Don’t Like Monday?

That’s okay, apparently God did not either.  It is the only day in the Genesis creation narrative that is not pronounced with the typical judgment of, “it was good.”  Maybe even when God was creating the universe he was able to anticipate, the five day work week.  But if you hate Monday take heart, because Tuesday is the only day which God said “it was good” twice; this is why many Orthodox Jews still get married on Tuesday.  I bet they do not have a lot of friends from out of town show up though, because that his a hard and awkward day to travel on.

ryan

A Word About The Tone Of This Blog

One of the great difficulties or limitations of blogging is that the method of communication does not properly convey tone, emotion, or depth of relationship at all. Today at church I had some people who read this blog comment about the frankness, and blunt nature of some of the recent blog posts and ensuing comment threads. I was surprised at first that people would think this until I realized that not everyone knows the deep friendships that under-gird the interactions of many of the participants in the comment sections.

Adam h, who comments frequently on this blog, is a good friend of both Matt and I, and was also our amazing Campus Crusade director in college. Matt, Adam and I are all political science majors who also deeply love the Lord, so when the topics of politics and religion surface all three of us have strong opinions and years of serious thought and study on the topics. Please know that even though we are brutally honest and blunt with each other it is all in a spirit of love and affinity for each other. The great conversations that are sometimes had on this blog are one of the things that make it so fun and rewarding for me.

As this blog has developed an identity I have noticed that it quite accurately mirrors both Matt and I; it quickly transitions between irreverent and random, to the serious and meaningful. And if you were ever to listen to our phone conversations you would understand that is truly what our relationship is often like. Just before writing this post Matt and I talked on the phone about; Greek word studies, Hermeneutics, baseball, UNLV basketball, Church (what it should be like), and who I want the Chicago Bulls to draft. It all sounds quite disjointed but it just works, kinda like this blog.

ryan

Pastor Wright And Race In America

I intend to answer the question that Adam asked me in the previous comment thread, but I also wanted to first post this article as I think it highlights the complexity of the situation.

ryan

What is Black Liberation Theology?

Anthony Bradley gives us some clues…

matt

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Spring Break

I know all of you with full time jobs and who have not experienced spring break since NSYNC was popular will roll your eyes and scoff at me even mentioning being on spring break.  But I am on spring break and the thought just hit me that unless by some miracle God sends me to go do a PHD (only slightly more likely than me playing in the NBA) then this is my last spring break.

So for a guy who has had spring break for all but two years of his memorable life (and those two years I was a “professional reader” as Matt says)  it will be sad to say goodbye to such a good friend.  Here are some things I hope to do this week.

1.  Finish NT Wright’s new book “Surprised By Hope.”  This book is awesome and I will try and blog about it in the future.

2.  Go to New Belgium Brewery with my visiting family up in Fort Collins.  This trip is akin to living in Vegas and making the obligatory trip to the Forum Shops when relatives come into town.

3.  Make pancakes.  I really like to make pancakes but never do, this seems like a good week to do so.

4. Spend lots of time with my wife.  This is the first time or spring breaks have matched up.

5.  Yard work.  I hate yard work but it is a reality of being a homo…wait for it… ner, (that was two inside jokes simultaneously!!)

ryan

So Kids When Your Parents Catch You In A Lie, Just Tell Them You “Misspoke”

This seems to be the strategy of Hillary Clinton in his hilarious controversy she now finds herself in.  As Hillary has been tooling the country and boasting about her incredible international relations and policy experience, many have contested that she has severely overstated her case.  This news clip seems to support that idea, as we find Hillary not facing “sniper fire” as she stated but instead awkwardly singing …

When real life is this surreal Colbert and Stewart don’t need writers, the truth is funny enough.

ryan

SCREW YOU ESPN – and notes on today’s game

I hate ESPN. I am now officially going to CBS for all my sports needs. They have turned into the cool kid at school who uses his popularity to make his friends look better and marginalizing if not making fun of those he doesn’t like. I could point out all the ways that ESPN has refused to be an objective news source and has blatantly blacklisted all MWC teams for backing refusing to sign a contract with them (note: CUSA and Memphis knows exactly how I feel), but I will simply use one example:

UNLV v. Kansas game preview

Not one mention of UNLV in the game preview.

SCREW YOU ESPN. YOU AND ALL YOUR EAST COAST BIASED, UNC/DUKE SYMPATHETIC, GAWD AWFUL ANALYSTS (except for you Doug Gotlieb, you’re cool).

Now for some game notes:

- How cool is it to see Larry Johnson wearing red rooting for UNLV?

- Listened to Lon Kruger talk with Doug Gotlieb on The Herd yesterday. Seriously, is it possible to excite Lon Kruger? The guy is stoic and laid back at the same time. He is inspiring and boring all at once. This guy is amazing.

- Seven years ago as a college freshman I hapened to be in Chicago for the first round of the NCAA tourny. Before the UNLV/Tulsa game I talked up the Rebels to a large crowd at the Downtown ESPNZone (SCREW YOU ESPN), then proceeded to watch Bill Banyo be absolutely out coached by Bill Self. Well Mr. Self, that isn’t Bill Bayno on UNLV’s sideline anymore.

- ESPN is a member of the Communist Party and a Nazi sympathizer. Just thought it should be mentioned.

- Bill Self replaced Lon Kruger at Illinois.

- Ten years ago Kansas defeated a Lon Kruger coached Kansas State en route to a National Championship.

- For date night last night I took Vicky to a sports book. It was her first time. In order to ensure that she would care about today’s game as much as her husband she put 10 on UNLV straight up.

- In order to ensure myself that I would care about the game more than my wife I also put 10 on UNLV straight up.

- Guys, if you want to have the most fun in your life, take your wife to a sports book. Give her no instructions and sit back quietly and enjoy her asking the pissed off man at the counter 25 questions about making a 10 bet on a 13 point dog.

- ESPN hates black people and is the largest conglomerate of underground dogfighting.

matt

note: so I don’t get sued by an overcompensating bully of a alleged sports network – all references to ESPN have not been confirmed and probably aren’t true.

CHEATING!!!

Hey so remember when teachers told us is school that when we were cheating we were only “cheating ourselves.”

Turns out they were right. I can vividly remember cheating on all my major grammar assignments in junior high and high school. I had to relearn what adverbs and pronouns were in college. And right now (GOD BLESS WIKIPEDIA) I am teaching myself a class on syntax.

In following the examples of how we did it in school. I have created a glossary, written out the definitions and examples, and am trying to memorize them. Some examples of my glossary include:

- noun
- pronoun
- infinitive
- gerund
- predicate
- direct object
- indirect object
- predicate noun
- predicate adjective
- participle
- adverb
- article
- demonstrative nouns
- prepositional phrases
- antecedent

Dammit!!! I should have listened.

matt

Good Friday

Why do Christians call the day that Jesus went to the Cross and suffered a brutal death good?  I encourage you all to read Isaiah 53 today and watch this video as you spend some time thinking about the work of the Cross, and the coming of Easter.

ryan

Lon Kruger Is 25,000 Dollars Richer!

This is the bonus he recieves anytime the UNLV wins an NCAA Tournament Game.  And today UNLV did just that, by beating Kent State 71-58.  In the process UNLV set a tournament record by holding Kent State to 10 points in the first half.  I do not know if this means UNLV is officially back on the national scene but its close.  We have an incredible crop of talent ready to infuse next year’s roster but right now I could not be happier of what this program has accomplished this year.  I am truly proud to be a UNLV grad.

Now if we could somehow pull the monster upset and beat Kansas on Saturday then there would be no question about UNLV has taken the leap back to national promience, regardless of what every East Coast ESPN talking head says…

ryan