Sunday Life Pointe Talk Soup: ‘Ol Atom Splitter Edition

Today’s service at LPC was the second in the series entitled, “Loaded”, and
dealt with treasure, possessions and values.

The warm-up video featured a new “Our man-on-the-street,” Phillip, the
Citizen Cane, Johnson, who interviewed ‘youts’ on a street, er.. sofa,
about what their idea of a Life Group was. Each had a take that diverged
significantly from what makes our Life Groups kick, and therein lies the
irony of the humor: each stated they had never attended one. Come on
peeps, step up and sign up while there is room up in here, in
the Life-Group of your choice. Great man-on-the-street, great vid.

Who needs The Gypsy Kings? The musical portion of the worship was all
male and all guitar. While we missed the beauty of the female voice, harmonies and the ease with which they can be looked at, the good
ol’ boys featuring two Santoyo Bros led us in worship and left us to
greet one another in the interlude between music and message with a
classic Good  Ol’ Boy  Johnny Cash Song, “Ring of Fire”, and
Alex failed to resist the  temptation to say in conclusion, “Hello, I’m
Johnny Cash!” We all knew he was lying with our eyes closed. It simply
re-enforced the myth that every real man fantasizes about being a
red-neck. There were loads of laughter at the improbable as we greeted
each other. Those Santoyos are such a gas, you gotta love ’em. We cannot
overlook Robert and Billy Finch and their wry sense of humor, especially Robert’s preference in nail coverings.

Well, the message by Trav was so interesting and so real-life because it
was so true. Our possessions, like our pets, wind up owning us.
Americans are rich and do not appreciate the richness and loftiness of
our financial status amidst the nations of the world. If an American
household makes $20,000 per year, it is in the top 5% of the world’s
richest households.

But, we are blessed to be a blessing according to Genesis 12:1,2 and we
must realize our possessions are temporary while our futures are
everlasting. We have a treasure principle outlined in Luke 12:15-21 and
Matthew 6:19-21: you love what you invest your treasure in. If you want
to change your values, change where you put your treasure and,
inversely, if you want to change your treasure, change your values.

The big takeaway for me was the aphorism, “if you don’t need it, seed it
where it is needed.” 1Timothy 6:17.

That’s the Ol’ Atom-Splitter’s take on August 31, 2008 Life-Pointe
worship service.

Work Got Me!

I am once again sitting here at work on a Sunday morning, thinking about being at church. I won’t be able to write about the service this morning so you will have to wait the the ‘Ol Atom Splitter to write the Talk Soup. I will see you guys next Sunday!

Saturday Top 5: Quarterbacks

This list is going to generate quite a bit of controversy, but this is my list. My criteria is not only championships, but will include wins, yards, TD’s, completions, a player’s value to their team, toughness, leadership, their impact on the game, and their heart. If you don’t like it, post your reasons. But, this list is the correct list.

Honorable Mention:

John Elway – Potentially top 5, but his best and most valuable years were prior to his championships. His two Super Bowl titles were on the backs of great defense and an incredible running game.

Peyton Manning – It’s hard not to include Manning on the top 5 considering his rocket of an arm, his championship, and the statistics he has put up. But I would bet that in a couple years, Manning will legitimately claim a spot on the top 5.

Bart Starr – Starr was a tough-as-nails QB who was the only QB with 5 NFL titles, 2 of those were the first two Super Bowls. He also won the MVP in the first two Super Bowls.

Terry Bradshaw – Bradshaw is the only 4 time Super Bowl champion QB. Like Starr, his TD to interception ratio was not that great, about 1:1. He was also erratic with his accuracy at times. However, his toughness, arm strength, and championships won makes his presence in this discussion inevitable.

#5. Joe Montana – What?!?! Montana is only #5? Yes, if championships alone are the criteria, I would make Montana still have Montana behind Brady and Starr, not much better than Bradshaw. But the truth is that every season Montana won it all, he was surrounded by superior offensive and defensive talent. He was a great QB, and people will continue to argue that he was the best, but some of the things that he was not known for was carrying the team by himself, flinging the ball all over the field, and turning out devastating numbers. With Rice, Clark, Craig, and a hot of other great weapons, many times he would throw the ball underneath and let them go to work.

#4. Tom Brady – Still very young with 3 Superbowl victories he could end up as the greatest QB ever. Brady is cool under pressure, tough as nails, but has a small knock against him. He has not had to carry his team yet.

#3. Dan Marino – I’m probably showing some bias here. Growing up, I watched Danny carry the Dolphins year after year, carving up defenses with the quickest release in NFL history. He was also famous for his game ending scoring drives and come from behind victories. Marino was not a runner, and had bad knees throughout his career. Regardless, he was perennially one of the least sacked QB’s. The reason is that he had a decent pass blocking O-line, but more importantly he had great instincts, vision, decision making skills, and reflexes. He could see the whole field, step into the pocket avoiding sacks, and had a super quick release. He set virtually every statistical career and single season record, many of them thought to be safe. Along came our #2 and took them away. He was also one of the most durable and reliable QB’s ever. Marino did it every year with nothing special on defense, and never really had much of a running back to work with. Marino’s knock that has haunted him was the fact that he never won a Super Bowl. After his Soph season in 84 when he lost the Super Bowl to San Fran, nobody would have thought that a return trip would never materialize.

#2. Brett Favre – Every major career stat that Marino had, Favre has surpassed. He is also the most durable and one of the toughest QB’s ever. Add a championship and great team leadership to that and you have the second greatest QB of all time. Nobody could rival the power he demonstrated at QB either. Many times that got him in trouble because he trusted his arm too much. But for every time he tried to force the ball where it could not go leading to a mistake, he created 10 magical moments. In 2008, he had one of his best statistical seasons, and was ready to hang up the cleats. Then the fire came back. We will see what he can do in a nasty Jets uniform.

#1. John Constantine Unitas – This man changed the way the game was played. Until Marino came along, he owned the record books, was totally clutch, had pinpoint accuracy, a cannon of an arm, and he won many big games. He was the model of the perfect QB for many years after he retired. He was a skilled field general, and the toughest QB of note. His 2 minute drill is still used today. He finished his career with 3 NFL championships, one of which was a Super Bowl victory.

Friday EIB Award!

The award for Excellence in Blogging goes to…..

well first, let me say that Kelly came in a close second.  I loved her pictures this week.  She is very talented, and her subject was cute as a button.

…..Billy Barue knocks it out of the park with his comparison of Barack and John.  Congrats Bill!  Keep up the good work.

Hurricanes 2008, Game 1 recap

• Total domination of an inferior opponent. There is not much more that can be said.
• There wasn’t much to learn about this game, other than that the Canes can beat a really bad opponent.  52-7 was the final score.
• I can’t say the offense or defense looked great, because the talent level was so completely divergent. The best thing is that penalties were relatively low throughout the first half. The game was never close. We did what we had to.

• We will have to wait until next week to see if we can even hang with the elite class this year.
• Parking was ridiculously expensive. $25 is too much to pay for general parking to see a lousy college football game. If it was a great opponent, it would be a little easier to swallow. I guess I am used to the $5 park and ride at the Orange Bowl.
• I miss the Orange Bowl. It was very strange watching a regular season game in Joe Robbie, er Dolphin Stadium.

  

• It was great to hang out with Oral and Lee.

Friday Bottom 3: Political Speeches in the Last 10 Years

OK, so a couple of these speeches go a few months over 10 years. They were too good not to include them.

Honorable Mention:
Hillary Clinton and her vast right wing conspiracy. Only one day after Bill wagged his finger at the camera, Hillary comes up with the VRWC.

Al Gore created the internet. People try to claim he didn’t say it, but during his attempt to puff himself up, he did take credit for the creation of the internet. That quote came back to haunt him as it was referred to over and over.

#3. John Kerry said that he actually did vote for the $87 billion before he voted against it. This debate answer has to be one of the biggest screw ups caught on camera. Many people believe his nuanced answer may have cost him the election.

#2. “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewensky” In a January 1998 press conference, Bill Clinton wagged his finger at the camera and declared with the most serious face ever that he did not have sexual relations with someone. It has been speculated that his speech could have been rearranged in this manner. “Ms. Lewensky, I did not have sexual relations with that woman!” Was he actually pointing at his wife while talking to Monica Lewensky? If so, he may not have lied.

#1. Addressing disappointed Iowa supporters, Howard Dean lets out a string of inspirational words that sounds like Ted Kennedy after drinking a pot of coffee. You can’t quite understand what he was saying, but whatever it was supposed to be turned out to be extremely funny. The scream was replayed countless time and totally sunk his floundering campaign.

Updated: Fantasy Football and Pro Fotball Pickem

Please check out the updated blog entry from yesterday. Follow the instructions and get ready to roll!

The address once again is https://thecitizencane.wordpress.com/2008/08/28/fantasy-football-and-pro-football-pick-em/.

Fantasy Football and Pro Football Pick Em

Life Pointe fantasy football is open! The ID # is 587041 the password is lpc. There are only 14 slots available. Draft day is Monday September 1, at 6:15 PM. If you don’t have time to join our live draft, you can join in the auto draft by setting up your picks. Go to http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/ and under Football ’08 (not Football Plus ’08), click the light blue tab that says “Join a League”, either log in or sign up for a yahoo ID, then click the tab that says “Join Custom”. Next, enter the league ID# 587041 and the password lpc. From there, create your team and confirm.

Life Pointe also has a “Pro Football Pick Em” league. The ID # is 46347 and the password is lpc. First, if you have a yahoo account, log in. Then click on http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/pickem, then click the yellow tab that says “Join a Group”. Enter the ID# 46347 and the password lpc. Follow the instructions to create your pickset name. Come show us what you are made of. We will be picking against the spread. There are 50 spots available for pick em.

Conventional Thoughts

• I am just about in full swing politically now, having followed the true story of the Beijing Olympics, and now watching the Democrats in Denver.  Things will be getting interesting… for me anyway.
• Last night, I watched old Slick Willy AKA President Clinton light up the crowd in Denver.  His speech stated that he would be supporting Obama, but I missed any details (other than that he is a Democrat) why anyone else should vote FOR Obama.  I heard exactly what I expected to hear.  “When I was president, everything was great, the country was great, the economy was great, the world loved us” etc.  What I didn’t hear was,”Obama is the best man for the job because _____________________.”  You will have to fill in the blank, because I don’t think “community organizer” or law professor is a good enough reason.
• Biden’s speech was pretty good, but I did feel that it went from a heart warming piece into an attempt to paint John McCain as a poor choice.  Unfortunately, when Biden or any Democrat starts talking foreign affairs in a dangerous world, people start to think long and hard about who they want as commander in chief.  When he mentioned Russia/Georgia, the crowd died.  Fair or unfair, Democrats are not perceived as being strong enough to lead us in the world when there are rough times.
• Biden’s speech didn’t connect with the crowd, certainly not the way Bill Clinton’s did.  At this point, Obama’s bounce shouldn’t be astronomical, though I assure you he will get a bounce.  John McCain should announce sometime tomorrow around 11 AM who he has selected for VP.  My dad is predicting Romney.
• On to other stuff.  Tonight is the opening game of the season for the Hurricanes.  You will see me up at Joe Robbie…. er, Dolphin Stadium to watch the Canes get a little practice in against Charleston Southern.  If we make 10 wins this year, it will be extremely successful.  It’s sad how expectations have fallen recently.
• It’s lobster season and I am still trying to get out.  Monday night looks really good!  Snook season starts that night too, so maybe we can grab a slot and some bugs.
• I called the park ranger to ask how many bug we get, and when he said 60 each person I was ecstatic.  Then I realized he said “six to each person” and I was back to reality.  🙂  That was for Brian, if he is reading.
• If you are interested in politics and especially from the point of view of a great American young man who is in living in exile from Cuba, check out Roberto Reports.  He has some good things to say and just recently started blogging.
• Things are going to be changing up at LPC soon!  As of September 14, we will be going to 3 services on Sunday morning: 8:30 AM, 9:45 AM, and 11:00 AM all in the same Pier 2 at Flagship Cinemas at the Campbell Drive exit of Florida’s Turnpike.  I will be at all three, but I will see you guys at the 8:30, right?  🙂
• O’course I will be working this week, so I won’t get to be at the theater Sunday morning.  But, I will see you next weekend, I garooooontee!

Wednesday Quotable

“Second place is just the first loser.”

–Dale Earnhardt, Sr