Geaux Tigers!

I pilfered this from my brother-in-law's website--but it conveys my sentiments well!

College football 2008

LSU played five teams, and defeated them all, that finished in the final AP Top 15.

USC played no teams in the final AP Top 15.

Ohio State, outside of a crushing defeat to LSU, played no teams in the final AP Top 15.

Georgia played three teams in the final AP Top 15, beating two of them. 

And yet, ESPN has the gall to suggest that USC is still the best team in the land, and that LSU - while national champions - was not clearly the better team. 

Memo to the NCAA - give us college football playoffs.
Memo to ESPN - find commentators with brains. 

Addendum from me:

Memo to all those who think that the Big Ten is all that--check the bowl records!  I believe you'll find that the SEC was invited to more bowl games and had a 7-2 record in the bowls they were invited to.  How many were the Big Ten invited to, and how many did they actually win? 

The Code

Here's my code, thanks to chernabog.  What's yours?

Currently Reading Creation: A Novel By Gore Vidal see related

Theology Talk

My cousin Heather is trying to find a Church home.  She asked what others thoughts were on the matter, and here is my reply...  (WARNING: Make sure you've had your morning coffee.  It's philosophically challenging!)

Ok, here's a little Catholic perspective.  (If you are Protestant and take yourself too seriously, or cannot read other vastly different opinions without getting upset,please do not read. It is not my wish to upset anyone.)

I have a much simpler answer for you--become Catholic!  Then you are a part of the big "C" Church, the first Church, the one-from-the-get-go-right-after-Jesus-rose-to-join-his-Father Church... LOL (I know we don't agree--I can hear your sweet sigh of patience from here--but you know I had to say it, if only for comedic value! ROFL)

But, since I know you won't do that, I would suggest a trust God and wait approach.  Instead of "protesting"--which has become synonymous with "leaving" in Protestantism-- a faith body every time you disagree, you pick a place, plant yourself, and commit to it.  If something comes up that you don't agree with, you work from within via prayer and fasting and activism to change the church from the inside out.  Had the reformers done that, we wouldn't have over 50,000 splinters of Christianity today, and the world would have a much more powerful force of Christ to contend with.  Not only that, but all of the saints who had stayed true and dedicated their lives to praying and fasting for change would have seen a mighty fruit come of their prayer, and more miracles would have been seen. 

And what is to stop Protestants from doing that from within Protestantism today?  If they can't bring themselves to rejoin the Catholic Church, that's ok.  They don't have to become Catholic (at least not right away hee hee)--just staying unified from within Protestantism would deal a mighty blow to the evil one, and help all Christians out, Protestant and Catholic alike.  All the dissension among Christianity is only helping satan out.  It is certainly not making Jesus happy.

Protestants, in my opinion, need to learn that religion is not democracy.  It is not government.  Nowhere in the Bible do you see God telling anyone to be rebellious and find another faith community.  (Remember Bill Gothard and all that religious authority talk?)  The Biblical pattern is to submit to a religious authority, and trust God for the rest through prayer and fasting and faith.  Sometimes leaders may rise who are not what we wish to have.  God will use that for His glory and our betterment.  Through prayer, fasting, and activism, His will will prevail.  By leaving before we allow that to happen, we are showing a lack of faith in His ability to fix the situation.

That's also the pattern we see that God has set forth in marriage.  If Ben suddenly starts asking me to use another translation of the Bible that I do not like, should I run out on my marriage?  No, it's absurd.  Yet we should have no less love and commitment for our Blessed Community of Christ! 

The modern day trend in America of continuing to play "musical faith communities" is damaging to the entire body of Christ.

I may have not explained myself very well, as I'm in rather a hurry, but I hope you understand what I am getting at.  Despite my prayers for you that you one day become Catholic, I am also praying that in the meantime, God will lead you to the place where your faith can ultimately grow in leaps and bounds!

I love you!

-Stacy

Officially Old

Yep, I'm officially old.  Why, you ask?

1. I'm older than Jesus.  (You may recall that he was 33 when he died and rose again to spend eternity in heaven with His Father.)

2. When I was a kid, I thought anyone older than 25 was an adult.  Anyone that was over 30 was just plain old.  (Kid wisdom never lies!  )

3. I will have a child who is in the double digits this year.  My oldest son is going to be 10 next month!  That's just weird.  (That's the age I was when I thought anyone over 30 was old, dangit!)

4. I enjoy going to bed early sometimes.  (That's just wrong.)

5. I agree with my parents on much more than I used to.  (Can we say creepy?)

6. I feel a larger gap developing between myself and the teenage mindset.  When I was teaching, I knew about all the 'cool' stuff.  I still am in touch with more than most, but I'd say I'm getting a more than a few cobwebs on the ol' cool factor.

7. I've had one of my close friends for 30 years.  Yes, 30 YEARS!  (Susie, if you've hung in with me this long, you deserve a medal!)

8. Cleaning my house gives me a sense of accomplishment.  (Do I even need to explain that one?)

9. When I go shopping, comfort is the number one priority.  (I can't really recall when 'looking great' faded into the sunset, but I think it was around kid 2.)

10.  My ideal birthday present combo?  A mani-pedi, meals cooked for me, and someone else cleans my house spic and span.  (AAAAAHHHH!  I've become a dinosaur!)

I'm definitely aging with humor.  On a more serious note, however, I'm thankful to have been around for another year.  I've lost a few friends to cancer in the past few years--all of them were moms, all of them loving wives.  Today I'll be honoring each of them in my prayers as I thank God that He has chosen to give me this time with my family, a little while longer.

Rain, sweet rain!

As many are already aware, the Atlanta area is in a state of extreme drought.  In fact, there are valid concerns that unless something changes, we may actually run out of drinking water.  Not usually being a catastrophizer myself, I think that that is unlikely, however the fact remains that the need is severe. 

Thank God, it rained yesterday and again today for a little while!  We may even get some more tomorrow.  You can almost hear the trees sigh with pleasure, as the grass looks slightly less dead that two days past.  Yay for the rain!