Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Superhero or not?

Our church is doing our annual Kids Krusade this week and Pastor Lynda has picked a "Superheroes" theme this year. So of course everyone needs to come as a superhero, don't have a superhero outfit, have no fear, Pastor Lynda is here! She even made capes so if you don't have a supersuit, she will fix you up.
So here is where the delima is. We had a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle show up for KK. Donatello to be exact with this staff. Some thought it was the Pastor dressed up in all black with a mask on and black tights and TMNT boxers on over the tights but he would never do that. So we may never know who that man in black really was. But it caused a ruckus because some do not believe that a TMNT is really a superhero. So in that man in black's defense I will rest this case of superhero or not.
1) Have you ever seen a six foot tall turtle? No, me either so I think that is super.
2) Have you ever seen a talking turtle? No, me either so super again.
3) Have you ever seen a turtle possess ninja skills? Nope, me either so super again.
4) Remember they were exposed to some kind of hazardous waste as young turtles which caused them to mutate to aquire their powers. Kind of like the Flash, Spiderman, Fantastic Four, and a slew of super villans. So I say super again.
5) Do they fight crime? Yes, so super again.
The defense rest, with the evidence placed before you we can indeed say, Cowabunga dude, the TMNT are Super Heroes!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

So the Mavs won?

Who would have thought it? The Mavericks win the NBA title over the Thrice Blessed, Star Studded Trinity of DWade, LeBron and CBosh.
It just goes to show you that "team" will always prevail over talent.
I have played on teams with great players. And I have played on great teams with average players. One star does not a great team make, and now I guess we can say that 3 stars does not a great team make.
Team building is one of my passions. I love to surround myself with like minded individuals who put their own egos and desires aside and strive for the best for the team. It is not always easy, many times people do not want to take a back seat or a subordinate role for the best of the team.
I remember a story I heard one time about a large company CEO who challenged another large company CEO to a team competition. They met and decided that they would do a mock war simulation in a forest environment with a ten person detail. The way it worked was this, they would take their ten best, camouflage them up, give them paint ball guns, paint ball grenades and paint ball land mines and whoever captured the other's base won the contest and the bragging rights. The ego minded CEO (whose team we will call the red team) put himself as team leader and picked his ten biggest, toughest and strongest people in his company to make up his team. The other CEO (whose team we will call the blue team) picked people from his organization not based on strength or skill but on the ability to work as a team. Each of them spent a week training with a former military commander who went over basic maneuvers and tactics with each team. When the time came for the battle, the Ego Centric CEO led his troops from the front, straight to the opponents base. The other CEO carefully arranged his troops to best defend his position and attack the other team from the flanks instead of head on. Two of the smallest people on the blue team were sent out as scouts and found a place and hid, allowing the opposing team who all traveled together to pass them without knowing they were there. As the red team approached the blue teams base the CEO of the red team who was leading tripped a land mine essentially eliminating himself and two of the people behind him. The red team was in turmoil as the remaining seven big tough individuals tried to figure out who would be in charge now that the CEO was eliminated. Unknown to them the blue team had taken up positions around the ambush site and all started to open fire at the same time on the arguing seven red team members. Four went down in the first volley of paint and the remaining three turned to retreat the way they had came only to encounter the two small members of the blue team that had hid in the woods. They opened fire and painted two of the three red teams members eliminating them from the competition while the third ran off by himself heading for the red base. The blue team leader them gathered his troops and forced a surrender of the only remaining red team member. The blue team had won the battle with no casualties and had decimated the red team.
When the military commander who witnessed the battle commented later on the competition, he said that he knew before the battle started who was going to win. The ego of the red team leader doomed his more talented, stronger and bigger people because he was not the best suited to lead his team in this battle. In their week of training a couple of the red teams middle managers showed better instincts and tactical skill than the CEO had but he still relegated himself as the leader. Where on the blue team the military commander noticed that the leader was better suited to lead and direct from the back lines and not the front lines. They worked with their strengths and won the battle.
So I said all of this to make this point. Sometimes it is not the superstars that make a great team. Sometimes it is a leader who knows when to lead from the back, let his people do what they do best and stay out of the way.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Fall From Grace...

So many it seems lately have fallen from grace in our eyes. From Bret Favre sending pictures of his nether regions, Arnold Schwarzenegger fathering a child with an employee, and now a Senator admitting to numerous Internet liaisons it seems that infidelity is sweeping the headlines.
I wanted to write a how to avoid article for all men but realized that it probably would not do much good. So I will write a encouragement instead.
Guys, your family is too valuable to mess up for a one night stand. Those moments of passion are not enough to trade for years of stability and trust you share with your spouse. Once that trust is broken it is double hard to get it back, if at all. Those one time arrangements are not worth enough to damage your role as a father forever. Your children are worth more than that and they deserve more from you.
Also fellas, your reputation is more valuable than that moment of fulfillment. That moment will be gone the next day as will your reputation. And that reputation can never be gotten back. Guard that with your life.
And buddy, someone somewhere is going to find out, don't lie to yourself to thinking that you can keep it a secret. In the days before cell phones I was the first one to find out that my dad was cheating on my mom. He was seeing another woman at a cheap hotel on the edge of town. Just so happened that a friend of mine saw my dad pulling into the hotel in his Camaro (not the most invisible of cars). When he went by a few minutes later the car was parked in front of a room. My buddy split the beans to me one afternoon by saying, "hey, don't know if you know this, but your dad is seeing another woman out at the motel." I was stunned. I was 20 years old, recently married and could not believe that my dad would be seeing another woman, cheating on my mom. I made a mental note to check that hotel every time I drove by and sure enough I spied my dad's car there one night. It broke my heart. My mom and dad split up after that and my dad married the other woman and stayed with her till his death last year. But that relationship which wasn't great in the first place never got better. I think he felt shame and guilt for what he did every time we were together. I am not saying that he was all to fault, my mom I am sure was hard to live with too, but for the four sons who lived in that house, things were never the same in their relationship with their father.
So gentlemen, before you go chasing that swishing skirt, I want you to think for a moment of all the things that are on the line that you might loose, a devoted wife, a son or daughter, a reputation, your personal peace. Is it really worth just a few moments of passion?
Think about it.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Wisdom Teeth?

Why are wisdom teeth called wisdom teeth? All I ever got from mine was a lot of pain.
It started last Tuesday day, a dull ache on the right side of my face, took some Ibuprofen and forgot about it. By Wednessday mid day it was no longer a dull ache but more like a jackhammer had opened up on the inside of my mouth. It was so bad that I went and bought some painkillers while I was traveling. Three days later it still was aching and I made the decision to call the one person I try to never call, the dentist.
You see I have extremly hard teeth. I have never (knock on wood) had a cavity. I have had hammers, wrenches and even a chunk of wood hit my teeth and other than one small chip they bounced off. Now my teeth are not perfect, they are not straight and I have an overbite that would make Bugs Bunny envious but they are hard like rocks.
So after almost of week of pain I finally called the executioner, er I mean the dentist. It was either that or play like Tom Hanks in Castaway but I did not have an ice skate. I was able to grab an appointment the next morning for which I was thankful. I got to the chair, met the dental assistant and it was as if I was a stock car at the Daytona 500 and the dentistry crew was the pit crew. They were buzzing around, put this in, take this out, bite down on this, and on and on and on till the Man arrived. He was a pleasent looking fellow for a person who inflicts pain on people for a living. So he leans me back in the chair and starts to probe around in my mouth. Words like "impacted" and "soft tissue" and "bone invasion" chilled me to the core. What those things mean I eventually found out is that my hard teeth were hitting my hard jaw bone and neither one wanted to give.
So after about 30 minutes of grunting, sweating, cutting, drilling, pulling and prying my tooth finally came out in about three pieces. Two stiches later the dentist says, "you do have strong teeth" and his assistant tells me "you will be very sore tomorrow" which left me with a sense of foreboding. I was really sore now, what about this later or even tomorrow.
Well I can tell you, I was really sore, had to take powerful painkillers and talked like a loon most of the day. Wisdom teeth, who knew wisdom could be so painful.
I am really hoping they don't call wisdom teeth that because it would be wise to take them all out at one time...

Monday, June 6, 2011

Dance, Dance, Dance

Had the pleasure to watch a performance this weekend called "Firstborn of the Dead". No I did not go to some horror movie bonanza or something like that. "Firstborn of the Dead" is a ballet that depicts the life of Christ from his birth to death to resurection.
No spoken words, just dance. I cried.
Yeah lump me in with the Tim Tebows of the world. Hopefully there will not be a "I saw Pastor Pat Cry" facebook page spring up anytime soon.
It was emotionally moving seeing the grace and artistry of the dancers as they played their parts. Mary the Mother of Jesus (one of my church kids) emotionally charged as she held her newborn son and beamed at baby Jesus, and emotionally torn as her son was arrest, beaten and crucified.
The guy who played both Satan and God. Was kind of weirded out with that. He had this white robe, tan skin and a nice looking goatee, if I do say so myself, as he played God the Father. Then the same guy comes out with this mask on and it is Satan. I was a little conflicted there but it was all good. He actually played a better Satan than he did God.
And the guy who played Jesus. Well he really embodied the character. In his actions, in his way he interacted, you forgot you were watching a ballet.
Oh and no tights on the guys... I was happy for that.
Very nicely done and if you are in the KC area and get a chance to catch Dramatic Truth do it, you will be blessed.