I'm a Teenager!

Monday's w/ Michael

On March 29, 1997, I gave my life to Christ! Today, I turned 13. Although a teenager, I often still feel like a helpless infant. If I had to summarize the past 13 years, I would do so by quoting the song below:

We Fall Down

Cursing every step of the Way, he bore a heavy load

To the market ten miles away, The journey took its toll

And every day he passed a Monastery's high cathedral Walls

And it made his life seem Meaningless and small

And he wondered how it would Be to live in such a place

To be warm, well fed and at Peace; to shut the world away

So when he saw a priest who Walked, for once, beyond the Iron gate

He said, Tell me of your life Inside the place...

And the priest replied...

We fall down, we get up

We fall down, we get up

We fall down, we get up

And the saints are just the Sinners

Who fall down and get up

Disappointment followed him Home; he'd hoped for so much More

But he saw himself in a light He had never seen before

Cause if the priest who fell Could find the Grace of God To be enough

Then there must be some hope For the rest of us

There must be some hope left For us

We fall down, we get up

We fall down, we get up

We fall down, we get up

And the saints are just the Sinners

Who fall down and get up

I am so thankful for a merciful Father who is always there to pick me back up when I have fallen.

Misc Info

Monday's w/ Michael

Here are a few pointless updates:

1). My brackets are terrible. I filled out 8 brackets and had Kansas and Kentucky in the Championship game on all of them. Well, Kansas got beat yesterday. I hope none of you took my advice from last week.

2). We had our official weigh-in on Thursday. In the past 2 months, I've lost 23 pounds. Thursday was a lot of fun. I decided to walk from Nesco to the clinic for the weigh-in. Then I walked to the Snug for lunch (a salad and diet Pepsi) and walked back to Nesco. As much as I love coming home to Jane and the boys every day for lunch, I thoroughly enjoyed my walk.

3). Depressing thought for the week: I teach 3rd grade Sunday school. The oldest student in class had a birthday last week. He turned 10. That means he was born in March of 2000. That means that none of my kids were alive for Y2K! It doesn't seem that long ago to me, but none of my kids would have any idea what I'm talking about. Wow, do I feel old!

Make it a great week!

Bracketology

Monday's w/ Michael

Well, yesterday started one of the most exciting weeks for sports fans. March Madness had officially arrived! Since I'm sure all of you are busy filling out multiple brackets, I'll give you a few of my pointers.

1). Don't pick a team to win if it has the word "State" in the name and it isn't really a state. It's ok to pick Michigan State or Ohio State, but Southwest Christian State has never won a game. So for this year's bracket, take West Virginia over Morgan State, Baylor over Sam Houston State, Kentucky over East Tennessee State (they're trying to trick you here, but East Tennessee isn't really a state), Vanderbilt over Murray State and Tennessee over San Diego State (ok, so I'm actually a little nervous about that one. Considering cities in California are probably larger than most states, maybe San Deigo State doesn't fall into this category).

2). Don't pick a team just because it has a cool mascot. Grizzlies are cool, but don't pick Montana to beat the New Mexico Lobos. (Lobo is Spanish for wolf, so not only is it a pretty cool predator, but it's also in a foreign language!)

3). Always pick against the team you want to win. I know most of you disagree with me on this one, but if you pick the team you want to win and they lose, then you are really down. But if you pick the other team, then no matter who wins, you can be happy. That's why I'm picking Siena to beat Purdue in the first round. Yes, that's right folks, you heard it hear first.

4). On the flip side, never pick the team you don't want to win. You should never root for your enemy. Ever. That's why I'm not picking IU to win a single game this tournament!

Hope this helps as you fill out your bracket. Oh, and if you happen to use my logic and fill out a perfect bracket and win the $1,000,000 from Yahoo...don't forget about me.

Make it a great week!

Presidential Proposals

Monday's w/ Michael

The following stories come from Uncle John's Bathroom reader.

Lyndon Baines Johnson met Claudia "Lady Bird" Taylor in 1934. Johnson was an aide to Texas Congressman Richard Kleberg and was in Austin for business. They went on a single breakfast date, at the end of which Johnson proposed. "Lady Bird" said she'd think about it. Johnson returned to Washington and sent her letters and telegrams every day for 10 weeks until he returned to Austin and she accepted.

Thelma "Pat" Ryan was a 25 year old high school teacher and a member of an amateur theatre group. In 1938, Richard Nixon, a 26 year old lawyer, joined the theatre group thinking that acquiring acting skills would help him in the courtroom. In their first performance, Nixon was cast opposite Ryan. He asked her out and proposed on their first date. They were married three years later.

Joe and Jan O'Neill lived in Midland, Texas. They were childhood friends of Laura Welch. In 1975, another childhood freind moved back to Midland after being away for a few years. His name was George W. Bush. The O'Neills bugged Laura to go out with George, but she declined. She finally agreed to meet him at a backyard barbeque in 1977, when she was 30 and he was 31. George was smitten; Laura was too. They were married three months later.

In 1989, Michelle Robinson was working at a Chicago law firm and was assigned to mentor a summer associate from Harvard named Barack Obama. Not long after, Barack asked her on a date. She finally relented and after dating for a few months, she suggested marriage. He wasn't interested. During a dinner date in 1991, she brought it up again. Again he said no. But when dessert showed up, there was an engagement ring on one of the plates. They were married in 1992.

Make it a great Monday!