I have not been very faithful in blogging about my life but today was an exceptional day in my walk with God. For the past 6-7 weeks I have been involved in a bible study in the mornings before work using the Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren as a guide. For the past three days distractions have ruled my life and as a result I fell behind in my reading. I believe God was testing my perseverance because it could have been easy just to give up. My partner was keeping up just fine on his studies, but had a bad day today.

The Morning started out like any other and we had our discussion, I was almost caught up and we ended in prayer, but the day did not turn out quite so good for my partner. He had to give me a driving test later that day, but little did I know, God was testing both of us during that driving test. I think we both failed the test. I failed to say the right words of brotherly accountability and he went on a self deceptive rant that concerned people in the shop that don’t know much about our Bible Studies in the mornings. I know now that I failed my partner after he exposed the temptation that he is dealing with most that very morning.

Well now we come to Chapter 28 – It Takes Time – God is not constrained by time but he uses time to shape our lives. We need to recognize what takes time and when we should seize the moment rather than let it go. I love to coach, teach and supervise, but I am not a supervisor right now. My friend is. One lesson I have learned about coaching is that you must look for the little victories every day, not the whole enchilada at once. Too bad I didn’t express this correctly to my partner it could have saved the day. But now that I recognize a potential solution for our problem, my hope is that we will grow from this. I feel like there is still a moment to seize so I am excited and can’t wait until Monday Morning.

One great thing that I am learning through this process is that God although is always the answer, doesn’t insulate us from worldly sin. I have the same situation with my daughters swim team coach right now, recognizing that the devil doesn’t play favorites is exactly what I needed before we have a conference after her practice tonight. It is a humbling thought process, but it has tenderized my heart for the meeting.

God is Great and I can’t wait for his next lesson. Living on earth is certainly an exciting adventure.

OSU Hurt by Penolties

Frustrated OSU fans have got to be asking what happened last night when the top ranked Buckeyes went out and beat LSU in stats but lost on the score board. I know that OSU was not supposed to be there this year because their team was mostly made up with underclassmen, but they ran the table with one blemish and earned their spot, unlike LSU that needed the help of sports writers to leapfrog two other teams to get their opportunity in the rankings. I am not going to cry in my milk, but there was something very strange about all the personal fouls called last night.

Most of the personal fouls didn't get any replay coverage except the one that showed it wasn't a foul when a late hit on the sidelines was called. What I was able to see would hardly be called a personal foul in any other game during the season. Am I making excuses? No. LSU played their hearts out too, but the days leading up to the game and what is going to be said the until next bowl season is that the Big Ten cannot keep up with the SEC. But wait, SEC fans need to look back at this game and consider one thing. If the personal fouls were not called on Ohio State, would have LSU won the game? I say not. It was because of Personal fouls that they got two of their touchdowns which ended up being the game difference. Besides that, when the guys in the striped shirts start throwing flags because to linemen are talking trash in one direction, that disheartens a team.

Just like last season watching the Buckeyes Laughing on the sideline while getting trounced by Florida, something seams fishy. I don't believe LSU really beat Ohio State talent for talent. This game will go down with an Asterisk for me as one of the poorest and one sided officiated games I have seen for quite some time. I am not going to speculate why the officiating was the way that it was, but I will say sports writers are not eating very much crow this morning.

I don't think any kind of playoff system will work as long as the sports writers want to ordain a team to be National Champions. This is a sad day for college football and the NCAA, SEC, Big Ten and Big 12 should be looking at this game with scrutiny to make sure nothing improper went on. Unfortunately money and good intentions has taken over college football and they will just wait for us to forget this one too. I would like to go back to the days when each team could play their game without the threat of these media games.