Ohio State center could lift the Sixers

Check out this article on Greg Oden.

Examples:

Once, after the Lawrence North team finished a pregame recital of the Lord's Prayer, J.R. Shelt, a former assistant coach, noticed tears in Oden's eyes. Asked if everything was OK, Oden explained that he was thinking about having watched the movie The Passion of the Christ.

As players, coaches, cheerleaders and fans jumped with excitement, Oden walked over to a woman near the court.

"How's Esther?" he asked her.

Two years earlier, Esther had been born prematurely, weighing 1 pound, 4 ounces, to the relative of Lawrence North assistant coach Jim Etherington.

"He had met Rachel, my sister-in-law, once or twice," Etherington said. "He knew she was family. He remembered her name at a time when a lot of people wanted a piece of him. He has a personal touch. He has a sweet, genuine attentiveness to him."

When Oden made his recruiting visit to OSU, he kept holding the doors open to let coaches and others pass through first.

Friends chuckle about how often he thanks them for mundane matters, and he says "Yes, sir," and "No, sir," as if he's in the military. Oden began a recent news conference by apologizing for being late, which nearly caused reporters accustomed to waiting to drop their pens.

He sounds like a role model we can be proud of. Team him with Andre Iguodala, we may have talent and a role models for the kids of Philadelphia

Obama Takes First Step Toward Presidential Run

Please check out the video of Barack Obama's announcement that he is forming committee to run for president. This will be a watershed moment in the United States.

I remember feeling a similar way when I watched an obscure governor from Arkansas give his speech saying he was running for president.

Hopefully Barack will follow the same path.

The Love of Jesus

Even though I continue to hear sermons that insist that we must have mission to bring new followers to Christ, I think the sentiments found in this Purpose Driven Life devotional more than explain and justify my approach.

"In the process of loving our neighbors, we will inevitably introduce them to Jesus. (There’s no way you can love someone and not tell them about the most important thing in your life.) What happens then is God’s business, but we will be a witness to what we know of God to those who are compelled to ask. In the meantime, our mission is to keep on loving our neighbors, regardless."

"Love is truly our highest calling. It relates to all people saved or unsaved, regardless of religion, race, or gender. Love as God loves and you will not go wrong. When love is the goal, everything else gets done in the process."

The mistake that a lot of people make is describe as, "When it becomes our mission to save people, people can easily become targets, projects, assignments, or serve a host of other utilitarian purposes. The problem with this is that people become a means to an end. The end is to save everyone, to preach to everyone, to warn everyone, or in some way fulfill an obligation."

Christmas Shame

A wonderful post by the author of the Message Bible. Perhaps the Prophet Jeremiah had a point.

Thus says the Lord:

"Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens

because the nations are dismayed at them, for the customs of the peoples are false.

A tree from the forest is cut down, and worked with an axe by the hands

of a craftsman. Men deck it with silver and gold;

they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move" (Jer. 10:2- 4)

Humanitarian aid: winning the terror war

Another hopeful sign that we have a better way. A third way.

Amid the uncertainty about the best strategy in Iraq and how to answer the growing threat of terrorism and extremism in the world, there is one American policy of the past two years that has proven successful time and again: humanitarian missions by the US military. This policy is pro-military, pro-American, pro-humanitarian, and antiterrorist. Most important, it is actually curbing anti-American feelings in Muslim countries.

Courtesy of Rob Bell this is the way of Jesus: SERMON Any of the Peacemaker ones

A witness to what faith can be

A great article in USA Today about a group of Christians in Portland Oregon who care for the homeless.

Car- and vanloads of Christian volunteers swoop in with sleeping bags and coats to protect their dispossessed friends against the raw, wet weather that has moved in. They dispense hot meals and set up stations for shaves and haircuts. While a few pull out guitars and strike up their Jesus-themed songs, a small number of the volunteers commit one of the more audacious acts of compassion and humility I have ever witnessed: They wash the homeless people's feet.

The best statement I have read in a long time:

But it's hard to indict all religion when you see the way faith manifests under the Burnside Bridge. The features of hard-edged Christianity that many find repellant — condemnation, exclusivity, belligerence — are absent at Night Strike. Bridgetown Ministries and its dozens of volunteers aren't vetting the moral worthiness of the homeless people whose hair they cut, bodies they clothe and feet they wash. They know some might be drunk and some on drugs. Are they homeless because they're lazy? Do they deserve this care? The questions are utterly irrelevant from the perspective of the ministry's radical compassion. As Snider puts it, "We're just out there to love on people."

Brian McLaren: The Politics of Joy

Another great post by Brian McLaren.

I was particularly impressed with this statement, "The way "earth receives her king" (and the blessings he brings) is not by bombs and guns and wiretaps and coups; not by aggressive blog postings or passionate media pronouncements by pundits. Rather, the king (and the kingdom) come first to the quiet hearts of humble people who "prepare him room," and the joy flows to the world through them."

I just started reading Barack Obama's book , and I see some of the same sentiments in his thought process. I will let you know more when I finish reading it.

Gay and Evangelical, Seeking Paths of Acceptance

I ask true Christians to compare the following two responses/situations and determine for yourself who is acting the most Christ-like.

1. Clyde Zuber, 49, and Martin Fowler, 55, remember sitting on the curb outside Lakeview Baptist Church in Grand Prairie, Tex., almost 20 years ago, Sunday after Sunday, reading the Bible together, after the pastor told them they were not welcome inside. The men met at a Dallas church and have been together 23 years. In Durham, N.C., they attend an Episcopal church and hold a Bible study for gay evangelicals every Friday night at their home.

   “Our faith is the basis of our lives,” said Mr. Fowler, a soft-spoken professor of philosophy. “It means that Jesus is the Lord of our household, that we resolve differences peacefully and through love.”

2. “If by gay evangelical is meant someone who claims both to abide by the authority of Scripture and to engage in a self-affirming manner in homosexual unions, then the concept gay evangelical is a contradiction,” Robert A. J. Gagnon, associate professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, said in an e-mail message.

   “Scripture clearly, pervasively, strongly, absolutely and counterculturally opposes all homosexual practice,” Dr. Gagnon said. “I trust that gay evangelicals would argue otherwise, but Christian proponents of homosexual practice have not made their case from Scripture.”

Please read the entire discussion. The future of many Christians hangs in the balance.

2nd Colorado pastor quits over gay sex allegations

If you read this article, you will notice a statement that saddens me to no end.

Paul Barnes told church members: "I have struggled with homosexuality since I was a 5-year-old boy. ... I can't tell you the number of nights I have cried myself to sleep, begging God to take this away."

This is the main problem with the thought process on this subject. You can't wish it away or pray it away. To me this is further proof that people are born a certain way, and any attempt to "change" them will result in this type of tragedy.

This situation hurts so many people, it is a shame that the 5 year old boy wasn't taught that Jesus loves you just the way you are.

Super Charger-Record-setting Tomlinson impresses on and off field

If you read this article, you will surely know why LT's coached said the following during his press conference, "I don't want to embarrass him but for all the skills he has as a player, they pale in comparison to the person."

I just wish that this kind of person got more credit for being a human being first and foremost.

Race Against Time - World AIDS Day Speech | U.S. Senator Barack Obama

Race Against Time - World AIDS Day Speech | U.S. Senator Barack Obama: "Like no other illness, AIDS tests our ability to put ourselves in someone else's shoes - to empathize with the plight of our fellow man. While most would agree that the AIDS orphan or the transfusion victim or the wronged wife contracted the disease through no fault of their own, it has too often been easy for some to point to the unfaithful husband or the promiscuous youth or the gay man and say 'This is your fault. You have sinned.'

I don't think that's a satisfactory response. My faith reminds me that we all are sinners.

My faith also tells me that - as Pastor Rick has said - it is not a sin to be sick. My Bible tells me that when God sent his only Son to Earth, it was to heal the sick and comfort the weary; to feed the hungry and clothe the naked; to befriend the outcast and redeem those who strayed from righteousness.

Living His example is the hardest kind of faith - but it is surely the most rewarding. It is a way of life that can not only light our way as people of faith, but guide us to a new and better politics as Americans.

For in the end, we must realize that the AIDS orphan in Africa presents us with the same challenge as the gang member in South Central, or the Katrina victim in New Orleans, or the uninsured"

The above quote taken from the Senators speech should remind all Christian's of their obligation to honor the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul, and to Love your neighbor as yourself.

AMEN.

P.S. Article on the speech:

Why Evangelical Kay Warren Is Fighting AIDS - Newsweek Health - MSNBC.com

Why Evangelical Kay Warren Is Fighting AIDS - Newsweek Health - MSNBC.com

This interview is must read for any Christian who has questions about where we should stand as Christians on the topic of AIDS.

This question and particularly the answer given hit me as one of the most important,

How hard is it for evangelicals to get past the characterization by some of AIDS as God’s scourge against the sin of homosexuality?
That’s definitely something we’re trying to get past. It’s flawed thinking, for starters. To follow that line of reason means that then, I suppose, the cold I have is God’s judgment against me for going out in the rain without my boots on. Thinking that way is not helpful. We live in a broken, sinful world. We all make mistakes, but at the same time God cares passionately about everyone he has made. You never find Jesus asking people how they got sick, not once does he ask that. When sick people came to him, he simply said, “How can I help you?” And that’s where we’re trying to go. That needs to be the first question out of our mouths.

Hoops of Hope

Hoops of Hope

I read and prayed, "May Your Kingdom come, and Your Will be done on earth"

Another example of the "Thy Kingdom Come"

Kentucky treasurer pushes for Sudan divestment - November 20, 2006 - Pensions & Investments

Kentucky treasurer pushes for Sudan divestment - November 20, 2006 - Pensions & Investments

This article is probably restricted, but the important message is that the Treasurer of Kentucky's Retirement system has fired the first of what I hope to be many shots at the Sudanese government.

This is hopefully history repeating itself. The pressure put on by US financial institutions in South Africa ultimately contributed to the no violent changes final instituted and an end to Apartheid.

Finding God in Unexpected Places

Philadelphia Inquirer | 11/19/2006 | They're learning life's rules

The title is from a book by Philip Yancey. The story is part of what I hope to begin keeping track of. Pockets of life where God can be found among the people seeking Justice for all.

In praise of 'Local Heroes'

Philadelphia Inquirer | 11/15/2006 | In praise of 'Local Heroes'

Reading this story makes me proud to have made the same decision, and tells me I need to do more for my sons school

Kevin and Nancy Peter. Ben was in preschool when the Peters faced the question that bedevils middle-class city-dwellers: public school or private?

Many in their Mount Airy circle had chosen private, and probably assumed the Peters would, too. But Nancy had attended the neighborhood school, C.W. Henry, as a child - before transferring to private school - and decided to check it out.

"My big 'Aha!' was that it was a great school," she said. "The only thing wrong with it was perception: Middle-class families didn't consider it, so it became less of a viable option for other middle-class families."

The school was largely African American in a largely white neighborhood.

To encourage others like them - people with resources and contacts - to look at Henry, Nancy and Kevin began hosting monthly meetings in their living room. Four years later, Ben, 8, is a trumpet-playing, sports-loving Henry third-grader and the Peters are slowly winning converts at their gatherings.

"We want to help them make informed choices," said Nancy, 50. "We also want to make the school better for people who don't have a choice."

One family that switched to Henry took their private-school tuition money and bought sports equipment for the school. Other parents landed grants for a music program and a lunchroom overhaul.

Such involvement, said Kevin, 42, "is going to strengthen the school for all the kids."

Nancy, a doctoral student at Penn and director of the university's Out-of-School Time Resource Center, and Kevin, who helps under- and unemployed Philadelphians at the Metropolitan Career Center in Germantown, have been accused of putting their politics ahead of their son's education.

"People say to us, 'You're sending your kid to public school? How could you?' " Nancy said. "We couldn't be happier at Henry."

Money doesn't buy Happiness

SI.com - Writers - Monday Morning QB (cont.) - Monday November 13, 2006 12:40PM:

Reading this statement from Rutger's fullback puts money in the right perspective. We have been studying money and tithing at church for 40 days, and I can think of nothing that has been said or verse that has been repeated that says it any better than this


"'The NFL's good. Money's good. But I never had money growing up. My family didn't have money. My mom's an accountant. My dad's a cable guy. They don't care that they weren't rich. They're the two happiest people on the planet. They live life the way it should be lived and passed that on to their kids. Money doesn't buy happiness. "

Money doesn't buy Happiness

SI.com - Writers - Monday Morning QB (cont.) - Monday November 13, 2006 12:40PM:

Reading this statement from Rutger's fullback puts money in the right perspective. We have been studying money and tithing at church for 40 days, and I can think of nothing that has been said or verse that has been repeated that says it any better than this


"'The NFL's good. Money's good. But I never had money growing up. My family didn't have money. My mom's an accountant. My dad's a cable guy. They don't care that they weren't rich. They're the two happiest people on the planet. They live life the way it should be lived and passed that on to their kids. Money doesn't buy happiness. "

The Importance of Prayer

Radiant Magazine

An excellent refresher on prayer

Drawn Together in Life, Held Together After Death - washingtonpost.com

Drawn Together in Life, Held Together After Death - washingtonpost.com

This story is mind blowing. This is true Grace and forgiveness. Any time you feel someone wrongs you, and you need to seek revenge or hold a grudge you should read this story.

No mention is ever made of faith in this article, but the parents of Matt Stoffel show an enormous amount of faith in their reaction to the tragic death of their only son in a car driven by his best friend.