A Tip to Surviving March Madness

We all know what it feels like right? Our facebook or twitter feeds get swamped with generic, raving sports comments and statues like:

• As much as I love Ohio State basketball, I have so much respect for Robbie Hummel and the career he had with Purdue!
• My bracket's made an epic climb from bottom 20 percent to top eight percent.
• A good run, Xavier. Now we are down to rooting for IU and whoever is playing osu or uk, assuming they win.
• I hate referees. This week has seen some bad officials...
• How do you move the ball so well for 39 minutes and then make THAT your last shot??

Here is my solution. Instead of going crazy, getting annoyed, and unfollowing people you may generally like, simply play a fun round of Sports Status Mad Libs. Take the following statuses and tweets above (all of them are real by the way). First remove all the names of teams and players from them:

• As much as I love _____ ______ _______, I have so much respect for ______ _______and the career ____ had with ______!
• My _______ has made an epic climb from bottom 20 percent to top eight percent.
• A good run, ______. Now we are down to rooting for ______ and whoever is playing _____ or ______, assuming they win.
• I hate ______. This week has seen some bad ______...
• How do you move the ______ so well for 39 minutes and then make THAT your last _______??

And then insert whatever you think makes for the best laughs:

• As much as I love Justin Bieber, I have so much respect for his Christmas Album and the career he had before people actually listened to it!
• My toilet has made an epic climb from bottom 20 percent to top eight percent.
• A good run, Nickelback. Now we are down to rooting for U2 and whoever is playing Boys 2 Men or N'SYNC, assuming they win.
• I hate cheddar. This week has seen some bad cheese...
• How do you move the furniture so well for 39 minutes and then make THAT your last arrangement??

From that point on whenever that friend starts spouting off about the greatness of their team your mind will immediately begin replacing the names with whatever you came up with earlier. Hilarity will ensue. Hope it makes the awesome month of March just a little bit better for everybody whether your bracket is busted or not.

Matt*
*- I am one of those guys who from time to time will fill your timeline up with sports related tweets and for that I deeply apologize.

Things of Interest

I just wanted to pass these things along to everybody. I hope you find them useful and/or enjoyable:

The Vilardo Blog:
Some of our Students are currently on a mission trip with their family in Kazakhstan. They are doing some pretty neat things for the Kingdom of God and are sharing some of it on their blog. I've loved keeping tabs on them. Please be praying for them during their trip!

Zach Steever in Bolivia:
During our HS Retreat this year we spent time praying for Zach and some of his students who were on a work trip at the same time in Bolivia where he teaches. It was a really neat prayer time. Afterwards he sent us some pictures of how their trip went. Their team of students dug a well and fabricated parts of the well. It was also a time of discipleship for all involved. Pretty cool to see what they did and how God let us be a part of it through prayer.

ISAIAH117CHALLENGE T-Shirts:
Necia Disse is designing our shirts for this year's Isaiah 117 Challenge. She is coming up with some cool looking stuff too. Here is just a taste of the brilliance!

 Volunteer Thank You Video:

Here is a video that a church did to appreciate their volunteers. It's awesome and I'm gonna use it as a chance to say how much I love the team that serves our students and their families. It's awesome to serve in God's Kingdom together. This video is pretty awesome too. The people that came up with it did a great job.

Volunteer Rap from Kensington on Vimeo.

Your Kids an All-Star?:
This is a blog post that was sent to me by a friend of mine. It is by a guy named Scott Linscott. He discusses all the negative effects sports, drama, music etc. can have on students. He says some pretty thought provoking stuff and I think he is right on most of it too. We need to treat our students a lot more like we treat our retirement accounts sometimes. We can't try  to rush their growth or over do things. We have to look at where we want them to be 5 to 10 years down the road and help them make good decisions that reflect our spiritual beliefs. That's really hard to do in this day and age. Be sure to read Scott's post. It's worth your time!

Great Article in the Paper today

I read an awesome column by Paul Daugherty today from cincinnati.com click on this link to check it out yourself:

Who You Are is What Counts

Paul shares a story that has just been put into a book about a guy who goes from being a 7th grade teacher to playing in the Super Bowl in the course of 7 weeks. The crazy thing is that its totally true. On top of that, winning the Super bowl is not even the point of the story. The book is written by author Jeffrey Marx and is about Brian Kinchen who won the Super Bowl with the 2003 Patriots. Here is an excerpt from Daugherty's column that explains more what the book is about-

The Long Snapper’s weight comes from the other game Kinchen plays, the one with his spirit. He joins the Pats thinking a return to the game will validate his life. He leaves after the Super Bowl with a new definition of success. It’s not at all what he believed it to be. Said Marx Monday, “We as a society have arrived at some fairly destructive definitions of what it means to be a successful man: How much money you have, what car you drive, how big your house is. This book is an exploration of the real differences between success and significance.’’

I have not yet read this book, but I am definitely going to check it out. I have read another book by Marx that goes along the same lines. Its entitled Seasons of Life and is about a former Baltimore Colt player who goes on to be a minister. The book focuses on what it truly means to be a man. I loved it. I know several High School Football coaches who use the book with their players every year. I think it also reminds us of the role we all play in the Kingdom of God.

We all have tasks that we do here on earth. We have hobbies and passions too. However that isn't what we are truly doing. I have heard a professor describe tasks, sports, hobbies etc as a bunch of head fakes. We play sports because they are fun, but they teach us character. We do a task to get things done or make money, but we learn valuable lessons along the way. What Marx has said several times in Seasons of Life, and Daugherty references in his column is pretty much the same thing. When we start getting our identity or meaning from a headfake (sports, job, hobby) we are truly missing out.

I am going to try to track down this new book, because it looks pretty good. Below I have included links to both of Marx's books I have mentioned. Go buy them form amazon and read through them yourself or with your son or a group of guys. Too many of us get so wrapped up in the task that it becomes who we are. The task isn't what matters. To borrow a phrase from Paul Daugherty, "Its who we are that counts."

Seasons in Life by Jeffrey Marx

The Long Snapper by Jeffrey Marx