Joy and Pain of Being a Sports Fan

I am a basketball fan. I enjoy watching ball at almost any level.  I especially enjoy close competitive games.  But when I am watching my teams, I get a rush when they take the lead or win a close game.  I feel dark and down when they lose.  I feel very frustrated when they aren't playing well or are giving a good effort. It's strange the affect it has on me. Watching a game is physically, mental and emotional draining experience.

When my teams are playing well, it is a euphoric, re-affirming joy ride.  When they play poorly I have to focus on the small positives I can see from individual players.

Sometimes, I have to stop watching or a bad game can darken my mood for days.

Being a fan is hard.

Being perpetually surprised in life

Nothing stays the same and everything changes.  Everything changes in ways I don't expect.  The experiences that I anticipated in my life never happen in the way I anticipated them.

In high school I expected to study hard and churn out straights A's in college.  In reality I found the grades weren't that important to me. Also I discovered that grinding out an A in high school english is very different than an A in thermodynamics.

I was sure I would meet a girl at college. I would date her and marry her.  I met lots of girls at college. The few I wanted to date did not return the sentiment. So I did the modern thing and met my wife via the internet.

The moral of the story is that your life will be different than what you can see from now. Don't get down about it. Don't worry too much about it. Make the best decisions you can now today and revisit them when the time is right.

The long awaited return

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around does it make a noise?

If I write another blog entry but no one is waiting for it happen is it a return?

I answer yes and yes.

Life has a way of feeling like nothing is changing but at the same time it never feels like anything changes.  I recently attending a family reunion and all but one of my siblings are firmly adults now.  They know who they are and what they want.  There aren't many big changes left in their lives.  However, it was stunning to see the changes in my nieces and nephews.  If my generation has stopped making big changes, are we done living life as fully as our children?   I don't know what my answer to that is any more.

Maybe my problem is that I have already achieved most of my life goals.  I need to set some new ones. Until next time.

Grading life on a curve.....

So the other day I was having a conversation with my boss and some how we started to talk about life in general.  The thought came to me that God will grade all of lives on a curve and we should grade those around us on a curve except when: we are in a life or death situation and when we are choosing a eternal mate.  You have to evaluate the person that will be doing your brain or heart surgery with your head and not your heart. Marrying the right person for you is one of things that change your life the most.  It isn't enough the person has overcome so much or that they have been clean for 7 years. The sad true is most recovered addicts will relapse from time to time. Or if the person you are looking at marrying has so much 'potential'.  I understand that you  love the person you want to marry. But you have to think about what happens if they don't reach the highest you hope they will.  Will your potential marriage still work? Anyway that was my quick random thought.

Rising Energy Costs and the Possible Economic Crunch

Now that gas has hit $3 a gallon again, I have started to wonder how society would change if gas stayed at $4 or more gallon for a year or two.  The obvious answer is that electric, natural gas and other alternative fuels vehicles would suddenly become practical.  But a deeper answer is we might develop the energy infrastructure to take advantage of the efficiencies in using freight trains.  We would possibly develop more local oil fields to increase our local supply.  It is reasonable to expect significant changes in our way of life in the the next 10 years. So keep in mind that being conservative financially will keep your options open. Having a years worth of food storage will keep you fed.

Challenging Challenges and Growth

When I was young, I had a problem.  My parents expected me to earn my Duty to God.  At that time part of earning the Duty to God was writing 500 words on your testimony and the Gospel.   In my ignorance and innate stubbornness, I vowed that I would not write any such 500 words.  I was intimidated by writing so many words-  500 sounded like so many.  I knew it was what my parents wanted and I felt rebellious.  It was a Sunday afternoon and on most Sunday afternoons I played with my siblings.  This particular Sunday my parents employed the principles of agency and consequence.  I didn't have to write the 500 words, but I did have to sit in a room away from everyone else with a notebook and a pen.  My choice was having a terrible consequence-- I was terribly bored.  In the end I wrote the 500 words.  It had been a difficult thing for me.  But with my parents help, encouragement and a little punishment I discovered I could overcome this challenge.

Several years later, I was involved in a 50 mile hike as a boy scout.  At the time I weight about 75-80 pounds and smallest pack I could pack for a week long trip weighed 25 pounds.  I was a patrol leader and had several other small boys in my patrol.  The first day was difficult by but we all made without too much trouble.  On the second day,  our hike began with a difficult climb over a pass.  We only hiked about a mile but gained around three thousand feet in elevation.  We made to the top of the pass but day was only just begun.  We have 10 more miles to travel that day.  So we hiked and we stopped.  We stopped and we hiked a little.  As the day dragged on our stops became longer and more frequent.  The stronger boys left us all behind until it was only myself, Adam and my father the scout leader.  Because I was patrol leader I took a couple of things off of Adam's pack even though I was sure I couldn't carry another pound. It was starting to get late in the evening and my Dad encouraged us and taught us the little trick of making small goal. We can walk the 100 steps to that tree.   Then we can walk a 100 more to that rock.  After you do 100 steps several times for 10 minutes you can rest for a couple of minutes.  We made it into camp late that night.  But I learned that I could finish physically difficult things.

Now I am thirty years old.  I haven't mastered myself completely but most of my challenges come from caring for my daughter.  I was alway taught that I would have challenges and trials throughout my life and that I would grow from them.  It is only now that I am 'old' can I really see it.

True Religion

As long as man has been on the Earth he has followed, created and changed religions.  But what is 'religion'?

From the point of view of an atheist, religion is and has always been a grand lie that was told to those who could no accept the truth that man's carnal nature.  Religion is a lie that is used to control societies and shape human behavior as the oldest most effective mass marketing scheme.  Atrocities, war and massacres can all be rightfully attributed to religious strife.  Wouldn't be we all be better off without it?

The other possibility is that there are Eternal Divine Truths, an Eternal Right and Wrong.  That would make True Religion, a religion with Divine Truth, the Purpose and calling of Mankind.  But all men can be deceived.  There is always someone else smarter, cleverer or quicker than you.  So how do you recognize a Divine Truth when you encounter it?  If there is a God, logically the only way is to ask him.   God answers prayers in our hearts and in our minds.  When you learn of a Divine Truth, your heart will burn within you and you mind will be clear. You will know within you soul of its truth.  In fact you will have a testimony of its truth.