Anyway, there is a lull in mine from midnight until 5:00a most days and then during the week it picks up around 5:00a and 6:00a, which is when I get to work and then lulls during the 7:00a-8:00a hours then picks back up at 9:00a when the rest of the world wakes up. It is pretty interesting to look at and see those patterns.

HT to Marko.

While this season has been much worse than I ever thought it would or could be and I won’t be watching Michigan for the first time in pretty much my whole lifetime, a 4-8 finish wouldn’t be so bad. Unfortunately, I do not realistically see it happening. I am so far only correct on one of my predictions for this season, but being correct on two of them would be nice.

I would not call this season a disaster, but it is a failure. We need a new quarterback because I do think that Steven Threet or Nick Sheridan are the answer for the future of this program and I wish we could have seen more of Justin Feagin this season. No offense to Nick or Steven, I just don’t think that they are the right guys for the system.

I think Rich Rodriguez is a great coach and will turn the program into a success. He just didn’t have the personnel this year to get it done and did the best with what he had. I do not think he needs to be fired as some people are suggesting. It is just too early to be calling for his head, but everyone is entitled to their opinion.

This week is the lead up to “The Game” and so let the fun begin. Unfortunately, Ohio State shouldn’t have too much to worry about this year.

And just for fun….

I know 2 people who have done this and they have gotten a free iPod Touch. One of them got an Xbox 360 Elite, 12-months of Xbox Live, Halo 3, a 16 GB iPod Touch, a 32 GB iPod Touch, could thousands dollars in cash and now a MacBook.

For me to get mine all I need is 8 referrals. You can click on the banner above or click here and sign up to start getting your own free iPod Touch or something else. In the infamous words of Bartles & Jaymes, “Thanks for your support!” I will let you know when it arrives.

I heard so many wonderful comments that I just thought were wonderful regarding this election. One was from a woman who had her 3 year old son with her and she had said that she was so happy to be able to tell her son that he didn’t have to only dream of being a rap star or basketball player to make a name for himself, because now he could be President of the United States of America.

Another one was from a woman who had gone to the polls with her 90+ year old grandmother. She had said that her grandma had lived long enough to remember when African-Americans couldn’t vote and now she was able to vote for and see a African-American become President.

The last one was from Whoopi Goldberg. She had said that she talked with her mom, who was always a positive thinking person, and asked her if she ever thought she would live to see the day she would see a African-American become President and her mom said that she never thought she would.

When I heard all three of these statements it brought tears to my eyes. I hope that we as a nation continue to move forward in this regard, because we are sadly way behind most of the rest of the world in this regard. I look forward to the day when we can see a Latino President, Asian President or even an American-Indian President. So let’s all take a moment and celebrate this wonderful day and once again on 20 January 2009. This is a time to set down ou political differences and take joy in this historic moment.

The other historic moment that took place happened in the northern regions of Michigan’s lower peninsula, in the city of Traverse City at the Black Star Farms. It was the wedding of Eric and Laura Voigt. While this was not the first wedding ceremony that I conducted it was the first wedding ceremony that I did for someone who was a teenager in a youth group I was the youth pastor at. Besides that part I also believe that every wedding is a historic moment because it is the uniting of two lives together.

I love weddings and find great joy in attending them or, if I get the honor to do so, conducting the ceremony of a wedding. Marriage is such a wonderful thing and something that should be treasured and cherished. I especially love when they do the dance at receptions when they have all the married couples come out on the dance floor and the eliminate them until they have the couple that has been married the longest out on the dance floor. Kimmy and I will sit there and watch that older couple dancing, and dream of the day when that is us. We don’t see any other option but growing old together and staying madly in love with each other. That is my prayer for every married couple and that is my prayer for Eric and Laura Voigt. History started indeed.

Leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn’t matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember! Don’t send a message, leave a comment on here. Next, re-post this on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It’s actually pretty cool (and funny) to see the responses.

The Bible is very clear as to how Christ-followers are to respond to those in authority and unfortunately much of the responses that I am seeing from some of my Christian friends on Facebook is not Biblical, in my opinion. I think back to my reaction in 1992 when Bill Clinton became our 42nd President and it was deplorable. I did not show him the honor that he was due and instead of lifting him up in prayer I was tearing him down with my speech. And that was ungodly. I have repented of that behavior and have made a choice to change that from here on out. Instead I am choosing to follow the words of Scripture.

Romans 13:1-7 - Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.

This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give to everyone what you owe: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

Whether we like it or not, God has placed Barack Obama as the next President of the United States and we as Christ-followers need to give him the respect that the office deserves based upon the Word of God. We are also commanded to pray for them.

1 Timothy 2:1-4 - I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

So I implore Christ-followers to change the tide of this country and do as a friend of mine said and choose to radically love for change. Another friend of mine made a great comment on Twitter, “Jesus calls us to SALT, not assault. Selah.” All I can say is, “Amen!” How are you going to respond?

His life story has really got me thinking about my life story and how I was raised as a Christian myself, along with the attitudes that I have developed as a result. As you can see from the picture I have posted here, which is a sticker from Jay’s church, it says that they are “sorry for being self-righteous judgmental bastards.” While that is pretty strong language I think there is a lot of truth to that statement, especially for me personally. As I have been really examining my walk with God and the way I live out my faith in the world around me I have realized that I have not been exactly living my life the way that Jesus would. I don’t believe that I have always shown people the grace and love that as a person who is a Christ follower should.

This recent Presidential election has really brought a lot of it once again to my attention and I realized how much of a jerk I had been towards people who thought different than me when it came to politics. But this post is about even more than just that.

I have been at the National Youth Workers Convention in Pittsburgh this weekend and have heard many compelling messages. One of the people that spoke was a gentleman named Andrew Marin, who is the mastermind behind The Marin Foundation that is “the very first organization that works to build a bridge between the religious and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) communities in a non-threatening, research and biblically oriented fashion.” Andrew challenged the youth workers here in Pittsburgh to really get out there and do what they can to reach out to gay teenagers and show them the love of God, and to be intentional about it instead of just waiting for it to happen. Unfortunately, the churches reaction to people in the gay and lesbian community has not been one of love and that has made the church one of the last places on earth that they want to visit, so being intentional and going to them is the only way for us to really show them the love of Christ.

The next speaker after Andy was Soong-Chan Rah, who spoke on the issue of race in the church, which sadly is still and issue that our Presidential election has showed to be something that is a problem. The whole reason why Soong-Chan Rah was invited to speak was because of a skit in one of the books that Youth Specialties published that had stereotyped Asian-Americans in a very bad way. You can read Marko’s apology for it here, but the most important thing that rose out of it was the dialogue that was started regarding racism in the church. We were challenged by Soong-Chan as to whether some of our beliefs were based on a cultural faith based in predominately white America or was it really based on the Bible.

If you want to hear either Andy or Soong-Chan’s messages you can get them here.

This journey that I have personally been on has been great. I think that taking steps back every so often and looking at your life in light of the life of Christ is such a valuable and important thing. I know for me it has caused me to open my eyes and reflect upon the way that I treat my neighbors and even the way I treat fellow Christ-followers. So as a Christian I am sorry that the way I have lived my life has not caused people to see Jesus in me. But I am going to do my best to make sure that changes from here on out.

And, she [The United States of America] has gone from a progressive tax structure, that was built upon the biblical premise that to whom much is given much is required, to one that provides massive tax relief to the people who need it least the rich.

That statement there really got me thinking. What do you think. Is Oliver Thomas correct in his thinking or is he wrong?