Rick Nier...Woo!

I'm not sure if this says more about my habits of discipline or my son's knowledge of the animal kingdom, but... Yesterday, Jennifer and I took our kids to the zoo. We saw a tiger, a few zebras, some monkeys, and several sea lions. One in particular caught our attention as it was sunbathing while it faced a wall. Our 5-year old son asked if the sea lion was in a time-out. (That same 5-year old shared the fate of the sea lion later in the day.) I am pretty sure that the sea lion in question was only by chance facing a wall. But he was taking a time out from his other busy activities of the day. Those activities would include eating fish, waving to a crowd, and performing his best rendition of a shark for the people that looked on. Yet, at this point, he took a time out. I wonder if he thought about anything. After all, that is what a time out is for. We send our kids there from time to time, hoping they will think about what they have done and why they won't do it again. I c

I have never been all that humble. Even when I've tried to be humble, I've gotten proud of how humble I was. Tell me you didn't see that coming. But it's true. I believe I am as much a victim as anyone since Generation X where we all believe we're above average. But ask anyone that understand math and they'll tell you that 50% of people are below average. There's no way around that. But if you asked me, I'd tell you I wasn't in that 50%. So maybe having a healthy self-esteem isn't such a bad thing. But I see it crowd in on my relationship with God. Since I want to please God and do good things for God, I try my best. So far, so good, right? But let's assume I actually do something with excellence. After everything goes as planned, I spend too much time patting myself on the back. And believe me, any time patting yourself is too much time. But it's just for God, right? Yes, but then you have scriptures like this hit you square in the eyes.

The writer of Hebrews starts out with some straight up facts. "Going through a long line of prophets, God has been addressing our ancestors in different ways for centuries. Recently he spoke to us directly through his Son. By his Son, God created the world in the beginning, and it will all belong to the Son at the end. This Son perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with God's nature. He holds everything together by what he says—powerful words!" (Hebrews 1:1-3) Have you ever had a handful of items and tried to unlock and open your door without dropping any of the items. It could have been groceries, marbles, or kids. Whatever it is, I usually drop something. Or perhaps you've been holding a lot of stress within. You just keep saying to yourself, 'Self, keep it together.' And then at just the wrong moment, you lose it. God is able to do what we can not. That shouldn't be a surprise, but still we try to hold everything together. God can actually hold everythi

Today is Yogi Berra's birthday. He is 84 years old. Besides being a Hall of Fame baseball player, he has some great sayings, some of which you probably don't even know are his. "It ain't over 'til it's over" "It's like déjà vu all over again." "When you get to a fork in the road, take it" "Always go to other people's funerals otherwise they won't go to yours" And one that has a lot of truth to it; "You can observe a lot by watching" While it sounds silly, since observe and watch are synonyms, I find it appealing. How many times have you jumped into a situation before recognizing what was going on? I often put my foot in my mouth simply because I did not get all the facts before I reacted. And, as we have each experienced, once you have said something, you cannot take it back. This is why Paul warned Timothy in his second letter, "Words are not mere words, you know. If they're not backed by a godl

So I have this dark circle on my left hand that is about 2 inches in diameter. I fell the other day and broke a vessel. It doesn't bother me, so I only wince when a cute girl passes by and I happen to be doing something manly, like typing for my blog. Anyways, I looked at this dark circle today and it reminded me of Captain Jack Sparrow in The Pirates of the Caribbean . Without going into movie review mode, I recall that it was a sign that he was marked. As I recall, it was bad things. Now I don't think this is a sign from God. It's more a consequence of bad defense at basketball. But I do have this feeling deep inside me that something big is coming. I simply cannot shake the feeling that God's purpose and plan for me are revealing something great in the not too distant future. I cannot shake it. I don't want to. I can't wait for it to get here.

Perhaps you can help my wife and I settle a dispute. We've been watching American Idol this season. (Don't judge us.) There is one singer in particular, Adam Lambert, who has a unique style which has my wife rolling her eyes while I tap my toes. He has this thing he does which is half screaming, half singing, but not really in that Ozzy Osbourne kind of way. Okay, well maybe it is, but I think it is a difference maker for him. Here's the thing. Yesterday I emulated it and was surprised how much it sounds like him. Mind you, just the screaming part. I did it a couple of times and got my little 2-year old performing her best rendition as well. But she's always looking for a reason to scream. It got me thinking about strange things we do for attention. We often behave in strange ways. Sometimes I look at my kid's strange behavior and wonder where they got that. Then my wife reminds me where they got it. On the other hand, there are some things that seem strange to us t