Preseason USA Today Coaches' Poll

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1 Alabama (55) 0-0 1469

2 Ohio State (4) 0-0 1392

3 Florida 0-0 1245

4 Texas 0-0 1240

5 Boise State 0-0 1215

6 Virginia Tech 0-0 1052

7 TCU 0-0 1051

8 Oklahoma 0-0 1035

9 Nebraska 0-0 1001

10 Iowa 0-0 952

11 Oregon 0-0 940

12 Wisconsin 0-0 778

13 Miami (FL) 0-0 728

14 Penn State 0-0 508

15 Pittsburgh 0-0 492

16 LSU 0-0 476

17 Georgia Tech 0-0 455

18 North Carolina 0-0 445

19 Arkansas 0-0 438

20 Florida State 0-0 374

21 Georgia 0-0 312

22 Oregon State 0-0 263

23 Auburn 0-0 260

24 Utah 0-0 169

24 West Virginia 0-0 169

Well, being 21 is better than no ranking at all. Umm, South Carolina? Hello? And honestly, who in their right mind put Boise State # 5. Their first game is v Va Tech. Go Hokies! If they don't win, Boise will most likely play for the National Title having played one game and 11 scrimmages.

One last rant. Ohio State? What 4 morons put the Buckeyes #1? May I remind you that Ohio State has NEVER beaten a SEC team? Pluuzeese! Win a bowl game for Tressle's sake, and then come talk to me about a national ranking.

And of course, I refuse to discuss the team ranked #17. May Athlete's Foot plague their locker room.

Can't hardly wait for September 4 at 12:21 pm. How 'bout them Dawgs!

Twenty Years And Counting

Today is my wedding anniversary. Despite the fact I earn my living with the dispensation of words, I'm not much on prose. But let me tell you about what this day means anyway.




20 years ago Patty Anderson woke up a single woman. Within eight hours, she had become Patty Leigh. Well, they say hind sight is twenty-twenty and all that...but looking back, I can say I wouldn't blame her if she would want to change her mind about that day. It has been rocky at times. Four states, about 20 moves, 7 jobs, the loss of a child, and at least a million tears later, who could blame her?



But here we are twenty years down the road and we are more blessed and happy than at any time in our lives. We have given our youth, dreams, money, and health to be right here. And while at times it has been tough, it has never been a question that we would make it to this day, and beyond.



To say that I love Patty, this woman that God put into my life and made my best friend, would be to do an injustice to the relationship that we have. Love fails to capture the true essence of what we have. And while it may sound kitschy or cliché, the only phrase I can think of is soul-mate. We have become...no, we are... so close that our souls have intertwined, and we have become, as the Bible says, one flesh. What we do, we do for each other as if it were for ourselves. I know, I know, it sounds like circular logic, but it is not. It is something you can only experience, not be told about in writing.

My prayer for every couple is that their love be as true, as sacrificial, and as eternal as ours. Some couples are married for 50 or 60 years. We will be side by side in heaven, my darling, forever. I have no doubt that whatever form August 4th takes in eternity, we will know that day! And anniversary cake in heaven (Angel Food Cake?) will be divine and calorie free! I look forward to spending my life and after-life with you.



Patricia Dawn Anderson LEIGH. You are my BRIDE, you are MY bride, and I love you dearly. And as for me...well, I woke up this morning, twenty years later, more in love with you, and happier with you on my arm today, than I could have ever imagined was possible in 1990.



Happy Anniversary, Baby. I-heart-You.

In God We Trust

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Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. Psalm 20:7 (NKJV)



Before his 1971 fight with Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali said, "There's not a man alive who can whip me. I am the greatest! I am the king! I should be on a postage stamp - that's the only way I'll get licked!". Ali lost to Frazier.



When confidence in our abilities and resources changes to pride and then becomes arrogance, there's trouble ahead: "Pride goes before destruction and haughtiness before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18) Or, as Jeremiah said 2500 years ago, "If you brag, brag of this and this only: That you understand and know me." (9:23-24)


 
So how do we find balance? Simply by remembering that every gift, ability, talent, and resource we have has come from God. There's nothing sinful about recognizing and confessing what God has provided, but the difference between self-confidence and Christ-honoring confidence is found in who gets the credit. A good way to keep this at the forefront of our life is to practice the art of thanksgiving. It's hard to be too self-confident when we acknowledge we are nothing without God. The apostle Paul said I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That translates into living confidently - as long as your confidence is in Christ.

Hotter Than A Snake's Belly In A Wagon Rut

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I love Southern idioms. For instance: "It's hotter than a snake's belly in a wagon rut," and brother, that's hot.

This is the third day in a row that the actualized air temp is over 100*f. And the next four days are so forecasted as well. Currently, (2:16 pm on July 23, 2010) Weatherbug has the air temp at 97*f with a dew point of 79*f making the "feel like temp" 113*f. It will get over 100*f  by 4:00. How hot that will make the feel like I don't know, but it'll be hotter than a goat's colon in a pepper patch.  Welcome to the Southeast, baby!



All that leading back to my idioms:

"It's hotter than a habanero stuffed jalapeno popper."

"It's hotter than a $2 pistol."

"It's hotter than a firecracker on the 4th of July."

"It's hotter than a mule chewing on a bumblebee!"

Ahh...welcome to the South indeed!

Crazy Train, part deux

So surely the Preacher is crazy to post the words to an Ozzy Ozbourne song. Right? Well, there is a back story.

Family is a precious commodity, and one I cherish. But, like many folks, my family comes with ...certain...certain...challenges.?.  So when I'm on the phone with said family, Patty is always just in ear shot saying in a sing-song voice "Crazy Train!"

Of course, to know Patty is to know that the only time she has heard anything remotely Ozzy Ozbourne would be when Chipper Jones is coming to bat. But, after a long and disturbing phone call with...*sigh* ....  (dramatic pause)...*sigh*... family, and hearing "Crazy Train" sing-songed over and over, I couldn't shake the song from my (distant) past out of my head. So, I share with the world--Ozzy.......


Inheriting troubles, I'm mentally numb


Crazy, I just cannot bare


I'm living with something that just isn't fair

Mental wounds not healing


Who and what's to blame


I'm going off the rails on a crazy train

Crazy Train

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Crazy,but that's how it goes

Millions of people living as foes

Maybe it's not too late

To learn how to love

And forget how to hate



Mental wounds not healing

life's a bitter shame

I'm going off the rails on a crazy train



I've listened to preachers

I've listened to fools

I've watched all the dropouts

Who make their own rules

One person conditioned to rule and control

The media sells it and you live the role




Mental wounds still screaming

Driving me insane

I'm going off the rails on a crazy train



I know that things are going wrong for me

You gotta listen to my words

Yeah



Heirs of a cold war

That's what we've become

Inheriting troubles I'm mentally numb

Crazy, I just cannot bare

I'm living with something that just isn't fair



Mental wounds not healing

Who and what's to blame

I'm going off the rails on a crazy train

The Tower Of Independence

Sunday I preached on Independence. It was July 4th, the day we celebrate our independence from Great Britain and the tyranny of King George III.

This Dude!

The Declaration of Independence was signed by our forefathers on this date in 1776, and, politically speaking, we became free men. This 234 year old experiment in government has been quite successful as we have survived an invasion in 1812, civil war in 1865 (or as it is known around these parts: "The War Of Northern Aggression") two world wars, and countless skirmishes and assaults. We have had, best as History 101 allows, two presidents impeached, and none removed from office, politically or militarily. Our government has never been usurped, there has never been a coup, and no president has been dragged from the White House by his socks after losing an election.





So we are independent...politically. But are we truly free? The answer is no. We have never really been independent, because we have always, humanity, not just Americans, been dependent upon God. This is so clearly seen in my text, Genesis 11.







Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. 3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” 5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And the LORD said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.







Notice that the whole earth comes together and starts to build a city. This is in direct defiance of what God had instructed them after the flood, where He said “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth." Instead, they decided they would settle down in one place and set up a religion that did not need God. Make no mistake about that last part. Nimrod and company were declaring their independence. Forget all the Sunday School coloring sheets you had as a kid. This "tower" did not reach into the clouds, nor was it intended to. In actuality it was a ziggurat, basically a stepped pyramid. It would have been very similar to what the Mayans built in South America. The idea was not to literally reach into the sky, but figuratively reach into heaven, the dwelling place of God. It was an attempt to usurp His throne. This was a rebellion, a revolution against the God of this universe by wee little men. Religion was at the heart of Babylon's beginning, just as it will be at Babylon's end.

The Tower of Babel

But do notice verse 5. The Lord came down. It does not matter how high we lift our collective self-esteems, it does not matter how high we raise our academic prowess, nor our technological idols, nor our humanistic self-worship, God still has to "come down," He still must condescend Himself to reach our level. We may think that we can declare our independence from Him, but we simply fool ourselves. However; it is of note what God said in verse 6. God confused their language so that they would not succeed in their diabolical plans. So He scattered us because of a lack of communication. And so we stay to this day. Men not communicating with women, Christians not communicating with Hindus, Jews and Muslims not talking, blacks and whites not listening, Yankees and Rebels...well you get the point. We have not and most likely will not get together to solve our biggest problems. As stated earlier, I am podcasting. You would be surprised how hard it is for our church's CD recorder to communicate with my podcasting host. More commutative miscues, MP3 vs WMA! But we have been dependant on Him, which is not a bad thing at all. So, as we remember our political independence, let us not forget to declare our dependence upon our God and Savior.