Blind luck gets scissor kicked in the back of the head.

I must confess, I have been remiss in writing about one of my absolute favorite topics in the history of everything: The Ohio State University Buckeyes. The Scarlet and Gray. The Champions of the Big Ten. The Place Where Legends Are Made. 

Last night we played our enemies from the North again in basketball. We had previously beat the snot out of them at their place, despite the fact that they somehow knocked off both Duke and UCLA earlier this season. I mean there's the whole "even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes", but really given the state of the Wolverine athletic department lately, the more apt description would be: "Even a blind squirrel that's missing 1 1/2 ears, both front teeth, it's back left leg and front right leg, most of its hair, and has a birth defect for a tail finds a nut sometimes that is made out of pure gold. This nut is also the size of a H3 and accordingly is worth more than most third world countries. The defective squirrel somehow then develops a brain large enough to process the fact that it could make a ton of money on this nut, then takes the nut to market where he not only manages to defend it against many clever thieves of Matt Damon's character in Ocean's Eleven's caliber, he makes enough money to never have to work again. Then this squirrel takes the money and buys the Cleveland Browns (or Cincinnati Bengals, calm down brownies), the Kansas City Royals, the Columbus Blue Jackets, and the Memphis Grizzlies and then all of them win their championships in the same year. Then I run this squirrel over on my way to the Ohio State game vs. M*ch*g*n last night."

Ok, so that may have been long and too drawn out, but I never spare any expense when it comes to illustrating a point. So that's how they somehow beat those teams. However last night, we kicked them in the teeth and said, screw your blind squirrel I think he's dumb. The winter storm crap that has held Columbus hostage allowed for a bunch of students to go to the game for free however, and this made the crowd about as hostile as it will ever get in our crappy NBA/NHL arena. While it wasn't exactly loud, because we expect to beat those arrogant jerks from up north in everything we do now (which may or may not make us now the arrogant jerks), it certainly was fun to watch scUM struggle immensely in the first half. Let's just review it like this: 0-11 from outside the arc, 0-for the field until 10 minutes had passed in the game with them scoring off of a goaltending call and 2 made free throws, and more turnovers than can be counted. At the half we lead 36-18 and never looked back, with the winning margin being the same. Oh yeah, and one of their players got thrown out for elbowing PJ Hill in the face late in the game, making M*ch*g*n that much more hatable! They really are scUM...

Also, since we scored over 70 points for the game they gave out coupons for free fries from McDonald's. Bonus! So technically we got paid to go to the game, since we all got in for free. I ended up with 4 coupons and another win of scUM. A night that couldn't get better. 

It's 5:28 and M*ch*g*n still sucks! Pwned. Hah.

Tonight, and for the next two days I'm going to be at a track coaching clinic with college coaches from all over the US here in Columbus. I'm giddy. Seriously. I'm such a track junkie at this point that it isn't even funny. I'm sure I'll have some interesting things to write about, so stay tuned for some stories. 

Spreading the love.

So along with much of the rest of the nation after his ESPNU appearance, I have discovered the wonderfulness of the thoughts of Mark Titus. You may ask why this is relevant...well I love the Ohio State Buckeyes, right? We all know this. Well Mark is a walk-on on our beloved Buckeye basketball team, coached by the incredible Thad Matta. 

And actually the statement starting this entry is incorrect, I knew about this before the ESPNU appearance...

Anyways, Mark has a blog that has started to gain an incredible amount of followers amongst the internet community, because his point of view and style of writing is unique and interesting. He talks about pranks pulled on teammates, random thoughts that occur during the course of a game while he is sitting at the end of the bench. He's pretty darn funny, and probably a more entertaining read than anything you'll ever find on my blog. My friend Jaclyn already wants to marry this guy, and may need to have a restraining order against her because within one day of me telling her about his blog she read ALL OF IT! It took her like four hours. Seriously. 

The guy's good though, at blogging. In Pierce's words: winner winner chicken dinner. 

www.clubtrillion.blogspot.com

Wisdom of G.

Another thought from the weekend that has been oh so prevalent in my mind lately, is this one from the incredible Steve Gardner. On a side note, the introduction of Steve by Rick Scherr was one for the ages and one of the caliber that anyone and everyone would dream of. It was potentially though one of the most impossible to follow up as a speaker ever. Rick said that Steve had become known as the voice of truth within the mission of Young Life. Wow, I mean I believe it from knowing Steve for the last 8 years, but seriously? Across the mission? That's nuts.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming...

The thought that Steve brought to our attention was from the very beginning of the weekend and from the very beginning of his first talk. In fact, there's a a good chance that it wasn't even one that was very important to his talk and I know it definitely was not a main point that he built the talk around. However, it stuck out to me personally for reasons that I'm still wading through. Anyways, that thought was...

"Contrary to the world's view of maturity, becoming mature in Christ is not a process of becoming more independent but rather a process of becoming more dependent upon Christ."

How crazy is that and how contrary to the world is that? The truth there will blow your mind, and the accompanying thoughts will probably make your nose start bleeding. Think about it this way: when you talk to someone who is much older than yourself in Christ, that has been following Christ and seeking God's will for their life for a long time, this telling maturity factor really is quite evident, much more so than you would think. They depend upon God for everything: life, breath, money, food, love, grace guidance, everything. It's incredible and beautiful. This is where true freedom comes in, the freedom in Christ that we love to talk about and yet so often fail to grasp. Freedom doesn't come from being independent and making our own choices to follow our earthly desires, it comes from becoming completely and utterly dependent upon the Lord and following His desires for our life, the life that is actually His. 

In the morning...

Amazing weekend. Incredible. Wonderful. Christ.

This will be the first of many thoughts on this weekend as I continue to digest everything that I took notes on, experienced, talked about, and reveled in from Deer Creek @ Great Wolf. I want to start with a song first, that if you have ever listened to it know it's power. If you haven't, I suggest that you download it immediately...

"Give Me Jesus" ~ Jeremy Camp

In the morning, when I rise

In the morning, when I rise

In the morning, when I rise

Give me Jesus.

Give me Jesus, 

Give me Jesus.

You can have all this world,

Just give me Jesus.

When I am alone,

When I am alone,

When I am alone,

Give me Jesus.

Give me Jesus,

Give me Jesus.

You can have all this world,

Just give me Jesus.

When I come to die,

When I come to die,

When I come to die,

Give me Jesus.

Give me Jesus,

Give me Jesus.

You can have all this world,

Just give me Jesus.

Give me Jesus,

Give me Jesus,

Give me Jesus.

You can have all this world,

You can have all this world,

You can have all this world,

Just give me Jesus.

What a beautiful, wonderful song. A song of praise to the holy God who created us, loves us, sacrificed His son for us, and will be with us 'til the end.

The thought that has captivated my mind all of today and most of yesterday, was one made by Rick Scherr, area director of Northern Kentucky. In his seminar on lordship, he spoke about knowing the gospel story and how truly important that is. We must know and it intimately familiar with all of it, not just the 'nice' parts of it. However, taking it a step further, he talked about a concept that he refers to as: "last thought, first thought". What he means by this, is that you should make sure that the last thought that you think before falling asleep at night is focused on the gospel story. Then, when you wake up in the morning, not only do you make sure that you are thinking about the gospel story, but you read and re-familiarize yourself with the gospel story again to start your day.

Already this has significantly increased Christ's lordship in my life. I highly suggest giving it a try.

That's wassup.

Alright party people, we've got a plethora of things to go over in this wonderful post. I'm almost as excited to write it as I am for you to read it! Hope you're ready...

1.) So I'm sitting at my favorite Caribou, here in wonderful and cozy Grandview with two of my very good friends Tiara and Dusty. Some of you may know these kind souls. Well currently Dusty is attempting to teach Tiara how to play Chess. A fascinating game of strategy and seemingly unpredictable outcomes but almost always resulting in a loss for me when I am playing. However when the pre-lim lesson seemed over, I asked Dusty as to whether or not Tiara was ready. She laughed; he responded with one of the greatest lines ever: "It doesn't matter if it's Albert Einstein teaching, if he's teaching Helen Keller. That's wassup." 

Fact.

2.) This weekend we have Deer Creek at Great Wolf Lodge Weekend. With our new elongated title I feel like we should be sponsored by some company. Like my favorite bowl game of the year, the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. Deer-Creek-at-Great-Wolf-Lodge-Young-Life-Buckeye-Region-Leader-Weekend-Sponsored-by-Temperpedic-Matresses-and-PokerAllStars.net. Yeah, that sounds good. 

Either way, it's always a fantastic weekend of worship, amazing teaching (by none other than world the world famous Steve Gardner, who I'm pretty sure I'm gonna see on the next "G" commercial, whatever the crap that is, although can we also talk about how amazing of a marketing campaign it is? I can't wait to see what they are talking about!) and there is also of course the incredible fellowship and catching up with friends from other places. (including a significant amount of time to be spent with Mambo #5...) If you can't tell, I'm super duper excited for this time of usual expected growth. I'm sure I'll have all sorts of thoughts to throw your way when it's all said and done. 

3.) God wants us to depend on him. For everything. For life, for breath, for sustenance, for everything. This is really freaking ridiculously hard, if you haven't noticed yet. For many months money has been a struggle for me, and continues to be. Now I'm finally working a bunch and making good money, but still feel the pressure that I'm not working enough, that I don't have enough money, and that I am constantly going to be behind the 8-ball when it comes to finances. However, I must take comfort and solace in Matthew 6, that I am much more valuable than the birds of the air and they don't reap or sow. 

So there you go for a whole collection of ridiculously random thoughts. Take them in, chew them up, digest them, poop them out. Let me know what you think. 

Ooo...Joanie loves Chachi!

This weekend was pretty crazy; and I must apologize that I don't really have anything truly profound lately. 

However, I did pwn on some middle school kids in dodgeball. That's right, it was straight Billy Madison style. A bunch of leaders chaperoned a middle school lock-in at the church that many leaders in Columbus attend, Heritage Christian Church in Westerville. There were about 260 or so of the little buggers running around like crazy and it truly was crazy and chaos and really just us walking around with our heads on a swivel so that we didn't get run over. 

But the highlight of the night for me really was when the volunteers played the two teams who made the championship, and it was crazy. Tons of people on the court, tons of dodgeballs flying through the air, tons of kids going down on the other end of zinging throws. Somehow I ended up being the last man standing, not only on my own team of volunteers but also overall. Granted it was dominating middle school kids, but let's be serious, the volunteers had no choice BUT to win. And why shouldn't one of the oldest be the one to carry the flag? 

Saturday was a great day because it saw Chris Welter get married. It was a great ceremony, a wicked fun reception filled with great dancing and amazing food, and just an overall incredible time with friends. It was truly great to see how happy Chris was on this day. I wish everyone could know Welter at all, because he truly is alive and the aroma of Christ is think around him. He somehow remembers all sorts of things about you and what's going on in your life, and really makes you feel valued, never missing an opportunity to do so. I had the opportunity to have some great conversations with old friends and really catch up with some folks as to what God has been doing in their lives. 

So this is a bit late of a recap from this weekend, and I have more to write concerning things that have happened since then; but I shall save that for later tomorrow.

Frozen.

It's cold here in Columbus. Really effing cold. Coldest I think I've ever experienced. Coldest I never want to experience again. Anyways, since most of you who are reading this are experiencing the same frigidness or perhaps worse, there's not a whole lot more I can say or want to say about this. Is it spring yet?

Moving on...this past weekend a great friend was in town, Robbie Meleney. He and I met and became close over our summer staff assignment at LC while both staying in Cabin Cuatro. Well we just had a great time hanging out with a bunch of my friends for dinner, 24, Mac's, breakfast, lunch, getting into the Horseshoe, and just talking about all sorts of things together. We had a great conversation at one point while driving around to one of these destinations about Jim Rayburn, as Robbie has been reading "Dance, Children, Dance". The one thing that we talked a pretty decent amount about was how much time Rayburn spent in prayer during his life. Towards the end we concluded that he spent between 3-4 hours on average of prayer a day. Now our figure could be grossly inflated as to fit in with the legend of Rayburn in minds like ours, but also the big thing is that whereas we spend time driving around in our own cars and have all sorts of radio, cd, ipod options; Rayburn traveled a lot by train and had nearly none of those options for his listening pleasure. 

Thank God that he didn't. His intense time in prayer must be viewed as a direct reason for God's incredible blessing and watching over of Young Life. What would happen if any other believers prayed like this? Whether or not we are YL leaders, it doesn't matter for spending time interceding for people with the Father. If we pray like Jim Rayburn, if we pray like Martin Luther, if we pray like Billy Graham, what would happen to the world we live in? I know that I have challenged myself all this week to keep the radio off and the prayer on. It's been difficult for sure, but it's also been fun and I've prayed more this week than I have in a given week in a very long time. I would challenge you all to do the same. Let's not just talk about the power of prayer anymore as believers and followers of Christ, let's actually live the power of prayer. I know that I'm very excited to see where God takes me through this and what He will do through this.

Just call me "Jazz". It's pretty much my name...yeah.

So I'm sitting here watching some American Idol with my roommate, a fairly regular occurrence. Well I mean, sitting and watching TV, not necessarily American Idol. However, I love it and it's hilarious. Sure it's a great time watching the really heart warming stories and also to be able to hear from the very beginning of the people who will eventually make it to the finals and to follow their story. Really though, let's just call a spade a spade here my friends...we all watch to see the people that just suck something awful. You know what I'm talking about..."We're brothers forevvveerrrrr..." 

Seriously though, then they also showed the not so positive reactions of people after they were told in such eloquent language as Simon could put it (sarcasm font on there) that they were just not cut out for the musical performing side of life. What really got to me once again, and what gets to me every season...is that there is a pretty large and significant amount of people who try out that think they are truly the next American Idol. I feel bad for these people on one hand, because they don't have anyone in their lives that are willing to break the news to them that they really aren't that great. I'm mean sure, everyone dreams of breaking it big and having thousands upon thousands of people singing your songs and basically worshipping you. The money, the fame, the roadies; sounds good to me right? Also though, it hurts people that most have no idea what types of songs are good for their voices and sounds. They always try songs that aren't good in their range or are written for vocal freaks, of which they are not. At least not in the positive sense. Also, let's go ahead and say that if you feel the need to result to some gimmick to get Simon, Paula, Randy, and Kara's attention you probably know already that you aren't getting their attention with your voice; in you know, a singing competition. 

Really though, it makes me even more grateful and thankful for the presence of Christ in my life. Through Him I know who I am, my identity is found and secured in Him and His life through me. I don't have to go grasping at straws like an American Idol audition to seek significance in my life. As followers of the living God we serve and live for an audience of One. How amazing it is and refreshing that we don't have to worry about those crazy things that never fulfill and always leave us lacking? There's so many things that this carries over into and so many other avenues of life that performing and living just for an audience of One will do for you. Freedom in Christ...I love it.