You know...there are moments when people don't believe in you, and you really know it. Little things, here and there, the way people say things, the tone they use in that "oh there, there" type of sing-songy phrase...I think at one time or another, we've all been there.
If you are there today, tonight, let me encourage you...those people don't determine your destiny and they don't have the clout to change God's mind about who He made you to be and what He called you to do. The condescending tones are theirs alone, not God's, so treat them as such. Don't hate, don't lash out. Resist the urge to fire back a sarcastic comment that calls out what they are doing as a "lack of faith" or arrogant judgment on what God has for you. But also, don't let yourself believe the lie that they hold your future in their hands.
They may look down on you, yeah, but that's not because they are towering over you looking down in superiority, that's because their vision is too small and they don't have the strength to tilt their own heads high enough to see what God has in store. Hang in there... don't give up.
Just some off the cuff stuff that is worthy of the "off brand" name... low cost, basic & pretty black-n-white.
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Jesus created Unicorns and THIS happened...and the Vatican is covering it up and Christians minds are blown...
Guys... I love movies with conspiracy theories, I really do...but I don't base my life around them. If you get your theology from some weird free webpage with a thousand ads about ED and stuff, you should be worried, not proudly proclaiming it.
There is a reason that things like the "Gospel of Barnabas" being covered up in 2000 and stuff reside only in this conspiracy theorist subculture...and it's not because there is a fantasy super genius wearing the same clothes every day, living in his mother's basement because he's so devoted to learning, is some mythological, clairvoyant superbrain that has info everyone else is afraid to divulge. All that is click bait...stuff designed to get you to click on a website so that they can track your clicks, report to their advertisers that more people clicked on their site, so they can charge said advertisers more money to advertise with them...it's not the undeniable pursuit of truth.
We all see it. Doesn't it seem like the more fantastic and the more ridiculous the story, especially if it has a conspiracy angle to it, actually seems to make the source more credible to some people in this day and age? Stop being that person...in politics (every meme isn't true), in your causes (any article that says "and THIS happened" or "______ minds are blown" is probably sketchy), in your faith (we've found the "real" Bible and Jesus created a unicorn he used to ride as a child...really! The Vatican is covering it up), in our finances (Zuckerberg is going to give me billions...because I'm special - you ARE awesome, but he's not giving you money), in sports (I KNOW that the Red Elephant Club just fixed the KY Derby) and in all the other areas of our lives...
This year needs to be different. We've all seen this internet thing long enough to be able to get over "if it's in print, then it must be true" deal that we got used to trusting...even though it was never true to begin with.
Let's make 2016 the "Year of the Intelligent Choice That We've Researched A Little" and not another "Year of the Mindless Rage Zombie Accepting Anything That Thrills"...okay? That's all.
There is a reason that things like the "Gospel of Barnabas" being covered up in 2000 and stuff reside only in this conspiracy theorist subculture...and it's not because there is a fantasy super genius wearing the same clothes every day, living in his mother's basement because he's so devoted to learning, is some mythological, clairvoyant superbrain that has info everyone else is afraid to divulge. All that is click bait...stuff designed to get you to click on a website so that they can track your clicks, report to their advertisers that more people clicked on their site, so they can charge said advertisers more money to advertise with them...it's not the undeniable pursuit of truth.
We all see it. Doesn't it seem like the more fantastic and the more ridiculous the story, especially if it has a conspiracy angle to it, actually seems to make the source more credible to some people in this day and age? Stop being that person...in politics (every meme isn't true), in your causes (any article that says "and THIS happened" or "______ minds are blown" is probably sketchy), in your faith (we've found the "real" Bible and Jesus created a unicorn he used to ride as a child...really! The Vatican is covering it up), in our finances (Zuckerberg is going to give me billions...because I'm special - you ARE awesome, but he's not giving you money), in sports (I KNOW that the Red Elephant Club just fixed the KY Derby) and in all the other areas of our lives...
This year needs to be different. We've all seen this internet thing long enough to be able to get over "if it's in print, then it must be true" deal that we got used to trusting...even though it was never true to begin with.
Let's make 2016 the "Year of the Intelligent Choice That We've Researched A Little" and not another "Year of the Mindless Rage Zombie Accepting Anything That Thrills"...okay? That's all.
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Why I'm fine with the way the final 4 ended up in the College Playoff Committee...except with Bama being #1
I'm fine with it. I would have just as soon kept the old BCS system and take the top 4 there, and I never, never cared for the committee approach...I expected it to fail, but I'm fine with how it ended up "this" time.
What about Baylor and TCU?
I don't think either one of them really have a reason to complain too much. I know that is not very popular, but it is what it is.
Baylor was the Big 12 Champion...period. It was disingenuous and showed a lack of integrity to try to "delay" announcing them as champion because you were trying to trick the system in the CPC.
"One True Champion"... That pious, self-righteous slogan was meant to jab at other conferences...and it should ring in the ears of all the Big 12 leadership because when it mattered, they abandoned that slogan and plan. They ran from it like a scalded dog.
They were EXPOSED because when it mattered the most, because the Big 12 was fine to NOT have "one true champion" and have co-champions (at least until AFTER the Playoff Committee selected someone to be in the playoff). It was the equivalent of just putting your name in the drawing TWICE to try to up your chances of winning.
The Big 12 deserves to be left out, if for no other reason, than to promote the slogan that "cheaters never prosper" because that's what the Big 12 officials tried to do.
That's not Baylor's fault...and they should be ticked off at the Big 12 leadership for that.
TCU had two strikes down. The conference champion status (which TCU wasn't -- they didn't "share" anything) and the Head to Head matchups were two viable important criteria that the CPC had been upfront with since the beginning of this whole thing...there was no surprise.
The problem was that, no matter how many times the CPC and Jeff Long said it (and they said it every week), everyone just didn't think about how this was playing out. Instead of looking at a resume, it was more like turning over a hand of cards one card at a time...one card each week.
The committee didn't look ahead and project...they said that EVERY week, so, in effect, the weekend before last, Baylor had only played 1 top ten team and they beat them...and that's how the CPC looked at their schedule --- 1 top ten team win...the identity of that team was not linked to that accomplishment, that comes in later.
They didn't turn over the K State card until last night, so you have to look at it like it didn't exist before last night...didn't even exist.
Last night, FOR THE FIRST TIME ALL SEASON, the rest of the schedule existed and was considered....fans look ahead, the committee didn't...and they told you they wouldn't...I'm not liking it, but it was what it was.
Same with Conference Champion AND Head to Head.
The conference champion thing never came into play until there actually WERE conference champions...and that was this weekend. No matter what TCU said or how the Big 12 team reneged on their own rules for tiebreaking and end up with "one true champion", it wasn't happening...ever and it shouldn't have.
Here are the conference champions...Bama, OSU, FSU, Oregon, Baylor --- that's it. The committee didn't let the Big 12 try to sneak an extra card in the lottery to get two teams to choose from, they knew what the tie breaker system was and they were like "No thank you, Big 12, not fooling anyone."
If the Conference Champion wasn't enough, then they went to H2H...TCU, sorry, you never had a chance as soon as Baylor ended with 1 loss and the same conference record...it was OVER, you just didn't want to "know" that two weeks ago. You should have beaten Baylor when they played you...plain and simple...everything else was lottery.
The committee proved they weren't looking ahead, because without the H2H and the Conference Champion and a convincing win against KState, which is what TCU had last week...and this week, the same record, then it's tie break and Baylor had the Conference Champion (really) and the H2H...eos.
You can claim it was "mean" for the CPC to put TCU at 3 when they were never going to finish that high without a Baylor loss and some other things to happen, but they were consistent in this one area... they only looked at what was actually real the week that TCU went to 3, not what was coming, inevitable or supposed, and they ranked them on that...
Why is OSU better?
OSU's Strength of Schedule was better than both TCU and Baylor.
OSU's Strength of Schedule out of conference was 60 and 70 places higher.
They played a conference championship game and beat the #13 team by 50+ points....WAY better than anything TCU or Baylor did at the end. (Iowa State by 52 doesn't hold a candle...over-rated or not. KState is a comparable and slightly better opponent, but Baylor only beat them by 10.)
Before they beat the dog out of Wisconsin, it was closer and I didn't really think too much of OSU, but after, it was an easy decision....sorry.
What about FSU at 3, Oregon at 2, Bama at 1 and all the seeding in the top 4?
I have heard all the "we won and they dropped us"...that's POLL talk, not Committee talk. All that "we won" so we can't obviously show ourselves as worse than last week...that's crazy talk. You take on a loser team and barely beat them...the only time that no one cares about that is when it's YOUR team that beat the "loser" team.
EVERY time someone looks at somebody else's team and THEIR team beats a tomato can by 2 points, they are all like "see, they are over-rated"...so you can't have your cake and eat it too.
When it happens once, it's NORMALLY an ANOMALY...when it happens 3-4 times, it's a sign, and the more times it happens, the more you raise your eyebrows, because the normal thing is good teams beat bad teams bad...and that usually bears out. Not every time, but most...look at Bama in '92. Their most impressive blowout by far didn't come until the championship game...they took loads of criticism for just winning.
This year, when Bama beat Arkansas by 1 point, I was questioning Alabama....why because if they can't beat a bad team like a drum, there's a problem...they aren't as good or the team is better. As it played out, Arkansas was better than everyone thought, but they just had a tough run of luck and Bama had an off day...it is what it is.
What about being undefeated?
Okay, let's get to the elephant in the room...FSU.
Do they deserve to be in the playoff? Yes. That's true. #1? Not so much.
"Bu...bu...bu...they've won 29 in a row..." No they haven't. 2 years ago, a team that went 12-2 and won the last 2 games of the season. In 2013, a different team won 13 in a row and they are AWESOME...great champions, hate the lame character stuff, but they won. Congratulations!
THOSE 2 TEAMS DON'T EXIST ANY MORE...a team is just as much about the composition of every player, coach, trainer and down to the water boys (well, the water boys aren't as much), but you trade out enough of those pieces, they aren't the same any more. You get a matched set of china, and you break half of it and just replace it with your favorite pieces of any brand or style enough, you don't have a matched set of china anymore...and the FSU team of last year doesn't exist.
When a Bama team won the national championship in 2011, then another Bama team won it again in 2012, and then still another Bama team went for another in 2013...everyone ELSE said "defending" national champion...that's just a title, it's not real. Saban told the team that the team that won the national championship the year before had ceased to exist and it didn't mean anything for the team that was playing this season and that's absolutely right. Fast forward, this FSU team has won 13 games...GREAT for them and they are undefeated...they deserve all the accolades for winning 13 games in a row and going undefeated...the program or the school can have the 29 game winning streak...but you can't bring out the mystique from last year and get a bump in the playoffs for that...so don't bring that up.
"Bu...bu...bu...they are undefeated."
In the days of the polls, I would totally agree...to be the man, you must beat the man, even when, technically, as I just stated, "the man" doesn't exist anymore...the reality is you can't. In the poll era, I was like, if you are undefeated and are playing a schedule in the relative stratosphere of other teams (not Marshall), then yeah, I think you get a serious bump from that. I'd have been on FSU's side. I was saying, a few years ago, that there was no use for anyone to play games until USC loses, because until they lose, no matter what they look like, they are going to be number 1...realized that reality.
Those days are gone...when the CPC said they would get the "best teams" and the "teams who are playing the best"...that's when we had to change our thinking...new metric and new combination of metrics.
New metrics and season maturity
Undefeated counts, but it's not the "be all, end all" anymore, because the playoffs determine the champion, not a poll. We all know that teams grow and change over the course of the season. They get better and they get worse...teams lose players and players get better, some drastically.
Case in point, Blake Sims is a prime proof of that...he's not the same QB he was in the spring...he SUCKED, he was TERRIBLE. I thought at the end of the season, Bama would be fine with Blake Sims and looked forward to him being the starter.
I was excited to watch the Spring game.
I was annoyed by the Jacob Coker talk and us running to grab the backup from FSU...come on, man.
After the spring game, I was soooo glad that Coker was here, because Blake looked absolutely horrible.
But Blake kept working...what he said was he "put his head down and kept working". He didn't win the job until the last scrimmage of August before the first game...he didn't have it solid until about 3 games later...and after that, he set the single game passing and yardage record at Alabama...the single season passing record at Alabama...the SEC Championship Game Completion Percentage Record and won the MVP of the SEC Championship Game as Bama just dismantled Mizzou...and that was honestly, just "another hero" job for Sims...he went from "Mr. Shaky" to "Big Hero 6" (as Rece Davis started calling him) and he IS that huge.
He's not the same player he was in September and consequently, Bama isn't the same team.
Ole Miss was VASTLY different when they had LaQuan Treadwell and after he was lost for the season with an injury...it happens all that time.
So teams get better and teams get worse...some are the best at the end, some are the best all the way through, but some get better BY the end...
...and THAT'S what you have to get in these new times.
It's who's the best at the end...is it perfect? NO, but that's what they are looking for, not just rewarding someone for getting lucky and eeeking by.
If FSU deserves to be here, it will bear out...but they don't HAVE to make them #1 either.
Seeding really doesn't matter either, if you are the champion.
You don't get to play at your stadium if you are the higher seed.
You don't get spotted 10 points if you are a higher seed.
You don't get a higher amount of tickets if you are a higher seed.
There's NO advantage based on higher seeding....except if you want to not have to travel as far. In this day and time, who cares about that really besides the fans? And the reality is if you'd spend $2000 a person to go, you'd spend $2500...eos.
If you are a higher seed, you might end up traveling across the country. If Oregon was #1 they would have had to travel across the country to New Orleans. Actually, if FSU was #4, they would have had an advantage by travelling less if you want to quibble...doesn't matter. (Bet the #4 spot looks a lot better today than last week, doesn't it, FSU fans?)
Here's the reality of the thing...it doesn't mean anything if you think you are THE "champion".
The playoff isn't about "winning" something, it's about "proving" something...if you can't get through the playoff because you can't beat someone, then you aren't deserving of being the champion. If you are trying to avoid someone, then that tells a lot about your opinion of your own level of skill. If you aren't down with yourself, why should anyone else be?
Unless you are into moral victories, so you can say "We made it to the championship game...then we lost...but we 'almost' did it.", then yeah, go that way. But if you are trying to be the TRUE champion (and not in the way the Big 12 chose to do it), then play whoever you get and beat them....don't try to trick the system.
So, being #1 or #4 doesn't matter...you, on a neutral site, play someone and you win or you don't.
Doesn't matter really at all. If Bama was #4...who cares? I know I give it a second thought and wouldn't have.
The reality is that you could make a giant case that being #4 is better than being #1...in the absence of any perceivable advantage of being seeded #1, all you have is the pressure of that and the "disrespected" card that the other team can play for motivation.
It's all the negatives and NONE of the positives, so me personally, in the current CPC system, I'll take the lower seed EVERY time and twice on Sunday.
There's my thoughts on the playoffs...I may have more and you may disagree, feel free to comment, if you made it this far.
What about Baylor and TCU?
I don't think either one of them really have a reason to complain too much. I know that is not very popular, but it is what it is.
Baylor was the Big 12 Champion...period. It was disingenuous and showed a lack of integrity to try to "delay" announcing them as champion because you were trying to trick the system in the CPC.
"One True Champion"... That pious, self-righteous slogan was meant to jab at other conferences...and it should ring in the ears of all the Big 12 leadership because when it mattered, they abandoned that slogan and plan. They ran from it like a scalded dog.
They were EXPOSED because when it mattered the most, because the Big 12 was fine to NOT have "one true champion" and have co-champions (at least until AFTER the Playoff Committee selected someone to be in the playoff). It was the equivalent of just putting your name in the drawing TWICE to try to up your chances of winning.
The Big 12 deserves to be left out, if for no other reason, than to promote the slogan that "cheaters never prosper" because that's what the Big 12 officials tried to do.
That's not Baylor's fault...and they should be ticked off at the Big 12 leadership for that.
The problem was that, no matter how many times the CPC and Jeff Long said it (and they said it every week), everyone just didn't think about how this was playing out. Instead of looking at a resume, it was more like turning over a hand of cards one card at a time...one card each week.
The committee didn't look ahead and project...they said that EVERY week, so, in effect, the weekend before last, Baylor had only played 1 top ten team and they beat them...and that's how the CPC looked at their schedule --- 1 top ten team win...the identity of that team was not linked to that accomplishment, that comes in later.
They didn't turn over the K State card until last night, so you have to look at it like it didn't exist before last night...didn't even exist.
Last night, FOR THE FIRST TIME ALL SEASON, the rest of the schedule existed and was considered....fans look ahead, the committee didn't...and they told you they wouldn't...I'm not liking it, but it was what it was.
Same with Conference Champion AND Head to Head.
The conference champion thing never came into play until there actually WERE conference champions...and that was this weekend. No matter what TCU said or how the Big 12 team reneged on their own rules for tiebreaking and end up with "one true champion", it wasn't happening...ever and it shouldn't have.
Here are the conference champions...Bama, OSU, FSU, Oregon, Baylor --- that's it. The committee didn't let the Big 12 try to sneak an extra card in the lottery to get two teams to choose from, they knew what the tie breaker system was and they were like "No thank you, Big 12, not fooling anyone."
If the Conference Champion wasn't enough, then they went to H2H...TCU, sorry, you never had a chance as soon as Baylor ended with 1 loss and the same conference record...it was OVER, you just didn't want to "know" that two weeks ago. You should have beaten Baylor when they played you...plain and simple...everything else was lottery.
The committee proved they weren't looking ahead, because without the H2H and the Conference Champion and a convincing win against KState, which is what TCU had last week...and this week, the same record, then it's tie break and Baylor had the Conference Champion (really) and the H2H...eos.
You can claim it was "mean" for the CPC to put TCU at 3 when they were never going to finish that high without a Baylor loss and some other things to happen, but they were consistent in this one area... they only looked at what was actually real the week that TCU went to 3, not what was coming, inevitable or supposed, and they ranked them on that...
Why is OSU better?
OSU's Strength of Schedule was better than both TCU and Baylor.
OSU's Strength of Schedule out of conference was 60 and 70 places higher.
They played a conference championship game and beat the #13 team by 50+ points....WAY better than anything TCU or Baylor did at the end. (Iowa State by 52 doesn't hold a candle...over-rated or not. KState is a comparable and slightly better opponent, but Baylor only beat them by 10.)
Before they beat the dog out of Wisconsin, it was closer and I didn't really think too much of OSU, but after, it was an easy decision....sorry.
What about FSU at 3, Oregon at 2, Bama at 1 and all the seeding in the top 4?
I have heard all the "we won and they dropped us"...that's POLL talk, not Committee talk. All that "we won" so we can't obviously show ourselves as worse than last week...that's crazy talk. You take on a loser team and barely beat them...the only time that no one cares about that is when it's YOUR team that beat the "loser" team.
EVERY time someone looks at somebody else's team and THEIR team beats a tomato can by 2 points, they are all like "see, they are over-rated"...so you can't have your cake and eat it too.
When it happens once, it's NORMALLY an ANOMALY...when it happens 3-4 times, it's a sign, and the more times it happens, the more you raise your eyebrows, because the normal thing is good teams beat bad teams bad...and that usually bears out. Not every time, but most...look at Bama in '92. Their most impressive blowout by far didn't come until the championship game...they took loads of criticism for just winning.
This year, when Bama beat Arkansas by 1 point, I was questioning Alabama....why because if they can't beat a bad team like a drum, there's a problem...they aren't as good or the team is better. As it played out, Arkansas was better than everyone thought, but they just had a tough run of luck and Bama had an off day...it is what it is.
What about being undefeated?
Okay, let's get to the elephant in the room...FSU.
Do they deserve to be in the playoff? Yes. That's true. #1? Not so much.
"Bu...bu...bu...they've won 29 in a row..." No they haven't. 2 years ago, a team that went 12-2 and won the last 2 games of the season. In 2013, a different team won 13 in a row and they are AWESOME...great champions, hate the lame character stuff, but they won. Congratulations!
THOSE 2 TEAMS DON'T EXIST ANY MORE...a team is just as much about the composition of every player, coach, trainer and down to the water boys (well, the water boys aren't as much), but you trade out enough of those pieces, they aren't the same any more. You get a matched set of china, and you break half of it and just replace it with your favorite pieces of any brand or style enough, you don't have a matched set of china anymore...and the FSU team of last year doesn't exist.
When a Bama team won the national championship in 2011, then another Bama team won it again in 2012, and then still another Bama team went for another in 2013...everyone ELSE said "defending" national champion...that's just a title, it's not real. Saban told the team that the team that won the national championship the year before had ceased to exist and it didn't mean anything for the team that was playing this season and that's absolutely right. Fast forward, this FSU team has won 13 games...GREAT for them and they are undefeated...they deserve all the accolades for winning 13 games in a row and going undefeated...the program or the school can have the 29 game winning streak...but you can't bring out the mystique from last year and get a bump in the playoffs for that...so don't bring that up.
"Bu...bu...bu...they are undefeated."
In the days of the polls, I would totally agree...to be the man, you must beat the man, even when, technically, as I just stated, "the man" doesn't exist anymore...the reality is you can't. In the poll era, I was like, if you are undefeated and are playing a schedule in the relative stratosphere of other teams (not Marshall), then yeah, I think you get a serious bump from that. I'd have been on FSU's side. I was saying, a few years ago, that there was no use for anyone to play games until USC loses, because until they lose, no matter what they look like, they are going to be number 1...realized that reality.
Those days are gone...when the CPC said they would get the "best teams" and the "teams who are playing the best"...that's when we had to change our thinking...new metric and new combination of metrics.
New metrics and season maturity
Undefeated counts, but it's not the "be all, end all" anymore, because the playoffs determine the champion, not a poll. We all know that teams grow and change over the course of the season. They get better and they get worse...teams lose players and players get better, some drastically.
Case in point, Blake Sims is a prime proof of that...he's not the same QB he was in the spring...he SUCKED, he was TERRIBLE. I thought at the end of the season, Bama would be fine with Blake Sims and looked forward to him being the starter.
I was excited to watch the Spring game.
I was annoyed by the Jacob Coker talk and us running to grab the backup from FSU...come on, man.
After the spring game, I was soooo glad that Coker was here, because Blake looked absolutely horrible.
But Blake kept working...what he said was he "put his head down and kept working". He didn't win the job until the last scrimmage of August before the first game...he didn't have it solid until about 3 games later...and after that, he set the single game passing and yardage record at Alabama...the single season passing record at Alabama...the SEC Championship Game Completion Percentage Record and won the MVP of the SEC Championship Game as Bama just dismantled Mizzou...and that was honestly, just "another hero" job for Sims...he went from "Mr. Shaky" to "Big Hero 6" (as Rece Davis started calling him) and he IS that huge.
He's not the same player he was in September and consequently, Bama isn't the same team.
Ole Miss was VASTLY different when they had LaQuan Treadwell and after he was lost for the season with an injury...it happens all that time.
So teams get better and teams get worse...some are the best at the end, some are the best all the way through, but some get better BY the end...
...and THAT'S what you have to get in these new times.
It's who's the best at the end...is it perfect? NO, but that's what they are looking for, not just rewarding someone for getting lucky and eeeking by.
If FSU deserves to be here, it will bear out...but they don't HAVE to make them #1 either.
Seeding really doesn't matter either, if you are the champion.
You don't get to play at your stadium if you are the higher seed.
You don't get spotted 10 points if you are a higher seed.
You don't get a higher amount of tickets if you are a higher seed.
There's NO advantage based on higher seeding....except if you want to not have to travel as far. In this day and time, who cares about that really besides the fans? And the reality is if you'd spend $2000 a person to go, you'd spend $2500...eos.
If you are a higher seed, you might end up traveling across the country. If Oregon was #1 they would have had to travel across the country to New Orleans. Actually, if FSU was #4, they would have had an advantage by travelling less if you want to quibble...doesn't matter. (Bet the #4 spot looks a lot better today than last week, doesn't it, FSU fans?)
Here's the reality of the thing...it doesn't mean anything if you think you are THE "champion".
The playoff isn't about "winning" something, it's about "proving" something...if you can't get through the playoff because you can't beat someone, then you aren't deserving of being the champion. If you are trying to avoid someone, then that tells a lot about your opinion of your own level of skill. If you aren't down with yourself, why should anyone else be?
Unless you are into moral victories, so you can say "We made it to the championship game...then we lost...but we 'almost' did it.", then yeah, go that way. But if you are trying to be the TRUE champion (and not in the way the Big 12 chose to do it), then play whoever you get and beat them....don't try to trick the system.
So, being #1 or #4 doesn't matter...you, on a neutral site, play someone and you win or you don't.
Doesn't matter really at all. If Bama was #4...who cares? I know I give it a second thought and wouldn't have.
The reality is that you could make a giant case that being #4 is better than being #1...in the absence of any perceivable advantage of being seeded #1, all you have is the pressure of that and the "disrespected" card that the other team can play for motivation.
It's all the negatives and NONE of the positives, so me personally, in the current CPC system, I'll take the lower seed EVERY time and twice on Sunday.
There's my thoughts on the playoffs...I may have more and you may disagree, feel free to comment, if you made it this far.
Saturday, April 27, 2013
How to know if your should listen to that influence...
Ever wondered if you should actually be listening to a particular influence (writer, TV show, blog, etc...)? Was faced with this today and God called this to mind from James 3...
But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.
James 3:17
Is it...
...pure or tainted?
...ultimately peace-loving or divisive?
...considerate to others or rude to them? (not does it tell others they are wrong, that's not being rude, and sometimes it's the most considerate thing to do)
...submissive to authority (God) or demanding for itself?
...merciful or unforgiving?
...impartial or one-sided?
...sincere or manipulative?
What fruit seems to spring from it? (solution or separation, unity or useless conflict, insults or insight).
If it doesn't pass the test, then you can probably get along without it. Also, any wisdom that you feel led to give to others should follow that rule, too.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
"Why can't our team be like their team?"
I was listening to someone who was lamenting how their organization wasn't like "someone else's" organization. "They do ____ ... I wish we could do _______." They cataloged all these cool things "that organization" did and how uncool their organization was. After listening for a while, I couldn't help but think this thought...
Most of the time, people who are so frustrated with their organization are the ones most unwilling to put themselves into the organization to make it better...it's easier to just complain about it, and that's a big drain on the teams where they are. They back out of assignments, they don't go the extra mile, and they always blame failures on some straw man out there that "doesn't let them be _______". (When the truth is they could do a lot, but they've created an excuse not to do it...and they like it.)
"Bloom where you are planted" may be an old saying, but in all honesty, sayings get overused because there is truth in them...just saying. Here's a couple more...
"Stop making complaints and make a difference."
"Stop pointing fingers at something and and put your fingers to work DOING something."
People in great organizations are not "wannabelikes" or "wannabees", they just are. They are positive people, because they know that consistent negativity impedes productivity, it doesn't enhance it. Even their criticism is ultimately positive and life-giving, because their criticism is designed to get better than what they are, not just be bitter about what they aren't. When they find a problem, they rarely stop there. They don't find pride in discovering a problem, they find pride in discovering a solution to the problem and then being a big part of that...that's life-growing achievement, not life-sucking mediocrity.
People in great organizations don't waste time finding reasons not to do something, there are always plenty of those to go around. They don't waste time and energy finding reasons never to start the journey, they save their energy to overcome barriers to success along the way.
I always am tempted to say to those people "You want to know why your team can't be like their team? That's easy. Because, right now, you are on it."
If you are in a group and wonder, "why aren't we more like that organization over there? Why can't we be like them?", more than likely the answer is that people in that organization aren't sitting around complaining about why they aren't like some other organization. They don't have the time or energy to do that...they are too busy investing themselves in the place they are and making it the way it is.
Most of the time, people who are so frustrated with their organization are the ones most unwilling to put themselves into the organization to make it better...it's easier to just complain about it, and that's a big drain on the teams where they are. They back out of assignments, they don't go the extra mile, and they always blame failures on some straw man out there that "doesn't let them be _______". (When the truth is they could do a lot, but they've created an excuse not to do it...and they like it.)
"Bloom where you are planted" may be an old saying, but in all honesty, sayings get overused because there is truth in them...just saying. Here's a couple more...
"Stop making complaints and make a difference."
"Stop pointing fingers at something and and put your fingers to work DOING something."
People in great organizations are not "wannabelikes" or "wannabees", they just are. They are positive people, because they know that consistent negativity impedes productivity, it doesn't enhance it. Even their criticism is ultimately positive and life-giving, because their criticism is designed to get better than what they are, not just be bitter about what they aren't. When they find a problem, they rarely stop there. They don't find pride in discovering a problem, they find pride in discovering a solution to the problem and then being a big part of that...that's life-growing achievement, not life-sucking mediocrity.
People in great organizations don't waste time finding reasons not to do something, there are always plenty of those to go around. They don't waste time and energy finding reasons never to start the journey, they save their energy to overcome barriers to success along the way.
I always am tempted to say to those people "You want to know why your team can't be like their team? That's easy. Because, right now, you are on it."
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Tolerance... fresh direction, new and improved...not really
In thinking about everything from Chick-Fil-A to Katherine Webb to Louie Giglio to so many things that get Americans up in arms lately, America seems to have become a country, in which, it's fashionable to be self-righteously indignant. People seem to act as if the more offended you appear to be, the more righteous you are. I think that people hope that pointing fingers and taking offense is really an attempt to place blame and criticize, so that they can cast attention away from their own faults.
Tolerance in America is a fail because it is just another mask for someone to exclude and hammer someone else...in fact, one factor that gets blamed for the "tolerance movement" is the claim that conservative Christianity has been so "intolerant" of others. They were mean to them, excluded them, judged them, ridiculed them, silenced them. So what is this "new" enlightened position? To be mean to, exclude, judge, ridicule, and silence anyone who they think is not tolerant. It's almost as if they have a Bible of their own somewhere that says "the worst thing you can do is disagree with me". That doesn't sound new or enlightened at all...that's just the same old prejudiced, angry hypocrisy that allegedly caused this to begin with...just pointed at a different group of people. But it's "right" THIS time, because "they" deserve it...funny, that argument isn't new either.
In truth, tolerance in America is a failed attempt to create an ala carte, faded copy of what God has offered all along...grace. The difference between tolerance and grace is that "tolerance" says you are wrong, but we won't tell you, and if you are damaging yourself, I'd rather you do that than be mad with me and inconvenience me...and CLEARLY, that's already been abandoned.
Sadly, like all things trying to achieve God, but not guided by God, it has become perverted and mutated. Tolerance ends up doing the exact opposite of what it intended and becoming the very dragon it hoped to slay. Look at America now...is everyone MORE free to speak or is another group just taking their turn with the keys to the "jail" and the power to imprison?
The truth is that tolerance in America is simply INtolerance everywhere else. It's the "Emperor's New Clothes" in verbal and written form..."Look at me! I'm enlightened and tolerant, now get your sword and let's shut down those idiots over there who aren't tolerant like I am." It's just repackaged hypocrisy and prejudice...a sin-driven society just "chasing it's tail" and going nowhere. The end won't be found in beating or shutting up everyone you think is wrong any more than just never calling foul on anything that isn't cleared by your lawyers and popular opinion...the answer, just like the problem, has never changed...the answer is Jesus.
Tolerance in America is a fail because it is just another mask for someone to exclude and hammer someone else...in fact, one factor that gets blamed for the "tolerance movement" is the claim that conservative Christianity has been so "intolerant" of others. They were mean to them, excluded them, judged them, ridiculed them, silenced them. So what is this "new" enlightened position? To be mean to, exclude, judge, ridicule, and silence anyone who they think is not tolerant. It's almost as if they have a Bible of their own somewhere that says "the worst thing you can do is disagree with me". That doesn't sound new or enlightened at all...that's just the same old prejudiced, angry hypocrisy that allegedly caused this to begin with...just pointed at a different group of people. But it's "right" THIS time, because "they" deserve it...funny, that argument isn't new either.
In truth, tolerance in America is a failed attempt to create an ala carte, faded copy of what God has offered all along...grace. The difference between tolerance and grace is that "tolerance" says you are wrong, but we won't tell you, and if you are damaging yourself, I'd rather you do that than be mad with me and inconvenience me...and CLEARLY, that's already been abandoned.
Sadly, like all things trying to achieve God, but not guided by God, it has become perverted and mutated. Tolerance ends up doing the exact opposite of what it intended and becoming the very dragon it hoped to slay. Look at America now...is everyone MORE free to speak or is another group just taking their turn with the keys to the "jail" and the power to imprison?
The truth is that tolerance in America is simply INtolerance everywhere else. It's the "Emperor's New Clothes" in verbal and written form..."Look at me! I'm enlightened and tolerant, now get your sword and let's shut down those idiots over there who aren't tolerant like I am." It's just repackaged hypocrisy and prejudice...a sin-driven society just "chasing it's tail" and going nowhere. The end won't be found in beating or shutting up everyone you think is wrong any more than just never calling foul on anything that isn't cleared by your lawyers and popular opinion...the answer, just like the problem, has never changed...the answer is Jesus.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
A sobering thought from Matthew 23
I was reading in Matthew 23 about the scathing verbal tongue-lashing that Jesus gave the Pharisees, a couple of days before He was crucified, and I happened on this verse.
“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are! (Matthew 23:15 NLT)
Looks like the Pharisees were pretty passionate about missions, too. They were so legalistic and practiced so little of the message they preached to everyone else, that no one could stand them, really. Had a funny thought about how they probably had to go to a foreign country to get someone who'd listen to their mess...then it occurred to me...
Sometimes we go on mission trips to other countries and we marvel at the hunger for and receptiveness to the Gospel of Christ. In conjunction, we sometimes get frustrated at the American people around us who seem so cold to our message. Makes me wonder...if those people across the sea lived with us, worked with us day in and day out, seeing our less than stellar moments and not just those euphoric moments pursuing "The Mission" on a foreign land...would they be so receptive to hear from us?
Nah...of course not...well....hmmmmmmmm
“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are! (Matthew 23:15 NLT)
Looks like the Pharisees were pretty passionate about missions, too. They were so legalistic and practiced so little of the message they preached to everyone else, that no one could stand them, really. Had a funny thought about how they probably had to go to a foreign country to get someone who'd listen to their mess...then it occurred to me...
Sometimes we go on mission trips to other countries and we marvel at the hunger for and receptiveness to the Gospel of Christ. In conjunction, we sometimes get frustrated at the American people around us who seem so cold to our message. Makes me wonder...if those people across the sea lived with us, worked with us day in and day out, seeing our less than stellar moments and not just those euphoric moments pursuing "The Mission" on a foreign land...would they be so receptive to hear from us?
Nah...of course not...well....hmmmmmmmm
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