Go tell it on another mountain

Okay, "special" announcement for the 5 "special" people who actually spend time reading this puppy. And by "special" I am more or less referring to people who grew up in Saskatchewan. They are always just a wee bit behind. Oh wait, I was born in Moose Jaw, SK.   Need I say more.  Well, yes, I do actually.  My good friend Jon was born in Saskatoon, SK and still has a difficult time pointing out a combine.   "Special." 

Moose Jaw claims to be the "Band Capital of North America - I kid you not.  I have never seen a band come from there, play there, or rehearse within 5 miles of the place.   I even think trooper skips it on their tour.  I cannot even think of one person who is part of a band who comes from MJ.

Yet, I do know there is a large moose statue on the edge of town, but I do not believe he is carrying an instrument of any kind.

I am launching "Video Hits Friday's" (affectionately named after Canada's best ever music video show "Video Hits").  This latest piece of video goodness came from one of my Moose Jaw fans - who amazingly plays in a band but sadly, recently moved to Eyebrow.   So no luck with the whole "Band Capital of the World" deal.  Enjoy the Neudorf's. 

Inner Thighs

The Canadian speed skating team unitards, okay "speed suits". Whatever you call them, let's just face the facts that 98% of us would not look hot in one of those puppies. And no, you do not look good in bike shorts either. As a matter of fact, if I talking to someone wearing said bike shorts I tend to get umcomfortable for them. Maybe it is the butt padding. That doesn't even sound right does it... "butt padding."

Their onesies are scientifically designed with "energy returning patches on the inside of their thighs." Who would not want that? When I was huskier than today (yes that really means "fat" but "husky" makes you think a bit like... does that mean he had big shoulders? Rather than, yea, that guy lived at Arby's) I could have used a little energy return on my inner thigh. There was enough friction there to start a fire on Survivor. Never mind the rash.

That was too much information wasn't it.

Alas, when you are dealing with hundredth's of a second, and your power is derived from your legs. No friction is a good thing. Well, unless you are stranded on an island with no fire of course.

Check out the article highlighting that fact and some other pretty cool scientific stuff.

Stephen Colbert & Bloxes

2 things that bring me copious amounts of joy, innovative idea's and witty retorts (seriously, when is the last time you used "retorts" in a sentence, I am guessing never, or it was very close to the last time you kicked it off with "copious") In that light, here is a link to Bloxes and Stephen Colbert's Olympic interview with Ujjal Dosanjh (BC Liberal MP). And yes, I had to look up how to spell Colbert. Kidding.

S

Sermon Play by Play

Okay, for the possibility of flogging a dead horse, I will cover the best moments of my sermon from this past week.  Well, I can't think of any so, I will just highlight the content...

Text:  Ephesians 3
Big Idea:  We are all One at the Cross

Had this video in the Q but didn't work, so I had to read the lyrics instead.  Video was better.  And for you trivia fans, this song was written by the late MJ and Lionel Richie.



"The gospel is completely, absolutely, profoundly, marvelously inclusive. Therein lies the beauty of the gospel. It does not take into account if you are a man or woman, asian, or latino, organic or have a fast food death wish. It doesn't care if you live on the lake or live in your car. Whether you are a dentist or a truck driver. It does not care if this is your first time in church or you have been here 20 years.  “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, (known as the widlest of barbarians – or people living in Lake Country) slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” (Col 3:1).  The gospel cares about you. It invites you in.  Yet, Jesus never forces his way onto the scene. He is always available, always ready, always wanting to enter in, but we have a choice. We can welcome him or not."

That's about all I have to offer apparently. My beautiful wife is a great sounding board for analyzing my sermons, hence I regularly inquire about her thoughts. So upon the conclusion of this puppy she said "You finished strong." Lovely. That sounds like a winner doesn't it? And today she noted, "the rose doesn't bloom every Sunday." It just keeps getting worse.

Admittedly, this might be the worst post ever as I was reminded of a chat I had with another preacher type o' guy. He surmised that preachers are probably the only ones who have flashbacks about their sermons, and then obsess over the next week about what they said.  I sadly agreed. I am pretty sure Monday morning most people are more concerned about whether or not they have matching socks on.  So don't feel bad if you ended up here and you bale so you can go through your sock drawer.   My wife went looking for socks Sunday at noon. And because everyone is asking (ahem) I am wearing Skecher ankle high socks.  Short legs short socks.  Let's get serious, most people can't tell were my socks end and my legs start.  If I was running naked through a Saskatchewan winter no one would be able to see me.

Monday Musings

 In the Men's Alpine Skiing competition @ the 2010 Olympics, the top 27 finishers had less than 2 seconds separating them.  Gold, silver and bronze were decided within less than .10 of a second.

After racing 5.8 km's (4 heats), the Men's 2 man Bobsled competition, the top 10 finishers were separated by 2.75 seconds.

In the ladies 1000m Speed Skating final, all 35 competitors were within 2.97 seconds of each other.

Seriously #35 probably lost cause she had gas on the last lap, farted, and the clench made her tense up.  Done.  Talk about the absolute commitment and dedication needed to succeed at a highly competitive level, and on top of that not forgetting your Beano pill.  Literally years of training and money and living out of a suitcase and frankly very little media attention or pay.  Mix all that together with the knowledge that at the end of the day, you could lose by less than half a second... and I typically cut back on my daily push up regimen so as not to sweat.  Well that's not true, I don't actually do push ups but I have thought a lot about doing them.  Okay, the real deal is that I tend to hit "Restart" on Wii Resort if I am about to lose in Basketball so I don't drop down in my rankings.  I don't want to lose my pro status.  It's very hard to get you know.  Seriously, really hard.

Yes, I am completely pathetic.   But I am totally comfortable with the fact that I am never going to compete at the Olympics.  Now, let's just say I was incredibly athletic, muscular, ruggedly handsome, svelte (oh stop this is getting a little embarrassing), I would want to be in one of the unitard events.  Just cause.  Like when do you get to wear a unitard and not have people not look at you strangely?

And finally, the Canadian Women's hockey team have outscored their opponents, 41 - 2 in 3 games, winning their first game 18 - 0.  Maybe that half a second doesn't look so bad after all.

Of course, after all this training, and typing this stupid thing up, forgot to hit restart button.  Totally lost 6 spots.

The Way

There are very few words that can be used to describe this video.  Well, very few good words.  Okay, actually, nope, I am sticking to "very few words" in general.  To support this theory, I will use a 2 word sentence that describe my thoughts, the first time and every time I watch my favorite church conference co-ed dance video of all time... Awed silence.  I do not believe there has been any other video in the history of mankind, that captures the essence of the entire dance, as this one does, in the first 9 seconds.   Awed silence.

Blogs of Note

As the HighSchool Musical hit proclaimed, "We're all in this together."  And for some reason, when I blurt that phrase, my head kind of whips to the left in some sort of peculiar Night at the Roxbury way.  There is something definately not right in that whole deal.  Alas, yes, today I am calling myself the "bigger man" cause I am throwing out some links to a couple other great blogs/websites.  Hey, just because I am in the top 486 blogs in Western Canada (not including Alberta or Saskatchewan), it doesn't mean I have to get all haughty.  I can share.   Hope you enjoy them.

Out of Ur - churchy focused blog.  Lots of content.  Might love it might not. 

Church Marketing Sucks - what do you say to that one?

Relevant Magazine - sweet take on culture, life and God.

Life Church - okay, so you went skiing on Saturday and Sunday for the past 2 months.  Missing church?  Check out these guys.  They have an online campus that is um... gnarly (just throwing out boarding lingo ya know.. oh sorry, someone just told me to stop wearing acid wash jeans.  Okay let's go with "wicked" but in a non-wicked way sort of deal.  Now this is getting completely awkward)

Jonathan Acuff - great blog.  Surviving church as a single adult.

That should be enough to keep you away from this blog for awhile.  Oh wait, no come back, I just mean, this is not going well.