An open letter.

Dear Steelers (and the rest of Pittsburgh for that matter),

What can we say? This just wasn't our year. This is understandable. We've had several years lately. We have with predictable regularity dominated the NFL, especially the AFC North. People trembled in fear when we came to town. Our towels were mighty. Our cheerleaders were fat men with stuff painted on their chests. We won Super Bowls. Times were good.

And then there was this year. Was it a hangover from last year's dominance of the league? Who knows. I started to suspect something when we lost to the Chiefs. I really suspected something after last night's embarrassment. Now it seems that barring a complete collapse of everyone in the NFL, we will not be joining them in the playoffs this year. Bummer.

But please, don't give up on the season, I'm talking to you, Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes, Jeff Reed, and Heath Miller. I need points. But for all intents and purposes, the season is done.

Now please, do not misunderstand what I'm about to say. I will be there with you for training camp next year. I will wave my towel with all my heart. I am not abandoning you, nor am I a fair weather fan. But we're pretty much done for this year, which opens things up for me to root for someone else for a limited time. Just between now and the Superbowl, and that's it. I'm not cheating on you Steelers, I promise.

I thought about the Vikings. Brett Farve is amazing. I also thought about the Saints, but I feel like both of those are a little trendy. And so I've decided that for the rest of the playoffs, I will be rooting for the Green Bay Packers.

First of all, they're an NFC team, so there's almost no chance they will ever become one of our rivals. Secondly, they're in the playoff hunt, but just underdogish enough to make me respect them a bunch. They play gritty dirty football, and they seem to have a pretty awesome fan base. They remind me a lot of you Steelers.

Again, I will be back after this year. But we're on to other things for now, and besides, you've known from the beginning that my heart really belongs to someone else all this time:

Godspeed,

Jason

Sunday Post-Game: Retreating.

(It's been a while. Hit us with the nap time Matzaball!)

Greetings friends,

I am sitting on my couch. We have just come back from a weekend of ski retreating. It was such a good time. Here's the recap:

We had every intention of leaving on the bus at 5:30. By 5:40, we were very concerned that the bus had not yet arrived. At 5:50, the bus had arrived, and after some equipment loading we hit the road at 6. Half an hour behind schedule isn't all that bad, right? 

We hit the worst traffic I've ever seen. We sat on the Blvd of Allies for over an hour. It was past 7:00, and we weren't even out of Pittsburgh. I was trailing the bus in my jeep, and I beat them to camp at 9:30 PM. Gross.

Rob Conte beat everybody there. He gave me a ShamWow. I promise you a post in the extremely near future, because I would really like to see if the Shamwow can do this:

(You'll be sayin wow every time)

I kept the Shamwow on stage with me, and proudly displayed it to the crowd every set. The kids ate it up. They screamed every time the mighty power of the Shamwow joined us on the stage. Also in my bag of tricks to get the crowd active and jumping: 

(Keytar)

Granted, mine is now held together with duct tape, but still...

Worship was actually really great. In the spectrum of worship, I was definitely a bit campy this weekend, but they responded to that. They also really responded to the deep and contemplative stuff. It was a really good time of leading worship. Tons of fun.

A lot of people think I'm crazy. Perhaps it will ultimately end in dudes in white pulling me toward the padded van in my chonies. But I have to say, I absolutely love being a youth pastor. I absolutely love going away for a weekend with a great group of kids. I absolutely love seeing God move in their lives. I love what I do, even if it comes with a little bit of bumps and bruises. 

Do it.

Godspeed,

Jason 

Brain Jam

 

It's a snow day today. It looks absolutely nothing like this photograph. It's actually slushy and nasty and disgusting. However, school is closed, which means the office is closed, which means Veritas is closed. Usually this would cause me great pain and discomfort, because I love Veritas and hanging out with the kids. However, Ed is in India, and this is the one week during his trip that Mandi would have been unable to help me. I was not really ready to do Veritas all by myself, and so God has delayed us so that I can have one less day without my faithful assistant. But don't worry kids. I'm going to be spending the day dreaming up a new event for us to make up for our two cancelled Wednesdays. 

 

(TO THE LAB!)

===

 

Marko from YS has posted a link to my blog on his blog. I reviewed his book a while back, and I've actually be re-reading it since. It's spectacular! Go buy it! Go check out his blog! Go get a mohawk like his!

===

 

The Pens take on the Rangers tonight. I have a feeling that a lot rides on tonight's game. If we can't establish momentum now, I don't know if we'll be able to. 

===

 

I still freaking can't beleive the Steelers are in the Superbowl. I never would have called that at the beginning of the season. I really want to say that we're going to mop the floor with the Cardinals, but I'm hesitant to make such a bold claim. I know this for certain: it's going to be a great game. I wish I would have sent Ed to India with a terrible towl. 

===

 

I picked up the new iLife. I love it. I swear Apple can do no wrong. Well that's probably not true. Steve Jobs might be dying. But still. I love the fact that I can pick up a program, and within minutes be doing some really interesting professional looking stuff. More on this later.

I hope to have a more serious blog post later in the day. Hope you all enjoy the hibernation!

Godspeed,

Jason

Sunday Morning Post-Game: A Slice of Pie?

 

Good afternoon friends.

Today was one of the rare occasions in which I preached, felt good about it, and felt like others felt good about it too. It was a message about evangelism, which for Presbyterians is really difficult. I wonder why that is? Those who identify with the Evangelical branch of Christianity have little to no problem sharing their faith, and while I might disagree with their methods, their heart is totally in the right place. May we find the same heart!

But anyway, the big illustration I used was this: What if you met somebody who had never tasted pizza before? How would you explain it to them? Would you use a photograph?

 

(Just a picture)

Would you try to break down the ingredients (in the same way a Theologian might show you parts of God)?

 

(Not the whole picture)

Or would you try to mime it out, trying only to display the joy of eating a pizza?

 

Each of those ideas may be helpful tools in bringing somebody to Christ. But to truly introduce somebody to the living Christ, they have to taste and see him for themselves. You can do a combination of the above mentioned strategies, but until we're leading people to taste the goodness of the living Christ, they are all just pieces of the puzzle, and not the solution.

===

 

Pens 3, Rangers 0.

We made a huge trade yesterday to bring in a new goalie. All the press seemed to indicate the thinking was to put a little pressure on Fleury. I thought he would play the game of his life today. I was right.

 

(Solid) 

(==EDIT==)

 

(Knows what's going on.)

Just one more game before a MUCH needed break. Imagine how great we might be if some of our injured players have a moment or two to rest up and heal up! Things would be great!

===

 

Huge game today. Ed has said that if the Steelers and the Eagles make it to the Super Bowl and you have unfinished business in Oakland, get to it. It will likely burn down.

(Burn baby burn)

That was a long post-game. I'm going to see if I can go back through the blog and update the lables. See ya next time!

Sunday Morning Post-Game: Comma Sense

Good morning everyone.

This morning I kicked off a two week series about "Meeting God". First things first: I found this logo on Google Images, and realized it would be perfect for the series.

However, everyone who has seen it claims that it looks like a logo for a major corporation. At first I thought it was big brothers big sisters:

Or perhaps United Way:

So if you know who belongs to the logo I hijacked this morning, you can e-mail me and win the money I'll save by not getting sued...

Today I talked about meeting God. I'm not sure I did a really good job of getting across all the ideas that were in my head. My major point was that God happens in all kinds of weird places. For example, every time I go to the cogos down the street, I see God in the (albeit socially awkward) people who actually care what's going on in your life.

(Sanctuary)

So my question for today is: Where is your favorite unlikely place to meet God?

Go Steelers.

J