Football

The football awesomeness for the week started last night. I went down to UC to play Ultimate Frisbee (because that's what we do on Wednesday nights) and there were a bunch of people there. We started passing around a football and when everyone got there I asked how many people wanted to play football instead. It was voted that we should play football 10 out of 11. It was so fun. I learned a lot about some of my friends most importantly of all, like Cat Wade, Jen Biller is a force to be reckoned with. I was returning a kick near the sideline and she was running sort of angularly towards me. I slowed down because I thought she was going to just push me out of bounds. Turns out she actually had in mind to hurt me...I got flipped on my back from a running forward position. I am sore from many different things that happened, but maybe none more than that. Derek got knocked out making a huge 4th down play that virtually ended the game. he didn't remember anything that happened after that last night. It was sort of funny how he kept asking how he got places and what happened. So it was totally awesome even though my team lost by 2. That's really how it should have ended considering they had 6 people to our 5, but it didn't really matter who won because it was so fun. I was really surprised that so many people were willing to play football. Excellent time indeed. Oh then it was capped off by Stephanie buying us all dinner after that because some how she had 50 meal plan tickets left with a week to go in the quarter.

To end the week here would be fine, but tonight the Bengals played the ravens. I personally was pretty nervous for the game. The Ravens have looked really good this year, and we needed to win or they clinched the division. It was an awesome game indeed. I mostly only got to see the second half but it was fantastic. Who knew the Bengals could play defense? So now we are 7-5 and for the moment the number one contender for the AFC wild card spot. Thats important because unless we get help, even if we win out we still shouldn't win the division. I look for Denver to struggle with the Jay Cutler break in period, and it remains to be seen if Trent Green still has a bruised brain or not. who knew that Robert Geathers may yet have had the biggest impact of anyone on our hopes for the playoffs. Jacksonville is the team that scares me. We shall see. I am excited for the long break for the Bengals, I really hope they get it together during that time so that we can win out the season. We really only have one major hump, the Colts, left int he season. I think the Denver game will be close because of there D, but we will win in the end. Pittsburgh and Oakland just SUCK. That's it for tonight I am just pleased with the win for now.

Big Scary Question

So it's officially the Holiday Season. People are out shopping, there are massive advertising campaigns bombarding our lives everywhere we go, the weather, though not bad yet, will soon be beyond brutal in Cincinnati, less and less people are in classes (including myself), the playoff picture is beginning to clear in the NFL (not for the Bengals), everyone is soon to be pissed again that there is no playoff system for college football, traffic is awful, it sucks to have to cut the grass that one last time, you know the drill... Its the exact same set of things that happens every year at this time. Personally I love the holidays! I get a chance to be on semi-vacation. For a three week period this year starting December 9th I only have to work, no school on top of it. Also I usually get some gifts from people, nothing big, but people see Christmas at least as a good opportunity to say some nice things about each other. I know it's lame, but I like the warm fuzzy feeling from hearing people that love me tell me so. Along with that I like the opportunity to get some stuff for people that will make them happy. My sister and I started teaming up on gifts about 2 years ago for both our parents and grandparents. It makes it easier for us to brainstorm and if we pool our limited funds we can buy something a little nicer for people. I think this year we are going to try and do framed pictures of us together for our grandparents, and some of those fleecy blankets with the tied together edges with our college prints on each side for our parents. I read somewhere that the average household is expected to spend around $780 on gifts this year for Christmas...that's crazy. Then there is all the politically correct nonsense that goes on. It's no longer acceptable to say the Christmas season. Even though it is still a national holiday and recognized by everyone alive on earth, its politically incorrect to talk about it. Who are we kidding? It is interesting to me how silly some of the things people are willing to get upset over. I heard on the radio the other day that there was actually a court case where it was decided that a burrito can not be considered a sandwich and is in fact not a sandwich but something entirely different. Are you SERIOUS?!?!?

I am confident that I am a contributing member to a society that is as far from biblical principles as any society has ever been. It really worries me that there is so much corruption in the US right now. I mean we pretty much have the trademarks of every major corruption that the Bible talks about. Worshiping false idols, worshiping other gods, prostitution, gluttony, adultery, homosexuality, dishonest political leaders, let alone political leaders that aren't men and women of God, greed, idleness, the list is endless. Our redeeming factor may be that we have a lot of churches, organizations and people that are fighting hard to reduce the problem. It brings up something I am personally confused about. In the Old Testament we get a picture of a God who, when things turn away from him, slowly gets angry, and then does something to remind his people that they need to look at Him. In the New Testament we see a gracious God who is all about meeting us where we are and working with us as we try to figure out how to live broken lives while following the leadership of Christ. I have to try to remember that we are dealing with the same God though, he never changes... So at what point does God get upset enough with our, as a society, general disinterest in living lives worthy of our calling to do something about it? At the heart of this question is another that I am more afraid of. When God looks at my life, am I part of what he's getting upset about or part of what is keeping him from being more upset? Sure I get a lot of things right, but I get a lot of things wrong too, and probably more of the latter. I think its hard to even maintain an accurate picture of what is right and wrong because of the standard being so far from acceptable. Kolia told leadership once that it is important to stay as far from crossing the line as possible, not to try to get as close as possible without getting in trouble. I don't have an answer to either question, all I can do is try to use the opportunities given me to the best of my ability. I think I am rambling now, and have definitely strayed from the idea of holiday season, but this is a question worth thinking about. The love of Christ is the Greatest Gift, and it deserves the ultimate response.

Football and Turkey

Today is the day after my favorite day of the year. Yesterday was so great for me. I slept in, I was supposed to run in the 10k race downtown, but instead I just slept till 11. My dad, my sister and I went to my Grandma's house for the feast. I just love Thanksgiving Dinner. The only thing that could have been better about yesterday is that Denver and Kansas City should have played on network TV. It was the only good game. Tampa Bay is a joke this season even if Joey Galloway is still awesome. There defense sucks, there offense sucks, there coach sucks...it's just all bad down there. To make it worse Dallas is playing like the best team in the NFC right now. With Romo showing that he could be another Hall of Fame QB from Dallas, and the TO controversy all but silenced. It looks to me like Parcels has another chance to take a team to the Super Bowl this February. Back to the fact though, Dallas vs Tampa Bay was a joke yesterday. A better game, but only because both teams are equally bad was the Miami vs Lions game. Kitna is having a career year, but with no supporting cast. Joey Harrington is so streaky its ridiculous. I think Miami's season is over depending on the severity of Brown's hand injury. So basically I am upset that the games on TV yesterday were pretty terrible, other than that it was a fantastic day though. Oh one last thing, the Madden curse is real and I will be so upset when they put LT on the cover next year. I hope he declines it. So that's it for me today, not much of substance really, I hope you all had a wonderful day off in the fabulous weather as I did.

Beautiful Scandelous Night

I am dead tired, but this day has been somewhat ridiculous. Some might say "worst day ever," I say most eventful day ever. Today was longer than day 2 of Young Life Camp, longer than James Bonar's 4 hours engineering class, longer than, than, than something really long. Lets start in the beginning...I woke up today with Derek and James sleeping on the floor in my room at 8:30, they left for class and I went back to sleep briefly. After running some errands and changing a load of laundry left over from fall weekend I get a phone call from Derek, we are supposed to go to one of our friends houses in Westchester for some turkey and turkey sides dishes. He tells me that he is at the marathon at the Michel exit and his car is over heating or something. So I drive down to get him and we check out his car. He has either a cracked head or a blown head gasket. If it's a cracked head we are blowing up his car on December 8. If it's a blown head gasket we are taking it to Hamilton and rebuilding the engine. So anyways we decide that if we load it up with antifreeze it can make it to my house. After getting to my house we leave for Lora's in Westchester to try to recover a little bit while eating some delicious turkey. It was good except for they ran out of turkey, I got like one bite and Derek didn't get any. Around 5:30 we decided to head back home since we were going to watch Marshall at UC starting at 7. When we get to my house to pick up stuff for my soccer game later we get a call from the girl who has organized this Marshall thing and she tells us that she got it wrong and they aren't showing the movie. She is staying home and going to bed and Leah, the other girl we were going to hang out with, is going to her house in Fairfield. So whatever, except that Shohn is already in Clifton waiting to find out what we are going to do. We decide to drive down there and eat some Chipotle while we figure out what we are going to do. I had a soccer game at 8:45 so they decide to come watch me play soccer and hang out. At this point I am still fairly excited. We are maybe the number one team in our league and tonight we were playing the likely contender for that spot. It should have been a good game, except most of our team went home for the holiday and I guess most of their team didn't. Long story short we were winning till they did there first line change, then it was a losing battle from then on. We just got tired and sloppy, it was an embarrassment really, I won't speak more on that. After the game we go down to Newport to watch Happy Feet, which is awesome if you haven't seen it, with another one of our friends. After Happy Feet, we all go to the Skyline in Newport to recover a little bit from the events of the day. At this point I am think that everything is winding down. I'll take Shohn and Derek back this Shohn's car and I'll drive home, I'll get home around 3 and go to sleep. That just wasn't to be. When I finally drive back to Clifton and drop them off I get about half way home on 71 before my phone rings. It was Derek, Shohn had lost the key to his car! So I drive back to Clifton, again, to pick them up. When we decide that his key isn't in my car and can't be found anywhere I get nominated to drive them all the way to Shohn's house in Hamilton to pick up a spare key and then drive them all the way back to Clifton. An hour later I was back on 71 exactly where I had been the hour before that. When I got off the exit 2 miles from my house, I did a U turn to avoid a light and, of course, at 4 in the morning I got pulled over. Why not? So the cop asked me what I had been doing. I asked him if he wanted the long or the short version. He asked for the long version, BIG mistake... So I basically told him the story from Chipotle on. He asked me if I had been drinking, if I have any weapons in the car, and where I am headed. I say no, yes this pocket knife right here, and to my house about 2 miles from here. After checking my insurance and all that jazz he told me to have a happy Thanksgiving. Ok, honestly I didn't even care if I got a ticket. I surely earned it at some point in my nearly 190 miles of driving today. So that's pretty much it, I guess I left out a few parts including the trip to Walmart, the girl at the Kiosk, the 10 people we met at Skyline, and some other even more minor things, but you generally get the idea. I can't wait to wake up in a few hours to go hunting. Maybe this year I should just stay in bed and do nothing except be thankful, what a novel idea. So now I am going to bed, at 5:20 int he AM. This is the latest I have stayed up in almost a year.

Time for a break maybe?

Today is my sister's birthday, she turns 19. On my way home from taking my make-up physics exam I talked to her and she informed me that people are getting together to go out to eat tonight in recognition of the occasion. I am excited about it. I haven't really hung out with my sister since she left for school in August, and I will also get to see my cousin Christa and some of Kate's (my sister) other friends. I generally like the people that she hangs out with, so it should be a pretty good time. Shortly after talking to her my mom called me to ask if I was coming, during the conversation we started talking about my plans for next quarter and whatnot. She knows that I don't really have any money to speak of, and I told her that I was considering taking a quarter off from school to work and try to catch up a little bit financially. It's justifiable I think. It's no different than co-opping for a quarter. She said that if I did something like that I should take a vacation. She pointed out that the last time I took a vacation for myself was July of 2005. I guess since then I have either been working or going to school or taking kids on a Young Life trip. I used to take weekends off and go to the Gorge by myself to take some time and just do nothing. I think its good to do things like that and I generally advocate it, and yet somehow I haven't done anything like that in forever. I can't even tell you the last time I had a weekend like that. So maybe it's time for a break. I don't necessarily feel like I need a break, but like most things in life, its hard to get an accurate picture of what's going on while you are in the picture yourself. It's easier to see what is happening from the sidelines. Henry Nouwen uses the analogy of a basin of water all sloshing around. You can't smooth out the water with your hand, you just have to step back and let it settle on its own, the only thing that can calm the surface is time left alone. So now I am off to dinner with my sister. I'll have to consider that whole vacation thing while I am at work tomorrow, or maybe in between my classes...

Long Lost Blog

Today I got an e-mail...in the e-mail it said that someone had posted a comment on my blog. My first thought was "Blog...I don't have a blog, I've been identity theft-ed..." But then I remembered the blog I had to start for a class way back freshman year. After following the link to MY blog I caught myself reminiscing about what my life was about then, and how much I have grown up in the last 2 years. I guess on the surface not all that much looks different. I am still on staff at the same Church I was just starting at when I first started my blog, I still lead Young life at Mt. Healthy (something else I had just started), and I am still in school though now for a different major (Secondary Ed), if I just look at how I am spending my time, not that much is different.

As much as my schedule looks the same though my life feels so different. Although I had great friendships in the past the friendships that I have now, some with the same people, are built out of faith in Christ. It's funny when you commit your life to Christ, that first day, you have no idea what you are in store for. My faith has lead me places that I would never have gone otherwise. I understand now that I still don't have any idea where my faith will take me, however, in that I realize that life with Christ is wholly different than life without. It means much more than a one hour per week commitment to a local church, it's a life altering decision that has ramifications far outreaching the scope of my understanding. If you let God in, your life will change, ALL of it.

The Young Life team I am on is completely different now than it was 2 years ago. I am the only person still leading there now that was when I got placed. My Co-leader, Leah, is one of the most incredible women I have ever known. I have learned so much from her about everything from loving people to understanding how women think to fashion and a thousand other things. I am so excited to see how God is going to use us in the lives of High School kids this year. So many doors have been opened for us to do ministry in the school this year already, that I have to believe that our vision for reaching high school kids with the Gospel of Christ is in line with what God is doing in that community.

I feel like my life is being netted together right now. Like all the stuff I have been doing separately and independently of one another are coming together. I was leading Young Life and working at the church and going to school. Now I am leading Young Life because I have a heart for kids and going to school to become a teacher because I have a heart for kids, and working at a church to both finance doing those things as well as feed myself as a Christian. I hadn't realized it because anytime you have a job, even in ministry, it is easy to at times become frustrated with the organization or the people you work with. It just happens. In spite of that I have realized the importance of loving people the way they are while at the same time encouraging them to reach the potential God has in store for them. The pastor at the Vineyard (where I work) says "the person you are becoming is much more important than the person you are." LOVING PEOPLE IS ESSENTIAL. I don't just mean when they do things you like, or when they are easy to get along with. I mean identifying people in your life that you have to choose to commit to no matter what. Choosing to love them even when they suck, because frankly all of us suck sometimes, people are just annoying and mean and well sinful, and because of that it is hard to love people all the time. In spite of that, we have to, we are commanded to by the Word of God (Ephesians 4:1-3). With that in mind doing all the "stuff" of life isn't so bifurcated. When my motivation for getting good grades is the same as my motivation for doing contact work with high school kids or doing a good job at work, it is much easier to remain motivated. Having the same motivation in things implies having the same goal in mind, to know the will of Christ and live in His perfect will.

That's all I have for today though. I think what I have here is a good synopsis of what's been happening in my life of late as well as what I have been learning. I haven't yet decided if I am going to continue to write a blog. I like the idea of getting my thoughts out and at least somewhat organized. We'll have to see what time allows.

in Him
matt