Your highlight

What is the highlight of your day? This was a question posed to me by my wife yesterday.

It took me a second to think about it, but then I said, the early mornings when I am up with a cup of coffee and no one else is awake yet.

She went on to tell me about the many points of her day that are highlights; picking up our baby from the babysitter's, turning off work and turning on time for our children, and getting our children in bed to spend time with me.

At this point I felt very selfish. My favorite time of the day was by myself, how selfish is that?

This morning I was reminded of just how many more highlights to my day I really have.

Getting our baby out of her crib when she wakes up in the morning. Sharing my cereal with our baby. Hugging each one of our children to let them know I love them and care about them.

There are many days when I get into a rut and feel sorry for myself and all the adversity I have faced in my life. But while I have faced all that adversity I have made it through it and Thank God, because He has made me a better person for it.

Legends of the game

I ran into this interesting article that talks about Roger Clemens' recent contract signing and the antics of Brett Farve concerning his team not signing Randy Moss. The article is titled Clemens Farve -- Puppet Masters, written by Brad Locke.

clipped from www.onenewsnow.com To recap: Clemens, performing his annual rite of spring, took his sweet time in signing with a team that was willing to grossly overpay him. This year, the Yankees were the drooling idiots, giving the Racket -- I mean, Rocket -- a one-year deal for $28,000,022 (the last two digits match his uniform number; nice bit of vanity there). That's more than $1 million per start; oh yes, he'll be ready to go sometime next month, at his convenience. As for Favre, he is continuing to wear out his welcome in Green Bay. His magic is long gone, never to return, and all he can do is fuss about not getting Randy Moss on his team. He may never retire. He reluctantly agreed to bless the Packers with his presence at an upcoming mini-camp. They expect a free pass because of their seniority and Hall of Fame credentials. It's an easy notion to buy into, that of self-indulgence being justified by one's years of sacrifice or service.

Family Discussions

I know, as a father of 6, that starting discussions on important issues can be difficult.
Here are some key things that I found that may help when having discussions with your children.
As always, I am not "preaching", I am trying to help not only someone who reads this, but myself as well.

With the below "clipped" comments, here are some questions that may help you engage your family and crack open the door to discernment:

• What is it about this form of entertainment that attracts you? Why do you like this particular style/genre/show more than others?
• Why do you listen or watch? (If it’s simply because friends do, ask, “Why do your friends listen to or watch it?”)
• How does this form of entertainment make you feel?
• Do the themes reflect reality? Do they reflect truth? If they reflect reality do they also gloss over evil?
• How do the messages conveyed compare with the values you’ve been taught here at home, or in church?
• Do you think these messages have any effect on how close you feel to your family, friends or God? Why or why not?
• Would you feel comfortable if Jesus sat here listening to or watching this with you? (See Matt. 28:20) Do you think He’d care? What do you think He’d say about this particular entertainment title?
• Does this entertainment have an opinion of God? What is it?
• What would happen if you imitated the lifestyles and choices of the characters in these songs or this program?
• Is there inappropriate entertainment? Where would you draw the line? Where does scripture draw the line? Are they the same?
• How does it make you feel to know that, by purchasing a CD, going to a movie or watching a TV show, etc., you are supporting the morals and ideas that it’s promoting?
• What are the major, minor and subtle messages being conveyed through this entertainment? Do you agree or disagree with them?
• Do you think some people might take the messages literally? What could that lead to?

clipped from www.pluggedinonline.com Be a good listener. listening is not the same as agreeing. It is a demonstration of respect for another person’s feelings and ideas, not an endorsement of them. Carry on a conversation, not an argument. James 1:19 states, “quick to hear and slow to speak,” we need to set the example. Don’t resort to sarcasm. we tend to reap what we sow. When sarcasm comes back at us from our teens, we probably accuse them of being disrespectful. Don’t use silence as a weapon. the absence of a positive message can sometimes be as damaging as the presence of a negative one. Refuse to be patronizing. Deal constructively with anger. Anger can be verbally expressed with respect when it’s aimed at specific behavior or the issue in question. “We need to honor God in our home” will get you further than “Are you blind? Choose battles carefully. As your child moves through and out of the teen years, “rules” should be slowly giving way to “advice.”

What's Up with The Ford Motor Company?

I subscribe to American Family Association's Action Alert Email. They have been keeping me updated on Ford Motor Company's pro-homosexual sponsorship on network television. In a 12-week monitoring project by American Family Association, Ford Motor Company was the top pro-homosexual sponsor on network television. If you would like to see the criteria used during this project click here.

To me it is disturbing when this type of lifestyle is forced on the American Public by always having a homosexual character in every television show and movie.

Neither I nor my family agree with this lifestyle and we do not want this lifestyle shown to our children.

Sports Talk Radio

I enjoy sport talk radio just as much as the next. My favorite lately has been Mike & Mike in the Morning on ESPN Radio.

It is one thing to talk sports, but it completely another to bash sports figures just for ratings.

I found this article from Brad Locke of OneNewsNow.comwhere Brad talks about how destructive some of this talk can be.

Setting a Family Standard for Entertainment

Continuing with my recent posts concerning media and the home,
Here are some more pieces from an article from Plugged In Online that speak about setting family standards concerning media.

clipped from Why not sit down with each of your children and engage them in discussions about their favorite media? Don't just ask the above questions, but go a step further and find out why. If you're doing this for the first time—especially with older children—refrain from jumping in and playing judge and jury. Listen, listen and listen some more. There will be a time to offer your views, but not during this exploratory stage. Once you've prayerfully settled on an appropriate balance between shielding your teens from mainstream entertainment and discussing it with them, articulate that decision in writing. Develop the equivalent of a "family constitution" as it relates to entertainment habits in your home.

Healthy Entertainment

Following up on my last post, here are some keys for keeping your family's entertainment healthy.

I don't mean this to say that I have it all figured out, because I do not by a long shot. I am learning as I go and sharing what I learn.

clipped from 1) Even good kids need coaching. good kids from solid Christian homes will be tempted to entertain themselves with movies, TV and music that are little more than media junk food. 2) Avoid a hit-list mentality. engage teens in dialogue about content and messages framed in biblical standards in terms they understand. 3) Maintain a healthy relationship. close day-to-day relationship is vital to our effectiveness as counselors. 4) Adapt diets to individuals. what might be acceptable for a teen may not be suitable for an 8-year-old sibling 5) Help children “dine out” wisely. what about when they’re at a friend’s house? What happens when they go away to college? 6) Accept your own limitations. we can’t indefinitely control the media diets of the young people we love.

My How Entertainment Has Changed

I can still remember that day, Thanksgiving Days, 1976 and my Mom took us to see Star Wars. WOW!!!! We were so excited. It was such a great movie.

Can remember the movies you saw when you were a kid? Have you noticed how movies have changed since you were a kid.

I remember the Friday the 13th movies and how by the third in the series they were almost laughable.

The violent movies of today are so bad I will not go see them, not to mention letting my children see them.

What about sex in movies? I still remember Porky's and the little bit of skin you saw in it. That is nothing to today's movies.

How come in today's movies there always has to be a homosexual? Are the movie people trying to please everyone?

I ran across this story on an email I get from Plugged In Online. It talks about how entertainment has changed over the years. Here are some pieces from it.

clipped from The entertainment media’s preoccupation with sex, violence and profanity would have been unthinkable in the minds of their early pioneers. Even if computer generated graphics, advanced special effects and digitized audio had been available back then to carry the messages so explicitly, public sentiment would not have embraced music that glamorizes rape, murder and drugs, or much of what shows at the local movie theater. In 1967, when The Rolling Stones performed The Ed Sullivan Show, they were asked to change the lyrics of their hit, “Let’s Spend the Night Together” to a much tamer “Let’s Spend Some Time Together.” While they resented the change, they performed it as Sullivan requested. Why? Because society viewed songs about casual sex as—dare we say it?—wrong. Unfortunately, that’s no longer the case. Casual sex is not just accepted; in many cases it’s expected.

What is this blog about anyway ...

Well, when I started this blog my idea was that I could just type what was going on in my head that day, whether it be about sports, my children or life in general.

I also planned on writing a little something in here everyday. That has not been possible as with my job and family of six children my life stays quite busy.

In a few weeks I will be starting back to college again, this time for my Masters degree. I feel like I have finally figured out what I am suppose to be doing for a living, an elementary school teacher.

It is amazing to me how much energy I have and the excitement when I go and visit the classes of children when I teach Junior Achievement. I have felt the same way about the children on my Upward Basketball teams. I want to make a difference with my life and I feel like this is it, teaching elementary school children.

So, with going back to college my posts to this blog may even further apart than they already are.

I have many ideas of things I would like to comment on and share, I will try to get to them.

Today we ran into a very dear friend and his family at Lowe's, Lee Brown. I have not seen or spoken with Lee and Sherri in probably 2 years. I have let the busyness of life keep me from visiting with friends and family. I need to make a point of getting up to visit with Lee and Sherri very soon.

A Preview of Sabers versus Senators

In this article from Scott Burnside writing for ESPN.com, he previews the Buffalo/Ottawa Eastern Conference NHL Finals.

Burnside does a great job of breaking down the series as well five points in the series and a key matchup.

In another story Burnside talks about the younger players for Buffalo and asks if they are up for the challenge of the Senators and the conference finals.

Buffalo Bills "Other" RB from the NFL Draft

Here is a nice story about former Fresno State running back Dwayne Wright, a fourth round draft pick of the Bills, written by Chris Brown.

Chris Brown is the Lead Journalist for BuffaloBills.com.

Sabers move on to Eastern Conference Finals

After beating the NY Rangers in 6 hard fought games the Buffalo Sabers move onto face the Ottawa Senators for the Eastern Conference finals.

After a stalled offense for games two, three and most of four the Sabers offense came back solve the Rangers' defense. The key was the Sabers coach Lindy Ruff and his assistants Brian McCutcheon and James Patrick striving for solutions to beat the Rangers' defense.

The Sabers will have their hands full with the Senators in the finals. There are also many story lines and much bad blood between these teams.

First, you have the Sabers taking out the number 1 seed Senators in a five game second round series during the playoffs last season.

Second, the blindside check on Sabers' co-captain Chris Drury by Ottawa's Chris Neil that left Drury with a concussion and forced him to miss four games. The check turned into a bench clearing brawl.

So, you can see these two teams really do not like each other, as evidenced by another article about the hatred between these two clubs.

So as we get ready for this series here is an opinion article that speaks of the coaching job Lindy Ruff has done since being in Buffalo.

Buffalo Bills Make Their Picks

This past weekend the Buffalo Bills select players they needed to fill holes on their roster.

The two most pressing needs were at running back and middle linebacker. They were able to solve those needs with their first two picks in the draft. First, they chose former California running back Marshawn Lynch. Next the traded up and selected former Penn State middle linebacker Paul Posluszny.

The rest of the draft picks went like this:

• QB, Trent Edwards, Stanford


• RB, Dwayne Wright, Fresno State


• S, John Wendling, Wyoming


• TE, Derek Schouman, Boise State


• DE, C.J. Ah You, Oklahoma

On May 3rd the Bills announce the undrafted free agents they had signed. For more information on them click here.

And the Bills continue to add more players as the announce the signing of running back, Josh Scobey a free agent from Seattle and defensive tackle, Manny Wright off waivers from Miami.

When preseason starts it should be interesting to see how the 2007 version of Bills shake out.

Stay Tuned ...