Christianity through the eyes of teenagers

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Super Bowl Post

By Ryan, February 3, 2008

If you watched the greatest Super Bowl ever, then you saw the amazing helmet catch by David Tyree. It was completely obvious that Tyree did the work to make the catch... Eli Manning did not run down the field and catch it for him. Manning did, however, give him the opportunity to make the play.

People tend to think that when we ask God for help, He’ll just do our work for us. But that’s not how God rolls. If you pray for patience, you won’t roll out of bed the next morning and say, “Wow! I feel patient!” Most likely, God will give you a chance to be patient. Note that this could mean being rear-ended in the parking lot. It could mean being broken up with. Heaven forbid, it could even mean getting stuck having to wait for six months for any activity on your favorite teenage Christian blog... with no apologies whatsoever.

Think about that the next time you pray for something and don’t get it. Maybe God’s plan wasn’t to keep you from having what you want, but rather to let you go and get what you want. If you don’t think your prayers are being answered, maybe you need to look for the ball. Chances are, it’s somewhere in the air behind you, and all you have to do is grab it and hold on. And the truth is, maybe the pass isn’t being thrown your way. But always be ready, because you never know when you’ll have the chance to make a huge catch on a proverbial 3rd-and-11.

Labels: Gems, Sports

{ Posted 11:07 PM | Comments: 4 | E-Mail Post | Edit Post | Top }

Packing It Up

By Ryan, April 23, 2007

Seattle SuperSonics As I was watching the Mavericks a few nights ago, I couldn’t help but notice a sense of urgency in the Seattle home crowd. I’ve known for a while that there was a looming possibility of Oklahoma City laying claim to the SuperSonics in a year or two. What I didn’t stop to think about was how the Seattle fan base would react. I, being a native Okie, was excited that a legitimate sports team would land in my state. But now I can’t help but feel a little sorry for the fans in the Sonics’ home of 40 years.

A lot of people do the same thing to their friends that the SuperSonics might do to Seattle. They stick together... at first. But when someone who seems better comes along, the relationship dissolves. Sure, Oklahoma City and the Sonics thrive on the new deal. But what about the original friend, Seattle? Seattle would be left without an NBA team for a very long time.

We often do this to our friends unknowingly. This can happen in dating... I’ve been on the Seattle end of that one. It happens when we start thinking about our own interests and lose consciousness of how we’re affecting our friends. Of course, Oklahoma City won’t share the SuperSonics with Seattle the way it shared the Hornets with New Orleans. But people can be (and, therefore, should be) open to making new friends without doing so at the expense of old friends.

Labels: Relationships, Sports

{ Posted 11:09 PM | Comments: 0 | Link: http://www.saveoursonics.org | E-Mail Post | Edit Post | Top }

Cowboys 38, Sooners 28

By Ryan, December 13, 2006

'Elf' Ahh, one of* the greatest Christmas movies of all time.

In church today, we watched a scene from the movie Elf. The scene we watched depicted Will Ferrell’s character, “Buddy,” inside a New York City store preparing for Christmas. When Buddy hears word that Santa is coming to visit the store, he gets extremely excited. He knows the real Santa personally, so he can’t help but tell everyone how overjoyed he is to see him again.

Hold up, wait a minute, put a little tie-into-Christianity in it!

This man was absolutely nuts about seeing Santa! He was jump-up-and-down-and-scream crazy!

Josh Fields led Oklahoma State to a 38-28 win over rival Oklahoma in 2002 The only time I’ve ever gone that insane was in 7^th grade, when my belovéd Oklahoma State Cowboys downed the OU Sooners 38-28. Let me tell you, I was a nut job during that game, especially when OSU jumped ahead 35-6. Following the game, I danced in the street in front of my uncle’s house, spiking my football and shouting the final score for almost an hour.

The mention of the name Jesus does not incite these reactions anymore... if it ever did. He’s the greatest person ever to walk this sorry Earth... and He’s coming back again one day, possibly in my lifetime! This is more exciting than seeing Santa or watching Oklahoma State Cowboy domiNation. My youth minister’s wish seems to be that we will have as good of a relationship with God as Buddy did with Santa Claus and as I do with the stinkingest football team in the Big 12 (besides Baylor). When we think of Jesus’s second coming, we need to prepare.

The time to prepare has come.

Labels: Holiday, Relationships, Sports

{ Posted 9:02 PM | Comments: 1 | E-Mail Post | Edit Post | Top }

Rumors

By Ryan, November 25, 2006

Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson? Together? For real?

I’m now just another person to mention this hot new rumor on the Internet. As of the time of this post, I view Tony Romo as someone that is not a show-off and will not let all the extra attention go to his head. But, during the Cowboys’ win over Tampa Bay on Thanksgiving,* Joe Buck and Troy Aikman (FOX’s commentators for that game) agreed that Romo deserves someone like Jessica Simpson.

Yeah, another celebrity relationship. Anyone who watches half of the 20-minutes-per-week of entertainment news I watch each week knows what happens to celebrity couples. Fall down go BOOM. My question is whether or not Tony will see this and make the right choice.

Breakdown:
Pros Cons
YES! They date The commentators have more to “commentate” on, maybe a little more inspiration for our QB Obviously they won’t last ’til death... the imminent breakup will lead to a depressed version of my new favorite player
NO! They don’t Nothing new to get to his head Lots more pressure from media, who already isn’t cutting him any slack

This is his first real moral test since becoming the Cowboys’ new go-to guy. What I think is that his decision here will determine whether or not he is a good role model. He takes this potential girlfriend, he’s just another football superstar with a celeb girlfriend. He turns her down, the country knows that he’s not some shallow guy that takes the first fake-boobed* eye candy that comes his way, but rather a man of substance who makes good choices under pressure.

Personally? I think that if it comes down to him making the decision, he’ll do the honorable thing and say no. If he can make good under-pressure choices on the fly in a football game, I trust him to do so in life.

Labels: Sports

{ Posted 10:59 PM | Comments: 2 | E-Mail Post | Edit Post | Top }

Choices, Choices, Choices

By Ryan, October 31, 2006

“I’ve thought the best chance for us to be where we wanted to be, contending in the playoffs, was to go with the experienced quarterback in Drew [Bledsoe], and I don’t know if I’ve changed my mind there at all. ... But we have to win games ... We have to give ourselves every opportunity. ... [Playing Tony Romo] was a very bad decision.”
-Jerry Jones

Yeah, and then Tony Romo goes on to perform better than Drew Bledsoe ever did in a Dallas uniform, despite being, in essence, a rookie.

It was a gutsy choice indeed. At the time, the Cowboys were 3-3 and needed a win desperately. Convention tells most coaches to stick with the experience. Bill Parcells made a choice to all but shun conventional behavior and go with the man who had never started a regular season NFL game in his life. It paid off big time, seeing as the Cowboys got their first win over a “good” team* this season.

We, too, have to trust that we can make our own decisions. Too often we get the idea that we can just sit back and relax and let God do everything for us.

Let me just say that if God was going to decide everything for us, we’d essentially be puppets. To further illustrate this, imagine a car, a driver, and a map. In this example, the car represents your life, the driver represents you, and the map represents God. If you get in the car and just look at where the map says to go, the map won’t start driving the car by itself. You have to put the key in the dang ignition, shift the gears, and steer and accelerate when necessary.

God gave us free will. That means that, believe it or not, we actually make our own choices once in a while! Now, don’t get the idea that what Bill Parcells did went against God; I refuse to believe that it did. What I’m saying is that God created us to decide for ourselves what to do with our lives. If we just assume that we can put the car in neutral and let the map drive while we snack on Cheez-Its or something, then we’re insulting our Creator.

Labels: Sports

{ Posted 8:56 PM | Comments: 0 | E-Mail Post | Edit Post | Top }

The Score

By Ryan, October 17, 2006

Wow, there were quite a few “choice words” in the Dennis Green press conference last night. Here’s the scoreboards to break it down.

Cardinals-Bears game on October 16^th:
Time Bears Cardinals
7:00 in 3^rd Qtr 3 23
End of Game 24 23

Career total of profanities used in press conferences:
Date Dennis Green Bill Parcells
October 15^th 12 38
The Next Day 50 40

Yeah, I added two to Parcells’ total even though he didn’t have any press conferences in that time period, and I exaggerated Dennis Green’s use of explicit language. But when his press conference aired on WFAA this evening, they literally had to beep out approximately half of what he said. Obviously, this was not tolerated by the NFL, but how about the Arizona Cardinals organization? An assisstant coach is fired because of a bad second-half performance by Edgerin James and Kurt Warner, and yet they let a coach who publicly insults their moral standards keep his job?

Here’s a representative sample of the world for you, in the race for who controls business in the National Football League:
Money Ethics
1 0

Labels: Sports

{ Posted 10:03 PM | Comments: 0 | E-Mail Post | Edit Post | Top }

Orange Power

By Ryan, August 22, 2006

I’m decking out in Oklahoma State clothing for Sports Night at my church. We’re doing a thing called Madhouse, which is a 4-week thing with a whole bunch of activities and a different theme each week... and this week is Sports Week, where we wear our favorite team clothing. And guess who my favorite team is!! OSU!! Luckily, I am not short at all on OSU clothes... come to think of it, I don’t think I ever have been. And that makes me wonder about my priorities in life... which do I care more about, OSU or God? I’m not some kind of professional statistical informational dude or whatever, but I can safely say that if I devoted nearly as much of my life to Jesus as I did to OSU, I’d have more Scripture memorized than most top preachers. Shoot, I have statistics about former OSU players that most people don’t have any interest in whatsoever. For example, did you know that in 2002, Josh Fields threw for over 3,000 yards? Did you know that in 2003, Rashaun Woods set an all-time NCAA® record by receiving 7 touchdown passes against SMU? Or that Tatum Bell was the fifth OSU player to lead the nation in Heisman® voting at one point in a season? I bet not. I wish I could remember my Bible as well as I remember former Cowboys that threw it away after graduation! Let me tell you, I would be the ultimate Christian teenager!

I hope you’re not concluding that I think OSU is evil, because they most certainly are not. What I’m saying is that, as people, we need to stop “trying to find time for God” and instead make everything else work around God. That’s this post in a nutshell.

Until next time, GO POKES!!

Labels: Challenges, Influences, Sports

{ Posted 7:14 PM | Comments: 0 | E-Mail Post | Edit Post | Top }

Enbeesea

By Ryan, August 6, 2006

Two of my favorite things in the world are coming together again tonight... Sunday nights and NFL football. How awesome is that?

There is a catch, though. My brother (Tyler) and I both like the networks that carry the NFL because of their graphics. When we found out that NBC is doing the NFL again this year, we were both upset. NBC carried a few college football games last year, and we both hated the graphics. But, after looking at the NBC website I started to change my mind.

Sunday Night Football on NBC It looks like awesome 3-D metal... I hope that what I saw on the website reflects what I’ll see on TV. And that leads me into my point.

How many times are we deceived by what we see? Or, even better, how many times do we try to deceive others by what we show? Everyone has heard the old cliché... “You can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk?” I have, like, 10 Christian t-shirts in my closet. I can wear them and people will know that I am a Christian, but will they know what a Christian is? If I wear a shirt that says “My Invisible Friend created me,” will people come up to me asking how they can become like God? Doubtful. I could cuss someone out while advertising God... we all know that type of behavior wouldn’t evangelise anyone. (And if you think it would, I’d like to hear how.) The other cliché that we all hear is that actions speak louder than words. I know that everything I’ve just said is probably just old news to the audience that usually visits this website, but it can’t be reiterated enough.

Labels: Sports

{ Posted 11:10 AM | Comments: 7 | E-Mail Post | Edit Post | Top }

J-Lu

By Ryan, July 29, 2006

I’m just going to start by saying that I wish Justin would post something stupid so that I wouldn’t be embarrassed to follow him. Justin made his debut on this blog by saying not to expect him to have anything as good to post as I do, but come on... this post can’t begin to compare with his story about Mexico. But whatever.
If you’ve known me for more than a day and a half, you know that I love Oklahoma State. I also happen to passionately despise the [ Houston Rockets ], but that hatred is now “hatred minus one.” Within the past couple of hours, they signed my favorite former OSU basketball player... [ John Lucas III ]. They had signed him at one point last season, only to release him in January. But now he’s back in uniform with the likes of T-Mac and Yao. God isn’t the only one who can give second chances, is He?

God gave Jonah a second chance and Jonah was able to make good use of it. Now, for the sake of Oklahoma State looking good, I hope that John Lucas III can do the same.
By the way, nobody that I know of frequently calls him J-Lu. I just thought of it and thought it sounded cool.

Labels: Sports

{ Posted 2:59 PM | Comments: 1 | Link: http://www.nba.com/playerfile/john_iii_lucas/index.html?nav=page | E-Mail Post | Edit Post | Top }

Good Fun

By Ryan, May 28, 2006

Great day in sports today. Just as I predicted in the last post, I went to church. I somehow ended up with the job of unofficial door greeter. We came back home and started watching the stuff for the Indy 500. Some of my other cousins are here to eat lunch and watch the race with us. Tonight, my belovéd Dallas Mavericks face the Phoenix Suns that I despise so much for stealing Steve Nash. The series is tied at 1-1. I didn’t always care about basketball; in fact, I never really followed the Mavs until earlier in the season. And yet, my “Mavs Fever” has rubbed off on my parents. My dad, who would never have given a care before, was searching for a station where we could listen to Game 2 on the way here. My mom asked me who won Game 7 when the Mavs were playing the Spurs. They even joined me in watching the Round 1 series between the Suns and Lakers, and groaned whenever the Lakers lost and cheered with me when they won. I guess I have quite an influence on my parents.

I just find it odd that it’s so easy to join people in some silly sports obsession that comes once a year for each sport, and yet nobody joins each other in Bible study groups outside of church. I tried to form one once last year, but it never caught on. My church up here in Tulsa makes a big point out of outreach. I think that everyone should do something of that nature.

Leave a comment on this post; I want to hear how/if other people agree with this. And, for those that do, we could maybe start an online study group?

Something to think on; and now, I must join my family in watching their race.

Labels: Challenges, Gems, Influences, Relationships, Sports

{ Posted 12:10 PM | Comments: 0 | E-Mail Post | Edit Post | Top }

Bible Translation

By Ryan, May 7, 2006

Just a creative thought that popped in my head...

What if there was an NFL translation of the Bible?

John 3:16 would look something like this...

For God so loved the NFL that he gave His only begotten Dallas Cowboys that whoever believes in them shall not be disappointed in the postseason but have a winning team to root for in Super Bowl XLI.

Pretty bold prediction, but pretty funny. I mean, it made me laugh.

Now I gotta go play “Candy Land” with my cousin whose house I’m at right now.

Labels: Sports

{ Posted 4:49 PM | Comments: 2 | E-Mail Post | Edit Post | Top }

Uncle Doyle

By Ryan, November 24, 2005

Happy Thanksgiving, ya’ll. I am not in Texas... I’m in Oklahoma. Today, I get to watch the Dallas Cowboys game with none other than my Uncle Doyle. He can be heard frequently throughout the game yelling his trademark phrase... “Git ’im! Git ’im! Git ’im!” I love that. It just isn’t Thanksgiving without him and the Cowboys.

Just like it isn’t Christmas without presents, right? Yeah. Even though we traditionally exchange gifts and then talk about the “Reason for the Season,” commercialism (or whatever you call it) tends to leave out the “Reason for the Season” part. Gee... wonder why... could it possibly be driven by the almighty dollar? Dur!

This Christmas, I’m not going shopping for presents. (Mainly because I have, like, $6 to my name?) Instead, I’m boycotting big commercialism-whatever and just making gifts for everyone. (I would love to tell you what I’m giving to my cousin, David, but he is right next to me...)

Have a great Thanksgiving, root for the Cowboys, don’t make fun of OSU this Saturday, and don’t go Christmas shopping unless you plan to buy me an iPod. NO!! I’ve become a victim of the Christmas thing!!

Thanks a lot, television...

Labels: Holiday, Relationships, Sports

{ Posted 12:13 PM | Comments: 0 | E-Mail Post | Edit Post | Top }

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