bill had a message on his heart. So I had him preach it to 4 of us in the chapel of the Memorial Union. It was amazing. Click here for more on that.

Notice the curtain that you can pull over the cross if it offends you. Welcome to Iowa State University.

Moroccan tea from Cafe Milo is a must for last minute sermon preparation. Especially when you're fighting a cold.
The main point of my message from John 3 was, "Missing the point of life is easy, even though God has made it hard to miss." Then I had four points on "How to miss the point of life."

It wasn't that great, so I won't bore you with all four points. But I thought the opening story (via youtube) was a good contrast of two guys- one who missed it, the other got it.

Have you ever seen this on a t-shirt? Sillyness, right?
Well, not for Michael Jordan. Start watching his closing remarks at about 7:53...

Then you have a guy building his house on a rock... start at about 1:53 to hear his words to his family and then skip to the end around 6:40.

What a contrast. Just when you thought Jordan was going to close his speech by thanking people and, perhaps God, he goes off on how much the game of basketball has been there for him.

That's a great way to miss the point of life: live life for _______ (insert "sports" or anything else that doesn't matter for eternity)

Here are some pics from church history class. We went to Des Moines and visited the Greek Orthodox church.

Father Basil shared about the history of the Greek Orthodox church. I have a lot of thoughts on this. Too many for now.
Afterwards Stan made some poor man's lemonade at Chili's. I think his drink reached the supersaturation point with sugar.
Friday night I got choked up as I watched a beautifully redemptive wedding. Congrats to Dan and Allissa. Bless your new life together. I wish I had more time to tell the world how God blessed your broken roads.
On the home front...

Somehow putting the first letter of their name on a pancake (here with peanut butter), makes all the difference.
Tonight I finished "Oliver Twist" (illustrated classics) with the kids. Makai was noticeably quiet in the other room.

He was busy making crafts. It was a small miracle that he only wrote on the paper and not the walls, computer, NEW WASHER...heaven knows we don't want that 1978 (?) beauty marked on...

Surfing for fun

Last night instead of watching a late night movie (as if the Viking/Packers game wasn't enough), I chose to catch up on some blogs and do a little internet surfing.

Here are some waves I caught...

Bob Thune...

went yard (baseball metaphors are a must this time of year) with his two posts: "Why you shouldn't go to seminary": For Part 1 click here and for Part 2 click here

U2...

is the best band of all time. Is there any doubt? Click here for article, here for interactive view, or here for pics.

Baseball...

call of the year (props challies.com)

More from challies.com...

Sermons...

from Desiring God's latest conference on Calvin (click here)

Food for thought...

regarding his meeting Rick Warren and Saddleback visit (click here)

Jim Rome (.com)...

on Favre. Note: Reading or listening to Jim Rome is like eating candy. It won't make you a better person for having partaken. But somehow the laughter will enrich your life in some small, insignificant way...

Favre telling the Packer fans they just need to let the past go and move on…would be like Roger Clemens telling Barry Bonds to stop cheating. I’m sure Packer fans will get right on that. Like Bernie Madoff telling all those people who he ripped off: yeah, I know you thought you had retired at 60…now you have to go back and work until you’re in your 90’s…let it go already…just move on!

Jim Rome (.com) on the Twins preview tonight (click here)

Mike Easton...

who just left for overseas, watches the Cyclone game via skype (Des Moines to East Asia)- click here. This is a reminder to pray for our friends overseas. This is part of the suffering... missing much anticipated sporting events. Mike, sorry about the game. What did we expect?

Reed, I'm also feeling your pain way out there in Central Asia... some of the best 72 hours of sports that has ever happened in the Twin Cities...

X Games

Last night was such an adrenaline rush watching an old friend from Omaha tear up the X games Vert contest. Danny Mayer is one of the only guys in the world that does a kick-flip Mctwist, and he nailed two in one run, but time expired on that run. He ended up with fourth.

It's amazing to watch on ESPN, but even more surreal standing on the deck of the vert ramp watching it up close and personal. It gave me flashbacks of being a 12 year old on those ramps, sitting through my elementary classes planning out new tricks I was going to try. Then getting freaked out all day at the thought of actually trying it at 3:45 when I would arrive at the skatepark. It still makes me nervous. I hope my kids don't skate.

Here's an example of a run you'd see Danny do, though not as good as the runs he pulled in X-games last night (There's no video up on youtube from Xgames due to copyright)

Rickey Henderson

I grew up watching Rickey Henderson, who was just inducted to the baseball hall of fame. He was quite the character, for those of you who are into baseball, click here for some funny Rickey stories.

Props to Chris for the vine.

Odds and Ends

Still no baby as of 11:52 pm Thursday night. I'll keep you up to date.

Tonight Beck (4), said, "Mom, if you know Jesus you won't die when you have the baby, but if you don't know Jesus, you will die." Leatha said, "Beck, I could die, but since I know Jesus, I'll be with God forever." He said, "That's true. Good point, mom."

Darrell Green's hall of fame speech relates to my post on "Sex and Faithfulness." The whole thing is good, but at least start listening at 4:40. It reminded me of the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 4:7, saying at the end of his life, "I fought the good fight."

Also, good thoughts from Alex Tuckness on diamonds: click here.

I've enjoyed getting caught up on the New Perspective of Paul from Scot McKnight's blog: click here for the posts. This is one of the more important theological discussions going on right now. It's become John Piper Vs. N.T. Wright, with McKnight's blog representing the Wright camp. Great things to think about, but if you're not inclined to enjoy deep theological debates, don't waste your time... I'll consider writing a blog post summarizing what's at stake.

That last sentence was totally worthless.

So was that.

I'm going to bed.

Oh yeah, Salt was awesome tonight. I met a new guy that wandered into Cornerstone today seeking help in his relationship with Christ. He came tonight and met some great guys and got in their connection group. And once again, tons of international students were there. Two Chinese guys said, "Wow, someday we might be able to have the excitement that's in you guys."

This is church!

Harrison Barnes V. Mark Arant

There's this dude in our church that's supposed to be one of the top 3 best players in the world of his class. ("top 3 best" may seem redundant, but it works in this case). A "one and done" as they say. That means one year of college and then the NBA. 

I don't see what all the hype is about, as I clearly held my own against him. I'm thinking about leaving the ministry and entering the draft. NBA, here I come...

At this point, I really think I'm going to swat him. I'm a VERY optimistic person.
Right here I'm thinking, "Wait a minute, how is he still going up and I'm coming down?"
The inevitable result... My consolation, however, is the fact that my jeans and skate shoes didn't launch me to my usual heights.
Me, about to take it to the rack.

Pinned. Blocked. Swatted. That's how it went, but then I got one over him and in. (not this one) I think the one I made almost hit the rafters.

C'mon, give me a little credit for getting close on this.
Not.
Then I challenged him to a 3 point contest. This is Cody contesting his shot.
I went 9 for 20. He went 17 for 20. 

Maybe I'll keep my day job after all. 

I won't sing or pitch at the game

If someone asks me to sing the national anthem (which they never will), or throw out the first pitch at a baseball game (which they never will), I will decline. It's an embarrassing moment waiting to happen...

I was checking out Jim Rome's commentary on the 58 point blowout last night in New Orleans. I knew he'd have a funny take, and he delivered. He said all the fans should be refunded, since the Hornets didn't show up against the Nuggets. 

Rome loves to reference Carl Lewis butchering the national anthem, as well as the Cincinnati mayor's first pitch debacle.

A Confession

I've been hiding this in the closet for 4 days now. 

I was corresponding with a good friend about some random stuff, and I felt overwhelmed with conviction that I had to tell someone. He's the kind of friend I knew I could tell. And I know you're the kind of readers that I can confide in. So it's time to come clean with a confession.

Here's my best attempt at laying out the events of Sunday...

I was wiped out after leading worship at the Easter services at Cornerstone. You know how it is when you're tired and you let your guard down right? We've all been there. 

I was innocently flipping through the television channels when I stopped at a channel I knew I had no business watching. I should've had this channel banned from my cable plan, but there's no way I could've. It was a major network.

Anyway, I stopped on CBS...

It's hard to get this out in the open, I just don't know how to say it.

Here it is: I knowingly, voluntarily, purposefully watched over 30 minutes of golf- The Masters. 

I must admit, I don't know how it happened or why it happened. It just did. And here's the sad part- I enjoyed it. 

I'm sorry for those of you I've let down. I can only hope that this will not become a habit, but I'm afraid the older I get, the more I will be tempted and lured into this vice. 

I'm not sure what's next... NASCAR? Bowling? Country music?

Dear Selection Committee

We know Creighton has no business being in the Big Dance. But please let them in anyway. Don't let their bubble burst. We know they got beat down by Illinois State in the MVC tourney, but everyone has bad days. 

We beg you, don't make them play in the NIT.

Sincerely,

Anyone who has ever lived in Omaha

Look out Evel Knieval

I got nervous even after seeing this the second time. What drives people to do this? Wow. 

Props to Tjelta for the vine.

Signs of spring

March madness is in the air. It all kicks off with the girls state basketball, which usually I'm indifferent to. Except this year Trisha Nesbitt led Ames to the final game.

It was an amazing run, which included Trisha hitting a last second shot that put the semi-final game into OT. Ames went on to dominate in overtime against #1 and undefeated... whoever they were (Linn-Mar?). 

Below: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. We started off sitting behind the students, and instead of being grumpy old men about it, we joined them. After the win I was standing on my chair and crowd surfing (with my 3 friends). Then the security guys started coming down so I cooled off. What are you supposed to do when you've just slayed Goliath? 

Leatha and I went to the final game together, which was a blast. It was so fun because Ballard won the 3-A title right before Ames played. I think Ballard could run with some college teams. Wow. The coolest part was hearing the Ames student body cheering for Ballard and vice versa. Some of that has to be due to the cool God-stuff that's happening in both of those schools. Many of the kids on both teams are apart of our youth ministry. 

In the end, Ames lost, but it was still an amazing game. Trish played awesome and totally schooled some girls from the other team. I've never seen someone get juked as bad as the girl(s) guarding her.

This week the Ames boys play. They are ridiculous. Led by Harrison Barnes, one of the top 3 players in the U.S. (When he showed up at the Duke game, all the Cameron Crazies were shouting his name in unison.) You know you're the man if Roy Williams and Mike Kryzhwshk-I'd like to buy a vowel- shows up to watch your high school game. Most importantly, God is up to some stuff on the Ames team. Win or lose, may His kingdom come.

Go Ames.

Finally, this is the most beautiful sign of spring...

Cheer up, spring is on its way!

Someone told me that according to historical averages, Sunday (Jan 11) is the coldest day of winter. So now that we're past that, it's all up from here. Slowly, but surely things will be warming up. 

I was looking through some skate pictures that a relative (props to Greg W!) shot of me at the skatepark on one of the last nice days of fall. I can't wait to get to the park again.

These two are a sequence. The second is my favorite.

Below is an old skool (everything I do at the park is old skool) judo air...
Below is an ollie out of the small quarter. The rush of flying through the air keeps me coming back!
The next six shots are a sequence of a Christ Air. This isn't the prettiest one, but you get the point. At the climax of the move, you are supposed to be in the form of a cross. At the skatepark, it's always good to have a trick that allows me to share Jesus.

The next four are a Japan air. It's a cool trick when it gets really tweaked out. This is a little less than stellar, but it works...

(below) A simple ollie down the stairs is something any chump at the park can do. But you can never take for granted the danger involved in skating. I've had some gnarly injuries over the years, and I can't help but encourage my kids to do something else with their youth. 

Besides, the more I'm at the park, the more I realize skateboarding is less a sport, and more an identity. A lot of the kids you'll find there are fatherless, insecure, and desperately wanting acceptance and attention. I wouldn't want my child there unsupervised. 

Oh yeah, and if there are any teens reading this...wear a helmet. It's saved my life a couple times. Last time I was in the ER getting stitches on my knee (stupid accident on the rail), the doctor told me, "This cut is OK... cuts and broken bones will heal, but I can't fix a brain injury."

"No one wears a helmet...it's not cool." 

Cool won't help you when you can only talk with slurred speech because you cracked your head on the pavement.