My Reflections on Easter

Tomorrow is Easter. Bunnies, Peeps, caramel eggs. Oh yeah, Jesus rose from the dead.

I have been thinking: What if Jesus were alive today? I've come to the conclusion that if Jesus were among us, we (the Church) would probably hate him. Perhaps we would crucify him. I mean, how could we follow someone who loves people who are so messed up?

Insert your sin here in the blank: Why would Jesus love a __________________.

Did you insert Atheist? Gay? Muslim? Murderer? Adulterer? Drunk, fornicator, swearer?

One of the many reasons people cannot relate with the church is that church presents itself (and it's followers) as somehow better, more righteous and deserving. People in the church don't drink, smoke, swear or think bad thoughts. That's why they are saved. And that's why the rest of you are going to Hell.

Watch this video with Jars of Clay lead singer Dan Haseltine. He makes a great point. A lot of people cannot relate to the church. The church isn't real. In turn the church doesn't relate to a lot of people.

Luke 7:41-42 says: Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denari, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back,
so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?

Simon Peter answers the one who had the bigger debt forgiven. He was right.

Christ has canceled the debt of all of us. Only when we realize how great the our own debts were can we recognize the Grace that was given to us. My friend Brian says to this effect: if you believe you are 90 percent good, you only need a 10 percent Jesus. I believe that more people would follow Jesus if we would sell them a 100 percent Jesus. Instead, the church sells a 10 percent Savior-- with the other 90 percent taken care of by our good works, righteousness, steadfast prayer and all those other wonderful holy things we do. If you would stop being you and start being us, then you could get this deal too.

In college, I attended a David Wilcox concert. I love the guy, he plays great melodies, writes amazing lyrics and ends up with relevant music. Many of his songs are spiritual with heavy Christian undertones (see Fearless Love, Hold it up to the Light). After the show, my friend asked him if he was a Christian. He responded that he does not like to answer that question. The reason was because the question too often was less about whether he loves the same Savior as they do and more about whether he hates the same people they hate.

Happy Easter. I guess my prayer is that we don't allow religion to crucify Christ. It's already happened before.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
-- Roman 5:8

Tutu

Catching up on reading today:

I'm not optimistic, no. I'm quite different. I'm hopeful. I am a prisoner of hope. In the world, you have very bad people-- Hitler, Idi Amin-- and they look like they are going to win. All of them-- all of them-- have bitten the dust.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu in "10 Questions", Time Magazine, 22 March 2010

Reminds me of an old David Wilcox favorite of mine:

"Show the Way"- David Wilcox

Click the link. Read the lyrics. You can click "play" under the title and hear the song. It's a song about hope. Tutu and Wilcox say the same thing: that evil will not win because, just like in those superhero comics I read growing up, the hero is more powerful. The hero is good.

Pick Me Up

Middle of last week, I was not feeling so good about my place in the world. I was swamped with trying to get thing finalized for the state wrestling tournament, feeling like a crappy teacher with ineffective lessons and under the impression that I was spinning my wheels and not reaching my kids. In other words, not having the best day. I get back to my room after a faculty meeting and see this:

I suppose it's an awesome thing to be considered the "best short ninja EVER!".

Also, thanks Kate this post on my birthday.

North Knight Wrestling

Well, wrestling season ended this past weekend. We went to Greensboro with 4 wrestlers and one of our goals was to have four state placers. We finished with only one: Enrique Vera finished 3rd at 135 pounds. The other guys had their opportunities. Hopefully they will learn and use it for motivation to get better.

Congratulations to Enrique for finishing his career in a strong manner and fighting back after a disappointing 1 point loss in the quarterfinals. A lesser person might have quit there. Enrique fought through and won 4 tough matches to capture the consolation championship.

Enrique (second from left) on the podium

Knights coaches and wrestlers

Snow Image/"Good Word"

I stumbled across this on the Georgia Tech message board and had to share:

Control

Recently, I have been struggling with my need for control. Audra, who has assisted me in track for the last five or six seasons, constantly slams me as a control freak. Don't fret-- Audra is amazing and she slams me very lovingly. And she's right. John, my assistant wrestling coach of the last 4 seasons, would testify the same.

It's just me. I have to be in control. I probably work too hard because I find it difficult to delegate. I prefer to be the driver, because I am in control. I gravitated towards individual sports such as wrestling and track and field in high school because I did not have to depend on others to get me the ball, set a screen or block up front (though I adored running the sprint relays). I like biking fast-- but only if I am in control. I don't do drugs or get drunk, not as much for a moral reason but because the result is I lose control.

The part of me that needs control probably stems from two things: a lack of faith and my own insecurities. I struggle with faith and trust. My entire faith has been a struggle of faith. Many relationships have been damaged because of issues of trust. The few times I have to miss wrestling practice or I am caught in a meeting, John likes to say, "Thank you for trusting me with practice". Part of it is jokingly, because he understands how little I like to give up that control. Part of it is sincere, because I think he understands that he has my trust and confidence.

I believe that the other issue is rooted in my feelings of inadequacy. If I do not prove myself constantly, then I am a failure. I must always be in control because, going back to trust, if someone else falls short it reflects on me. And then I fail. So I choose to do it myself. Much of my life has been trying to prove that I was adequate as a teacher, coach, friend, brother, student, athlete or whatever I was trying to be at the moment.

On the cross, Christ said "It is finished" (John 19:30). There lies the beauty of the Gospel. There's nothing to prove. It was finished there on Calvary. All my failures do not define me. Part of the glorious nature of the Bible is that it was filled with "failures": Moses, Jacob, David, Peter, Thomas, Paul.

If nothing else, all the snow we have received this winter reminded me that I am not in control. The cancellations of school, wrestling and constant adjustment we've had to make to our lives are reminders that no matter how much we think we have it together, we are not in control. There are things in our lives that our out of our control. The question of faith is: Do I believe the things out of my control are under control? If I do, there is hope for relationships, careers, dreams and desires.

There is hope for me yet. I'll come around, I'm working on it.

Super Bowl

Super Bowl Sunday. Colts-Saints should be a great game. Two great cities, two great teams and two great quarterbacks. You have classy coaches, respected owners and loyal fans. Here are some thoughts on the two stars of the big game:

Peyton Manning- Yeah, I understand that he can be overexposed. And all those hand signals and audibles before the snap can get annoying. But he's so good at what he does and here's the evidence:

• Dude is smart, but he also studies like no one else. He is always watching film and between series he is looking at photos and making a lot of the adjustments himself. No one is more prepared than Manning and no one is better at making strategic adjustments than him. Peyton was blessed with a lot of talent, but he works as hard as anyone else. When he showed up to do Saturday Night Live, he arrived at NBC studios with binders of stuff he had studied and was diligently taking notes during planning. If he takes SNL this seriously, imagine how serious he takes Sundays.
  
  
  
• Austin Collie and Pierre Garcon: The Colts drafted two no names at wide receiver. Peyton's favorite, Marvin Harrison, was not resigned last season. Anthony Gonzalez, the slot receiver who played so well last season, was lost for the year with a knee injury. What do they do? They develop gems from gravel. Collie came out of the 4th round from BYU. Garcon? He was drafted in round six from Division III Mount Union. I believe that "champions" make those around them better. Michael Jordan did that. Drew Brees, of the Saints, does that. Peyton and the Colts do that so well.
  

- Drew Brees - I like Drew Brees, because he has achieved so much at so many levels in spite of the "experts". He is not supposed to set passing records and be the starting quarterback in the Super Bowl, but here he is. Signed in 2006, Brees has embraced New Orleans. The Crescent City needed a hero and Brees was that on many levels through his gameplay and his charitable efforts.

"Winner" might be one of the most overused cliches in sports. We've really watered down the meaning. But I mean it when I say Drew Brees is a "winner":

• A three-sport star, he led Westlake High School (Austin, TX) to a perfect 16-0 season and a Texas 5A State Championship. Both were firsts in school history. Despite being the 1996 Texas 5A Player of the Year, he was not recruited by the Texas powerhouses: hometown Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Texas Christian. At 6 feet even, he was considered too small. His college choices for football: Big Ten bottom feeder Purdue and Ivy League Brown.
• At Purdue, a school overshadowed by Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, etc, Brees was the Maxwell Award (for best college player) winner and a Heisman finalist in 2000. That season, he led the Boilermakers to their first Big Ten Championship and Rose Bowl appearance since 1967. Winners overachieve and make those around them better. Brees took Purdue past the tradition powers of the Big10 conference to Pasadena and the Rose Bowl.
• Most scouts thought Brees still too small for the NFL and that his arm strength was inadequate. Still, the San Diego Chargers took him in the second round of the 2001 draft. He beat out the famous (though old) Doug Flutie (see video below) for the starting job.
  
  
• In 2004, the Chargers drafted NC State quarterback Philip Rivers with the 4th pick in the NFL Draft. This was essentially a vote of no-confidence for Brees. Rivers held out of training camp and Brees played the entire season and earned a trip to the Pro Bowl.
• In 2005, Brees injured his shoulder while trying to recover a fumble. A free agent, Brees was offered a very un-lucrative contract with the Chargers (they basically chose Rivers) for someone who was just voted into his second consecutive Pro Bowl. He wanted to go to Miami, but Nick Saban (aka Satan), did not believe his shoulder to be healed. So Brees ended up in New Orleans post-Katrina.
• And what has Brees done in New Orleans? Rallied the city behind the Saints (remember, the Superdome was a Katrina refugee camp), given money to local schools, started the Drew Brees Foundation, and advocated locally and nationally on behalf of the city of New Orleans. Oh, and he took the Saints- formerly the "Aints", who wore bags over their heads to games, one of three franchises to never play in Big Game- to their first ever Super Bowl appearance.