The Empty Grave That Changed Our World

Hope everyone had a happy Easter this year.  Have said it before and will say it again:  Easter is the most important holiday in the life of a Christian.  It is what separates us from other religions because our Savior conquered the grave and it is now empty.  No other religion can claim that feat.  Every religion has a prophet or savior who was born into this world.  They also have a body in their grave....except for Christianity.

Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead so that we can eternal life after our time here on Earth is over.  Think about it.  God loves you so much that He sacrificed His Son so you can have enjoy everlasting life.  All He asks for in return is for you to love Him back.  There is nothing else we can do to earn this privilege.  While we will never love Him as much as He deserves, He will not hold that against us.  He will only deny us if we deny Him.

It's not that hard to love God and Jesus.  He doesn't even expect you to lead a "perfect" life.  So, what are you waiting for?

Vacation Observations

The family took a vacation recently.  Being a trained noticer, saw a few things that interested me along the way.  

Yes, we went to Disney again.  Took the four night cruise then went to Orlando for a couple days afterwards.  Thought I’d write a few of them down to get them out of my noggin.

  

• Had my first real parents-aren’t-hip faux pas during the trip.  My son and daughter were having a little back and forth about something.  My girl got a real good zinger on my boy.  I said, “Oooh, you got  burned.”  Apparently, the phrase these days is “you got served.”  Received a few hearty guffaws for that one.  Oh well, just the first of many I suspect;
• On the drive down, got behind a car that had an Auburn Tiger bumper sticker on one side.  The other side had a sticker which had a Rebel flag with “Fighting Terrorism Since 1861” written on it.  Have to admit was more than a little relieved to see my university was not on the car AND it had a Florida license plate on it instead of Alabama.  We lost the War of Northern Aggression.  Get over it already;
• Never really realize how much you use your smart phone to pass them time until you can’t get a signal.  Kept mine with me on the cruise for the camera.  Can’t tell you how many times I reached for it to look something up on the internet only to realize I didn’t have a signal out there.  We’re thinking about looking into the international plan with our provider for next year’s cruise;
• My son and I went to see a Braves spring training game.  We sat in the grass out in left field behind the Mets’ bullpen.  One pitcher out there was giving autographs.  My son stood in line with about 10 other people and got one.  When I asked him who it was, he didn’t know and didn’t care.  Looked the dude’s number up on the spring training roster and couldn’t find him there, either, which probably means he has no chance of making the big team.  Dawned on me how people want your autograph and don’t really care who you are as long as you are wearing one of those uniforms;
• Went to a pin trading event while we were at Disney.  Wife and kids had a real ball at it.  Didn’t trade for anything myself, but enjoyed the people watching.  Was a wide variety of people in attendance there.  Reminded me of the Cantina scene in Star Wars: A New Hope;
• While I was standing in the hour-long line for Soaring (we were there at 11:30 PM), it hit me how people can patiently stand in line for hours on end at Disney but they can’t stand to wait two minutes at Walmart.  Disney has trained us well… 

As always, we had a great time.  Have already booked a cruise for next year.  Gonna go the first week of June this time so the water will be a little warmer.  Can’t wait.

Y’all have a good one!

Hello, It’s Me Again

WOW!  It’s been a while since I’ve posted a blog.  Reckon that’s what I get for saying I would update it every week.  Still had the fight song from that other school on here. Well, the music has been changed and there are several things happening now that I feel the need to comment on.  So, if you are ready to see if I can get back into the swing of things, here we go:

• Want to start by recommending a TV show to you.  Almost hate to admit I watch Lifetime, but their show Coming Home is one of the best shows on TV right now.  It’s about U.S. military personnel returning home from various parts of the world to surprise their families.  It’s very well-done.  Odd how my allergies tend to make my eyes water so much during the show.  It usually features one story throughout the hour and includes several others during the course of that story.  Highly recommend you check it out Sunday nights at 9 central;
  
• Went away for vacation for a week and came back to a war in Libya.  Been interesting to see the comments around this war.  In my mind, it’s not much different than what happened in Iraq.  Had a looney tune running the country who needed to be taken out.  Just about everything the Colonel has been accused of, the dictator was guilty of, too.  Nobody has really mentioned the parallels between the two cases.  At least I haven’t seen or heard it.  Not sure if President Obama had the authority to do what he did (probably didn’t unless the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (look it up) is still in effect), but it’s gonna be hard to put the horses back in the barn now til it’s over one way or the other.  Hopefully we won’t need to send in ground troops.  One interesting thing to me is Ghadaffi, Qadafi, or however he spells it, said at the beginning Al Qaeda was supporting the rebels.  Have read several articles that say he may be right on that.  May end up fighting these folks again……just like Afghanistan….;
  
• On a side note, one of the best tweets I saw leading up to this was someone saying you know your president is looking bad when the French are being more aggressive than you.  That was before we started sending missiles but the French had already said they were prepared to bomb the Libyans.  At the time we were saying we were going to sit this one out.  How’d that work out for us?;
  
• President Obama has had several oxymoron moments this month.  Mr. Nobel Peace Prize has now gone to war (at least by his own choice this time).  Interesting.  He also received an award for the alleged transparency in his administration in a ceremony held behind closed doors with no media present.  That just seems like typical Washington-think to me;
  
• Food for thought:  Back when W was president and gas prices skyrocketed, conspiracy theorists were coming out of the woodwork yammering about how he was trying to line the pockets of his oil buddies.  Funny how you don’t hear those same comments now that the price of gas has doubled since the new president has been in office.  Wonder why?;
  
• Watched the HBO Inside Sports show on college football.  Have to admit it did not appear to me that the former players were lying.  Not sure if that’s cuz what they were saying was true or if they were having a Constanza moment.  (Remember what George told Jerry right before the lie detector test?  It’s not a lie if you believe it?)  Tend to believe there’s some truth to them receiving money cuz I believe it goes on at all (or at least most) universities, especially the big time programs.  Don’t know if the players should be paid or not.  Do know many of these kids come from less-than-affluent households so they have no money for clothes, shoes or many other essentials needed to go to college.  NCAA rules don’t allow them to hold jobs, either.  There’s no easy answer to this problem;
  
• Auburn is certainly paying a heavy price for their national championship at this point.  Can’t recall any other champions that have had so much turmoil this soon after winning.  Allegations of players getting paid, recruiting improprieties, starters getting arrested for felonies, alleged gang activities just to name a few of the things that have come out since they won.  Can’t enjoy their championship and hasn’t even been three months, yet.  Mr. Newton probably has a lot to do with this.  Inadvertently, that is.  People started looking closer at Auburn when all of his brouhaha started.  The NCAA’s screwy ruling in his and Ohio State’s cases hasn’t helped anything, either.  Have a sad feeling AU will be in USC’s boat in a couple of years;
  
• Been a crazy year in the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament.  Have heard some people griping about VCU and Butler making it to the Final Four.  Just can’t make some folks happy.  Most people root for the underdog but no one actually wants them to win.  Glad to see some new blood succeeding myself.  Although, seeing as how Butler played in the championship game last year, not sure if you can really consider them new blood anymore.
  
• Saw where Phil Collins announced his retirement from the music business the other day.  Hate to say it, but figured he had already retired cuz hadn’t heard from him in a while.  Was definitely one of the biggest names in music in the 1980’s.  Love his work.  No music from him this time, but maybe in my next post;
  
• On a lighter note, anyone else follow the Egyptian cobra on Twitter?  It got over 200,000 followers in just a matter of a few days, me included.  Whoever was doing it was pretty funny and had some really good tweets.  Hope they keep it up even though the snake has been returned to its proper cage now.

Well, that’s all I got for now.  Feels good writing again.  Will have to try harder to keep it up this time.
Thanks as always for making it this far.  Hope you are doing well.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to the 2010 Auburn Tigers!  14-0, SEC Champions, and BCS Champions!  Way to keep things going for the SEC!!!  Gotta give Oregon credit for hanging with them, though.  They played a great game, too.  Exciting game all around.

 

(P.S. – This may be the only time you ever hear this fight song on my blog…)

Random Mish-mash

Well, the holidays are over.  Hope everyone survived them OK.  We actually had a white Christmas at our house.  According to the news, the first one in about 100 years.  Was very pretty.

Got a few things to get out of the noggin.  So, if you’re interested, here we go:

• The family went to Disney over New Year’s weekend.  Celebrated the new year and the twins’ 10th birthday.  Have never seen that many people in one place.  They reached capacity at 11 am on December 31.  The good news was, with the exception of one ride, we didn’t have to wait more than an hour for any attraction.  The fireworks show at the Magic Kingdom that night was the best I’ve ever seen.  Period.  Only had one real complaint about the whole weekend.  Rented a locker on New Year’s Eve.  When you return the key, you get a $5 deposit back.  When I returned my key, that particular register was out of cash and they gave me credit on my debit card.  I paid cash so I expected cash back.  After all, they had been raking in lots o’ cash all day long so know they had it there somewhere.  Anyway, the crowds thinned out starting on January 1 so the rest of the weekend was even more enjoyable.  The wife and I agreed we were glad we experienced it, but we’re not so sure we would want to do it again;
• The new Congress starts this week.  Hope they accomplish some things that get our country back on track.  Have read the Pubs are going to spend the first few weeks doing things that look good but don’t have much meat to them such as repeal Obamacare.  Before you start to panic or celebrate, President Obama has the power to veto any repeals so it’s not very likely to happen since there are not enough Pubs to override a veto.  Would rather they immediately get to the meat, even though I’m still not sure what their plans are.  Will hope for the best on that.  Also read they are about to take a two week break.  Wish I could take two weeks off after starting a new job.  Oh well, guess those pesky things like unemployment will solve themselves eventually;
• Speaker of the House Boehner cut Congressional staff budgets by 5%.  Some people have commented how this is only a small drop in the deficit bucket.  Reckon it’s mostly symbolic, but guess you have to start somewhere.  Looks like they are going to raise the debt ceiling again, which indicates spending will continue to increase.  The more things change, the more they stay the same.  Wish I could raise my debt ceiling at will like that;
• Saw where the Pubs are going to read the Constitution out loud during an upcoming session.  Wonder if anybody will learn anything from it?  Frankly, will be surprised if many of the Congressmen hang around to hear it.  They have too much important stuff to do than hang around listening to someone read our most important document.  You know, things like planning junkets to exotic countries, attending lunches with special interest groups, working out at the gym.  Important stuff like that.  It is a good gesture, though.  If it helps one representative remember they are there to serve the people, it will be worth it;
• Got the big BCS Championship game between Auburn and Oregon coming up.  Auburn is in the SEC and I like Oregon so it doesn’t really matter who wins to me.  Ultimately, my loyalty to the SEC will probably win out, though.  Think it will be a great game.  While Oregon hasn’t faced a defense like Auburn’s, Auburn hasn’t faced an offense who thinks they are going too slow if the ball isn’t snapped before the play clock hits 20.  Oregon definitely hasn’t faced a player the caliber of Cam Newton, either.  Won’t be surprised with either team winning.  Only thing that will surprise me will be a blowout by either school;
• Heard the Ohio State fans were taunting the Arkansas fans with chants of “SEC!” after they barely beat the 4th or 5th best team in the SEC.  Congratulations, Big Ten fans, your conference went 1-3 against the SEC, including one of your co-champions losing by 42.  Can see where you would want to celebrate that accomplishment; 
• Feel bad for TCU.  They’re undefeated with no chance of even being considered for the national championship.  More times than not, the BCS Championship game has had the two best teams playing in it.  In years like this one and 2004, you are left wanting a little more closure.  The NCAA says they don’t want a playoff because it will keep the athletes out of class too much.  The current bowl system stretches into the middle of January now.  How much more class would they really be missing?  Hope they will at least go to a “plus one” system in the next couple years.  We shall see.

Well, that’s all I got for now.  Going to get back to posting weekly again now that the holidays are over.  As always, thanks for hanging with me.  Please feel free to leave a comment or two.

Happy New Year!

A Few Thoughts

Well, quite a few things going on in the news nowadays.  Thought I’d take a few minutes to touch on some of them.  Most end on positive notes, especially the last one.  Hope you enjoy:

• After much wailing and gnashing of teeth, Congress agreed to extend the Bush tax cuts.  Never really doubted they would for several reasons.  For starters, why would they make 97% of the taxpayers mad cuz they couldn’t agree on what to do on the other 3%?  Second, the 3% make the biggest contributions to the campaign coffers.  Are they really going to risk hacking them off?  Wouldn’t think so, especially since a lot of them are in that 3%.  At some point, taxes will have to go back up, but consumer confidence is so shaky that this is not the time;
• Several things piqued my interest during this whole debate.  One is the Tea Party joined sides with the Dems and came out against the compromise.  Seems odd to me since most Dems talked about what loons the TP folks are back during the elections.  Guess they might not be as crazy as the Dems thought…for now, anyway.  Another is most Dems mad about the agreement aren’t really upset about the deal itself.  They are just mad it appears President Obama caved so easily.  A third thing is they decided to cut the Social Security tax taken out of your paycheck by 2%.  Don’t get me wrong.  Never disagree with getting more money in my paycheck.  But, does seem odd when both sides keep talking about how SS is going to be broke any day now.  Wonder which side will take credit/blame for it several years from now?;
• Looks like North Korea has decided the world has not been paying enough attention to them.  They’ve been keeping things stirred up with South Korea here lately.  They really have a good thing going.  Any time NK decides they need some attention/money, they rattle their sabers a little.  The big players come with money in hand to buy NK off for a little while longer.  Then they quiet back down again.  Attila the Hun did the same thing to the Romans back in the day.  History really does repeat itself.  If only all wars could be fought that way;
• Some exciting news on the battle against AIDS!  Doctors in Germany state they cured a man through a human stem cell transplant.  ‘Tis a great breakthrough and sounds exciting on the surface.  However, the doctors caution this was a one-in-a-billion thing.  The stem cells had a very rare mutation making them immune to HIV, and it’s not very likely this will happen again anytime soon.  Still, it shows we are making progress against the disease and there is some hope for ultimately defeating it in the future.  You can read more about the breakthrough in this article;
• Glad to see LeBron and the Heat are coming around.  Think Mr. James has taken more grief than he’s deserved during this whole mess.  Outside of Cleveland, think most of the backlash has been over “The Decision” rather than his decision.  The old saying is “Winning cures everything.”  Now that the Heat are on a roll and LeBron went back to Cleveland without incident, the negative stuff has started going away.  Things will probably remain calm til the finals.  The media will be apoplectic whether the Heat win or lose.  Even more so if they get knocked out before the finals.  But, that’s what sells papers and advertising;    
• Recently, someone burned down Birmingham’s city Christmas tree.  They removed the lights then started a fire with gasoline to separate the copper from the plastic.  Apparently Penguin and The Joker didn’t move far enough from the tree and set it on fire, too.  What has happened since is like something right out of Dr. Suess.  Within a week, someone has donated a new tree; a local company has donated security cameras along with monitoring; and, local citizens have been coming by with new decorations.  You can almost see the Grinch’s heart growing three sizes today.  With all the negative you hear about nowadays, it’s refreshing to see Christmas spirit still lives.

As always, thanks for reading my thoughts.  Hope each and every one of you has a great holiday season!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

Giving Thanks

As you probably know, it’s Thanksgiving week in the US.  Just thought would list out a few things I’m thankful for this year.  Maybe some will make you think of yours. In no particular order:

• My wife and two children.  Because of my job, they have to put up with a lot of absences.  Yet, they still somehow manage to put up with me.  Tell people all the time it takes a special spouse to put up with someone with a job like mine.  My wife is definitely one of them.  Love all three more than they can ever imagine;
• My extended family.  Don’t get to see and talk to them as much as I would like, but we manage to keep up with each other in one form or another;
• God loves me (and you) even though I don’t love Him as much as He deserves;
• Live in a country where I’m free to worship God as I please.  Don’t have to worry about going to jail, getting executed, or whatever because I believe in God and choose to worship Him.  You can also not worship Him, if you choose, with no repercussions…from the government, anyway;
• My friends.  Known a few for nearly all my life.  Many it just seems that way (which is good).  Some only know through Twitter and Facebook.  Am thankful for each and every one of you.  My life wouldn’t be the same without you.  Hope to meet my online friends face-to-face someday;
• The internet.  Without it, wouldn’t be able to find all my old friends, make new friends, keep up with the latest news and sports, and the various ways we use it to pass away the day;
• Music and the ability to hear it.  Music does so many things in our lives can’t possibly list them all.  Tells stories, brings back memories, offers praises, and eases pain just to list a few.  A lot of the new stuff sounds the same to me, but still grateful for it;
• Anyone who reads my blogs.  Do this thing just to get the voices out of my head, but have to admit it feels good to know, every now and then, there’s a few people out there interested in what I ramble on about;
• Our government.  Yes, they don’t always do what makes sense and they catch a lot of grief (deservedly so), but, we couldn’t live in a relatively peaceful society without them.  While our government may not be perfect, there are certainly worse ones throughout the world;
• Veterans and their families.  Without veterans (and their support systems), we wouldn’t have the freedom to enjoy blessings we have.

Well, these are ten things I can think of just off the top of my head.  There’s many more but time doesn’t permit me to list them all.  Feels good to know I have so many blessings.  Am sure you have many more blessings than you realize, too.

Y’all have a good one!