A hilarious video... All I can say is... YEAH
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Grateful
Thank God I can rest in You
You're perfect, my life I invest in You
Your mercy endures
Your Grace is sufficient
You're holy and pure You gave me vision and some say they wanna touch the sky
but I rather touch the God who can justify
the ocean, the mountains, the clouds amaze me
I can't believe I know the God that made these
sometimes I can be that guy who takes for granted the breathe I breath inside
yes, I'm fearfully and wonderfully made
these are gifts that you've given even to the depraved
and if your boy wasn't saved you would still deserve praise,
you're the God of ages
I'm glad I can open your pages
see with amazement all your wonderful ways
~ Grateful by Lecrae (ft. JR)
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!
You're perfect, my life I invest in You
Your mercy endures
Your Grace is sufficient
You're holy and pure You gave me vision and some say they wanna touch the sky
but I rather touch the God who can justify
the ocean, the mountains, the clouds amaze me
I can't believe I know the God that made these
sometimes I can be that guy who takes for granted the breathe I breath inside
yes, I'm fearfully and wonderfully made
these are gifts that you've given even to the depraved
and if your boy wasn't saved you would still deserve praise,
you're the God of ages
I'm glad I can open your pages
see with amazement all your wonderful ways
~ Grateful by Lecrae (ft. JR)
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Turkey Bowl VIII
With Thanksgiving close upon us, that means one thing. It's Turkey Bowl Time! With that said one of Turkey Bowl's own, Josh "Smoovey" Robinson, was kind enough to grace us with a few words about it. Enjoy!
_______________________________________________________________
More Turkey Bowl goodness to come...
_______________________________________________________________
By Josh Robinson, Palestra contributing writer
This Saturday, November 28, at 1PM is the 8th edition of the Turkey Bowl, the annual post-Thanksgiving Ultimate Frisbee tournament held in Canton, Ohio.
I can’t believe how far this event has come since its humble beginnings the Friday after Thanksgiving in 2002, when a group of about 20 close friends from GlenOak High School got together to celebrate Thanksgiving and our breaks from college together over the game of Ultimate Frisbee. This year, we could see as many as 60 people come and try to stake their claim of the championship, which is accompanied by colorful medals and a flashy MVP trophy.
Seeing how far the event has come has made me reflect on where I have been and where I am going. I say that because I find comfort in knowing that the Turkey Bowl will always be here, because there is no place like home for the holidays, and because lasting friendships make life worth living.
Back in 2002, people at University would often ask me why I was so close to my friends from Canton. Well, why shouldn’t I have been? We had formed a close bond over coffee shops, sporting activities, common interests, and dreams of a big future. It only seemed natural for us to want to share our sense of community through an event like Turkey Bowl, so we did and have been ever since then.
Each of us have taken divergent paths since the origination of Turkey Bowl; some of us continue our education, others have taken up long term residence back in our hometown, and myself, I have been all over the place, but find myself back in Canton full-time after an 8 year hiatus, interrupted by college and a career overseas. No matter what, all of us come back to Turkey Bowl to give thanks for our friendships, what life has offered us, and to share in what lies ahead. This is the lasting impact of this event in my mind, and I hope to continue to share that with younger generations here in Canton.
I haven’t been able to play in the Turkey Bowl since 2005 and I welcome my chance to grace the field once again. The death of a family member and time living over 9,000 miles away has led me to be away from the event for what seems like an eternity, even when deep down I didn’t want to be. However, I am fortunate enough to feel like I haven’t missed a thing thanks to the deep bonds Turkey Bowl has helped me to form with my friends. So, I’ll say thanks to them for allowing me to be a part of Turkey Bowl while not physically present, and even being so considerate to recognize that I care about and wanted to take part in the event even when I couldn’t.
What lies ahead? Well, it’s hard to say. Each of us will continue to grow, learn more, and likely move on to bigger and better things. Even with all that uncertainty, I know that the Turkey Bowl will be here for us to celebrate all we have and all that life will bring us. And in the future, when turkey bowl is just a simple part of Canton lore, I will still be able to look back, think of the good times and memories I had with my friends and be thankful.
See you on the pitch!
Cheers, josh
_______________________________________________________________
More Turkey Bowl goodness to come...
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Ascot Day!!
It was "Ascot Day" on Pardon the Interruption. Kornheiser and Wilbon, and even guest, Charles Barkley, were sporting ascots today. Classy Classy. Nothing like 3 members of the bald brotherhood rocking some ascots. Tony and Mike do a great job on PTI keeping every show entertaining. Great job again guys!
In his NFL picks column this past week, Bill Simmons writes about an experience he had at the local Starbucks. His experience seemed very similar to many experiences I have had at Starbucks. And if you are a Starbucks aficionado I'm sure you can relate. (Scroll down to his pick of the Jaguars and Jets game, about half way down and you can read his Starbucks escapade.) It is truly classic.
Steve Watters asked a thought-provoking question about who we are suppose to be comparing ourselves too. I think he echoes many peoples sentiments about feelings both of accomplishment and frustration in where they are at in life and how they truly should be viewing their life.
Record of attended Cleveland Cavaliers games: 1-0
"Chalupa Times" met at these games: 1 for 1
Monday, November 16, 2009
Go Away to College
Go away to college. Go away to school. I think for the majority of people that would be a good thing to do. Before I continue, I know people will try to give me a litany of examples of why not to go away, so here are two good, legitimate reasons not to go.
First up, money. As a person who is now paying back his student loans, I can understand not wanting to take on debt and would even recommend taking out as little debt as needed to go to school. If that means staying at home for school, you have to be responsible and do what you got to do. For some it would be impossible to afford to go away to school and the act of taking out thousands upon thousands of dollars in loans just so they could go away from home would seem to be reckless. In those cases, it is about taking the opportunities available to you at the college you are attending and making the most of them. Truly, that is the case for where ever you go. And I think it would be smart to head the advice of Mark Cuban when he says, "The cheaper you can live, the greater your options. Remember that."
Secondly, the local church. In Stop Dating the Church (see pages 69-70), Josh Harris makes the argument, which I tend to agree with, that one should "take into consideration the spiritual implications of going away from the thriving church experience" you are a part of currently. He doesn't dismiss going away for school, but to carefully choose schools in areas that will provide a strong local church (do some due diligence beforehand) as well as being intentional in getting involved one they are there. I can't say when I picked a college I thought about if a strong local church was there. But I did go into it with the intention of getting involved with a church and Christian group on campus. Making the effort to get involved soon made quite a difference. God will provide a strong local church body to get involved with; we just need to take the time to do so. I saw him do that for me both with living in Cleveland and Dayton. Enough about the local church. I love it and encourage you to get involved with a biblically solid one, but that's enough for its own article. Heck, people write books about the local church.
Now, you don't have to go far, far away to college. Not across the country. Not to a different coast or three states away, but far enough where you aren't doing the same things you had been doing. Hanging out with the the same people (now I am not saying not to have or keep friends from home. Quite the opposite. I have some very good friends just like that. You need them.) and not doing anything with your life. Far enough that you aren't running into your parents at the grocery store and probably more importantly for your parents, not running to their house to do laundry and grab scraps from the dining room table. And yes, I can attest to waiting to do laundry if I knew I would be making a return trip home from college (so I can't kill someone too much for doing that, haha). The colleges I visited were all between one hour to two and half hours away from home. Seemed like a good distance. Close enough that I could get home if needed and didn't need to spend long hours or lots of money to do so. Yet, far enough that I was able to have the beginnings of more independence and personal growth.
Now why should you go away to college? Here are a few reasons I have seen from my life, my friends' lives, and been attested to be writers I read. I have heard from many people that stayed local for school that they wished they went away. Reasons why they wanted to stay close to home varied but included being close to family (not a bad reason), fear of the unknown, wanting to just stay comfortable, and laziness. But most of them agreed that they wished they would have gone else where, or at least took the time to look at schools that were further away. Bill Simmons even points out in his new book, The Book of Basketball (see pages 157-158), about "what ifs" in his life, such as "what if he went south or west to college." He went to college at Holy Cross in Worchester, MA and is from the Boston area. He echoes the sentiments of many of my friends, about at least to some degree regretting not going away for college. Now I might not agree with all the reasons he gives for why you should go away to college, but I agree with the overall sentiment.
Another reason is that going away to school gives you the opportunity to meet a lot of new people and have new experiences. Often people that are going to school at home just commute to school and don't take advantage of a college community there; the many opportunities to learn, to travel, to lead that a school offers. College is a great time of life because of the freedom you have. You have a lot of free time on your hands, especially with breaks. (Man, I would love to have 4 weeks off at Christmas again. Maybe I should just move to New Zealand...right Josh?) But it seems for the majority of people that just commute to a school near home, that is all they do, JUST COMMUTE. They don't really have any college friends; they don't have a reason to be on campus besides a few hours of class, and only seem to see college as a small portion of their day and life.
A lot of people seem to want to get a way from where they grew up (not necessarily a good thing), but I think college is a great time to do it. I think it helps so that you are not trying to go across the country or globe trying to find yourself later on. I think when you don't take opportunities when you are young to go away to school, to travel, to experience different parts of the state/country/world, to take some risks, that you can feel stifled later on in life and may try to jump at things that you really should have no part of. I also think going away to school makes you appreciate where you came from more, and may cause you to be drawn back to your local roots. You can take your experiences and apply them at a more local level.
I grew by leaps and bounds, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally, while away at college. Part of that is just the natural maturation process, but I think being away from home really helps to accentuate one's maturity and you really start to develop yourself more as a person. You take on more responsibilities. You make your faith your own, because you have to. You decide to find a church, get involved with it, and invest in relationships there. While you are away are there going to be times you wish you were just back home? Absolutely. I know I felt that way sometimes. But it is good to know that you aren't along in being away from home and that you can rely on the Lord to walk right beside you, spurring you on. I am glad I went away to college and can not imagine not doing so. It was a great time. A life changing time.
First up, money. As a person who is now paying back his student loans, I can understand not wanting to take on debt and would even recommend taking out as little debt as needed to go to school. If that means staying at home for school, you have to be responsible and do what you got to do. For some it would be impossible to afford to go away to school and the act of taking out thousands upon thousands of dollars in loans just so they could go away from home would seem to be reckless. In those cases, it is about taking the opportunities available to you at the college you are attending and making the most of them. Truly, that is the case for where ever you go. And I think it would be smart to head the advice of Mark Cuban when he says, "The cheaper you can live, the greater your options. Remember that."
Secondly, the local church. In Stop Dating the Church (see pages 69-70), Josh Harris makes the argument, which I tend to agree with, that one should "take into consideration the spiritual implications of going away from the thriving church experience" you are a part of currently. He doesn't dismiss going away for school, but to carefully choose schools in areas that will provide a strong local church (do some due diligence beforehand) as well as being intentional in getting involved one they are there. I can't say when I picked a college I thought about if a strong local church was there. But I did go into it with the intention of getting involved with a church and Christian group on campus. Making the effort to get involved soon made quite a difference. God will provide a strong local church body to get involved with; we just need to take the time to do so. I saw him do that for me both with living in Cleveland and Dayton. Enough about the local church. I love it and encourage you to get involved with a biblically solid one, but that's enough for its own article. Heck, people write books about the local church.
Now, you don't have to go far, far away to college. Not across the country. Not to a different coast or three states away, but far enough where you aren't doing the same things you had been doing. Hanging out with the the same people (now I am not saying not to have or keep friends from home. Quite the opposite. I have some very good friends just like that. You need them.) and not doing anything with your life. Far enough that you aren't running into your parents at the grocery store and probably more importantly for your parents, not running to their house to do laundry and grab scraps from the dining room table. And yes, I can attest to waiting to do laundry if I knew I would be making a return trip home from college (so I can't kill someone too much for doing that, haha). The colleges I visited were all between one hour to two and half hours away from home. Seemed like a good distance. Close enough that I could get home if needed and didn't need to spend long hours or lots of money to do so. Yet, far enough that I was able to have the beginnings of more independence and personal growth.
Now why should you go away to college? Here are a few reasons I have seen from my life, my friends' lives, and been attested to be writers I read. I have heard from many people that stayed local for school that they wished they went away. Reasons why they wanted to stay close to home varied but included being close to family (not a bad reason), fear of the unknown, wanting to just stay comfortable, and laziness. But most of them agreed that they wished they would have gone else where, or at least took the time to look at schools that were further away. Bill Simmons even points out in his new book, The Book of Basketball (see pages 157-158), about "what ifs" in his life, such as "what if he went south or west to college." He went to college at Holy Cross in Worchester, MA and is from the Boston area. He echoes the sentiments of many of my friends, about at least to some degree regretting not going away for college. Now I might not agree with all the reasons he gives for why you should go away to college, but I agree with the overall sentiment.
Another reason is that going away to school gives you the opportunity to meet a lot of new people and have new experiences. Often people that are going to school at home just commute to school and don't take advantage of a college community there; the many opportunities to learn, to travel, to lead that a school offers. College is a great time of life because of the freedom you have. You have a lot of free time on your hands, especially with breaks. (Man, I would love to have 4 weeks off at Christmas again. Maybe I should just move to New Zealand...right Josh?) But it seems for the majority of people that just commute to a school near home, that is all they do, JUST COMMUTE. They don't really have any college friends; they don't have a reason to be on campus besides a few hours of class, and only seem to see college as a small portion of their day and life.
A lot of people seem to want to get a way from where they grew up (not necessarily a good thing), but I think college is a great time to do it. I think it helps so that you are not trying to go across the country or globe trying to find yourself later on. I think when you don't take opportunities when you are young to go away to school, to travel, to experience different parts of the state/country/world, to take some risks, that you can feel stifled later on in life and may try to jump at things that you really should have no part of. I also think going away to school makes you appreciate where you came from more, and may cause you to be drawn back to your local roots. You can take your experiences and apply them at a more local level.
I grew by leaps and bounds, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally, while away at college. Part of that is just the natural maturation process, but I think being away from home really helps to accentuate one's maturity and you really start to develop yourself more as a person. You take on more responsibilities. You make your faith your own, because you have to. You decide to find a church, get involved with it, and invest in relationships there. While you are away are there going to be times you wish you were just back home? Absolutely. I know I felt that way sometimes. But it is good to know that you aren't along in being away from home and that you can rely on the Lord to walk right beside you, spurring you on. I am glad I went away to college and can not imagine not doing so. It was a great time. A life changing time.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Horned Frogs vs. Utes
Big game tonight for the the 4th ranked Horned Frogs of Texas Christian University. They play host to No. 16 Utah. If the Frogs want to stay in the hunt for the BCS title they need to take care of business tonight. College Gameday was broadcasting live this morning and as you can see by the picture above, the crowd went crazy when Lee Corso dawned the headgear of TCU. The Horned Frog is an interesting mascot and it was great to see Corso placing it on his head, along with flashing the Horned Frog hand sign (making a loose fist with your hand and using your index and middle fingers to create the horns for the frog). Awesome!
Friday, November 13, 2009
Buble?!?! and Banny
I decided to take a break from writing and find myself contemplating purchasing Michael Buble's new album. Yes, crazy I know, especially after I have given grief to some people for listening to him, like my friend Lauren (thanks for being a faithful reader), who enjoy him a lot. As I have been hearing his music more lately, it seems to be catching my ear. I find myself relating to his music and enjoy his take of the swing/crooner variety. Hey and even Kansas City Royals pitcher, Brian "Banny" Bannister enjoys listening to him. So we shall see how this turns out.
Wisdom from Tripp
"Your life is much bigger than a good job, an understanding spouse, and non-deliquent kids. It is bigger than beautiful gardens, nice vacations, and fashionable clothes. In reality, you are part of something immense, something that begun before you were born and will continue after you die. God is rescuing fallen humanity, transporting them into his kingdom, and progressively shaping them into his likeness--and he wants you to be a part of it."
~ Paul David Tripp... as quoted in Stop Dating the Church by Josh Harris
~ Paul David Tripp... as quoted in Stop Dating the Church by Josh Harris
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Glorious
To quote a new found friend in CJ...Glorious! Night of Desperation was awesome! I love looking at this picture of the body of Christ praying together, worshiping together, and walking alongside one another. Amen
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Day to Night to Day
Praise you in the morning
when light turns to day
Praise you in the evening
when light gives way
May your power come now
may your mercy flow
May you light shine
so, so bright and mighty
Like the morning star
No denying it
No denying it
May you be praised from morning
to the night
to the breaking of day.
when light turns to day
Praise you in the evening
when light gives way
May your power come now
may your mercy flow
May you light shine
so, so bright and mighty
Like the morning star
No denying it
No denying it
May you be praised from morning
to the night
to the breaking of day.
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