Champions League 08-09

As all of you know the Champions League got rolling a couple weeks ago.

Eight groups of four, the best club teams of the 07-08 season in Europe, are battling to take the trophy from Manchester United, last year's victor. This is the most prestigious tournament in club soccer.

Since I track Manchester United most closely I'll catch you up on their situation.

They have found themselves in a challenging but still optimistic situation within Group E.

Group E:
Manchester United (07-08 English champions and 07-08 Champions League champions), Villareal (07-08 Spanish runner-up), Aalborg Boldspilklub (07-08 Danish champions), and Celtic (07-08 Scottish champions).

Each team will play their group opponents twice, once at home and once away. Tomorrow's games start the second of 6 games played within the group stage. Manchester United will be traveling to Aalborg after their 0-0 draw with Villareal at home. Fortunately the other two teams within their group (Aalborg and Celtic) also ended in a scoreless draw so little ground was lost.

After the first round of matches a couple formidable teams to watch are Chelsea and Inter.

Check back in later this week to find out how Manchester faired against Aalborg.


Manchester United after winning the 07-08 tournament.

***UPDATE***


3-0 Manchester, thanks to Wayne Rooney (22') and Dimitar Berbatov (55' and 79')

The Youth of Chile

I've sat here for some time now trying to figure out how to introduce this article to you. I've been searching for words that would keep me from sounding "holier than thou" or as if I have confused our plans for working in Chile with some heroic or messiah-like mission.

Darkness like this, stealing the beautiful hearts and robbing the innocence of the young in Chile, it's one of the reasons we press on. It's surely one of the reasons we feel burdened to go.

A teammate passed this article to us today from the New York Times.

"In Tangle of Young Lips, a Sex Rebellion in Chile"

Being Cultural

I’ve been troubled by something lately and I’d like to hear your opinion on the subject. Ellen and I have chosen to limit our intake of certain media/entertainment (I didn't say eliminate all). Not because sitting around on the couch all day and night promotes obesity . . . which it does. Not because it eliminates the opportunities for quality conversations . . . which it does. We do this because much of the content of these sitcoms, blockbusters, and musical best hits are contradictory of what we value most.

I have had multiple conversations lately with people in a position of spiritual leadership who take a much different stance on this subject. I have heard a couple different arguments for why this is appropriate but the number one response is:

Christians need to be in touch with culture in order to effectively engage the world.

This is the response that has me staggering. For me it doesn’t add up how Christians who supposedly value holiness would consistently subject their spirits to things immoral. Now maybe a person can admit that they are entertained by these industries but aren’t cloaking this indulgence with a claim to such higher intentions. I can respect that. At least they are being true to themselves. Maybe some genuinely believe that these tendencies are actually praiseworthy and honorable since their intentions are to understand culture in order to reveal Christ in a relevant way.

Seriously?

So it’s not because the vulgar humor is absolutely hysterical? Or that the dramatic love triangles excite the romantic in you? And it’s surely not that the suspenseful violent combat leaves you on the edge of your seat? And you definitely don’t watch because the steamy sexual scenes make your heart pound?

I find these same things entertaining. I’m disappointed to say that sometimes we stretch and bend our stance on this issue since we too are in battle with our fleshly nature. Another reason we are tempted to compromise is that quality wholesome entertainment is few and far between. I’m just wondering if Christians are watering down their convictions and values so that we’ll have something entertaining to experience and then masking our reasoning behind a pursuit of being relevant for the world’s spiritual sake. Meanwhile our spirits are under attack.

Do I have to know the cast and current happenings of Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, Heroes and the like to be culturally relevant in our world?

What do you think? Are we watering down God’s call in our lives? Or is this a truly honorable attempt at eventually sharing Jesus more effectively?

Dancing Machines!

Turn your speakers on and hang on tight for a special surprise around 1:50.

Leader?

Brant Hansen put together this list contrasting LeaderMan and Servant Leader. LeaderMan leads. Servant Leader leads to Jesus.

Enjoy!

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Servant Leader: Has something to say

LeaderMan: Wants a platform on which to say something
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LeaderMan: You almost feel you know his family, because he's your Leader

Servant Leader: You allow him to influence you, because you know his family
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LeaderMan: Wants you to know he's a Leader

Servant Leader: You're not sure he knows he's a leader
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LeaderMan: Loves the idea of the Gospel, and the idea of The Church

Servant Leader: Loves God and the actual individual people God brings across his path
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LeaderMan: A great speaker, but self-described as, "Not really a people person."

Servant Leader: Makes himself a people person
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LeaderMan: Helps you find where God is leading you in his organization

Servant Leader: Helps you find where God is leading you
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LeaderMan: Gets together with you to talk about his vision

Servant Leader: Just gets together with you
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LeaderMan: Resents "sheep stealing"

Servant Leader: Doesn't get the "stealing" part, since he doesn't own anyone to begin with
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LeaderMan: Wants the right people on the bus

Servant Leader: Wants to find the right bus for you, and sit next to you on it
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Servant Leader: Shows you his whole heart

LeaderMan: Shows you a flow chart
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LeaderMan: A visionary who knows what the future looks like

Servant Leader: Knows what your kitchen looks like
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LeaderMan: If it's worth doing, it worth doing with excellence

Servant Leader: Not exactly sure how to even calculate "worth doing"
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LeaderMan: Talks about confronting one another in love

Servant Leader: Actually confronts you in love
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LeaderMan: Impressed by success and successful people

Servant Leader: Impressed by faithfulness
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LeaderMan: Invests time in you, if you are "key people"

Servant Leader: Wastes time with you
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LeaderMan: Reveals sins of his past

Servant Leader: Reveals sins of his present
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LeaderMan: Gives you things to do

Servant Leader: Gives you freedom
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LeaderMan: Leads because of official position

Servant Leader: Leads in spite of position
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LeaderMan: Deep down, threatened by other Leaders

Servant Leader: Has nothing to lose

Sweet Home Sulphur Springs

Thursday night ESPN2 will be spotlighting my hometown's high school football team as they take on recently number two ranked, Texas, Class 4A, Wichita Falls Rider (see here).

Not sure if I'll get the chance to watch but all 14,551 Sulphur Springsinians will be.

Go Wildcats!

***Update***

Sulphur Springs pulled it off! After being down in the first half they battled back to upset WF Rider 22-16.

The Intruder

"When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe.”

-Jesus

This weekend we had an intruder in our home. Before you become too frightened for us I’ll spoil the story by admitting it was only a tiny mouse. If you knew the terror that surges through Ellen at the smallest evidence of such a creature you might better understand this reality. Animal activists beware!

Recently we noticed that some creature had taken shelter within the walls of our home.

I laid out snares in hopes of capturing and disposing of our unwanted guest. After the sticky pad method fell through the cracks I resorted to more extreme measures. Last Christmas my brother gifted me with a very nice pellet gun outfitted with a scope. On Sunday morning I entered full-blown sniper role. I suspected the tiny rodent had evaded the sticky pads, garnished with dog food and a pinch of cheddar cheese, to hide itself under our china cabinet or possibly inside it. So I waited, positioned at the foot of the staircase, taking aim. At last the fur-ball peeked out. In a hurry I tried to center the cross hairs but was spotted before squeezing the trigger. It raced back underneath its shelter.

For another 10 minutes I waited, reciting the line from The Patriot silently within my head, “Aim small, miss small”. Indeed, my target was small. Only an expert marksman could take down such a beast from nearly fifteen feet. Again the fuzzy critter reared its head and inched out cautiously from underneath the cabinet. With fingers crossed I squeezed the trigger and watched my prey scurry in a small circle before darting back under its hideaway.

I could hear it rummaging around underneath. I felt certain I had missed and that it had lodged itself somewhere within our cabinet. So I dug through each drawer, armed with cooking tongs in one hand to open drawers and shuffle there contents and a three foot piece of quarter round trim in the other, ready to wallop any sign of life. After successfully clearing each possible compartment with no sign still of the enemy, I decided to pull the cabinet from the wall in order to take a better look. In full man-mode I didn’t even consider simply grabbing a flashlight to shine underneath or maybe I did and I was too concerned that in my absence it would evade my pursuit.

When I pulled the cabinet from the wall I noticed a tiny tail lingering at the edge of the cabinet’s new position. Concerned that it might only be in freeze-mode, hoping that if it didn’t budge it would go unnoticed, I poked around with the stick of quarter round hoping to thaw its freeze. The little tail didn’t shift a bit. My heart leaped at the realization that I had successfully defended our home and put to rest Ellen’s discomfort. As I pulled out the trespasser with the quarter round by its still stagnant tail, I took noticed that I had actually struck it with my earlier shot. The man in men stood proud.

I trotted back to the bedroom to boast to my wife that I successfully guared our house.