The Way

I pride myself in being so adept at all things college basketball. I really do not believe that about myself, but I continue to deceive myself year after year, especially during March Madness. I chose my final four teams through careful study, prayer, and casting lots (none of those are true). I go by gut and sometimes override my team loyalties with thinking too hard. If you know me, you know that Dook is my least favorite team followed closely by KU. I think Coach K is a coaching genius and would love it if he coached anywhere else but the two aforementioned teams. All that to say, I had Dook as the national champion. I know. Crazy and against all my true team loyalties, those being UNC and Mizzou. I was not sad to see Arizona thrash Dook the other night by 14. It busted my bracket but it did my heart good. I had Kansas, Pitt and OSU as my other final four teams. All wrong! I can pick 'em. I was a little sad that UNC lost to UK. I had UNC losing that round but not to UK. I am n...

If you know me well, you know that I am not very creative. But, I can find others who are and that is what you will see in this Men's ministry conference being offered by Northwood Church. Northwood Men's Conference from Northwood Church on Vimeo .

Last Tuesday I left early in the am and headed towards Anchorage via ATL and MSP. I met my brother, James, in MSP and we loaded up for Anchorage. We got in before dark, saw lots of snow, mountains, and icy waters as we landed. We were both pretty tired but stayed up, grabbed some dinner, said Wow! alot at the scenery and hit the hay about 9p AST. Wednesday, we were up early but it does not get daylight until about 830a so we exercised, destroyed USA Today and the local Anchorage paper and then headed towards Seward. Beautiful drive of about 3 hours through the Turnagain Arm area and lots of snow covered mountains. We saw a few moose on the drive down and seals and bald eagles in Seward. Good conversation with one of the locals telling us about the fishing travails in the area. Halibut was just in season and expensive! On the ride back we stopped at an animal refuge and saw bison, bears, bear cubs, reindeer, moose and various other animals. Good times! Thursday morning we woke to s...

So for many, St. Patrick's day is about green beer and pinching others, but the real story of Patricius is far from green beer and pinching. Today we celebrate the life and work of St. Patrick who brought the good news of the Gospel to the Emerald Isle and her people. Who was this man Patrick, and what were his great accomplishments that so many should celebrate him more than 1500 years after he left this earth? Like St. Nicholas, whose identity has been utterly changed into that of a child's Christmas fantasy, the name of St. Patrick is now more generally associated with parades, "Kiss Me I'm Irish" buttons and green bagels than with the great work of evangelization that was his life's work. But Patrick was, as Nicholas, a real person. Many details about Patrick are lost to us, but there is agreement on several key facts. Patrick was not Irish; he was born on the island of Britain possibly to a Roman family in about the year 387 AD...

This has been a very surreal day in many ways today. Before you read the rest of this blog, know that I am not really trying to go on a rant, but to establish that our priorities are just messed up if you ask me. NFL - the owners will not disclose all the financial records; want more and more of the share of revenue and want to extend the season to 18 regular season games. The players are convinced the owners are already getting more than their fair share of revenues; are convinced that 16 regular season games are more than enough. The fans spend amazing amounts of money to watch grown men chase someone with a pigskin and are getting shafted by both owners and players. Players bust up their union. Owners cry foul; fans get short end of stick again. iPad2 - amazing piece of technology that costs the same as the iPad when it was introduced. Has more capabilities. No pre-sales. Go stand in line, spend money you do not have on a piece of technology that really is very cool. App...

Interesting look at population and demographics of the world from National Geographic. Just reiterates why we must tell the Good News.

Last week was a pretty interesting week to say the least. I started out in Orlando at the Youth Pastor's Summit that is hosted each year by Universal Studios and Jay Strack. It is a great event bringing in about 2000 youth pastors to be encouraged. This year the main stage speakers were Alex Kendrick/Michael Catt from Sherwood Pictures. They have done Flywheel, Facing the Giants, Fireproof and are releasing a new movie Courageous . We screened the movie for about 800 youth leaders and I got to be reacquainted with Michael after many years and to meet Alex. Both wonderful guys do a great media ministry out of a local church. I visited with our friends the Keators on Tuesday evening and Clark took me to the Magic/Knicks game. Much hype around the Carmelo Anthony trade and the strength of the Knicks, but the Magic came back in the 4th quarter and beat them handily. It was so good to see the Keators. Godly people who continue to show me and others what obedience to Christ looks like ...

Many of you who know me, think that I have been a North Carolina basketball fan since I was a young boy but actually I am more a Dean Smith fan. Coach Smith has such an impact on my basketball prowess as a young boy that I read most of what he wrote and studied his system along with my school studies. Coach Smith turns 80 and his mind is not as clear as it was when he dreamed up the 4 Corners offense but I like this ESPN clip on a great coach and man. Click here . Happy Birthday Coach!