ACCEPTED!!!!!!!

I just found out today that I was accepted to Asbury Seminary. PRAISE GOD!

I know I’m going to be walking around like this guy for a few days screaming “Woooos.”

My day at Mountaineer Field

 

Well, it happened. Saturday finally came and went. I had been looking forward to that day for some time now.You see, on Saturday, I took my cousin, Kaleb (8) to his first college football game. Since, I don’t have any children of my own (yet, thankfully), this was my opportunity to share in the tradition of rooting on the Mountaineers at Mountaineer Field.  We couldn’t have asked for a better day weather wise, but everything else … well, they add to the memories.

It all started last Sunday when I won an ebay auction for two tickets. I paid for them. The tickets never came in time. In fact, they didn’t arrive until the day of the game after we needed to leave. So Kaleb and I left the friendly home in Shady Spring, W.Va., to head north, ticketless and hopeful to scalp.

To do this, I made two signs that I placed on the windows of my truck to advertise our need for tickets. We made more stops than usual on the way up to Morgantown, W.Va., as I was hopeful we could get tickets before we arrived at the stadium. The entire time though I never let on to Kaleb that I was nervous about our ticket propsects, though quietly I was saying a prayer that I wouldn’t disapoint a kid who means so much to me. As I concluded the prayer, Kaleb looks over at me and says that guy has tickets. Figuring Kaleb was telling a story, I looked over and sure enough there was a guy waving two tickets for the game.

Thank you, God.

I get out of the car, after pulling off on the side of the road, and the gentleman tells me the price. I gave him more because I didn’t have change and for him being willing to pull off on the interstate. He in turns gives me and “my son” tickets to a tailgate at the stadium. Cool deal, in my book.

When we arrived to Morgantown, you could tell Kaleb was more excited than he had been the entire day. Kaleb got up at 2:30 a.m., and told my grandparents “I can’t sleep, I’m too excited.” We weren’t planning on leaving for another three-and-a-half hours.

The first thing we did was walked around the basketball arena. I showed him where he sat when I graduated and we looked at the Hall of Fame plaques. We then went to the team store where he bought a foam finger. After that, we made the walk up the Engineering Hill to catch a ride on the PRT. Kaleb was excited for this ride the whole week and his eyes were big as baseballs with excitement when we rode on the tram. I never remember being that excited riding one of those things.

Once we arrived to the stadium and ate, I took Kaleb over to an area where you could watch the team in the lockerroom. He got even more excited for the game, if that was at all possible.

We arrived to our seats and Kaleb was just in awe, taking in everything. As the game started, he made friends with the people behind us who took him under their wing and enjoyed showing him what it means to be a Mountaineer Fan.

Kaleb enjoyed the day, even though West Virginia lost and along with it lost any hopes of a BCS game. I enjoyed the game and day as well. It such a great thrill to share something like watching college football with a young child. One day I hope to share the same thrill and traditions with my own children.

One day, but for now I’ll enjoy the day I spent with Kaleb and the memories of a great day, even in a loss.

Forget Thanksgiving, let’s get to Saturday

For the past few weeks, I’ve been wanting to make it up to Morgantown, W.Va., to watch Steve Slaton, Pat White and the rest of the 2006 West Virginia Mountaineers play. I’m going to get that chance on Saturday against South Florida (12 p.m., ESPN2). It’s going to be a great game, if you’re a Mountaineer fan, not so much if you’re a Bulls fan.

But this game will have special importance to me. You see, I’m taking my 8-year-old cousin with me to the game who has never seen a college football game live before. I’m looking forward to it, and I’m probably more excited than he is, right now, but I’m sure that is a push. The kid was so excited yesterday when I called and told him I was taking him to the game - and for the deal I got I probably could’ve taken the whole family.

We’re going to get to Morgantown early and park in an unusual spot for me and walk to the stadium. But I’ll show him around campus, the PRT, and some of the places that make Morgantown so special. Then, we’ll get to the stadium and head up. I’ll take him around the stadium and then we’ll watch the band and enjoy the game. It’ll be fun to get him to learn the First Down Chant and how to scream Let’s Go Mountaineers at the top of your lungs. Hopefully though I’m teaching him the words to Country Roads when it’s over.

It’s nice to pass down a tradition of you’re favorite team to a young child. It may be silly, this idea of watching sports, but it’s a connection point for many families and it’s one in mine as well. Like I said, I can’t wait.

What are you thankful for?

Yes, I know it’s a week away, but Thanksgiving is just around the corner. For me, it means turkey, ham, stuffing, green beans, corn, and my grandmother’s hot buttery rolls. MMMMMMMM.

I figured in the week prior to the big day, I would offer a chance to offer thanks. What are we thankful for this year, which has been such a complex year in so many different areas. We started with a major coal mining tragedy in West Virginia, Iraq, legislative changes, hope, joy, and all other things in between.

So when you count your blessings, what comes to mind?

For me:

1. My faith and community of friends. If someone asked me on Jan. 1, where I would be at in November, where I am at is not what I would’ve said. I’m so thankful for the love of Christ and the community of friends that have wrapped themselves around me. The hope and peace they give is a gift from God that I’m humbled and thankful for each day.

2. My family. We’re a close-knitt group of Mountaineers. And sure we have our moments, in the end we love each other. I’m blessed with a good family. Not too many people can say that sadly.

3. Health. For the first time, I’m taking an honest care of my health and what I put into my body and its slowly paying off. Hopefully, it will pay off more in the coming weeks as I push up the weight loss efforts.

4. My job. As much as I struggle with it at times, it does allow me the opportunity to be involved with the lives of college students, something I don’t take for granted. I feel like I’m able to give them tools that will help them in the future. To me, that is awesome.

5. Ministry. I’ve been able to do so many things this year, thanks be to God for that, from something small like serving communion, to working with the youth, to working on a mission trip in Mississippi. They’ve all gave me so much information and guidance on what it means to be a Christian servant of others. Life lessons I’ll never forget.

6. St. Louis Cardinals, West Virginia Mountaineers, Carolina Hurricanes. Come on, it’s ok to be thankful for the sports success of your favorite teams. (The 49ers are making a return, so we can be thankful for them as well.)

What was that one thing?

  I love the movie City Slickers. Perhaps it’s because I’m a sucker for bad comedies, but you can’t pass up three “city folk” trying to act like cowboys. Along the way, Jack Palance’s character, Curly Washburn, and Billy Crystal’s Mitch Robbin’s formed a unique and special relationship that lasted past Curly’s death. Today, as news began to spread of Palance’s passing at the age of 87, I’m reminded of one of the classic moments in the movie.

Mitch and Curly are having one of their classic back-and-forths when Curly looks at him said something along the lines of “You want to know what the meaning of life is?” Of course, Mitch, who was going through a midlife battle wants to know. Curly points his index finger in the air and said it’s one thing. Mitch obviously wanted to Curly to tell him, but Curly refused leaving Mitch to figure out for him what that one thing was for him.

I think there is truth to what Curly was trying to show Mitch, basically in what we make as our priorities in life. For me, my priorities are simple and basic - worshiping God, being a good friend and son, a dependable employee, and a bad golfer. But there is one thing that is common among all of these aspects of my life and that is love.

I love God and serving Him is a central aspect to my life. My family and friends are great strengths, even in times of darkness and hurt, that without them I don’t know what I would do. I love the fact that my gives me the opportunity to mentor to college students. And I love golf, even if I don’t play that well.

This idea of love and passion is something I care deeply about. I think we’ve lost what it means to love and honestly care for people in this society. We take the easy road too often instead of getting our hands dirty and learning about the hurts and passions of those around us. Paul wrote in Corinthians 13, that faith, hope and love was the most important gifts that we as Christians were given, with the greatest being love.

How can we love more in the world today? That’s a question for each of us to answer. I don’t have all the answers, just an approach that I have and that is to be honest and open, welcoming and caring of all.

That’s my one thing: loving God and sharing that love to others in how I act towards them and care for them. It took me a long time to learn that. Hopefully, I’ll never forget that lesson.

One of the greatest writers I know, Mickey Furfari

Growing up one of my favorite things to do when getting ready for school was to read the sports section of my local paper. Besides reading if my high school’s teams were victorious, I enjoyed reading the coverage of West Virginia University by Mickey Furfari.

This was in the 1980s and 1990s and Mickey was well into four decades of covering Mountaineer football and basketball. He’s still covering today and this weekend he will be honored by West Virginia University with an induction into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame. It’s an honored well deserved.

Mickey has done more to promote West Virginia University, and the athletics program than any other writer in the state. He is a great man and a great writer, one whom I was honored to not only read as a young Mountaineer, but also learn from as an aspiring journalist in West Virginia.

At two or three newspapers that I wored for in West Virginia, I was fortunate to be able to talk to Mickey, and work beside him. Mickey has his own unique style and is a workhorse. He pumps out articles quicker than anyone else. He loves West Virginia and he loves to write.

Where I learned the most about Mickey, as the man, was in 2001 during Rich Rodriguez’s first football season in West Virginia. Mickey and I traveled together to Maryland for that week’s game. This was a week after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The memories that I have on that trip, being able to spend that much time with someone I admired growing up and as a writer was a great experience.

I would have loved to have been able to go to the game this weekend to see Mickey earn an honor he so richly deserves. But the memories will have to do.

What Yesterday’s Election Results Mean?

The Democrats control the House for the first time since 1994 and somewhere in Missouri former Rep. Richard Gephardt is wishing he was still in the House. Democrats gained the seats needed to win control of the House with at least an 11-seat majority. Control of the Senate is still up in the air with races in Virginia and Montana still to be decided.

Regardless of the outcomes of those races, there are some things that come to mind following Tuesday’s decisions.

The first is that the Republican Party has a lot several key potential 2008 presidential nominees. In Virginia, George Allen was seen as a darkhorse candidate but the close race with Jim Webb will all but ruin his chances in 2008, especially if he loses. In Arizona, illegal immigration crusader J.D. Hayworth is defeated by Democrat Harry Mitchell. Other Republicans like Rick Santorum had been viewed as a potential candidate, but would never had been able to gain major support across the country Also, you can argue, Democrats now have momentum heading into 2008.

This was also an election against government spending, in my opinion even though West Virginia re-elected King of Pork Sen. Robert C. Byrd. Rep. Jeff Flake, speaking on Fox News this morning, said that out of control spending has caught up to Republicans. I don’t see that changing with Democrats in control, only that spending will increase in areas that Democrats typically support.

Corruption and scandals plagued Republicans in Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio. On ABC last night, the constant refrain was it was a “bad night” to be a Republican in Ohio, with an unpopular governor, several political scandals, and President Bush’s low numbers.
Ultimately, this was an election on the War on Terror and the War in Iraq.  The country have grown tired of the war and want to see a change in action. Would that mean changes in the Department of Defense? Who knows?

Here in North Carolina, the momentum against Republicans overtook scandals involving Democrats here in the state. Democrats gained seats in both the House and Senate, with only State Rep. Jim Black, who any day could be faced with a federal indictment on a multiple conspiracy and fraud charges involving his campaign and work as Speaker, holds a slim seven-seat lead over Hal Jordan, a first-time campaigner. Regardless if Black wins or not, there will be a new leader of the House of Representatives come January.

It will be interesting to see how things shape up today, tomorrow and throughout the next few weeks as the changes come into full swing.

Death and Grace

The other day it was my turn to lead my church’s high school Bible study. I really enjoy leading this group of young men and women in study on Jesus’ teachings and how they apply in our daily lives.

This week we were discussing death, while primarily focussing on the story of Lazarus. I’m sure you have all heard about Lazarus, the friend of Jesus who was sick and died that when Jesus came to see him, after his death, he brought him back to life. It’s a great story of the amazing things that can happen with a belief in Christ and just the love He has for us all.

As we went forward we focussed on the two types of deaths - physical and spiritual. There is nothing we can do to prevent the physical death. Sure, we can make ourselves healthier by eating well, exercising, and being mindful of those things than can harm our bodies, but we will never prevent death. We are all going to die one day. That’s a given, just like taxes as Ben Franklin would remind us.

It’s the spiritual death that we can control. To die a spirtual death means we had no relationship with God the Father or a belief in Christ Jesus. We live our lives in ways that fall short of God’s plan and God’s glory for us. We can change that. We have the choice whether to go down the easy road or the road that is difficult and believe that Christ came to deliver us from our sins. I opt to believe in Christ.

I’m reminded of Sunday’s lesson again today as my family is coming to terms with the fact that one of our family members may soon pass away. She’s 17 and has been fighting cancer for some time now. Through it all, her faith has never lessened and her hope has never faded. Oh how we could all be more like her in our lives! I yearn for others, especially youth, to share that same love of Christ and hope in their lives as she does. For with that faith in Christ, even the hardest challenges of life can be defeated.

Cherish each day of life. Live in the way that Christ calls us to live. And be mindful that in all we do we should give back a little bit of that hope and faith others.

The Evolution of Big Texas

For the past few months, I’ve been going to the gym. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, this is the longest consecutive period that I’ve been A) Concerned about my health B) Actually going the gym C) Not seriously thinking about giving up.

The results, so far, I think has been strong to start. Mainly I think I’m getting back into shape, which was a very important goal (outside of weight targets) and I’m feeling better about myself health wise, and as well on my apperance. By the way, I think I look pretty well lately.

You be the judge if I’ve made a much different.

So here is the progress, we’ll start in 2005 before I started officiating (which was really the start of me getting back into shape). The photo was taken at a costume party.

This is me in 2005 after I had been officiating for a few months. This was taken at a Christmas party where I had rushed to attend following a wrestling match.

This upcoming photo was taken in April, right before I started going to the gym. It is my staff photo for my company.

And now two weeks ago.

Why Thursday’s WVU-Louisville contest is important for West Virginia

Earlier this week, I wrote about how I felt tomorrow’s essential Clash of the Titans between No. 3 West Virginia and No. 5 was important for the Big East Conference. I argued and still hold that the conference must show that it has improved and transformed itself into a better conference by a strong game between its top two teams.

Today, I want to look objectively at West Virginia University and how it should view this game against Louisville tomorrow. It’s easy to suggest that this game is the biggest in Louisville’s history. It’s not as easy to suggest that for WVU, which is coming off a program-defining win against Georgia in last season’s Sugar Bowl. However, I feel that this game is just that, the single most important game in West Virginia University history.

I’ll give you 5 reasons, in no particular order.

1) National Championship Considerations: Without a doubt the winner of this game has a good chance of getting into the BCS national championship against, most likely, the winner of Michigan-Ohio State. For West Virginia, it would be the first time since the 1988-89 season it has a legitimate chance at the national title. That year, behind Major Harris, West Virginia lost to Notre Dame in the 1989 Fiesta Bowl. One could argue the 1993-94 team had a shot at the title had they defeated Florida in the Sugar Bowl, but it would have been a split title. When Rich Rodriguez came to West Virginia he promissed the team would be in contention for national titles. A win against Louisville and Rodriguez is looking like a smart man.

2) Rich Rodriguez’s Future at West Virginia: Much of the game’s hype this week has involved whether or not Rodriguez will remain at WVU, where he played in the early 1980s, or bolt for another school, namely UNC. A win against Louisville and it’s hard to see Rodriguez leave. It would also give him more leverage with the Athletic Department which has been dragging its feet on improvements to Mountaineer Field, namely painting the walls, retiring more numbers, and showcase the Mountaineers’ bowl apperances in the stadium to help recruiting.  If Rodriguez was to leave, which I don’t believe he will, it would be because of the athletics department. Rodriguez has done more in his short time at West Virginia than any coach in West Virginia history, including legendary coach Don Nehlen. Where Nehlen was consistent to have strong years every four years, Rodriguez has turned a string of four consecutive bowl games and will send West Virginia bowling against this year. That’s saying a lot at West Virginia.

3) Steve Slaton for Heisman: With Adrian Petterson out for the remainder of the season, Steve Slaton has a national stage to show why he should be a candidate for the Heisman Trophy this season, as a sophomore. Slaton has executed well in these games in his season. It was against Louisville last year where Slaton dominated in the fourth quarter and overtime periods showing the nation his abilities as a runner to lead the Mountaineers to victory. Earlier this season against a Maryland team that refused to sign him to play, Slaton rushed for 149 yards and two touchdowns … in the first quarter. Slaton needs a big game against Louisville if he wants to remain a Heisman candidate and be invited to New York.
4) No Mountaineer Team Has Finished the Season Perfect: Twice in West Virginia history has a team finished with a perfect regular season of 11-0. Never in Mountaineer history have those team gone on to win their bowl games and complete the perfect season. West Virginia has won 14 straight games, the most in school history. This is a team that could run the table, which would have huge implications for recruiting. It is difficult to recruit top-level programs to come to West Virginia when you could easily go to warmer climates like Texas, USC, Miami, Florida, Florida State, etc. West Virginia keeps winning, and the recruits may start buying those winter coats.

5) Big East Domination: Every conference has that one team where each year you know to win the conference championship you have to overcome. That dominant force, if you will. In the ACC, in year’s past, it’s been Florida State. In the SEC, Florida. The Big 12, Texas. The Big 10, Ohio State and Michigan. The PAC-10, USC. In the new Big East, so far it’s been West Virginia. If the Mountaineers want the title to continue to run through Morgantown, then they must beat Louisville and do so soundly. A win by Louisville and it becomes that perceived dominant force in the conference.