Are you talking to me, or are you on the phone?

All of us have experienced someone with a bluetooth headset saying "hey, how are you?" then pointing to their ear when you respond "fine, thanks." It is a very annoying, and perturbing situation.

Saturday, before going to the Clemson game I had an additional step in the confusion. The girl behind the counter at a gas station was apparently on a bluetooth headset. Now first of all, shouldn't she be doing something work related instead of talking on the phone? Just because her hands are free doesn't mean that she is "working."

This particular girl was of a different culture. She began speaking very loudly to me (or so I thought) in a language I had never heard before. I tried to ignore her "question" at first, but then figured it would be more polite to respond in some way.

So I responded, "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

Instead of an explanation, I saw her simply tap her finger on her ear... which we of course all know is the universal rude sign for:

"I wasn't talking to you."

I didn't want to talk to her anyway.

Well, there ya have it. I won this year. For those of you interested in playing next year here was my strategy.

1. Pick up as many RBs as possible, they score the most points and have the best trade value
2. Don't worry about bye weeks. The personnel can be changed if necessary. The draft is not the time to worry about it.
3. Good fantasy QBs are not always actual good QBs. Good fantasy QBs have to throw a ton at the end of a game to get back into it. Bad teams have good fantasy QBs. Good actual QBs hand off the ball a lot.
4. Draft Kickers and Defense in the last 2 rounds. Even the best ones only score single digits each week. Great RBs and QBs score 20 points per week.
5. Check the bye weeks and IR lists. People lose fantasy football every week because they started a guy who was at home eating popcorn.


This puts me at a 55% win percentage, over the last 3 years. If I can just get better at the march madness tourney pick-em my percentage would be much better.

I have been a Buffalo Bills fan for as long as I can remember. Part of this fan-hood comes the responsibly of watching them lose... a lot.

Today JP Losman single-handedly dashed even any hopes of mathematical phenomenon-ish scenario that would get the Bills into the playoffs. Leading 27-24 with less than 3 minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Losman fumbled the ball on a 2nd down and short play. Running back Marshawn Lynch has 127 yard rushing on the day mind you, and Losman is the sloppy backup quarterback to Trent Edwards, who is still out with a groin injury.

After Losman fumbled the ball, a NY Jets defender rumbled down the sideline for a go ahead touchdown. Now the score is 31-27 NY, and the Bills have the ball with 2 minutes to go. Again, I should have based my cheering upon the failures of the past, but I still rooted for my boys, hoping they could march down the field.

They didn't.

Losman threw an interception a few plays later, sealing the deal.

Or did he?

The Jets were unable to get a first down, so with less than 30 seconds on the clock They still have a chance to heave into the end zone right? Losman is a terrible quarterback, but he has a rocket for an arm right? If anyone could get the hail-mary pass he might!

He didn't.

To his credit, the ball did get to the end zone, but the Buffalo receivers were completely apathetic to the whole situation.

Bills lose... what else is there to say?

corey at the end of the dupont state forest airstrip runway. we had a great ride



We aren't really having fun anymore. At this point we are tired and annoyed by the bugs... My horse was incredibly lazy BTW...

Man, we had a blast on Saturday watching the tigers beat up on the Citadel. Now don't get me wrong, Clemson didn't look too pretty doing it. But maybe the season will get better. Many thanks to Trey and Shelly for the seats. They have never sat in them yet! Lemme tell ya. If it is warm out this coming week, they will roast out there!

Oh yea, we took my mom's car to the game because she was watching our beautiful girls for us. When it came time to leave, we walked all over the parking lot looking for our car. I was just a few minutes away from reporting it stolen. Then we realized out stupidity.

Have you ever wandered around a parking lot like that?

Today was an awesome day in the life of Ridgeview. We hosted an Easter March Madness 3 on 3 Tourney. It was so much fun. Let me confess to you that for some reason the Braketology of the Men's NCAA Tournament get me exited about doing brackets. Here are my standings by the way... Clemson cost me big, but I called the Duke upset, so I am still alive. I am the WhiteBoyWitFantsyBBallSkilz


Back to what I was saying about doing brackets. I Love It. Putting teams in thier slots, and figuring out game times and court locations with little or no prep time because of the pickup nature of our Tourney was awesome. I intend to have some highlight videos for you soon, but here are your winners:

Rainbow Hoopsters
Team A
The Woods

I hope you have your brackets put together. I spent a few minutes yesterday looking at all the different options for setting up the perfect bracket. Here are a few ideas that seemed most interesting to me.

1. Follow your first gut feeling and fill the whole thing out (This is apparently the most successful option)
2. Advance all 1 seeds three rounds, 2 seeds 2 rounds, 3 and 4 seeds 1 round, then pick your own choice the rest of the way.
3. Never advance four 1 seeds into the final four. (This has never happened)
4. Don't try to pick every upset. (If it were that easy, than the underdog wouldn't be a suprise!)
5. Root for the Cinderella story regardless of what your bracket says on it.
6. Root for your home team, but don't bracket them to win it all every year.
7. Pick all of your bracket based solely on seed. (this is boring, but still pretty efficient)
8. Only make one bracket. (Once you get 5 different brackets going, odds are you will get something right, but what a cheap way to do it!)
9. Pick every underdog in the tourney. (Its doubtful you could win much of anything, but if you're gonna roll the dice be a man about it!)
10. Do get mad when you lose to a girl, or a 6 year old. (They pick solely based on uniform colors, and cool team mascots - but they are really good at it)

Got any to add?

This was an incredible game! One of the guys from our church called a friend of mine this morning and said: “Wasn’t that an awesome game?” My friend says “Yeah what an upset by the Giants huh?” and this guy says, “Yeah that was cool, but how about having the flag football game after church?”

We have hosted for two years now a Super bowl tailgate party and flag football game after the morning worship service. It is a great time to spend together with people. We decided to do this, because if you look around the Clemson campus on Saturdays in the fall, and to the Carolina Panthers stadium Sundays, you will see hundreds of people functioning in a community environment that is rarely matched in our churches on Sundays. Why not do it at church? There are no organized teams, waivers or practice schedules. This is a pick up game that gets guys to break out their old cleats for about an hour and 1/2, and get dirty.

We had a lot of guests and a lot of laughs. I am so proud to be part of Ridgeview Church. Does what happened at your church this Sunday overtake what happened on the field last night? I am so exited to say that in this case yes it did.

Well, just like that a month has gone by, and I haven’t posted a darn thing on this blog. There are a few excuses I could put out there, but I have just been lazy. Yep - lazy. I have been lying around waiting to see what the world is up to. Are you kidding me! A month has flown by, and I don’t know where it went. Here are a few things that have happened in the last month.

I became an assistant coach on the Blue Ridge High Wrestling team. I love it! I have been away from wrestling for about 6 years, and it has been a real joy getting back into it. Our guys have had a rough season, but they are young and they are learning. Personally, I wrestled for 7 years, and it wasn’t until year 5 that I began to “get” it and start winning. Most of these guys (varsity included) have 2-3 years experience tops. This stuff takes time.

I didn’t know him very well, but I did spend some time last winter with Coach Farnham when he spoke at our church. He was the high school football coach, a great motivator, and a great man of God. He passed away this last month after a battle with cancer in which he quickly declined. His personal motto was “Finish Strong.” He did that very thing. Since his passing, Blue Ridge High has adopted “Finish Strong” as their athletic motto.

I graduated from North Greenville University with my Masters of Christian Ministry (MCM) with the second class from the graduate program. I loved my time at NGU, and may try to return there to teach some day in the future.

I have been ordained as pastor. This was a great step in my personal faith journey. Why did I do it? For the most part, it is simply to let the world know that I have been called into full time ministry, and that this is what I intend to do for the rest of my life. Fortunately in my denomination, I don’t have to wear a robe or a collar – instead, I can beat up on middle school boys, eat pizza and play bass guitar. All for the glory of God.

Do you feel caught up?

What a MNF game. I haven't been able to watch my Bills in a long long time, but oh yeah they lost... UNBELIEVABLE! Why can't they get a break. I loved watching the drama, but COME ON how many chances does the "American Team" have to get?

If I have to hear any more about how awesome ROMO is, I am going to flip out! He was terrible! Buffalo made him look foolish for 99% of the game...

So how 'bout dem Cowboys? 5-0
Buffalo? 1-4 thanks for asking...

I went to the Blue Ridge Jamboree last weekend and had a great time watching a number of different football teams play their first games of the season. Football is such a great spectator sport. The bleachers buzz with enthusiasm while parents, friends, and family all come together once again after a long year apart to start the season. Even the least of football fanatics can sense the excitement in the air when the first kickoff sails into the air. What a great game!

Let us talk a moment about our church community. For some people, their home church can be like their home team. This can be a great thing for any church to embrace. What do you notice first when you walk into a football stadium, even in the parking lot? Team colors! They are everywhere. There is no guesswork as to which set of bleachers is home and which is away. There is no doubt as to whether there is a game that Friday night, the lights are on, the parking lot is packed, and people are everywhere. Ridgeview should be the same way. When someone comes in the doors, it should be very obvious that this is not a PTA meeting, but a worship service. Our team “colors” (church logos, signs, info tables, and greeters) should be easily recognizable and discernable. Perhaps the most important thing to bring over from the game is that excitement and enthusiasm that comes out under the Friday night lights. Sunday mornings should also be warm and inviting, just like the fans that welcome one another back each week, wave to each other’s kids, and catch up on old times.

But there are negative things to be learned from a football game as well. This past week I sat with someone who unashamedly only roots for one team. According to this individual that “other” team always plays dirty, talks trash, gets the breaks from the referees, and has more money to spend on their budget. Churches do the same thing. If you have been around church people for a while, you know that there are rivalries there as well. That “other” church always talks like they are the only ones doing anything right, they waste their money on expensive furniture, paid musicians, and their Pastor has a pool at his house he didn’t pay for. Maybe they use fog machines, or maybe their pastor wears a robe and serves real wine for communion. The point is this: while rivalries between football teams are healthy, rivalries between churches are not.

It was said about Ridgeview “Those people do things differently over there.” This statement may certainly be true, but it was not intended to be a comment of constructive criticism. It was meant to be hurtful. Romans 15:5 says to “Live in complete harmony with each other - each with the attitude of Christ toward each other.” Enjoy the upcoming football season – cheer, stomp, spit, and growl if you want to. However, when you come to church each week, or when you talk to someone from a different church community, just be a fan that has a healthy amount of green and white Ridgeview spirit!

I don't watch it regularly, but this week the French Open is on, and I find myself very interested. I saw Roddick get his tail handed to him last week, and Nadal trounce on his opponent. This is one of those things that I really enjoy to watch and get in to a few times a year. Kind of like the Tour de France, march madness, the NHL playoffs and Olympic bobsledding/curling. Sports are so cool. I love watching competition in any sport especially when it is at a high level of ability

I love the Casting Crown's song: If we are the body I feel as though God is trying to teach me something about this concept. This morning, as I scurried to get though my reading for my LTG, I read Paul's discourse on subject in 1 Corinthians. As I read Paul's words, I became very conscious of the throbbing pain in my right hand ring finger. You see, I damaged it in a flag-football game last Saturday, and it has really bothered me a great deal. It may be broken, or just dislocated. My plan is to see if the swelling goes down after another day or so, if not I will go to the Hospital. Paul's analogy is very real to me right now. I cannot seem to function properly with something as simple as a busted finger. I have trouble holding my daughter, typing, putting my car in gear, or even reaching for my wallet. when the church body has an ailment, it functions in the same way. When my brain tries to tell me "your finger hurts" my willpower says "its no big deal, lets just overlook it." But I can't. So it is with the church. As leaders, we see "there may be someone hurting," but time constraints tell us to "overlook it, its no big thing." Look out, it might become a real swollen mess!