What path are you walking?

Yesterday being Epiphany Sunday, I wonder about the story of Herod and the Magi.

While a number of people wonder who were the Magi; were they truly kings and/or wise men, were they magicians, astronomers, astrologers, or some combination?  It seems that they certainly were able bodied men, perhaps regal in their own right who reportedly came from the East.

The only account in the Holy Bible is that in Matthew 2:1-12.  While it goes through the course of events we all may remember, an interesting conversation happens regarding "And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way."

It is interesting to note because on the literal face, they took a different road home then they came into town on, so to speak.  However, Pope Gregory the Great, noted how would it be possible to take the same road after coming into contact with the Savior?  How indeed.  A life touched by Jesus must alter course and change the way it proceeds or it would not have been touched in the way we would
have hoped.

Arguably any relationship of love will change the way you do things.  I know that I do things differently now than I did before I was married or had children.  Perhaps drive a little safer, try to save a few more dollars, and spend less time watching TV - unless of course it is with my wife and/or kids.

My question for those who have a relationship with Christ is are you still traveling the same road you always have been or has this relationship of love changed your pathway?

Football and Baby Eskimos

So as the Green Bay Packers prepare to take on the 49ers on the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field I noticed that the high temperature for today is supposed to reach a balmy minus 8.  That would be minus 8 Fahrenheit.  Of course when you consider Packer history and the infamous Ice Bowl, minus 8 sounds downright balmy...almost like it is happening at an indoor stadium.

Unfortunately for me, I could not convince either of my sons to make a seventeen and a half hour drive to Green Bay to see playoff football.  The only person saying yes being my four year old daughter who thought we would also be catching a ballet, a presentation of Wicked, and an indoor pool.  Does Green Bay even have an indoor pool?  That being the case, what is left, but the game and a drink?

For me, I have to go with the Baby Eskimo.  This one is straight out of my drink diary.  A book I put together once upon a time when I bartended for college dough and girls.  It has served me well over the years and for today, I bring you coffee liqueur and ice cream...with a little crème de menthe for Packer color.

The Baby Eskimo is made with:

* 2 ounces of coffee liqueur (I prefer Kahlua, but Tia Maria will work also)
* 8 ounces of milk
* two scoops of vanilla ice cream
* 1 tsp of green crème de menthe.  (Typically you would use white crème de menthe, but then you would lose the whole Packer imagery.  I would hate to do that.)

Put the first three ingredients in a mixer and go to town.  Pour the contents into a highball glass and top with the green crème de menthe.  Voila and Bon Appetit!

Too much entitlement, not enough effort

Once again, Jerry Jones gets me.  Wow.

Jerry Jones, the President, CEO, and General Manager, of your Dallas Cowboys believes that the NFL playoffs would be better off...if only they would expand.  Look Cowboys fans, I get it.  It has to be tough watching your team miss the playoffs each of the past four years and in each of the last three, losing the final game of the season to a division opponent to keep them out of the playoffs, but who is to blame?

Your coaching staff talks about doing things the right way, but if you are doing it the right way and that leads to success and you aren't successful...maybe the answer is you aren't doing it the right way.  I know that is hard to believe for fans of "America's team," but let's look at reality, you have finished 8 and 8 each of the past three years?  How is that successful?  At best it is mediocre.

By the way, a quick side note for Cowboys fans about your organization, you are not successful getting to the playoffs.  There are thirty-two NFL teams and each year only one of them can be successful.  I know, I know...if the Raiders were to beat up on the AFC West one year and get into the playoffs many would consider that successful.  I don't.  You either win the last game of the season or you don't.  If you aren't sure, go ask Bill Belichick what he thinks about the year they went 16-0 during the regular season and then 2-1 in the playoffs.  Sorry to say, but it's the one that counts in that case, because that was Super Bowl XLII.  The one game they lost that year...the Super Bowl.

Instead of fixing the problems with his team which include a General Manager who is not trained for the job and a general lack of talent (see General Manager, Problems with) the Cowboys want to fix the system where you simply add teams.  My question is after this year, why would I add the Cowboys, then the Arizona Cardinals - in the toughest division in football arguably - were ten and six.  Jerry, you were eight and eight man!

Honestly, the issue is ultimately moot.  For me, I believe you could probably make the playoffs the top fifteen teams from each conference and the Cowboys would still find a way to choke in December and miss the playoffs anyway.  They are America's team, because they like many in America, have decided they are entitled to things instead of working for them.  And that is the real story for the Cowboys and Jerry Jones.  Too much entitlement, not enough effort.

Government Behaving Badly

Welcome to the new world where up is down and back is front and left is right.  What in the world is going on?  Today’s news features two stories which are appalling on their face as the government does its best impressions of incompetence. 

First, our venerable Customs and Border Protection who has multiple sites across Arizona, California, and New Mexico to detain Americans traveling wholly and entirely within the United States and ask them questions about their national heritage has recently confiscated and then destroyed thirteen wooden flutes of Boujemaa Razgui, a classical flutist, who has performed with these same instruments at the Lincoln Center and with both Shakira and Beyonce. 

Being the all powerful government they are, they refuse to apologize for destroying these rare instruments, just as they seem comfortable not apologizing for performing their primary mission of stopping foreign nationals from invading the country illegally.  Should I mention Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev? 

Why is it again and again, when our government makes a mistake they refuse to try to fix it?  We get it that the US Government is not perfect.  It’s okay that you hit the baseball into the living room window, but now you have messed something up and you need to go mow lawns until you can pay to replace the glass. 

That being the case, how many of you who voted for President Obama are loving that decision now that they have forced through the Affordable Care Act and you get to not only pay higher premiums, get dropped from the insurance you did like, but now can’t get verified to receive treatment?  Let me get this right, I can’t keep my doc, have to pay more, and still can’t get service.  Thank you President Obama for creating a whole new black market called medicine.  You say you want more people insured and covered, well you have just done the opposite. 

Any apologies from 44?  How about Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid?  Of course not.  You will remember, they are all exempt from the provisions of the ACA which they all loved so much they could not wait to force it on you and I. 

The ACA is now causing people with chest pain to leave hospitals without being seen because their brand new, shiny Obamacare insurance can not be verified. Woops. 

I am tempted to give these lawmakers the benefit of the doubt on these issues that this is not what they intended, but they realized there were problems and refused to delay the entire process, instead carving out for themselves exemptions that the ordinary American can not have for themselves. 

I realize that these issues would seem not to relate, but in both cases, you have bureaucrats acting in their own manner.  They are acting arbitrarily and capriciously without thinking through the consequences of their own actions and considering the effect on the populace.

While many Americans think about George Orwell and the spying in 1984, I am much more concerned about Animal Farm and the statement “all animals are equal, some are just more equal than others.”  Somewhere along the line President Obama became too comfortable with this idea to the chagrin of the rest of us.

A Musical Warning...

So who doesn't like Dave Matthews Band?  I mean really!

I consider this a musical warning because whenever I travel be it to New Mexico or another city for a conference, I always think of this song when people remind me only to drink bottled water.  Don't drink the water....don't drink the water...

I realize it is likely not necessary for the warning, but I do know on a church mission trip I took years ago, I dutifully took my prescribed prophylactic antibiotic for water born illness and I was one of the few who did not get sick, so maybe not drinking the water and taking your medicine is a good thing.

In the meantime, I am quite sure Dave Matthews Band is a good thing, so enjoy.

Undesired Wishes Come True

Crazy idea Mr. Goodell, but your product has become over priced and in zero degree weather, few families can participate.  As multiple media outlets have noted including Bloomberg and ESPN, the NFL is facing a blackout of three of its four post season games this coming weekend.  Lions and tigers (well Bengals) and bears (or Packers)…oh my!

What you don’t seem to understand Roger is that your product is made for TV.  That’s right…the product you have packaged for our television screens for years to increase your revenues is more fun to watch….at home.  Have you been to Jerry World in Dallas, well, Arlington?  There is a Victoria’s Secret there.  What on God’s green Earth does that have to do with football?  You are correct…zero.  Unless of course you count the rent money which comes in to Jerry Jones who then puts a mediocre product on the field.

So your product is first made for TV, but the second reason is the post game is made for TV.  The 11:00 news.  Week after week after week I get to see about some fan assaulted in your stadium parking lots by those who have consumed too much alcohol or just awkward security types.  Sure, some of them were running their mouth and sure too much alcohol probably contributed, but this is the same league that has had its alcohol run ins again and again.  Do I need to mention Josh Brent here in Dallas?  Perhaps closer to playoff football we could mention the Minnesota Vikings and Erin Henderson’s most recent DUI arrest?  I don’t need alcohol to enjoy the game, but why am I going to expose my family to these kinds of idiots which your security turns a blind eye to until it is…too late.

Finally, oh yeah, the family.  I am father of four.  Married, two boys, two girls.  Let’s get crazy and assume I could get just three tickets because the men want to go to the show.  At $100 per ticket that is $300 to set foot in the stadium.  We haven’t paid for parking, bought a souvenir (or three), much less enjoyed a cold $6 soda…or three.

I am amazed at the hubris of the NFL.  Sure, you just got away with one with the player’s lawsuit.  Personally, I think their lawyers must have suffered multiple concussions too to settle for such a low figure, but you shouldn’t be surprised when stadiums don’t sell out when you have made your product for TV and businessmen with their corporate suites and lack of fandom.  You got your wish…so be careful next time for what you wish for may come true again.

Happy New Year

"Every man should be born again on the first day of January. Start with a fresh page. Take up one hole more in the buckle if necessary, or let down one, according to circumstances; but on the first of January let every man gird himself once more, with his face to the front, and take no interest in the things that were and are past." - Henry Ward Beecher

Beecher had it right. Look forward today and begin anew. Write your resolutions as goals and go get it. Do not let the stumbles that are invariably going to happen keep you from following your desire to achieve these resolutions for self betterment.

As the saying goes, yesterday is history. Tomorrow is unknown so don't plan on it. Today is a gift which is why they call it a present. Go enjoy today, hug those you haven't hugged enough, kiss those you haven't kissed enough, but Carpe Diem....seize today. Don't seize a day down the road, but go get today. Do this everyday and you might find yourself not only happier for it, but more successful as well.