Monday Bloggin'
I look forward to Monday morning blogs more than any other. The reason is that all of the blogs I currently visit are written by church-goin' folk and on Mondays they usually talk about what happened Sunday. It's a blessing to be able to share how God is working at the College Church in Fresno, but even moreso to find out how He is working in different places throughout the country. When I read of baptisms and prayers and special events in all of these areas it reminds me not only of how awesome our God is, how much love and attention he gives us, but also of His universality, of His omnipresence. His Spirit is alive and at work in the lives of brothers and sisters around the world...and that's pretty cool.I was incredibly blessed yesterday at College. I can't even truly put my finger on why but I will give a few highlights and let others connect the dots. Early in the service, Wes Schmidt and Rebekkah Mayfield read about the joy of God's Word from Psalm 119. This has little significance without knowing who these two are. Wes is one of the older men of our flock, a former elder and (if I was to pick just one) the patriarch of College Church. Rebekkah is a young girl around (help me out, Sandra) 8 or so. They each read two lines of the Psalm, trading off back and forth. It was fortunate that I had heard them rehearse earlier so that I could get all of the "losing-it" out of the way. The Word never sounded so beautiful.Sandra's mix of songs was perfect. She always does a great job, not only of mixing the old with the new and finding the right blend of songs as far as fast/slow and musical keys...but she works hard to prepare peoples' minds for the lesson. Yesterday we sang about the beauty of the Word and I couldn't keep my hands down. The lesson was on God's desire for His disciples to study. We looked at it from the angle that it is something that all can do and that all are called to do. God wants our minds and thoughts to be on Him. Study isn't about proving others wrong. It's about drawing closer to Christ, knowing Him better, transforming who we are. It's a subject that is dear to me and God blessed me through the message and the study that went into it.The College Church is an awesome place. Not without our problems. But with some of the greatest people you'll ever meet. I'm so grateful to be a part of it.
Super Friends
Last night I was getting James ready for bed. The weather has turned chilly so I was looking for some of his longer, warmer pajamas. I found his Spider-Man pants but couldn't find his Spider-Man shirt. He noticed what I was holding and so he was getting excited about being Spider-Man; there was no turning back. The shirt was nowhere to be found, but there was a Superman shirt. I asked him how he felt about having both Superman's AND Spider-Man's powers. Judging from how he jumped up and down at the prospect, he felt very positive about this indeed.Aside: I am such a superhero junkie. Did you notice that I even bother to correctly hyphenate "Spider-Man"? This makes me an anal superhero junkie. I use superhero/Star Wars references in sermons constantly...at least until somebody pulls me aside and says "enough already." Then I skip doing it in my next sermon.Second Aside: Here we go again. I preached the Sunday before Episode III came out and I'm up again this coming Sunday. Yep. The DVD comes out on Tuesday. Must...control...impulses....As James was getting dressed for bed, we both noticed at the same time that he was wearing -- wait for it -- Batman underwear! We both got tickled and laughed together for a long time. So, not only was he going to be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, climb walls, use x-ray vision, swing on webs, and be invulnerable to everything except kryptonite...but he was going to get to drive the Batmobile too! I'm telling you, good stuff, man.I want so much to instill the things I love in that precious boy. I want him to love superheroes and Star Wars and baseball. My daily prayer though, is that he sees my love for God, shares it, and finds that it outshines his love for any other thing on earth.
How Do You Get To Carnegie Hall?
This post is dedicated to my niece, Ashley, the only person I know who ever actually played Carnegie Hall.
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47)
We are using this passage to guide us through our current study on Discipleship. As the representatives of Jesus on earth, there are some tasks he left for us to do that will make us more effective and bring us joy in our roles as disciples. We are (I'm happy to say) past the point where we think that the performing of these tasks is what saves us. Yet we neglect them sometimes and forget that we are called to do them by our Lord. He left us his example and teachings. And we have the further examples and teachings of those who served him while he was incarnate. For this reason, we turn to the Acts passage, to give us a glimpse of life as a disciple in the first century.
The disciples were devoted to the apostle's teaching...to fellowship...to breaking bread together (eating, not communion)...to praying...and to giving. They were devoted to these things, their lives revolved around them. They weren't fitting them in as time allowed. And miraculous things were happening. They were looked on favorably by those around them...sadly unlike the culture I live in...and souls were being saved every day.
This week, our focus is on study. Of all of the spiritual disciplines, this one may see more turned-up noses than any other. But God calls us to turn our minds towards Him.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. (Phil. 4: 8,9)
Paul gave us the example. He was even brave enough to ask others to imitate him.
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (II Corinthians 10:5)
There are many others, of course..."set your minds on things above"...but you get the gist. Rarely do these disciplines come easy to us. We become better pray-ers the more we pray. Giving gets easier as we mature and let go of our selfishness. Study goes from struggle to second nature when we reap the benefits of living our lives with God-bent minds. Too often we see the examples of Jesus, the disciples, and the spiritually mature around us and think that we should be that far along from the very start. We are impatient with ourselves and our own spiritual development. We are reluctant to give these disciplines the time they need to develop. But when we look back at where we began and see how far we've come, we realize that there is hope. Maybe we used to have a hard time remembering to pray once a day and now we find ourselves talking to God all the time. It might have been hard in the early stages of our walk to share any of our income, talents, or time with others but now we find ourselves looking for ways to give and to serve. As disciples we must focus on our progress and realize that God Himself is involved in our development.
Jesus and Paul both called for perfection. "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Tough gig until you realize that the perfection they were referring to was really just spiritual maturity. Grow up, they said. Don't worry about being Jesus, just concentrate on becoming like him.
Practice makes perfect.
Things Itzhak Perlman Can Do
Itzhak Perlman can play all of the major pieces in the violin repertoire from memory. That is why he was able to fit a performance of the Beethoven Concerto on Thursday in between two much less well-known works on Wednesday (at UC Davis) and Friday (in San Francisco).Itzhak Perlman can receive a thunderous standing ovation the moment he walks into a room.Itzhak Perlman can keep you breathless while he slowly makes his way to center stage, supporting his not inconsiderable weight on two crutches, half dragging, half swinging his polio-ravaged legs along with him. He can labor over one small step up onto a platform before easing himself into a chair and setting his crutches aside. Then he can set bow to string and make you forget the entire struggle with a single note.Itzhak Perlman can barely make contact with his violin and send music surging through a huge auditorium.Itzhak Perlman can play three--and sometimes four--separate melodies at the same time.Itzhak Perlman can make grown men cry. I refer here, of course, to the burly, bearded man sitting in the first chair of the violin section. Not me. I don't cry at concerts.Itzhak Perlman can make you laugh too. The drama of the second movement over, he raced into the lighter third with such joy, and plucked the strings with such verve that many in the audience laughed. I commented to Mom later that the Violin Concerto must have been one of the few pieces Beethoven ever wrote when he was in a good mood. At least, part of the time.Itzhak Perlman can make a crowd of thousands of people, most older than dirt, stand on their feet and applaud for a long, long time. He was called out 4 times, each time a struggle, and each time graciously yet defiantly refusing us all what we desperately wanted: more. Finally, from off stage (which we could see from our right-side seats) he took his white towel from where it was draped over his violin and tossed it as far on stage as he could. Following the laughter when people realized he had thrown in the towel, he popped back on, smiled, waved, and mouthed "bye bye."Yeah, the concert was pretty good.
This & That
They're dropping like flies. One of our CA's (Campus Assistants...security-type folk) was rushed to emergency yesterday with a possible stroke. Keep the Lopez family in your prayers.Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and comments. I couldn't dream of doing anything BUT teach. There are rewards, sometimes it just takes longer to get to them than others. I'm finally seeing signs of improvement. Plus, I had a heart-to-heart with my principal yesterday and she assured me that she had my back regarding any moves I need to make. She's awesome and, as always, our meeting ended with a hug. This, uh, isn't your ordinary public school here. Most of us treat each other like family.I officially couldn't care less who wins the World Series. It's been a long time since I said that. If the Sox win, it validates that the Angels lost to the best team. If the Astros win, it validates the careers of Bagwell and Biggio. I generally like the guys on the 'stros more than the Sox, so I guess I'm leaning that way. I'm a huge Clemens fan (although he's won his share already), a Pettitte fan as well (good Christian man, but also has his share of rings) and also like Oswalt, Berkman, and others. But overall, the Series rates a big "Eh."Tonight my mother is treating me to an All-Beethoven concert. The Violin Concerto (one of the 3 or 4 greatest ever written) will be performed by...wait for it...Itzhak Perlman. And yes, I do still live in Fresno. If you're not a big enough fan of classical music to know who Perlman is, go do a quick Google and come back. He's the best. Period.I'll blog about it eventually but probably not tomorrow. Cecil has given me permission to play golf and I'll be spending the day with my buddy, Kevin. But I'll check back in soon. I encourage you all to do the same: blow off Friday and start your weekend early. Enjoy!
Double the Pleasure
Over the past 6 years at Sunnyside High School, I have written a total of 6 conduct referrals. I like to take care of discipline in-house: detention, calls home, writing sentences...my bag of tricks was seemingly endless. I have always reserved referrals for the really serious situations or the hopeless repeat offenders.Today I wrote my 12th of the year. Yes, that's right, in 2 months I have doubled the number of referrals written in the previous 6 years. We have a behavior issue this year.One of our Vice Principals, a tall, athletic guy in his 30's, is a big help. He takes care of business. I've been in his office 4 times this year already. He has a steady flow of problem-children moving through there every day. Last week his blood pressure skyrocketed and he almost passed out during lunch. An ambulance came for him and he spent the rest of the week at home. Only 2 months into the year and we almost had our first casualty already.Yesterday I had a kid walk out on me because I wouldn't let him spit in class. Today I had a student refuse to do any work because he had stitches in his arm...couldn't write, you see. Oddly, the girl sitting two groups over was doing all of her work despite a broken finger.I heard yesterday that one of our feeder middle schools has become notorious for turning out students with discipline problems. It sounds very much like they're letting them get away with murder over there. It sounds very much like somebody needs to go visit with that principal. And, as time goes by, I'm wondering if it's going to turn out to be me.We're all tired. But we persevere. I wonder though, if there is going to be any gas left in the tank come June.Postscript: I just came back from the office where one of the students I removed from my class (and thus, the school) had dropped off his textbook. Under "Comments" he wrote: "I hate you." Folks, it's gonna be a loooong year.
I Have Arrived
Let's get this out of the way first. The Angels have nobody to blame but themselves for losing so badly in the ALCS. They didn't show up. Figgins and Guerrero combined for 2 hits in 5 games. This isn't a team that makes excuses so I'm not going to make any for them. Bad calls, losing Colon, Washburn's illness, Bengie's injury...I think all those things contributed. But they simply forgot to hit. You don't get to go to the World Series that way.I can't write anything better than Sandra did about this past Sunday. If you really want to know what it was like go read her blog first at http://sjsblog.blogspot.com/. Then come back here.It was such a moving scene: groups of people are gathered around our elders, holding them and praying for them. We could have continued for at least 15 more minutes. During the last song, there were still people getting up and surrounding these couples we love. The blessing for me was when people came to Lisa and I and prayed for us. I know this happened with some of our ministers too. One dear sister walked right up on stage and grabbed Sandra while she was singing, hugging her and praying over her. It was special to me because I have no official capacity at College whatsoever. Yet people found it in their hearts to pray for me and for what I do. Amazing.If there was any doubt in my mind as to whether I had arrived as a preacher or not, it was erased last night. Both of my last two sermons have had great responses. I've had many people come and say how blessed they were by them. Sunday's lesson even came quite easily, a sure sign that the Spirit is doing the writing. But none of that convinced me that I was on the right track nearly as much as the phone call I received yesterday.Last night, one of our brothers raked me over the coals for comments I'd made in the last two lessons. Among other things, I shouldn't mention the time when people were "pushed out" of our church (they weren't and I didn't). It was "offensive" of me to say that women are oppressed in the church (yeah, I said that one). I need to choose my words more carefully and stop acting like I know it all (sometimes I think I'm not forceful enough and I pray I don't act like I know it all...I don't think I do). And I really insulted some people this past Sunday when I said "I'm tired of hearing prayers that end with 'if it be Your will.'" (I'm sorry, but I am.) The kicker came when, after 15 minutes of berating me, he asked me to do him a favor.I kid you not.Anyway, the favor was something I truly couldn't do...he asked me to tell him who said what in a recent elders' meeting...so I politely declined. And I have to say, I really was quite polite the entire time. There were some long pauses when he made inflammatory comments that I just let hang. I'm old enough to know when I'm being baited, I suppose. But God kept me in check as He kept reminding me that if this guy was upset, I must be doing something right.I have arrived.
Boo Hoo
Emotionally distraught.Can't talk now.Will post tomorrow.Leave all condolences here, please.
Loose Balls and Loose Ends
If the Angels lose the ALCS, which I doubt, then Doug Eddings will go down with Don Denkinger in baseball infamy: two umpires who loused up so badly that they changed the course of the championship.Did Paul catch it? Yes. Should he have tagged the batter anyway? Yes. Immaterial.Because Eddings threw up the right arm, he tightened the fist, he called him out. Johnny Bench would have rolled the ball back to the mound if the umpire had called the batter out. And yes, I know that Paul was in front of the ump, but Bench had eyes in the back of his head.Batter out.I'm not saying the Angels would have won. But they should have at least been given the chance.I haven't been able to talk about it much. I've been truly mad...I take the Angels too seriously, I suppose. They started talking about the play in my lunch meeting and my pulse started racing. I need a day off.As Forrest would say, "That's all I got to say about that." For now.Come to think of it, didn't Forrest also say, "Stupid is as stupid does"? It would be nice if Eddings would admit he blew it instead of making excuses and playing the "replays were inconclusive" record. My pulse is going up again. Must...stop....Thank you all for your prayers for our elders. Please don't stop. I love the idea of prayers going up before the 40 days have even begun. I know that I have never weighed in on my own question concerning God sending lying spirits. I agree with bits and pieces, actually most, of what everybody else said. Granted, it's not an easy issue at all. And it really is possible to take the argument all the way back to "Who wrote these books anyway?" I certainly go there every time I analyze Job too deeply.Of course, the bottom line is "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?" God is God and I am certainly not going to question his motives. It's fascinating and makes for great discussion, but at the end of the day...as they say in Texas: Ahab needed killin'. There are many lessons to learn there, not the least of which is: DON'T BE AHAB! In my wildest dreams, I can't imagine God arranging for one of His beloved children to be tricked by a liar and led away from Him. Glad that everyone is back from ZOE and back to blogging. I enjoy conversing with you all (and if you never comment, DO) and hope to meet everyone face to face someday. I can't do Pepperdine, Cecil, as it always comes at a time that I can't get away from the job, but there will be other opportunities I'm sure. Here's a thought: why don't you all skip the Nashville ZOE next time and come on out to Fresno? It's better anyway...they've worked out all the kinks.No baseball tonight. My heart can't take it. Pray for me tomorrow. I want to beat them by about 20 runs.
40 Days
I almost fell off my chair.Last night an elder at College admitted that maybe he and the other men who serve our church weren't the best communicators in the world.Suppressing a loud "Ya THINK?", I commended him for this confession and told him how much I was looking forward to the upcoming time of prayer for these men and their leadership of the College Church.Elders aren't perfect. The thing is, they know this! And not one of our elders wouldn't admit to needing prayer, and lots of it. With that in mind, College is going to enter into 40 days of prayer, starting on Sunday. We will be praying for direction. We will praying for Spiritual guidance. But most of all, we will be praying for these men. These men who all have other jobs...doctors, superintendants, professors...yet who devote so much of their time to the church. These men who are flawed and imperfect, yet who model maturity and discipline. These men who spend so much of their lives praying for us.None of us have any idea where these 40 days will lead. Maybe we will see the need for a pulpit minister at the end of them, maybe not. Maybe we will discover new ways to communicate with each other, maybe not. Maybe there will be no tangible result at all. But you simply can't devote 40 days to asking the Spirit to lead us without good, Godly results. "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your own children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him" (Luke 11: 13)I'll get back to lying spirits and winning Angels soon. For now, I implore you to pray for the College Church. Pray for the men who lead her. Pray for us all to give ourselves over to the Spirit and submit to His ultimate guidance. The 40 days will end on November 25, the day after Thanksgiving. That should be an interesting post.
Angels and Spirits
The Angels beat the Yankees! All is right with the world.How would you like this schedule? Play in New York on Sunday night. Fly to LA and arrive around 5 am. Play that evening. Fly to Chicago. Get in early morning. Play that night. Meanwhile, my boys beat the Evil Empire despite losing their top two starters to a throat infection and a bum shoulder/back. Ervin Santana, 22 year old rookie who started the year in AA ball, came in in relief and held the Yankees down. Gutsy performance. Resilient team.I love this game.In the comments from my previous post, Laymond Meredith asked about a comment I made in LVM's blog regarding God sending "lying spirits." It's been awhile but I'm sure I was referring to the passage in II Chronicles 18: 18-22 where God sent Ahab to his death. It's a fascinating scene, not just for the uncomfortable concept of God sending a spirit on such a mission, but for the idea that God sits on his throne and...consults. The text says that God was sitting on His throne with all the host of heaven on His right and left. One by one they suggested ideas to God until one volunteered to "be a lying spirit in the mouths of [Ahab's] prophets." Striking. And it begs many questions, not the least of which is: is this really how God does business?I covet opinions. Is this metaphor? If so, where do we draw the line at such speculation? If not, why was God asking others what He should do? And we would he entice Ahab with lies? Surely He is not the God of lies. How does this scene compare to the scene in Job where God and Satan meet and consider God's servant? Just who was it that consented to do the lying? If it was Satan himself, does that put him at God's command?I have my own ideas, of course. But no good teacher would volunteer his own ideas without hearing what others have to say first. And if you really get into it, hop on over to I Kings 13 and examine the story where the "old prophet" lies to the "man of God." Compare and contrast.Man, I've been assigning homework waaaaaay too long.One more thing. Amidst all your studying and conjecturing, have a good thought for the Angels, would you? They're tired and the ChiSox are a good team. We need all the help we can get.
Back to Normal
San Luis Obispo was beautiful. Lisa cropped all weekend and I had some time to go downtown and visit my favorite shops. I hit Phoenix first and found a few nice books. Among others, I found a nice copy of Nouwen's "Return of the Prodigal Son" and the complete works of John Donne. Don't worry, I won't bore you with more poetry. Unless I change my mind because it's good for you.Next I went next door to Boo Boo's Records. I've found most of my CD rarities there, often used and for a great price. I found "The Princess Bride" soundtrack (bonus points if you name the composer) and a hard-to-find recording of Mahler's 5th.That was Friday. On Saturday I really had fun. The Angels game was rained out so I spent most of the afternoon at Leon's. I love Leon's. They do a great job of actually moving books and keeping them in some semblance of order. If you know me, you know how nutty I am about having things in their place, the better to actually find them when you are looking for them. If I had a used book store, it would be Leon's. Anyway, I found hardbound copies of "Asimov on the Bible" (both testaments) and "Asimov on Shakespeare." Also I picked up a hardbound copy of "Father Joe: The Man Who Saved My Soul" in perfect shape. I've wanted this since John York recommended it at last year's ZOE Conference. I found Nouwen's "Bread For the Journey", a nice collection of Bradbury essays, another Shakespeare companion, and a few other bits and pieces. This was Lisa's treat for my upcoming birthday so I spent without too many regrets.We went out that night and had some steak and lobster, which was really about the only time we had together the whole weekend. Lisa works very hard and was sick most of the time. But I think her clients had a good time and, in between excursions, I got to watch a great golf match and some awesome baseball. Friday's defeat of the Yankees was particularly nice. Tonight, Lisa is back at work and the Angels play a HUGE game at 4:30. I'm not going to lie to you, I'll be very depressed if they lose. But today marks 7 years of marriage to a woman I absolutely do not deserve. Aside from being the hardest working person I know, Lisa is the kindest. She cares deeply for others. She is an incredible mom and a terrific friend. I would be absolutely lost without her, ask anyone. So if worse comes to worst and this is the last day of the Angels 2005 season, I don't have far to go to count my blessings. God has blessed me tremendously with my wife and son, my family, and my friends. Welcome home ZOE people! Happy Anniversary, baby! (Got you on my miiiiiiiind.)
ZOE Break
Since so many people are at the ZOE Conference in Nashville, we will resume our regularly scheduled blogging on Monday. This way Cecil and Greg and Randy and Sandra and Brandon and Mike and just about every other blogger I know can enjoy their time uninterrupted.One of the greatest things that Sandra has done is brought ZOE out west. We will have our west coast conference early in 2006 and it will be very similar to what is going on in Nashville this weekend. We are blessed to have brothers and sisters with amazing talents and the desire and courage to share them with us as well as with God. We are so grateful that they come all the way out here and we are always blessed by their visit. I truly believe that ZOE West Coast will be one of Sandra's greatest legacies.As much as I would love to be there with everybody this weekend, I'd be even more grateful to see Lisa be able to go. We're not at a place where we can afford to send her, but I think she'd get as much out of it as anyone, and could bring home valuable ideas and share them from a unique perspective. Surely nobody in Fresno works as hard as she does for ZOE when they are here...I'm sure that Sandra and Eric and others would say the same. I'd love to be able to reward her some day with a trip to the Nashville ZOE Conference.Lisa and I will be in San Luis Obispo this weekend, so it's a good time for a break anyway. She will be hosting a crop there and I will be enjoying the town. It's one of my favorite places. James will stay in Fresno and all the ladies will be cropping up a storm (that's scrapbooking to all of you who are Creative Memories impaired), so I will get to spend hours in the used bookstores, Boo Boo Records, and some of my other favorite places. I imagine I'll even take some of those books to the beach, since I'll be so close and all.I will, of course, be back in the hotel (or the nearest sports bar) as soon as the Angels start playing. It was a great comeback against the Yankees last night. We are one of the few teams that can actually hit Randy Johnson so I'm holding out hopes that we can wrap the series up in New York. Tall order, I know, but my Angels have been known to surprise people. They play with heart and class and they never give up.Prayers will go up all weekend for ZOE. I can't wait to hear all the stories. Back to blogging on Monday.
Postseason, Baby!!!
On paper, the Angels really should beat the Yankees. The Evil Empire has an incredibly potent offense, but the Angels' pitching is much better. Add to that home-field advantage and the fact that since 1996 the Angels are the only team with a winning record against the Yanks and our chances are pretty good. The problem is that they actually have to play the games. And the Yankees have a frightening October mystique. But for a guy who hates the Yankees and the way they distort the game I love and who loves the Angels and has been a die-hard ever since 1979, the choice is easy. The first game is tonight at 5:00. Fingers and toes all firmly crossed, I'm picking the Angels in 3.The Cardinals are going to kill the Padres. The NL West is one of the weakest divisions in the history of the game and the Pahds barely finished above .500. The Cardinals are the best team in the NL...by a lot. Cards in 3.I hate the Braves too. I'm just sick of them. I have more respect for them this year than usual because they actually weren't expected to win. But they stepped up and got the job done, even though they got in mainly due to the human hot dog, Andruw Jones. I do, however, like the Astros okay. I love The Rocket. Best pitcher I ever saw and arguably the best ever. But this is going to be a battle. I hate to say it, but Braves in 5.Which brings us to the battle of the footwear. I prefer my Sox in red and not just because one of my best friends is a big fan. I've always liked the Red Sox, ever since I found out that the guy living next door to me pitched for them (Dick Ellsworth, a pretty darn good pitcher at that). Fenway Park is baseball heaven and David Ortiz is a monster. These are two very different teams but the Red Sox unquestionably have the edge in experience. For the Angels sake, I would like to see the PaleHose win because I think if Jarrod Washburn sees Ortiz in the batter's box again in October he'll have a stroke and die on the mound. But it's hard to root against Boston and I think they'll win anyway so I'll take them in 4.Ain't postseason great? Can you believe there are people watching football??? Me neither.
Opening Acts
Jimmy Eat World opened for Green Day Saturday night. They had one good song. Unfortunately, they played about ten.What is it about opening acts? Those of us who love concerts always have a few good stories about concerts we went to where the opening band was great. But usually they are some group that has/had one hit and are/were never heard from again. Jimmy Eat World did "The Middle." You know...everything everything will be just fine...everything everything will be allright allright...that song. Good song. In my iPod. But in 10 years is anybody going to know who the heck Jimmy Eat World is?In my concert-going history I have had a few nice surprises. American Hi-Fi and Sugar Ray both opened for Matchbox 20. The next time we saw Matchbox they had Fountains of Wayne as their opening act. Pretty good trend there. Actually, before we saw them the first time, Matchbox 20 had Maroon 5 opening. So Rob Thomas and Co. have an eye for talent.More often though it's bands like Fahrenheit, who opened for Boston. They had a hit at the time, couldn't tell you what it was now. There was a "comedian" who opened for Mellencamp who almost made us want to leave. Bad bad bad.I can't help but wonder what kind of opening act this life is shaping up to be. Obviously, the headliner is coming next. And there are days when I just want to boo this life right off the stage and get on with the real show. But most of the time I'm amazed at how good the opener is. We really have no right to expect any rewards or privilege during our time on earth. God certainly hasn't promised us anything except the occasional bout of suffering. At least, not until he comes in glory. But this life here, the warmup act, I have to say: not bad!Can you imagine...when the lights go down...and the herald of angels hit that first note...? Now that is going to rock.
Hit Counters
