This looks good! Very very good. I like the cold weather. It somehow seems hopeful to me, I don’t know why. Which is interesting, because during chapel this morning, Terry Law is talking about hope. Faith, hope and love. Lord knows, I have heard plenty of sermons about faith (thanks P. Brian) and a lot about love, but, as Terry pointed out, no one seems to talk about hope very much. Maybe I should learn something about hope . . .
(Notes from Terry Law:)
“Something good is going to happen to me.”
This is a saying made famous by Oral Roberts, but it is the ultimate statement of hope. We, as Christians, must stand on a foundation of hope.
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God,
to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28)
We must keep this verse close to our heart. This is how God approaches our lives.
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Ps. 23:6)
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Matt. 7:11)
God, by His nature, is good. That is who He is.
This is a hopeful thought for the morning.
In Lincoln, we don’t talk in terms of years, seasons, or even decades . . . we talk about eras. We all miss the Dr. Tom era desperately. We are hoping to rapidly forget the B.C. era. Why do we do this? Because football is not entertainment, it is history.
Tonight here was the scene at Fox and Hound. Epic.
Without exaggeration, there were probably close to 500 people packed in my local Fox and Hound. (Shh, don’t tell the Fire Marshall.) You could tell that Husker football people are ready again. As Jim Rome commented after interviewing Bo, “I bet there are people in Omaha and Lincoln ready to run through a wall for this guy.” Jim you are right my friend.
Now onto the game.
Overall analysis, we have a lot of work to do. A lot. If today’s game was against Missouri, we would have been handed our heads, given a polite tennis clap, tiny pat on the back, told good game and grandmas would have wept. (Mine especially.) This level will simply not win us the Big 12. Not by a long shot.
Things I loved:
- Intensity (I expected it and I got it. We looked like a completely different team than last year! We looked like we actually liked to play football!)
- Joe Ganz! Holy cow did he look good. 4 tds through the air! He made good reads, looked comfortable and I am not going to lie and say that my heart didn’t flutter when he broke the option left for about 30. 1Also the first NU QB to have 4 300+ yard passing games and we can be certain that he will have a few more.
- Our defensive line! 8, countem 8 rushing yards from the opponent!
- Getting to the quarterback.
- Our offensive line. We had great success running the football. Ganz was comfortable because the line was giving him ample time to make reads.
- The overall look, feel and confidence of our team.
- 500 people at Fox and Hound
Things I did not love:
- An apparent lack of disciple, especially on defense. This can be expected with the amount of energy they were playing with and you can be equally sure that it is not something that Bo is going to put up with.
- Our big play ratio. I got very very weary of seeing them break about 6 nice long pass plays. Something needs to change in the secondary by next week. Again, Missouri is a heckuva lot better than W. Mich. and will eat that crappy coverage for breakfast. And then write a thank you note.
- The second half.
- That crazy chick who came in late with her whooped “hubby”, got in the way, was loud, complained and then got everything comped. She was stupid and I did not like her.
All in all, it was a GREAT opener to an era. A win is definitely a win! I would like to see 8 more this year, but we DEFINITELY need to improve significantly in some major areas.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: creative flow, fall, hoodie, Walk with God
Last night, Josh and I went to Lake Dillon to spend a night away from the city. It was very relaxing. Today, it is cold, rainy and I will be eating chili this evening. I LOVE HOODIE WEATHER.
One of the things that I realized while on this trip is that I need to find ways to ‘get away’ more. Recently, I have been finding it to be increasingly difficult to unplug. From anything really – Catalyst mainly. My brain is constantly in motion. That is a good thing, however if I do not find ways to stay balanced mentally and emotionally my creative stream will begin to dry up. This is something that I do not want.
P. Michael plans a quarterly trip to an abbey where he spends a couple of days in prayer and quiet. I think I need to figure out how to get some of that kind of time for myself. Get away, shut off the phone, spend some time in my Bible with no agenda, you know. . . It will help me not to get so tired. So, I will be looking for a getaway to a cabin here pretty soon. If you want to hook me up, just let me know.
Filed under: Husker Football, Morning, Whatever | Tags: fall, Football, Husker Football, monday night football, summer
What a weekend. I am physically spent. Softball was not good last night. That is 3 weeks and 6 games in a row without a win. I am ready for a losing break. My folks are, for the most part, moved into their awesome new house! Thanks a bunch to Nate, Aaron and Josh for pitching in right at the end!
Tonight, Rockies baseball returns to my life. You will find me in the lower left field seats. It will be a fun, relaxing night. Tomorrow night, Kellett and I are heading out for a night on the town, maybe Batman who knows we will see where the wind takes us.
I want to do very little this weekend. I want to sit around. I am tossing around the idea of leaving the city for a night and just being away. We will see.
On the other hand, I am fantastically excited about this second half of 2008 for Catalyst! It is going to rock. I have some design ideas in the works that are pretty sweet and I will be launching my Catalyst|production| small group sometime soon.
With that all being said, can I just say that I am beyond ready for fall?
You don’t understand. I am ready for the heat to break. I am ready for a pot of chili to be on my stove. (Or whoever’s stove I don’t care.) I am ready for hoodies. I am ready for playoff baseball. I am ready for college football. I am ready for pro football. I am ready for Sunday night football on NBC. I am ready for Monday night football on ESPN. I am ready for college football. I am ready for college football. I am ready for college football. Later today, I will break down Nebraska’s schedule and give my prediction on our season. Man, I am ready for some chilly evenings on Bone’s patio. I am ready to break in my parents’ brand new awesome party pad for some Monday night football. Man, I am so ready.
Josh Brage 