WTF is going on at UO?

So University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer announced yesterday that Mike Bellotti is Oregon's new AD, and Chip Kelly (the current offensive coordinator for the football team) is the new head coach for the Ducks.

Except for one thing.

The moves will take place in an indisclosed time. John Canzano showed up on today's MSP to discuss, and said that Bellotti's identified the timeframe for the transition as being within the next 10 years.

Canzano expressed exasperation at the move, saying that it doesn't make sense for Oregon to enter into this sort of agreement if the move is not goin gto happen soon. The only rationale he could identify would be to ease the minds of recruits, since Chip's been identified as a head coach candidate by other schools and appeared ready to move. MSP host Gavin Dawson pointed out that a solid timeline raised the danger of a lame-duck scenario.

So what is going on? I think this move automatically raises a lame-duck scenario, with or without a set timeline. Much like the situation in Dallas with the Cowboys coaching situation, people will start looking at Bellotti as a caretaker and a head coach in name only. Sure, as the next AD he'll always be Chip's boss and Chip needs to toe the line, but when the players know that Bellotti's heading out (whenever that happens) and that Chip's the guy they have to suck up to, it creates issues in leading the team.

Besides, I don't think the team does this to keep recruits interested. The teams been through several offensive coordinators in the last 5 years, and has been consistently great. That indicates a solid program and solid leadership at the top, and so as long as Bellotti is there running the program, changing coordinators isn't the issue.

I don't think Chip Kelly signs this contract (and I'm sure there's a contract here) without some pretty specific assurances. I don't think he rides backseat to Mike for an indetermined amount of time when he could be a head coach now. And I don't think he signs a deal for a short term, either. The upside of this deal is that UO is a BCS power-program and has developed into a juggernaut; it's not likely he'd get a better shot anywhere else for a while. The downside is that (as Canzano said today) his offense will lose its luster and his stock will drop -- he must know football well enough to know that he needs to make his power play now.

I think we'll find out in the next few weeks (translation: after the impending bowl game) that Bellotti will coach one more season. Pat Kilkenny, who gets the credit for getting the new basketball arena built, will stick long enough to see the project through and, perhaps, bring on a new basketball coach (like Mark Few from Gonzaga), and then the transition takes place to a new sports regime with a new AD, football, and hoops coach rising (or falling) together. Meanwhile, I'm sure Chip is getting a nice Christmas bonus and, I'd guess, will play a pretty huge role in recruiting once the situation has gelled in the press.

Time will tell. I think it's a good move as long as it plays out in the near-term. If this transition takes more than a year, I think a lot of people will regret yesterday's announcement.

Happy Thanksgiving (2008 Edition)

So much to be thankful for...

Already had a beautiful wife, a fantastic daughter, a nice house and a great job. And this was all on top of a great group of family and friends. But I have to admit I've been blessed despite all of that.

This year, a new daughter (Ruby Jane, born Oct. 1), a bigger house to match, and positive developments professionally as well. Yes, there's much to give thanks for.

The only down-side is far less blogging. It's just getting too hard to find the time. But, in truth, that's not really that bad a thing, all things considered.

Anyway, for the many blessings I give my thanks to my God, my family, and my friends. And to you, I wish many thank-worthy moments whereever you are and whereever you go.

Happy Thanksgiving.

SOAP Notes

November 25, 2008
Matthew 20-22

S: Matthew 20:1-16

"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; and to those he said, 'You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.' And so they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, 'Why have you been standing here idle all day long?' They said to him, 'Because no one hired us.' He said to them, 'You go into the vineyard too.' When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.' When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. When those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, saying, 'These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.' But he answered and said to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous? So the last shall be first, and the first last."

O: A parable explaining the absolute nature of salvation and showing that we are not to envy those who seem to have attained it more cheaply.

A: I recall a night in college, sitting and conversing with a group of peers in a Bible study-type group. We were discussing heaven and degrees of reward. There was talk of jewels in the crown and mansions in heaven and such, and I took umbrage. Why wasn’t salvation enough? In that group and in many others I’ve been in, there’s the ongoing search for the icing on the cake of Christianity. Much, I suspect, is geared toward trying to puff oneself up over our Christian peers. A thought of “sure we’re both saved, but mine’s better because…” Or, perhaps a matter of fulfilling the human need to find justification and reward to make sense of greater sacrifice. Or whatever.

But this parable as I read it confirms my suspicion that salvation is absolute and the same for everyone. And, at least to me, it highlights the danger of expecting anything more (and missing the fact that there can be nothing greater). There is no pride in salvation; it isn’t earned and can’t be improved-upon or adorned. To worry about trying to put icing on the cake is to miss the substance of it and to risk losing the reward in our jealousy.

P: Lord, help me not to take pride in my salvation and help me not to compare my walk with that of another. Simply help me to accept Your gift and to treasure it, and let my life and my actions reflect what You have done for me. Amen.

CONGRATULATIONS TO BARACK OBABA

And thanks to John McCain for being first-class in accepting defeat. Though I didn't vote for you, you are a great American.

Now, This IS A Scary Thought

From a Newsweek commentator, interviewed by CNN...

CNN: Does [the selection of Sarah Palin as VP candidate] make you concerned about Sen. McCain as a president?

Zakaria: Yes, and I say this with sadness because I greatly admire John McCain, a man of intelligence, honor and enormous personal and political courage. However, for him to choose Sara Palin to be his running mate is fundamentally irresponsible. He did not put the country first with this decision. Whether it is appropriate or not, considering Sen. McCain's age most people expected to have a vice presidential candidate who would be ready to step in at a moment's notice. The actuarial odds of that happening are significant, something like a one-in-five chance.

Here's a link to Zakaria's artical at Newsweek, "Palin is Ready? Please." Frankly, a better title, there isn't.

I Love Tina Fey

Also, Palin's almost this horrible...

"Everyone Has Their Dan Quayle"

I love my best friend, JLowe. But I can't, CAN NOT, see how we can let this person be a heartbeat away. I'm no state governor, and I'm certainly no vice presidential candidate, but I'd argue that putting this person in line to be president is reason enough to vote against John McCain.





Sarah Palin seems like a great lady. But she's not presidential, she's not vice presidential, and she's not the person to put in the batter's box.

SOAP Notes

September 23, 2008
Daniel 11-12; Luke 6

S: Luke 6:27-35
“But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.”

O: The Beatitudes section, where Jesus lays out desirable traits and, in the midst, offers a profound challenge to everyone who claims to follow Him.

A: It is amazing how often you can read the same section of the Bible and yet always find something new. I’ve read the Beatitudes numerous times. We all know the “blessed are the poor, the meak,” and so on. We all know the Beatitudes as a place that talks about turning the other cheek. We all know it as a place of some quaint blessings that can be inspiring or can be great throw-away lines in a Christian conversation.

I hadn’t noticed the challenge in them, though. I mean, I imagine I’ve seen it before, but on this night it really hits me. Jesus spends a fair amount of time confronting people who live a good life with the fact that they do it on easy terms.

As I look at others around me, and as I look at myself, I find that it is very easy to feel self-satisfied and pious after doing little things for others. Particularly when they are people that don’t offend, people that we think deserve our kindnesses and our time. We are kind to those who we like, or who we at least don’t have something against. We give to those who we know will share with us as well, or we give with the knowledge that our charity will be rewarded in another way. We act in kindness toward those who we feel kindness towards.

But the challenge is so much greater, and lays bare the failure that is inherent in us all. I sit at work, or at home, or in my car, and sometimes find myself plotting and scheming against perceived enemies. And the feeling in my heart is malice; there is no kindness there. I can think of a number of people who I dislike such that I would never lend them a pencil, let alone reach out to support them or speak out a kind word to them. I can think of a number of times in the past that I’ve failed the challenge.

I think of myself, and others think of themselves, highly for the kindnesses they do to those they care about, but Jesus makes it clear: how does that make me any different? My calling in this world, my purpose, isn’t to be just more of the same. I’m to be different, a reflection of something greater, and in simply upholding the status quo, I am failing monumentally.

The end of the passage deals with an ultimate reward. I don’t think that’s the point, though people always seem to need to feel that their labor isn’t in vain. What I know is this: I want to be better, not for an award, but for the difference I would be, and for the difference that would make in me. The ultimate reward is nice, but the immediate gain is just as important.

P: Lord, please help me to go beyond what everyone does. Help me to be a reflection of Your greatness. Help me to be different and to exhibit something more. Amen.

SOAP Notes

September 2, 2008
Ezekiel 17-19; Revelations 7

S: Ezekiel 18:20 & 30a

"The person who sins will die The son will not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son's iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.

"Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, each according to his conduct," declares the Lord GOD.”

O: The Lord clarifies accountability; we are each judged by our own actions and aren’t judged by the conduct of others.

A: Two separate trains of thought for the day.
1) It is sometimes easy to try to pass through Christian life like we pass through so much of our life, on appearances and not on substance. One of those appearances is the company we keep. If I hang with Christian people, I’m a Christian. If I spend my time with people who love and obey God, I’m assumed to be like them, and (in fact) I internalize that assumption into a belief that I’m doing just fine.

In the past, I’ve focused on a saying I picked up from a sports talk guy I like to listen to. “You are who you roll with.” For me, that means that a person can be judged (at least to a certain extent) by the company that they keep, without taking the time to evaluate the person on their own merits. That dovetails nicely with a bit of intellectual laziness that I’ve always, quietly, held dear and close. That stereotypes exist for a reason, and that very often they are somewhat grounded in truth. So, therefore, it’s okay to embrace them and approach people through the applied stereotypes that fit with who they are. Racial, sexual, whatever.

While it may be true that people gravitate towards groups they identify with, or that stereotypes can be a useful tool in social interaction if properly (and judiciously) used, it is important to note that each person is special, is their own wondrous creation. To discount them or, worse, disregard them based upon our judgments of who they are based on where they’re from is a sin. Not a deep thought, but a thought nonetheless.

2) Deeper question: How does this passage relate to other parts of the Bible?

“You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.” (Exodus 20:5)

I cheated here. I was looking for the verse and found a sermon someone wrote about it here. I don’t know who this Ray Fowler is, but he distinguishes between the idea that we are doomed by our forefather’s sins, which is false, and subject to certain consequences of them, which is true.

One can misread the Bible to say that we are bound. We are bound by God’s will. We are bound by a certain destiny. We are bound by the evil that others have done before us. We are doomed to failure if God wants us to be, or destined for success if that’s what God’s plan is.

The support is found in verses like Exodus 20:5. If our father’s sins are passed down, I’m subject to the damnation, and there’s no point in trying. But this is not what the verse means.

We should not be so foolish as to believe we live in a vacuum. Like the butterfly in China whose wing-fluttering creates the gust of wind elsewhere, we are each affected by the behavior of others. We are more affected by the people we are more bound up with. The things that my father (and mother) do (or don’t do) have an affect on me, whether I perceive it or not. I am a part of the world in which I lived, and my actions are informed by that which occurs around me. Likewise, my daughter is subject to what I do, and the example I set, and the behavior I portray, and will live a life which mirrors or responds or portrays that. Which is not to say that she’s doomed to repeat my mistakes. Indeed, she may learn and grow from them, or avoid them, or whatever. But the hurdles I lay out will be hurdles she has to clear. How she lives her life, the decisions (or, more importantly, The Decision) she makes will be her own, and will be the sole basis of her judgment. But I can either help or hinder her, and that is what to take away from today.

P: Lord, help me to consider people on their own merit and to see them for who they are in and of themselves. And help me to think about my actions globally, not just in the moment, but in the aftermath as well. And help me to help my children to make wiser choices than me, even if they are stuck in the wake of the bad ones I’ve made. Amen.

I have a dream, too...

That some day, this day, a man will fulfill his promise.

And that this country, our country, will let him.



Go Barack.

SOAP Notes

The latest SOAP Notes entry:

August 26, 2008
Jeremiah 50-51; 3 John 1

S: Jeremiah 50:3-5
"For a nation has come up against her out of the north; it will make her land an object of horror, and there will be no inhabitant in it. Both man and beast have wandered off, they have gone away! In those days and at that time," declares the LORD, "the sons of Israel will come, both they and the sons of Judah as well; they will go along weeping as they go, and it will be the LORD their God they will seek. They will ask for the way to Zion, turning their faces in its direction; they will come that they may join themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.”

O: Although this particular verse discusses a particular time, wherein the sons of Israel will seek the Lord in despair and be given a great victory, I think it pretty well wraps up the sort of situation that, typically, helps Christians remember what (or rather Who) they’re about.

A: The funny, or tragic, thing about Christianity for many people, often including myself, is that it’s a religion of desperation. My faith is strongest when I’m in the direst straits, which isn’t saying much, because so often my faith is barely existent. For so many, the time that we come to the Lord, where we draw near to Him and whisper hymns of praise and love, are those times when we’re just looking for a deliverance or a miracle or a provision. We’re suck-ups and sycophants, suddenly playing Yes-Man in the hopes that we’ll get what we want out of the relationship through sheer flattery and lip service.

The stable Christians, the real devout ones, see this for what it is. So, of course, does Jesus. Although Jesus is always happy to have our attention, and always longs to have us focused on Him for our provision, how off-putting it must be to only see us when we want something out of Him. Whereas devout people of God make Him a part of their daily life and include Him in their ongoing struggle, the fledgling masses continue just to see Him as a shelter in a storm.

I know the difference between friends of commitment and friends of convenience. I have friends who are always there for me, who care about me when their life is good or bad (and, likewise, when mine is good or bad), and who aren’t there to use me. And I have “friends” who only show up when there’s something in it for them.

Worse, I’m that “friend” to some, and I know it going in.

In those times of “friend”ship, where I’m being used, I can’t wait for my “friend” to leave so I can get back to enjoying true friends. In those same times, where I’m the one glad-handing and siphoning from the goodwill of others, I know they’re just humoring me as long as is necessary to get me away.

And, so, the application: I need to be a friend to Jesus, and not just a “friend.” I need to spend time with Him everyday, whether I have an acute need to attend to or not. For although Jesus, miraculously, doesn’t lose patience with our failings, God forbid someday I should show up in a time of need and have Him say “get away from me, you parasite! You pay me lip service, but I know you don’t really care.” God forbid that moment come, because (of course) He’d be speaking the truth, and I’d have no defense. Thank God that moment won’t come, but it makes my heart sick to think of such a time…

P: Lord, thank you for my true friends, and for the model they are to me of what true friendship is. Help me, Lord, to understand that You, too, are a friend, and that You want a relationship with me. Not one of convenience, and not one born out of acute need. Help me to respect You enough to include You, and help me to be a true friend to You, just as You have always been a true friend to me. Amen.

SOAP Notes

The latest SOAP Notes entry:

August 12, 2008
Jeremiah 10-12; John 14

S: Jeremiah 10:3-8; 12-14

For the customs of the peoples are delusion; Because it is wood cut from the forest, the work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. "They decorate it with silver and with gold; They fasten it with nails and with hammers So that it will not totter. "Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they, And they cannot speak; They must be carried, Because they cannot walk! Do not fear them, For they can do no harm, Nor can they do any good." There is none like You, O LORD; You are great, and great is Your name in might. Who would not fear You, O King of the nations? Indeed it is Your due! For among all the wise men of the nations And in all their kingdoms, There is none like You. But they are altogether stupid and foolish In their discipline of delusion--their idol is wood!

It is He who made the earth by His power, Who stablished the world by His wisdom; And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens. When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, And He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, And brings out the wind from His storehouses. Every man is stupid, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols; For his molten images are deceitful, And there is no breath in them.

O: This section laments the people who worship false gods over the True God, but further highlights the tendency of man to put the cart before the horse, in worshipping the created over the Creator to their detriment.

A: My SOAP times are constantly annoying to me, in the sense that what I see in these verses is always a rather simple and obvious shortcoming in myself. And today I see the rather straight-forward issue of priorities. Worship, in so many ways, is a concept in the Bible that simply points out prioritization. Worship = attention = time = devotion = investment, so that when there’s discussion of worship, what it really highlights is that to which we are devoting and investing our time and attention, which in turn illustrates how we rank things in our lives.

Another annoying thing in my SOAP times is the realization that there are so few of them. It seems that my Bible reading almost exclusively consists of these SOAP periods, so as I look back and see I haven’t done a SOAP in months, it highlights just how low this exercise (Bible reading) is in my prioritization scheme.

Thinking over my last month, what has occupied my time? Noble things, like my wife and daughter and moving and work. Spending time with friends, doing favors for people here and there, reassuring clients who need someone to tell them things will be okay. But, just as often (or more often) I’m doing useless, inane, foolish, trifling things. Facebook MobWars or TV or beer drinking or reading magazines or telling stupid jokes or whatever. And both of these lists, the noble and ignoble, consist of things that are all priorities that should fall behind my God. They are all benefits that flow from him, so to worship them, or devote time to them, or pay attention to them, or invest myself in them to the exclusion of their source is ridiculous, short-sighted and wrong.

What to do? Well, the first step in solving any problem is recognizing it. The next step is addressing it. I clearly need to devote time that goes to other things (particularly the useless ones) to my God, and I need to place the noble things in their proper perspective, as things secondary or tertiary or whatever to the source from whence they came. And while appreciating them and servicing them is well and good, to look at them as being primary in importance is wrong, and I must catch myself when that occurs. To fail to address this is to invite ruin, and also to risk losing the benefits of the Creator by excluding Him from my life.

P: Lord, please help me to develop a proper value system in my life, and help me to establish priorities that reflect the correct weight of the things that I devote and invest my time and attention into. Help me to appreciate what You’ve provided without letting those things rule me, and help me to be mindful of their Provenance and to focus my attention appropriately toward You. Amen.

Conan O'Brian Plays Old Tyme Baseball

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Should We Kill the Kiddie Rapists?

Exciting night in Portland. NBA Draft, lots of news on the Blazers front.

On most NBA Draft nights (like last year), I'd be going crazy with excitement over the team and what's going on. It's a time of great promise and great hope.

But, instead, my mind is stuck on something it was seizing upon this morning: the recent US Supreme Court decision ruling that capital punishment shouldn't apply to people who rape children.

Background: as most of my actual readers know, I'm a lawyer. I'm also a person, so any legal insights I have are tempered by my human frailties (emotion and irrational, illogical thinking, for instance). Further, I've read a nutshell summary of the opinion created by a law student at Willamette, so don't think for a minute that I've read the actual opinion, the facts of this particular case, or the legal reasoning involved as applied to the case.

What I know: a guy raped his step-daughter, who was under the age of 12. He may or may not have done it. He was convicted and, under state law, sentenced to death. The Supreme Court essentially found that killing a person for rape was disproportionate to the crime and created too many problems to allow it to stand.

The case is a messy one to serve as a foundation for my premise, even with the scant amount of knowledge that I have. The premise being that few crimes are more deserving of the death penalty than raping a child. So, I discuss generally, and not in the particulars of this case.

I went into my office today and decided to launch the rare idealogical bomb to see what happened. I commonly rest on my philosophical laurels and lead a live-and-let-live sort of existence. Everyone's free to think or feel what they want, provided it doesn't create a mess for everyone else at work, because I'm not to judge them and I expect them not to judge me on the basis of our variant opinions, ideals, or beliefs.

But I was so beside myself with consternation at the Court's ruling that I decided to share it with my peers.

One was predictably on my side, as she always is in any real debate. Another was, again predictably, contrary to me, as we tend to have a different idealogical bent, despite being very close friends who respect and trust eachother inherently. The last, a college student interning with us, was a wild card, as she's only been around for a week.

I forwarded my position: the Supreme Court called it wrong, and child rapists should be fair game in a society that condones capital punishment. My agreeable peer agreed, as I previously alluded. My disagreeable peer gave good reasons for his disagreement.

His primary thesis is that capital punishment is wrong, that it constitutes us playing god (despite he, himself, being somewhat agnostic), and that the whole freaking system of capital punishment is out of order anyway. The intern primarily jumped on the faulty-system bandwagon.

I, of course, have to agree that the system is out of order. There are people subject to the death penalty that shouldn't be. I allowed for this truth in my argument.

But, I opined, if our society and our courts are going to deem it appropriate to terminate some criminals' lives for some crimes they've committed, then certainly child rape should make the list.

My main thrust in the argument was that few crimes are as injurious to society and to the actual victim as raping them. Although I didn't voice it, I was thinking more particularly of adults in a position of trust, such as parentals/teachers/baby-sitters, taking advantage of the youths in their care. But, certainly, any rape of a child is among the most reprehensible of all crimes. In fact, I think it's worse to rape a kid than to murder someone, because while the murder of someone has the effect of cutting off their future, the rape of a child has the effect of completely marring, scarring, and destroying a future that they must live through.

To his credit, my friend saw my points regarding how child rape was worse than many of the murders committed to get people on death row. But he opined that the death penalty's aim in these cases was to appease ourselves as opposed to creating justice. It was to make us feel better.

He is, of course, right. By killing a person, you remove their capacity to reform, to learn from their wrongs, to change. But, by killing that person, you let people know how their conduct is viewed, you state in the strongest possible way to the victim that they are valued and protected by society, and you, in no uncertain terms, mete out the highest degree of allowable punishment available for an extremely high degree of evil that has been committed. And, in acknowledgment of my friend's concern, it absolutely is a way to exorcise the rage we feel towards these people for what they've done.

We ended up debating the death penalty, ultimately, and essentially agreeing to disagree. Thus is the nature of a reasoned society debating openly about various views.

But I still ask, is the Court right? Should capital punishment be reserved to only murderers?

I actually know this guy...

A Great Night for America; A Small Moment for Clinton

America celebrates a great moment in its history tonight, as a land that once counted blacks as 2/5 of a person now has one poised to become the nation's President.

The best reason to vote for Barack Obama for President, though, is not his color. It's because, between him and John McCain, Barack is the best person for the job.

Obama steps forward tonight as the duly-elected nominee for the Democratic Party for President of the United States. In his victory speech tonight, both out of real character and political need, he was magnanimous and kind to his primary opponent, Hillary Rodham Clinton. And, beyond that, he caught fire in a speech which captured the imagination and created a thrill for what could be.

Meanwhile, the greatest hope that America has ever had of seeing a woman run the country showed just how little she could be tonight. After having already started trying to push her name forward as a good VP candidate to go to the White House on Obama's coat-tails, Clinton further embarassed herself tonight by deciding not to concede, even as she essentially acknowledged that she'd lost.

Obama will be forced to consider her as a possibility for the back seat on his ticket. But, really, why should he entertain the thought? Clinton doesn't have the temperament of a number two, and her ambition (I believe) would prevent her from fulfilling the tacit understanding that a Vice President's job is to support her boss.

One line of thinking is that Obama needs to reach out to Clinton, because otherwise Clinton's voters won't support him in the national election. But, really, does that make sense? Sure, some of Clinton's supporters are racist whites who'll decide not to vote for Obama simply because of his skin color, but the majority are committed liberals who want to loose the Republican grasp on the White House. In a national election with no Hillary, where will they cast their vote? They certainly won't sit on it, and they certainly won't give it to McCain. Out of a lack of options, their votes will go to Obama, even if they don't like pulling the lever in his favor.

Obama's likely running mate, in my opinion, will be John Edwards. A Northern and a Southern candidate, both energetic and (at least publicly) committed to some pretty sweeping and, frankly, exciting social reforms, would excite the whole base of the Democratic party, while Edwards would wisely see this as a good stepping stool to the Presidency and would behave in an appropriately supportive fashion.

Of course, much remains yet to be seen. For tonight, I simply see confirmation of what I've known for weeks: the right person with the right temperament won, and the other person continues to be a classless and graceless loser, just as she's been for years.

SOAP Notes

The latest SOAP Notes entry:

May 27, 2008
Proverbs 4-6; Romans 8

S: Proverbs 6:16-19
There are six things which the LORD hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil, false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers.

Romans 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

O: Solomon lays out seven things despicable to the Lord. Paul gives us hope despite them.

A: Easy enough today. What of the hateful things do I have?

1. Haughty eyes: am I arrogant, snobbish, or scornful? Yes.
2. Lying tongue: I try earnestly to be honest, which makes it even more obvious to me when I’m being dishonest. Most of my lies are those of omission; I avoid saying the truth or a lie and let silence tell the lie for me. Is that any less a sin than speaking falsely? No.
3. Hands that shed innocent blood: I don’t kill. But in a million ways every day I fail to act to protect life, or to stand up for what is right. I don’t feed the homeless, I don’t clothe the cold, I don’t provide for the orphan. When I leave them in the cold, I might as well take their lives, since I’m not giving to them in times of need.
4. A heart that devises wicked plans: Yes, that’s me. I catch myself plotting things that aren’t right. No grand capers, just little things here and there which I know better than to do. I rarely fall into sin; I usually scheme it out in advance.
5. Feet that run rapidly to evil: when a chance to do something naughty but fun arises, how often to I run the other way?
6. False witness who utters lies: I think of the list I manage to do well here. I see this as spreading untruths about others. I think I’m good at holding my tongue in that regard.
7. One who spreads strife among brothers: I also think I’m good at trying to maintain harmony and order, though I do catch myself sometimes drumming up some dischord.

But, thankfully, God’s love is still there.

P: God, help me to see those moments when I’m preparing to fall short, and to step back from those instances. Help me to focus on your love, which will always be there for me as long as I accept it and act in accordance with it. Amen.

No Country For Gay Men from Lawrence Scaduto on Vimeo.

Whatever Happened to Iron Mike?

Can Obama Win?

I think a better question might be "does it matter?"

JLowe sent me a link to an interesting article discussing the inherent racism on display in our current Democratic race for the presidency.

Basically, the point raised is this: Hillary Clinton asserts, perhaps not always openly, that she's the only candidate who can challenge John McCain, and the primary reason is because she's white.

The article also notes that Barack Obama understands the challenge of race in this election: "as Obama said in a recent interview, people may need to get their head around the concept of an African-American even seeking the presidency, let alone winning it."

And that, I think, is an important point. I think that it's important for Barack to be the candidate to face John McCain in the actual presidential election not only because I believe he is the best person for the White House (yes, I'll be voting for him, despite being a registered Republican), but also because it will finally break a glass ceiling that is in place in our current society.

Sure, people have a problem with the concept of a female president. But, as a whole, women have had much more ready access to power and opportunity in this country (especially white ones) than racial minorities. By admitting that, as a white, she's in a better position to win, Hillary Clinton reinforces a shameful truth of America today--that we only see skin deep--and asks us to affirm its correctness.

America may not be ready for a black president. I hope we are. But for those who can't wrap their head around the idea, the only way to get them to acknowledge the possibility, and start thinking about substance over form (or content over color) is to force them to consider whether to cast their vote for a black (or yellow, or green, or red, or whatever) person and then explain why they won't.

Can Obama win? I don't know. I hope so. But, whether he can or can't, Obama for President is, in my mind, an important message to perpetuate for as long as possible.

Stop-Motion Graffiti

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Gotta Love That Jackie Chan

Here's What I'll Be Working on This Year

Esquire's 75 Skills Every Man Should Master

SOAP Notes

The latest SOAP Notes entry:

May 6, 2008
2 Samuel 11-12; Psalm 51; Matthew 23

S: Psalm 51:6 Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.
Matthew 23:3 …all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them.
Matthew 23:12 Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.

O: The core theme I see in all of these verses seems to be a concept akin to integrity. In Psalms, the idea is internal truth. In the Matthew verses, it’s about being real both to what one says, and also to what one is. So, for me, the observation is that these verses relate to being a true person who demonstrates the truth in their actions, and who demonstrates their knowledge of the truth in their humility.

A: I am a very flawed person, and verses like these draw that knowledge, which is always under the surface for me, out into my full attention.

First, I find myself denying the truth of who I am in so many ways. I deny my imperfections, or more correctly ignore them by focusing on the imperfections of others. I deny my failures by over-focusing on my few successes and blowing them up in my mind, and over-focusing on my strong traits to the exclusion of addressing my weaknesses. I deny my duty to Christ in living how I want without regard for what I should be doing, what I should be saying, and how I should be behaving. I have moments of introspection that I try to avoid, through activity or through mind-numbing or through sheer evasion, so that I don’t have to understand what it really means to be me.

Second, and alluded to in the first, is that my actions don’t portray the truth. I know how to behave, to my wife or to my daughter or to my friends or (even) to my enemies. And I can offer advice to others about how they should behave to those same classes of people. But I shudder everytime I hear the verse about the cloud of witnesses that watches, unseen. I won’t engage in such false modesty as to say that I never do right. In fact, I do it enough to demonstrate that I know what it is, and I do it enough that people know that I know better when I do wrong. That said, I act out and speak out and lash out in so many ways that are so opposed to how I’m supposed to so often that I’m clearly not a man of integrity.

Finally, I’m a man of pride. Even in moments like these where I’m able to focus on my negatives, I find myself struggling not to puff my chest out at the plusses on my ledger. God has gifted me in too many ways to number, and I’m thankful in these moments of insight for that. But too, too often I look at these blessings as the works of my hands, and I fancy myself something greater than what I really am. I know deep inside, in my heart of hearts, that I’m here for something important. And I know with absolute certainty that, as long as I look at being important as the goal, as opposed to serving an important end, I will never achieve it. Humility requires knowing that we, of ourselves, mean so little in the great scheme. I’m important to my friends and to my family, but in truth I’m a speck. I have a part to play, and that’s all, and if I look at things as being about me, as opposed to being about that part, I’m missing the point.

And so the application: I need to seek the truth of who I am. What is the mission for me, and how do I serve that end (and who do I serve to that end)? What are my flaws, and how can I work to address them? Where I’m falling short, what do I need to address to allow me to reach what is there for me? I need to develop consistency within and without. I need integrity.

P: God, help me to be wise, and to search myself for those things that lead me to distraction, to delusion, and to destruction. Let me be a man who behaves in a way that reflects a true image of a heart that’s been molded by You, and that is dedicated to serving Your purpose. Help me put aside the stumbling blocks, whether those of attitudes inside of me or behaviors I engage in, and help me to become a man of integrity, strength, and consistency. Amen.

Things But Slower

A Pretty Awesome Jackie Chan Tribute

Relatively Missing

Not much to say. That's all. And not much time to say that not much in. I don't really want to waste anyone's time (including myself) saying nothing (as I'm doing now).

So if you're wondering where I am, I'm here. I'll write when I have something to write. Which just isn't now.

You can e-mail me at rustyblog (at) gmail dot com if you have anything you care to discuss.

Why We Bracket

I have three different NCAA Brackets in four different pools. One office pool, one buddy pool (those are both comprised of my one entry at ESPN.com, and I'm winning both right now), one in John Canzano's B Pool at CBSSportsline (I didn't get in on time to be in the A Pool, though I should've been in it since I've participated twice before) where I'm tied for third with eleventy-nine other people, and one in the Utterlyboring.com pool at Yahoo (where I'm in second, which is where I finished last year).

Why am I in these pools? Canzano asked the people in his tourney pool why, and I decided to share.

The answer is a firm "I don't know." I don't follow college hoops, beyond keeping a loose awareness of who the top few teams in the country are and how the Ducks and Beavers and Zags are doing. I don't really even like college hoops. I probably should, but since they are composed now of a bunch of one-and-done exciting players coupled with a bunch of utility guys, it just doesn't interest me at all. I like teams with players I can follow for at least 3 years at a time.

So, it's not out of enthusiasm for the sport. And it isn't out of great enthusiasm for money, since the office pool is small potatoes (total pot = $70) and the others are essentially non-profit.

I guess it's just out of a desire to see if my knee-jerk, loosely-informed decision-making process will be vindicated. In my line of work, a lot of what I do relies on my ability to make quick judgments and to ride them to whereever they take me. So, like with my job, my pools are based on stuff I hear others say, my own gut feelings, and prejudice (Duke sucks, always bet against BYU in basketball, UCLA can never be number one, even if they deserve to be).

I will note that I broke my BYU rule this year. I decided to play that part of the bracket straight, and it's effed me. So that rule will be strictly enforced from now on.

How about you? Why do you bracket?

SOAP Notes

Even more SOAP Notes...

March 4, 2008
Num 34-36; Mark 11

S: Mark 11:23-24
“Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.”

O: Immediately proceeding this verse, the disciples pointed out a fig tree that Jesus had cursed, which within a day had withered from the ground up; Jesus told them to believe in God, and then gave them the above assurance.

A: Things like this are some of the most challenging things to me in the Bible, for a variety of reasons. Some are philosophical, some are practical, and some are experiential.

Philosophically: these verses do not equivocate or qualify. They speak absolutely. Any person who tells a mountain to move, who believes in his heart without a doubt that it will happen, will see it happen. All things for which I pray and ask, if I believe I’m getting it, will be granted. Of course, this can’t be right, can it? These verses, in and of themselves, don’t constrain the results as being necessarily within God’s will, or the desires by which they're sought of being godly in nature. Really, if a man asks for a mountain to move, and believes it will: will that occur if God doesn’t want it to move? If I pray for my enemy to die, and believe that he shall, will it happen if it isn’t a godly desire?

Practically: if anybody sheerly on the basis of whole-hearted belief could accomplish anything by simply asking it without a doubt of its occurrence, would we see so much suffering? Would we see so many people living without? Wouldn’t we see a lot of little girls with ponies and little boys with BB guns, because with the faith of a child they asked, believing it would be given? If simple faith was all that was necessary to achieve our dreams, wouldn’t more of us achieve them?

Experientially: I’ve seen people seek things with what appeared to be an earnest belief that they would be provided. Healing of physical issues, changes in another person’s course of action, reversals of fortune of all sorts. Sometimes there are definite changes. But, in my experience watching, most often there is nothing apparent.

Compounding this frustration is my own failure. I pray most every day. Sometimes I have a general sense of belief in the Lord’s provision. More often than not, I pray simply out of a recognition that I need to embrace the fact that I need to rely on more than myself. But praying out of a recognition of that need is not the same as exercising an act out of that need. I very rarely, if ever, have prayed for something with a whole-hearted belief in the result. So I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that “move the mountain” moment in my own life, and there’s some comfort to me in the idea that they simply don’t happen.

But Jesus apparently says that these things can occur. I have to believe that there’s a “God’s will” qualification. The mere fact that I want something enough and believe that I’ll get it can’t overcome God’s will. I can frustrate God, but I can’t overpower Him. So, my reading is that a person acting out of a belief that God’s will shall be accomplished, who speaks out in that belief and claims the fulfillment, will see the fulfillment of that will. Or maybe my reading is that if you have a can-do attitude, you will get far.

I don’t think that Jesus was just telling me that perserverance and faith in an outcome is a guarantee that, with a little elbow grease and a happy heart, I’ll achieve it. No, I think He is telling me that an abiding faith in God and a declaration of my desire to see His will done will be rewarded. So, eventually, I get to the challenge in the verse. I need that abiding faith. And, just as much, I need an understanding of His will. If I can combine these pieces, I’ll begin to realize the whole of His glory.

P: God, my faith is so often weak, and my understanding so lacking, that I often feel not so much that my prayers fall to the floor, but worse that my words have no meaning at all. Give me faith where I am lacking. Begin a work in me that will change me from within, to allow me to be a man who believes and who abides in that reliance on You. And allow me to know Your will, that my prayers will have meaning and that they’ll be effectual and that, ultimately, they will work to reinforce my belief in You. Amen.

Gavin Dawson let go from The Fan

For local sports radio junkies in the Portland area, your choices are pretty limited. You have The Fan, our only 24/7 sports station, or occasional sports updates during the news hour, the dedicated games at KEX (OSU) and KXL (Ducks, Blazers), and Canzano's show in the evening.

So, if you're like me, you've spent a lot of time listening to 1080 The Fan and learning to alternately love and hate the people there.

One I consistently liked was Gavin Dawson, who's big gigs were the Blazers post-game shows and Sports Saturday (aka La Familia). Gavin, who called himself "The People's Champion," was a non-apologetic Blazers homer who, nevertheless, looked at things in a pretty analytical way and was willing to call BS when it needed to be called. He was knowledgeable about a wide range of sports topics, though, and wasn't a one-trick pony in the booth.

My only real brush with Gavin of any sort was during the summer. He was having open auditions for a new side-kick on his Saturday show, and I nearly called in. He and I e-mailed back and forth a little, and he encouraged me to take part, but once I heard what some people were bringing to the table, I knew I had no chance. Also, he was pretty straightforward that what they were looking for was a young guy who was single, since there's a certain flexibility needed in the industry, and my only real selling point was that I have a day job and was willing to work for peanuts just to have some fun on the side (but was otherwise entirely too old and inflexible, having a wife and kid and all).

All this to say that I've learned from Dave at BlazersEdge that The Fan has let Gavin go. No real reason has been offered, and no word on what Gavin will be doing next. I'll note that, in the comment thread to Dave's post, Gavin has weighed in a couple of times, and he's classy enough (and smart enough) not to burn any bridges at Entercom, The Fan's home.

I'll join the concert of those who wish Gavin the best, and who also hope he sticks around town for his next gig. And I'll also add that, although I'm sure it doesn't help, this is clearly a step backwards for The Fan, and also eliminates any chance that I'll tune in at all on weekends.

SOAP Notes

Even more SOAP Notes...

February 12, 2008
Lev. 18-19; Psalm 13; Acts 19

S: Leviticus 19:14-15
You shall not curse a deaf man, nor place a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall revere your God; I am the LORD. You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly.

O: These are two of a group of various laws discussing how to correctly deal with others.

A: In my first read-through, my eye keyed in on verse 14, to the point that I completely missed 15 until going back to re-read 14. The verses are not particularly related and do not particularly follow the same theme. Regardless, I cannot separate them in their significance to me tonight.

With regard to verse 14, I noticed it because it makes me think of how I mock people. There are many times that I’ve aired a foolish line knowing that someone would buy into it, and taking advantage of that for my own amusement. There are many times that I’ve pointed out the problems that a person has in spite of themselves, declaring their weaknesses and calling out their problems. This is, of course, to build myself up while making them small. And since, many of those times, they are defenseless, it is unfair and it is unkind and it is wrong.

Verse 15 also addresses a sort of fairness. Where verse 14 discusses not taking advantage of people and not exploiting weakness, verse 15 discusses the exercise of judgment between people. So while it is still a discourse on the general virtue of justice, it expounds on a different mode of that virtue.

And I’m challenged by verse 15 in a different way. We are taught today to equivocate in so many ways. We are taught to apply a skewed compass in deference to the individual. We are taught to weigh matters on a relativist scale, to steer away from absolutes and to instead respect the person in who’s shoes we aren’t standing. While verse 15 doesn’t warn against considering different viewpoints in exercising judgment, it does make clear that we are to apply a standard, the same standard, to everyone, and to provide the same definition of justice to everybody, despite their relative position.

I wonder at why these are the verses that speak to me. Is it because I’m unfair? Certainly, to some extent. But I think part of it relates to what I do for a living. I’m a person who’s supposed to bank in fairness. I work in an adversarial “justice” system which, theoretically, is designed to apply rules equitably to all parties, and the fundamental prism through which I generally view things is that of fairness. I’m trained to think of fairness and to dissect the facts and the law to find it. And, yet, I find that I consistently, frustratingly fail to achieve it in my own life.

As mentioned, I’m not fair to disadvantaged people. I take advantage of them, I exploit them, and I harm them for reasons that ultimately relate to what best pleases me in the moment. But, worse, I don’t make fair judgments between sides when called to do so. I defer to friends, I turn my back on unpleasant people without considering their side, I over-analyze relative viewpoints to the exclusion of standards. In so many ways, I fail in finding, and applying, justice.

I want to be a fair person. I want to be a person that people trust as exercising sober and wise judgment and in telling things as they are. I’m not that person yet, but in simply applying some simple standards to my own behavior, I’ll grow into that person.

P: Lord, help me to be fair. Help me to understand justice, and to be a person who is trusted to live a principled life and to act in a principled way in weighing opposing sides and in finding the truth. Amen.

SOAP Notes

The newest installment in the SOAP Notes series...

February 5, 2008
Ex 39-40; Psalm 15; Acts 12

S: Exodus 40:34-38
Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Throughout all their journeys whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out; but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day when it was taken up. For throughout all their journeys, the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel.

O: After Moses completed the tabernacle according to God’s instruction, God’s presence became manifest and dwelled in a literal and obvious sense among His people.

A: How awesome would it be to experience God’s presence in a visceral, obvious, undeniable way? How reassuring would it be to be able to point at a cloud too brilliant to approach (by day) or a fire that burned but did not consume (by night) and say “there’s my proof right there.” What wonders such certainty and such clarity would do for my walk.

Of course I, like everyone, wonder why God leaves so much to faith. And, of course, I, like many others, have been taught the concept of faith as being founded on belief. If God made it clear for me, why would I need faith? How much greater it is for me to be able to develop my faith in this setting of uncertainty.

Sometimes I wonder at a God that requires such faith. I think of the ways He acted for others, making Himself so clear and so obvious and not requiring them to step forth in such mystery. I think of the disciples who walked with Jesus and saw Him do His miracles from place to place. Why, I wonder, does God obscure Himself today?

Selfishly, I think that if only God would do more, I could do less. It would be easier to live a life for Jesus if I could see Him. It would be easier to be a witness for Him if I could point to Him, say “there He is” and “watch Him do His tricks.” It would be easier to step forward faithfully if the need for faith didn’t get in my way.

But I realize that the need for faith serves a larger function. Regardless of how God has manifest Himself to others, God has a reason for requiring faith of me. Faith takes me out of my own comfort zone, forces me to step into uncertainty, requires me to rely on something beyond myself. Faith pulls growth out of me, and forges character in me, that otherwise couldn’t happen. The stretching that goes into a faith-based existence is the stretching that helps me to become everything I can, and should, be.

It doesn’t make things any easier to have these realizations. It simply removes a level of frustration and mystification that I have this cross to bear. If only I could keep my focus on these truths when I don’t have signs and wonders to look upon.

P: Lord, it’s so easy not to keep the faith. When You aren’t obviously there, when I can’t see You or feel You or otherwise sense You, it is so easy to deny you and to retreat into myself. Help me to step out in faith, to grow in faith, and to live in a steadfast faith in You. Amen.

Arlen Specter, Patriot(hater)

Arlen Specter, long-in-the-tooth Republican senator and general boob, is raising a ruckus trying to pull the commissioner of the NFL before Congress to discuss the destruction of the "Spygate" NFL tapes. Specter's reasoning appears to be that, as football enjoys some protection from federal anti-trust laws, it is important to police the game to guarantee integrity to the fans.

Whatever.

It's one thing for Congress to prod into baseball. There, the only American game to be completely shielded from anti-trust laws was (at least tacitly) encouraging the use of drugs that are (and have long been) illegal to drive interest in particular players and the game in general, and as such was promoting a product that was wrong on many, many levels.

But with the NFL, and Spygate, we have one team using lawful measures (videotaping) to gain a competitive advantage, and the league stepping in and taking pretty extraordinary measures when it was investigated.

My guess is that Congress is trying to throw MLB a bone by drawing attention away from them, even as Roger Clemens and Andy Pettite are being grilled on Capitol Hill. It reeks of cronyism to me.

But, just to make my point, here are just a few things I'd like Congress to deal with before worrying about who videotapes who in professional football:

1. The War(s) in the Mid-East
2. Funding cures for cancer, AIDS, and a plethora of other diseases
3. Adequately funding our educational institutions (and students)
4. Forgiving my student loan debt
5. Encouraging business to go green while still being profitable
6. Interstate Bridge repair
7. Expatriating OJ Simpson
8. Finally, once-and-for-all annexing Canada
9. Strengthening the dollar
10. Making a world safe for my 2 year-old daughter.

Once Congress does something on each of these fronts, I'll entertain their notion that valuable time needs to be devoted to "Spygate." But unless and until there's some sort of satisfactory demonstration of why this is worthy of such devoted attention by the lawmakers of our nation, I'll just call it what it is.

Ridiculous.

Netflix commercial

I like Netflix. Turns out they filmed a commercial using local Netflix customers recently, and it's playing now.

If you watch, you may see something interesting. Then again, you may not. Guess it all depends on who you know.

This was funny

Sarah Silverman...you can take her or leave her, more often than not. She's very funny at times, and sometimes she's just mean. And I'm pretty sure she needs her mouth washed out with soap.

Anyway, here's a bit she did for her boyfriend, Jimmy Kimmel's, TV show.

SOAP Notes

The newest installment in the SOAP Notes series...

January 29, 2008
Exodus 23-24; Psalms 14; Acts 5

S: Exodus 23:4-5
“If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey wandering away, you shall surely return it to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying helpless under its load, you shall refrain from leaving it to him, you shall surely release it with him.”

O: In a section detailing some of the various laws God laid out for His people, we see these particular verses about treatment of your enemy.

A: I’m fine with the whole idea of not hating people. I think most people are comfortable with that. Sure, there are people I don’t like. There are people who make me very angry, who I avoid, who I speak ill of. But nobody I can think of who I despise to the point that I wish them death or illness or anything like that.

When I think of enemies, I don’t think of hated people. I think of people who’s interests are opposed to my own. There are professional enemies, who (strangely) are often friends. And there are real enemies, people who seem to be arrayed against me in my life mission. At the moment, I can’t think of any arch-enemies. Indeed, most of the time a person is my enemy simply in relation to whatever mission I’m seeking to accomplish.

There’s the enemy of my sleep on the plane. There’s the enemy of my nose in a crowded room. There’s the guy with the dumb sense of humor who’s demonstrating it loudly and often. There’s the person in line at the store who cut in front of me with 20 items when I have one. There’s the guy at the corner who asks me daily if I have change, both as I travel to the coffee shop and as I return. These are all people I’d rather be without.

With these people, I generally regard myself as a great success when I walk away from the encounter with an enlightened “live and let live” philosophy. I think I’m great and mature and wise when I decide that I can go on without acknowledging them, and I think that doing that is so much greater than just telling them that I think they suck.

With these people, I’ll make no effort to help. The very nature of the identification of an enemy is the feeling of animosity, of opposition, we have to them. The guy who needs change, he can get it from someone else. The lady in the line at the store, well, when she drops her groceries, she can pick them up herself. The loud guy on the plane? When he starts sneezing, he can get his own Kleenex.

Only I’m confronted here with the truth of live-and-let-live. Which is, it’s wrong. Just as Jesus told people to take the clothes off their back to give to their enemy, to turn the other cheek after being struck to allow another strike, and to forgive seventy times seven times, we see that the rule goes back a long way.

If I saw someone I didn’t like drop something (a coin, an important piece of paper, or whatever), would I pick it up for them? If I saw an “enemy’s” car get rolling down the street with another driver, would I call the police? If I saw that beggar on the ground, coughing uncontrollably or shivering, would I attend to him?

No.

And so I see that I’m not mature. I’m not so great. I’m as weak and as callous and as unkind as anyone else. I live under the delusion that, as a Christian, I’ve evolved with a bemused sense of holier-than-thou disdain and disinterest in those people who offend me. I see that, as a Christian, I’m supposed to step out to prevent them from suffering, from loss, and from pain.

This verse doesn’t say that you can’t have an enemy. It doesn’t say to love a person who does you wrong. It says, though, that despite how that person may treat me, I am to act out toward them in a loving and caring way. Despite the harm that they would do me, I am to act to protect them.

P: Lord, reshape my perspective. Help me to see that to not hate is not the same as to be kind. Help me to understand that I have a mission, to share love and kindness and to spread peace and goodwill, even to those who I feel, inside, an aversion to. Let me, day-by-day, step out in small kindnesses that, over time, will transform me. Give me grace for others, and let my heart toward even my enemies be more like Yours. Amen.

This, My Friends, Is Amazing

Hat tip to Jake Orman in Bend.



How To Tie A Tie Under 10 Seconds - Unbelievable!! - video powered by Metacafe

Educational Offering of the Day

Thanks to Jack for this gem...

In 4m 24s

Click here to Play

Suck It Patterson, Part D'uh

The word that I've continued to ponder all season with this Blazers team, and have failed entirely to blog about, is "chemistry." As in Steve Patterson's famous aversion to team chemistry in favor of raw talent. His fan-like devotion to rotisserie-esque, stats-based team construction was usually reviled, but we were too-far removed from the trifecta of consummate teammates Clyde, Terry, Jerome and Buck to realize what was going wrong.

Juxtapose "I didn't major in chemistry" with this quote from KP, courtesy of Jason Quick's blog at Oregonlive today:

"We're not making any trades,'' Pritchard said Tuesday afternoon in New Orleans, where the team is preparing to play the Hornets tonight. "I mean, why? What
benefit is there? If I did a trade right now that didn't pan out, I would be
crucified. What would be my motivation to trade - we have a good young team that
likes each other and is playing well. . . Now, if Cleveland wanted to include
LeBron James, we would certainly listen. But, I like my team. We are the
youngest team in the NBA, we have a great young coach and we have a team that
likes each other and plays unselfishly. I don't want to do anything that would
be disruptive to what we have going on.''

That's refreshing, isn't it? Recognize what we have, that it works well together, and that there isn't internal dissent and bickering and cancer, and encourage the chemistry to take place, as opposed to snuffing it out. Just another reason why I say KP for president.

Suck it, Steve Patterson!

Cudos to Canzano for pointing out this study which rates past and present NBA GM's based on a variety of performance criteria.

What does it show us? What we already knew, which is that (A) Steve Patterson sucked, and (B) Kevin Pritchard's going to rock (note that, in order to get him and the other first-year GM's into the study, they were each given a league-average season plus their current performance; Pritchard still comes in the upper 50%, which says he's trending nicely).

I love KP, and I love the team these days. Too bad I haven't had the time or the scratch to get to a game. By the way, whenever I do, Mark Mason promised me a beer to make up for the previously-mentioned snub for the Sam Adams party (which, it turns out, was likely as much my fault as Mark and Dave's). Mark Mason made it clear in the e-mail that he's read some of my other stuff, which I appreciated.

SOAP Notes

Yet another installment of Tuesday's occasional SOAP Notes series.

January 22, 2008
Exodus 3-5; Luke 22

S: Exodus 3:10-11
10 "Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt."
11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?"

O: Moses is talking to a burning bush, the manifestation of God, and is learning what his mission is. Moses is being given his purpose, and he’s afraid, has doubts, and challenges God.

A: This verse speaks to all of us, because this verse reflects the feeling that we’ve all had from time to time. I, for one, have had very distinct impressions at various points in my life of what I should be doing. I’ve had times of great clarity (however fleeting) where I’ve understood exactly what my purpose was for being in a certain place at a certain time. Sure, I’ve never been talked to by a burning bush, but I’ve felt God at work in a not-uncertain way in these moments. And, despite this, there have been so many of these times where I’ve balked. Where I’ve stepped back from the opportunity and said, “Really? Me?”

So often I wonder what God is thinking. Why am I the one for this job at this time? I mean, really, what do I have to offer? It’s the same insecurity that raises its head in so many situations, whether those of divine intervention or those of simple life, where I find myself facing a task and not feeling equal to it. Often, in fact, hoping beyond hope that I’m not equal to it, because to walk away is safer than to try and to fail.

A common thread I see in these SOAP notes is one of disappointment in myself. I’ve played it safe throughout life, deciding not to step out, whether due to a fear of failure, or perhaps due to a fear of success. If I’m successful in something I enter into on someone else’s terms (be they God’s or another person’s), I’m no longer free to be successful on my own terms in the things I want to put my time, my effort, and my heart into.

So what am I fearing? Am I fearing the result of the situation? Or am I fearing a loss of control? I think more the latter than the former. And, in reading Moses, I wonder how much his protest is out of real uncertainty in himself, and how much of his protest is out of a desire to avoid getting pulled out of his comfort zone. In reading Moses, I wonder how different he really is from the rest of us. Perhaps the thing that distinguishes him isn’t that he was such a great man, but instead that he surrendered himself to walking in a path, for better or worse, that wasn’t the one he would have chosen.

P: God, help me to lay down my fear of losing control. If I can’t listen to a burning bush—if I can’t give in even when I’m certain that You are the one trying to lead me—then what hope is there? I try so hard to feel like I’m a servant: to you, to others, to whomever there is to serve. Help me to actually serve, though, to cede mastership of situations and to really be in the moment, to serve and to give and to ultimately find the greatness that comes from simply abandoning my own plan for Yours. Take away fear, bring peace, and conquer my will. Amen.

Tom Cruise, the Cock Block

This video amused me.

For What It's Worth

Theoretically, the quiz linked below helps you find the candidate most closely alligned with your personal viewpoint. Who knows how true it is. Until now, I was actually favoring Barack Obama. Now I guess I have to investigate substance.

Mitt Romney Score: 28				Agree Taxes Health Care Abortion Social Security Energy Marriage Death Penalty Gun Control	Disagree Iraq Immigration Stem-Cell Research Line-Item Veto Environment Education
-- Take the Quiz! --

Other candidate scores:

Giuliani: 27
Fred Thompson (a joke): 23
Kucinich: 23
Ron Paul: 20
Huckabee: 20
Chris Dodd: 18
Obama: 18
Billary: 18

SOAP Notes

Yet another in the occasional Tuesday SOAP Notes series...

January 8, 2008
Genesis 20-22; Luke 8

S: Luke 8:16-17
16 "Now no one after lighting a lamp covers it over with a container, or puts it under a bed; but he puts it on a lampstand, so that those who come in may see the light.
17 "For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light.

O: This verse is one of many where Jesus uses symbolism to make a spiritual point. Here, He’s using the symbol of the lamp to mean, essentially, himself.

A: To apply this verse, first we have to talk about the lamp. The lamp represents a variety of traits that are contained in Jesus. The lamp is truth; one does not hide the truth, one displays it. The lamp is life; one does not hide life, one celebrates it. The lamp is love; one does not conceal love, one shares it. The lamp is salvation; salvation is not to be hoarded unto oneself; it is to be encouraged in others. The lamp is faith; faith is not to be hidden away, because faith without works is dead.

These are all traits of Jesus, and we are to become like Him. So these are all traits to be found in us, ideally.

But what this discussion of the lamp is about is not to highlight traits of Jesus by using the lamp; instead it is to provide an illustration of what the lamp is for, and what it isn’t for. It’s a verse about what to do with the Jesus in us, and how we should behave as vessels of what Jesus is.

What does it say? We are not to hide our faith, or to shun the truth, or to suppress the life that’s in us. We are not to restrain our love for others, and we are not to be ashamed of our salvation.

So this verse applies to me very clearly. As a Christian, as a person trying to be more like Jesus, I’m supposed to showcase Him, not hide Him. I’m supposed to be open with the truth, open with my love, open with my faith, sharing with my life, and desirous of salvation for others. The person I am, though, falls short of this in so many ways at so many times. And I wonder why.
What is the shame in being a Christian? There’s the associations people make. “Oh, you’re one of them? So you believe that?” What of it? If a person can’t see past their ideas of what a “Christian” is to see who I am, that isn’t my concern. My job is to be real, and that’s all.

And, yet, I’m often so afraid. Afraid of how people will see me. Afraid of how they may act around me. And, really, afraid of how I may act around them. I am nowhere near being an accurate representative of Jesus. I’m kind to some, but mean to many. I’m sharing with a few, but miserly with most. I’m generally honest, sure, but I couch things in comfortable and non-offensive terms to avoid dischord. Above all, my behavior doesn’t always (even, I suppose, often) reflect my beliefs. I’m afraid of shining my light, of identifying myself, because I’m afraid people will see me as just another example of a “Christian,” which to them means a judgmental person with double-standards. And I’m afraid that they’ll be right to do so.

But the truth can’t be hidden. No secret remains forever. It’s interesting to me that, while I don’t go around pontificating and preaching to my friends, so many of them identify me as “the most moral guy I know” or “pretty religious” or things like that. The Jesus in me, even when I try to hide it, must come out. Because the light cannot be hidden; it shines even under the covers, or under the bed, and it seeps out into the world around it. So, in the end, is there greater shame in openly being a less-than-perfect Christian, or in trying to hide the fact that I’m a Christian at all?

I need not so much to be more brave to step out, but instead I need to be less afraid to simply be. I need to stop worrying about what people expect me to be, because of who they’ve known me to be or who they think I should be, and instead I need to be willing to simply be honest about who I am. Whether I’m a perfect Christian isn’t the point of the exercise. Simply being open and willing to share who I am to those who need or want to know is enough, and God can handle the rest.

P: God, I’m tired of being ashamed, and of being ashamed that I’m ashamed, when there simply is no shame in being open with who I am. Help me to be willing to share openly, and at the same time make it clear that I’m not a “Christian” as so many see us, full of judgment and failure combined, but instead simply an imperfect person who wants to share truth, life, love, faith, and my salvation. Take away my fear.