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Monday, September 14, 2009
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12:09 AM
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"Simmer Down"...as the late great Stick Stickly would say.
A few years ago, the NFL finally allowed instant replay to be used in order to make sure all of the calls the refs made were the correct calls. So now, when a coach perceives that the ref has made a wrong call against his team (especially on key plays) the coach will throw a red flag out onto the field.
The red flag signals that the play needs to be looked at again, because the coach obviously thinks the refs have made a mistake.
There have been many times in my life where I wanted to throw a red flag out on God. I get to feeling that he has made a mistake in my life. He made the wrong call. If He really knew how the situation was going to affect me He would have called something different. If He really knew how the situation was going to make me feel--God, somehow you've missed it. It's not going to be ideal for me, it's too much for me to handle, I'm tired of this. I'm throwing the flag.
It hit me one time as I was reading this verse:
Jesus says in Matt 11:28, "Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden (burdened) and I will give you rest.
To be weary means to be exhausted or tired. I can get tired all of the time. Tired of people, tired of problems, tired of life. I might not even know what I'm tired about, I'm just tired. In fact, I may just be tired of being tired.
My mom used to sometimes come home really tired after teaching all day and my dad would come home from work and say, "Whatcha' cookin' for dinner?" My mom would then say, "What ever it is that you go out and get from one of the fast food places, because I'm tired."
And not only tired, but heavy laden too! It's enough when you're tired. Being heavy laden means you have something externally placed on you--weighing you down when you're already tired.This creates a sense of desperation for you because you have so much placed on you.
Jesus says, "Come to me..." I look at that and I think to myself, "that sure is a simple answer to a complex and difficult problem." Here I am weary and heavy laden--I'm over here, bending over, breaking my back, struggling and he says, "come to me."
What an amazing concept that is. But what I realize is, the invitation to come to Him will let you know how really tired you are. The gap between your tiredness and your coming to Him reveals how tired you really are. If you're still trying to do it all with your own human wisdom, flesh, and ability--you arn't tired enough yet. But if you are tired and feel like throwing in the towel (or red flag) He says, "Come to me!"
Thursday, August 13, 2009
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12:40 AM
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I think sometimes i'm guilty of fluffing words that i say. That i'm not as passionate about something as i make it sound. (maybe that's my speech major ability shining through there) Where it's more about impacting my audience then being sucked into my own words. Well...these words were not meant for you. I promise. They impact me to my very core..
I remember October 11, 2003 like it was yesterday. This was the date of my first ever game in person. The Razorbacks were undefeated. We were ranked number 7 in the AP poll and just came from taking the number 11th ranked Texas Longhorns to the woodshed.
The feeling of driving over the hill that overlooked Fayetteville and walking into the stadium that seated 72,000 fans is almost equal to none. I’m obviously wearing my favorite Razorback shirt. A chill starts to run down my spine as the announcer says “Get on your feet Razorback fans; It’s time to CALL THOSE HOGS!!!” This is my favorite time of the year. Opening day is my favorite “holiday.” When the cold air starts to replace the hot humid air and my soul can once again breathe freely. It doesn’t get any better than the smell of autumn in the air, the William Tell Overture, and the sight of the Cardinal and White running through the “A”. This is my heaven on Earth.
The passion goes back further than that however. It goes back to the days when I couldn’t sleep the night after J.J Meadors caught the two point conversion to beat Alabama in 1995. Or maybe both of the nail biting 7 overtime victories that had me pacing back in forth for and eternity. (One against Ole Miss in 2001 and another against Kentucky in 2003.) It goes back to when me and my friends from high school vowed to jump into the pool with our clothes on if we somehow came back to beat Alabama one cold day in September. I’ve never been so happy to be so cold and wet in my entire life.
If you know me, you know that I am a devoted follower. I could tell you about all 85 players on scholarship and where they’re from. I’ve memorized the entire roster. If someone in my family doesn’t know what to get me for Christmas, I can bank on them getting something razorback related. (Unfortunately I will have to return it because it’s two sizes to big)
My Saturdays in the fall revolve around Arkansas Football. I love Arkansas and would not want to live anywhere else in the country. Whether it’s the countless Razorback signs people hang in their yards, local business named after my beloved team, or giant painted murals on the side of a cliff in Atkins Arkansas the entire state from corner to corner loves the Razorbacks.
Those Autumn Saturdays mean the world to me. They cater to a special part of my soul. I await kickoff like I once awaited Christmas as a child. Game days are magical. The grooms table at my wedding will be loaded with Razorback gear.
My mom used to have this bumper sticker that read, “And on the 8th day God created the Razorbacks.” I really believed it and you know what, I think I still do.
Go Hogs Go.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
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11:23 PM
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Watching football as closely as I do, I notice that it isn’t always easy for a coach to tell his player what he is doing is wrong. I’d say most coaches try to do it constructively, but there are always players that ignore the instructions, or worse…they make excuses and shift the blame elsewhere.
I am often reminded of my own imperfection through constructive criticism at my new job. It’s always somewhat of a blow to my ego. I’m learning pretty quickly, but my boss is someone who expects absolute perfection.
No matter who we are, we all need correction. We may not like what we hear, but it’s good for us. If we take criticism the wrong way, we can’t make the necessary changes and get better. We’re stuck in our old stubborn unproductive ways.
But if we can listen and take our counselors candor to heart, we can help ourselves out by overcoming the negatives and doing it better the next time.
There are many times we are hit with constructive criticism when it comes to our lives. God is telling us that we can improve and have a deeper relationship with Him. And we have a choice to either take that criticism and use it to build ourselves better or we can be negative and resentful about it.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
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2:43 AM
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50 things in life I Love.
1. Rain
2. Shaved Ice
3. Great Ideas
4. Campfires
5. Energy Drinks
6. Watching Awesome Movies
7. Football
8. Freshly Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies
9. Jokes that don't make sense
10. Don't Call me Shirley
11. Black Berries
12. Parking Spaces that you can pull all the way through
13. Razorbacks
14. Cereal at Night
15. Golf carts
16. Finding money in your pockets
17. New socks
18. Creeks
19. The 1st cut into a fresh piece of construction paper
20. 90's Rock
21. HoneySuckle bushes
22. Dumb and Dumber
23. Grilling
24. Matthew 5:6
25. The Razorbacks Winning
26. Mt. Dew
27. Dusk
28. Balconies
29. Chris Farley
30. The smell of a Golf Course
31. Goosebumps books
32. Fall
33. The Zombie Kid who loves turtles
34. Quarters
35. Thunder at 3 am
36. Green Lights
37. When someone you think is awesome thinks you're awesome back
38. Singing when no one can hear me
39. The old 'put the lime in the coke you nut' commercials
40. .45 caliber handguns
41. Gameday
42. Bacon. Haha
43. Putting on pants straight out of the dryer
44. Jagermiester
45. 'Play That Funky Music' by Wild Cherry
46. Fans
47. Extended Due Dates
48. Free Stuff
49. Girls with Bangs
50. Gardettos
Life's Good.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
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8:45 PM
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Paul is my favorite writer in the bible. He likens Christians to a soldier—to a warrior. This implies that there is a battle to be fought—that we are at war.
Ephesians 6: 11-12. “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
I forget this too often. It’s easy to do. But there is a very real war against demons, unbelief, and sin. When we don’t face it fully prepared we easily become the victims instead of the victors.
We are expected to use the armor provided for us. A Bible that has never been used is useless for you. But if you’ve got highlights, underlines, wrinkles, and faded pages then it means something. Not that you’re highlighter happy but that you actually read it, study it, understand it, and put it into practice.
My geekness is reminded of a scene in the second LOTR movie where right before the battle for Helms Deep, Aragorn is talking to this kid about the battle and Aragorn asks for the kid’s sword. He takes it looks at it and swings it. (It looks beat up and crappy with a million dings in it.)Then he says, “This is a good sword.”
Sure it was a good sword—it was used to doing what it was made for: Fighting Battles.
Back in the day, I played Football for a few years. Football is by far my favorite sport and I have a great passion for it. One of the things I prided myself on was what my uniform looked like at the end of the game. The muddier, more grass stained and ripped up my uniform was or how many paint marks on my helmet that I had, the better the game. Having a squeaky clean uniform meant you didn’t do anything—you most likely set on the bench and watched the game. This is the same way I look at my spiritual armor.
There’s another set of ‘armor’ I think this could apply to. To take a quote from the book Captivating, Eldredge says, "Hey vanity is okay, it's okay to chase beauty and to expect your man to be a knight in shining armor."
In many ways I don’t think I’m the knight in shining armor type. Armor in this sense, could be a metaphor for lots of things: strength, leadership, humility, being of high character, and being above reproach to name a few. To carry those things out means you don your armor. You use your armor. It's not just for looks.
That’s the way I’ve always seen myself. I’ve never really wanted shining armor. I want it to have so many dings and bends and dirt on it as possible. I’ve never wanted to be a poser. I’ve never wanted to be one of the nicely suited, sitting on the bench, acting like players—or a guy who looks good from afar until you really get to know him. I want to use my armor whether it's as a football player making a tackle, a Christian marking up their Bible, or a guy actually putting strength, leadership, and humility into practice.
To be honest, I think my armor (if it’s not already) will be banged up. I’ve fallen many times. It’s tarnished and broken in some places. It doesn’t shine very well. It’s blackened from failures and stumbles. I don’t know, maybe it won’t look attractive in a room standing next to others with their shining armor on—maybe that’s not what women will desire. I’m not sure, but I’d rather use my armor than make sure it still shines.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
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2:35 PM
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I think I have a Julius Caesar Syndrome. Caeser thought Marcus Brutus was his friend until Brutus came up to him as one of his assassins and stabbed him. I’m weary of trusting people all of the time. I think that once you’ve been stabbed, you don’t want to go through it again. It’s hard to trust again. I wouldn’t say it’s any of those building of defense mechanisms and other nice interpersonal theories. I believe it has more to do with just losing faith in people. I’ve bought into being self-reliant. I’ve bought into the media myth that real men are tough guys who don’t need anybody. I’ve changed a lot of that in recent years, but it’s still an ongoing process.
I only consider the people really close to me my friends. And I would say that I would only trust these 5 or so guys with everything my mind thinks of on a regular basis. I’ve had about 3 different conversations recently where someone trusted in me with some information that they didn’t want to leave the room. And I think to myself that I can’t do that with them….not yet.
Friday, March 27, 2009
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10:45 PM
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Thunderstorms speak to my soul. I grilled steaks tonight. Porterhouse T-bone steaks. Watched the college basketball tournament with the guys. Good to have chest hair.
Speaking of chest hair and manly things….
10 things I will never do.
1. Call a tow truck when I have a flat tire.
2. Own a lap dog.
3. Dress up my dog in outfits.
4. Shave my legs.
5. Go to a tanning bed.
6. Take a Pilates/Yoga class.
7. Listen to the same kind of music Marsh does.
8. Depend on my parents for everything.
9. Hesitating when I go past Oprah as I channel surf.
10. Be a lazy ass husband/father
The last one I am very passionate about. My dad doesn’t cook, clean, wash dishes, sweep, vacuum, or do laundry. I will never be like that. One of the things being a man means, to me, is being a leader. To be a leader you must be a servant. To have a wife that does more than me is unacceptable. If my servant list doesn’t stack up to hers than I’m not the one that wears the pants, she does.
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