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This certainly made my Superbowl Sunday. In lieu of niether Bears being there or Favre being there, I’m cheering for Peyton Manning. Go Colts and Not-Favres!
Superbowl Fail
I Like Mike
The Bears had an awful season this year despite high hopes with a franchise QB in the fold for the first time in fifty years, but despite that they’ve made very few changes. In fact the only real change they made has probably got them more flack in the Chicago media than any of the non-changes they didn’t make, that being the hiring of Mad Mike Martz as the offensive co-ordinator. I’m a regular listener of the Boers and Bernstein Show on 670 The Score in Chicago and they’ve absolutely been tearing the Bears a new one ever since the hire.
I for one, maybe the only one, think it’s a great move. The guy won a Superbowl as a head coach and after he was done making all-stars out of junkyard scraps like Az-Zahir Hakim, Kurt Warner, and Marc Bulger in STL he went to DET of all places and turned Jon Kitna and Mike Furrey into a combo that looked like Montana to Rice. He’s always coached up QB’s and turned otherwise anaemic players into contributors and that sounds pretty much exactly like what the Bears offence was this past season. I’m not saying they’re Superbowl bound in 2010. I’m not saying they’re making the playoffs. I’m not even saying that they’ll be good enough for Martz to keep his job, but at least they’re trying something with a guy who’s proven he knows how to design a highly potent offence and can work with QB’s who throw INT”s and still win football games.
And with that, it’s time for some sleep. Hopefully to dream of a Bears Superbowl next year as I get ready to cheer for the Colts in this one.
I Am a Big Loser . . . but maybe not the biggest
For just over a month now I have been engaged in a contest of sorts with my inlaws. As many people do now they’ve been watching the Biggest Loser and thought, “Why don’t we do that?” I’ve only ever seen about a total of half an hour of the show spread over a half dozen episodes that I’ve been forced to watch with others while waiting for my show to start (I’ll say just about anything is my show if it means the channel will be changed). All that being said, I’m more than willing to get in a contest to do something I want to do anyways. I’m trying to push for a cash prize because nothing motivates like cash, but apparently the others want something like getting to pick a family activity for a day . . . good thing I want to lose the weight just because I want to.
As many of you know I’ve been going to the gym regularly for about a year now and for the first 6 months or more saw no weight loss at all and actually put on another 16 lbs in the process taking me to my all time high of 217 lbs in August. Well, since then things have changed and I’m actually proud to say I had to turn in my membership in the 200 club this past week as I now weigh in at a svelt 198 as of this morning. So I guess for as frustrating as those first 6 months were I’ve actually lost 19 lbs in the last 6 months and 7 of those this past month alone. So here’s to hoping for continued success basically all thanks just to counting the calories and my new best friend, Pepsi Max.
Most disturbing things I learned since I started counting calories:
1. Big Mac = 540 ish cal . . . Sausage and Egg McMuffin = 480 cal – How does that work?
2. Cheezies = 580 ish cal for a small bag
3. KD = almost 1000 cal for a box – no wonder college guys get fat
Well, time for this kid to go get some sleep before a day of relaxing with the family tomorrow. Life has been running at a pretty crazy pace lately so it’s long overdue . . . but more on that another time.
The Prodigal Returns
It’s been around seven months since I last posted anything on here. Whether anyone still has me on their blog readers – I don’t even know anymore – but I have decided after my journey into the other regions of internetdom to come back to my home if you will. Twitter filled some of my blog void and Facebook filled the rest, but I’ve decided if blogging is good enough for Pope Ben, it should be for Pastor Ben too. I’m not saying you should expect something new to read every morning but this prodigal son is returning home from the mire of isolation and is hoping that the fattened calf of comments and catharsis will be his reward for coming home.
A Call for Goodreads
I’d like to think I’m a person of at least moderate intelligence, and that I have friends that are likewise. With that in mind I am submitting this poll: Are you literate?
I may not be the most prolific reader in the world, but I do enjoy reading good books. As such, at the advice of my good friend Jared, I joined Goodreads. It’s a really easy to use site that helps you track what books you have read and lets others keep track of your reading journey’s as well. I have loved the ability to track, rate and share what I’m reading all on one site that plays nicely with both Facebook and Twitter. So here’s my request to you: I know the last thing we all need is another social networking site, but I’d love it if some more of my literate friends would join Goodreads too. Jared and Steve are on there and it has been great to keep up with their reading journey’s but I’d love to share more of what others are reading, learning and growing from too.
Goodreads is free and quite user friendly. If you can read and like me even a little consider it at least. There is a link to my Goodreads page in the right hand column of my blog.
Look at me, I’m a readerer.
Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens by Neil Cole
My review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
I loved this book. Cole’s ideas about the church being an organic living entity rather than a mechanical machine really ring true. His ideas about the simplicity of sharing one’s faith and “doing church” really resonated with me and honestly, really make me want to leave the institutional church and live the Christian life in a smaller, organic church much the way he explains. This is where my real problem comes in though: how do I as a career pastor of an institutional church do this? How can I be a part of a small organic church and still support my family? I really feel my heart drawn to this, but the realities of life seem to make it impossible at the time. I really think this is the future of the church as I’ve said before, but I don’t know what to do in the awkward in between transition time. So in that this book was spectacular in giving me a vision for the future and what to be working towards, but frustrating in the sense that I don’t really know how to get there from where I am. I’m changing what I can to be more “organic” with the youth ministry that I can control, but unfortunately I can only change what I can change.
I’m a Writer!
Well, I know I’ve been talking about it for a while now. I even had a post about six months ago about my dreams of being an author. Thankfully that day has finally come. It hasn’t been an easy secret to keep over the past while, but Donald Miller finally decided to let the cat out of the bag in a press release this morning. His new book, “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years”, has a co-author and that co-author is me. It’s been really busy trying to keep up with church work, be a dad and a husband, but it’s all been worth it. Make sure you pick up the book, it’s a great read. More than anything I’m just glad that I don’t have to keep the secret anymore.
Here’s the link to the press release. I really hope you enjoy the book.
Saskatchewan is Indefensible
I grew up in Saskatchewan, I’ve lived here my whole life and to this day had no intentions of ever leaving. I’ve seen most of the landscape and lifestyle that North America has to offer and to this day was perfectly content in Saskatchewan. I stress to this day. Then I awoke this morning – a morning in the middle of May – to snow on the ground, a blizzard in the air, a daytime high of 2C, and power outages. This is indefensible. There is no reason any sane human being should be chosing to deal with this nonsense. We’re only a couple weeks away from the official start of summer and we’re getting snow and freezing temperatures.
I’m all for being ecologically friendly, but if David Suzuki were from Saskatchewan and not out east he’d be doing his best to create all the greenhouse gas he could here.
All this being said, it’s obvious I’m not moving anywhere anytime soon, but today for the first time I’m wishing I were somewhere else. If my friend Brad Wall, the premier of this province, wants to keep young people here and grow the province tax credits aren’t going to cut it anymore. He has to do something about this weather.
The bookshelf loses weight and I can’t
The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21 Century Church by Michael Frost
My review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was an exciting, encouraging, frustrating and difficult book to read. It left me excited but having no real way to work out what I would like to (not the books fault). If you believe the western church as it stands is flawed and in need of re-creation to be effective at carrying out the great commission in a new world than this book can be a great place to start imagining what it could be like. If you think the church is great as it is than skip this book and save yourself the hypertension and ulcer.
As per the title, I’ve managed to knock another book off of my “to-read” shelf, however despite 7 weeks now of going to the gym 6 days a week I cannot lose a single Lb. In fact I’ve gained 2. And don’t you dare start in on me with the “you’re gaining muscle” routine. When average Joes go to lose weight they lose weight and I can’t despite eating well and reasonable portions and getting more exercise than I ever have. Any advice?
Another Notch on the Book Belt
The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why by Phyllis Tickle
My review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
Whether you like Emerging/Emergent church stuff this book makes a very clear case exactly where it has come from historically, theologically, and sociologically. It makes a very clear and fairly fact based argument that we shouldn’t be surprised by the rise of emerging/Emergent Christianity and shouldn’t expect it to just go away. Well worth the read if for no other reason than to see where we’ve come from as a church, where we are, and where we might be heading to.
