Uncategorized

Here’s where’s my brain’s at today:
1. Clemson is undefeated in basketball. If Oliver Purnell gets fired before Tommy Bowden then that would be an injustice. He’s really building a consistent program and has some quality wins over the last few years. What’s the difference between the NIT and the Champs Sports/Humanitarian Bowl?
2. If anyone has extra tickets to the Penn/UNC game in Philly next Tuesday night then Adam and I would like to go.
3. Working on two things for the blog: Ads and links to the blogs that I read. Checking on the validity of the ad program. Sounds too good to be true.
4. Still wrapping my head around Rob Bell’s thoughts from the other night. I am at a crossroads of choice. I see what I want me and my family to become, but am I willing to lead us there. Am I willing to be counter-cultural? Am I willing to let go of the things of this world to take hold of something(or someONE) “out of this world?”
5. Pray for me as I work on Setapart stuff this week.
6. I want to give praise to the Lord for healing my ear. Before we left South Carolina I had experience several months of ringing in my right ear. It wasn’t constant, but it was frequent. It often was occumpanied by dizzy spells. I noticed the other day that my ear hadn’t been ringing for a while. I just want to give God some props for working it out for me.
7. “I’d rather be broke than broken.”
8. The invite is out for anyone who wants to go see National Treasure 2 on Friday, December 21st. We’ll be in town on the 17th so we’re looking to hook up with family and friends. Nothing makes me homesick like Hootie’s “Not even the trees.”
9. Is anyone else wondering what Peter and Nathan Petrelli’s father’s role was in the “company” and why we’ve never seen a clear shot of his face in the picture we’ve been seeing? Is anyone else disappointed with the early season finale? Next episode will be amazing. Lots of questions left to be answered. Either Nathan, Adam, or Claire is gonna lose their head over the whole thing.
10. How many people’s desk calendars are up to date? You know those little trivia, ESPN, far side calendars. Most unused Christmas gifts ever.
Have a great day.

Well, Adam Jones, Brian Dalbow, and I went to see Rob Bell in Philly for his “The gods aren’t angry tour” Monday night. It was mindblowing. He is the Seinfeld of preachers. He ties everything together. It was truly phenominal. The main point was that when God started a relationship with Abraham that it changed everything. My ADD started acting up so I missed a few key moments. It started when he talked about how the prophets and Jesus said earth shattering things in attention grabbing ways. I started planning my next sermon in my head. I am still wrapping my head around everything. He talked about how humans created “gods” to make sense of the forces of nature that they couldn’t explain or control. What’s sad is that if you were “blessed” then you had to give more to show your appreciation and if you had a drought then you still had to give more to appease the god. When GOD supplies the ram to Abraham to save Isaac, HE’s saying,”Abraham, this is new thing I’M doing.” I’m not doing it justice, but it was amazing. The only bad thing was that No pens were allowed(venue rule I think) and I got frisked by a large man. Adam Jones claims he was fondled.(We’re doing a Seinfeld marathon.) I think he enjoyed it. Now on to some other stuff…

I just read that Tommy Bowden is getting a contract extension. So, give me your comments and answer my new poll at the bottom of the page.

I got to preach Sunday. I said what God had put on my heart about learning to be thankful. For the three weeks leading up, God really exposed how shallow my thanks was. It has changed my thinking. It should be online at the church website too. I’m really starting to look at these preaching opportunities as a way to stretch myself and creativity. It’s exciting to see God stirring in my heart. I love preaching. I love talking too, but you knew that already.

The family is still in Ohio. Adam just got into town so he’s staying with me a few days. Should be cool.

Finally, I went to my first Sixers game Saturday night. They’re horrible, but they play hard. I can’t bring myself to tell you that Lou Williams turned the ball over on 4 of the last 5 possesions including tripping on the last one. Horrible. We’re going Friday to see the Wizards come to town. Gotta love Philly.

First, thanks to those who suggested movies. I didn’t watch any of them. Comcast cable has free movies so I hit up a few of those. One I watched was the Fisher King with Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges. It was the movie I watched whenever I was bummed out in high school. I really love it. Me and my bud, Rusty Teasley, used to quote it all the time. We were the only ones who liked it so the quotes were just between us. “I like New York in June, how about YOU?” It’s a movie about redemption and how acts of kindness should not be done just to make ourselves feel better, but to actually benefit those we are helping and to make them happy. Well, I just realized that Survivor is a recap show tonight so I’m going back downstairs to play Madden. I was halfway through a season when the system locked up before I saved so I started over. Can I just say that they never should have made sequels to Smokey and the Bandit. Sadly, I watched those this morning. Oh well, the Cowboys won and the Puseys treated me to a feast today. Drake is feeling better, my family is having fun in Ohio, and I’ve got plenty of movies to choose from tonight. I am thankful for friends, family, salvation, grace, healing, gifts, opportunity, God’s provision, oxygen, and a stocked kitchen. By the way, Zorro(my dog) has horrible gas. This was even before I shared some turkey with him. Hope you’re all healthy, happy, and safe today. If you’re going to be at SetApart then you need to be there when we have our annual 5 star posse hotel hangout on the last night. It’s whoever I happen to run into on my way back to the room after curfew. Last time, it was me, Matt LeRoy, Ryan East, Mark Benjamin, and Tim Kirkpatrick. There were a few other guys. There has to be a LeRoy present. This is when the stories are told and Camp Heath shows up. It is a fun time. Speaking of camp, I get to do games at Penn-jersey camp next year. I’m excited. Now, I just gotta find a sand bucket.

Karen and the kids left for Ohio yesterday for some holiday time with her family. It’s become a tradition the last few years to travel there a big Thanksgiving. The Hurlbut’s live south of Cleveland and I’ve tried to go to a Cavs game every time we’ve been, but no such luck. We did make it to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame which was kind of a dissappoinment. Anyway, this isn’t the first time Karen and the kids have traveled away for a week or more. Several years, they went to New York during the summer while I was at camp. Now, I like to think of myself as the life of the party. I love being around people. But, when Karen is out of town, I retreat into some sort of cocoon and try to catch up on my movie watching. One year, I tried to see as many Oscar winners(that I hadn’t seen before) while she was gone. We have different tastes in movies and there are many she has no interest in seeing. Movies like the Deer Hunter, the Sting, etc. Well, last night I picked up Ocean’s 13 and Children of Men. Let’s just say: I won’t get those 4 hours back. I was pretty unhappy with both of them so now I’m gun shy for the next few days. I don’t want to sit through any more bad movies. Of course, I could catch up on some reading. Surprisingly, everything is ready for Sunday, my sermon and worship lyrics. Timmy may come up Saturday night for the Sixers game. I guess what I’m looking for some movie suggestions. If you know me then you know my love for movies. I’m thinking about Rescue Dawn, Evan Almighty, and Superman Returns(jk). So, how should I spend the weekend? Several families have invited me over for Thanksgiving dinner, but the Pusey’s asked first so they win the contest. I tried to work it out where I could go to several places throughout the day, but apparently, everyone in Delaware and Pennsylvania eats at 4 pm on Thanksgiving. My mouth is starting to water just thinking about the feast. I have so much to be thankful for especially in a year full of self examination, self doubt, and moving away from home. God is so good. I do not deserve his friendship. I do not deserve His continuing love. I rest in Him. I have put my family in a position where we are totally dependent on Him. We rely on miracles to get through every day. Why is that so hard? I know God is going to “show up” yet still I get antsy when He takes His time. Also, when He doesn’t “fix” everything at once. I guess it’s because He’s really trying to “fix” me and that takes time. Apparently, lots of it. So, just know that I’m up here on Riverside Dr., resting, chillin, watching whatever movies you suggest, enjoying God’s company, and eating the rest of the Halloween candy. Sounds good to me.

I know you’ve heard me complain about how bad my fantasy football teams are this year. I am in four leagues. 2 of my teams have 1 win and the other 2 teams are doing ok. Now, I do not give the same amount of time to each of the team. I have 2 on espn that I only fill out the lineups for, 1 on yahoo, that I monitor semi-regularly, and 1 on sportsline with people from my church that I keep up with daily. I only drafted two teams myself and the other two had to be drafted for me because of scheduling conflicts. Now that I’ve said all of this let me break down my “church” team for you.

I had the third pick of the first round of this 12 team league. I coveted Stephen Jackson who went second behind LT. This left me with a big decision: Take Larry Johnson, who was in the middle of a holdout, or another player. It was one of those choices where I knew taking LJ was a risk, but I did not want the guy with the 4th pick to get a big season out of him after I passed him up. Needless to say, I picked him and he has been terrible. I resisted a season long urge to trade him and he did start to play like a first round pick around week 6. Then he got hurt…bad. Gonna miss at least two games. Of course, Stephen Jackson has been even worse. In the second round, I faced a similar decision. Conventional wisdom is to load up on running backs although I’ve found QB’s to be higher scorers in this league so so much for conventional wisdom. I took Deuce McCalister in the 2nd round even though he was probably going to lose carries and time to Reggie Bush. Instead, he stunk it up and then tore up his knee early on. My third round pick was Chad Johnson who has not disappointed though he has battled injuries. 4th round-Ahman Green, who has been hurt most of the year. So, there you have it. The easiest way to have a last place team is to have your players get injured. Also, to have Eli Manning as your starting QB. Ironically, Tom Brady, having maybe the best fantasy season ever, went at the end of the 2nd round-two picks behind McCalister. Hindsight is 20-20 or 1-9.

It wasn’t me. After fixing my entire Saturday around the Clemson-BC game. After txting and talking to buddies who were telling me how electric Death Valley was. After waiting for a game like this for 16 years, where Clemson had a shot at the ACC title…I fell asleep. That’s right. At 7-3 at halftime I was out. Woke up briefly to see it 10-3, but that was it. I started feeling sick at supper so I took some unlabeled sinus medicine which wasn’t non-drowsy, but VERY-drowsy. So, I woke up at 5:15 am(Drake was crying) and checked this out. Clemson-BC recap
So what did I miss? I didn’t need a Hollywood writer to write this ending for me because I’ve seen it before. Missed field goals. A late comeback loss at home. Missed opportunities. Close but no cigar. Folks, this is Clemson football under Tommy Bowden. Middle of the pack in the ACC, big wins against small teams, heartbreaking losses, games where you wonder if Clemson is even on the field, and an aw shucks attitude from the coach. I can’t be the only one who is not surprised by any of this. Now, to be fair, Bowden’s record measures up against every other Clemson coach except one: Danny Ford. And that, friends, is the real problem. Ford had 4 10 win seasons, with one National Championship, in his tenure. That’s about as many 10 win as all the other coaches have combined. My point is, we got spoiled in the 80’s. My generation grew to think that Clemson had always been a football powerhouse because it was when we were young. The sad fact is that Danny Ford is not coming back on a white horse to save the day. That time has passed. What we have to decide now is whether or not we’re happy with where we’re at as a program. We have to answer two questions: Can Bowden take us to where we want to go? and Is this Clemson football?