French (Freedom) Fries

Several months ago, I posted on here that I was ready to lose weight. Well, here I am, not much lighter, and not much more disciplined.

That is until the past week and a half. I've decided, through the help of a friend, Kyle Hooper, that you have to set some smaller goals.

I also have to stop thinking about the fact that I used to be skinnier. I'll get there again one day, but it won't be tomorrow. Just because I was there does not mean I deserve it tomorrow.

Which brings me to french fries and also candy bars. Being a youth minister, its hard to have a diet that doesn't consist of french fries and candy bars. Its so easy to run and pick up some fast food for lunch, or for dinner, at any given time. Granted, the burgers and sandwiches at most of these joints are bad for you, but the french fries are terrible.

I'm not saying i'm going to cut them out completely, but I have noticed my stomach has been feeling better since I stopped eating them. I'm making more conscious efforts to be healthier now. Its about time.

Having said that, i suggest everyone check out the NBC show "The Biggest Loser". It comes on Wednesday, so set your DVR to record since you'll all be at church, right?

For the last 11 days, I have not eaten a french fry. That, is a HUGE deal for me. I love french fries, even though they have zero nutritional value.

Alabama/Arkansas

Well, its about that time to make our end of the week predictions. I really don't know how some teams will fare this weekend, but here goes some guesses:

I predict Alabama over Arkansas. The score -- 27-14

Auburn will not fare well against Buffalo. They will only win by about 14.

Tennessee will handle Marshall easily. The score will be 45-14.

Georgia will destroy Colorado.

My upsets:

Michigan State beats Notre Dame 21-18

Kentucky Beats Florida 31-30

Penn State beats Ohio State in Overtime by a field goal.

In NFL scores, the Titans will lose, no matter who they play, by 50. Actually, its the battle of the 0 and 2's, and the Titans will play Vince Young from the 2nd quarter on after Kerry Collins throws 1 complete pass out of 16 attempts.

Go team!

Homosexuality and Christianity

I was talking with someone the other day about a situation involving homosexuality. I won't name any names. I started to realize other than the fact that homosexuality is basically condemned in the New Testament, I know very little about it.

I really need some good books to read about counseling those with homosexual tendencies, family members who have turned to homosexuality, friends who are homosexuals, etc. It is a very real issue, and I need to learn how to deal with it. Unfortunately, I was failed in that regard at my alma mater, but I don't know that any of the schools nowadays are really teaching one how to teach about it.

Anyone who can steer me towards some good books, a good video series, etc., I would really appreciate it.

Thanks to Jason for helping me plug this question.

Reggie Bush, a cheat?

The Reggie Bush era.

Everyone says he'll be the salvation of the Saints. Let's face it, its still the Saints. If Mike Ditka couldn't help them, do you really think Reggie Bush can?

I ran across a very interesting article on a REGGIE BUSH INVESTIGATION taking place. Its a long article, but rather interesting.

My big questions are as follows:

1. So what if he did take money? He worked really hard at what he did. Doesn't he deserve it?
2. Should a school be punished for the stupidity of one of their athletes?
3. If I'm in college, and I go for an interview with someone before I graduate, I don't get in trouble for that. What's the difference between that and what Reggie Bush did? If I got flown somewhere to experience a weekend by a corporation that wants to hire me before I'm done with college, that's okay!

I'm not saying I agree with what may have happened, and i'm not saying USC shouldn't be punished. But to take away a Heisman? Talking to the NFL people or working with an agent didn't help him achieve that status. In fact, it probably hurt him with all the distractions going on.

Anyone care to chime in?

1095 Days/ 26280 Hours/ 1576800 Minutes

3 years ago today. 3 years ago today I stood on a church stage in front of many witnesses, and confessed my love and devotion to Kristen Joy Sims. It was one of the most emotional days of my life.

That day was a whirlwind. I woke up, in house that all the groomsmen were staying in, and we went to Cracker Barrell for breakfast. I had Steak and Biscuits. We sat there for about 2 hours, talking, laughing, chatting, and stuffing our faces. Then, we went home, and began to get dressed.

The day continued as we went for the dreaded pictures. I'll never understand why you have to get ready so early for pictures, but we did anyway.

Kristen and I did not want to see each other before the ceremony. We wanted to pictures after, but we realized that puts everyone at such an inconvenience, making them wait for food and wait to greet us. So what we did was we had a rehearsal run before hand. We got only the family and the bridesmaids and the groomsmen, and kicked everyone else (like the decorator, etc) out. We then had what I considered to be the best moment of my life.

The groomsmen and I marched down the aisle as well as the bridesmaids. The groomsmen walked down to bagpipe music. It was a reference to our many trips to Scotland together. The bridesmaids walked down to When You Say Nothing at All by Allison Krauss. Then, to a song called Only Hope, the love of my life appeared in the doorway, and walked down the aisle with her father.

I'm not usually all that emotional, but I had a pipe burst or something, because I could not stop the tears from flowing. I realized how lucky I was, and how God works in our lives to put the absolute perfect person in our lives. There is no one else I could ever imagine spending my life with.

We've lived in 5 different houses, 4 different cities, worked with 3 different churches, and I believe now we have finally found a place to settle down, start a family, and place some roots. Our first home was a trailer by the Cumberland River in Ashland City, TN. We then moved in Ashland City to a different house that was literally in the middle of nowhere. It was 1/2 mile off the road. Kristen hated that house, but I loved it. From there we moved to an apartment in Memphis, and then to our first home (which we still haven't sold...sigh) in Olive Branch, MS.

Now we begin our third year of marriage in Guntersville, AL and hope to spend many more here. In fact, at this point, I'd be happy if we spent every anniversary here together. There's not a prettier place around.

I love my wife with all my heart. Happy 3 years. Here's to 300 more!

(By the way, the picture with the snowman was the first day that Kristen and I spent any real time together. It was a snowy day at Freed Hardeman, when everyone skipped class and went to play in the snow. The others in the picture are my old roommate Kevin Westmoreland and Kristen's old roommate Amy Champion. I'm the one in the ski mask.)

Major League Baseball Predictions

As the season starts to wind down, I am going to go ahead and make my MLB awards predictions for Rookie of the Year, Cy Young Winners, MVP, and Manager of the Year.

First of all, Rookie of the Year:

American League- Justin Verlander RHP for Detroit
National League- Prince Fielder 1B for the Brewers (he's going to be a stud)



Cy Young Winners:

American League- Johan Santana for the Twins (come on, he is the league leader in just about every category).
National League- If I had to make a guess, probably Chris Carpenter for St. Louis.



Manager of the Year:

American League- I can't go with Jim Leyland. Yeah, he helped turn Detroit around, but he's about to blow it completely. I'm going to go with a strong season end by Joe Torre for the Yankees (and not just because I'm a Yankee's fan).

National League- This is a toss up between Willie Randolph for the Mets and Joe Girardi for Florida, but I think I'll go with Willie Randolph.


MVP:

American League- Well, not to play favorites, but I'm going to have to go with Derek Jeter for the AL MVP.

National League- Toss up between Ryan Howard for Philadelphia and Albert Pujols. I say Pujols goes two years in a row.

Sprint, DirecTV, Gatorade?

Ah, the Titans. Used to be, teams were afraid. No one wanted to go play in Adelphia. Now, the Jets are up 16 to 8 on my Titans. I'm taking a moment to blog because I'm getting frustrated with my boys.

However, throughout the game, I've noticed something that i think may get old soon. I have never been a University of Tennessee fan, but I've always loved Peyton Manning. Let's admit it, he was robbed when he didn't get the Heisman (it was only because he was in the SEC, and all the voters hate the SEC).

Now, I love Peyton (except when the Colts play the Titans). But today, I have seen about 11,000 Peyton Manning commercials. So far, he's had commercials for Gatorade, for Sprint, and for DirecTV. The newest Gatorade commercial portrays Peyton erupting out of a shell (similar to the ones the Gremlins hatched out of when they ate after midnight).

Peyton is great, but do the NFL games all really have to be brought to us by Peyton?

Watch Out for Aliens

Ever since I was a little boy, I haven't really been scared of much. I never really was all that scared of the dark. I wasn't afraid of clowns or spiders. The only thing I was ever scared of was aliens. Yup, that's right, aliens. I attribute that to a lot of episodes of Unsolved Mysteries on Wednesday nights after church, the show Amazing Stories which used to come on Sunday nights, and the fact that I swear there were aliens in our backyard.

I've always been scared of them as long as I can remember. Now of course, why aliens would come all this way to earth just to freak us out is beyond me. It just creeps me out. So on Wednesday night of this week, I did a class based upon my fear of Aliens.

You remember that movie Signs? I loved it, and hated it all at the same time. There were plenty of great spiritual applications though in that movie. Let me share my favorite.

Do you remember in that movie when they had boarded up their home, and headed down to the basement to tough it out? They placed a pick axe in front of the door, and hoped that would keep out the aliens (they can travel light years to earth but can't open a door?). The little boy, Morgan, said that the aliens would be good problem solvers, and would find a way in. Sure enough, the basement used to have a coal shaft in it. As Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix looked around for it, Morgan was standing in front of the shaft, and an alien grabbed him from behind. Just as Morgan said, they found a way in.

You know, Satan does the same thing. He's a great problem solver. Just when we think we're safe, in the privacy of our own home, protected by locked doors, alarms, and whatever else we may have, Satan finds a way in. We protect our hearts by going to church, participating in small groups, reading our Bibles and praying, but Satan still finds a way in.

And you know what the sad thing is? We aren't easily scared of the power that Satan has. We jump and scream at scary movies, but we don't flinch at all when we read of the fact that Satan is alive and well in the world.

Remember what kills the aliens in the movie Signs? Yeah, Water. I though it was cheesy as well. These terrible aliens are hurt by water. They have poison gas flowing through their bodies, but water will destroy them.


About the only thing, however, that will destroy the presence of Satan in our lives is...well, water. Being buried in Christ in the waters of Baptism cleanses our souls, our bodies, our lives. That water, which symbolizes the blood of Christ, is the one thing Satan can't deal with. It drives him away.

At least for a while. Remember, we said Satan was a good problem solver. Becoming a Christian doesn't make you exempt from Satan. Satan can, and will find a way back into your lives. Be watchful, Satan goes around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Satan is real, but my Jesus beats him every time.

What kind of day will today be?

Last night was our first edition of Primetime Plus, an expanded version of our regular Primetime Wednesday Nights in the Guntersville Youth Ministry. It was a great class with a pretty good turnout. We'll be doing that every first Wednesday of the month, so make sure you bring a friend when you come!

Today, the television repair people are coming to look at our television. If you want to see what our television is doing, click HERE. It really looks like a little kid scribbled on our television. I'm anxious to see what causes this.

Our DirecTV issue is still not resolved. They told me now in order to fix it, I have to reset the hard drive on my DVR unit. That means, all the shows I have recorded to it will be erased. Sigh, that angers me a little, but its just a tv show.

Last night, I was watching Baseball Tonight, and they did the Top 10 Webgems of all time. Ozzie Smith had two of the top ten, including number 1. Check out their top defensive plays for each major league team HERE.

Prediction for the Bama game this weekend:

Alabama 35 Vanderbilt 14
Tennessee 50 Air Force 7
Auburn 24 Mississippi St. 14

Titans 21 New York Jets 18

Any thoughts?