So This is Life

I heard this on sports radio yesterday while talking about what we should value in our lives:

"Someone to love;
something to hope for;
something to believe in."

Jesus and Santa

The Love of Jesus

Just some observations on how awesome the followers of Jesus are and what an amazing job they do of being Christ-like.

1) The War on Christmas - CNN article: Heated debate again over 'War on Christmas' claims

- Maybe I am weak in my faith when I don't find it a big deal that other people celebrate Christmas differently than I do.
- Maybe I am too secular and liberal when I acknowledge that Happy Holidays could include something other than Christmas: Chanukah, Kwanzaa, New Years, and Festivus (yes, there will be an "Airing of Grievances" as part of my holiday celebration).
- Maybe there are things more important to me than the semantics of the holiday/Christmas season.
- Maybe I SHOULD be more offended that my very faith, the birth of my Savior, is being marginalized by the masses.
- Maybe I am just crazy to think that Jesus, who I truly believed walked on water, healed the lame, raised the dead, turned water to wine, gave the blind sight and conquered death, is big enough to take care of himself.

2) Citizen-Times: Asheville councilman atheism debate goes viral: Cecil Bothwell gets wide audience

In case you don't want to click the linky, here's the synopsis: Asheville elects Cecil Bothwell to city council. Cecil Bothwell is an atheist (actually, he calls himself "Post-theist"). NC Constitution has a provision barring atheist from taking office. Some within the community want NC to uphold this clause (despite the fact that the US Supreme Court would not uphold it-- federal laws trump state laws). Thanks to the attention brought, big hoopla follows and Asheville's city council election becomes talked about across the country in various outlets.

There are some within our country who hope for a theocracy. Saudi Arabia and Iran are theocracies and things seem to be working out really well there. Oh, but they're Muslim states.

Yeah, I forgot how glorious Christian theocracies were in the papal states of the Holy Roman Empire. There was no corruption, abuse of power and trying to convince the masses that the sun revolved around the earth. Remember, the Act of Supremacy (1534) made Henry VIII the head of the English Church. That worked out well for his six wives. The Puritans, who ironically fled England for religious freedom, even more ironically established a theocratic state in which there was no religious freedom. Not Puritan? Move on to New Amsterdam or down south to Virginia. Roger Williams fled Puritan Massachusetts and established Rhode Island-- a colony founded on the principle of separation of church and state. That colony became a haven for the persecuted, such as Quakers and Jews.

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For good reason, I'm not Jesus. Sometimes, however, I try to put myself in his shoes-- er, sandals. Remember, I'm not Emmanuel, God with us, the King of Kings-- but if I were, I think I would not be so harsh on those who do not see the way I do. Truly, I might try to hang out with them. Maybe see if they wanna get coffee at the Dripolator or Black Bear.

But I'm not Jesus...

Merry Christmas!

The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
John 4:9

Wrestling Updates

North Henderson Wrestling has a new website:

North Henderson Wrestling

Check it out. Become a member and stay updated with information about the team. Check back occasionally and see what we've been up to.

So far, season has been challenging. We are trying to break in some new guys while still getting the most out of our veterans. We started off our dual season with two losses by a total of 8 points. Then we won our next two matches, outscoring our opponents 149-3 to bring our record to 2-2. In the quad match we hosted on Thursday, we went 3-0 against pretty good TC Roberson and Polk County teams to climb to 5-2.

Other events include:

Reading at Edneyville Elementary-





Rachel Willingham/Cancer Awareness Night on Thursday. We donated $1.00 from every ticket sold to help Rachel. Also made cool "Fight Like a Knight" shirt (a play off "Fight Like a Girl") that we wore and sold to the student body.

Here's the Times-News article: Knights get three wins on Willingham Night

And here is the video Dean Hensley, sports reporter for the Times-News, made of the evening (I get interviewed halfway through):

Meet the Johnsons

Travis and Amy Johnson made an appearance during Watershed youth group this morning. They were there to talk to the students about their upcoming adventure and leap of faith. Leaving everything they have, Travis and Amy (along with Lillian, Patton and Aidan) are leaving in January for Uganda.
I met Amy when I first started volunteering my time with Watershed. That was about 5 years ago. She was always kind and caring and special to the group. She stopped volunteering to have her first child and pursue other things-- namely missions. Now she and Travis are embarking on a journey that they have been prepared for their entire lives. Travis is a doctor and will be working at the clinic. Amy is a teacher and will be part of the boarding school there.

They have sold their home, car and most of their possessions. They are taking a 5 year old, 2 year old, and Aidan, who was just born on November 4. In case that went over your head, in less than two months they are taking a young child, a toddler and a 3 month old infant to a country where they no family, currently speak only three words, have to learn how to milk a cow and raise chickens, and the majority of people live on less than a dollar a day.

I think they are very brave. And crazy.

But Travis said it best this morning when he told us, "We are betting our lives that the gospel is real."

That's the kind of faith that amazes and humbles me. A gospel that's real compels us to be bold. A gospel that's real urges us to trust in something other than ourselves and love in ways that cannot do on our own. In so many ways, I am waiting for the gospel to become real to me.

Keep the Johnsons in your prayers. If you want to follow, support or learn more, here are links to their website and their blog.

We are Knight's Wrestling

I noticed that my last blog update was on November 9. Not that I have a huge cadre of followers, but I want to keep updating my blog so that people check every once and a while. But I do not want to blog so much that it bores people. It's quite a delicate balancing act that I have been neglecting recently.

Why?
I attribute it to the "Hole".

The "Hole" is wrestling season. If it sounds like I abhor wrestling season, that could not be further from the truth. I adore the opportunity I get to coach and be a part of a special sport and the role I play in lives of a couple dozen young men each year. I don't know how to do it right without committing lots of time and energy. College and Pro football coaches are notorious for coming into the office at 4:00 in the morning or just sleeping at their facilities because that is how hard they prepare for the next game. I feel like I do that on a smaller scale. My friends all know that I sort of fall off the face of the earth during wrestling. That's the "Hole".

As of now, we are carrying 30 wrestlers on our roster. It's a mixed bunch consisting of diverse backgrounds, talents and abilities. As a group, I really like my team. My assistant, John Williams, and I had, over the course of the last 8 months, monthly dinner meetings with our five rising seniors to build relationships and better model leadership. The hope is that they will responsibly assume leadership roles within the team.Our roster is quite different from the last few years. We lost a few returning starters to various things (academics, choices, NC School of Science and Math) but still have a strong nucleus. Our success will depend a lot on whether our young guys take to the coaching and how quickly they mature as wrestlers.

So far the season is off to a great start. We placed 6th at the Old Appalachian Invitational in Boone and finished 3rd yesterday at our own North Knight Invitational. We've been working hard to get them in shape and teaching technique. We've still got a long way to go, but we are getting tougher, better and closer as a team. We are Knights Wrestling!

Record Setting

One of my all time favorite football players is former San Francisco receiver Jerry Rice. The Hall of Famer hailed from tiny Mississippi Valley State University (Enrollment: 2500). Rice was widely considered too slow to be an elite NFL wide receiver. He went on to finish his 20 year career with 38 NFL records, including most receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns.

Enter Elon senior wideout Terrell Hudgins. Hudgins caught a 44 yard pass this past Saturday in Cullowhee to break Jerry Rice's FCS (formerly Division I-AA) record for career receiving yards. He is also the Division I all-time leader in receptions and FCS leader in 100 yard receiving games.

Here's the summary from Elonphoenix.com

Elon is a program on the rise. If they can beat Appalachian State at in Rhodes Stadium this week, then the program can truly say that they have arrived. Both teams are 6-0 in confernce play. A win would clinch, at worst, a share of the Southern Conference Championship and surely punch a ticket to the FCS playoffs. A win this week and then against Samford would break Appalachian's streak of four consecutive SoCon championships.

Go Phoenix!