My Wife is a Blessing

Sometimes I listen to other men talk about how wonderful their mate is and I am so happy for them. Then I look at my own wife and it's hard not to tell the world how incredible she is. What makes her so incredible? She puts up with an idiot like me, I do not deserve the woman God placed in my path on a small island in the middle of the Atlantic ocean almost 17 years ago. Last year I trampled on her heart, violated the sanctity of our marriage and shattered the trust of our children. We have had an incredible year as move closer together under God's grace and mercy.
I flew out of town early in the morning on my birthday last week. Later that day I got an email from her containing one thing she loved about me for every year of my life. When I arrived home I was given to golfing gift certificates with a hand-written note that indicated I would now have time to play gold on the weekends instead of finishing the deck. We went out back and she showed me the wonderful completed project. Unknown to me she had been planning for a week to have our deck project finished when I arrived home. Anyone who has ever tried to hire a contractor can sympathize with trying to get someone immediately, let alone that she wanted a massive amount of work done in < 3 days. I'm the guy that runs to the grocery store and stands in line with 100 other dudes on Valentine's day, our anniversary, or her birthday.
Father God, help me to walk in a manner worthy of the calling which I have received.

Pictures here: https://picasaweb.google.com/griffse/DeckProject#

Guitar Center Knoxville

I like to look at the used gear every now and then in Guitar Center so I headed in the other day and noticed they have a new sign posted on their door. It says no weapons allowed and show a picture of an automatic rifle, handgun, and a knife. I decided not to go in since I was carrying my weapon at the time. I called them and asked the girl who answered the phone if this included all knives, she proceeded to ask how big was my knife. I told her I have one with a 7" fixed blade and one 3.5" folding and I was just curious. She said "7" doesn't sound too big" and I almost giggled into the phone. That's my Ka-Bar and it's a huge knife. She transferred me to the manager and he confirmed they intended all knives and was cool about it when I told him I wouldn't be frequenting their establishment any longer.

Can anyone explain the logic of the sign? To me it seems as effective as putting a sign up that says "No Robbery Allowed on Premises." A sign banning weapons won't stop a criminal but a customer that is armed might.

SuperBowl XLV

We had some friends over Sunday to watch the game and what a game! I wanted the Steelers to win going into the game but thought it was great to see Aaron Rodgers get a ring that he definitely deserved. The steelers just didn't look prepared the whole game and when players had to dig deep, Green Bay answered the call, well done to the Packers.

On the flip side, the "entertainment" portion of the broadcast was the worst I have ever seen. Maybe three good commercials but to be fair I did have to change the channel several times because of inappropriate content like the commercial for "Just Go With It", Every Go Daddy spot, the teleflora ad, and maybe one or two others. We had three kids under the age of 10 and two teenage boy in the room; it's disappointing that we can't just let the game go and we have to guard the remote during a football game. With respect to the National Anthem, Christina Aguilera can sing well, but if you forget the words you will go down as sucking. That song doesn't need anyone's vocal gymnastics, leave it alone. When people flub that song I feel it in my gut, very disappointing.

Now, the halftime show. Let me admit I have still never heard the Black-eyed peas perform in a normal situation. They suck, bad. Half of the problem definitely wasn't them, the sound was total crap and I am sure some dude got canned. The saving moments had to be Slash and Usher stepping in for a moment to show people what a musician can do. I went to you tube and watched some of the old performances and have to say that Michael Jackson in 1993, U2 in 2002, and Prince are still the best I have seen. I don't even listen to their music but their shows seemed to really hit the nail on the head.

The suckage of the entertainment made the game that much better.

Movie Review (Secretariat)

It's becoming progressively difficult to find an actual family movie that's clean. Hollywood seems to think we need some type of swearing, crude joke, or filth so that the grown ups will be interested. Last Saturday Secretariat was at the "dollar" theater so we all packed up and headed out.

I don't know anything about horses or horse racing. I know that every time I look at a horse, their beauty is inspiring. This movie provided me with a window back in time to watch something amazing. The movie seemed very real with family issues, sadness, perseverance, and triumph. The cast was spectacular with Diane Lane and John Malkovich providing most of the delivery but every role played to perfection. The big name actors did not overtake the lesser names which happens in so many movies.



Watching the audience I saw people laugh, cry, and applaud at the end of the movie. Disney did a great job with this and our hwole family , from 40 to 4, loved it.

Interesting facts:
1.Secretariat's record for the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes still stand.

2.He accelerated through the entire mile of the Kentucky Derby.

3.The Beyer Speed Figure used to rate performance has a record of 134 if it existed when Secretariat ran he would have earned a 139.

4.The margin of victory, 31 lengths, for the Belmont Stakes is still the widest margin of victory.

Victory

I remember the first time I was asked to play this song our music minister gave me about 10 minutes warning and I sat there wondering how to pull this off with a single acoustic guitar. I asked God to use that moment for Him, and that any success or failure in my musical ability would honor His kingdom.

A friend passed away this week and as I spoke with his widow, sons, and daughter I was so encouraged by their attitude. Chris Tomlin wrote this song as a modern version of "It Is Well" by Horatio Spafford. As believers we will hurt when we lose someone but we stand over the grave in victory because of Christ.

We all know that song but do you know about Mr. Spafford's life and the circumstances in which he wrote it? If not, check it out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatio_Spafford

"When sorrows like sea billows roll.." I once heard a preacher say this was written at the location where his daughters perished. Horatio Spafford knew how to worship.

We lost a good man yesterday

The attached song is one I play when my heart is grieving but my spirit is rejoicing. When I saw Mercy Me perform it the first time they shared the heart-wrenching story of how it had been written and it seems appropriate today.
Jason Kennard died last night in a car accident. When I was in the praise band at The Church at Sterchi Hills, his wife Lisa would always ask for prayer that the Lord would convict Jason and he would be saved. During this time, we built a new building and had a week-long revival to celebrate the opening. During the revival Jason came to hear one of the messages and received Christ as his savior. It was one of the greatest moments God has allowed me to witness. Shortly after this, Lisa was in Florida and Jason "dropped dead" of a massive stroke while home alone with his young children. I remember clearly sitting in the ER waiting room at St. Mary's hospital waiting for Lisa to return home from Florida so that Jason's life support could be removed. While we waited, and prayed, Jason showed some level of responsiveness which then prevents life support from being cancelled. Also during that time, one of Jason's friends contacted Lisa and told her that God had told her that Jason would be raised up from this because the Lord had plans for him. She quoted Jeremiah 29:11 "..For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."(NIV) I had the wonderful opportunity to spend every afternoon for the next two weeks watching Jason be healed by the hand of God. Each day he became more responsive and gave everyone a visualization of faith. Jason beacame a faithful servant of the Lord, leading his family and being the man God had called him to be. He was a walking miracle and one of the examples God showed me of walking through the fire of life's trials and emerging as a better man on the other side.
Please keep Lisa, Zack, Whitney, and Seth in your prayers. We know that Jason has been raised up by the Father and healed but our earthly hearts still hurt for the man we will be missing.
Grace and Peace to you.

Comcast Customer Service and the BCS Bowl Games

So it's only fair that if I don't like the games being on ESPN I needed to also alert Comcast that their lineup is part of the problem.

Here's what I said:

Dear Sir or Madam,

I was disappointed to learn that none of the BCS bowl games are
available to me. I pay only for the limited cable package because of the
amount of trash that is generally on television and excessive channels I
do not want. Because of the way channel selection works, I would have to
pay almost $60/mo just to get ESPN which I am not willing to do. This
year my friends and I will be unable to watch any available college
games. We all enjoy football a great deal but aren''t willing to have to
purchase 50 channels we do not want in our homes. Thank you for your
time.

Regards,

They wrote back quickly:

Thank you for contacting Comcast Cable E-mail Support.


I thank you for allowing me this opportunity to assist you. Captain Dude, as
your service representative today, I want you to know that your
satisfaction is of my topmost priority. I will be more than happy to
assist you with your concern. I assure you that you have reached the
right person and rest assured that all information included on this
correspondence will resolved your concern.

I am sorry to hear you are having issues with your current service as
you are unable to watch some of your favorite sports game. Captain Dude, I can
understand why you would be upset, I would feel the same way if I was in
the situation you are in. I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience
this has caused you. Rest assured that your concern will be taken care
of.

Captain Dude, it is a regret to informed that ESPN channel is available for
Comcast Digital Cable package and higher tier only. Therefore, in order
to view ESPN channel, you will need to upgrade your cable service. We
have several different packages for you to pick from; however, we do not
offer a la carte programming where you can pick channels that you would
like to include on a certain package you are subscribed to. If we do
begin to offer a la carte programming, we will notify all of our
customers about the package changes.

To check on available services, packages, and rates in your area that
best suits your budget and needs, please contact us at
http://www.comcastsupport.com/chat

Or, 1-800-XFINITY (934-6489) during office hours.

I suggest you have the following information available when calling or
chatting to ensure the time you need to spend on the phone or chat is as
short as possible:

- Name on the account
- Address where service is provided and mailing address if different
- Telephone number associated with the account
- One of the following: Last 4 digits of the Account holders Social
Security Number/Security Code/Account Number/Amount of most recent
payment on the account

Captain Dude, I thank you for taking the time out from your busy schedule to
share your concerns. We continue to strive for complete customer
satisfaction so your feedback is valuable to us. We appreciate that you
have chosen Comcast as your service provider and we thank you for your
business.

Thank you for choosing Comcast! In addition to providing you with the
latest and greatest products, we want to ensure that you are satisfied
with our services. It is a pleasure assisting you and resolving your
issue today. Thank you for bringing Comcast into your home! If you need
assistance in the future, please do not hesitate to contact us at:

Chat Support (24 hours a day):
http://www.comcastsupport.com/chat

Phone Support (office hours only):
1-800-XFINITY (934-6489) during office hours

Bulk or Business accounts (office hours only):
1-800-391-3000 or 1-800-361-1619

We hope to do business with you again. Have a great day and take care.


Sincerely,

Elaine T
Comcast Customer Care Specialist
**************************************************
The response contained in this message is intended for the addressee
only and may vary from other responses depending on geography,
promotional campaigns or other factors. If you are not the intended
recipient of this response, please delete this message. Any unauthorized
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**************************************************

Wow, "Elaine" (Hello, my name is Peggy) writes terribly. It's unfortunate that the only solutions are giving someone more money. I pay enough and I am about to get rid of your "service" altogether. Yeah, I chose to disseminate this so that others can make an informed decision.

Disney has "stolen" all bowl games.

I wasn't paying attention last year when ESPN outbid everyone and got the rights to all BCS bowl games for the next four years. Disney, ABC, and ESPN are all the same so they could certainly choose to show a game or two on network television. In what's becoming the typical greedy american way, they aren't. Factor this in with your Comcast rates going up on purpose again, and the perpetual channel shuffling to make sure you have to buy channels you don't want and some folks simply can't watch the games this year. I realize I chose this predicament but thought I would write to ESPN so they would know I was disappointed. Here are the emails:

Dear Sir or Madam,

I was disappointed to learn that none of the BCS bowl games are available to me. I pay only for the limited cable package because of the amount of trash that is generally on television and excessive channels I do not want. Because of the way channel selection works, I would have to pay almost $60/mo just to get ESPN which I am not willing to do. This year my friends and I will be unable to watch any available college games. We all enjoy football a great deal but aren't willing to have to purchase 50 channels we do not want in our homes. Thank you for your time.

Regards,

I felt this was a reasonable observation and that I would receive some kind of sympathetic yet unwavering response. Here's what I got:

Thanks for contacting ESPN and giving us an opportunity to respond.

All BCS games will be available to almost 100 million homes on ESPN as well as through ESPN3.com and ESPN Radio. We are confident that fans will find and enjoy these games, the culmination of our year-round commitment to college football.

Sincerely,

Robert
ESPN Viewer Response

I put the selected text in bold as I felt "Robert" was implying that I am not a real fan because I am not willing to pay exorbitant amounts to watch sports. This is not correct, I enjoy sports but have better things to do with my money. Unfortunately, I feel I may be removing cable entirely from my home in the near future and will probably only have a television for family-type movie nights. My girls having to watch Viagra ads during kid's shows is kind of telling me things won't be getting any better. Oh, by the way I wrote "Robert" (Hello, my name is Peggy) back and said that previously the only reason I didn't have ESPN was the fact that it would cost me a minimum of $60/month (and that stupid cable box). I let him know that his arrogant response earned them another reason.

Be the Man

Are you "the man"? What does that even mean today anyway? I am watching friends and families falling apart as they are preyed upon by what our society would consider well-meaning ideas and support. Instead of helping, modern society encourages you to do whatever makes your selfish pride happy. This is NOT who we are called to be. Men, do not shirk your Christian duties to your wife and children. We must do what we are called to do. I will quote to you a familiar passage:

"25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body,[d] of His flesh and of His bones. 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”[e] 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband."

Now, there are words in here telling the wife what to do also but that is her responsibility not yours. We are to hold up our end of the bargain regardless of what she is doing. Now, I am not advocating sitting idly by in an abusive environment or condoning any non-biblical behavior by your spouse. Verse 26 actually speaks to this and you can also get some good biblical counseling from a professional. Be careful who you choose, I went to one Christian counselor that never opened the Bible.

I didn't hold up my end of the bargain for over 10 years in my marriage. I made excuse after excuse in order to blame my wife when it was really my sin that was the problem. I need to examine myself before I examine anyone else. I also need to make sure that I am placing God first, then my spouse, then my kids, and then others before I give myself what I think I deserve. This is not the popular psychology version we want to hear these days. We want to hear that we should follow our hearts and do what makes us happy. To quote a friend:

"What if marriage doesn't exist to make you happy, what if it exists to make you holy?"

Spy vs. Spy

I decided to look through my weblogs again and my LinkedIn profile page views. I noticed that the hall monitor and his flunky continue to look at my postings as if that has anything to do with their organization or job description. Please leave me alone, your harassment is unwelcome. It's tough to put pieces of your past behind you when certain pieces feel the need to follow you and run their mouths about you. Fortunately, I keep excellent records and will be presenting those to someone who may be able to help shortly.

People are Stupid

Don't believe me? Let's keep legalizing abnormal things and see how long it takes before these idiots get what they want:

http://www.nambla.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Man/Boy_Love_Association

It's absolutely disgusting that a society like that can even exist.

Hate Crimes, Cyber Bullies, Unicorns, and other mythical creatures

Let me start by saying I don't condone what is currently classified as a hate crime or cyber bullying. I guess what I have to ask is is murder, theft, or assault any worse because of how you classify it. I mean really is it better if two straight white guys fight or two gay dudes? We are focusing on the wrong problems trying to label these things. We are also acting like teen suicide is something new this past week because there have been" a rash of gay teen suicides." Look up some statistics on suicide, according to the CDC, a teen attempts suicide every 78 seconds and every 90 seconds one is successful. That's insane!

Cyber bullying, are you kidding me? You had to make up a new term and act like it's worse than any other bullying? At least with cyber crap you are on an even playing field where no one has a physical advantage and your ability to "fight" back is only limited by your imagination. I remember getting beat up a couple of times in my youth at school or walking to and from school, those certainly weren't the worst things that have ever happened to me and they taught me to deal with people who were just plain idiots.

If you are a parent, know your children and what they do. If you are choosing to send them off into some other environment for most of their day you will need to invest extra time understanding what goes on there. Please don't blindly assume your kid is different and independent enough to handle all life throws at them on their own. If you are the parent of a bully, you suck. Please stop sucking and discipline your child the world doesn't need this crap.

Our Deck Project

WE decided to rebuild our deck earlier this year and have now started the demolition and re-construction. Saturday was a long day, but we made great progress. You can keep track of the progress here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/griffse/DeckProject#

TV sucks

My TV is now only for watching some sports, a reality show or two, and family movie nights. The quality of television has gotten terrible and even the show that I want to watch have commercials, even in the middle of the day, that I can't let my children see. It was great that WalMart had "The Jensen Project" in July that was both decent and entertaining.

I have watched a few of the new shows that have come out and here's my take:

The Ev3nt: Great commercial build up but poor execution and delivery. I quit watching Lost when it got too weird and difficult to follow, this show is starting off that way.(watched 2 episodes)

Anything with Vampires and WereWolves: (stoopid)

The Apprentice: I believe this has been effectively killed by the "fun" version Celebrity Apprentice.

Chase: I can't watch a tiny little actress beat up giant people, boring.

Hawaii Five-O: I liked this one, wish it was on at 8 or 9 instead of 10. Scott Caan is a riot.

Outsourced: Had high hopes for this one, great commercials. Unfortunately the products sold by the company are foul and I lost interest pretty quick. This could've been a good one.

No Ordinary Family: I only saw a small part of this and it was just alright. Looks like they might actually take a look at bad parenting but we will see.

Lone Star: Jon Voight is a great actor, the stories were not real interesting. This show has already been canned after two episodes.

Undercovers: I watched the first ten minutes of the premiere. The computer stuff and shootout were horrible and I turned it off before I ever saw the main actors.

S#^! My Dad Says: Not watching it because the title sucks.

I haven't watched anything else and none of the other new shows have piqued my interest at all. Good thing I have my deck to rebuild this fall and football.

Homeschooling "battles"

The battles you fight as a homeschooler aren't what you might think. Most of the time your battles revolve around an outsider's perception of why you do what you do and them immediately telling you why they don't do it. Let's clear something up right away; I do not think everyone should homeschool. I do think there should be public schools and I happily pay my taxes so that those schools can exist. I do not believe that the issues I have with public education are the fault of the teachers in the classrooms.
We chose to homeschool for several reasons. First, I want my children to have a biblical world view. That definitely isn't going to happen in public school and maybe not even in some private schools. Second, we enjoy time with our children and want to give them as much time with us as possible. The local public school is from 0830 to 1530, that's seven hours not including prep and travel time. If I got home at 1710 and my kids went to bed at 2100, we would see them for a total of maybe 20 hours on weekdays. Conversely, they would be immersed with their peers well more than double that amount. That would be an unhealthy ration for our family.
My greatest concern for my children is not athletics, or grades, or getting into a college. I want multi-generational faithfulness in my family. I did a little research and found some scary statistics regarding what happens when Christian kids leave home and set out on their own. One study showed that "94% of homeschoolers keep the faith and 93% continue to attend church after the high school years. But a shocking 75% to 85% of Christian children sent to public school drop out of church, and do not hold a Christian worldview after high school graduation." That's shocking and scary, but even worse is this study showing that less than 19% of self-professing born-again adults possess a biblical worldview. Why is this we might ask? This article shows that today's adults weren't sufficiently challenged as children. I know I wasn't challenged even though I was raised in church. I have learned the hard way that my own spiritual walk wasn't what it should be until earlier this year.

Another battle you may end up fighting as a homeschooler is how your parents feel about your decision. My wife and I are both licensed educators and come from families where multiple generations have been educators. An unintended consequence of our choice to homeschool was making our parents feel like our decision reflected on their career choice and/or their decision to send us to public school. While some of our decision is based on what we experienced, we do not "blame" our parents and grandparents for anything and we are not criticizing their lifestyles or choices. My wife recently said that to her mother and it seemed to relieve a lot of tension. You may also ask yourself "what about honoring your mother and father" if they disagree with your decision? This goes beyond my ability to discuss so I leaned on this blog entry from Voddie Bauchum. He's a great resource for homeschoolers and also for any man that wants to be challenged to be the spiritual leader he is supposed be.

At the end of the day your decisions should be made by asking yourself "am I doing this for me or am I doing it to bring glory and honor to God's kingdom?" That answer will NOT be the same for everyone. As long as you are dying to yourself and picking up your cross everyday then you will make the right decisions for your family. For the men out there, I pray that you can avoid the trap that I fell into which was my own self-centeredness and pride. I spent a lot of time wanting to be comfortable in the world and wanting glory for myself. If you are interested in homeschooling I can tell you it's very rewarding and your kids will enjoy it. The issues concerning social skills and quality of education are really not issues at all if you do a little bit of research and preparation. I have heard people say to me "your kids are great but most homeschoolers....". They can stop there, no one knows "most" homeschoolers just like no one knows "most" public school kids. You may have been exposed to some that were not what you want for your kids but that isn't necessarily representative of "most."

I hope you will make the right decisions for your family, whatever that might be.

Colin Powell on Immigration

The general stated that the United States needs illegal immigrants for the following reasons:

1. they "are doing things we need done in this country."

2. "They're all over my house, doing things whenever I call for repairs.."

3. Immigration, he said, offers the U.S. a chance to maintain a youthful population in contrast with the aging of Europe and Japan.

4. He also said "I'm sure you've seen them at your house."

These are unfortunate reasons. I do not understand what number three means at all unless he means U.S. citizens aren't having enough babies. I also know that no illegals work on my home because I know who I hire.

Washington "Acid Attack"

Largely I ignore everything in the "news" over the past year because nothing is actually news.This one confuses me so I thought I would seek some clarification. IF this story had not been a hoax, why is it national news? Now that it is a hoax, why is it national news? The woman said her attacker was black and now some people are saying that means she is a racist. If she had said her attacker was white does that mean she hates white people? Maybe she is a racist but I don't think saying that makes her one, she's just a moron. In the "comments" on CNN and Fox and other sites, liberals say she is a wacko conservative and conservatives say she is a wacko liberal. Who cares? What does this have to do with political party affiliation and why must everything be polarized along those lines? Really, aren't there idiots in both parties and what does this whole thing have to do with politics anyway?

Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning

Last night I heard an "expert panel" say that because Tom Brady got a new huge contract that Peyton Manning will deserve more. That's the stupidest thing I have ever heard, Tom Brady has produced more than Manning and has been a better investment. I guess all those super bowl rings just aren't a measure of success. A look at their stats shows who pays off when it counts, don't take my word for it, look it up.

Movie Review (Green Zone)

I saw this Saturday and even though I wasn't tempted to turn it off, it was kind of boring. The actors played their parts well, and I think that things were represented alright but it just wasn't engaging. It may have been the veiled political messages or maybe just the subject matter. One reviewer called it "Jason Bourne goes to Baghdad." It's nothing like the Bourne series, and the character is completely different too. Overall it was entertaining but I wouldn't rush out to see it. The other option was Hot Tub Time Machine, but plugged in online said it was pretty foul so we chose to skip it.

Movie Review (The Book of Eli)

Amazing! This was a great story even if a bit violent. The violence and language seemed contextually accurate so I can handle that, nothing gratuitous. IF you haven't seen it, run don't walk. The only knock I have was that the movie was incredibly dark. When I say that I mean I couldn't see things on the screen sometimes. I also could have done without the sepia filter used to shoot most of the scenes. Even with that, I almost cried at the end which surprised me.