Why Astros fans should be excited about the move to the AL

Now that the Texans season is officially over it’s time to talk about the Astros.

There seems to be a large percentage of Astros fans that are upset about the Astros move to the American League in 2013.  These fans are mistaken in their angst, and should in fact be excited for the move to the American League.  Here is why….

1. The Astros will finally get a true rival, the Texas Rangers.  Texans fans, think about how much you hate the Cowboys. Wouldn’t it be awesome if the Texans played the Cowboys 2 times every year. Those tickets would be outrageous, and the whole state would stop to watch. Well, the same kind of atmosphere will develop with the Rangers in a few years. Especially once we eliminate them, or they eliminate us from the playoff race with a sweep in September (this obviously won’t happen any time soon).  Imagine the division championship comes down to a final weekend series against the Rangers in Arlington. That would be awesome, and it will develop into a truly great rivalry.

Many Astros fans think we already have rivalries with the Cubs and Cardinals. We don’t. Cubs fans hate the Cardinals and to a lesser extent the White Sox. The Brewers are another potential developing rivalry with the Cubs (Milwaukee is ridiculously close to Chicago) now that the Brewers are in the NL and aren’t a joke franchise anymore.  The Cardinals hate the Cubs, and to a lesser extent the Royals (who are unbelievably terrible). While Astros fans may see these two teams as their rivals, the Cubs and Cardinals don’t see it, and never will. Why, because the Cubs and Cardinals have been rivals for over 100 years!!!!   The Rangers don’t have a natural rival, so adding the Astros to their division creates one, and it will be awesome.

2. I know many Houstonians were upset when Albert Pujols signed with the Angels, because now he’ll be able to torture Astros fans for the rest of his career. True. But at the same time, we will get to see Albert destroy all kinds of records in the next few years. I think Astros fans will be glad he’s in our division, especially once his skills start to deteriorate and his contract remains huge, thus handcuffing the Angels.

3. If the Astros ever end up with a guy like Carlos Lee, he wont’ have to play the field again. Sadly, we have to wait a year to move to the AL, and after this year Carlos Lee will be but a bad memory. However, the Astros could use that DH spot to bring back an aging veteran who can hit to finish his career in Houston at a reasonable rate. Yes, I am talking about Lance Berkman, or someone like him who can still hit, but is a liability in the field. Carlos Lee should have been a DH 5 years ago, probably the city of Houston’s worst signing ever (besides Scottie Pippen).

4. You get to see the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays play in Houston every year. Yes, the Rays are really, really good.

5. This one is personal, but it applies to many Houstonians.  There are lots of poeple in Houston who moved here from other places, or their parents taught them to be fans of other National League teams before they moved to Houston (namely, the Cubs, Cardinals, and Braves). I am a huge Cubs fan, which wasn’t a problem before 1994 because the Cubs and Astros were in different divisions and never once met in the playoffs. However, once baseball created the stupid, 6 team, NL Central, my loyalties were constantly divided, as were many other fans.  Now, I can be an unabashed Astros fan knowing that there is almost no chance of an Astros v. Cubs World Series. I’ll probably go out and stock up on some Astros gear for 2013 once they announce the new uniforms, logos, etc.  (Bring back the orange caps!)

So get excited Astros fans, we are gonna own the American League……. in 5 years.

The Number One Question facing College Football for next year.

The big question facing college football next year isn’t whether or not the BCS will be destroyed and replaced with an actual playoff system. It won’t, sadly.

The big question for college football next year is this…..

Will Texas A&M change their fight song, now that it makes absolutely no sense?

If you aren’t familiar with the Aggie Fight Song (aka Aggie War Hymn) Below are the lyrics:

Hullabaloo, Caneck, Caneck

Hullabaloo, Caneck, Caneck

All hail to dear old Texas A&M

Rally around Maroon and White

Good luck to dear old Texas Aggies

They are the boys who show the real old fight

That good old Aggie Spirit thrills us

And makes us yell and yell and yell

So let's fight for dear old Texas A&M

We're gonna beat you all to Chigaroogarem

Chigaroogarem

Rough, Tough, real stuff Texas A&M

Good bye to texas university

So long to the orange and the white

Good luck to dear old Texas Aggies

They are the boys who show the real old fight

'the eyes of Texas are upon you'

That is the song they sing so well

Sounds Like Hell

So good bye to texas university

We're gonna beat you all to Chigaroogarem

Chigaroogarem

Rough, Tough, Real stuff, Texas A&M

Saw varsity's horns off

Saw varsity's horns off

Saw varsity's horns off

Short! A!

Varsity's horns are sawed off

Varsity's horns are sawed off

Varsity's horns are sawed off

Short! A!

The lyrics are weird, but it was written a long time ago, and some of the stuff that seems like nonsense now, actually made sense back then. If you’re interested in what it all means click here.

Basically, most of the song talks about beating the University of Texas (full disclosure, I have a degree from said University of Texas). Now this was moderately weird before, because even when the Aggies were playing other teams besides UT, they would sing about beating Texas. But at least then, they knew they would actually be playing Texas at some point during the season (usually the last game) so you could kind of play it off.

Now, however, Texas A&M and the University of Texas will not be playing against one another in any sport, period.  Barring both teams making it to the National Championship game of any given sport (ha!)  there is no chance they will play one another in anything until 2018. It is beyond ridiculous to be singing about a school you hate that you won't even play in the forseeable future.

The Aggies chose to move to the SEC, which may turn out to be a great move for them. Personally, I think they will end up regretting this move, but I could easily be wrong on this one. With that choice they more or less abandonded the relationship they had with Texas, so it's probably time to start developing some new traditions.  This is the knock though. If you've ever been around Aggies, or gone to College Station, then you know that tradition is a huge part of their modus operandi (I think that's Latin, or maybe Chinese).  Once you buy into the importance of tradition so thoroughly it is very difficult to start new traditions that do away with the old.

So, will the Aggies change their fight song?

I think they should. What do you Aggies think?

New pictures of Ava!

Here are 2 new pictures of our daughter Ava who is waiting in China for us to come and get her. We think we'll be traveling to China in March. Hoping to get confirmation on that soon.

Does God want Tebow to win?

Does God really want Tim Tebow to win?

I’ve heard this come up on numerous sports talk radio shows in the past few weeks, and it's insanely irritating to hear sports experts talk about theology, philosophy, morality, the constitution or basically anything besides sports. It’s not irritating because they’re idiots, most of them are really smart guys. It’s irritating because their area of expertise isn’t this topic, it’s sports, so most of them haven’t given very much thought to this particular topic, so they are basically amateurs when it comes to these areas of discussion.

I’m an amateur when it comes to most sports discussions (except baseball trivia), and I’m especially clueless on the NFL, so I won’t give you my predictions or thoughts on the NFL playoffs, because I’m just a clueless Texans fan.

However, I do answer theological, philosophical, and moral questions with great regularity in my everyday life, so I have given lots of thought to this particular topic. I’m not sure I’m an expert, but I sure have an opinion that has been developed through a lot of thinking, reading and discussing these ideas.

So here we go.

Does God want Tim Tebow to win football games because he is an outspoken Christian/ good guy/man of character/prays in public a lot?

Short answer, in my opinion.  No.

There are lots of guys in the NFL who fit the above description. They aren’t as high profile as Tebow because they didn’t win a National Championship and the Heisman Trophy when they were in college. So, let’s assume that pretty much every team in the league has some Christian guy who loves the Lord, gives his time and money to great causes and prays for victory on Sunday. If that’s true, then how does God pick the winners?  Actually this topic was addressed extremely well by none other than President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.  This quote both sides pleading with God to win the war from his 2nd Inaugural address sums it up….

“Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes.”

God has his own purposes, and I’m pretty sure what happens in an NFL Wild Card Playoff game isn’t a real big part of his grand plan. It’s not that God doesn’t care about Tim Tebow and every other player on the field, regardless of their beliefs and actions, He does. It’s that God’s heart isn’t caught up in rewarding people who love him with success, in any endeavor. Sometimes people who follow Jesus and talk about it win. Sometimes people who don’t believe in God win. I don’t think God intervenes in football games. Aaron Rodgers had an amazing season last year, he is an outspoken Christian. He didn’t claim that God wanted them to win. I don’t think Tebow has ever claimed that either. The only people saying that are clueless (about this topic) sports talk analysts. The overwhelming majority of Christian athletes would never claim that God wanted them to win. When they talk about “thanking Jesus” after the game, it is in respect to his role as their Creator giving them the physical talents to play the game at a high enough level to win at the highest level. They aren’t saying that God caused them to win, because they are more righteous. They aren’t more righteous, they probably already know that.

God doesn’t always bless the righteous. This is clear. The definitive example is Jesus. He was perfect. He never messed up. He lost. He died on a cross. He was ridiculed, shamed, abandoned, tortured, and murdered. God has his own purposes. Without this “loss” the ensuing victory of the resurrection would be meaningless.

So please stop saying that God wants Tim Tebow to win. God wants Tim Tebow to do the things that God loves. God loves when we love one another, care for the poor, the orphan, the widow, the outcast. God loves when we live for Him instead of ourselves. God loves when we focus on things that last forever, instead of things that will fade away. Tim Tebow (and others) are merely trying to express that in a short interview after a football game. They aren’t trying to make a case that God is a Broncos fan or a Tebow fan. 

In conclusion, I wish sports talk show hosts bring in experts to interview on their shows all the time. I wish they would bring in someone who was an expert in theological issues to discuss Tebow and his faith.

If any of them are reading this, I’ll pretend to be an expert for your show. Feel free to give me a call. :)

The books I read in 2011 and how I read them

If you're into reading it's always interesting to see what other people are reading.  Goodreads is a great website for this. I joined it last year (it's free) and I really like it. It's in the links to the left of this post if you want to check it out.

I set a goal to read 30 books in 2011. I didn't reach that goal, I never do. I did read 25 books (mostly because I was on sabbatical for a good chunk of time). Below are the books I read, a brief blurb about them, and on what medium I read them(Kindle app for iPad or iPhone, Paper copy, iBooks app). I'm including how I read them because so many people are discovering the joys of reading on a digital device.  I like it so much I don't even consider buying books made of paper anymore. These are the 25 books I read. You can buy all of them at amazon.com or on the ibookstore on your iDevice. 

I've included links to all of them to their goodreads pages, you can get a link to Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, etc from there.

1. Baseball Between the Numbers: Why Everything You Know About the Game Is Wrong by Baseball Prospectus - this is a series of essays by super baseball statisticians that prove that many of the statistics baseball fans rely on are very flawed, and how many of the adages and strategies that baseball people believe in do more to lose games than win them. If you like baseball this is fascinating, regardless if you're a stat junky or not. Read it on the Kindle app for my iPhone, yes the whole thing on my phone! This is what helped me become a digital reader.

Baseball Between the Numbers: Why Everything You Know About the Game Is Wrong

2. Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God - by Francis Chan  - this book is great! Very challenging, and will spur you on to examine and change your life and how you think about your life. In a good way. Don't be afraid, read it. You'll be glad you did. Found it for $5 at a used bookstore, so read it in paper.

Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God

3. Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need by Blake Snyder - a friend of mine who is a screenwriter turned me on to this book as a way to understand movies, and storytelling. Since I'm essentially a professional storyteller I read it and really enjoyed it.  Started it on the Kindle app for my phone, finished it on the Kindle app for  iPad, thank God, it was formatted terribly on the iPhone, and looked much better on the iPad. This is the only book that I have ever had formatting problems with.

Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

4. The End of Reason: A Response to the New Atheists by Ravi Zacharias  - the author takes on some of the arguements of Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins in this very short book. I love Ravi, and really enjoy his speaking and writing. I'd love to see him and Dawkins actually debate face to face. Read the paper version from a used bookstore.

The End of Reason: A Response to the New Atheists

5. Identity Theft: Reclaiming your Freedom in Christ by Ken White - The author is a friend of mine and a fellow Young Life staffer. I really enjoyed his book. He did a fantastic job. I read it on iBooks for my iPad.

Identity Theft: Reclaiming Your Freedom in Christ

6. Infinitely More by Alex Krutov - Alex was abondoned by his mother in a dumpster in the winter in Russia when he was 3 days old!  This is basically his autobiography, it's amazing. My friend Kit Sublett publisehd this book (as wll as Identity Theft by Ken White) and I've been promoting it all year, because it's a great story that needs to be shared. I've met Alex and his ministry to orphans in Russia is phenomenal. Read on iBooks for iPhone.

Infinitely More

7. Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell - his newest book (Love Wins) caused a bit of a controversy this past spring, so I thought I would check out the book that made him famous before I read that one.  I never got to Love Wins, but I really enjoyed this book. There wasn't too much revolutionary thinking in it, but he does subscribe to some great ideas about how to live out the Christian faith in modern times. Borrowed the paper copy from a freind.

Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith

8. Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God's Will - by Kevin DeYoung - One of my favorite books of the year. Very short. Very to the point. He expressed very clearly what I believe about "finding God's will for your life". Everyone under the age of 40 should read this!!!!!!!!!!!  I read it on the iPad and iPhone.

Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God's Will

9. Torches of Joy by John Dekker - Jon Dekker's son is a christian horror author who lives in Austin. Weird. Long before his son was a writer though, Jon Dekker and his wife were missionaries in New Guinea and have an amazing story!  These are amazing people and their lives of faith are a testimony to how awesome God is.  Their story is incredibly ecxiting, filled with danger and turmoil, but with incredibly rewards. Read the book, I bought it a few years ago before I went digital.

Torches of Joy

10. Which Real Jesus?: Jonathan Edwards, Benjamin Franklin, adn te arly American Roots of the Current Debate by Steve Bateman  - The title is a bit intimidating. A friend of mine gave me this book and it sat on my "to read" pile for over a year. I didn't think I would like it until I read the first chapter, then I was hooked and I really enjoyed it. He does a fantastic job of comparing the debate about the nature and existence of God and Jesus in Jonathan Edwards and Ben Franklin's era to the debate about the same topic in our own time. It's amazing to see that people are essentially still debating the same topics 300 years later regarding Jesus. His research was impressive and enlightening, and he does a great job of creating a list of Founding Fathers who were serious Christians and which were more on the Deisitic end of the spectrum. Highly recommended.  I read it on paper.

Which "Real" Jesus?: Jonathan Edwards, Benjamin Franklin, and the Early American Roots of the Current Debate

11. The Book of Harold, the Illegitmate Son of God by Owen Egerton - Owen is one of my very good friends from college. He and I agree on very little, which is highly entertaining. He is a very gifted writer. This is the first novel I read last year, and I had a very strong emotional reaction to it. Mostly because I knew the author. It's a very interesting book that will make you think, and evoke an emotional response. Would also make for some good discussions.  I read it on the Kindle app for my iPad.

The Book of Harold, the Illegitimate Son of God

12. A Prisoner of Birth by Jeffrey Archer - I've read almost all of his novels. I needed something fun and relatively mindless to read over the summer. His stories are always really enjoyable but at this point in his career he has become totally formulaic.  It's a good formula, but after reading 10 or more of his novels, the act is kinda wearing thin. Any big time offer like Archer is making so much money cranking out books, that they probably don't care if it's formulaic any more, because the money is obscene. If you want to read a great, fun Jeffrey Archer book from his early days, check out Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less. If you have never read any of his books, you'll enjoy this one thoroughly. I read it on the Kindle app for iPhone and iPad.

A Prisoner of Birth

13. The Classic: How Everett Case and His Tournament Brought Big Time Basketball to the South by Bethany Bradsher - Bethany is another friend of mine who writes books. This is a fascinating story that you probably know nothing about unless you are over 50 or from North Carolina. If you like basketball or good regional history, you'll love this!

The Classic: How Everett Case and His Tournament Brought Big-Time Basketball to the South 

14. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson - I'm an Apple zealout, so I had to read this book. I blew through it. It's fascinating stuff and you get all sides of Steve Jobs, the good and the bad. Of course I read this on my iPhone and iPad wih the Kindle app.

Steve Jobs

15. Wired by Douglas Richards - This is a high tech thriller with a little bit of philosophy and quasi religion thrown in. It's entertaining. You'll read it in less than 48 hours, it's fast-paced to say the least. The reason I bought it is because it's only available digitally and the price fluctuates wildly. Basically the author sells it for super cheap (I bought if for 79 cents!) until it gets in the top 10 books on the Kindle store, then he raises the price to $2.99, sells a ton of copies at that price until it falls out of the top 10, and then starts the whole thing again. Pretty cool way to make a couple of hundred thousand dollars a year. Obviously I read it on my iPhone and iPad Kindle app.

Wired

16. - 18. The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - This Young Adult Trilogy is all the rage, and there is a movie coming out in a few months. I read them for a couple of reasons: 1. to get my book count up before the end of the year, they're short and fast 2. Because I try to keep up with what the young people are reading so I can be relevant (I drew the line at Twilight though, won't go there). 3. I like to read the book before I see the movie.  They are exciting, and the movie should be fun. Read on the Kindle app for iPhone and iPad. Strangely they weren't available on the iBookstore.

The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)

Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2)

Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3)

19. Why Men Hate Going To Church by David Murrow - I read it in one day. Couldnt' put it down. Spot on. Amazing, I loved it!!!!!!! Everybody should read this book immediately. Seriously, this dude nails so much about why guys aren't terribly comfortable or excited about church. He also provides good, doable solutions! Read it on iBooks for iPad. Got if for free from www.booksneeze.com  

Why Men Hate Going to Church

20. Heaven if for Real by Todd Burpo - Huge bestseller, really short, totally crazy, a great read that will make you think about Heaven and will also get you really excited to go there. I loved it. Read it on my iPhone Kindle App. Yep, the whole book on the phone.

Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back

21. Scream Free Marriage by Hal Edward Runkel  Another one of my college roommates who turned into an author. Hal is very successful, and this book is his followup to ScreamFree Parenting. I loved this book, and Jessica (my wife) can attest to its effectiveness. Get it. Read it. Live it. Read it on the Kindle for iPad.

ScreamFree Marriage

22. A Feast for Crows by George RR Martin - this is the 4th book in the Song of Fire and Ice Series. HBO made this series into a very successful TV show (Game of Thrones). The first 3 books were amazing, some of the best fantasy ever. The story was derailed quite a bit in the 4th book, but little did I know how bad it would get, read below. Read on iPad/iPhone Kindle app.

A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire, #4)

23. A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin - book five in the series.  It took him 5+ years to write this book, and it basically sucked.  The 4th book dragged, this one came to a screaching halt, and took 1,000+ pages to do so. I'll keep reading the series, but this dude needs and editor, badly. Read it on the iPad and iPhone.

A Dance With Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire, #5)

24. The Case for the Real Jesus: A Journalist Investigates Current Attacks on the Identity of Christ by Lee Strobel - this was my favorite book of the year. Lee investigates common arguements that are raised by people on the web all the time, who quote "scholars" for their proof. He dives in deep with experts in each field, and it's very enlightening. I learned a ton about the New Testament and the study of ancient documents. If you're into apologetics, or have questions about who Jesus really was, this is a great book for you! Read it on Kindle for iPad.

The Case for the Real Jesus: A Journalist Investigates Current Attacks on the Identity of Christ

25. Wholehearted by Roger Wernette - Roger is an old friend of mine. A very funny guy, and a very gifted communicator, both in speech and in the written word. This book was a great encouragement for me in my walk with Christ, and I've given it to about 30 people this year. Read it on iBooks for iPad. I believe it was the first book I read on the iPad.

Wholehearted