Dino extinction part 2

This is the evolutionary view. The other post is from a Creationist standpoint. Ha ha!

I ran this afternoon! I guess you would call it running. It was ugly and painful (as expected), but I’m back at it. They’ll all get better from this day forward. This marathon beat me up like nothing I’ve ever done before.

Following the run I went for a short bike ride. I hope to become regular rider for the next few months. It will be good cross training. I’m also hoping to learn to swim, and if I do, then I hope to compete in a triathlon later in the summer. My goal, eventually, would be to do a half iron man event. That’s likely a long way off and dependent upon my ability to learn to swim effectively. We’ll see... Boston still remains the main thing; first priority.

Today I spent several hours with John and Janice Wilkins from Indy. John (Carolyn’s son) grew up here and wanted to bring a friend from Africa to see some of the ministry we are involved in. We started out at Spring Mill Bible Camp. It was enjoyable walking the campgrounds on a beautiful day. Following our time at Camp we visited the ReGeneration Store and talked about the ministry we do with the revenue the store creates and how the store itself is ministry in that it provides low cost clothing and other items to people who need them. Then we went to our church building and looked around, especially in the food pantry.

It’s always good to re-examine what you are doing through the eyes of another. Today was that for me, and I liked what I saw. We’ve been blessed in many ways.

Off to Nashville, TN tomorrow. Kedra and I are taking a trailer load of clothes, medical supplies, shoes, plumbing supplies, and other stuff to be loaded on a container in Nashville. The container should ship soon and be in Tegucigalpa when we arrive. We’ll be in Honduras from July 1-11.

Why dinosaurs are extinct

This cartoon cracks me up! Pay attention and be ready - always good messages.

On a related note, some are claiming to have found Noah's Ark. You can read about it HERE.

My soreness is subsiding. Stairs are still a problem but not as bad as the last 2 days. I am eager to run again but will wait until tomorrow, and then it will be easy, slow, short, and on a soft trail. I want to get as much recovery as I can before the half marathon a week from Saturday. I would love to run it hard, but I will wait and see how I feel. I don’t want to do any damage.

Ben has a football meeting tonight. It’s hard to believe he will be a freshman this fall. Before the meeting we are boxing up supplies to ship to Honduras. I have to drive them down to Nashville on Thursday, which will be fun. Kedra is going with me, and we get to see Luke.

Broken is Beautiful

BROKEN IS BEAUTIFUL from PEOPLE OF THE SECOND CHANCE on Vimeo.

Finished up my semester of teaching at OCU-B today. Gave the final, totaled the scores, and gave the grades. A few As, Bs, Cs, a D, and for the first time in several years of teaching I gave an F. Poor guy just didn’t do the work. With all that I hang up my “Dr. Burris” cap until the fall. That’s part of who I am; not a large part but still a part. I am a son, brother, nephew, uncle, cousin, husband, father, minister, teacher, counselor, friend, sinner, a runner...

I’ve been thinking a lot about identity since Saturday’s failed Boston qualifying attempt. Why is running Boston so important to me? I believe it’s because I want to be identified, in part, by an accomplishment that only a few achieve. Outside of my running peers and you loyal folks who read this blog, I really don’t talk much about running or about Boston. People don’t really understand or probably really care. That’s fine and very understandable.

The other day I had a conversation with a trusted friend who doesn’t run but understands the desire I have for accomplishments and achievements. I told him I wanted to run Boston and get a shadow box with the memorabilia. He said, “so you can have it on display at your visitation at the funeral home?” I laughed and said, “Exactly!” I said I want that along some other stuff, diplomas, awards, etc., that are inappropriate to display or talk about while you are alive. I said, “I want people to look at all that and say, ‘Wow, he accomplished some pretty interesting things in life.’” Is that pride? Maybe. Maybe it’s the God-given desire to do something special with the live he has given me.

We are all identified in all kinds of ways, but the only that really counts is that I am beloved son of God. That should be sufficient, and in a lot of ways it is. But I also believe that doing things, accomplishing and achieving, are also ways to accept the gifts God has given to us and are a way, when done with humility, to bring glory to Him. I hope that’s my desire. I think it is most days.

So I’m going to keep running. Working. Striving. As a beloved son; not to become one. Life is good, and I am at peace. I love running! I really do. Saturday was a wonderful experience of joy and pain and satisfaction. I gave everything I had. Everything. I finished in pain but I finished. Thanks.

DNQ

Did not qualify for Boston. It was a tough day. Too much heat and humidity; too many hills in Cherokee Park. It was 81 degrees when we finished. No one from our training group qualified. Rand missed it by less than a minute, and John and I missed by miles. John recovered well from an early bad stretch and finished impressively under 4 hours for his first attempt. I was really happy for him and proud of him.

I'm not nearly as disapointed as last fall. I gave it all I had and was on course for the first 15 miles. I just didn't have much left after that, although I managed one more 7.45 mile. I knew I was in trouble, however, when I could not run fast down the hills. I had nothing left after about 19 miles. I started cramping up in my calves.

My body did weird things today; things I've never experienced before. I still haven't quite figured out what happened, but I started leaning to right pretty severely. I simply could not straigthen up. Then I got a pretty severe side stitch for the last 6 miles. I never get side stitch.

I looked like a drunk when I finished. I kept staggering to the right. The medics tried to get me in a wheelchair. I refused. One very kind nurse (I think) walked with me a long way before I convinced her that I was OK. I lied. I was staggering around when John Heatherly found me and got me to a safe place. Kedra found me there. I think I'm OK, but I still have a pain in my side. Weird.

Rand ended up in the medical tent, and I have not heard any more. I never saw him or Bill at the finish; only John. Jim Sowders and Dennis Gillespie came down to watch and encourage. They did both wonderfully well. (Jim took the picture above at about the 11 mile mark. Bill and I, along with Rand, were running together; not sure why Rand is not in the picture.)

I am disappointed not to qualify but am pleased that I gutted out a finish, even though it was pretty slow (4.09). I ran the first 15 in just a minute or two over 2 hours and then took more than that to do the last 11 miles. I'm not sure what is next, but I'll make the third attempt to qualify, probably in the fall/winter. I am done with marathons in the heat. They just don't work for me. Most non-elite runners, like me, take 3 attempts to qualify for Boston. I read that somewhere.

The highlight of the day was having Lester run with me for about 8 miles, including the hard hilly miles of Cherokee. He was a great encouragement.

Friday

Only 25 hours until the gun fires...

Here are some final coaching tips for the mind from Bill Deckard. I've been working on the mental stuff. Nadine, Alan Napier's mother, called me yesterday morning to wish me well. I told her that I was going to wear one of Alan's singlets. She gave me some words of encouragement.

Ben went to Chicago yesterday with the 8th grade from the junior high. They left at 3.30 a.m. and were SUPPOSED to get back around 12.30 last night. One bus broke down. Kedra crawled into bed at 3.38 this morning.

I'm going to spend the morning getting ready for my final exam at OCU-B -- a monster 100 question exam. My students recently evaluated me; glad that happened before this test!

Time for oatmeal...

I hope to post my results on here sometime tomorrow afternoon. Rebecca, along with a bunch of her friends, have prom tomorrow evening. Not sure what I have to do; not much I think. So I should have time to tell you what happened. Think Boston!

Lipscomb News

Luke sent me a link to a news page from Lipscomb. The page has at least 2 articles about engineering activities at Lipscomb; two that he was involved in. One was building and using a catapult, and the other was the Baja car project. There are pictures included. You can read about it here.

The other wonderful news coming out of Lipscomb is that Ryan Chastain from Mitchell won the highest athletic award you can win at Lipscomb. It was presented Saturday night right before Tim Tebow spoke to a huge crowd. Ryan is an amazing runner and a great young man. You can read about it here in an article mostly about Tebow's speech. The article also mentions Diamond Rio being there and performing.

Speaking of Diamond Rio, I bet you didn't know this - the lead singer and I were at Lipscomb together. One time we were walking across campus, going in opposite directions, I looked at him and said, "hey." He said the same thing back to me. Another significant brush with fame. I have been blessed with several.

3 days

Can I deliver the Boston qualifying performance that I have dreamed of for more than 25 years? I hope so. I am praying so. I adopted a training slogan months ago: Qualified 2 Qualify. It means that I have done the work to qualify, and everything is in place. Now I must do it. I AM NERVOUS!

The next couple of days are all about rest, hydration, and nutrition. They are also about mental preparation. I want to go through all the scenarios, good and bad, and imagine what it will take to enjoy and/or overcome each one. The weather is the greatest threat right now, but I’ve run in worse than what is predicted.

Alan Napier’s mother, Nadine, gave me all of Alan’s running (and biking) clothes, along with a bunch of his books. I am dedicating the marathon to Alan’s memory, so I plan to wear one of his singlets in the race. Alan was very interested in this race.

The 2-3 days in Indy were nice. I learned a lot and had a very enjoyable time. Now it’s back to the work I know too well but love. Today is my last regular class meeting at Oakland City U., which is great. It has been challenging this semester. I am looking forward to the summer break.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading on the 2nd Commandment – no idols. Trying to figure how to talk about that in our culture and context.

An Evening in Indy

We had a great day in Indy and a very nice evening with Lester and Maddie. We enjoyed a meal at the Spaghetti Factory and then took a horse and buggie ride. It was a lot of fun.

I must admit during the buggie ride I kept thinking of the commercial below. Fortunately nothing like this happened! Maybe it's because we were not drinking? Also, we had no open flames.

The Boston Marathon was today. One year from today I hope to be there as a participant! The weather for Saturday is not looking very good right now: warm, windy and possibly wet. Oh well...

Indy

I'm in Indy on a secret mission. I really would have to kill you if I told why I'm here -- ha ha. Seriously, if I told you, you would say, "oh," and then move to a subject that would interest you. I brought Kedra along with me, and we are staying in the Omni. It's very nice. The picture above is from our 9th floor window, looking south.

It's such a beautiful evening. We went to a movie and then walked some around downtown. Indy is really a neat place. After my meetings tomorrow I will meet up with Kedra, and we will be joined by Lester and Maddie. We'll have a nice meal together, and then I am hoping we can do a horse and carriage ride.

After our movie we stopped in Steak N Shake for a light snack. We spent $9.01. While we were eating, a guy in a wheel chair came in. He was moving painfully slowly. We had seen him earlier. When we were looking at the Circle Center movie theatre sign, trying to figure out how to get to it, he gently spoke and said, "go up the escalators."

He came in Steak N Shake to use the restroom. As he got close he asked a young boy who was sitting near the door to open it for him. The boy seemed a little uncertain but consented to help. About that time a really rough looking guy saw the situation and showed surprising (to me anyway - the one who was judging by appearance) concern and compassion. He asked the man in the chair if it was OK to push him. It was, so this rough looking character demonstrated simple kindness to a fellow traveler through life, and he showed me to be careful about drawing conclusions based on appearances.

Saturday

We got the last double-digit run done today. I ran 11 miles. After our good run we went to Golden Corral and ate. And ate. And ate. Oh well. I believe Rand, John, and I are all ready to go and do well next Saturday in Louisville. Bill will run with us and around us to help out. Today's weather would have been good! Right now the extended forecast calls for a warm rain. Whatever.

I've only got a few minutes. I'm off to do a wedding for some folks who don't go to church with us but are friends from a different context. Nice people. They want a short wedding ceremony, and that's exactly what they will receive! I probably won't stick around long. This week has been so crazy that I have not had any "down time" to speak of.

Ben ran 14 miles today, and so did Lester. They are both ready to run the Mini in Indy, which is only 3 weeks away. It was their last long run. Rebecca plans to walk it. She has been working hard to get ready for it. She is going to walk it with Lester's wife, Maddie. Should be a fun day!

We got word that Luke got word that he got an internship at Crane this summer. We are all very thankful and excited about it. He gets out of school the first part of May and then heads to Central America for a little while to do civil engineering/mission work. I believe he has to report to Crane May 24.

Gotta go put my suit on and do the wedding thing...

What's going on?

This has been one of the most unusual weeks I've had in a long, long time. Trouble is - it's not over yet. I still have a sermon to prepare and a wedding rehearsal tonight followed by the wedding tomorrow.

You know that Butler thing right below these words? We'll that thing took on an interesting life. Somehow it got picked up by Google and must have been forwarded or something. On Tuesday I had more than 2000 visits, more than 1200 on Wednesday, and close to 800 yesterday. It's finally slowing down today. Back to faithful few. Thanks, by the way!

I'm having a lot of trouble with the sermon this week. There have been so many distractions and heavy "life" issues that it has been hard to concentrate. I'm hoping for a break through. Now would be good.

I still want to talk about Alan and his funeral, but I'll save it for later.

Still tapering for the marathon, which is a week from tomorrow. I'm running 11 miles in the morning and then it's all single digit runs until the big day. I am dedicating my run to Alan. He was very interested in it/me. We had plans for him to teach me to swim after the marathon with a view of doing a triathlon in the summer.

Butler Hoops Team Under Investigation - AP

INDIANAPOLIS--Butler's run in the NCAA Men's Basketball National Championship Game may be tarnished after reports surfaced today that all 13 players on the roster are being given good educations in an effort to help them find good jobs after they leave the school. "It's important to remember that right now these are only allegations -- allegations that we are looking into," said NCAA president James Isch.

"But, obviously, if true, this would be very disappointing. The NCAA has certain expectations and standards. It's not fair for players at one school to be given good educations while athletes at other member schools receive basic, remedial instruction that is worth essentially nothing." According to documents seized from the school's registrar's office, Butler players have received an education worth $38,616 per year totaling more than $150,000 over a four-year career.

Compare that to player at a school like Kentucky , where tuition is set at $4,051 -- but with an actual value far below that. “We don't want to say too much until these reports are confirmed," said Kentucky head basketball coach John Calipari. "But we're talking about almost $140,000 difference in education per player -- and that's even if my players stayed four years or graduated, which many of them do not. Then these Butler players are reportedly stepping into good jobs after graduation while my kids, if they don't make the NBA, have absolutely no job prospects or life skills. It's far from a balanced playing field. They are buying the best players by giving them a high-priced education."

In addition to the allegations that they were given an expensive education, many Butler players have been spotted around campus holding books, studying and engaging in interesting conversations. Others have been seen with people who are known to not be tutors. Butler point guard and Kentucky native Ronald Nored, who is reportedly a secondary education major, denied allegations that the Bulldog program is cheating.

"The discourse on this matter is fatuous and inane," he said, implicating the program further.

Interesting week

I guess that's one way of putting it. I have a wedding Saturday and a funeral Thursday. Interesting. Real life stuff. I have a couple of other interesting things going on also, but if I told you I would have to kill you. I'll have more to say about the funeral in a day or two. It's going to be a hard one. Alan was a special guy to me.

Reading through the Bible again this year. Can I say that some of it is boring? Can I confess that I find some of it troubling? Primarily the violence. I'm in 2 Kings. I'll be glad to hit Psalms and Proverbs, but they are fairly far off. Oh well. It's all about the Grand Narrative, the Big Story. Clearly God is not afraid to be real and transparent in some ways.

Of course in other ways he is so mysterious. We have lots and lots of questions. Faith is the ability (or the gift) to live with the questions for which there are no (good) answers and still trust God. Some days are better than others.

In my reading I did come across a passage that made me chuckle. It's 2 King 9:20, which says:

The lookout reported, “He has reached them, but he isn’t coming back either. The driving is like that of Jehu son of Nimshi—he drives like a madman.”

I can only imagine what wild chariot driving would be like. Lots of one-wheeling, I but. This passage stands behind a word in the Oxford English Dictionary.

Jehu (n.) A fast or reckless driver.

I'm not making this up! Now you have a word that you can use with your friends. "Hey, you Jehu!"

Getting ready to dive into the 1st of the 10 Commandments.

You shall have no other gods before me.

Something tells me that there is an awful lot packed into those few words. A lot of stuff for then and a lot of stuff for now. I'm really looking forward to exploring it.

You have anything you want to say?

From Thought Questions

Ready to Go!

I think--make that I believe--I am ready to qualify for the Boston Marathon two weeks from today at the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon. With the help of some good friends and runners I completed my 5th 20 miler of this training circuit, and I was able to do it at an 8.03 pace, which is considerably faster than I have to run the marathon. If I can run this pace for 20 at Louisville, then it gives me a good cushion or time in the bank for completing the last 6.2 miles.

Now I am in a strict tapering mode. I will do one more tempo run on Tuesday evening, and then the rest of it is easy stuff. I'll do 10-12 miles next Saturday. The key now is careful eating and staying healthy in all ways. I'll also continue carefully watching the weather forecast. Right now it calls for a cloudy day starting in the 40s and ending in the low 60s. That would be perfect! But there is a lot of time for the forecast to change. I'm prepared for anything; cool is much better than hot.

Right now I am at our big Help for Honduras yard sale. Wow, we have lots of stuff left, but we have sold tons of stuff. We are blessed to have the Regeneration truck to load. A lot of the leftovers will be sold at the store. We'll bag up all the clothes and plan to ship them to Honduras, along with medical supplies and 400 bushels of corn. I have to find a way to get all this to Nashville. Any semi drivers in the audience today? Semi drivers would like to donate their truck and time?

Life is good! The weather is great and getting better. I am looking forward to worship tomorrow. I am starting a series of lessons on the 10 Commandments. I have entitled the series, "Reading the 10 Commandments with Jesus." To put it in fancy terms: We want a Christological view of the 10 commands. But we plan not to ignore the original context and intent. I'm pretty excited about it.

Libby walked!

Last night after my Bible study I made my way down to the Family Life Center, which was rapidly filling up with junk... I mean valuable items for our Honduras yard sale. Lots and lots of stuff; some very interesting stuff like guns. Real guns! And a boat is on the way! A real boat.

As I was walking around looking at all the valuable items, Libby Holmes called out my name. I went over and we talked a little bit. Her school principle, Dan, had said to say "hello"; Dan and I run together some. Libby seemed very happy. I finished chatting with her, not realizing there was more to tell.

A few minutes later, Carrie, Libby's mom, called me over. "Libby has something she wants to tell you." Both Carrie and Libby were smiling huge smiles. Libby then announced with joyful exuberance, “I walked!” She went on to tell how she had taken a few steps without her walker or any other assistance! Wow! I told her that many many prayers are being answered with her progress. Surgery after surgery; prayer after prayer. It really is amazing! Carrie and Trent are just wonderful parents who have endured so much, and their faith-full optimism is contagious.

I have a friend in New Zealand, Grant, who was born with spina bifida; his is more crippling than Libby’s. He has been in a wheelchair all his life. He is a wonderful guy and was a key part of our church family in Auckland. One time in a Bible study he talked about his concept of Heaven. He said he looked forward to the day that he would jump up out of his wheel chair and run across beautiful green grass. I told Libby that she already was getting a jump on the body that will one day be hers in Heaven: complete and whole.

Pretty neat stuff!

I love bacon!

What you have in these pictures are some very interesting uses for bacon, along with one conventional use (huge sandwich with one pound of bacon). The two other uses are a mug made of bacon, filled with cheese, and the other one is a wonderful mixture of smokey links combined with bacon to make little turtles.

For a long time I have said that bacon is the universal meat. Think about it! It goes with just about anything and always makes whatever you are eating better.

One time, a few years ago, at a Christmas party Kedra did something terrible. She still takes grief for it. She wasted bacon! How? She wrapped dates (the little nut or fruit or whatever they are; not people) with it! All the real men at the party were visibly upset to see bacon used in this manner. There were, however, a couple "girly men" who thought it was a good idea. I have generally stayed away from those guys since that evening. Not to be trusted.

Some of my favorite bacon memories come from a few years ago. When the boys were younger we had season tickets to the IU football games. Before the games we would tailgate in the North Central Church parking lot. I would fry/smoke 2-3 pounds of bacon with my little grill. We would eat that while I was grilling the hamburgers. Of course they were topped with bacon as well. You can ask the boys, and I think they will tell you that we had some good eating in those days. Bacoon burgers, chips, Pepsi, Coke, candy bars, etc. - no vegatables or fruits (and I don't mean the guys who liked the dates wrapped in bacon; I mean things like apples.).

I know as a guy striving to qualify for the Boston Marathon that I should not eat bacon, but, hey, nobody is perfect! I have cut down my consumption considerbly, but I'm thinking come the evening of April 24 that one of sandwiches pictured above might just be the ticket. Maybe one of those followed by one of those turtles. Not sure about the bacon mug full of cheese; might be worth trying though.

I have a lot of bacon memories/experiences. I have eaten it in many countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Russia, and Greece. I have even eaten it in Turkey - a Muslim country that forbids pork. Now, that was cool; felt like I was doing something dangerous. I could imagine someone was going to burst in the room and say, "Stop! You bacon-eating infidel!! You must die!!"

Please feel free to share your favorite bacon memories.

Almost!

Wow, what a game! It was so close to being the perfect ending. Hoosiers redux. But, alas, Jimmy Chitwood's valiant effort (x 2) didn't quite get the job done.

And life goes on. Tired, somewhat unsatisfied, but it goes on.

I'm so glad I went. Spending time with Ben, Lester, and Maddie was simply wonderful. The atmosphere was electric, and people, especially lots of people in the same place, are entertaining.

Maybe more later... For now I've got to get some things done.

Butler students having BB fun

Playing some Butler "D" and taking the charge! Made me laugh! Wonder what we'll see this evening? Should be fun!

Going to the game!

Lester called and said he could get tickets at a reasonable price, thanks to the disappointed Michigan State and West Virginia fans. I hesitated for a while, due to the late night and spending the money, etc., but then I realized it might be one of those "priceless" times in life. SO Ben and I will journey north and join Lester and Maddie to watch history. Live. I know we could see better at home, but there is nothing quite like being there. Win or lose it will be something to see and experience.

Bob Kravitz has another good article about all of it. I just hope Butler can shoot better and simply do what they do, to borrow a Colts' expression. And aren't there a lot of similarities between the Bulldogs and the Colts, as far as coaching style (no yelling, screaming, whining, etc.) and players who play with class, etc.?

I had hoped to take today off. I've been going non-stop for a while and need a break, but I'll push through today. Tomorrow might be the day I slow down a little.

Amy Grant's "Better than a Hallelujah"

Wow! I heard this for the first time today. I've always enjoyed her music, but the message of this song is really powerful. Reminds me the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector, found in Luke 18:9-14.

15K (9.3 miles)

That was the distant for this morning's race, which was the last in the training series building up to the mini marathon in Indy on May 8. Ben and I ran the race this morning along with several others from the area.

Ben had a great run! His longest training run coming into the race was 8 miles, which he did last Tuesday. He was in new territory today, but he handled it very well. He ran a smart race, pacing himself perfectly. He finished strong (in the rain that crept in on us) in 1.21 on the nose. That works out to be about an 8.40 pace, I believe. That's pretty good for a newbie to running and for a big kid. Needless to say I am very proud of him.

My run went well also. I toured the course in 1.07.45, which is about a 7.17 pace. The significant thing for me is that it is about 3 minutes faster than I ran the same course last year. It's just another sign that I am on track to have a good marathon, Lord willing! I really only wanted to run under 1.10, but I was relaxed and had the good companionship of Ryan Roberts. He ran with me the whole way, after warming up with a 7 miler! He was just out for a good long run. He got it! I ended up with 16 miles total today. I warmed up and cooled down with John Heatherly. Our cool down was just that: 5 miles in the rain and wind. Cooled me off.

Three weeks to the big day! Now the tapering begins. Lighter runs, less milage, and less frequency are in order for the next 3 weeks. I will throw one more 20 miler in next Saturday. Other than that there won't be anything too hard. Now I am just praying for good weather on the 24th; good weather would be 40s or 50s and no wind or sun.

Calling Dr. Dolittle

The Butler Way

Gotta love those Dawgs! Over the last few years I pretty well lost interest in basketball. I'm not much of a fan of the "run and gun" style, the hip-hop gangsta culture of the NBA, the arrogant individualist tatted out to the max, etc. I missed the old IU style of ball -- kids from Indiana who weren't the best athletes but squeezed every ounce of potential out of themselves by playing smart and systematically. That's what Butler is doing! Ten of the team members are from Indiana. (I know some the key player aren't, but they play like Hoosiers.)

The Butler boys are attending their classes. Even on Friday, the day before their biggest game ever, Coach Stevens says the kids will be tranported from downtown to attend classes. [I bet Kentucky would have done that also.]

There is a lot of talk about the Butler Way. What is it?

The Butler Way demands commitment, denies selfishness and accepts reality, yet seeks constant improvement while promoting the good of the team above self.

The five principles as posted in the Men's Basketball locker-room are as follows:

1. Humility - know who we are, strengths and weaknesses
2. Passion - do not be lukewarm, commit to excellence
3. Unity - do not divide our house, team first
4. Servanthood - make teammates better, lead by giving
5. Thankfulness - learn from every circumstance

Barry Collier the athletic director seems to have reached way back to Coach Hinkle to restore this Way. The football program, of which Lester has been a part for 4 years, has totally turned around; worst to first.

All this is really neat to see. Biblical priciples applied to athletics; they work wherever they are applied.

Did you know that Butler started out as Christian college? In fact it was a Church of Christ school. You can still see some signs of it when you visit the campus. The admissions building is the old chapel. Slowly they drifted from their roots, and in the late 50s they spun off Christian Theological Seminary, which is right next to Butler's campus. Butler ended up in the hands of the Disciples of Christ, our Church of Christ cousins.

The Butler Way. I love it!

Here's neat article by Kravitz, tying the movie Hoosiers to Butler through one man. True story.