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h2omusc
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Name: Caleb
Gender: Male
Interests: God, reading the Bible, memorizing the Bible, my girlfriend Abby, order, engineering, math, solving puzzles, G.A. Henty, C.S. Lewis, history (esp. military), music, clarinet, piano, orchestration, harmonica, Baroque music, trumpet concerti, Handel, Telemann, hiking, backpacking, green hills, proving Nebraska is beautiful, letterboxing, Dartmoor, Scotland, state quarters, Husker football, Husker baseball, Minnesota sports, basketball, Apple computers, children, roads, highways, and maps.
Expertise: Math, Bible memorization. They tell me piano, I disagree. They tell me computers, I disagree.
Oh, and I am a certified character coach, by CharacterFirst!Education.
Occupation: Student
Industry: Engineering
Message: message meEmail: email me
Yahoo:  h2omusc
Member Since:
1/5/2005
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| I know I haven't posted here in forever but I wanted to put down a few thoughts for posterity's sake on a pair of basketball games I attended over the past 5 days. It's hard to remember exact plays and game flows from games I went to years ago but these had to be up there with Korver team's OT win over Southwest Missouri St at the Civic, Tolliver's game winner against Wichita St which I saw from (literally) the rafters of the Qwest, the NU/Creighton NIT game, Witter's game winner against Rhode Island in the NIT, and even the last second losses to Southern Illinois (#4 seed that year) and Kentucky in the NIT. Sat, Feb 18: Creighton 81 Long Beach St 79 - I won tickets to this game from work so I went with Josh, Joe, and Rachel S. in the seats in the second-to-top row in section 125. These are, by the way, great seats. The game started at 9:00 PM because it was part of ESPN Bracket Busters. The crowd was noisy and involved right from the start and this may have been the best basketball crowd at the Qwest/CenturyLink Center I've been a part of. LBSU came in with a 40s-ish RPI and unbeaten in their conference but needed some meat on their resume to influence the committee. Creighton came having just lost 3 in a row to Northern Iowa, Evansville, and Wichita St (by 20) before winning at Southern Illinois while shooting the NCAA's 20th best percentage all-time, 77.5%. Creighton led early but LBSU was soon in front and led by 2 possessions most of the way before reaching their biggest lead of 9 midway through the second half. Casper Ware was amazing at creating space for his jumper and was causing Creighton's defenders fits while Creighton would make only 5 3-pointers the entire night. But Doug McDermott and his 36 points kept the Bluejays in it. They chipped away at the lead were within striking distance late. Coach Greg McDermott subbed in freshman Austin Chatman to guard Ware with immediate results as Creighton got keys stops late and McDermott and Gregory Echenique got big buckets at the other end. Soon the game was tied at 79. Creighton got a stop with 45 seconds left but then Chatman turned it over with a freshman mistake backcourt violation. Creighton then got yet another stop when Chatman forced Ware to a jumper miss, and then Antoine Young took over. Creighton's high ball screen play call went awry, so Young drove against 3 defenders throwing up a floater from about 8 feet which banked in as the buzzer sounded. The students stormed the floor as LBSU left the court in disgust, victims of an amazing buzzer beater and a boisterous crowd down the stretch. Tue, Feb 21: Creighton 93 Evansville 92 (OT) - This was Creighton's senior night game, and Esther convinced me to buy 2 tickets from Living Social since we had attended the last several years' senior nights. We were eight rows up in section 229 right behind Creighton's first half basket. Evansville came with aspirations of still finishing 4th in the Valley and had beaten the Jays just 3 games earlier. Even with the win against LBSU, Creighton wanted this win to feel sure about their NCAA tournament hopes. Creighton got a poor game from one of Saturday's stars Doug McDermott. He ended up with 21 points but that is below his average and he had just 5 first half points and finished 6/13 on free throws. Creighton ended up getting 14 points from reserve Avery Dingman and 21 points from senior Antoine Young. But it almost wasn't good enough. Evansville had a 2-man show with Colt Ryan ending up with an arena record 43 points and Denver Holmes added 25 points. With their "length" and jump shooting ability, Ryan and Holmes bothered Creighton and the 4 or 5 different players they tried out to guard them. After a back and forth first half, Evansville built up a 14 point second half lead before Creighton began to chip. McDermott, frustrated early by Evansville's great post defense, finally got going. But even the high flying efforts by the players was perhaps overshadowed by the officials. After a close to average 19 fouls in the first half, the refs decided to take over the game in the second half. Both teams were in the bonus with 10 minutes to go in the game, and there would be a foul almost every possession, many of them of the ticky-tack variety as Creighton's defenders tried to stay with Ryan. Eventually the fouls reversed with Ryan picking up two critical player control fouls and having to sit with 4 personals. Creighton took advantage by slowly closing the gap, and then forced two consecutive shot clock the violations in the final minute, during the last of which Holmes was held by a defender in would have a surely been a foul throughout most of the second half. For the rest of the game and into the overtime, the refs curiously put their whistles behind their backs. Creighton trailed by 2 with the shot clock turned off, and they again went the high ball screen look that won the game against LBSU. This time Young's forced floater with 4 seconds left missed but McDermott kept the ball alive. Ethan Wragge rebounded but missed his putback but then Gregory Echenique flailed at the carom redirecting the ball off the glass and in as the buzzer sounded! We're going to overtime! Both teams matched each other through most of the overtime and eventually Evansville led by one with 48 seconds to go. It was Josh Jones who through for Creighton Young's drive was denied with a jumper from elbow. Creighton tightened up the defense on Ryan and Evansville once again and forced him into a long guarded 3-pointer with 4 seconds left. McDermott rebounded and Creighton survived! | | |
| Good article from Kyle Whelliston of The Mid Majority: http://www.midmajority.com/2010/01/valley-stories.php | | |
| I did a quick study looking at the population of Winter Olympic cities and my suspicion was confirmed. In the past couple decades, the population of the cities has grown. I don't think it is possible any more for a small town like Lake Placid (pop. 2638) to host the games any more even though they amazing surrounding and world-class venues. I'm not sure quite what this means except that maybe everything is moving toward the bigger and better and so you need a larger city to host all the personnel and you access to the latest technology. I imagine we will see more circumstances similar to the coming 2010 Vancouver Games where the sports venues are located 75 miles away from Vancouver, in Whistler. So, for what it's worth, here's a table. It should be noted that these are the current populations stolen directly from Wikipedia (I wanted to have consistent source and population data for foreign countries can be harder to come by). | Year | | City | Population | | 1924 | | Chamonix, France | 9,514 | | 1928 | | St Moritz, Switz | 5,146 | | 1932 | | Lake Placid, NY, USA | 2,638 | | 1936 | | Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany | 26,112 | | 1948 | | St Moritz, Switz | 5,146 | | 1952 | | Oslo, Norway | 584,292 | | 1956 | | Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy | 6,150 | | 1960 | | Squaw Valley, CA, USA | 926 | | 1964 | | Innsbruck, Austria | 117,916 | | 1968 | | Grenoble, France | 156,107 | | 1972 | | Sapporo, Japan | 1,890,561 | | 1976 | | Innsbruck, Austria | 117,916 | | 1980 | | Lake Placid, NY, USA | 2,638 | | 1984 | | Sarajevo, Yugoslavia | 305,242 | | 1988 | | Calgary, AB, Canada | 988,193 | | 1992 | | Albertville, France | 18,906 | | 1994 | | Lillehammer, Norway | 26,124 | | 1998 | | Nagano, Japan | 378,059 | | 2002 | | Salt Lake City, UT, USA | 181,698 | | 2006 | | Torino, Italy | 910,188 | | 2010 | | Vancouver, Canada | 578,041 | | 2014 | | Sochi, Russia | 334,282 |
Sorry I tried to upload a graph but it didn't work very well but you see the correlation just by looking at the number of digits. I did a similar table with the Summer Olympic Cities but that didn't have the same results because they have been using large cities all along. Actually Atlanta in 1996 was one of the smaller summer cities. Feel free to enjoy, comment, or call me a nerd. | | |
| This paper is going to explain why I don’t drink alcoholic beverages. I am not trying to be judgmental or legalistic, I am trying to explain my position. The purpose of this paper is for me to be able to outline my thoughts and define where I stand, to get you to evaluate your position (or form one if you don’t have one) and encourage thought on the topic. What you do with that is between you and God.
As we should do with any subject, first I will look at the issue in the Bible. The Bible does mention this topic, not much surprise there. As I began looking through concordance and then at verses themselves, one thing became very clear: Drunkenness is wrong and IS a sin. This can be seen from Eph 5:18, “Do not get drunk on wine,” In three different lists on sins (Rom 13:13, Gal 5:21, 1 Pet 4:3), drunkenness is listed. It also disqualifies a man from becoming an elder in the church, “not given to drunkenness”. (1 Tim 3:3, Tit 1:7) So regardless of your position of whether a drink here and there is allowable, becoming intoxicated is not allowable.
Although the first mention of wine in the Bible is not positive (Gen 9:21 when Noah uncovers himself), wine is consumed throughout the Bible. The Hebrew word for wine (Strongs 3196) means wine (as fermented), implying this is an alcohol beverage. The Greek word for wine (Strongs 3631), for example when Jesus turned the water to wine at Cana, is based on that Hebrew word. However, it should be noted that those specially set apart for God were forbidden from drinking alcoholic beverages, see the Nazirite in Num 6, the priests when they went into the Tent of Meeting (Lev 10:9), Samson, John the Baptist, and others. Except for these special people, there was no restriction on wine or other fermented drink.
Despite the lack of out right restriction, Proverbs 23 has a fair amount to say about drinking, most of them words of warning. In v. 17 it says, “Do not let your heart envy sinners…” What is your motivation for drinking? If it is to be like everybody else, that is a poor motive. A couple of verses later comes an exhortation not to drink too much wine because drunkards and gluttons become poor. Then an entire section (vv. 29-35) is committed to the condemnation of the drunkard. “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine.” (Prov 23:29-30) The great wise men of Proverbs clearly advise against the consumption of wine. Then in the exhortation of a mother, “It is not for kings to drink wine, not for rulers to crave beer.” (Prov 31:4) I think it wise to error on the side of caution and refuse to even begin down a road that has the potential to lead to that kind of moral and physical destruction.
Paul says in 1 Cor. 10:23-24, “’Everything is permissible’ -- but not everything is beneficial. ‘Everything is permissible’ -- but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.” These verses are in the context of the “merging” of Jewish and Gentile believers, each with their own backgrounds and standards. We should not act to offend other believers. For instance, an alcoholic that has turned to Christ may not appreciate seeing other Christians drinking as it would remind him of his former life of sin. It is also well documented that what parents do in moderation, their children will do in excess. Paul particularly warns that we should not be a stumbling block to others. (Rom 14:13, 1Cor 8:9) Though you may have the freedom to drink, others may not and could be caused to sin. And still others, especially children and young adults, may assume that drinking is allowable for everyone before wrestling with the issue before God or knowing the full ramifications.
Then there is the issue of our testimony in the world. I will argue that even in this day and age, unbelievers do not expect Christians to drink. Drinking, along with gambling and adultery, is still considered a “vice”.* So how will it affect our testimony if unsaved acquaintances we are witnessing to happen across us in a restaurant downing a beer? Or, they happen across a half filled bottle of an alcoholic beverage at our house? Will we not be labeled a “hypocrite” and prevent another from wanting what is most important in life, a relationship with Jesus Christ?
A practical concern of mine regarding drinking is the financial aspect. Drinking can cost quite a bit of money, especially when beverages are purchased at a grocery store. With taxes, it can cost about three times more than “soft drinks”. When I hear of the weekend activities of co-workers, I wonder where they find the money. Now I realize almost any hobby or activity has some kind of associated cost but I do want to point that regular drinking will have significant cost.
Finally, I want to discuss possible outcomes of drinking. We have already discussed that drunkenness is a sin, and we easily see in this world the actions of those who are drunk. We can tell ourselves that will never happen to us but no one became a murderer overnight either. But soft choices have a way of compiling. One drink a week could lead to one drink twice a week, then going out with the guys on Friday night, then having one too many, and so on. Alcohol has a way of affecting humans. Even before one is legally drunk, one has a propensity to be loud and obnoxious, saying or doing things we later regret. Do we want to put ourselves in situation where we could say or do things we will need to repent of later? How many things have become major issues in our lives (or in someone else who we have observed) that began as only a small thing? It is much easier to never start than to stop once we have started.
So those are my reasons for abstaining from alcoholic beverages. I am very open to hear comments and feedback on this issue, and in fact, I encourage it.
* This statement comes from an article on cnn.com, I believe, after the stock market crashed in 2008. It noted the beer and casino stocks were doing well despite the economic downturn, saying something like “These numbers show that in poor economic times more people turn to vices.”
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| I believe after a couple years of Xanga, I'm going to quit it. Abby & I have a blog at http://calebandabby.blogspot.com that will be kept relatively up to date. If anyone has any major concerns with me shutting down my xanga, speak now or forever hold your peace. May the LORD bless you richly in the coming year. | | |
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