More Christmas Stories

Some of you may know that I got an X-Box 360 for Christmas from Jesse's parents. Now all of you do. While I wish you all could have been there to experience the excitement with me, you can be content watching this video that simulates my joy upon receiving said 360.

Clarifications

That last post was in no way an indictment of Santa nor his/her abilities to give wonderful gifts and be generally totally sweet.

Christmas Disappointment

So this Christmas was really great, except for one thing:

If you look closely at the left side of the puzzle, you will NOT see the missing piece, but you will see where it belongs. Talk about a study in futility, shouldn't the puzzle companies be doing something about this? Full refund with picture evidence seems like it could be exploited (although one might ask why), but why not set up some way for them to send the missing piece in the mail? It would be like Calvin's beanie or the Little Orphan Annie Decoder Ring, I'd check the mail every day. Until then, there's a hole in the Aegean. (See Buster for spiritual parallels)

Just another victory?

Maybe it wasn't anything special, but I sure did enjoy today's victory a little more than usual. If we can get out of the West again, last year's fiasco won't be happening again.

Honest Questions

These have been on my mind lately. Go ahead and take a stab...

So many people with great potential to be agents of change are dissatisfied with the way the church is today, so why isn't the church changing?

Is the reason many of those in my generation of ministers whom I respect the most are going into the mission field (foreign or domestic) because they'd rather deal with difficulties in a church built from scratch than the established American church institution?

Are the cultural forms we use in the American church really best-suited for the functions and goals of the church?

How long will it take for American Christians to realize that our culture is NOT Christian and what would it look like if we did realize that?

Revisiting the Past

Ohio State - no loss
WVU - no loss
USC - one loss (possibly undefeated)
Michigan - one loss
Texas - one loss
Louisville - one loss
Clemson - one loss
Auburn - one loss (fine, MAYBE two)
Florida - one loss (maybe two)
Arkansas - one loss (maybe two)
Notre Dame - one loss (maybe two)
Boise State - no loss??
Cal - one loss (probably two)
Tennessee - two loss (MAYBE one)

These were my predictions for the end of the year, back in October. First of all, I'm truly ashamed that Tennessee (9-4) made this list. All we really know now is that no one ever knew what Cal would do.

Let's look at the ones I got right:

Boise State - Thank you for making every game for the rest of the year suck.
Florida - who knew?
Louisville - Ah Rutgers...

The ones I almost got:

Ohio State - Enough has been said about this already.
USC - Oregon State and UCLA combined couldn't beat Michigan, although Oregon State had a classic bowl win.
Auburn - (it's in the parentheses and you get points for beating the national champs)
Michigan - Didn't see the second half of the Rose Bowl, but hey, I was close.

The overrated:

Texas - These guys didn't have it, but man is Vince Young great!
Notre Dame - e tu, Mel Kiper?
Clemson - a disappointing loss to Kentucky only makes me wish more that I had not read iii's blog.

The underachieving:

WVU - watch out for Slaton and White next year.
Arkansas - Slaton + White = McFaddon
Cal - Again, this year's Jekyll and Hyde award


All in all, not bad on the predictions and great for another year of college football. Here's to next fall and my early pick to win it all? Sadly, I'm going to have to go with USC. But I'm looking for big years from Wisconsin, Florida, and WVU as well.