grace

i don’t often write about my faith.  i’m generally pretty reserved about the subject.  it’s such a personal topic for me, i just don’t like throwing it all over the internet.  with that said, here’s a thought on grace.

i was given a ticket to the third day/switchfoot/robert randolph and the family band/jars of clay concert for this past friday night.  i’m a pretty big switchfoot fan, i’ve listened to third day a decent amount in the past, and i fell in love with robert randolph’s abilities once (remember this?), so when i was offered the ticket i didn’t hesitate to say yes.  i knew i would have a good time and with the good friends, loud music, beautiful weather, and a slight breeze this proved to be true.

without going into detail, i’ve been struggling with a couple of things in my life.  i’ve been missing God’s intentions for me and i’ve responded to this challenge poorly.  i’ve gotten to the point that i’ve been mad at God, at times feeling like he’s totally left me and run off to hang out with someone else.  in arguing with, then running away from God, i’ve been stressed, frustrated, and cranky.  i have tried (without much success) to not let this affect my demeanor at work and with my family.  it’s not fun.

friday night third day played a song from their first album, a song that i haven’t heard in a long time, “thief.”  musically, it’s a fairly simple song, but it’s not written for the music, it’s written for the lyrics.  it is sung from the point of view of the thief hung next to Jesus who was mentioned in luke 23:40-42.  this song has been stuck in my head all weekend.  then today at church our pastor read and briefly spoke about the thief as well.  sometimes God tries to teach you lessons by sending subtle hints.  sometimes he smacks you in the face with them.  this was one of those times.

i’m thankful that i have a Father who cares for me and loves me.  he has patiently waited for me to admit that the points i so vehemently defended in my argument with him were completely wrong (which i’m not good at doing).  it’s comforting to know that even though i haven’t done a thing to earn forgiveness – let alone a place in heaven – i still have the opportunity to receive it, all i have to do it ask.  that’s the beauty of grace.  none of us deserve it.  we can’t earn it.  God is always willing to give it to us, He only requires that we ask for it.

i haven’t found the answers that i’ve been waiting for.  i pray every day that i find them soon.  i still am bothered by the fact that God’s time (kairos, thanks bill bray) hasn’t aligned with my time.  at least He has reminded me that even though He isn’t ready to unveil His plans for me, He does offer me unlimited grace.

if you want to hear the song, here it is.

is this why we call Him Gracious?

lucas oil stadium: my review

disclaimer:  i’m not an architect.  to take that even further, my experiences in large sporting venues are limited.  i’m reviewing this not as a critic, but as a fan.  i’m giving my opinions which, i think, are representative of the general fan base that will be buying the tickets, not those that visit venues like this for a living.

my first impression of lucas oil stadium is that it is absolutely mammoth.  i’ve driven past it on i70, i’ve driven past it on missouri, but to actually walk up to it for the first time gave me a completely new perspective of the incredible scale.  it’s huge!

we’ve been reading about the stadium for some time now.  i’ve read the releases that they have sponsors set up for gates and such, but having seen it i now understand it.  the indiana stadium and convention building authority did a great thing having companies sponsor gates and corridors.  these areas are loaded with merchandise, murrals, interactive areas, etc.  it’s not like walking down a corridor and seeing nothing but tv’s with commercials running on them.  there’s lots of “stuff” to look at, things to see.  the effect is that the sponsors get a great amount of exposure, but in a tasteful, meaningful, and probably effective way.  instead of hh greggs spending millions of dollars to sponsor a board with their name on it next to the jumbotron, they get a gate with a show room and interactive activities.

the inside of the stadium is attractive, to say the least.  every view i saw was excellent.  there is an extreme amount of natural light (during the day) without the roof open, which gives it a light, airy feeling.  it seems to me that this would be hard to achieve in a building with a roof, but they pulled it off.  the current trend of showing the “guts” of a building (steels girders, air ducts, etc) has been continued in the building with positive results.  i don’t have the experience/knowledge to break it down any more so i’ll just post a few more pictures. 

last, but not least.  i have the honor of probably being the first person to be booed at lucas oil stadium.  when we were in line to go past the locker room at the end of the tour, some guy in a suit came by (i assume he was a big wig with the stadium authority) and asked if everyone was enjoying the experience.  we all yelled yes and as his eyes swept the crowd they landed on me.  i, of course, had my cubs hat on.  i wasn’t stupid enough to wear any of my bears gear, but i thought the cubs had would be innocent.  the guy looked at me and asked (playfully) where my colts hat was.  i responded that i didn’t have one.  the look on his face screamed, “why not.”  so i responded the only way i knew how.  “i don’t have one because i’m a bears fan.”  instantly, everyone within earshot started booing me.  it was great!  my response to them?  i pointed at the super bowl banner hanging from the rafters and said, “settle down.  .i like the bears, but you guys have your banner.  you won, we lost.  and now you have a beautiful building to boot.”  good fun!

lucas oil stadium

EDIT:  to see my review, click here.

i will have the priviledge of taking a tour of lucas oil stadium, new home of the colts, in downtown indianapolis tomorrow morning.  i’ll post my thoughts on the stadium afterwords.  i’m not an architect, nor do i play one on tv, so i’m not going to write a review on things i know nothing about.  i will, however, give a fan’s perspective of what it feels like, pictures included.  hopefully they will let us throw a football on the field too. 

alexander hamilton

i finally finished alexander hamilton by ron chernow the other night.  i’ve only been working on it for a couple of months now.  it takes a long time to read 735 pages about a man that you know only a little about.  it’s not like reading fiction you know.  plus, i haven’t had much time to devote to reading so i’ve been reading a couple of pages per night.  not exactly the quickest way to finish a book of this size.

now that i’ve avoided my complex and don’t have to worry about the internet community making fun of me because of how long it took me to read this book, i must say that i really enjoyed it.  i learned so much about hamilton and about the formation of the u.s.  i knew that he played a major role in the formation of the united states, but i had to idea to what extent.  holy crap!  so much of what we take for granted today, so much of what is just standard operating procedures, are his brainchildren.  not only that, but boy could he write.  i don’t know that i could write a 500 word blog post let alone the tomes that he was putting out.  oh well.  that’s why he was a founding father and i’m an assistant store manager.  i truely believe that every person living in this country should read a book on alexander hamilton.  maybe not this one – it’s a little long for the casual reader – but a book on hamilton.  he was such an important figure in shaping our nation and most don’t know anything about him.

my only critique is that chernow put in so much research (nearly 100 pages of footnotes) i wish he would have written more details and broken the bio into two 500 page volumes rather than one 750 pager.  it just felt like he tried to edit the content of this book to keep it in one volume.  there were some places where he cut a story off and ended it roughly with a quick sumation and a rushed conclusion rather that spending the time necessary to help the reader come to the same conclusions he did.  i don’t doubt much that i would have come to the same conclusions that he did, but if he did this much research and made the book this long, then just finish the job, give me the meat, and let me come to my own conclusions.

like i said, i really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it to anyone who reads us history, revolution, founding fathers, or anyone interested in the history of capitalism in america.

tour de fishers

over the last year ash and i have been seeing more and more people (mostly men) cycling on some of the busier streets in our area.  we always see them in packs.  anywhere from four to twenty.  we call it the tour de fishers.

i think it’s great that these men take their fitness seriously.  living in an area that is known for it’s high levels of smokers and obesity, it’s nice to see some people taking their health seriously.

here’s what bugs me (in no particular order).

1. why do they insist on riding on the busiest commuting streets.  i’m not just asking because i find it annoying to have to slow down because there are no bike lanes.  don’t they see that it’s dangerous to ride these streets?
2. moreover, they ride these busy streets during peak times.  are saturday and sunday mornings so much less convenient than thursday afternoon during rush hour.  just asking?
3. they don’t just ride in packs, they all wear their spandex bodysuits.  not only do they wear these suits, but i have seen many who have identical suits.  why?  do you go to the gym dressed just like your three best friends?  is this the newest way to keep up with the joneses?  is this the cool thing to do now?  if so, i need to go get mine right away.  maybe ash and i will wear our matching spandex bodysuits to the mall or something.  that will really make a statement.

like i said.  i’m all for people doing what they can to stay healthy, i just don’t understand this obsession and how far they take it.