Thursday

Good morning Thursday! Seems like you were just here. Has it really been a week? You and me will work on getting ready for Sunday. Right? OK.

How'd you like that snow yesterday? You know I love snow, but not so much on March 30th. I left the house around 7.30 yesterday morning with a bag packed with running clothes to be used late morning. I had checked the forecast temps and thought that it would be in the 40s with light wind. Well, as I watched the fat flakes of snow fall throughout the morning, I knew that I was going to be dressed too lightly. I was! But it wasn't too bad. I ran 10 miles in the sleet, snow, and strong wind. I'm thankful that I had a friend accompany for 6 of them.

Yesterday was a good, productive day, and it ended with a very enjoyable class. I announced that the world would not end on December 21, 2012. Doing some research, I found that the end will actually come this year - October 21 to be exact! Some wanted to argue, but I know I am right. I mean it's on the internet! It has to be true!

We had a really good discussion about Mark 13, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the end of the world. It was a great way to end the day. Today I will strive to bring it all together in a sermon.

Right after school we are headed to Nashville, TN. The time has come for me to cut my first record! It's a secret that I have kept from everyone. I am a country music singer with amazing abilities, so it is time for me to go public with it.

Is lying one of the signs of the end times?

You really should be ready!

The end is near

Wednesday

Yesterday was a weird day. Sitting in a small room all day listening to the Sibbitt hearing was mind-numbing. I tried to read and do some other things, but I couldn't concentrate, even though I could tell you word for word what the cross examination words were going to be. Some of you are probably wanting to know more details about yesterday. It's really hard to describe. What I said in my last post really sums it up. I guess the hearing ended about an hour after I left. Nothing significant was said after I left, and really nothing all day was said that changes anything, best I can tell.

There was a lot of Orange County talk yesterday, of course, and the casino money was mentioned several times in the context of school funding. Hearing about the casino made me think of my only visit to it. It was a couple years ago. The kids got Kedra and me a night in the dome for our 25th anniversary. We had a nice meal and then walked to the casino. We had no interest or intention of playing any of the games. We just wanted to have a look.

When we got to the entrance, it was noisy and bright and full of flashing light. We decided to not go in, so we went to wait for a shuttle bus to take us back to the dome. While we were waiting, we noticed that there was valet parking for casino customers. The valet was really dressed up in very nice clothes. He parked a really nice car or two. Then something happened that cracked me up and made me kinda sad at the same time.

A really old car pulled up. It was rusty, dented, dirty and not in good shape (Yes, just like what I would drive). This old car pulls up to the valet stand and out of the car comes two rather large people in sweat shirts and sweat pants. They hand their key to the valet and head in to the casino to, I guess, watch for their ship to come in. Maybe you had to be there, but it was something to see.

Today is the long day, but I think I am ready. I have had a cold since Sunday, but it is not getting any worse. I missed running yesterday, so today I need to try find the time to crank out 10 miles. I found out that I am not going to Indy this week, so that really helps with my time crunch.

I have really enjoyed studying Mark 13 this week. I wish I would have had a little more time with it, but I think I understand it fairly well. The challenge, in part, is comparing it to Matthew 24 and, especially, Luke 21.

Sibbitt Hearing

Wow, it has been a long day! I went to the Dr. Sibbitt hearing at 9.30 this morning, thinking it would be over a little after lunch. Clearly I was wrong. They took an hour break at 12.30. After resuming at 1.30, it was still in progress when I left at 6.45 this evening! My guess is that it will go one for quite a while.

It began with opening statements, followed by the police officer on the witness stand. He was cross-examined. I am not a fan of defense attorneys... I'll just leave it at that. The rest of the day was people testifying to two things:

How good Dr. Sibbitt was/is
How bad the officer was/is

It was still going on when I left. At one point the attorney for the school board made a motion to not listen to all the witnesses because they were all saying the same thing, but the defense insisted on hearing them all. They have that right, but it sure was boring.

OK, I need to catch up on all the stuff that I missed all day...

You Big Chicken!

Are you ready?

Wow, that's a question you can take in lots and lots of ways! Are you ready? Ready for what? I had two pictures to choose from this morning. I chose this one because it best fits what I am thinking about this morning, that is, I am ready to take off on a very busy week. This one is going to be a little more challenging than most.

Part of the challenge this week is the preaching text from Mark 13. Is Jesus simply talking about the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple, or is he also talking about the end of the world? The message either way comes down to the question:

Are you ready?

There is so much going on in the world--earthquakes, tsunamis, freakish weather--that some see as "signs of the end." What about you? What do you think? Last days?

Are you ready?

Am I ready for this week? I have possibly three unusual events this week. The first is the Dr. Sibbett hearing on Tuesday. Let's see if I have this right? He got arrested for several things, claims he did nothing wrong, sues the school because they no longer want to employ him, and is getting paid while he is suing us. Yes, I think I want to go hear about this.

I am probably going to Indy this week to see someone who is likely going to have surgery, and I am hoping to get everything under control so I can go to Nashville with Rebecca and Kedra on Thursday, right after school. Rebecca wants to make another visit to Lipscomb to talk to the education folks. I want to go so I can spend time with one of the most amazing people I know, Earl L.

OK, sounds like I need to get busy! I am ready!

Trust

Henri Nouwen:

Returning to Trust

In my own life I well know how hard it is for me to trust that I am loved, and to trust that the intimacy I most crave is there for me. I most often live as if I have to earn love, do something noteworthy, and then perhaps I might get something in return. This attitude touches the whole question of what is called in the spiritual life, the "first love." Do I really believe that I am loved first, independent of what I do or what I accomplish? This is an important question because as long as I think that what I most need I have to earn, deserve and collect by hard work, I will never get what I most need and desire, which is a love that cannot be earned, but that is freely given. Thus, my return is my willingness to renounce such thoughts and to choose to live more and more from my true identity as a cherished child of God.

The Butler Way

The Butler Way.

You gotta love it!

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

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!