Canadian pitcher Chris Reitsma about Beijing’s pollution: “You’re watching batting practice in the outfield and you can’t see the ball because it’s the same color as the sky.”
Newsweek reporter Melinda Liu describes the skies as “the color of bed sheets that have been slept in too many times.”
Dwayne Wade played on the 2004 Olympic basketball team, which went 5-3. Since 1936, Americans had lost a total of only two basketball games, so the 2004 Olympic squad more than doubled the loss number.
Wade says the 2008 team is totally different–that it’s a team, not a collection of all-stars. He’s not starting. Is that a problem?
“Not at all, I’m happy with my role on the team. It’s not about me. I’m a starter with the Miami Heat. I’m a franchise player there. This is the USA Olympic team. This is bigger. I’m enjoying my role on this team. I’m not trying to play 40 minutes. I’ll be happy with whatever the game calls for. One game, you might play 15, 20 minutes, the next, you might play five minutes. It’s just about us winning.”
The PGA, golf tournaments, and sports networks are lamenting the absence of Tiger Woods for the rest of 2008. Everyone predicts that the number of people watching golf will plummet.
It’s like when your pastor takes the week off, and you schedule a guest speaker. The less-than-faithful stay home.
I read last week about a megachurch pastor who, on his blog, reamed his parishioners for not attending when he took the week off and a guest speaker (a really high-calibre minister, no less) filled the pulpit. The pastor, Brian Jones, noting the “pitiful” attendance, wrote:
Many leaders at [our church] wonder if people chose not to come because you knew I was not speaking.
Please understand that if that turns out to be the case, honest to God you won’t hear me speak until 2009. I will hire first-year Bible college interns who can barely chew gum and talk at the same time to rotate the speaking responsibilities for the next 6.5 months.
I will not have any part in helping build a church around a person, personality, or particular style of preaching.
The issue here is discipleship. Are we trying to put on a “religious show” where people will attend based on the person presenting God’s Word, or are we fashioning a gates-of-hell-storming-community of disciples?
Wow, there’s a gutsy pastor. And now, to draw a parallel to the truly significant world of sports–what does this say about golf “fans” who only watch if Tiger is playing?
BusinessWeek had an article about the decline of golfing. Still plenty of interest, but people are golfing less. Related businesses are hurting, particularly those offering consumables like golf balls and tees.
Three factors inhibit the spread of golf:
Golf is mostly a suburban, middle-class sport (I don’t know anybody at my church who plays golf). It takes discretionary money, and lots of time. But to do it well, you need skill. And golf, as the article says, is not “beginner friendly.” Neither is tennis, which I played. Golf and tennis are all about technique, and good technique requires years of experience.
In music, playing the piano is not beginner-friendly. It takes years of lessons to get good. Whereas you can start banging drums immediately, and it’s much easier to pick up on the guitar (pick up–get it? Ha ha ha).
So I was thinking of church-related things that aren’t beginner-friendly.
Lots of talk on ESPN this morning about the retirement of Michael Strayhan from the New York Giants. All of which prompted these thoughts:
Here’s some simple management philosophy from Mark Cuban. When asked why he fired Avery Johnson as coach of the Dallas Mavericks, Cuban said:
“There’s just times when things work until they don’t.”
I love that. Things change. Honeymoons end. Life marches on.
Just because something no longer works, it doesn’t invalidate the thing while it lasted. Just means the world has moved on, and so should you.
Unless we’re talking about marriage. Or the church. There are absolutes to follow.
It’s just after 11 pm, and I’m watching the final minutes of the Boston-Detroit game. Rooting for the Celtics.
Back from the St. Joseph Valley table tennis tournament. Started playing at 9 a.m. and finished around 2:30. To improve your rating with the US Table Tennis Association, you need to beat higher-ranked players. I did that three times today, and came within a centimeter (11-9 in the fifth game) of beating the highest-ranked player I played today. So I done good.
My brother Rick (who also blogged about the tournament) played well, too. We entered the same three categories, and thankfully, didn’t have to play each other.
Ah, the start of baseball season. The fresh spring air, the crack of bats, the green grass, the history, the tradition. This is the time of year when I tell myself:
“I’m unbelievably bored. How long ’til football starts?”
On the way to work, I learned that Shaquille O’Neal had been traded to my favorite team, the Phoenix Suns. Who saw that coming? The NBA’s premiere run-and-gun team opts for a hobbler like Shaq? Is this purely a move for the post-season, to combat the mighty Spurs? It’s just doggone interesting and unexpected.
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Copyright © 2013 Steve Dennie | All rights reserved
