A Thanksgiving Game to be Thankful For-Pt 2

Update-6:02 P.M.

What a great day!  After the Titans shelacked the Lions 47-10, the Cowboys have rolled easily in the first half to a 24-6 lead.  Tony Romo has been almost perfect, for 210 yd and 2 TD.  Our O-line has been awesome, giving Romo all day, and our Defense has 5 sacks and a fumble recovery in just one half.

So, both my teams are looking dominant so far.  And don't look now, but UT basketball starts tonight.  So, it's been a great Thanksgiving so far.  I'm pumped to see how my teams play in December and how they finish up the regular season.  But for right now, I'm just enjoying some Thanksgiving dominance.

A Thanksgiving Game to be Thankful For

Live Update-2:01:

Well, this certainly makes up for our first loss of the season.  We are at this moment up 35-3 in the first half!  Chris Johnson is already over 120 yards with 2 TD, Lendale White has 2 TD, and we have a defensive TD.  I know the Lions are pretty bad, but this has been one of the most dominant halfs on both sides of the ball that I've seen this year.  It makes me very excited to see the rest of this season.  My favorite stat from the first half:  Titans TD: 5; Lions First downs: 3.

I'll try to be back with more updates from the 2nd half and from the Cowboys game later in the day.  Also, my mom's fried chicken and cornbread dressing are coming up soon.  I love Thanksgiving!

Relationships and Bonhoeffer

This semester in my mentoring group with Dr. Neller, we have been reading The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. It has been really good, and it is nice to read the book that has been quoted by so many other books that I have read. It's tough on the church and really blasts those who offer "cheap grace," so it offers a very strong view of what discipleship really looks like.

Today I was reading this and I came across something really cool. Bonhoeffer was talking about relationships and how we have to be able to leave any relationships that claims immediacy over Christ. This sounds tough, but he explains that it is only through Christ that we can have true relationships, and any relationship without him is in the end quite superficial. He says:

"We are separated from one another by an unbridgeable gulf of otherness and strangeness which resists all our attempt to overcome it by means of natural association or emotional or spiritual union. There is no way from one person to another. However loving and sympathetic we try to be, however frank and open our behavior, we cannot penetrate the incognito of the other man, for there are no direct relationships, not even between soul and soul. Christ stands between us, and we can only get into touch with our neighbors through him [...]

But the same Mediator who makes us individuals is also the founder of a new fellowship. He stands in the center between my neighbor and myself. He divides, but he also unites. Thus although the direct way to our neighbor is barred, we now find the new and only real way to him-the way which passes through the Mediator.

This really struck me. I can really see how relationships with my friends are affected by this. Those with whom I have a spiritual connection are always deeper and more real. I hope that as I leave college next May and move to the next chapter in my life, that I can always seek to build my relationships on Christ.

Tennyson on Happiness

"The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions. "

-Alfred Lord Tennyson

Bottom-Up Bailout?

Today on Meet the Press, the political commentator Tavis Smiley had a very interesting perspective on the economic crisis. I found the transcript, so here is the quote verbatim:

"I think that government has to always be challenged to be responsible to its citizens who are disadvantaged and disenfranchised. And the truth of the matter is that this entire economic crisis has been a top-down conversation and not a bottom-up conversation. Detroit, the city, is the poorest city in the country. In some, in, in some economic areas and categories, the unemployment rate in Detroit is three times, triple the national average. And so everyday people, the working poor and the very poor, cannot be left out of this conversation. And so I don't think that poor people--although we had three presidential debates, let's be honest about it, where the word poverty never came up, where the working poor and the very poor were never discussed in three presidential debates. I don't think, Tom, that the working poor and the very poor in this country begrudge people who are better off. They understand, I think, that there are three million jobs tied into this auto industry. At the same time, where is the conversation about corporate mendacity? Where is the conversation about everyday people and how this government is responsible to those persons who are disadvantaged, disenfranchised? I've not seen enough of that conversation yet. We've been talking about bailing out industry, talking about bailing out Wall Street. Every now and then, some conversation about Main Street. But no conversation about the side street, and that's where too many Americans live these days."

This really got my attention. There's been so much focus in this political season on stimulating the economy, bailing out Wall Street, and helping the middle class, that we often forget the people who are affected the most by these difficult economic times are those below the poverty line. God only knows how bad this thing is going to get in the next several weeks, months, and years. But as a church, we have to be sure we don't just focus on the stock market, but also on the poor, homeless, and unemployed.

A few friends and I were talking this weekend about whether the government should bail out the auto industry to keep the big three companies from going bankrupt. We gave the pros and cons that we had heard and talked about how it would affect the overall economy, and it seemed like there was no perfect answer to the problem. But none of us had thought about the disaster this could wreak on the city of Detroit, which is already in an economic tailspin. I have some friends from Detroit, and they've talked about how the city of Detroit has built the highways so that they go completely over the slums, so that you can go completely from the suburbs to downtown Detroit without seeing the immense poverty that is affecting the lower class of the city. It's time we start looking at the neglected. It's time that we don't just give $700 billion to those on Wall Street, but also to the millions in hunger around the world. It's time we judge success based on the least of these, instead of the global corporations.

I know stimulating the overall economy is important. I know helping the middle class is important. But let's not forget those trapped in the slums, because they need a bail-out too.

Top 5 LOST Episodes

So, there's lots of things to be excited about right now. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Senior year, friends coming back from Greece, graduation, and of course the Titans are 9-0! And now that ABC has announced the premier date for Season 5 of LOST for January 21, I'm officially getting excited. Just 68 days to go! Honestly, season 4 was so good that I was content with having no LOST for a while. It was like a great thanksgiving meal that keeps you full for 8 months. But now I'm definitely getting pumped, and I have no idea what to expect. So, I figured I would commemorate my pump-itude (my word I made up for a pumped attitude) by rolling out my top 5 Lost episodes from the first 4 seasons. So, without further ado:

#5-The Constant-(Season 4/Episode 5)

When I first saw this episode, my mind felt like mush when it ended, and I was frustrated that it didn't really extend the overall narrative of the show. But on further review, this is really the best episode of last season (which was a fantastic season). This was a Desmond episode, which are always weird. Throughout the episode, Desmond keeps flashing back between the current time and 1996, when he was in the army. As he keeps flashing back, he finally discovers that he must find a constant in both time periods and tries to contact Penelope. This lead to one of the greatest Lost scenes of all time when Desmond finally talks to Penelope on the phone and they discuss how they will find each other again.

This show was a big risk from the producers. They had to interrupt the overall storyline to present one of the weirdest time travel experiences ever on television. But it ultimately paid off, and gave us one of the best stand alone episodes in Lost. While I enjoy most Lost episodes for how they fit into the overall storyline, this was just a fantastic single hour of television.


#4-Pilot (Parts 1 and 2)

Lost burst onto the scene with this episode and nothing was ever the same. This entire episode was brilliantly planned by the writers, beginning with the initial close up of Jack's eye, followed by the 20 minute action sequence of the plane crash, the introduction of the monster and the polar bear, the shocking death of the pilot, the creepy French lady over the recording, and finally Charlie's statement that defined the show, "Guys, where are we?"

However, the best part about this episode was how it carefully set up these incredible characters and presented Lost as a character-driven show with fantasy elements, instead of the other way around. By the end of the pilot, we already felt like we knew these characters, and we were excited to learn more. This provided the framework that the whole show was built.


#3-Exodus Part 2 (Season 1/Episode 24)



Following the premier of the first season comes the finale of the first season (still my favorite season, by the way). I know this was originally a 2-part episode spread over 2 weeks, but I'm going to focus on the 2nd part. This was a fantastic episode beginning with Arzt blowing up and Hurley's classic line, "Dude, you have some Arzt on you." While most episodes focus on one character, this one showed flashbacks from every character in the cast, proving that this is an ensemble show. It also neatly summed up the entire first season, giving the season a fulfilling, distinct plotline that no other season has been able to re-create. The scene at the end with everyone getting on flight 815 with Michael Giacchino's piano in the background was beautiful. This episode also set up the Man of science/Man of faith debate between Jack and Locke which has really driven the show since. It also provided a perfect cliff hanger for the summer with Walt getting kidnapped by the Others and Jack and Locke peering down into the hatch. But that was back when we only had to wait 4 months in between seasons, instead of the 8 that we have to wait for now.



#2-Through the Looking Glass-(Season 3/Episode 22)


This was another 2-part season finale. I remember watching this one in Jason's living room, and it was one of the most exciting moments on tv ever. The episode was action packed, with fights with the others on the beach and below in the Looking glass station, plus the scene where Jack beat the snot out of Ben. It had the classic showdown between Jack and Locke. It had tons of tension over trying to get into contact with the freighter. Plus it had a fantastic heroic end for Charlie as he died letting Desmond know the boat was not Penny's.


However, the episode's best moments happened in Jack's flashforward. Of course, at the time, we thought it was just a flashback, but we didn't know where it was in Jack's storyline. This was Matthew Fox's best acting, and he was superb as the drug addicted, depressed, future Jack. When I finally realized it was a flash forward, it floored me for weeks. The final cries of Jack, "We have to go back! We have to go back!" were probably the best way to ever cap off a season. This was the biggest game-changer Lost has ever had and perfectly set up the flashforward/get off the island plotline of season 4.


#1-All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues-(Season 1/Episode 11)

This was another great Jack-isode, and still lives up as my favorite Lost episode ever. This was a tense episode as Jack, Kate, Locke, and Boone went after Ethan after he kidnapped Charlie and Claire. After an awesome fight scene with Ethan, Jack and Kate eventually found Charlie hung up in a tree. After minutes of Jack giving cpr and the sad piano music, I really thought Charlie was dead, but then Jack went at it again and Charlie somehow gasped for air. The flashback really made the episode though. After his dad ended up killing a patient, Jack eventually goes along with the lie that the patient died of natural causes, until he eventually stands up at a board meeting and said it was Christian's fault. This wasn't the biggest episode in terms of the overall plot, but it's still the most entertaining and most re-watchable for me.

Honorable mention goes to last season's finale, "There's No place like home" parts 1, 2, and 3. This episode was meant to be seen as a 3 part arch, so it really is like Lost: The Movie. It was probably the most packed episode storyline-wise in the history of the show. I'm still sorting it all out. It really culminated the entire arch of season 4. The storyline on island and in the flashforwards were awesome. I still need to watch it a few more times, before I can make a good judgment on it, but for now, it doesn't quite crack the top 5.

So, there's my top 5 so far. I'm hoping season 5 will add some more to that list, and I'm sure it will. What are your top 5?

What's Next?

The guiding phrase for the show the West Wing was, "What's Next?" Today after the longest and most arduous election comes to an end, we all must come together and say, "What's next?"

Tonight was a fun night for me and many of my friends. We had Obama cookies, cheered, hugged, and had some sparkling grape juice (non-alcoholic of course) when the election was called. But I know that most of my friends are Republicans, and tonight was not as exciting for them. And they are good, amazing Christians who honestly want what's best for the country and the kingdom of God. I want to say that John McCain is a good man, and he likely would have been a good President. He didn't run a perfect campaign, but for the most part, he kept a respectful dialog. He gave a very gracious concession speech tonight and I think helped to start move the country back together again. And let me point out that while all his aids were telling him to bring up Jeremy Wright, McCain was too honorable to go that deep in the dirt (even Hillary Clinton attacked on that......and she's in the same party!) To all my Republican friends, I hope that we can all come together and work to let's God's light shine out in this country and the whole world. Cause in the end, it matters little who is in charge at the top of government. What matters is what is going on down here as we work to spread the kingdom of God among the poor, broken, and hopeless.

So, thank God, this election is over. We must now ask "What's next?" What's next for President-Elect Obama? ( wow, that's fun to say) What's next for this country? What's next for the world? What's next for the people of God? What's next as we all reach out and try to achieve our highest hopes and strongest ideals? Tomorrow is a new day. What's next?

Phil Fulmer bleeds orange

Today is a tough day for UT fans. Most of us know that it's been time for Phil Fulmer to step down, but it's still tough to see him go. Phil has been the only UT coach I've ever known, and it was so great to have his familiar face on the sideline through the good and bad times in Knoxville. I think it's in everyone's best interests for Phil to step down, but it was still tough to watch this press conference. Every UT fan should be thankful for what Fulmer has done for our team. 3 SEC titles, a national championship, and a 75% winning percentage. Thanks Phil, we'll always have a spot on Rocky Top open for you.

Melchizedek and Stoic Philosophy

What do these two things have in common? I know everything about both now!


For the past month, the date of November 3rd has been looming like an execution date. Tomorrow, both my major term papers for Advanced Into to New Testament, and Old Testament Seminar are due (on the same day!!!! Can you believe that?). Over the past couple of weeks, I have written over 40 pages of notes on 35 sources, condensed into 22 pages for the actual papers.

I wrote my NT paper on "Paul's Theology in Relation to Stoic Philosophy" and my OT paper on Melchizedek. I've learned a lot from my research and I can tell you all you would ever want to know about these topics, and then some. What I've basically come away with though is that Bible scholars have way too much time on their hands and like to make up crazy ideas to get books and papers published (ex: Paul formed his beliefs on women from Stoics! Melchizedek is superior to Jesus!) A great deal of time in my papers is spent refuting crazy ideas from these crazy folks.

Anyways, I'm just celebrating tonight and I'm so happy that I can get back to my regular life away from the library and my computer screen. God bless!