You Lose!

What ever happened to the phrase, "second-place is the first to lose"?
I think that lessons need to be learned in life, such as, "life isn't fair," "no, you don't always get what you want," and "you lost...you didn't try hard enough...you need to work harder...etc." (There are many other "lessons" to be learned in life...but, for this posting, my list is sufficient.)
I think that it's ridiculous that, in childhood sports, everyone walks away with a trophy. Or, that "everyone" wins. NOOOO!!!! That's a bunch of crap. If I don't, or if anyone doesn't, try hard enough, they shouldn't win. In fact, if they don't try, there shouldn't be any "positive" encouragements, but instead the likes of, "hurry up," "get going," and "try harder," should be used. Our frickin culture is putting into establishment a sense of entitlement!
It's so bad that even on the state level, prep. football teams are being punished for being good. In Connecticut this past week, the football committee that governs high school sports decided that they are going to begin to penalize teams that are good. What??? That's crazy. Sure, a team really running up the score can be seen as cocky, or mean, but if your team can't cut it, should that be the other team's fault? NO!!!! Life isn't always fair, if you're playing against a better team, and they beat you, they beat you...live with it.
But no! Instead, we need to make "everyone" feel good about themselves by restricting those who excel from those who settle for mediocrity, or less! So, we are then creating a climate that says that mediocrity is okay- as long as you "tried," everything's okay...bull! I know that I'm not the best at a lot of things, I wasn't the best at a number of things that related to Track and Field Day in Elementary School...but I still tried, I still competed. Some things I became pretty good at, and I was rewarded with ribbons (I think that I still have them). Some of those ribbons said 1st place, others said 5th place...but if I didn't get one, I knew that I had to work harder...that's the only other option. I wasn't entitled to get one simply because I showed up, that's a load of crap. Sure, participation is good...but we should only reward those that excel at the sport they are in. You don't see at the Olympics all of the athletes that participated in an event on stage, you only see those who won- first, second, third...that's it! No entitlement to those who tried!
We are killing our sense of drive in this country, via the monopolized school system ruined...run...by our government. We need to help those kids who do well by helping them with their gifts. For those other kids, the ones who don't win, we need to tell them to suck it up and work harder!

The DaVinci Code

Before I begin my post, I must state some things about me, just in case I get some readers who are not regulars to my blog. First, I am a conservative Christian, that comes with a hint of social justice- meaning that we should help those who need it, not out of entitlement, but teaching people (for those who can) to do something with their lives. Also, conservative in the fact that I believe that the Church is authoritative and believers should be willing to follow the Church in faith and in truth. But also that believers need to know for themselves what they believe in and why. It is good to explore the history of our faith, why we do the things that we do, where we have come from, what has been good (and bad), and how can the message of Jesus Christ change the world around us.
With that being said, I'm going to give my thoughts on the book/movie The DaVinci Code. Because, for one, I encourage anyone who likes a good read to read this book. Secondly, if you want to be engaged in our biblically illiterate society, that knows nothing of the Bible, the Church (and church- I define the difference below), and Jesus Christ, you should read this book to help understand this view, but also be able to defend your faith. Finally, the book and movie are creating such a stir that any Christian should not stay away from it, but engage it in discussion, Bible studies, and other forms of communication, like blogs.
I'll first start with the movie, which I did see opening night. The movie acted like the book in that at first it's hard to put down, but then it just seems to drag along. The movie started off really well, action packed, but before long I found myself wondering when this was going to end. The acting was okay, Tom Hanks played a good Robert Langdon (main character). One of the memorable moments in the movie was seeing what a SmartCar was. I didn't look one up while reading the book, but the car is pretty nice for being the size of a bookcase. 2.5 hours for watching the book does not make up for reading it. The book is much better than the movie, by far.
The book, as a read, is a good read. It keeps the reader involved in the story. The unfortunate side to the story, remember that it is a top FICTION seller- meaning that it is not real, is that it mixes too much fiction with fact and even distorts the facts that exist. Dan Brown takes the reader through a "quick" history lesson on the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, but he does not present what actually happened at the council. He also calls Constintine a perpetual pagan, bent on making Christianity "work." If anyone is interested in the history of this council, or any of the councils, Dan Brown is not your guy of information on this subject.
To say that there are a few, not so serious, issues in the book is a grave error. I really don't want to dive into the errors that the book discusses, but it needs to be done. One of the problems with our culture today is that too many people are willing to jump to the conclusion on many issues without looking at the facts of the situation? It is a good thing to note that there is no respectable scholar in the world that would even think about endorsing what Dan Brown has written.
The concept of Jesus being married to Mary Magdalene doesn't change who Jesus is and what he did for the world. If Jesus was married, would that have changed who he was? No. But to say that it was a certain marriage is far-fetched. For one, there is no reliable evidence that it happened, no true, accurate documentation to prove it. Secondly, there is no historical evidence of Mary living elsewhere. Finally, there is no reference to Jesus having children. To say that, at Jesus' time on earth, he would've been married because that's what a Jewish man is to do, isn't always the case. The Apostle Paul was single and encouraged those who could be single to remain so, otherwise it was best to be married.
Again, the book and movie pervert history, which is nothing new to humanity. But it does give the Church a bad name and it is important for the readers of The DaVinci Code to remember that it is fiction. It is equally important for the Church to stand its ground against this, and other, acts of hatred and discrimination that we are facing.

A Weekend at Home

It's been a week now since I've returned from being in Minnesota! It was a really good, fun, and short trip home. I'll give a quick recap of the trip home, especially considering Erin came with.
Friday:
We got up at the butt-crack of dawn to get to the airport for our 7:30am flight out of Orlando to Minneapolis (Mpls.). Fortunately we stayed with one of my friends who is doing his vicarage near Orlando, so that helped out tremendously! So getting to the plane was not a problem or any of that other airport stuff. The flight was pretty good too, Erin did very well for her first flight, especially considering that she's not a huge fan of heights, but she really enjoyed the window seat! Once we got closer to Mpls., the captain came on and told us the weather conditions for Mpls., he said, "The conditions in Minneapolis/St Paul are fairly good. We have an overcast sky and 43°. When Erin heard the temp, being a Floridian girl, she looked over at me and said, "Where have you brought me?! I'm gonna freeze!! YOU owe me big time of this!" I couldn't help but to laugh. And as soon as we stepped off of the plane, she was struck by the cold, and we were inside the airport!
After being picked up and getting to a friend of my parent's house, I then took Erin on a tour of where I grew up. I showed her the house I grew up in, where I went to school, the two different places where I'd worked, and "The Hill." (Obviously I must explain, "The Hill." It is a hill that is near where I grew up and it is a street of Chanhassen. In high school my friend Bryan and I would hop into a car and we would fly down this hill...a few times we got air- it had a little leveling off point 2/3 of the way down before getting to the bottom.) After doing all of that, we headed off to my parent's newer house in Cologne. The main reason for Erin and I going to Minnesota was that my sister graduated from college that Friday...we missed the ceremony by 30 minutes, but she was fine with that. After we got cleaned up and what not, we went out with my parents and sister to celebrate her graduation. It was a good time.
Saturday:
Saturday we spent most of the day in Mpls. with some of my college friends. We had a great time. We went around downtown- Walker Art Center (see the picture above), Jamba Juice, a Twins game, and Old Chicago. It was great seeing all of my friends, I hadn't seen some of them in about a year. We had a great time and they enjoyed meeting Erin. Even though it was a long day, it was a great day!
Sunday:
I hadn't been at my home church in quite a while and some things had noticably changed. I'd never experienced a worship service where everything that you did for worship- songs, liturgy, and Scripture readings- all came from the two screens via powerpoint. It was interesting. Even all of the sermon points and quotes were up on the screen for us. It was very different, but I can also see the benefit of that as well- we are in an age where people spend more and more time in front of computer/tv screens and for them to have information given to them through that format has it's benefits...but it's still a little weird to me. I must be old...fashioned.
We had a good Sunday. Erin got to meet a lot of the family that day...dang near everyone! We had a BBQ at my parent's house to celebrate my sister's graduation, she had a ton of friends over too. It was a good time. After everyone had left, and the food had long since settled, we (my parents, Erin, and myself) then went to Dairy Queen for dessert...Erin and I had gotten 2-for-1s for blizzards.
Monday:
Our last day in Minnesota was action packed! My parents, Erin, and I went to the Mall of America for a few hours before our plane departed. Erin got to see most of the Mall, but has insisted that when we go up there in August, she'll be riding back with me to Minnesota, that we must go to the Mall again. After walking around a few times, we went to the Rainforrest Cafe for a late lunch/early dinner. That's an exciting restaurant...Erin really liked it.
After leaving the Mall, we then went over to the Minnehaha Falls...yes, Minnehaha is a real word! It means "laughing waters." The falls were really nice and we took some really nice pictures near them...I might just post them on here once I get developed.
When we arrived in Orlando, we found out that the wildfires had gotten pretty bad, so we had to take an alternative way back up to Palm Coast, luckily, the drive time was about the same.
But yeah, like I've said, we had a really good time in Minnesota. Everyone enjoyed meeting Erin!