Scary Clown

Funniest. Commercial.  Ever.

One of My Favorites...

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
   whose trust is in the Lord.
He is like a tree planted by water,
   that sends out its roots by the stream
and does not fear when heat comes,
   for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
   for it does not cease to bear fruit.
- Jeremiah 17:7-8 (ESV)

Avatar Plot Draft - Spoiler Alert!

Courtesy of Nikki Finke at www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com. Heh.

Drew Barrymore Interview

I came across this clip the other day, and I had apparently forgotton how funny Will Ferrell can be.  It made me giggle.

As We Walk Through the Valley

A friend recently raised a discussion about 2009: If you had the choice, would you do it all over again, just the way it was? Or, are you just glad to be rid of it?

The question runs deep. As Christians, we are promised trials in this world, and we can rest in the promise that our Savior has overcome the world (John 16:33). And though we may believe the truth in that verse, though we may have intellectually assented to the truth in that verse, the hurt and pain resulting from the trials we face is not necessarily diminished. We know what it means to feel sorrow in the loss of a loved one, heartache from a rift with a friend, fear in the face of the unknown.

As a result, then, the question immediately made me think of three things. The first, a quote from Ravi Zacharias, in The Grand Weaver:

"You cannot always live on the mountaintop, but when you walk through the valley, the memory of the view from the mountain will sustain you and give you the strength to carry you through."*

The second, a beautiful song I came to know through a friend of mine, by singer/songwriter Ginny Owens. Here's a live performance and a stanza or two:

It may not be the way I would have chosen

When You lead me through a world that's not my home,

But You never said it would be easy

You only said I'll never go alone.

So when the whole world turns against me

And I'm all by myself

And I can't hear You answer my cries for help.

I'll remember the suffering Your love put You through

And I will go through the valley

If you want me to.

The third, a favorite psalm of mine, also highlighted in The Sound of Music. I'm using the KJV, just because I like the poetry of it:

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,

from whence cometh my help.

My help cometh from the LORD,

which made heaven and earth.

Psalm 121:1-2

A friend and I once talked about this verse, and he pointed out that the very fact the psalmist needs to lift up his eyes means that while in the valley, he had been looking down, away from the Lord.

At the very least, we know this: In His grace, God reveals to us that the grief we suffer in our trials may prove our faith genuine and result in praise and glory to Jesus Christ (I Peter 1:6-7). The thing is, we're never going to be able to escape the valleys in life. That we know.

But what mercy the Lord shows us in that we'll never go alone.

Zacaharias, Ravi. The Grand Weaver. Grand Rapids, 2007. pg. 41

The End of an Era

Last night, senior Tim Tebow played his last football game at the University of Florida. Urban Meyer coached his last game before taking an rather vague leave of absence. Charlie Strong coached his game as the Gators defensive coach before heading off to don the cap as the head coach of Louisville.

And boy, what a way to go.

As of now, the SEC hasn't been doing so well this bowl season when matched up against some of the other conferences (granted, S. Carolina, Arkansas, and Alabama still have to play), but Florida certainly strutted its stuff last night as it trounced the #3 Cincinnati Bearcats 51-24. Tebow arguably had his best game ever, with 482 yards and four touchdowns, and he and this senior class will be fondly remembered by Gator Nation for years to come. The end of an era for all Gator fans.

That said, I'm always surprised at the rather visceral level of hate directed at the Gators, who are now the first team in FBS history to have back-to-back 13-win seasons. It goes beyond the regular hate reserved for rivalry games; as a friend noted, there just seems to be an across the board hate from many who are not Gator fans. I'm even more surprised when individuals elevate this hate past a team and drape it across Tim Tebow. It's no big secret that after the Gators' devastating 19 point loss at the SEC championship, the camera found Tim with two minutes left, face red and eyes wet. Almost immediately, Facebook groups sprouted up, defaming and mocking Tim for showing his passion. Then, over the following three weeks, I had at least eight or ten people make it a point to find me and gleefully point out his humiliation, reveling in his heartbreak. Of course, I'm sure those folks would would do SO much better if they had put their everything into a team, only to watch its defense crumble on a national stage against an Alabama team clicking on all cylinders.

But I'm sure these persons have good reason. After all, who wants their kid to grow up to have the character of a guy like Tim Tebow? We'd much rather elevate individuals like Kobe Bryant, Michael Vick, Michael Phelps, Marion Jones, and now Tiger Woods, who has more recently added his name to this illustrious list of stand-up athletes. For goodness sakes, guys like these are just ATHLETES and happen to be particularly skilled at throwing around a ball or swimming a couple of laps. But we follow their every move, can recite their every statistic, and pay them like they are gods. They may be physically at their best, but they have no obligation to be the moral lighthouses society often expects them to be. It's not like the kid down the street has a picture of Sir Alexander Fleming on his wall. No, he has Mike Tyson, who bit part of an opponent's ear off, served time for rape, and dealt with domestic violence charges.

So please forgive me if I fail to understand why some who hate the Gators channel their energy to a complete vilification of Tim Tebow. He will go one as one of the greatest players to every play the college football game. And if he's not considered the best college QB of all time (with his 2 national championships and Heisman trophy spearheading the list of his many record-breaking achievements), he'll certainly be considered in the conversation. He was put on a pedestal of expectation by the media and the college football world, and he has been subjected to more hype, coverage, and pressure than few else in recent college football history. And even despite all of that, he still chose to stand unashamedly for the truth in a world and in a particular sector of society where it is so easily rejected. Whether you believe in God or not, he's a man who has used his position and relative fame to minister to those in need, to serve others, and to inspire others to be better. If you do believe in the saving power of Jesus Christ, you should be praising God that He has placed a man in such a position to spread the Gospel and to boldly speak the name of Jesus.

Don't get me wrong; Tim Tebow is a sinner just like the rest of us, and I have never once heard him boast about his merits as though they were the result of his own effort. In fact, I never once heard him boast about anything he's done. He was asked in last night's post-game conference what he hoped people would remember about him. He said he hoped they would remember how much he loved his team and coaches, that he loved other people, and that he loved the Lord.

I'm not naive; people will continue to hate Tebow after all this. But I wonder, at the end of the day, whose poster they'd want on their kid's wall.