the stoop

Here is a hilarious moment from last night’s Cavs / Celtics game [which, for whatever reason, was not on TV in Canada. Lame]. LeBron gets fouled by Paul Pierce, and a scuffle ensues behind the basket. Watch the lady in the light colored shirt who gets involved [to the left of KG] and check what LeBron tells her to do. Oh yeah, that lady is his mom.

LeBron put an exclamation point on this W with a sick dunk over KG. I can’t find a good quality video of that even, but I’ll try to post it up later.

It’s official. I have caught a case of Malkin Mania. Dude is straight up ridiculous. Here’s the clip from Game 1 where he gets rocked by Mike Richards, stumbles around a little bit, and then takes a breakaway pass and blasts it past Marty Biron. Amazing.

The big news in Toronto today is that Raptors play-by-play man Chuck Swirsky is leaving. After a decade covering the Raptors [and also hosting an afternoon show on the Fan 590 for the past few years], Chuck will be returning to Chicago and will be the radio guy for the Bulls. Asked why he had made this decision, Chuck said “”I have to do this for my family. I love Toronto, I thought I would be here for life, but family has to come first.”

Chuck has been a huge booster for the Raptors and the city of Toronto, and he will be missed. No more “break out the Salami and Cheese“, no more “from downtown [insert small Canadian town here]“, no more “Onions Baby, Onions.“, and no more guaranteed votes for Raptors players up for NBA awards. It’s a sad day. Sniff.

You can read Chuck’s departure announcement here.
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In other news, I recently came into possession of a gift card from Chapters, and after three trips through the store I can’t figure out what I want to pick up. There is a new Brian McLaren which might be good, and I’ve thought about grabbing some oldies that I have read before, but I am looking for something fresh. It can be fiction or non, it doesn’t matter. I just want to read something good this summer.

So I’ll throw it out there. Any suggestions / recommendations?

I’ve begun reading the final part of Jesus For President, and they are beginning to share some examples of what it means to live as one bound to the politics of the Kingdom. There is one quote early in this section that really hit me, and I wanted to share it right now:

As I continued to wrestle with complex human and political issues, I revolved myself to one thing: the starting point must be that the church is a place where we can grapple with difficult questions with grace and humility. And I believe that, even more important than thinking identically on every issue, we must learn to disagree well. Our ability as a church to disagree well is a powerful witness to the larger society as our uniformity on every issue.

That one got me. Learning to disagree with others in a graceful and humble way is certainly a challenge. There are an infinite number of disputable matters in the Church, and there are two things that can be said about that: a) it’s quite possible that they may never be resolved until it’s all over and b) our propensity to throw other believers under the bus lest they disagree with us on what are by definition debates without verifiable conclusions leaves a tremendously unsalty taste in the world.

In other words, we must learn to disagree well because disagree we will.

For more on this, listen to the sermon from Feb. 17th @ Mars Hill - I think that’s one, anyway.

For what was meant to be the most exciting playoffs ever, the first round of the NBA tournament has been a bit of a dud. My rooting interest was fixed on both the Raptors and the Suns, and they both went down pretty early. And every other series has gone pretty much how I expected them to. The only series that is providing any drama is the Hawks v. Celtics, which will either be the biggest upset in playoff history [bigger than last year's] or a serious waste of energy for the Celtics that, even if they win, could hurt them down the road.

Despite the fact that one series is still undecided, the 2nd round begins tonight, and I have decided that I am going to jump on the Hornets bandwagon. Why? Because a) Chris Paul is becoming one of my favorite non-Raptors players in the NBA, b) I would like to see MoPete do well in his post-TO career, and c) I am sick of the Spurs. As much as most people are hoping for a Lakers / Celtics final [which even I admit would be pretty cool], I am pulling for the team that just does not seem to get any respect despite having a tremendous season and a dominating series against the Mavs.

Go Hornets!

It’s May 1, and we all know what that means: the kickoff to the summer movie season. Countless sequels, remakes, superheroes and over the top comedies. Oh, I love it. Break out the Dr. Pepper and the Nibs and get ready. Not that I’ll really be able to hit up a bunch of movies this summer while saving up for Scotland, but a dude can dream, right? If I had to narrow it down, here are the high five that I am most psyched about this summer, with the accompanying trailer.

5. Tropic Thunder

4. Wall-E

3. Prince Caspian

2. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

1. The Dark Knight

Tropic Thunder could go either way, but right now it does look pretty hilarious to me. Honorable mention goes to Kung Fu Panda, Pineapple Express, Step Brothers and Iron Man. And I’m pretty sure I will be staying away from the likes of Hancock, the new Hulk and Don’t Mess With The Zohan.

I am certain that I will miss Cinema City more than once over the next few months.

Christianity is at its best when it is peculiar, marginalized, suffering, and at its worst when it is popular, credible, triumphal and powerful.

The history of the church has been largely a history of “believers” refusing to believe in the way of the crucified Nazarene and instead giving in to the very temptations he resisted - power, relevancy, spectacle.

Today, the logic goes something like this: “Calling a ruler ‘Son of God’ is out of style. No one really does that nowadays. We can support a president [or prime minister] while also worshiping Jesus as the Son of God.” But how is this possible? For one says we must love our enemies, and the other says we must kill them; one promotes the economics of competition, while the other admonishes the forgiveness of debts. To which do we pledge allegiance? Surely, one of them must have the wrong answer of how to move history. - from Jesus For President, Claiborne and Haw

This country is the last best hope on earth - Barack Obama, April 9 2007

I haven’t had too much time to sit and read lately, but Lauren and I hit up the local Starbucks this afternoon [not a 30 minute drive away anymore!] to read and journal. This book is getting good. It started off a bit slow, lots with some contextual info that has already been rehashed in other recent books. Now the comparisons are beginning to be drawn between the Roman empire and the current state of affairs in the world, and how we as Christians are meant to respond. Very interesting stuff, with much blog post fodder therein. Hopefully I can get back into reading mode ASAP.

Question: You know how Christians say that you can have a meaningful ministry in whatever you are doing, be it business, politics etc? Is that really possible? Can we truly be Christ followers while devoting our professional lives to systems of power that are contradictory to the Kingdom?

I don’t really know, myself. Something to think about.

For the next week or so, you can download the first single from the upcoming Coldplay album [entitled Viva La Vida]. The song is called Violet Hill, and it is dang good. Personally, I can’t wait for some new Coldplay.
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In other news, yesterday was 2/3 of a success. One visa application was submitted, but mine had to wait. Apparently there is such a thing as being too early. Who knew? I will have to make the trek back downtown in a month or so to drop that off. And I will probably do that on a day when the Blue Jays happen to be in town.
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The other great thing about yesterday was being able to reconnect with some old friends. It’s amazing how you can be away for a chunk of time and then pick up right where you left off. That is the sign of good friendship. ‘Twas a fun evening, and thanks to all who came.

Look for a non-update post coming soon. There are a few things brewing in the old noodle.

Within the hour, the one and only Chris Jackson Lewis will be knocking on the door, and the reunion will be on. The evening will involve a trip to Pizza Pizza and what will NOT be the last Raptors game of the year. If things get really crazy, we may also revisit our youth and grab some slurpees. Needless to say, it is shaping up to be one fun evening.

Tomorrow should be pretty solid as well, as Lauren and I will be heading into the city ['the city' now referring to Toronto and not Winnipeg] to a) submit our visa applications for Scotland and b) meet up with some friends chez Lone Star. That will be tremendous.

And yes, I have changed the layout of the blog once again. I was looking for a fresh, plain look. This theme is called ‘the journalist’. Sounds pretty professional, right? We’ll see how long it lasts, but I am into it right now.

Here’s the trip in a nutshell:

- The original plan was to head out on Thursday. Lauren’s step dad had the divinely implanted thought to head into the city on Tuesday evening, drop him at the airport on Wednesday and then we could leave Winnipeg mid-morning. Beautiful. This allowed us to bail before the snow that hit Southern Manitoba and the subsequent heavy rain that would hit Thunder Bay. Already off to a good start.

- We were able to make it to TBay on Wednesday, and caught some nice views of the sleeping giant. Pretty cool.

- At times, I have though that it would be pretty cool to live out west. I dig hills and water, and BC and Alberta seemed to have the monopoly on all that in our fair nation. I had no idea that Northern Ontario was so nice. The drive between TBay and the Sault was unreal. Driving through the hills and catching amazing views of Lake Superior was the highlight of the trek. One day we will go back and take it in a bit more. We weren’t able to take any pics because we were trying to make it to Sudbury, but it was nice to get those glimpses along the way.

- We had Pizza Pizza and Swiss Chalet for the first time in months, and it was beautiful.

- There were at least three times this week when I forgot what day it was.

- Apparently, Sudbury is booming. That’s what the hotel clerk told us anyway. Who knew?

- I was hoping to see a bear or moose, but only encountered one caribou on the 400. He sauntered across the highway and out of sight.

- It was a blessing to have the iPod adapter for the UHaul. I listened to several Mars Hill sermons and a bunch of good tunes. It’s good to turn up the volume and belt it out every once in a while.

This past week has been a whirlwind. Exactly one week ago we were sitting in an overcrowded chapel for Lauren’s graduation, and now here we are, semi-unpacked in Guelph. Overall, the trip went very well. No hiccups at all, and played out exactly how the google maps told me it would.

It might take a week or so to process that we have actually moved and that this isn’t just a visit. And it will be weird not going to church tonight.

Well, time to take the truck back and get ready to watch the Raps game.