Sports Superstitions

Sports Superstitions. We all seem to have them. We all seem to go along with them, no matter how silly they seem/sound. How many times around Pittsburgh have you heard, "Don't disrespect the towel" ? Stop and think about how ridiculous that sounds. Yet, as Steeler fans, we honor that edict.
One year Jon bought Kordell Stewart's football shoes (signed) from the WTAE Bundle Up auction. We put those shoes on top of the TV and felt they brought the team luck. Do you think we could GIVE those shoes away now?? Doubt it.
There are sports fans everywhere who have certain routines, articles of clothing, chants, and so on that they do repeatedly to "do their part" to bring a victory to their team.
Deep down, do we really believe we are effecting the outcome of the game?
My family has gone so far as to say that everyone must sit in the same seat every game (if this particular configuration has brought us luck in previous "big games")
Last week when the Steelers played Baltimore, our boys were losing at halftime. I went upstairs to watch the second half in bed, and when we tied it up in the 4th quarter, came back downstairs to watch overtime. Jon was screaming at me to go back upstairs, they tied it up with me out of the room!! Jer took pity on me and said I could stay; surely my presence wasn't going to jinx the team. We all know what happened; we lost in OT.
That brings me to today, when Pitt plays for the Big East championship against undefeated Cincinnati at Heinz Field. I would much rather still be sleeping right now, but I was jerked wide awake before 6am with this thought: Jon's lucky jeans that he has worn to every home game that Pitt has won this year, NEED TO GO IN THE DRYER.
I've done my part. Hail to Pitt.

Ashton's Wisdom

OK, I tweet
Did you know I am on twitter?
I am not sure why....but sometimes it's fun to splash a comment across the screen in 140 characters or less.
I follow between 20-30 people. Beth, Jeremy, Jaime, my niece Charissa,and nephew Frank are a few people I follow. The little blurbs they post help me to keep in touch with what is going on in their universe.
I first got on twitter this summer, I believe...around the time when Ashton Kutcher was trying to beat cnn to see who could get the most followers. Whoever hit one million followers on twitter first won. Not being a big fan of cnn, I began to follow Ashton Kutcher, he of That 70's Show and Punked fame.
What I have learned about Ashton from his tweets is this: he is big on fantasy football, he is passionate about helping people all over the world, he truly loves his older wife Demi, and once in a while he comes up with a really good tweet.
Here is a tweet from Ashton today:

Swallow your pride occasionally; it's non-fattening.

Thanks Ashton. I needed that.

Semi-Annual

Today Bethany and I made our semi-annual trip to Squirrel Hill. We love to go shopping/dining there, but never seem to make it more than twice a year! The biggest attractions for us in this trendy, yet established village are Little's Shoe store and Ten Thousand Villages.

Ten Thousand Villages is a destination in and of itself. It is a craft shop, but the key is, the crafts are made around the world, and all of the money is fed back into the country from which it originates. You will find handmade items from India, Guatemala, Peru, Haiti, Mexico, El Salvador.....the list is endless! The store itself is non-profit and exists to aid these countries. Some of the items that can be found there---jewelry, purses, pottery, scarves, toys, note cards...again, the list is endless. The items are not grouped by country. Therefore, we went on a treasure hunt of sorts, looking for items that were made in Honduras. Lucky for us, the clerks can run a search on their computer and tell you what items in the store are from a certain destination, making it a little easier to look for them. Today it turns out the only things from Honduras were candles.

Probably the best treasures they had today were nativity sets. Handcarved and handpainted, there were some precious ones and some grand ones. I was very tempted, but did not purchase.

On to Littles. Bethany loves boots. It is almost an obsession with her. I thought it would be great to start my Christmas shopping by purchasing her a pair. But the black, tall, slouchy pair she picked, she wanted NOW, not a month from now, so she bought them for herself. FIGURES.

Our third stop was at a bakery that has been getting a lot of positive buzz in Pittsburgh. Dozen has stores on the South Side, downtown, Lawrenceville, at the Andy Warhol museum, and this one in Squirrel Hill. Billed as "the country's best cupcakes" by MSN City guide, they daily have a selection of flavored cupcakes from which to choose. Today there was one called Asteroids that had Cocoa Puffs on top of the icing. There was also a vegan chocolate with buttercream icing, vanilla on vanilla, turtle, milk chocolate, and coffee.

The coffee cupcake was actually a chocolate cupcake with coffe icing, topped by a coffee bean. Bethany and I split this, and I have to say, not a fan. And I am a lover of all things sweet. So perhaps I need to give it another try on another day with another flavor. Their website is beautiful to look at, so if you're interested, it is dozenbakeshop.com.

Squirrel Hill is definitely worth at least a semi-annual trip!

Heaven

"Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in; aim at earth and you will get neither".
This is a quote we discussed at the beginning of our small group study on Heaven. Held on Monday evenings at my home, we have sometimes struggled with the heavy theology in the book "Heaven" by Randy Alcorn. The book often reads like a textbook; so it is a blessing that there is a study guide and a DVD that accompany it.
Our group is comprised of friends that have been meeting together for 3 or 4 years, plus a woman new to our community. We all came into this study with some preconceived notions about our eternal home that have been changed and reformed through looking at what the Word of God really has to say about the New Heaven and New Earth.
Some of the concepts and ideas are not entirely new, yet they have been fleshed out and confirmed more clearly through this study. Here are a few highlights we've covered so far:
In Heaven, we will have memories from earth. This is shown by the martyrs in Revelations 6 who remember that they were murdered, and wonder how long until there is retribution for their murders.
In Heaven, we will have unity, a shared vision, one voice.
In Heaven, people desire learning and pursue it.
Just as our bodies decay and need resurrected, our earth is decaying and needs resurrected....thus God's perfect plan of a new Earth.
All the beauty we enjoy on this present earth will be present in the New Earth, only so much better and more beautiful than we can imagine.
In Heaven, we will have fully physical bodies in a fully physical place.

These are just a few of the tidbits we have explored in our study. It has made us excited for where we are headed for our eternal reward.

Doubt

This year in Community Bible study we are studying the book of Luke. It has been an excellent study. I have been reading Luke 7 this week as I do my homework for this Thursday's class. An interesting point has been highlighted that in past readings of this chapter I must have skipped over.
At this point in Jesus' ministry, John the Baptist was in prison. He sends two men to Jesus to ask Him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" WAIT. John the Baptist asked this? John, about whom it was prophesied would "go before the Lord to prepare the way for him"? (Luke 1:76b) John, who when he baptized Jesus, saw heaven opened and the Holy Spirit descend on Jesus in the form of a dove? (Luke 3:22)

Why would this man have doubts, questions?

First of all, because we all experience times of doubt, and how comforting to know that such a godly man did, too.
But second, and most importantly, (in my opinion), because he was isolated and out of fellowship as he sat in that prison cell.
Some of our darkest thoughts come when we are alone. When we remain alone, and outside of the community of Christ, those thoughts can get darker still.
What a great lesson of why we need to stay connected to our brothers and sisters in Christ!
And, for me, it was also convicting due to the aloneness some people in my life are experiencing, because they are incarcerated by the choices they have made. May I have more compassion for those in that situation, and realize how much they need confirmation of God's love and presence.

Car Wash

I have very serious advice to all of those out there in bloggerland: don't ever, under any circumstances, ever open your car door when you are inside an automatic car wash. Even if it seems like a good idea at the time.

My latest used car is a Saab. It is a top of the line model, all the gadgets and bells and whistles. It says "God Bless you" when you sneeze. But alas, it is a USED car. Therefore, there are a myriad of gidgets and gadgets that can go wrong with it. And, one of those little quirks of Sally Saab is the rear window on the driver's side sometimes creeps down on it's own.

One Friday recently I needed to kill time between driving home from work and meeting
Bethany on Rt 910 to pick her up from carpooling with a coworker. Sally Saab was dirty, so I drove into the neighborhood car wash. I fed the machine six crisp dollar bills and drove in. The soapy arm of the car wash made one pass. I look back and realize the rear window has crept down an inch or two. Oh no!! I move the front seat back as far as it will go with the electric button and strain to get the window up. No go. I have to get out and push the window up manually.

I check where the arm of the mechanism is, and it is on the opposite side of the car. Surely there is enough time to jump out, fix the window and get back in.

Not so much. The arm of the car wash jammed right into my open door and stuck there. Panic sets in as I realize the door will not close, the car wash has come to a halt, and the washing arm of the car wash will not move. I run out of the car wash looking for help. No one is around. It occurs to me that either the door of the car has to come off or the car wash dismantled to fix this jam I am in. There is an object on the wall near my car door that is preventing me from moving forward with the door open.

Eventually I figure out that if I inch forward, inch by inch, I can close my door a tiny bit. I finally am able to close it enough to get past the mechanism on the wall of the car wash.

If this was all caught on video, I am a definite winner on America's Funniest Home videos.

Buhl Mansion

Last Christmas our three children got us a gift certificate to The Buhl Mansion in Sharon, Pa. (thanks kids) Jon and I love little getaways, and try to do them as often as we can. Twenty-four hours away from the phone, the mail, the housework, and all that...can do wonders for the soul. Not to mention what focusing on your loved one for a chunk of time can do for your marriage! It is one of the Secrets to a Better Marriage that Jon and I stumbled on early in our wedded bliss....and so, on Saturday we were off to Lawrence County for some "we time".
It took us under 90 minutes to reach our destination, and it was not difficult to spot this huge, stone mansion in the midst of Sharon. Built as a wedding present for his bride, Mr. Buhl designed a castle fit for a queen. And a king. And many guests.
We were not out of our car before the doors to the mansion sprung open and we were descended upon by two friendly women who whisked our bags and our car away and ushered us into the Mansion.
Not only did we have beautiful accommodations of a king sized canopy bed, two person jacuzzi,and a gas fireplace that was already lit and waiting for us, but they also had tea time at 4 and a champagne reception at 5:45.
Each room had cozy His and Her robes and slippers and we were given access to the lower level spa in the Mansion to use the steam room, monsoon shower, and sauna at our leisure.
Breakfast Sunday morning could be served either in our room or in the sunroom. We chose the sunroom and were seated in huge oversized stuffed chairs at a round table for two in front of a fireplace to enjoy a 3 course gourmet breakfast. Delicious!
While at Buhl Mansion we witnessed a wedding taking place in the solarium on the grounds just beyond the sunroom. A small affair, the 40 guests enjoyed all the same attention to detail we did as guests of the Mansion. As we watched the bride and groom get photos taken on the picturesque front porch, I couldn't help but think, "I hope they come back as guests as a married couple 30 years from now".