Building Bricks for the Kingdom

Recently I heard N.T. Wright talk about our roles on earth as it relates to God's larger purpose in restoring things to order. Wright uses the metaphor that we are all building blocks everyday with our actions that will later serve the purpose of building God's Kindgom. Even though we may not know or realize how those blocks will ultimately be laid, we can find hope in knowing that our work is for a larger purpose.

When I heard that metaphor, it brought back memories of making cinder blocks for an orphanage in Mexico more than a decade ago. Me and another friend, Scott, started challenging ourselves to see how many blocks we could crank out in a day. One of us would mix the concrete, the other would shovel the concrete into the mold and slam it on the crown to release the block from the mold an let it harden.

We didn't know what the blocks were being used for, but we knew what we were doing was important. The more we made, the better it was - provided they were of good enough quality.

Yesterday, Wright's metaphor and my memory came together. Scott passed away after years of dealing with cancer. His time was shorter than most people, but he made a lot of blocks for God's Kingdom. He was optimistic. He treated everyone with respect. He found humor in everything. He did a lot of good work in making the people and things that surrounded him, better.

That's building blocks for the Kingdom. To know how he built others up, gives me hope in knowing that if others had the same impact in this world, God's Kingdom will be nothing short of incredible.

Hate Crimes and Sexual Orientation

President Obama will likely sign into law the new hate crimes bill that will expand the federal law's reach on hate crimes beyond race and into sexual orientation (more).

Injustice caused to others based on race or sexual orientation do disturb me. It's awful.

However, I still struggle with equating race and who you choose to "sleep" with. There's something about it that feels lacking. How do you prove hate crimes against sexual orientation?

If someone shot you, could you argue "He is gay, I am not. That's why he shot me!"? In most cases, how can you prove sexual orientation unless there's video of you in the act? Furthermore, how do you prove that you know the alleged "shooter" is gay if you can only speculate and provide character witnesses. Without other evidence will it stand in court?

All these questions go for other scenarios too such as a non gay shooting a gay.

Race is a little more black and white - no pun intended. But whatever race you are born as, you stay as. What if people change their sexual orientation? What are they? Will you have to register your orientation on documents and make official changes if you decide to sleep with a different gender? I just wonder what kind of mess this is going to cause down the road in terms of false accusations.

I'm not arguing the law is good or bad. I;m really just curious about enforcement. I guess the bottom line is - live above reproach. Just some thoughts...no conclusions.

A Tiger Woods Protege?

I love this article on Yahoo! As Tiger Woods opens up his first US golf course design in Ashville, North Carolina, he gets out driven by a 7th grader.


What a dream come true. I would have loved the opportunity to dunk on Michael Jordan as a 7th grader, but he would have had to come to our house where there was a 7 foot goal and he would have needed to be blind-folded.

More than having a chance to hit in front of one of your sports heroes, I think it would be even more meaningful to hear what Tiger said to him at the end, "I'm proud of you."

It seemed odd at the end of the video clip to hear that but, today kids need to hear that phrase more than ever.

I WAS a Jeff Fisher Fan

I've never been one to call for a coaches job, but Fisher crossed the line when he joined Tony Dungy on stage wearing a Peyton Manning Jersey at a rally for Rocketown. You can see for yourself over at Music City Miracles.

The only way I respect this decision by Fisher is if he did it to make it easier for Bud Adams to let him go. I honestly wanted him to stay, until I saw this. I could get past the worst ever NFL loss to the Patriots and the 0-6 start, but wearing a division rival jersey and saying "I wanted to feel like a winner" is far from being the class act he once was.

Good luck Jeff Fisher. You no longer have me as a fan.

Still a Titans Fan

Image via Wikipedia

So, the Tennessee Titans are now 0-6 this season. I'm still a fan...

Losses won't stop me from cheering on a team, but quitters will. I think the Titans need to add more pink to their uniforms or trade places with the cheerleaders.

The 59-0 loss to the New England Patriots was simply embarrassing. If I'm Jeff Fisher, I say the 2010-2011 pre-season just started and everyone's job is on the line.