Tapout guys. . .What the?. . .

So I had read about this but hadn’t seen it yet. Two nights ago I’m flipping channels and came across the new MMA reality show by, I’m assuming, the guys who run Tapout. Are you kidding me? The guys who host this thing are awful for MMA. I can say that with confidence and I know nothing about them. I can’t even tell you their names except for Freak #1 and Freak #2.

Here’s the deal. . .the fight I saw. . . some kid from Liddell’s camp against another guy (Valencia?) was a great fight. It was on the HD Vs. channel so it looked fantastic and the camera angles and sounds of the fight were really good. Best I’ve seen. However, any credibility the show had was lost anytime F1 and F2 appeared. MMA is getting credibility as a legit sport b/c of guys like Dana White. This is a real guy. An in your face promoter of his passion. F1 and F2 are WWF personalities.

Get those guys off the freakin’ air.

Has anybody else seen this? What do you know about F1 and F2?

Heaven or Hell. . .

So our church is really just made up of a bunch of small groups called Villages. Sunday morning is simply a gathering of all of our Villages in one central location. “Church” happens in the Village. We’ve got a great group of people. Folks with very different pasts and from very different walks of life.

At the current time we have decided to read through a book together and then discuss it each Wednesday night. The book is “Velvet Elvis” by Rob Bell. Now the point of this post has nothing to do with the book so please don’t comment on how much you love or hate (as many of you do) this book. The purpose of this post is to tell you about a question followed by a conversation that this book spawned last night.

It was the question of Hell. When I was a kid we talked about Hell all the time in church. Trust me, I knew all about Hell. As a child and still today, it is a very real place. Because it was so real it created an urgency in me to tell people about Jesus. When people died I wanted them in Heaven. The problem (I think. . .I’m still working on this) is that knowing all about Hell did not create a longing in me for Heaven. A LOVE for Heaven. It created simply the much better alternative to Hell. Hell bad, Heaven good. Do right and make good decisions not b/c it pleased my saviour but so that I wouldn’t go to Hell.

So today in our church and in many others the emphasis is hardly on Hell. In fact, it’s rarely mentioned. The emphasis is on loving Jesus and living your life to please him. Walk in a relationship with him, grow in that relationship with him and introduce others to that relationship b/c we were created to have that with our creator. I like that. I like the way that feels.

HOWEVER, and isn’t there always a big HOWEVER, I’m thinking about my kids. Shouldn’t they know about Hell? Shouldn’t they know that it’s a real place that is eternal separation from their creator? What are the upsides of knowing about it and what are the downsides? What do you guys think? Devil, burning, wailing and gnashing of teeth? or most of the focus on Heaven and Jesus. We’ll get to Hell later?

The dreaded “E” word. . .

I’ve got to start exercising. I blogged about 2 months ago that I was trying to hit my weight loss goal of losing 10% of my body weight. I achieved closer to 13% and got down to 184lbs. As of the last week I’ve been holding steady at 200lbs. It’s all in my gut. I’m well on my way to the world of our big bellied friend picture above.

I need to start running again. I have no motivation to run, however. Some people will comment on this and say “don’t run. . .it’s bad for your knees”. . . or “don’t run. . . bike” or “ELIPTICAL!” Here’s the deal. . .you’re missing the point. A) I love running. When I’m in shape, I love it. 2) Exercise is not on my radar right now. It’s not that I’m not doing anything physical it’s just the idea of “going to the gym” or getting to the point where it’s fun isn’t exciting me right now.

I’ve been here before and I’ve snapped out of it. I will again. The weight just comes so quick now.

Alright. . .I’m going running. Right now. I’m doing it.

In the morning.

Hopefully.

Keychains. . . how much is too much:

Sorry, I don’t have much for you this morning but I will say this. I left the house this morning with my keychain and realized that I had slowly become something that I’m not fond of. I’m officially that guy with a big keychain. On my keys right now are 2 remotes, and Nashville Predators bottle opener and 4 keys. 1 of those keys I have no idea what it goes to.

I have my jeep key, a locker key, my office key and an anonymous key + the remotes. So tomorrow when I go to work the remote is going in the car. The other remote I am going to keep at the house. The Predators bottle opener is going in the garbage and the anonymous key is gone.

I’m much lighter now. This is a positive thing.

Look at your keychain. What can you get rid of?

Trapping Chipmunks:

I’ve become obsessed with trapping chipmunks. It’s now a family affair. Each day the girls get the peanut butter crackers ready and we set the traps. These are live traps with the intention of trapping them and going to release them far, far away. It hasn’t quite yet gone as planned. So far my efforts have resulted in the following:

1) Peanut butter cracker gone. Trap didn’t go off.  Chipmunks 1 – Hampton’s 0

2)Peanut butter cracker gone, Trap set off, No Chipmunk (don’t ask, I have no idea) Chipmunks 2 – Hampton’s 0

3) Peanut butter cracker gone, Trap set off, I’m at work and get a text we’ve caught!. . . .a squirrel. The girls released the squirrel and the chipmunks laughed. Chipmunks 3 – Hampton’s 0 – Squirrels 0

The reason I’m trying to catch these little guys is that they are digging holes all through my backyard and it is irritating the crap out of me. Oh yeah, about this time someone always says, “uh, are you sure it’s chipmunks? Are you sure it’s not moles?” Listen to me, I know what a mole is and what a mole does. It’s chipmunks, trust me. they dig holes behind my rock walls and build their little tunnels and my rocks are beginning to have no foundation to hold them up.

Anyway, I need you to pray that I catch one soon. It’s pretty much an obsession with me at this point. The girls need to see their dad be a hunter. . . a warrior.  . . I need a chipmunk in that cage.

Stay tuned.

“What If’s” in Life. . .

There are certain movies in life that I watched as a kid that I feel like it is my duty in life to make sure my girls see them. You know the classics (yes you movie purists, these are classics) All the Rocky movies, Karate Kid, and the one that I had them watch tonight. . . “Back To The Future”. Here’s the deal. . .it’s a great movie and as I watched it tonight I was surprised at how many life lessons conversations it created. George McFly was the geek with no confidence and when he decided (even if by accident) to stand up to Biff his whole life was changed. So it opened the whole confidence and self esteem talk, blah, blah, blah.

Anyway, it also got us thinking about decisions in life that got us to where we are now. They’re 9 & 8 years old so they haven’t had many of these but I sure have. It was neat to talk about those decisions with them and realize that there were so many times in the past that if a different decision had been made they wouldn’t be here today. I know on the bigger scale that there are no accidents and that every decision was part of God’s divine plan. But I also know that I could have made different decisions that would have altered the whole course of my life. Think about that. What decisions have you made that have created a significant life alteration or experience for you? Major decisions that have set your current course?

I can look back on my life on about 6 or 8 major decisions that could have easily gone another direction. If they had I wonder how things would have been different? Where could I be? What could I be doing?

I can tell you this. . . Looking at my life right now, I know I’ve made the decisions I was supposed to make. That I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be and life looks like it’s supposed to. With all it’s dents, scrapes and beauty.

Lonesome Dove. . .

So I was a week back from the Cattle Drive when a package arrived in the mail with two movies my brother told me I had to see. One was “The Last of The Mohicans” and the other was “Lonesome Dove”. Since Hip Tillett is the only real cowboy I know and he said “Lonesome Dove” was as good as it gets and the Scolai went through the trouble of mailing it to me I figured I’d start with “Lonesome Dove” tonight. It’s 8 hours long so I knocked out 3 hours tonight.

It’s very good. Lot of different story lines going on right now. I reckon they’ll all come together soon. How many stars can you get in one movie? Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Robert Urich, Diane Lane, Danny Glover, Ricky Schroeder, Steve Buscimi (sp?) It’s a pretty impressive cast.

I’ve still got to get a John Wayne under my belt but this is a good start.

6 days in the saddle:

Yes that’s me in the first pick chasing that cow back to where he belongs. . . back to the herd. He wasn’t happy and he tried to run. He came over that hill and he ran into me and, of course, after I caught him you can see what happened in picture 2. You see for one week I was a cowboy and I wasn’t about to let those cows tell me what the plan was going to be. . .

Two weeks ago, my brother, myself and 6 other friends flew into Billings, MT and made the 3 hour drive to Lovell, WY for 7 days on the TX Ranch. The TX Ranch is 40,000 acres run by Hip and Loretta Tillett. It was always my dream to go on a real cattle drive. Not a dude ranch but a legitimate working ranch. Let me tell you. . . that is exactly what it is at the TX.

No cell phone, no laptop, no communication whatsoever with work or anyone back home. I can’t remember the last time, if ever, I had done that. It’s just raw living for a week. The first morning you get up at 7am, get a great breakfast and then get ready to head out and get your horse. I remember looking at my friend Drew the first morning with our cowboy hats and chaps on. He looked at me and just said, “I feel like we’re playing dress up”. It’s exactly what we looked like. But you never felt like it. You just get into the truck and go. Now here’s where it’s interesting to me. We got our horse and headed out. Hip led the way and we just followed. No instruction. None. We rode a couple miles to a herd of cattle. Cut out about 80 pair and then moved them about 40 miles over the next 3 days. Never once, did they stop and pull us together and say, “OK, here’s what we’re about to do.” You just kind of do it.

Several things that blew me away but one in particular was how fast calves can run. Seriously, I had no idea. They would take off from the herd and you’d have to run them down and push them back to the herd and I promise you if, on a horse you think you can just run down the calf. . . you’re wrong. They’re that fast. You can get them, of course, but you have to go wide.

Check out the TX Ranch. It’s the real deal and I would highly recommend it if you’re interested in getting away for a week.

To all my artist / creative buddies. . .

So I’m the furthest thing from the artist type. I’m a decent marketer but I’m not so much on the “artistic” side of things. So I’m riding in the back of a truck in Wyoming with my brother Bobby when I look down at my feet and think, “Hey, that will be a cool shot” so I took it.

I think it turned out pretty cool. It’s my best effort at art. Granted it was an accident but hey, I had to at least think it was worth a picture. So, come on Brian, Paul, Tim, Jamie, Tyler and all you other creative types can I get some props? I specifically like how I was able to integrate the blue and green hues of the Wyoming landscape with the brown leather of the Justin boot.

Falwell dead at 73. . .

I just got the news that Dr. Jerry Falwell passed away today at 73. This is a pretty sad day for me and many of my friends. I was a student at Liberty University from 1989 – 1993 and worked there from 1993-1994. From my time there I remember an amazing leader who had a tremendous relationship with the students. Those that I hung out with were proud to have Jerry Falwell on our team.

I remember one moment at a chapel service when our basketball team was getting ready to head out for the NCAA tournament. The Vines Center was full and the local news was there. We also had a couple wrestlers heading out to the Nationals. Dr. Falwell called up one in particular to wish him luck. The wrestler grabbed the mic and told the crowd that one time Falwell had told him he could slam him anytime. The wrestler (in good humor) asked Falwell if he thought he could back that up. Before he could get the words out, Falwell had the wrestler up over his head! Another endearing moment for our fearless leader.

I’m sure I didn’t agree with everything Falwell stood for. Truth is I couldn’t tell you what issue he was touting today. I tell you that the Jerry Falwell I knew was a really cool dude and a great man. I’m glad I knew him and am sad at the news of his passing.