Michelangelo's Narzis painted on a pin head

Sometime ago I stopped watching television for entertainment (exception is Doctor Who, Torchwood and occasionally the Simpson's). It was not for any direct reason but rather just happened over time as less and less of the shows being broadcast grabbed my attention. I of course did not use this newly gained time wisely but rather, instead of watching television, I played my PlayStation 2. I am currently saving up for a PlayStation 3, so I have been forced to play the occasional online flash game (since it does not require downloading software onto your computer flash games tend to be simple, small slices of fluff compared to regular gaming consul games).

I ran across a simple diminutive game called Little Wheel. Simple, beautiful and brilliant, this is the best flash game I have played in a very long time. It is like a Da Vinci masterpiece painted onto a postage stamp. Enjoy, the link is below.


Play This Game

The Only Guarantee We Have Is

I was watching an ESPN special which concerned Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young (I know two sports posts in a row I promise this is not turning into a sports blog). If you are not aware Vince Young was in a game on September 8, 2008 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Vince was not having a good game and in the process threw an interception for which the local fans booed him. As a result Vince fell apart in an ugly and public way. His coach (Jeff Fisher ex-Chicago Bear) pushed and prodded him back on the field, soon there after he had a "knee sprain" and left the game. The next day he was scheduled to take an MRI (which if it was a "knee sprain" rather than a knee sprain he could not allow to be taken) which he failed to attend and disappeared. His therapist telephoned his coach told him that she had been contacted by Vince and he had mentioned taking a gun with him and suicide. The police got involved, intervened and probably saved his life which of course they do not get any credit for.

Vince Young of course has a different version of the story and I can not say that he is lying because I do not know even 1/2 of the facts but his nonverbal body language all scream deception, but then who knows, the truth is always somewhere in between.

I am a big proponent of finding the life script in interviews. It is a technique in interviews where you let the bad guy rattle on and on at the beginning of the interview. Everyone has a template of themselves in their mind as to how they would like others to view them, the goal is to understand what the bad guy's life script is. Most crime runs against their life script, so throughout the interview you are linking the different aspects of their life script to the crime so as to make the confession in sync with that template. Officers who are really good at this can create a situation where the bad guy feels he has to admit to the crime because of who he is, the best person I have ever seen at this has people practically jumping out of their seats to tell the truth.

OK that is a long explanation to get to my main point. I was listening to the interview and Vince kept emphasising "The Boos". Not people were booing but as if the boos themselves were a physical entity (IE the boos ran against Vince's life script as a winner-to put it crudely, it created a significant attack on his sense of self that overwhelmed him).

I was surprised that anyone could truly believe that they would always win, always be loved and never have hardship. Vince clearly believed he would never suffer. The one thing that the Bible promises us as Christians is that we will suffer. John 15:19If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. The Bible is full of analogies of hate, battle and evil as it pertains to us; John 3:20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 1 John 3:13 Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. Our own savior fulfilled a plan where he was beaten, whipped and crucified and he asked us to risk the same, Luke 9:23 Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me".

Our promise is that in the end we will be in Paradise with him with no more tears forever. But the promise for us here on earth is, John 15:18 "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first". We should not be Vince Young, we should expect hatred, which we are to respond with love, evil which we are to respond with forgiveness and sorrow, which we are to respond with joy.

In a way it is a blessing, suffering is an excellent indication that you are following the same path as our Lord. Acts 5:41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.

Real American Heroes

I happened to be on a very small 1982 CESSNA 210 CENTURION (I think. I was a passenger not the pilot, I just knew it was small, very, very, small) last week for about five hours, flying in neat little circles around the Chicago land area and like NASCR it was left turn only.

Being up there with earphones on waiting for when the rubber band turning the propeller would be breaking and I would suddenly find myself plummeting to my death, my mind understandably started to wonder. The pilot of this airplane had just been back from a tour of Iraq. The pilot was a reservist that volunteered to go back to full duty even though he had not been called up. He left a family behind and went to do what he felt was his duty. He has now returned and has continued serving people with his civilian job.

His service to our country and our people, made me wonder about the nature of heroes I keeping hearing in the media. I keep watching how ESPN is doing everything they can to bring Kobe Bean Bryant (LA Lakers)back into respectability. I watched how LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers)just stormed off the court when he could have shown the world what good sportsmanship looked like. One of my heroes once was Michael Jordan but he has been revealed to be a twisted and broken human being that was only good for one thing and that was basketball.

Today, it seems our heroes are only about what they accomplish in their limited given arena. We are supposed to be impressed by their money, their consumption, their greed, what ever can be marketed to the public and what the purple diamond ring they buy to get out of trouble.

This is a real hero. It is someone that cares about others more than themselves. It is someone that understands that the things of this world will not last and rather than buying that Bentley gives that money to the poor and drives a Toyota. It is someone that knows that they will have to sacrifice some of their desires/needs/wants in order to aid others. It is someone that holds others up before they hold themselves up. They do not hate, they love. They do not seek revenge, they provide forgiveness. This is a real hero. This was the pilot of my plane. These are the people I look up to and these are the people we should be telling others about.

Throw out your Jordan, LeBron and Kobe gear, buy a white tee shirt and find your local hero. Write his/her name on the shirt and tell everyone you know why the name on your shirt is the name of a true hero. I think one of the greatest things in the world would be the question of, "whoes that guy?" So I can say, "let me tell you of my hero".

John 15:13

13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.