Come and Join the Winning Side

Desmond Tutu is one of my favorite people, he was the Anglican Archbishop to Cape Town, South Africa during the struggle with Apartheid, he has also won the Nobel Peace Prize.There is a short story about him that I have read many times and told to many people. Everytime I read or tell the story it gives me chills, it is that powerful. Here is the story:

A demonstration against apartheid had been forbidden to take place out on the streets, and so they had moved it into the church. But the police came into the church together with the crowds, hovered around the edges in a threatening manner.
And Tutu addressed the police directly, pointed at them, and said, “You may be powerful, but YOU are not God.” He said, “you have already been defeated.”
And then he stepped forward and with the cheeky smile that he’s so well known for he said, “so, since you’ve lost already, why don’t you come and join us, come and join the winning side.” And the policemen kind of slinked away and left them to their worship service.

Do you know what happened? They were defeated! God is always on the side of justice even when the odds seem to be against it.

Seven Deadly Social Sins

I am a person who believes strongly in the idea there are two different sides to the Gospel that Jesus taught, Personal and Social, which when both are applied the true message of Christ is realized.

As a person who was raised in the Catholic church I was taught the Seven Deadly Sins which some Christians know and others have never heard of. These are seven Sin types which lead not to physical death (although they can) but spiritual. If you don't know what they are here is the list:

Lust

Gluttony

Greed

Sloth (Laziness)

Wrath (Anger or vengefulness)

Envy

Pride

These all seem obvious as dangers, even if you have never seen this list. However, Mahatma Ghandi, although not a Christian himself, clearly was in tune with many Christian values. He came up with the Seven Deadly Social Sins which lead to the death of the soul of society. They are:

Wealth Without Work

Pleasure Without Concscience

Knowledge Without Character

Commerce Without Morality

Science Without Humanity

Religion Without Sacrifice

Politics Without Principle

I think our society not only has broken each one of these fourteen sins but we have made it our M.O. However, we only seem to be working on the personal sins all the while our society is walking off the edge of a cliff. This is an area that must change, if we are to hope for any sort of real change in ourselves and our society I believe that we must strive to overcome each of these 14 items.

What do you think?

HOLY COW

I recently sat down and composed a list of things I would like to do before I die, (Sabrina had watched The Bucket List on the plane ride back from Europe) it ranged from rather meaningless i.e walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to significant accomplishment- run a marathon. While I know I will likely not satisfy all of these goals (marathon) I got to check one item off the list recent. I went to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. I wanted to go to Opening Day but the tickets were pretty steep, so I went to the 3rd game of the season. Keep in mind that Chicago in April can be hit or miss weather wise. Well it was a miss. It was upper 40's no sun and the wind was blowing in. My hot chocolate was a chocolate shake by the time I finished it. I was with my dad and we both silently thought whether the other would mind if we left before the game was over. We made it to the top of the 9th ( which allowed us to sing 'Take Me Out To The Ballgame'). The Cubs looked like they were going to win and we were turning to ice cubes. After all of that we got to see the first win of the season, the Cubs are in first place. I hope I can go again sometime when the weather is better. Cue the Music!

Go Cubs Go, Go Cubs Go

Hey Chicago what do you say

The Cubs are Gonna Win Today

Next on the list... Packers Game @ Lambeau Field

What is on your list?

Dog is my co-pilot

The Picture to the right is of my 2 dogs, Duke (not University, gag!) is the white one and Dutchess is the brown one. Aside from my wife they are my pride and joy. I always grew up hearing that "all dogs go to heaven", I was shocked when my wife told me she had never heard that before, apparently Baptist dogs don't make the cut, go figure. If God were to have a favorite animal it has to be the dog. Now I love all animals, with Opossums being the only possible exception, but dogs are the best . If you have a dog you know what I mean, dogs when treated right, regardless of breed (Pit Bulls included) are the best companion humans can have. They are one of the few animals shown to be altruistic, they will literally give their life for you, cats won't, horses won't, I don't think, if anything they will kill you. I got to thinking, are dogs in some way a mirror of God, the words are in fact mirrors of each other, this is likely a coincidence, but then again, God works in mysterious ways. Think about it, a dog loves you unconditionally, it doesn't care what you did yesterday, two weeks ago, that one time when you had too much to drink, it only thinks about you how it sees you, the love of its life. If you have a dog, have you ever left the house for two minutes and when you come back the dog acts the same as if you have been gone for weeks, tail wagging and probably bringing you a treat welcoming you home. God is much the same way, through Jesus, God got a short memory. He is only caring about what you are doing now and what you are doing the future, to God repentance is the treat that makes Him wag his tail and forget, and he is always happy when you come home even if you have only been gone a short while. If you ever need a reminder how much God loves you just look at a dog.

Being A Red Letter Christian

http://blog.beliefnet.com/godspolitics/2007/10/the-catchy-name-is-catching-on.html

Above is a link to a post that Tony Campolo wrote that does a good job in describing my faith. In this world of ours there is so much emphasis on labeling everything and everyone, the term evangelical has been painted very broadly, and the meaning it carried didn't necessarily fit me. Yes I believe in evangelizing to the world, I think that Jesus is the answer that the world is looking for. However there were a lot of other things that went with the title that I didn't care to be associated with. When I read the Bible the parts that I keep head and shoulders above all the rest are the parts that are now conveniently now put in Red. These are the words that Jesus, Son of God, The Christ spoke. If he is who he says he is than I think direct quotations should be paid attention to. The post explains this a lot better than I can. Read it, does this reflect you?

Brett Broke My Heart

If anyone didn't know, on March 4th 2007 Brett Favre annouced his retirement for the NFL. I was stunned. We were so close last year, if not for destiny being on the side of the New York Giants we would have gone the super bowl and I believe we too would have beaten the Patriots. I thought for sure he would be back this year to lead us all the way to the promised land. For most of my life Brett Favre was like death and taxes, you could count on it. Now that is gone, my sunday security blanket is gone and I feel lost, are my Packers going to return to the way they were in the 80's dwelling in the basement of the NFL, I think not they have lots of talent still on the team. I am just happy that I can tell my kids that I got to watch the greatest quarterback ever, and that he went out on top.

Thanks Brett from Cheesehead nation.