The Journey Begins and I’m Exhausted

For the regular readers of the blog, which I believe is about four people, you have probably known that this summer was one of transition for me. It was transitioning from a life in journalism to one in ministry, leaving friends, and moving to a new state and community in Wilmore, Ky.

Today that transition came to life as the seminary career began with day one of orientation. Now, orientation in the seminary realm is no where near what orientation was like in college.  Here we are spending the entire day together, learning about each other, praying for each other, worshiping with each other. It was a long day, but oh what a great day.

Probably the highlight was worship at Estes Chapel where President Dr. Ellsworth Kalas spoke about where our spiritual home was located, based on Genesis 35:1-15 where Jacob returns to Bethel. During the service, I started to think about where my Bethel’s were in my life, those places where I met God and I became transformed by the grace of the Lord. Recently, that Bethel place was my home church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where I learned what it meant to be a Christian in true fellowship with other believers. There is a photo on my desk of some of the gang from the church, given to me as a gift, and I can’t help but smile to look at the photo, because so many in that photo are why I am here today.

But there are other places where I met God, Myrtle Beach, S.C., where I sat on a hotel balcony with Rev. Ernie Metheny and accepted Christ as my savior. It wasn’t until a few years later, almost 12, that I truly began to understand what that decision meant. I’m a slow learner.

Later in the day it was dinner with the new group of friends, ice cream at a staff member’s home, and just good solid discussion the entire day. I’m worn out. Exhausted in so many ways, both mentally, physically and spiritually. It’s good.

I came here expecting to find my home for three years. I’ve been amazed at just how wonderful this place has become. I’m equally excited, if not more so, for what God has in store for me, the group from orientation, and the entire new class of students here in this place.

It’s certainly a time of wilderness and what better place to have that time than in the midst of horse pastures and open fields. I love it.

New Entrance for West Virginia

When West Virginia opens its highly-anticipated 2007 season against Western Michigan Saturday, it will unveil a new entrance that is geared to pumping up the fans to a whole new level.

In recent years, West Virginia has gone from the simplistic entrance of simply running out of the tunnel to “Hail West Virginia,” to now coming out under an inflatable helmet after “2001 Space Odyssey” (in redneck circles referred to as Ric Flair’s entrance music) is played by the Pride of West Virginia marching band. This season, the Mountaineers will abandon parts of its previous entrance - don’t worry the Mountaineer will still fire his gun and Hail West Virginia will be played, but a new rockier entrance is being created to get fans excited. West Virginia is not unlike other programs across the country moving towards highly-technical and elaborate entrances to start the game.

Part of the appeal of this new entrance is the entrance video that highlights some of the program’s successes in recent years (can you say great for recruiting) and a hope that fans will rock back and forth as “For Whom the Bells Toll” play over the public address system.

Here is that video, posted on YouTube this week:

Time to Resign, Craig

It’s been awhile since we’ve discussed politics or news on the blog and o the time is ripe for a good political discussion.

Let’s introduce you to Sen. Larry Craig, a Republican from Idaho. You’ve probably heard of him this week in the news. Craig plead guilty to charges stemming from a incident at a Minnesota airport where police responded to a men’s bathroom and reports of “sexual activities.” Craig claims he did nothing wrong and also believes that pleading guilty was a mistake.

He said he plead guilty to make it all go away. Typically, Sen. Craig, when on pleads guilty one usually has done something wrong. I’m not buying Craig’s reasoning, nor should anyone else.

It’s time for Craig to resign. The allegations are disgusting and Craig has lost the respect and trust of not just the residents of his state, but most anyone else living in the United States who have the right to vote.

So far Sen John McCain, R-Ariz., in the only right move he has made in months has called for Craig’s resignation. Sen. Norm Coleman also called for Craig’s resignation. The Bush Administration has said it is “disappointed” in Craig. Republicans in the Senate have also called for an ethics resignation.

Craig doesn’t deserve to serve in the U.S. Senate. So why is he still there is my question.

McCain said it best when he said, “when you plead guilty to a crime, you shouldn’t serve. That’s not a moral stand. That’s not a holier-than-thou stand. It’s just a factual situation.”

We won’t hold our breath in Craig resigning, even though it would be the right thing to do.

College Football Predictions - Week 1

It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

It’s football season, and the college gridiron units will take to the field for their initial battles of the season this week, with some games Thursday, but the majority of the teams starting out on Saturday. This could be one of the more memorable seasons in the recent memory. You have USC’s appearance to be one of the best teams, on paper, ever produced. You have the two-headed offensive threat of Steve Slaton and Pat White at West Virginia. You have the Big East making a return to prominence.  Can Rutgers repeat last year’s success? Can Nick Saban stay at Alabama for more than two years? Will Florida repeat? Will Wisconsin win the Big 10 now that it has to play Ohio State?

All of this makes for what could be a great season. So, who will win in Week 1, here are my guesses of 15 games in the nation this week:

Thursday
LSU (2) at Mississippi State - If there is a gimme win in the SEC it is when you play Mississippi State. LSU should make easy work of the Bulldogs en route to what could be a SEC championship season. LSU 31-14.

Murray State at Louisville (10) - This is your traditional opening week game. Tradition in that it is a dominant team scheduling a less-than-intimidating opponent to get an extra scrimmage in to prepare for the conference schedule. Have fun, Murray State. Louisville 49-0.

Saturday
Idaho at USC (1) - The only chance Idaho has would be if USC’s entire football team overslept and missed the game. Even then, I think USC would still win by two touchdowns. USC 63-10.

Western Michigan at West Virginia (3) - This game could be tougher than what Mountaineer fans expect, but Slaton and White should have no problems in this game. WVU 45-21.

Appalachian State at Michigan (5) - Appalachian State is a dominant I-AA program and should have defeated N.C. State last season. The Mountaineers won’t defeat Michigan, but they could make it fun for a few quarters. Michigan 35-31.

Arkansas State at Texas (4) - Colt McCoy will have a field day. Texas 56-10.

Western Kentucky at Florida (6) - The national title defense begins with an easy victory. Florida 35-0.

Washington State at Wisconsin (7) - This could be an interesting game in only that Wisconsin will have a win against a decent Pac-10 school to hang its hat on at the end of the season. Wisconsin 21-14.

North Texas at Oklahoma (8) - Don’t worry Sooner Fan, North Texas is not Boise State. 38-10.

East Carolina at Virginia Tech (9) - I do not envy the Pirates this weekend. First, they are going up against a strong Virginia Tech team that could win the ACC. Second, it’s the first game for a major Virginia Tech athletics program since the horrible massacre in April. The emotions will be felt throughout the nation in this game. Virginia Tech 70-0.

Youngstown State at Ohio State (11) - Ohio State’s gift to Jim Tressel’s former team - a loss. Ohio State 31-14.

Tennessee (15) at California (12) - This is the big game of the weekend and will set the tone for the remainder of the season for both teams. California has the home field advantage, however I’m leaning more towards the Vols in this one. Tennessee 21-20.

Oklahoma State at Georgia (13) - This could be a game to watch for an upset, but the favorites will win out. Georgia 17-14.

UCLA (14) at Stanford - It’s put up time for Jim Harbaugh and the Cardinal. UCLA 31-17.

Florida International at Penn State (17) - Where will Joe Paterno coach from? It won’t matter. PSU 38-0.

More from My Kentucky Mayberry

So last night, Kentucky Mayberry - my nickname for my new town - became a little challenge for me. I had my first dumb moment. I locked myself out of my bedroom.

Yes, I locked myself out of my bedroom. How does one do that? I have no idea. When I returned from dinner, I entered my new home only to find that I could not get into my room. Turns out that the lock had been triggered when I closed the door somehow.

This was not good and I had no idea how to pick a lock. Sweet! So, I learned fairly quick. Screwdriver, didn’t work. Credit card, that didn’t work. Clothes hanger, no dice. Eventually, I had to go to Lowe’s to find something small enough to fit into the hole and hope for victory.

I found the tool! A small pick that I could fit into the hole and somehow jar open the lock. After a few times, it worked. I wanted to do a dance for joy, but I was the only one home. You can’t dance by yourself, but those who have seen me dance know I can clear a room with my dancing skills and not in a good way.

After words, I went on a nice walk around town. You can do that here in Kentucky Mayberry, walk around late at night without any fear or anything else. It was a great night, one of those typical small town nights, where everyone was out, and enjoying the day. It was perfect, even as I walked around with an ice cream and Dr Pepper.

Eventually, though, I stumbled on a band playing a mixture of ragtime-esque and jazz music. It was great. Something you never would see in the Southern City or even in the Hills of West Virginia. I sat and listened for a few songs just in awe of this place that God has brought me to and also of the music.

What a great place this Kentucky Mayberry is? Now, if only I can figure out where everything is located.

The Long Move is Over

Well, I’m here in the bluegrass of Kentucky. This place is different, Wilmore, and I like it that way. It’s certainly not the Chapel Hill area, where I moved from, and it’s certainly not West Virginia, where I grew up. It’s somewhere in between - a happy medium if you will.

Wilmore is the modern day version of Mayberry. There is perhaps one main street running through the town and a cross street that separates the college from the seminary. I’m estimating that perhaps there are more seminarians than regular residents. For the North Carolina readers, picture downtown Pittsboro, but with a college. For our readers from the Mountain State, imagine downtown Mount Hope, but with a college.

I love it. It’s going to take some time to get used to the differences, but I doubt I’ll have any trouble.

Most of today has been spent unpacking - believe it or not, I’m mostly unpacked - and spending some time driving to Lexington to go to the local mall - a good 20 minutes from Wilmore. (Right now, I’m sitting in a Panera near that mall.) The people are friendly here and I’ve already had my “it never fails moment” when I ran into a West Virginia University fan while leaving. We’re everywhere, I tell you, everywhere.

Tomorrow I hope to find a nice church to worship at and find a nice cafe that will let me abuse the internet usage for a couple of hours while I draft in a fantasy league I’m involved with. (By the way, if you want to here me discuss the upcoming football season click here. The link will take you the podcast for my friend, Greg, who just started his podcast as a complement to his blog. Both are great resources and Greg does a great job discussing theological issues on a level most people can understand. And no, I’m not plugging his blogs to help my chances in the drafting tomorrow afternoon.)

I hope to find some type of gainful employment in the area this week. I’m going to apply to substitute teach in two counties on Monday and I may look at a coaching position at one school as well. So, we’ll see what develops.

Let the journey begin. Game on.

Halftime

I’m sitting inside my grandparents house, deep in the hills of southern West Virginia. It’s halftime, here, on this two-day journey to Kentuck. And, I’m hot. I mean, really hot. Hot. Cranky. Tired. Irritable. Anxiety-driven. You name it, and I’ve probably felt it today. I really hate moving. Add in high heat and humidity and you have a fun day. Add in the list of issues that found their way on the four hour trip (which turned out to be near six) then it makes for a typical moving day. Most of the problems centered around either the rope coming lose on one of the trucks that was holding my furniture. Once we got that problem under control, following an hour pit stop at the Sheetz in Mebane, we figured we were good to go. But, not so fast, there was rain in the area and my truck needed to be covered. Now I will tell you, there is nothing more interesting than attempting to service a vehicle on the side of the interstate, with cars passing you at 70 mph, and only a few feet from a state police hideout. At least two troopers past us en route to pull over speeding vehicles. We were only on the side of the road for three minutes. Once the tarp was on, we had to make a couple of stops to make sure the tarp stayed on. It never would. We lost a couple of bungees along the way. Fun times! It looked at one point like my little white truck had it’s own cape and we were a superhero flying to the rescue, only we weren’t super humans or capable of flying. Though wouldn’t that be nice if we had cars that could fly. Anyways, even our gas stops were met with an interesting moment. Turns out that power was out at the gas station when we arrived so people were lined up at the pumps waiting for the power to come on, because gas was well … dirt cheap at $2.49. We opted to drive up the road 10 miles and one additional stop later for gas at $2.51. In all of that, I’m burnt and tired. Thanks to David and Shay for loading us up and pointing us on the way. I think we would still be on the road had it not been for you. Pray for us tomorrow guys. We head out early at 6 a.m. I just pray for a smooth day tomorrow. I don’t know if I (with me anxiety issues some of the worst thoughts known to man about me and everyone else and anything else) can take another stresser.

Sports Analogies

For my last post as a North Carolina resident for a few months or years, I thought I would enlighten some of my friends, readers, and others on the many different sports analogies that I can come up with on a whim. I’ve been told that some are hard to understand for the uneducated sports fan and that they are really stupid.

So, why not add to the tradition here in this space.

Enjoy.

After Breaking Up With Someone: When you break up with someone, you just dust your pants off and get back into the dugout and take another swing your next at-bat. Translation: You can’t let yourself get too hung up on a break-up, learn from it, figure out what happened, and then make the adjustments needed for the next date or relationship.

When something is running late: Like a good wrestling tournament, nothing ever starts on time. Translation: If you’ve ever attended a local wrestling tournament, you’ll know that wrestling tournaments are famous for running behind schedule. This was one I coined while in high school.

I’m sure I’ve said others throughout the years, and if so feel free to add them. I can’t really think of many more that I’ve had and used on a regular base and not just making them up while posting.

One Fantasy Football Draft in the Books, Two To Go

My first of three Fantasy Football drafts just concluded. I couldn’t be more excited about the performance of “Living Bones” in a league made up of colleagues from my former company. This team is loaded at running back and could be OK at wide receiver.  I’m not happy with drafting a defense so early, but good defenses were going quick and early so my selection in that round was predicated on draft movements.

Here is my team. You have to read the full post to get  the team.

Jason Whitlock right on Vick

In the days since Michael Vick announced that he would accept a plea bargain much has been written about how it would affect what seems to be a football career of promise turned to what might have been. But one column, published in the Kansas City Star by Jason Whitlock cuts to the heart of the matter, on a deeper level.

First, you might know Whitlock from his appearances on ESPN and perhaps the Don Imus controversy where he wrote that the problem was as much about the problems of the African-American culture starts with victimhood. Whitlock was right then and he’s right today when he writes that Vick didn’t have the courage to walk away from his past.

Whitlock writes,

It’s my belief that if Vick stayed involved with dogfighting, he did so primarily because it was a way to stay involved in an activity in which his “boys” still participated. It was Vick’s way of keeping it real. He was fearful of being labeled a sellout, fearful of having his blackness questioned.

Instead of reaching out to his friends to use his new influence to help them get out of these illegal ventures and perhaps into something more profitable - and legal - Vick remained involved because he wanted to “keep it real.” Whitlock says Vick did nothing but enable the problem.

Whitlock adds,

For athletes and other people who experience professional success, keeping it real should mean offering your lifelong friends and family members an opportunity to acquire the skills necessary to join the mainstream.

It’s an interesting commentary and one worth reading. You certainly won’t read or hear about it on ESPN, but it reaches an aspect to this dogfighting episode that hasn’t been discussed, but should have been by now.