Sports

Yesterday after morning worship, one of the men of our congregation was mad at me for exhorting the congregation to worship God with more self-forgetful zeal than March Madness fans. He loves sports and thinks I don't, and that my exhortation was spiteful towards him and his fellow keepers of the cult.

I tried to reassure him I was just as idolatrous as the next guy. I don't think it softened him.

Now I try another tack.

Should we take basketball and bracketologists seriously? Umm.

To help your answer, here's the best bracket in our Bayly family... 

People are pushing for homeboy Steve Alford to replace IU basketball coach Tom Crean. Some hope not, and for me, this is enough of a reason.

Note the intervention by Evangelical parachurch ministry Athletes in Action. Well-intentioned I'm sure, but really.

Son Taylor forwarded the article to me. Good words  for Christians weary of the battle from offensive lineman Joe Thomas of the winless Cleveland Browns (named for my mother's high school's football coach in Massillon):

My mentality from the day I started playing sports was that you get up, you dust yourself off and you do it again. Some people lay on the ground after they get hurt and they say, "Boy, that hurts. I wonder if I'm hurt. I'd better get it checked out." That's not part of my thought process.

My mind is going to tell my body I can do this, and if my body can't do it and I fall to the ground, then you know it's time to get it checked out.  - Joe Thomas

Holiness is...

Everyone is congratulating each other over the NBA's supercilious Adam Silver yanking the All-Star Game from Charlotte. He was taking a stand against North Carolina legislators who had passed a law against sexual predators posing as women and using women's bathrooms. People who matter had been Hoosiering the state over its law for a while, now. It took a little longer than expected but sexual debauchery won the day and the NBA canned Charlotte. The scuttlebutt is New Orleans will be the new host city.

People are morally indignant that a man isn't allowed to pee in the Lady's Room in Charlotte so they send their game over to the city where Lent is celebrated by women baring their breasts. This is our country, today—a nation filled with Christians like Steph Curry.

Turns out Charlotte is Steph's hometown... 

The play will never be forgotten. It was during the 2005 AFC Divisional game between the New England Pats and the Denver Broncos. Watch the video. Pats tight end Ben Watson got his man. Watson is at it again, posting this excellent response to all the sturm and drang over North Carolina passing a law that forbids men from crashing the ladies room. Here are a couple excerpts:

...claims that gender and race are analogous ...could not be further from the truth.

(Thanks to Jake.) Watch this short video about Ernie Johnson, host of TNT's Inside the NBA. Watch it with your son. God bless Ernie Johnson who walks in his father's footsteps. Here's how the video ends:

Ernie Johnson Jr.: You learn from your dad well, and you pass that on to your kid. Now let's keep that going.

Because of the noise of the galloping hoofs of his stallions, The tumult of his chariots, and the rumbling of his wheels, The fathers have not turned back for their children, Because of the limpness of their hands...  - Jeremiah 47:3

The biggest name in the NFL draft this year is Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston. Winston is no Andrew Luck golden boy. He brings some baggage including a civil suit alleging sexual assault (authorities declined to file criminal charges), some pranks and tirades, and conviction a year ago for stealing crab legs from a Publix.

Naturally, then, NFL general managers and coaches are scrutinizing Winston. After last year's tsunami of criminal charges causing the season of shame that came to a fitting end with Darth Hoodie winning the Super Bowl, no one wants to bring a Johnny Manziel into their locker room. And since the Tampa Bay Bucs have the first draft pick this year, it's Tampa Bay's GM Jason Licht and Head Coach Lovie Smith who have been spending time and money looking into Winston's character.

Lovie's been around for 19 NFL drafts and he says he's never seen the level of investigation of a player that Winston is being put through. GM Licht reports the Bucs have talked to...

Watch the coach belly flop. He's the proud father.

There was a time when missions meant preaching the Gospel to all the world and being a missionary meant being sent to all the world to preach the Gospel. The Auca martyrs went to the Aucas to preach the Gospel. They went from love of their fellow men to tell them about sin and righteousness and judgment, then the hope of forgiveness and eternal life through the cross of the Only Lord Jesus Christ.

They did not go as a publicity stunt to "raise awareness" about the "marginalized."

Today, though, we have a different kind of missions and a different kind of missionary. Christian missions has evolved and has little to do with preaching the Gospel. And yet every Christian missionary and Christian mission non-profit organization claims to be...