Happy Birthday to Jude

Jude turned 7 this weekend! We had a big party. It began at the Chinese New Years Parade in Jacksonville, continued to lunch at Red Robin, and concluded at our house with presents, cake and ice cream and a rowdy game of basketball! A good time was had by all! Please enjoy these pics from the big party:

New Cutler Jersey

Van full of boys

partying at the parade

a Chinese treat

DRAGON!

Ducks in the creek!

Red Robin staff beware

fave gift of the day!

future NBA'ers

Jude's new fave"Mom's gourmet carrot cake!

The Power of Offense

It is no secret that I am a big football fan. This year, one of the intriguing stories in the NFL is the emergence of the Chicago Bears as a powerhouse! The bears have a long and storied history. Once, a virtual powerhouse and dynasty, the 1990’s and early 2000’s saw them fall into the leagues cellar!

A few years ago they made it all the way to the Super Bowl, only to lose. They did this ENTIRELY based on defense! They had one of the worst offenses in the league, but their defense was SO good, that as long as the Offense could score just a meager once or twice, the defense could almost undoubtedly keep the other team from scoring more. But, they just couldn’t take it to that next level without some form of offense!

2009 is a new story! Due to a crazy trade (curse you Josh McDamiels!!!!!), they now have one of the top QB’s in the league, and a great 2nd year running back! Now…..you have a team who still keeps everyone else from scoring, but are also capable of putting up big scores themselves! By all accounts so far, they are one of the best team around! It is amazing what can get accomplished with a little bit of an offensive attack!

I think that too often in our own faith, we like to play defense only. In other words, we just sit back on our heels and only REACT to the world when we are forced to. As a result, I wonder if our churches aren’t doing the best they could, just like last year’s Bears!?!?
I do not think that God called us to be inactive in our faith! I do not believe that Christianity is a spectator sport! In fact, I am pretty sure that God wants us on the offensive. He wants us moving positively in the right direction! Just having a good defense is not enough! What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. James 2:14-17
What kind of offense will we have? Are we active? Are we out there in our world taking Jesus to them? I challenge each of us to start with our own lives, and ask “What am I doing”? The ball is in your hands! 

Priorities

Recently two events in the sporting world “rocked my world”. Many of you have already expressed your sympathies :) My favorite football team pulled a crazy move and traded my favorite player away. A player who just came off of an all star season and broke all kinds of team records. It was very sad to see him go.
Then, the very next day news hit that my favorite College basketball team, one I had been following and in love with since I was 5 years old, had just lost their coach to another program. Along with it, he took 5 of the best recruits in the country and set the program back some 10 years!

These were bad news in my silly world! I was really upset over them. I actually felt worried and thought about it A LOT. But guess what happened over the next few days????? NOTHING! My life carried on as usual. The sun still shone. The stars did not fall from the sky, and my heart still beat :) Apparently, life is about more than hobbies and sports. Go figure ?

It was as if God was sending me a personal message: “You’re putting WAY too much priority on sports”. It seemed like He was warning me that I was teetering on the edge of idolatry. It really made me think. What things in our lives do we seem to place greater importance on than our faith? What do others think that I hold important?

So many times we find that schedules keep us busier than we like. We complain about it, but hey, “it is what it is” we say. My fear though is that sometimes we let things like schedules, jobs, sports, relationships, etc. take priority in our lives over our faith and relationship with God.

I think we need to stop every now and then and do a “priority inventory”. We need to ask questions like “What do I attend more than church?” “Where does my money go?” “What do I spend more time doing than reading the Bible or praying”?

As God’s children, our greatest calling is to take His light to the world. We are being watched. And the things that we place at the top of lives often speak more about who we are than the words we share. Let us make sure that we place our relationships with God at the top of every list we ever make!

Tales of the Strong Armed King of Denver

I hope my friend Mr. McCool still reads this, as he may like it, seeing as how he, being the hometown nashvegas, commodore cheering fool he is...was likely a fan MUCH earlier than we were!

My son LOVES football..is is crazy really. He has all kinds of favorites but his most fave team is the Denver Broncos. His favorite athlete alive is Jay Cutler (he even has a Webkin toy named after him). See below:


Anyway....at night every evening as I tuck him in, he asks me to regale him with a "Jay Cutler Story". It has become quite fun. Sometimes they are silly fantasy tales of the strong armed King of Denver fighting mystical creatures. Last night Jay fought 3 angry panthers (Jude usually requests the themes). He's informed me that next I will be telling one of Jay versus the friendly Patriots.......

So if you ever need a good story...give me a call :) Go Broncos!