The final proof is in. The evidence has moved beyond a shadow of a doubt. The trial is finished and it's an open and shut case. God doesn't care about sports. Definitively.
There was a time when I wasn't so sure. I must admit to having uttered little prayers right before an important pitch or free throw involving my favorite teams. While I disagreed with the players who immediately gave God the credit for their victory (always wondering why he didn't get the blame for a tough loss), I could never say absolutely that God didn't have a hand in it. Now I think I can.
Today, a fifty-nine year old man led the British Open going to the last hole. All Tom Watson needed was a par and he would become the oldest person to ever win a major golf championship. By over ten years!
It was obvious that every spectator at the golf course was pulling for Watson, willing him toward victory. I sat watching with rapt attention a sport I couldn't care less about normally. This was a big deal, history in the making. An eight foot putt for par was all that was left. And...he...missed!
He slumped into a playoff and was quickly finished. Stewart Cink, not Watson, was the champion.
So if God cared a lick about sports, wouldn't Watson's putt have scooted in? There has rarely been a time in sports when a good thing that was this close has slipped away like this. Why didn't God just make it happen?
I think these are the choices we are left with:
1. God hates Tom Watson. God took Watson close to the heights of ecstasy just so he could crush him on the rocks of disappointment. Boy, what must Watson have done to deserve that? And is God really that petty and capricious?
2. God really likes Stewart Cink. He seems like a nice guy. Plus, he's going bald. Otherwise I know nothing about the man. But even if this was all about Cink, couldn't God have helped him out without crushing Watson?
3. God doesn't care about Golf. This is a strong possibility. Perhaps God is only interested in team sports. Prefers Olympic events. Or thinks of Golf as too hoity-toity. Or maybe he's only interested if Tiger is playing.
4. Or most likely, God doesn't care about sports. Doesn't give a rip if your team wins. Isn't helping any professional player more than others. Allows us to make decisions and decide the outcome for much of life, including sporting events. In fact is probably puzzled by how fun and games could become such excruciating events for us.
So, Once and for all can we stop connecting God with sports. Don't say that God is the reason you won (especially when it was definitely pass interference but didn't get called). Don't thank Jesus for your home run (especially when you take steroids). And most of all, can't we all stop believing God cares an iota about sports.
(Disclaimer: This all gets rescinded if the Rangers ever make the world series. It would be prayer vigil time.)
July 19, 2009
July 9, 2009
Good Idea!
I play basketball two or three times a week. Almost every time I play I hear the phrase "good idea!". In basketball parlance "good idea" means that the play didn't quite work out, but the thought behind it was good. It might be that someone tries to pass the ball into a tight spot. If the ball gets through it will be an easy basket. However, the ball is intercepted or the recipient couldn't quite catch it. The person who was supposed to receive the pass will then say to the passer "good idea."
Since I play with a lot of really nice guys, I think this is a way of being kind. Rather than saying, "wow, what a sorry pass" the person is given credit for the idea which was good. It's a similar vein to "It's the thought that counts." Since I tend to be somewhat sarcastic, I don't ever say "good idea". I'm afraid that it will come out as a snide remark about the person's inability to execute a simple task.
So there is the concept of "good idea". Nice thought, just poor execution. Sadly this is rarely used in other arenas. There are many great ideas out there, but sometimes the execution leaves a little to be desired. So here are a few things to which I wish to say "good idea."
Diet Soft Drinks
Reading for Dummies
Baked Potato Chips
Manimal
8-Tracks
Peanut Butter and Jelly in one jar
Water Wings
V-8
Raffles
Self-Tanning Cream
Assemble at home furniture
Every Nerf Gun ever made
Spray On Sunscreen
Comb-Overs
Self-flushing toilets
User Names and Passwords
Since I play with a lot of really nice guys, I think this is a way of being kind. Rather than saying, "wow, what a sorry pass" the person is given credit for the idea which was good. It's a similar vein to "It's the thought that counts." Since I tend to be somewhat sarcastic, I don't ever say "good idea". I'm afraid that it will come out as a snide remark about the person's inability to execute a simple task.
So there is the concept of "good idea". Nice thought, just poor execution. Sadly this is rarely used in other arenas. There are many great ideas out there, but sometimes the execution leaves a little to be desired. So here are a few things to which I wish to say "good idea."
Diet Soft Drinks
Reading for Dummies
Baked Potato Chips
Manimal
8-Tracks
Peanut Butter and Jelly in one jar
Water Wings
V-8
Raffles
Self-Tanning Cream
Assemble at home furniture
Every Nerf Gun ever made
Spray On Sunscreen
Comb-Overs
Self-flushing toilets
User Names and Passwords
July 1, 2009
Sermon: Jesus and Ozzy Osborne
Ozzy Osborne and Jesus have something to teach us about violence as we continue our study of the Sermon on the Mount.
2009.06.21 Jesus and Ozzy Osborne.mp3
June 23, 2009
Sermon on the Mount-The Beatitudes
We begin a study of the sermon on the mount, using the beatitudes to look at what it takes to follow Jesus.
The Beatitudes 2009.06.14 Damon Parker.mp3
June 20, 2009
Style Watch
My son Jackson has style. That may seem a strange thing to say about a five year old, but it is true. Lots of people have enough money to buy things that look good. Give me enough moolah and I can find a shirt and pants that match. Some people look good in whatever they wear because they are pretty or handsome. Style is something else.
Every time Jackson emerges from his room he seems to be wearing a different outfit. And not one most people would put together. Jackson is a fan of wearing socks that are so long they come up to his thighs. Like something out of an Errol Flynn epic. He matches hats to shoes and wears belts with shorts. Lately, he is growing out his hair. He is five! I never made a suggestion about my hair until eighth grade, when I asked the lady giving me a cut if she could make it look like Don Johnson. (This was the height of Miami Vice. Eventually I owned an outfit that consisted of boat shoes with no socks, teal pants tight-rolled at the bottom, a pink shirt, teal tie slung low, and a faux white linen jacket. My friend Jamal who lived down the street wore a gray suit and pulled off Tubbs to my Crockett. It is the only time besides my wedding and my mothers forced outfits for pictures that I actually coordinated what I wore with another person. For a few months I was stylish, but it was all stolen from a show, so I didn't have style.)
Jackson is especially fond of making up outfits for the occasion. If I have a softball game, he dresses like a baseball player, cleats and all. I once went to church with a grown man who did this. Every week he had a completely different look. He wore a karate outfit one week. On memorial day he wore camouflage from head to toe. He is perhaps the only person over fifteen and not in the armed forces that I have seen successfully pull off wearing a beret. He had style.
My question is "Where did this come from?" It must be genetic, because we certainly haven't taught Jackson this. I am the king of not caring how I look. Sure sometimes I look nice, but it is all an act. Jeans and a tee shirt. That's all I need or want. And while his mother is beautiful, she doesn't really have a style. No, this is something that is purely his. I don't get it or understand it. I worry a little that this will lead to him eventually putting bolts in his earlobes or tattooing the quadratic formula on his forehead. But mostly I like it. People with style make the world better by refusing to be the same. I may not understand wearing a trench coat in June, but the fact that the kid walking down my street earlier today thought it was a good look is enough for me.
So I say, make room for those with style. Don't squash them or try to make them conform. Besides, if we attempt to reel them in, where will all the actors and college professors come from.
(Picture of me in early high school. Proof that I don't have style)
Every time Jackson emerges from his room he seems to be wearing a different outfit. And not one most people would put together. Jackson is a fan of wearing socks that are so long they come up to his thighs. Like something out of an Errol Flynn epic. He matches hats to shoes and wears belts with shorts. Lately, he is growing out his hair. He is five! I never made a suggestion about my hair until eighth grade, when I asked the lady giving me a cut if she could make it look like Don Johnson. (This was the height of Miami Vice. Eventually I owned an outfit that consisted of boat shoes with no socks, teal pants tight-rolled at the bottom, a pink shirt, teal tie slung low, and a faux white linen jacket. My friend Jamal who lived down the street wore a gray suit and pulled off Tubbs to my Crockett. It is the only time besides my wedding and my mothers forced outfits for pictures that I actually coordinated what I wore with another person. For a few months I was stylish, but it was all stolen from a show, so I didn't have style.)
Jackson is especially fond of making up outfits for the occasion. If I have a softball game, he dresses like a baseball player, cleats and all. I once went to church with a grown man who did this. Every week he had a completely different look. He wore a karate outfit one week. On memorial day he wore camouflage from head to toe. He is perhaps the only person over fifteen and not in the armed forces that I have seen successfully pull off wearing a beret. He had style.
My question is "Where did this come from?" It must be genetic, because we certainly haven't taught Jackson this. I am the king of not caring how I look. Sure sometimes I look nice, but it is all an act. Jeans and a tee shirt. That's all I need or want. And while his mother is beautiful, she doesn't really have a style. No, this is something that is purely his. I don't get it or understand it. I worry a little that this will lead to him eventually putting bolts in his earlobes or tattooing the quadratic formula on his forehead. But mostly I like it. People with style make the world better by refusing to be the same. I may not understand wearing a trench coat in June, but the fact that the kid walking down my street earlier today thought it was a good look is enough for me.
So I say, make room for those with style. Don't squash them or try to make them conform. Besides, if we attempt to reel them in, where will all the actors and college professors come from.
(Picture of me in early high school. Proof that I don't have style)
June 17, 2009
Three Books for Summer
Saw a report the other day about "beach books." Apparently beach books are books you take with you to read at the beach. This must be a northern thing. The people they showed were at the beach, but pretty covered up. They looked almost cold. But there they sat with the wind whipping around them trying to read a novel.
I am not a big beach person, but the beaches I have been to are hot. You spend your time doing things like getting in the ocean. Because it's hot. Never seemed like much of a time to read a book to me. All that grit. Plus, it's hot.
Anyway, I recently read these three books. If you are looking for some summer reading (beach or no), here are my thoughts.
Meltdown-Thomas E. Woods Jr. This was a simple and straight-forward look at the causes of the boom-bust cycle in our national economy. If you do not give much thought as to how economies work, you will be blown away by this book. Woods uses the Austrian economic theory (of which I am a big believer) to illuminate our current "recession." The point of the book is that the problem isn't the bust, it is the ways the government interferes with the economy to artificially maintain the boom. Of course since the boom is artificial, there must be an inevitable bust. If you are worried you won't understand the book let me assure you; the book is written in a very accessible manner. I recommend this book highly. (Make sure you get the book by Woods as there are several current books with this title.)
The Blue Parakeet-Scot McKnight. This book attempts to tackle the question of how do we read the Bible. It asks a lot of really good questions, questions we should be asking. Like why do I selectively apply rules in the Bible? Why are some things for then, and some things for all time? His goal is to get us to see that there is method to our madness (and sometimes madness to our method) of looking for answers in the Bible. Yes we all have a method. Anyone who says "I just read the Bible and do what it says" is either naive or lying. In spite of this good premise I found the book lacking. It never went as deep as I wanted. Some of that may be that a lot of this I studied in grad school. But even so, I wished for more. This is a good book, and if you are wanting to gain some new found awareness about how we study the Bible and what we bring to the table when we do, you should read this book. If you are looking for more than that, keep looking.
Twilight-Stephenie Meyer. Yes, I read Twilight. But I have not been assimilated. I do, however, get the appeal. This book (or set of books) should sell like hotcakes with teenagers, especially teenage girls. Not because it is a romance (although it is) but because of how the romance is portrayed. (Warning spoiler alert). The main character, Bella, perceives herself to be an average, if clumsy, teenager. She spends her time reading and taking care of her mother who is somewhat immature. However, her world changes when the most handsome boy in the history of the world falls for her. Doesn't matter that he is a vampire who is at first attracted to her because of her floral smell which makes him want to consume her. So now this remarkable love affair whisks her into the heights of teenage angst and romance. I won't give away any more, but let me just say I tired of the gushing (oh I will never get used to looking at him, my heart skipped a beat), and the uneven writing. However, the moral dilemmas presented are pretty good, and the story is interesting enough to pull you along. If you are looking for great writing, this is not it. But if you need to get your teenager to actually read something this summer, give it a whirl.
I am not a big beach person, but the beaches I have been to are hot. You spend your time doing things like getting in the ocean. Because it's hot. Never seemed like much of a time to read a book to me. All that grit. Plus, it's hot.
Anyway, I recently read these three books. If you are looking for some summer reading (beach or no), here are my thoughts.
Meltdown-Thomas E. Woods Jr. This was a simple and straight-forward look at the causes of the boom-bust cycle in our national economy. If you do not give much thought as to how economies work, you will be blown away by this book. Woods uses the Austrian economic theory (of which I am a big believer) to illuminate our current "recession." The point of the book is that the problem isn't the bust, it is the ways the government interferes with the economy to artificially maintain the boom. Of course since the boom is artificial, there must be an inevitable bust. If you are worried you won't understand the book let me assure you; the book is written in a very accessible manner. I recommend this book highly. (Make sure you get the book by Woods as there are several current books with this title.)
The Blue Parakeet-Scot McKnight. This book attempts to tackle the question of how do we read the Bible. It asks a lot of really good questions, questions we should be asking. Like why do I selectively apply rules in the Bible? Why are some things for then, and some things for all time? His goal is to get us to see that there is method to our madness (and sometimes madness to our method) of looking for answers in the Bible. Yes we all have a method. Anyone who says "I just read the Bible and do what it says" is either naive or lying. In spite of this good premise I found the book lacking. It never went as deep as I wanted. Some of that may be that a lot of this I studied in grad school. But even so, I wished for more. This is a good book, and if you are wanting to gain some new found awareness about how we study the Bible and what we bring to the table when we do, you should read this book. If you are looking for more than that, keep looking.
Twilight-Stephenie Meyer. Yes, I read Twilight. But I have not been assimilated. I do, however, get the appeal. This book (or set of books) should sell like hotcakes with teenagers, especially teenage girls. Not because it is a romance (although it is) but because of how the romance is portrayed. (Warning spoiler alert). The main character, Bella, perceives herself to be an average, if clumsy, teenager. She spends her time reading and taking care of her mother who is somewhat immature. However, her world changes when the most handsome boy in the history of the world falls for her. Doesn't matter that he is a vampire who is at first attracted to her because of her floral smell which makes him want to consume her. So now this remarkable love affair whisks her into the heights of teenage angst and romance. I won't give away any more, but let me just say I tired of the gushing (oh I will never get used to looking at him, my heart skipped a beat), and the uneven writing. However, the moral dilemmas presented are pretty good, and the story is interesting enough to pull you along. If you are looking for great writing, this is not it. But if you need to get your teenager to actually read something this summer, give it a whirl.
June 11, 2009
This Week's Sermon
A look at the spiritual principle behind David's defeat of Goliath.
2009.06.07 Fighting Like David.mp3
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