21 Today

Since, probably age 18 people have been assuming that I was over the age of 21. Maybe its my old soul, the gray hairs coming in on my chin, or my mature swagger. Whatever it is, officially today, I finally LOOK my age.

Bengals, Team of Redemption

I love when professional or college teams are more than just a unit of guys with one goal in mind: to win the championship. What made Butler's run so special was that the team's goals and style of play transcended their ultimate of goal of winning a championship. My other favorite sports teams is the Cincinnati Bengals. And for the longest time I hated and loved th

em for the sole reason that they were MY hometown team. I rooted for them yea

r after year even amongst little success. Now, I have another reason to root for the Bengals. They also have become a team that is out to do more than just win games.

They have become a team of second chances. A haven where players desperately seeking a second chance can get redemption. Numerous players that were at the end of the road because of not living up to potential, off field issues, drug violations, or a combination of all those, have made there way to the Bengals hoping to get a fresh start playing the game they love.

Recently, the Bengals have picked up one of the most infamous NFL players of this decade: Adam "Pacman" Jones.

Adam was drafted as a freak athlete with freak speed. But his NFL resume has been plagued with off field violations that led him to be completely suspended for t

he 2007 season and half of the 2008 season. Thought to be a lost cause, the Begnals will be giving him a contract in the hopes that he can contribute to their success. He was quoted saying to Bengal's defensive coach Zimmer, " Coach, I just want to play."

So lets look at the some of the players that have been given second chances with the Bengals:

Cedric Benson: Was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the first round and was never able to become the running back he thought he could be. Attitude problems and confrontation with players and coaches of the Chicago Bears. When he was arrested 2 times in just five weeks for alcohol related charges he was finally released for the B

ears. Last year with the Bengals we had an all pro season and was the 8th leading rusher in the NFL (playing in only 13 games). He was the Bengals work horse and heart soul of an offense that lead the Bengals to the playoffs.

Chris Henry had numerous personality issues and was suspended numerous times. But Mike Brown kept giving him second chances. Teammates, family, coaches and management all proclaimed the Chris had turned his life around last season, until he died tragically.

Others include: Larry Johnson, Tank Johnson, Cedric Benson, and Chris Henry. This are all players that succeeded and redeeming their lives and football careers.

Matt Jones is another player that was picked up this year. He came out of the draft as 6 foot 6 inches athlete that was fast, really fast. But he was sidelined then eventually cut for drug related violations. He will now have a second chance with the Bengals.

I might be forgetting some people? So if I am help me out.

Either way I think I have proved the point that the Bengals have really become a beacon in the NFL for players that have serious talent but that have made bad choices to come and get a second chance.

Think about in the movies when there is the character who goes on a rampage because his family, wife, children or whatever have been taken away from him. He will always say at some point in the movie something to the tune of, "Ive got nothing to lose, so stay at of my way." Well, that is what the Bengals are full of, a bunch of guys who have lost everything (as far as football careers go) and who have everything to gain with a second chance. I think that coupled with the success we are building off last year could mean huge things for the Bengals in this upcoming season.

Who is Responsible for Evil?

Last semester I took a religion course of theodicy, otherwise known as justifying a good, all-knowing, and completely loving God with the reality of evil in the world. A paradox that we didn't spend much time one but that I have always pondered is: Is there something essentially evil within humans that causes evil to take form? or Is the environment completely responsible for how "evil" a person ends up?

This is the question that two apologetics in the video attempt to answer:

I hope one day I can have a sweet story and a plethora of quotes stored up in my brain to re-sight whenever answering a question, making a

point, or convincing someone of something.

Self-Defense Lesson

It is a dangerous world. At every turn there is the unknown of impending harm.

In light of the reality of the dangerous world we live in I have collected some of the most sought after self-defense experts in the world. In just the few minutes of a single you tube video they will prepare you for whatever waits for you in a dark alley.

Enjoy.

Jamming

Here are some songs I have been jamming to lately. Some old, some new, but all jams. Enjoy!

Happiness

First off, thank God for this semester to be winding down enough that I have time to read what I want to read and to write what I want to write. I only have one final on thursday and a paper due on friday. Both of which I am not worrying about for a couple of days.

Nevertheless, Something that has been bothering me lately is ironically, Happiness. Through many conversations with people and a general observation of the world, I have been distraught by the amount of people that mention happiness as a goal to strive for or as something that makes life meaningful/worth living. In many different forms of rhetoric I have heard what seems to be the idolization of happiness.

There is something deeply wrong with thinking that happiness is something to hope for, strive for, or think of as what will make life meaningful. As Christians, we believe in a god that is ALIVE, TANGIBLE, and PRESENT. And we reject the idea that god is an IDEA, that god is a SMOKESCREEN, or that god STANDS FAR OFF.

So then... What is the Goal? 'I think' the goal is to be. Just to BE with Jesus, rather than to be concerned with secondary goals, feelings, transformations, helping people, etc.. If God is not an idea but a very real and tangible person to be connected with, than what more can be asked of us rather than just to BE with Jesus.

Thats the best I can make of it. Life is full of reactions. And the hip "idolization" of happiness and even spirituality are reactions to a dreary institution that presented a watered down version of the Gospel. What I am trying to point out though, is that the reaction may have gone to far the other way to miss the essence of Christianity. Which is not to be happy but to just be with the Creator of the universe revealed in Jesus and whose presence is known and experienced in a tangible way daily through the Spirit. Thanks only to the grace of the cross.

When Your Faith Tells You to Convert

The following is absolutely PROFOUND section from the book How (not) to Speak of God, by Peter Rollins. The questions this story and passage bring about keep haunting and convicting me.

The story within the movie goes something like this:

"The film itself explores the failure of the Catholic-Protestant Churches when confronted with the terror of the death camps during the second world war. The two main characters are s Protestant youth pastor and a Catholic priest, who both try to inform their religious leaders about the pending holocaust.

The priest is the character that most interested Peter Rollins. At one point, the priest wonders out loud to the Cardinal whether it would be possible for ever Christian in Germany to convert to judaism in order to stop the horror. His thinking is that the Nazis couldn't possibly condemned such a huge number of powerful and socially integrated people at that stage of the war. The idea is, of course, utterly rejected.

The priest believes so strongly in his thought that he himself turns from what he loves and becomes a Jew. By taking on the Jewish identity he suffers with the persecuted, voluntarily taking his place on the trains that run to Aushwitz.

For this priest, the singularity of the horror required an unprecedented action, one which cut at the heart of his tradition. It was his very tradition (or rather the interpretation of his tradition) that demanded he should give up that tradition. This is a studding exploration in the face of unprecedented horror, For most Christians, the question, "Would you die for your beliefs?" In other words, would you be prepared to give up your religious tradition in order to affirm that tradition? Can you give up the very thing you would die to protect, not because of something even more powerful, but rather because of another's suffering?

The most powerful way to affirm his Christianity is to lay it down- symbolized by the incongruous image in which he remains in his cassock while wearing the star of David. Here, the beliefs and practices which have served him daily are placed into question by the terror that faces him and the demands for a response. Amidst the fires of the Jewish persecution his Christian beliefs are subverted by the belief that Christ gave up all for the powerless. And so the priest gave up his Christianity precisely in order to retain his Christianity. It is the very narrative that he loves which requires this exodus narrative-losing his soul while perhaps, unintentionally, finding it. " -Peter Rollins