Coach Wannstedt sustains injury, requires surgery

Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt underwent surgery for a torn Achilles’ tendon recently.  It’s about the only thing he’s done since his playing days that could even possibly be regarded as “football related”.  If you think I’m being too harsh, check his coaching record.  Then speak with any Bears or ‘Phins fan.

Monday Conundrum

If I’m flying on an airplane and I request peanuts, I will be told, “We no longer serve peanuts because some people have a severe reaction to them.  It is in the best interests of everyone that we don’t serve them to anyone.”

Why don’t they apply the same logic to serving alcohol on airlines?  Some people can’t hold their liquor.  So let’s not serve it to anyone!

Some Friday Fun….Quotable Seinfeld

Here’s what you do.  Post one of your favorite quotes from the Seinfeld television show.  The rest of us will try to be the first one to come up with who said it and the context in which it was said.  Giddyup (Kramer when he got excited about something)!

New host, new name, same snappy banter

Hey, y’all.  Thanks for coming over to the new host site.  Still getting some things worked out.  Hope to post more regularly.  Would love to hear from you on the new digs.  Seacrest, out.

LaRussa is an enigma wrapped in a riddle

World series game 2. Bottom of the ninth. Right-handed closer on the ropes. Left-handed rookie-of-the-year candidate on the bench. Batting team’s manager with a reputation for over-thinking things sends right-handed batting Preston Wilson to the plate (who is 0-for-his-post-season-lifetime) with the tying runs in scoring position. What am I missing here?

Funny. Twisted….but funny.

My son saw the following on a t-shirt. I found it funny.

Dyslexics of the world….UNTIE!

God honors faithfulness to His Word

There are some very practical church practices / principles that translate into any culture and any context. The title of today’s piece certainly qualifies.

In a prior church ministry setting, I encouraged the local body of Christ there to join me in knocking on doors each and every week to learn of people’s spiritual condition. We did this for about a year. We knocked on a total of 600 or so doors. When dwellers would allow it, we presented the truths of The Gospel to them. Of those 600 doors, we only actually saw one person respond to God’s Word and His offer of salvation. And that one individual we never saw come to church (our church, anyway) to pursue The Great Commission’s desired end…discipleship. Fifty-two weeks, a couple of dozen volunteers, 600 doors, one profession of faith. But, wait. Does that mean that our church didn’t grow? Does that mean that lives were not eternally changed through our church’s ministry? Does that mean we failed to see genuine and measured growth among the body of Christ in that setting? Hardly! Statistically, we grew every year….for 5-plus years. So what’s the deal?

The “deal” is that God honors His Word. He doesn’t honor our efforts. He doesn’t honor our plans. He honors His Word. He promised that He would. And He still does. Period. End of discussion. Unfortunately for you, however, this is not the end of the post.

God did not say that we would necessarily see tangible results of door-knocking while door-knocking. He said that He would honor His Word. Dr. Elmer Towns says that God has a role in evangelism and believers have a role in evangelism. He further states that we cannot perform God’s “option” in this equation (purchasing forgiveness of sins through the cross), and God WILL NOT perform our option (preaching). Now, before my reformed brethren (use of “brethren” implies that I are one too) get all out of sorts about man’s role in salvation, read Romans 10. It’s right after Romans 9. And I KNOW you know Romans 9.

If we are faithful to discharge the duties of our calling, God will honor that. If we faithfully preach, tell, witness, share…whatever you call it…..God will bring people to our local churches. It may not be through the mechanism you’ve planned, but He honors faithfulness to His Word. He always has and He always will.

I was reminded of this principle very recently. Actually, I was reminded of it within the last 12 hours. I’ve been at a new local ministry field for all of 48 days as of today (and they said it wouldn’t last!). The staff pitched a very challenging idea to the body of Christ here that would require a great deal of sacrifice, dedication, and personal “stretching” on several fronts. The goal of this endeavor (a very significant schedule change) is to reach new people of all ages with a VERY serious commitment to conservative biblical methodology and expositional preaching. The church rallied behind it. The body approved the changes. The new schedule is set to be implemented just before Thanksgiving of this year….still about 6 weeks away. But what’s happened since then is nothing short of awesome. In the 6 days that have elapsed since the vote to change our schedule (that won’t take place for over a month), The Lord has brought two people into The Kingdom through the personal ministries of members of this church. Why? Because God’s honors faithfulness to His Word. He didn’t bring people into the kingdom through the changes in our ministry schedule. But a giant leap of faith on the part of the body of Christ here has been honored by God already in other tangible ways.

God honors faithfulness to His Word. Know His Word. Walk in the light of His Word. Share His Word. Watch God do what only He can do when His people are faithful.

A Delicious Bit of Monday Morning Irony

So I come into my office this morning and sit down at my computer. I notice the anti-virus bug in my desktop tray and wonder how long it’s been since my anti-virus software has been updated. As I proceed to the site wherein the updating transpires, I’m told that my subscription to the updates expired in July of this year.

As I am routed to the place to re-register the account, I’m told that I will receive an email shortly that explains the benefits, passwords, product keys, etc…. One of the new benefits is email spam filtering.

When I go to my mail account to look for said email, guess where it got kicked…..yup.

The email from the spam-filtering company was in my spam folder.

Priceless.

Is Cowher Classless?

Okay, okay….I’m a Chiefs fan. No doubt about it. Biased? Clearly. But help me understand something.

How do you justify a coach with a 31-point lead challenging LJ’s goal-line plunge that really wasn’t that close? THEN how do you justfiy a coach up 31-7 going for it on 4th down at the one instead of kicking the field goal?

I’m in need of counsel on this one, sports fans (and some therapy after this whipping).

MLB Post Season Hardware

Who’s your pick for…

AL MVP
AL Rookie of the Year
AL Cy Young Award winner

NL MVP
NL Rookie of the Year
NL Cy Young Award winner

New category….
Whiner of the year
This can be any player, past or present. If past, the whining had to be done during the ‘06 campaign. Can also be front-office personnel or managers. Have fun!