The Glorious and the Absurd

Sometimes I feel a little like a sponge - soaking up the mood of the world and then regurgitating it to everyone else. This can make you great at a party, but a bit much at a wake. Lately, we've been much more in the dark than the light and, as such, my blog's been about as much fun as a hangnail. I'm aware of it, but I've been merely writing what's been overwhelmingly on my mind at the time. I'd like to change that now. I'd like to spend some time in the sunlight. So, for the rest of the year, I shall be concentrating entirely on the glorious and the absurd.

On Friday, I was witness to an act of athletic terrorism. The Academy of Art Urban Knights, in their first preliminary season, tried to enter the gates of Basketball Valhalla on the hilltop of the University of San Francisco. The USF Dons set the dogs on them. It wasn't pretty. The Urban Knights ran around the court like they were being chased by their own tails. I think even the coaches were just hoping a mercy rule could be implemented. I've never seen a team destroy an opponent by 51 points and know that it should have been much worse. Still, the hot dog was good and the half time entertainment was a scrimmage by the kids of a youth center in Marin City - a notoriously lower class neighborhood across the bridge from San Francisco. It was good to see kids just having a good time (and thinking that maybe, just maybe, it would have been more merciful to have the Urban Knights play the kids from Marin City ;)

On Saturday, I was able to sleep in. Do you remember the days of old when we all used to be able to sleep until past noon on a Saturday? Yeah... those were good times. After that, I visited with friends and then headed over to my sister's to help celebrate my nephew's fifth birthday. There are some skills my sister and her husband have not quite perfected yet, but parenting isn't one of them. Her kids are delightful and I always enjoy spending time there (especially if Carl makes me a cup of coffee - his coffee skills are at the opposite spectrum of his acting abilities and that is indeed something to rejoice about ;) I'm trying to figure out a good time to take them to see Bolt - the newest Disney movie.

On Sunday, during the Children's sermon, our wonderful head of Christian Education - J.D. - was trying to teach the young children the importance of feeding the hungry. After explaining to them about the economics of the world (fully half of the people on the planet make less than $2 a day - which apparently is just enough to get a good toy at the dollar store ;) he then asked the kids for some advice. He said he had some money in his wallet and he needed their help to decide what he should give to the local food bank. So he pulled out a one and a five and a twenty and ended with a hundred dollar bill. Then, one by one, he asked the kids which bill he should send to the food bank. Each one answered the hundred dollar bill. But when he got to the last kid, he asked, "Why do you think I should give them the hundred dollar bill?" And the kid looked at him and replied, "Because my daddy has one just like it in his wallet." Needless to say, that brought the house down. God does indeed work in mysterious ways.

I'd like to pass on some prayer requests here as I receive them. A.J. from over at Bittersweet Life is asking for prayers for his family and for his upstart church project in downtown Kansas City. I really think this is a cool idea and I'm fairly certain that God does so as well. Still, a quick prayer for his endeavor and for his family can't hurt and might just lend them a feeling of strength and support. Also, prayers of thanksgiving for my good friend Nick Kibre and his wife Susan who are celebrating the birth of their second child and first son, Nathan Rhys Kibre. Congratulations you two (and a little extra prayer to their daughter, Winnie, who now has a little brother to protect).

That was fun. And I feel much better than evil sponge Will, so I'll probably continue in this vein until the end of the year.

Check back tomorrow when I lay out the gory details of my very first, and maybe not last, character assassination (and long overdue if I might say so). Yes, that's right, movie news - tomorrow!