Quiet Strength

What's a football fan to do until the inevitable Patriots beatdown of the Giants Sunday? Rather than watching ad naseum footage of Tom Brady with a walking boot and a supermodel, I decided I would read a book. I'm glad I did.

Tony Dungy was the winning Super Bowl coach for the Indy Colts last year. Being the first African-American coach to win the big game certainly gives him a platform. But as he has proven throughout his life, Dungy is much, much more than just a football coach. He is a man of incredible faith that is almost universally loved and respected for his Christian discipleship more than he is for his X's and O's.

His book, Quiet Strength tells his story, starting with his firing in Tampa Bay. He covers the pain of never really making it in the NFL. And the excruitiating tragic death of one of his sons. Through it all, he exhibits a faith and conviction for serving God and all those around him that is very uplifting. Check it out.

A Kinder, Gentler Bill Gates?

When the world's richest man talks, people tend to listen. That's why I was so excited to see Mr. Microsoft, Bill Gates on the cover of the Wall Street Journal yesterday,calling for a new kind of capitalism.

In a speech in Switzerland, Gates presented his plan for "Creative Capitalism." which would help serve poorer people as well as wealthier people. Now, Billionaire Bill isn't abandoning his belief that capitalism is the best economic system. But he does say that he has grown impatient with the shortcomings of capitalism. Specifically, that advances in technology, health care and education tend to help the rich and bypass the poor.

Where this goes, who knows. But it's exciting to see one of the world's most powerful (and richest) men talk this way. I have always admired Bill Gates for the sheer amount of money he and his wife's foundation gives away every year. But if this concept of "Creative Capitalism" catches on, it would cement his legacy and go down as his greatest accomplishment to date.

What You Look For, You'll Find

I watched Rob Bell's "Everything Is Spiritual" DVD last nite. As usual, Rob brought the awesome.

It's a DVD from his first speaking tour, filmed in his hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan in July of 2006. (I blogged about Rob's second speaking tour, The Gods Aren't Crazy, that I caught in the ATL last Novemeber) This one features Rob on stage with a giant whiteboard that he fills with a dizzying array of facts and commentary, mostly based on the Creation Story from Genesis. From quantim physics to Spinal Tap references, it somehow all flows together. It's entertaining, informative and highly inspiring.

One of my favorite parts comes towards the end where Rob says "In this world, what you look for, you'll find." In other words, if you want to be a pessimist, you'll find plenty of things to be pessimistic about. If you want to be a cynic, you'll find plenty of things to be cynical about. But if you want to find God at work in our world and be in awe of his grace, forgiveness and plan for your life, well, you'll find that, too.

The other big idea was that everything, indeed, is spiritual. In the Hebrew Scriptures there is no word for "spiritual." And Jesus himself never uses the phrase "spiritual life." Because for Jesus and his tradition, all of life is spiritual.

To paraphrase the Psalmist, "Everything you do, do it for the Lord." What's so exciting to me about this concept is that everything means EVERY THING. So whether I'm playing with my kids, doing a job I don't want to do at work, listenting my neighbor complain about her mysterious ailments, rocking to the White Stripes, buying a $4 cinnamon dolce latte, blogging or b-balling, somehow it's all spiritiual when it's done with the right frame mind. Somehow God makes sense out of all the things I like to do, along with all my mistakes and messes (I give him PLENTY of material to work with) and incorporates it in to His masterplan. That is mind boggling. But I love it.

Everything is spiritual, indeed.

Be Like MLK

Happy MLK Day!

In honor of one of the greatest, most inspiringly faithful people ever to walk our planet, here are a couple of my favorite quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. May you be inspired to give your all to your faith, to your mission, and to your world with your God-given talents, just like he did. Or as he puts it so much better than I ever could: May you be the best of whatever you are.


• "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."

• "If it falls on you to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelanglo painted pictures. Sweep streets like Beethoven composed music. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all of the hosts of Heaven will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well. If you can't be a sun, be a star. For it isn't by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are."

Amen!

Cliffs Note Christianity

In many ways, I owe getting out of high school to my good buddy Cliff. And his notes.

I love to read now, but that wasn't always the case. But c'mon, how many 15 year olds want to cuddle up with a copy of Beowulf, War & Peace or anything by Charles Dickens? But with Cliffs Notes, you could put off those pesky summer reading lists or book reports until the absolute final hour.

Something that drills down Shakespeare to 16 pages? Sign me up.

While I enjoy reading actual books now (some of them don't even have pictures!) there is something to be said for the cut-to-the-chase mentality that Cliffs Notes has turned into a big business. (Well, that and the never-ending desire not to fail Freshman English.)

I've always thought of Matthew 22; 36-40 as the Cliffs Notes version of the Bible. Jesus has been teaching, inspiring and amazing those around him with his message of love, compassion and forgiveness. Suddenly, one of the the Pharisees, an expert in the laws of the day, asks Jesus to boil it all down for him.

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" he asks.

This Pharisee was ahead of his time. I can almost see him tapping his foot, checking emails on his Blackberry and saying "yada, yada, yada" while Jesus was teaching. He's saying, "Yeah, yeah...all those parables are nice, Jesus, but I'm a busy guy...can you just boil it down for me? I'm late for a meeting..."

He's asking Jesus for the Cliffs Notes. To which Jesus replies: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it:'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Simple. Concise. Brilliant.

How true it is that if you just do these two things, everything else will fall into place. Rather than getting caught up in endless lists of things to do and projects to undertake, simplify. Just love God with all you got, and love those whom he loves. Which is everyone you come in contact with.

It's a profoundly simple concept that will take a lifetime to perfect. Because the simplest things are sometimes the hardest to do.

But that's why we've got to read the ENTIRE book to figure out the rest.

Touchdown Jesus

The die-hard UT fan in me can't believe I'm doing this, but this post goes out in defense of Tim Tebow.

It pains me to do it. I mean, the guy's like a bulked-up Beaver Cleaver that's so overhyped by the media for being "Mr. Perfect" that it'd make Peyton Manning nautious. Of course, maybe I'm bitter because he and his Gators could have hung 75 points on my Vols this year...but I digress.

The fact is, if I take my Big Orange-colored glasses off for a second, I can admit that Tebow IS a phenominal athlete, he totally deserved the Heisman this year, and by all accounts he seems like a first-class individual.

He's also a devout Christian, who just caused a "controversy" with his Heisman acceptance speech.

This article by Terry Mattingly discusses what happened and how the mainstream media often benches athletes who talk about their faith. Tebow, the son of a Christian missionary, started his Heisman acceptance speech by saying "I'd just like to first start off by thanking my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave me the ability to play football."

Kathy Orton, faith columnist at WashingtonPost.com, noted that this quotation didn't appear in any mainstream news reports. When asked why, noted ESPN columnist Michael Wilborn said "...I'm not going to be hijacked by those feelings, to let someone preach their beliefs when they're not important to what's going on."

How could that NOT be important!? Why do TV cameras often show players praying when they score, praying when a teammate gets injured, or saying they "just want to thank God" in the moments following a big victory, but a more direct, genuine expression of faith and gratitude by an athlete who just won one of the most coveted awards in sports gets dismissed?

My feeling is it's because Tebow said "Jesus Christ" directly, as opposed to a "vague" reference to God. But in this day and age where athletes are getting media attention for killing dogs, 'Roiding up and "making it rain" I applaud Tebow's expression of faith and giving props to Jesus.

But I still hope Jerod Mayo levels him and UT beats Tebow's Gators by 20 next year in Neyland.

No Excuses

It's January 3rd. Have you broken your New Year's Resolutions yet?

Joking aside, I love making resolutions. Whether it's getting in shape physically or spiritually, promising to connect with friends more, or just working on cutting down on the amount of TV I subject myself to (Do I REALLY need to watch "Survivor 27: The South Hamptons) I am a big believer in putting a goal down on paper, and then going for it.

Funny thing is, life throws better curveballs than Greg Maddux. I've kept my New Year's resolutions/goals for several years and went back to read some of them before making my "plans" for 2008. I now understand the wisdom behind the old saying that if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.

For some reason, in 1999, I listed 25 things I wanted to do. To the best of my knowledge I completed 3 items on the list. The most bizarre goal was to "Learn to play golf." Side note: I can't stand golf. I can think of 8 billion things I'd rather do than either play or watch golf. This includes putt-putt. To think that I could learn this game that is so foreign to me in a year, is pretty lame. Almost as lame as the only golfer I DO like: Charles Barkley.



In 2005, I came up with the catchy slogan "Simplify in 2005." I work in advertising, so I guess I thought a clever tag line would do the trick. And I love the notion of slowing down and enjoying life more by doing less. But considering that I changed jobs and my wife had our second baby, I'm not sure how successful I was in keeping things simple.

But despite the setbacks and the hurdles that inevitably come up, I will continue to make resolutions. They help me push myself to learn new things and unlearn some things as well. And if I come up short, so what. To paraphrase the words of the famous shoe company, it's better to just do it than not do it at all. (hmmm...now THERE'S a slogan.)