Don't Miss the Concert

Joshua Bell found a place at the DC Metro Station where he could set up shop for the day as a violin player. Clad in blue jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt, and a baseball cap, he took his instrument from his case, left the case open, dropped a couple of dollars in it as seed money, and he began to play.

Subway passengers heard Mozart and other classics as they hurried to their destinations. Most paid Joshua no attention as they rushed through the station to catch a train. By the end of the afternoon, Joshua had collected $32 for entertaining thousands of DC citizens.

It was part of a project by The Washington Post that the editors called "an experiment in context, perception, and priorities, as well as an unblinking assessment of public taste. In a banal setting, at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?"

What I didn't tell you is that Joshua Bell is a world-renown violinist. His violin was a rare Stradivarius worth over $3 million. Three days prior to his impromptu concert in the DC Metro Station, Bell played to a sold out crowd at Boston's Symphony Hall. Seats for his concert were $100 each.

Do you stop and pay attention to what God might be doing around you or are you too busy? Can God speak to you through ordinary people or do you have to hear it from pastors of large churches with a Doctor in front of their name or an international TV ministry? Do you hear God speaking to you through everyday events or do you wait for him to speak to you on Sunday mornings? Does God speak to you through a blue collar guy just scraping by or do you have to hear from God through a best-selling author?

How many times have you missed the music because you were too busy trying to get to your next destination? Just a thought...

Bracketology & Mascotology

March Madness is here and that means basketball fans around the country are filling out their NCAA Tournament brackets. There is a science to it. ESPN calls it Bracketology. It's a not-so-simple process of trying to predict the winners among the 64 college basketball teams in the season-ending finale.

At the TNC offices, we have a friendly little competition going among the staff. No wagering - just doing it for pure entertainment and possibly a reason to gloat if you're the winner. I filled mine out tonight. My final four include: North Carolina, Kansas, Memphis, & UCLA. I'm picking UCLA & UNC in the championship game with UCLA taking it all. Who really knows? It'll be fun finding out.

I was bored doing the brackets the normal way so I created two other ways to fill out my brackets. I filled another one out according to school mascot. I'll call it Mascotology. I looked at each school mascot and determined who the winner should be based on the strength of the mascot. For example, in a first round upset, I'm picking the Boise State Broncos over the Louisville Cardinals since everyone knows a bronco is bigger and stronger than a cardinal. I'm also picking the Austin Peay Governors to defeat the Texas Longhorns. Governors have much more power than longhorns.

My final four in Mascotology are: George Mason Patriots, Kent State Golden Flashes (lightning bolts are powerful!), Miami Hurricanes, and Duke Blue Devils. The champs in this scenario are the Duke Blue Devils. Interestingly, the Duke Blue Devils had to play the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils in the fourth round. Duke won that game since they were a higher ranking devil.

Since Ephesians 2:2 says that the devil is "the ruler of the kingdom of the air" you have to assume that the devils will dominate the tournament in Mascotology. Unfortunately, the Siena Saints will be defeated in the first round by the Vanderbilt Commodores. A high-ranking naval officer can whup a saint.

In Mascotology, people who are armed always beat animals. For example, the Xavier Musketeers will beat the Baylor Bears in the second round. The Tennessee Volunteers will defeat the South Alabama Jaguars in the second round also. Everybody knows that a Tennessee hillbilly is going to have a gun with him to shoot any jaguars that might show up.

My third bracket is an Alpha Bracket. I chose the winner for each game based on which one was first in the alphabet. The final four in this bracket are: Arkansas, Arizona, Austin Peay, and Cal. State Fullerton. Arizona will win a squeaker in the championship game over Arkansas.

I predict that my Mascots and Alpha picks will be about as accurate as my "normal" picks. It will be fun to see how the brackets turn out.

New Digs, New Book, New Phone

I've been hanging out at the Metro coffeehouse in downtown Augusta a lot lately. Been doing some writing while sucking down their bottomless cups of coffee and taking advantage of free wi-fi. It's a comfortable place to hangout...a little smoky but not too bad during the mid-morning hours. They play good music here too. It allows me to get away from the distractions of home and office to concentrate on my writing. It's weird how you can shut the world out in a public place. Not sure why that is. So you might find me there on my day off (Friday). I really enjoy some of the hangouts on Broad Street. I hope it continues to build up and revitalize.

Speaking of writing, I've been concentrating lately on a new novel. Since I completed The God Robbers last year, I began crafting another story titled Slow. I'm only about 30 pages into it. Ask me about it sometime. I'm pretty excited about it. As for The God Robbers, it is currently being presenting to various publishers. Hopefully, someone will be interested in publishing it. Publishing a book is a dreadfully slow process. It requires a lot of patience. Still have a few other book projects that I'm working on but, for now, Slow is getting most of my attention.

Here's a pic of my new phone that I got for $7!

That's right - $7. It's a $200 phone. AT&T gave me $100 credit for some reason - promotional thing, I guess. Then the phone itself came with a $100 rebate. So I just had to pay the tax of $7. It's a PDA/cell phone combined. It's great for me since I was formerly relying on an old Visor Edge PDA and a cell phone. Now it's all in one. It's pretty amazing. I'm still learning how to use it.

In my last post, I mentioned the passing of our friend due to a car accident. We attended her funeral last Tuesday at Stevens Creek Church. It was well done and a blessing for all who were there. It was a celebration of a job well done by one of God's quiet, faithful servants. Although too brief, Cindy impacted thousands of people with her joy, wit, humility, talent, and steadfast faith in Christ. I wish that you could have known her. You don't appreciate the blessing some people are in your life until they're gone.

And I have to say - please be careful out there. We are so accustomed to strapping ourselves in our little metal rolling missiles everyday and flying around the country at 70 mph not realizing that we are one wrong move away from heaven. I'm ready to go to heaven and I'm not afraid to die but I' m enjoying the earthly blessings that God has given me. I want to be a blessing and enjoy his blessings more before I go! Be careful!

Late Night notes:

We lost a dear friend last week in a car accident. It's a reminder of the brevity of life. James reminds us, Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." (James 4:13-15)

Our neighbor passed away a couple of days ago. He was well-known and thought of in NA. The family has had tons of visitors at their house ever since. Cars have been lined up and down the road. I told Beth last night as we maneuvered through the car-filled street that I hoped there are a lot of cars in front of my house when I die.

My nephew has been in the hospital in critical condition this week. He has flirted with death a couple of times due to his poor health. We're not completely sure about his condition right now. He continues to need our prayers.

So, guess what's been on my mind lately? Death. We've been talking about heaven on Sundays at TrueNorth. I think we are all going to be surprised at how wonderful and awesome heaven will be. The loss of friends is a reminder to me that we don't live in the land of the living on our way to the land of the dying. Instead, we live in the land of the dying and we are going to the land of the living. Our stop here on earth is brief. Remember, we are aliens here but we are citizens of heaven.

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself - (Philippians 3:20-21).