Congratulations to NET!

I'm watching the first official hour of NET!

Congratulations to Deacon Greg and everyone at NET for their launch! Best wishes for the success of good TV.

I wonder if they'd be interested in Worship, Gotham! . . . .

Worship, Gotham!

For the last two hours, I've been suffering from what I think may be my first-ever migraine. Advil hasn't worked and I hate bright light right now. But, through the pain, I received an email that got me excited and, if only for a few seconds, made me forget my pain.

My friend Adam Who-Is-Hopefully-On-The-Path-To-Becoming-a-Rabbi, sent me the following email:

Dude,

We've gone to Hare Krishna prayer worship, I've taken you to
Reformed temples, you've taken me to Catholic and Lutheran Church. Now
that I've got some free time (and I feel like I need to learn more about
different religious services since I am reading my History of Religion book and
don't understand the differences between religions), do you want to do a tour of
the most impressive houses of worship services in NYC? I figure we should
re-hit Catholic and Reformed Jewish (just for St. Pats and Temple Emanu-El), but
I am more curious about other religions and denominations of Christianity.
The Buddhist, Hindu, Islam, Ba'hai and the like will take some time to research,
but just off the top of my head we will need to go to Trinity Church for
Episcopalian, Jewish Theological Seminary for Conservative Judaism and Society
for the Advancement of Judaism for Reconstructionist Judaism.

Let me know if you are interested.

Adam

This is the kind of email that makes my day.

I long for the days when I had easy access to various religious services, leaders, and scholars. When I was a student at NYU I was the Vice President of the Newman Club at the Catholic Center. In addition to the regular Newman Club meetings and Sunday Mass, I had access to the Islamic Center just across the hall, met a few times with the Rabbi at the Bronfman Center, hung out and talked religion with Ba'hai friends, went to Buddhist meditation days, attended ecumenical services with other Christian groups, and broke bread with the children of Abraham.

Adam sent a follow-up email saying that perhaps going to the "impressive" houses of worship may limit our experience and I agree. We should go to the places where the rabbis, imams, pastors, gurus, etc will spend time with us, teach us about their religion, and let us ask questions.

This will probably require arranged meeting times, etc. But, if you happen to be a religious leader and are reading this, your services would be greatly appreciated as we set forth to explore the religions of NYC.

Worship, Gotham! <-- that's what I've decided our series is going to be called. I could see this becoming a great television show, a sort of lay God Squad. If only we had access to a camera and production studio . . . .

The pre-training inspiration and confidence building begins

Team BadAss: Eric Harr

A long time ago, in a blog far, far away, I named professional athletes to Team BadAss. These are the professional athletes that embody what a professional athlete should be.

Today, I'll just do a quick intro of one the members of Team BadAss Eric Harr:Eric Harr was a guy who had fallen out of shape, was overweight, and working at a law firm in the Virgin Islands. He decided to sign up for a triathlon to help get him back into shape and ended up doing pretty well (finishing ahead of some pros).

Harr decided he was going to do something that few ever have the courage to do, follow a big dream. He decided, after just one race, that he was going to become a pro. He left his work, trained, ate well, trained some more, and by the end of his first year as a "pro" triathlete he was ranked #6 in the world.

Since then Eric Harr has continued racing, reported health segments on television, written a few books, given a ton back to charity, started his own online magazine, and raised awareness for global poverty and national obesity.

Here's a guy who had the balls, yes I said it, the balls to leave his profession for something many of us can only dream of. Granted, he can probably thank genetics a little, but still. How many of us have dreams that go un-pursued?

He dreamed big, made it, and is giving back.

Four years ago when I decided to dream big and run a marathon with no previous running experience, I bought Eric Harr's The Portable Personal Trainer. It's a small pocket sized book with health and fitness tips. Now that I'm training for another marathon and raising money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, I pulled out the book and flipped through it.

The first tip is to not only dream big, dream huge! "It's time to demand more from your body," says Harr on page 11.

Done!

(I think that means that I should go for a run today...)

Advent Conspiracy

An old friend posted this on Facebook. I love it:



Do it!

Where do Communion wafers come from?

When I was little I used to think that the Pope, at the Vatican, had a big wafer-making factory and distributed them accordingly. I was off by about 4138 miles.

They're made in Rhode Island. Watch!


Hat tip to the good Deacon Greg, who has been getting a lot of press for his Mad Men-like ad blitz for the new NET channel!

the fifth sentence of the 56th page...

...says, We all know how possible perpetual chastity actually is in reality, and just how few people actually do take this vow freely and deliberately!
- From Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions.

There's always those chain emails and now Facebook things that people always try and get you to do. Well, I saw this one a couple of days ago and didn't do it. I hardly ever do any of them. But, I've seen some pretty hilarious ones recently. So, I stood up, looked for the book nearest me and opened up to the 56th page and read the 5th sentence.

But, wait, I took it one step further. I took the sentence, pasted it into Google, and did an Image search. This is what I got:
What are the cosmos trying to tell me?

I would be king and you would be my queen

We could be heroes. Just for one day.

Wendy and I were watching TV tonight and I somehow started humming Heroes, by David Bowie, during a commercial break. She sang along, but a different version, the Moulin Rouge mashup.

In any case, I went to look for a David Bowie version and for some unknown reason typed in www.heroes.com. Turns out it's a website dedicated to heroes, real and fictional. It's a fun place to look around if you get a chance. One of their home page stories features Marco Martinez, a former gang member who has received an award for bravery from the Marines.

Read on:

Former Gang Member Receives the Navy Cross

From a gang member to Iraq War hero, and the first Latino Marine fighting in Iraq to receive the Navy Cross, the nation's second-highest award for bravery.When former Marine Corps Sergeant Marco Martinez looks back on his life as a "gangbanger" in New Mexico, he believes he was one step from going over the edge.

Here is a young man who once sat in a car with a gun on his lap, waiting to kill a rival gang member.A few years later, Marco Martinez is ignoring intense enemy fire to save two fellow Marines from almost certain death.

"I was basically a leech on the side of America's body, sitting there, sucking blood out, not doing anything productive. Finally, when I joined the Marine Corps, I understood what it was to be an American," said Marco. You do not have to spend much time with Marco to realize that is his true belief.

On April 12, 2003, Marco, serving with the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, responded to a call to reinforce a platoon that had been ambushed. Under fire, Marco moved his team into supporting positions to assault the enemy. He eliminated two hostile fighters on the initial attack after his squad leader was wounded by a grenade blast. Marco took control and led the assault into the area where the ambush had began. Marco and his outnumbered men cleared a nearby building held by enemy fighters. As they entered another area, they took stronger small arms fire from the hostile forces inside. Marco and his men fought their way through the building into a courtyard, where the Fedayeen continued to engage the Marines from a garden shed.

Marco saw that the enemy had left a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) launcher and two rounds on the ground on their way to the bunker. As his team provided cover fire, Marco ventured into the open and grabbed the RPG launcher and sprinted behind a palm tree. The hostile forces targeted Marco – but his assault had allowed his men to safely evacuate the wounded Marines. While the rest of the team took care of the injured men, Marco single-handedly attacked the bunker. Dodging bullets, he ran up to the shed and threw a grenade into the building, killing four enemy forces and ending the firefight.

...

"I really thought I was going to die, and I was at peace with that, because I had done so many things beforehand, where I might have died over misinterpreted glances, colors, girls," said Marco.

...

Despite his humility, the Navy Cross is something that's awarded to only a relatively few people. As a Marine colonel once said, you don't "win" the nation's second-highest military honor; you earn it.

Read the full story here.

And enjoy some Bowie while you're here:


And, upon Wendy's request, some Moulin Rouge:

Make me an instrument of your peace

'Cuz you can never have enough:

Barack Obama Way

Wendy and I have been confused by some reports we're hearing of things being named "Barack Obama" something-or-other.

Isn't it way too early?

Granted, he is the first African-American president-elect in our history! That's pretty neat. Yes, he has a good story. But, he hasn't done anything as President yet!!!!!

A Long Island Elementary School is now known as Barack Obama Elementary School. Couldn't they wait four years to make sure he actually turns out to be OK?

In a small town in Spain, the main avenue is being renamed Calle Barack Obama. Umm, why?

Babies are being named Barack Obama. Please don't do that yet!

I voted for him and hope, for the good of our country, that he does an amazing job. But what if he's terrible? Do you want to take the chance that you named your baby after a terrible President? I wonder how many little George W. Bushes are running around the country....

I'll say this, I like Obama's VP and cabinet picks so far. I can just see the day when we need to send someone to resolve some issue with some foreign wannabe. Who do we send?

How about, National Security Advisor Jim Jones? Badass!

Not a cabinet pick, but definitely on the Obama team, Senate Foreign Relations Chair John Kerry? He just might tase you bro!

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton? She won't take no one's crap!

And wait, if we really, really have to - if you step up to the US we might just have to unleash Vice President Joe Biden. We might as well give you a head start running. You done gonna get schooled Biden-style!

So, he has done that well. He picks a good team.

I have nothing but high hopes for our President-elect and I try to pray for him and his family every day. But, really, he hasn't done anything yet. Stop naming stuff after him please. Especially the babies. It's way too early.

One conservative blogger put it this way:

Imagine a child getting a trophy for just showing up for a little league baseball game.

Amen to that. I remember having to play a whole season before getting my plastic trophy. Sure, I sucked, but I played. He hasn't even started playing yet!

And, so, as I often like to do, I ask that you pray. Pray for our President-elect, our Vice President-elect, and their team. Expectations are high. I pray they're able to meet them.