22759 Day 35

the_post_no_one_will_care_about

i won my fantasy baseball league. there you go. actually, i'm experiencing a weird trend with this game: i won in '05, came in second in '06, won again in '07, second in '08, victory in '09. see a pattern? maybe i should just not play next year...

yeah right

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sports thoughts...

- the red sox have their work cut out for them this october to pull off the repeat, but it's going to be fun to be here while they try.

- the giants will likely to do one dramatic thing this off season (no sure yet what it's going to be)

- i finished second in my yahoo winner's league.  this is a small miracle considering the hole i got myself in during the may-june stretch of neglect my team experienced.  my two great regrets on the season: i contemplated adding carlos quentin to my opening day roster and i didn't...i ended up trading for him much later in the season...could have had him for free.  also, i had ryan ludwick for a day in april and then dropped him...and he went on to have a ridiculous season.  if i had kept those two guys, i might have pulled off the repeat!  nonetheless, i still won my college buddies' league for the second year in a row.

- the premier league is off and running and arsenal is once again at the top of the standings...and once again we'll see if they can actually stay there this year.

- usc broke our hearts this week =(  otherwise, i don't really care about football.

- amy and i got to go to a Revolution game this saturday.  so much fun!  (mls soccer for those who are wondering).  if anyone wants to help kick in for season tickets for '09 let me know (only 700-900 bucks).

peace

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- this is a fantasy baseball post, so if you're not into that you can just scroll on down to the comment section and leave your sarcastic remarks! (this is for the 2-3 of you who care about this kind of stuff)...

- yesterday was opening day for most teams and the first day my team collected points...here's how it went:

Hitters
Victor Martinez, C, Indians: 2 for 2, 1 run, 1 rbi, then he tweaked his hamstring...great
Travis Hafner, 1B, Indains, 1 for 4, 1 run,. 1 rbi, looking for "pronk" to rebound and have a big year
BJ Upton, 2B, Rays, 1 for 4, 2 rbi, hoping for 30/30 and loving that he is hitting cleanup for that team
Alex Gordon, 3B, Royals, 1 for 5, 1 HR, 1 run, 2 rbi...i got to see his home run during lunch at miller...such a beautiful swing
Edgar Renteria, SS, Tigers, 1 for 5, 1 rbi...not the type of player in normally like, but the SS i wanted got picked right before i was going to take him (by literally one pick!)...so i go with edgar and the stacked lineup of the Tigers!
Matt Holliday, OF, Rockies, rained out =(
Delmon Young, OF, Twins, 2 for 4, 1 run, 1 stolen base...love that he is running all ready, hoping for 20/20 (you can tell i went with some unproven, high upside guys)
Jeremy Hermida, OF, Marlins, he's on the DL (nothing new there) but should be back by the weekend (I'm using Eugenio Velez in his stead hoping for some cheap steals)
Frank Thomas, DH, Blue Jays, also rained out...i'm not excited about this spot in my lineup, i'm hoping i get lucky with either Big Frank or Hank Blalock or someone else...a gamble for sure.

Pitchers
Carlos Zambrano, Cubs, 6.2 innings, 5 ks, no runs, 0.60 whip, then he went out with forearm cramps...uggh.
Cole Hamels, Phillies, pitches tomorrow (he's supposed to be the more fragile of my aces, so i'm keeping my fingers crossed that Zambrano's cramps are no big deal)
Ian Snell, Pirates, crazy game yesterday 12-11, 12 inning game, X Nady hits two home runs!...snell started, 6 innings, 4 runs, 3 ks, 1.50 whip...ok, but not great...hopefully just some opening day jitters.
Tim Lincecum, Giants, pitches tomorrow...go timmy!
Clay Buchholz, Red Sox, a bit of a gamble but i like the rewards possible with this guy...pitches on friday
Shaun Marcum, Blue Jays, pitches this weekend...i thought he was a steal with my last draft pick!
Joe Nathan, Twins, 1 inning, 1 save, 1 k, classic joe nathan
Todd Jones, Tigers, 1 inning, 1 k...i'm also rolling the dice with my relievers, but hey, that's nothing new...i figure jones may give me an ulcer but he's going to get a ton of saves with the Tigers likely to win 95 games.
Brian Wilson, Giants, did not pitch, and he may not have many opportunities with the crappy Giants. oh well.

that's my team...3rd place after one day.

happy beginning of the baseball season to everyone!

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- it's been a busy few days...here's a run down of recent events:

- spent a great week with amy...we got our invitations done and bought wedding bands...very cool!

- we had our first sunday morning service...it felt very natural and normal.

- we met with Patrick Crossing people to discuss some more future possibilities and partnerships.

- i drafted my fantasy baseball team (the centerpiece of which is Matt Holliday)...hopefully this will be another winner.

- now, it's back to the grind! 

- here are some pictures

 

the new place:

- Hanging out and Invitations:

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i couldn't be more encouraged with church right now:

- i am very excited with our direction

- i feel like i have a grip on what i need to "do" for the next three months (yes, my last sunday is exactly three months away...crazy)

- i love the group of leaders who are stepping up or taking on bigger roles

- i wish i could share more details, but those will have to wait until next week

other thoughts...

- i couldn't resist...i signed up for Yahoo! Winner's League 20045...bring it on suckers!

- i love driving with chip to farmington...great conversations

- it's finally warming up and i love watching the snow melt away =)

- i'm so pleased that anna got to meet nina...finally

- do the giants really think bengie molina is a clean up hitter?  there has to be someone else!

- it was good to see ryder at church tonight

- i'm feeling deep gratitude for the generosity of the waley's

- 45 or so beers to go (you know what i'm talking about!)

peace...

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some updates:

- we had a sweet prayer time last night for our farmington crew, commissioning the people and the place (hot stuff billiards and spa!)...the new campus starts sept. 19th and everyone seems to be really excited about it.

- yesterday i played my first game for the durango herald's adult league soccer team...we got killed, but it was a lot of fun! i thought i was in shape from all of the running i've been doing, but not even trails can prepare you for 80 minutes of soccer...i'm pretty sore today =)

- fantasy baseball is all but over (even though there are three weeks left in the season)...current standing are rmps59 106.5, tex boys 82, enraged echidnas 81.

- thanks to rmac for sending me the new caedmon's call cd...derek webb is back with the band (at least for the recording of this album) and upon first listen at least the results are pretty fantastic.

i think that's it for now. peace

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- monday has turned into the day i hang out with james (my homeless, pirate talking friend)...last monday we shot james' new rifle (which he was able to buy due to a job he's started working recently...a great development), we tossed our frisbee around (we finally bought a real disk!), and then went and got some ice cream...what a beautiful day.

while we were choosing our ice cream flavors, james leaned over to me and said, "hey, i've got this," and pulled some bills out of his wallet to pay for us. i said, "no james, i've got it." he insisted, though, that he pay for it. eventually i relented, but the moment has stuck with me this last week. it was difficult for me to admit, but i realized i had reduced james to an object, or a project, and i had a hard time recieving his gift because it's not supposed to work like that...i was supposed to pay for him (i have money, a steady job, etc)...and yet allowing him to pay for me gave him a great sense of dignity and also revealed how much i still have to learn about what it means to accept grace and to treat james like a person, not a project.

- i just finished the book "Jim And Casper Go To Church." I was excited to read this book for a couple of reasons, most of them due to a sick curiosity. the premise of the book is this guy, Jim, who has a parachurch evanglelism ministry, hires an athiest, Matt Casper, to visit churches with him to get a total outsiders perspective on attending a church service. the idea was to evaluate the church services to see what "we" (i use we loosely as you will see in a minute) can do differently to reduce the barriers people have to overcome when they attend a church service.

i have three criticisms of this book. (1) the book is very poorly written, which i never really got over the whole time i was reading it...(2) for the most part they visited only the biggest name/highest profile churches in America (i.e Willow, Saddleback, Joel Osteen's church, T.D. Jakes church, Mars Hill in Seattle, Mosaic)...and only two "normal" churches. as a result, most of the criticisms are things like: "it's just a big, pre-programmed show"....i can see many pastors and church leaders reading this book and saying "none of this really applies to my church...(3) Casper is one guy, and a highly intelligent, savy, hip, musician at that...i found it difficult to believe that he was really a good representative of the average church visitor. it felt like a very select individual, evaluating a very select "level" of church....that being said, if you know of the churches they visited it is really interesting to read this guy's thoughts.

- last, but not least, a fantasy baseball update...with 8 weeks to go i lead the Enraged Echidnas 101 to 85...it's still to early to celebrate, but it's close to being over!

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- i survived my first trail run...i got beat by the durango high school cross country team, but i'm ok with that...i got ninth out of the men (twelfth overall...yes, i got beat by three girls)...but i ran the whole way and i accomplished my main goal which was to not get lapped by the hardcore guys running the long course (7 miles vs. the 4.5 mile course i was on).

- thanks to bruce for the information that an echidnas is a spiny anteater...april also informed me that they, along with the platypus, are egg laying mammals. the more you know...

- the echidnas did not have a good week: i'm currently in first with 93.5 points...the enraged one has fallen to 86.5.

- i finished "the blogging church" this week. the whole point of the book boils down to this: blogs are a good way to tell the story of your church...duh!!! i had to read a whole book to find that out?! actually there were some good tips and ideas about promoting blogs and stuff like that...the most interesting part of the book, though, was the section on comments. the author interviewed various church bloggers asking the question: "is it a good idea to allow comments on your blog?" most people were in favor of allowing comments because, in many ways, that's the whole appeal of the blog: interaction and community in cyberspace. however, even those in favor of allowing comments had this to say: be prepared to get hammered on occasion. and then came this sad commentary:

"one of the most surprising and unfortunate developments has been the popularity of Christians attacking and criticizing other Christians online. If you write often about the theology and methodology of your church, you'll find that the dominant critics are not unbelievers but the already convinced. Even more strangley, these naysayers are people who have never stepped through the door of your church. [But] they may post comments on your blog, send you an email, or share their vitriol from the comfort of their own sovereign corner of cyberspace."

luckily i haven't really experienced that too much, but it was interesting to read that this week while preparing to teach on James 3, which is all about the tongue and how we are supposed to talk to each other (by the way listen to the podcast this week to hear a funny story from the race!)

- barry bonds was voted in as a starter in the all-star game next week...wierd...he's supposed to be the most hated man in baseball and the fans voted him in...what a strange world.

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ok, rmac and others, you're all spared a long post...too many other things to talk about...some more important than others...

...on saturday, the original team that met so long ago in the johnson's living room in salinas got together to mark our first year in durango...it was a really cool time of remembering what's happened and seeing how far we've come in this first year...i think the overall theme was: "i can't say anything has gone as i've expected, but i love that and i wouldn't trade this year for anything."

...last week i got sicker then i've been in a long time and so my run this saturday is somewhat in jeopardy...i'm still leaning towards running, but last week was a major setback...

...fantasy baseball update...this league has turned into a two team race between myself (aka rmps59) and the Enraged Echidnas (if anyone knows what "echidnas" means, i'd love to know)...as of today i'm at 95 points, Echidnas is at 91.5, but we constantly flip flop between first and second...

...soccer update: arsenal's best player, thiery henry, jumped to the spanish league this week, which means arsenal is in trouble and not likely to improve on last years third place finish...also the US beat Mexico yesterday 2-1 to win the Gold Cup...the US is now 9-2-1 against Mexico in this millenium...the average US citizen probably has no idea that this is the case.

...i just got the new Project 86 album "Rival Factions"...it makes me feel so good to hear Andew Schwab's voice again, so full of energy and rage, with fresh material...i'm not normally too into the "hard" music scene, but i love this band...it's been too long Project...

...finally, after much urging, i saw the movie "Freedom Writers"...it got me...i'll admit it...very inspiring..

...finishing "The Book of Lost Things," and starting "The Blogging Church," and "A Thousand Splendid Suns" the new novel by Khaled Hosseini (author of the Kite Runner)

...i guess that was kind of long...oh well...hope everyone is enjoying a summer as beautiful as the one we are having in Durango...peace!

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- our first sunday at the rec center was a success (check out the new podcast to hear more). we revisited our purpose and vision and also looked into the future which was a lot of fun...there are a few things to work out with this new spot (they locked the doors on us!) but i think it's going to be a great place for us to worship. we also had two first time visitors which is always exciting. here's a picture to give you a little idea of what it looks like...

- chip, jenn, and i are going to be in california (salinas) may 3-6 to meet with and thank those of you who have been supporting us this last year. we are going to have a meeting at SVCC may 4th at 7 pm, so if you're in the area come check it out. i've been working on a video that we'll show at that meeting to give a glimpse into our church and life in durango and it's been really cool to hear the stories people have to tell...God's been doing some cool things in our little community.

- other thoughts...watch the movie "Saint Ralph". i just saw it for the second time this weekend with my friens seth and i love it...it's sligthly irreverent, but very inspirational...it's funny and true, and that makes any work of art great.

- i've also overtaken first place in my fantasy baseball league...i don't think my team has really done that well yet, so i'm not sure how to evaluate this early season success...but hey, i'm not going to complain!

peace