The Free Will Song

Well, we're back in SoCal and I've been getting my footing back at the job and preparing to jump back into classes. Later today I hope to make a post if things cooperate. Until then, check out this video.




Here are a few of my thoughts:

1. Those are the best 4 singers they could find at Pensacola?

2. The songs seems to be a total contradiction, almost a joke. It sounds like someone wrote it to mock the idea of free will. I mean, we're watching it in my office and laughing because it sounds so absurd.

3. Someone better keep John Calvin and Jim Schettler away from each other in Heaven, if both will be there.

Bringin' it From the MV (Martha's Vineyard)

Here's a fun music video on New England Gangsters. I thought it was funny.

Babymoon in Boston: Part Deux

Faneuil Hall


Later that evening we walked to Faneuil Hall. We stayed at the Hilton right in the financial district, so we were in walking distance of quite a bit. So we headed out to Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market, which was also the site of our first date. We relived the evening, visiting the same shops and walking the same streets, remembering the awkward conversation and reflecting on how just two years later we're there married with the first baby on the way.



Here's a picture of someone that I will miss that died this past year. My mother put together a list and failed to mention probably the most significant one: Red Auerbach. I was raised a Celtics fan, watching them play regularly with my mother. I had the posters and t-shirts and hats. I bled Celtic Green. And Red Auerbach WAS the Celtics. A couple of summers ago I read the book "Let Me Tell You a Story" that he did with John Feinstein and it was such a pleasure to read.

Red was a different breed. Everything he did he did with fire and intensity, but knew what he was doing every step of the way. He brought the Celtics to where they were the most dominant team in NBA history, winning 9 titles as coach. But even after he stepped down, he was still pulling the strings, directing a team that won 11 titles in 13 years, the definition of a dynasty. When he stepped down, he had himself replaced with Bill Russel, the first African America coach in the NBA, and Russle played center while coaching the team to more titles. How he managed to draft Russle is an amazing story. He had the second pick of the draft and knew that the guy in front of him wanted to draft Russle. So Red convinced the owner not to pick Russle in exchange for Red getting the Ice Capades to go to his arena.

Red was a competitor to his core. He would do anything he could to gain an edge over his competition, even turning off the hot water to the visitor's locker room. He would heckle refs who he thought were calling a bad game, and talk trash through the media before anyone knew how to. Even when they lost to the Lakers, he always managed to find a way to make a bigger story and win back the attention.

He was a master engineer of basketball talent. He found Bob Cousy, Tommy Heinsohn, John Havlicek, Ed Macauley, Sam Jones, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, and of course drafting Larry Bird a year earlier than anyone thought to. He knew where to find people and how to get them onto his team. He didn't just look for talent, but built teams on team basketball, defense, and rebounding. That's why during their dominant run, no member of the team ranked in the top ten in scoring. They won as a team, with Red at the helm.

But as time went by, Red got older and was not able to be as involved. Then the worst thing happened: Rick Pitino. When he came on, he demanded the role of president, which was Red's title. In order to appease him, Red gave it up, but you can bet he carried a grudge to the grave. Pitino then swiftly ran the team into the ground, giving up on draft picks after a quarter of a season. (one guy became the point guard on a two-time NBA champion and the other is a top 20 player in the NBA).

In a way, I'm glad that he's not here to live through more misery. I was thinking the other day that I'm glad the Red Sox are doing well, but there is an empty spot without the Celtics competing. It pained Red to watch the Celtics wallow in the bottom half of the league. And thank goodness he's not here to see those stupid cheerleaders. The Celtics aren't the same team they were when Red was in charge, but hopefully they will find someone like him to lead them back to the top, to win one more for Red.


day two of Babymoon in Boston coming soon...

Babymooning in Boston

Almost everyone that we have talked to has said that before the baby comes, we should take a babymoon. We normally just look back at them and laugh because we can't afford such a trip or find the time. But before we came home we decided to make reservations for an evening in Boston, figuring that was the closest thing we could get. So the past two days we have been in Boston, touring Fenway Park, walking around Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market, and exploring the city by foot. Fortunately for all of you, I took my camera with me and snapped away. Here's our trip!

Fenway Park


Is there any other place that we could have started? The Red Sox brought us together (in the sovereignty of God of course), or at least gave me an excuse to talk to her and get to know her. So the first thing we did was go walk around Fenway, eat lunch at the Cask 'n Flagon, perused the souvenir shops, and took a tour of Fenway. It had been about six years since I've been inside, since that's how long I've been in California.


We ate at the Cask 'n Flagon, which is one of the best places to watch a game nationally. The restaurant is right behind the Green Monster (locals read Montstah) on Lansdown St. If you ever watch a game, just look to the left of the coke bottles and above the Bud Light billboard for a sign for the place. It'd be nice to go down and watch a game there, because it's a great atmosphere and you always get a better view of what is going on by watching the TV. That is, if I can't get a ticket in.


Then there is a big billboard about some Asian guy that the team apparently signed. They like him so much that they put up a billboard of the guy. I wonder why I haven't heard anything about this guy? They have talked about him on the radio or at least on a red sox website or something.

Touring Fenway
After lunch we toured Fenway. The guy took us up on the roof in right field where the new seats are and to the new Budweiser Pavilion seats. The tour guide was great about telling the history of the park and its metamorphasis over the years. he told great stories of how things came to be as they are and little things that you normally wouldn't hear.


Not a lovely day for a picture, but it'll do.

If you look to the seats behind center field, you'll notice that there are none. That is because they took them out to install a rain shield. If not this winter, then next winter they will be putting in a new bar or restaraunt underneath them.






That has been one big improvement in the park since I was there last. The new ownership has done a great job of improving on what is already there. The place is a lot more presentable and they are going to continue to do so. This winter they are adding more luxury boxes that will go for around $250,000 a year if I remember correctly. that should help pay for that Matsuzaka guy.



Another cool thing was that he talked a lot about the Yawkey's role in the life of the Red Sox and the stadium. Here's one tid bit: If you look closely at the white verticle lines on the scoreboard, you'll notice that the one under the "American League" and the one to the left of that are not solid lines. This is because the Yawkeys wanted to take a subtle way to keep themselves a part of the stadium. If you can look closely, you'll notice that they are Morse Code. The one of the left is Mr Yawkey's initials in Morse Code and the one to the right is Mrs. Yawkey's initials. And if you notice that the top of Mrs Yawkey's initials read RIP across. A cool little tid bit for ya.

Well, that's our Fenway Tour. I'll write later about Faneuil Hall, and the rest of the wanderings through America's favorite old city: Beantown.

Amazing Grace: The Story of William Wilberforce

Here's the trailer for the new movie coming out in February on William Wilberforce. Looks great!

Get "Pilgrim's Progress" Audio For Free

A little strapped for Christmas money this year? Want to provide a solid audio book to a friend or loved one for free? Well, check out this website for a free mp3 of 'Pilgrim's Progress'. It is the 'young adult' version, so beggars can't be choosers.



When you add the product to your basket, write in DEC2006 in the space for coupons. then download the book in three sections for free and enjoy! Hurry, because this offer is only good for this month.

A LIttle Something to Hold You Over

Well, the past week has seen me frustratingly on my back with a pretty bad cough. Eventually I got an x-ray and that turned up negative for any fluid in my lungs. So my doctor prescribed me an anitbiotic and a cough medicine with codine. So I've been at home not wanting to be there and wanting to be at work. So that means that I haven't been able to post. So until I have time to do so, here's a little something to hold you over. Potentially a top-10 all-time tv moment. I know, the epitome of blogging laziness. enjoy!

Ladies and Gentlemen.... John Daker!

Some people just can't deal with the pressure of cable access television. Watch at the look on his face at the end. Its like he's trying to stare a hole through the camera in front of him. hilarious.

Incredible Power of God's Creation

Saw this picture online. amazing power. here are a few comments that were left under the pic:

"I love wildlife but cant watch this programme its so bloodthirsty and sad. Why do they concentrate on the unpleasant aspects of nature?"

"Well I for one have got fed up with wildlife programmes, however long it takes to film them. They always end up with something eating something else."

"People who are offended by nature have to understand that this is how the animal world is. Something is ALWAYS eating something else, and the animal world is an unpleasant place. Period. The law of the jungle dictates that everything gets eaten at some point."

Add This To Your Christmas List

I don't know how many of you have sat at home and thought, "Man, I wish I could get more of Joel Osteen and "Your Best Life Now"! I mean, I have the book, the calendar, the cd, the book in Spanish, the daily readings book, 'YBLN Mom's Guide', study guide, devotional, and journal. But now, fresh off the conveyors in the factories.... drum roll please.... (fill in your own special sound effects here)....




That's right folks! You can have "Your Best Life Now...The Game!" Go to challies.com to find out how to play!

The Tenets of the Church of 'T'

I know I've been posting a lot the last few days, but a lot has come up. I found these little comments, thought some of you would like them:

Mr T wrote the Pentateuch. “Shut up fool before I redact you, sucka! There ain’t no J, Y, E or P. There’s only a T source!”

Mr T was at the centre of the 1843 Disruption. “Some fools were talkin’ jibba-jabba so I disrupted them.”

Mr T has been elected Moderator Designate of the Free Church every year since 1984. T, however, refuses to take time out of his duties pitying fools, so various Free Church ministers have deputised as Moderator.

Mr T favours presuppositional apologetics. “My presupposition is you a fool, and I don’t apologise for that, fool!”

Mr T refused ordination in the Free Church because he was unwilling to have his ‘Mr’ title replaced by ‘Rev’.

Mr T refuses to endorse the Free Church Youth Camps programme because they don’t have a strong enough emphasis on teaching kids the value of drinking milk. “Fool, if you don’t drink milk you’ll never grow strong. Even Hebrews says so!”

The Free Church College building, situated on the Mound in Edinburgh, was carved out of the rock by Mr T’s Mohawk.

Mr T destroyed the language of Biblical Hebrew because its alphabet contains two T letters: tau and teth. “There’s only one T in my alphabet, sucka!”

Mr T rarely worships in the Free Church because he doesn’t acknowledge the validity of the NIV Bible. “I only use the NIT Bible, fool!”

Mr T’s modified ‘Shorter T-Catechism’ begins with the question, “What is the chief end of van?” in reference to the A Team’s black GMC van.

Mr T is a Calvinist, rather than an Arminian, “because the five points of Calvinism begin with T, which is the basis of all good theology, sucka.”

Mr T thinks John the Baptist was a “crazy fool”. “Crazy fool, he only ate locusts and wild honey. Why didn’t he drink his milk?”

Mr T believes formal church membership is important. “You gotta be somebody or somebody’s fool, fool.”

Mr T can be seen flexing his biceps near the centre of Hill’s famous Disruption painting, sandwiched between Thomas Chalmers and Hugh Miller. “Thomas and Hugh are my brothers, sucka!”

In 1529, when Philip of Hesse summoned the various Reformation leaders to Marburg to discuss the Eucharist, Luther famously carved ‘this is my body’ into the table, after which Mr T carved, ‘yeah, fool’.

Mr T’s ordination to the eldership disastrously ended up with the most violent beating of Presbyters in Free Church history. “I ain’t lettin’ no sucka lay a hand on me.”

Mr T has the entire ESV Bible, Westminster Confession of Faith and the Three Forms of Unity tattooed in large font on the underside of his right forearm.

After reading the complete works of Greg Bahnsen, Mr T obliterated theonomy and replaced it with T-onomy.

When the 16th century heretic Servetus was burned at the stake in Switzerland, Mr T was present: his folded arms and intense pity actually caused Servetus to ignite.

The real reason 16th century Geneva didn’t return to Roman Catholicism wasn’t because of Calvin’s influence. It was because Mr T told the Pope, “you got two choices; ‘leave Geneva alone’, or ‘hurt’, sucka.”

After cruising through his first year Church History exam, Mr T punched his way back through time to punish Marcion for his heresy by removing him from ever having existed.

Mr T wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews. Have you ever heard of a New Testament scholar who openly denied this? No. That’s because Mr T has denied all doubters their right to exist.

While Peter once walked on water, Mr T has oft walked on fools.

The phrase ‘intertestamental period’ is now universally understood to refer to the period between Mr T’s career as a movie actor and then as a TV actor. “I claimed that phrase as my own, sucka.”

Mr T’s response to transubstantiationists is, “ain’t no literal change, fool!” His response to those with a purely symbolic view of the sacrament is, “Zwingli was a fool on crack, it ain’t no mere symbol, sucka.”

Mr T’s FC College dissertation was written in the Practical Theology department. “Its title was, ‘The Theological Ramifications of Bustin’ a Fool’s Head’, fool.” The external examiner gave Mr T a B. He no longer exists.

Mr T offers the following thought on the Emergent Church movement. “What’s emerging is, a lotta fools are talkin’ a lotta jibba-jabba. I pity myself that I gotta even talk about the Emergent Church. Fool.”

Mr T recently told a Sunday School class that his favourite book of the Bible is Proverbs. “It has the most to say about fools, fools,” he told the kids.

Mr T even pities fools on the Sabbath. “It’s a work of necessity, though it ain’t no work of mercy.”

In response to the Word of Knowledge movement, Mr T says, “Yeah I got a word of knowledge: shut up fool”.

At a mass rally in Miami last year, Mr T walked up to Benny Hinn, punched him in the face and said, “I wanna see you heal yourself! Fool.”

Before Mr T appeared on TBN, it was only called BN.