Easter

Today is a day that is more than the Easter dresses and bright Easter ties. It is more than the Easter lilies on the alter, more than even the Easter smiles. Today marks a day where words took on new meaning, and a day that attested that truth, even when resigned to an Earthly grave, cannot be kept there.

There is a Moment in each Day that Satan cannot find.

-- William Blake

Jesus said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must
deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever
wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for
me will save it.
-- Luke 9:23-24

My loves
My tears
My strengths
My fears
My passions
My cries
My idiocyncracies
My lies

Mostly words
Sometimes miles
Always tenderness
Forever smiles

But never a crazy little thing called love

Kill

Well, you're just across the street
Looks a mile to my feet
I wanna go to you
Funny how I'm nervous still
I've always been the easy kill
I guess I always will

Could it be that everything goes 'round by chance?
Or only one way that it was always meant to be
You kill me, you always know the perfect thing to say
I know what I should do, but I just can't walk away

I can picture your face well
From the bar in my hotel
I wish I'd go to you
I pick up put down the phone
Like your favorite Heatmeiser song goes
It's just like being alone

Oh God, please don't tell me this has been in vain
I need answers for what all the waiting after means
You kill me, you've got some nerve, but can't face your mistakes
I know what I should do, but I just can't turn away

So go on love
Leave while there's still hope for escape
Gotta take what you can these days
There's so much ahead
So much regret
I know what you want to say
I know people can't help feeling differently
I loved you, and I should have said it
Tell me just what has it ever meant?

I can't help it baby, this is who I am
Sorry, but I can't just go turn off how I feel
You kill me, you build me up, but just to watch me break
I know what I should do, but I just can't walk away

Live by the sword, and you will die by the sword.

Live by love, and you will die by love.

I would rather die in love than stay alive numb.

Barry Bonds: You are dead to baseball.

There is an indiputable fact about the game that I've come to love over the course of my lifetime. The reaction time required to hit a 90 mph fastball from a major league pitcher has easily got to be one of the most difficult things to do in sports, let alone do it well. Don't believe me? Check out this link that will test your reaction time, and this involves only clicking your mouse, let alone using your entire body to hit a small ball with a bat weighing just under a pound with great precision. There is only one game that you can fail 7 times out of 10 and still be considered the greatest hitter in all of baseball, case and point...Barry Bonds: Career Average of .300.

It is no surprise that since his 73 home run season back in 2001, baseball has been swarmed with controversy with the emergence of rumors that players have been abusing steroids in baseball since the early 90's. Jose Conseco wrote a book in 2005 called "Juiced" in which he documented alleged use of steroids by many of the last decades greatest ball players including Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa, propelling them to the much revered "home run race" back in 1998, that was a blast for the hearts of fans and for the hearts of baseball. Everyone believed that the modern superstar status, selfish players, impossible team loyalty, had tarnished the game beyond repair before the 1998 season. As a Cardinals fan, McGuire became my instant hero. I saw him play once in one of his injury laiden last seasons in the majors, the fans roared, and the cameras clicked. It was ephereal. He struck out on three straight pitches, but it didn't matter to me, he was my hero for what he did for baseball.

Since then it has been hard for me to look objectively at his role in the steroid scandal, partially because he was a big guy throughout his entire career, let alone in the year he hit 70 homers. The fact remains that he played before mandatory steroid testing was implemented in baseball, and it is no surprise that owners are just as guilty for the tarnishing of the game. Did they know that players were juicing since the late 80's? Probably. Did they do anything about it? No. Why? Because fans dig the long ball. They want to see the ball hit higher, longer, screaming out of the stadium into the distance, because it is simply an adrenaline rush. Players hitting more home runs = more fans coming to games, and baseball taking the media spotlight during the 1998 home run race. Now shortly thereafter is where Barry Bonds comes into play.

In the newest book out alleging his steroid use "Game of Shadows," that documents Bonds steroid use in detail since 1998, I believe because suddenly his 15 years of MVP play were taking a backseat to the long ball. Anything from human growth hormone to steroids used in horses, apparently Bonds took it. He ballooned from this in his rookie season:

170 pound Rookie


to a 230 behemoth


I'll leave the more complicated statistics to a great writer, Ben Alamar, who documents the change in Bond's performance before and after his alleged steroid abuse. The following table shows the career statistics of those players with number most like those of Barry Bonds as identified by baseballreference.com. All this information is taken directly from ProTrade.com and its subsequent writer.

Athlete R HR RBI BB OBP SLG OPS+
Barry Bonds 2078 708 1853 2311 0.442 0.611 184
Willie Mays 2062 660 1903 1464 0.385 0.565 158
Babe Ruth 2175 714 2217 2062 0.474 0.690 207
Frank Robinson 1829 586 1812 1420 0.389 0.537 154
Hank Aaron 2174 755 2297 1402 0.377 0.567 158
Rafael Palmeiro 1663 569 1835 1353 0.371 0.515 132
Ted Williams 1798 521 1839 2021 0.483 0.633 190
Reggie Jackson 1551 563 1702 1375 0.358 0.493 140
Dave Winfield 1669 465 1833 1216 0.356 0.480 133
Stan Musial 1949 475 1951 1599 0.420 0.566 161
Carl Yastrzemski 1689 419 1663 1683 0.382 0.469 133

"The Game of Shadows" indicates that Barry Bonds began using steroids at 34, so theoretically his numbers can be divided into pre-steroid and post-steroid numbers. The following table represents the numbers of all the same players in comparison to Barry Bonds before they turned 34, and how his number compare percentage wise.

Athlete R HR RBI BB OBP SLG OPS+
Barry Bonds 1364 411 1216 1357 0.411 0.556 163
Willie Mays 1379 453 1290 873 0.388 0.589 162
Babe Ruth 1447 470 1411 1358 0.479 0.709 214
Frank Robinson 1428 450 1377 1017 0.394 0.555 157
Hank Aaron 1519 481 1541 802 0.374 0.565 157
Rafael Palmeiro 1061 314 1079 735 0.365 0.503 132
Ted Williams 1275 324 1264 1329 0.484 0.634 190
Reggie Jackson 1051 369 1120 851 0.361 0.508 149
Dave Winfield 1045 281 1130 714 0.355 0.481 135
Stan Musial 1396 292 1253 1054 0.431 0.584 171
-
Average 1289 381.5 1273.8 970.3 0.403 0.569 163
Bonds/Average 106% 108% 95% 140% 102% 98% 100%

Now lets take a look at his numbers in comparison after age 34, the alleged year he began using steroids.

Athlete R HR RBI BB OBP SLG OPS+
Barry Bonds 714 297 637 954 0.515 0.756 232
Willie Mays 683 207 613 591 0.376 0.499 146
Babe Ruth 728 244 806 704 0.465 0.653 194
Frank Robinson 401 136 435 403 0.375 0.483 145
Hank Aaron 655 274 756 600 0.373 0.533 151
Rafael Palmeiro 602 255 756 618 0.38 0.535 132
Ted Williams 523 197 575 692 0.478 0.634 191
Reggie Jackson 500 194 582 524 0.345 0.458 121
Dave Winfield 624 184 703 502 0.35 0.465 120
Stan Musial 553 183 698 545 0.39 0.514 137
Carl Yastrzemski 669 164 742 688 0.365 0.435 116
-
Average 593.8 203.8 666.6 586.7 0.3897 0.521 145.3
Bonds/Average 120% 146% 96% 163% 132% 145% 160%

Well it is obvious that his stats were very blown up, so what would his stats look like if he wouldn't have taken steroids?

Table Four: Steroid Adjusted Statistics
Athlete R HR RBI BB OBP SLG OPS+
Avg - Age 34-40 593.8 203.8 666.6 586.7 0.3897 0.5209 145.3
Bonds/Avg (34-40) 120% 146% 96% 163% 132% 145% 160%
Bonds/Avg (20-33) 106% 108% 95% 140% 102% 98% 100%
-
Adjusted Stats 628.3 219.5 636 820 0.396 0.508 145
Steroid Adjustment 85.64 77.5 0.692 133.5 0.118 0.248 86.7

"Applying the pre-steroid ratio to the post-steroid average of the ten comparable players, one can calculate adjusted statistics that might have been had Bonds not taken steroids. This calculation shows that approximately 77.5 of Bonds' 297 homeruns, or 26%, (from age 34 through 40) were attributable to steroids." (Ben Alamar, ProTrade.com)

Are you convinced yet?

I happen to be a firm believer that America's pasttime mirrors all that is good and bad about the United States, and to that same respect, American life. The corruption, the cheating, and the betting has all destroyed the heart of what our country stands for. What happened to the legends of old? The Sultan of Swat, The Iron Horse, Hammerin Hank. America is the Field of Dreams...from the greatest baseball movie ever made "The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again." Is this what we want to remember...cheating, corruption, for fame and a few more dollars in the players' and owners' pockets?

Barry Bonds was asked if the 2006 season was going to be his last, considering he is a mere 48 shy of Hank Aaron's all time mark. His response? "I've never cared about records anyways." The most coveted record in baseball, let alone in all of sports...and he just simply doesn't care? Thats not good enough for me, and thats not good enough for baseball.

So what about baseball's cheaters? Oh, they will be remembered as some of the best, but to quote from Sandlot: "Heroes get remembered, but legends never die." So what about me? I'm crossing my fingers for Hammerin' Hank...because Barry's next 48, and the last 77.5, are null and void.

What I learned from the father of communism

"The production of ideas, of conceptions, of consciousness, is at first directly interwoven with the material activity and the material intercourse of men, the language of real life."

-Karl Marx, The German Ideology


German people are weird.

What if we are just God's salt, and he is just waiting to eat us?

There are only three kinds of people: writers, singers, and the dead.

God has a way of putting things into context.

Colon rectum

I don't know what you were thinking, but that is the scientific name for the leiodid beetle, I'm surprised you didn't know that.

Canadian Fakin'

A shuttle bus from a strip club drives by us on the street and yells
"Do you want some free passes!? -Crazy Stripper Lady
"What!?" -Nathan
"Do you guys want to see some tight asses!?" -Crazy stripper lady
"NO thanks... I don't wear glasses!" -Nathan

A lady on the corner asks us if we want coupons for something (In English)
"I'm sorry, I don't speak Spanish" -Nathan


After watching an army ad on t.v.
"The army is for poor people who don't care if they die" -Nathan



To a hot waitress
"Why do you have to be so hot that we have to tip you every time you bring us drinks? This is stupid. Can't you be uglier next time?" -Jared

Ordering pizza
"On half that pizza I'd like Canadian bacon please" -Me
"What is this Canadian bacon?" -Response from Canadian pizza place
"Uh...nevermind" -Me

Derek proceeds to put on his underwear in front us
"What the hell!" 10 second pause.... "Did you just put your underwear on in front of all of us? Why don't you do that shit in the bathroom like a normal person?" -Me
"What? I was facing the other way." -Derek

After seeing Nathan's delapidated toothbrush
"Dude, what the hell is the matter with your toothbrush? When was the last time you changed it?" -Me
"I don't know...haha" -Nathan
"It looks like a toilet bowl brush." -Me

In the Car

"How long do you think it would take to comb your hair with a toothpick" -Me

"OOHHH!!!! Prehistoric Forest!!!!" -Derek and Jerry




Quotes that I don't quite remember

What does heaven taste like?
"Heaven tastes like electronics + fish" -Me

Is this the drunkest you have ever been?
"No, there was this one time I was drunk in space and there were these monkeys...and bananas, and I was like 'hey man, what are you monkeys doing here'...and they were like 'didn't you know that there were bananas in space?'...so I was like 'oh, sorry'"

"This room is an oval, and I am the yolk. (To Derek) You are the whiteness, cause you are white. I'm the yolk cause I send out the missions."

Canada was fun, and made us all say and do some really stupid things.

Rise over Run

Isn't it funny that no matter how many times in your life you have climbed up and down stairs, you still manage to trip at least once a week on them? According to the above diagram, the stairs never actually move...they stay exactly the same. I am dumbfounded after just falling down the stairs while eating a candy bar. And did you know that before cemetaries were invented, people used to bury old folk in the cushions of couches? The things you learn...

The battle between LOVE and DESIGN

"The intelligent design movement belittles God. It makes God a designer, an engineer," said Vatican Observatory Director George Coyne, an astrophysicist who is also ordained. "The God of religious faith is a god of love. He did not design me."

This statement comes with agreement with Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District (2005) United States federal court judge John E. Jones III’s ruling that intelligent design is not science and is essentially religious in nature.

Hmm…God didn’t design you George? Well let me try to understand what you mean.


God didn’t DESIGN→

• To conceive or fashion in the mind; invent: design a good excuse for not attending the conference.

• To formulate a plan for; devise: designed a marketing strategy for the new product.


• To plan out in systematic, usually graphic form: design a building; design a computer program.


• To create or contrive for a particular purpose or effect: a game designed to appeal to all ages.


• To have as a goal or purpose; intend.

• To create or execute in an artistic or highly skilled manner.

↓
YOU…He
↓
LOVE[s] →

1. A deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward a person, such as that arising from kinship, recognition of attractive qualities, or a sense of underlying oneness.


2. A feeling of intense desire and attraction toward a person with whom one is disposed to make a pair; the emotion of sex and romance.


3. An intense emotional attachment, as for a pet or treasured object.


4. A person who is the object of deep or intense affection or attraction; beloved. Often used as a term of endearment.


5. An expression of one's affection: Send him my love. (George)

↓

YOU

I took an astrophysics class last year and I went to an intelligent design seminar last semester…and I’m not going to lie, I still don’t understand half of it and won’t even pretend I’m an expert at discussing the intricacies of either concept, but to give you some background:

Intelligent design is the concept that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection.”

Creationism is the origin belief that humans, life, the Earth, and the universe were created by a supreme being or deity's supernatural intervention.

I understand the disagreement between these two schools of thought, yet I still don’t completely understand the disagreement between design and love that George Coyne is referring to. So a loving God wouldn’t design us, he would just create us. Doesn’t any type of creation warrant some form of design, whether it is human or supernatural? In fact, I’d like to think that I was designed…and evolve like a potter would design and shape his clay. Would that make humans less lovable creatures? Maybe George is just upset because he isn't very pretty.


Ok...this just isn't fair, we all have a nic fit time and again.



Apparently I will be smited for that last picture.

After that digretion...think about this verse:

"Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message." So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me: "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the Lord. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel." - Jeremiah 18:2-6

From what I understand, intelligent design seems to be in between creationism and evolution. Evolutionists argue that it is not testable, has no new hypothesis, and hasn’t found any facts suitable to warrant further inquiry and to make it an addition to school curriculum. Intelligent design is called “creationism in a tuxedo.” How selfish are we to think that we can even begin to understand the ins and outs of God’s creation.

But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, "Why did you make me like this?" Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? - Romans 9:20-21

Argue to no end, theorize, speculate, wonder, guess, hypothesize, presume, estimate, question, and marvel.

Darwin himself stated “If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.”

We are living in an expanding universe (Hubble measurements) and thus a common starting point and inevitable collapse of the universe are within sight of scientists and creationists alike. Both concepts have a beginning and an end. The world is full of irreducible complexity, complications, and questions. Are we really spending time asking the right questions? While I think it is important for some people to understand Christianity better because of its ability to answer scientific questions, what will be left to ask God when we get to heaven?

Is evolutionary theory the integrating theme of biology today? Yes. Is it also just that…a theory? Yes. Is the evidence overwhelming? Yeah, I would say so. Can it be disproven? Any theory can…with facts.

He may not be an organ, but I don’t know anything more complex than God.


I think I will save this question for later and have a cookie, because sometimes I think that facts just aren’t good enough anyways. For example:

• I always swim directly after eating large meals and never get cramps.
• Electricity supposedly kills people in excessive amounts, yet some are impervious to Tazers.
• The Ronald Reagan ‘Star Wars’ armament program never made any X-Wings OR Tie Fighters
• Men in glass houses clearly don’t sink ships.
• The world hates America…home of Chuck Norris (6 time undefeated World Middle Weight Karate Champion)
• I grew up in a house with five women, and I’m completely straight (I don't even pop the collar)
  
• It is clearly not that easy to grow up in the suburbs. (Vanilla Ice)
  

That this 'design' is intelligent, that is readily observable...but not by reading any of the above statements.


Don't be afraid for tomorrow, God is already there.

Anything Wrong With This Picture?

Ah...Valentine's Day.

Does anyone else see something fundamentally wrong this picture? Wait...is that St. Valentine...making the obscene gesture of 'the shocker'? If you don't know what 'the shocker' is, and you aren't my mom, feel free to ask...but I'd be more comfortable if you looked it up. How incredibly ridiculous, he probably didn't even know it...or did he?

Valentine's Day. The day when squirrels laugh and play, little girls and boys give each other sweetheart candies that say 'I Love You,' 'Life is Good,' and 'I Know Where You Sleep.' They giggle and hug and eat themselves into diabetes.

Valentine's Day. The day that every single person loathes, the day that lingerie and liquor stores ring their cash registers all day long, and couples make sure everyone knows they are together by snuggling and smooching in public. I put in for a drawing to win a table for two for a free dinner at Long John Silvers. I didn't win, but I can imagine how happy my date would be when I said: 'Hey honey! I've got a coupon for Long John Silvers with your name on it!' If I had a date, I can imagine I'd get all kinds of rainbow kisses and dream colored smiles after that one. Or a quick kick in the groin.

Valentine's Day. I think I might buy a six pack and some sweetheart candies, light some candles, put on some Al Greene, and shoot the squirrels playing in the backyard.

If you want to read an awesome blog for Valentine's Day...check out my buddy J.D.'s blog about the love between the great Johnny Cash and June Carter. J.D., you know I give you the mad, phat, superfly, stupid, dope, dumbass, retarded, bombshit props.

One man's joke is another man's Jihad

So we’ve all heard about it in the news. A Danish newspaper last September published cartoons portraying the Muslim prophet Mohammed wearing a turban made out of a bomb. I would offer a link if I didn’t value my own life. Now recently it has gathered global Muslim attention as Islamic law forbids visual portrayal of the prophet Mohammed as a precept to prevent idolatry, or to take the focus away from worshipping Allah. What some people tend to misunderstand, is the small scope that some of these people have for personal expression living in fairly remote parts of the world. Muslims cherish the idea of ‘imminence,’ or that Allah is offended by things we do on Earth and that offending him through cartoons risks punishment.

It has already taken five months for the cartoons to come into the light of the Muslim world, and violence has typified their discontent. However, let me ask this. Is it worth the ten or more people killed in protest? Does it warrant chanting “Death to the Americans, death to the Danish!” An America, who I might add, has taken an unusually neutral stance on the subject…except for Bush’s calling yesterday for Islamic countries to denounce the violence and protect international diplomats.

This is not the only test of freedom of expression that has wracked the religious world. Let me use the example of “Piss Christ.” Some of you may remember it, I don’t…I was a year old. In 1987 a piece of artwork depicting Jesus on the cross and embossed between two pieces of piss and blood covered glass was being shown around the country…underwritten by the United States National Endowment for the Arts. It sparked controversy and congressional intervention as it was a federally funded project. This is an excerpt from the poem Andres Serrano wrote to accompany his ‘artwork’ and the rest…being a Christian, I refuse to include on my page.

If we did not know it was cow's blood and urine,if we did not know that Serrano had for weekshoarded his urine in a plastic vat,if we did not know the cross was gimcrack plastic,we would assume it was too beautiful.We would assume it was the resurrection,glory, Christ transformed to light by lightbecause the blood and urine burn like a halo,and light, as always, light makes it beautiful.

What I think Serrano has misunderstood, as well as the Muslim world…is that there is no power in what he is conveying. Sure, I would have wanted it out of art galleries…and the rest of the poem absolutely infuriates me. Hell, I would pee on Serrano if I could. But it is my anger that gives him the power to make his art seem important, plus ‘Serrano’ was a kick ass character in the Major League series. Serrano the ‘artist’ suggests that it is ‘light [that] makes it beautiful’ (the depiction of Christ). I have news for him. Take away your piss. Take away the glass, the plastic cross, the beautiful depiction of Christ in all its well-lit glory. The sacrifice of God’s son still remains. Oh, and Hitler was an artist too, and he had gas, so…go swallow a knife.

In the same light, while Muslim imminence is an important thing to remember about their religion, they are letting a picture that was neither written by a Muslim nor portrayed as a means of idolatry or worship…enrage them insofar as to let death, and fear, and hatred become their sole means for expression. Why not pray for the writer of the cartoons to see your religion in a different light? How about protesting peacefully?

What does Iran have to say about all of this? ‘I think we will have a contest, to see who can come up with the best cartoons about the Holocaust.’ No, I’m not kidding. An Iranian newspaper says that it will “apply the principle of freedom of expression to the Nazi genocide against Jews as it did to the caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed,” and winners will receive rings! Wait a minute; didn’t Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad call the holocaust “a myth” very recently on more than one occasion? So first you pretend it didn’t happen, and now you want to see how funny the genocide of 6 million people can be? Not to mention…Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said “The West's publication of the Prophet Muhammad cartoons was an Israeli conspiracy motivated by anger over Hamas' win in the Palestinian elections.” Wow, that makes sense…anyone else frightened by the fact that Iran just so happens to be enriching uranium and moving ever so quickly towards nuclear capability? I think we are on the verge of World War IV (WWIII being the Cold War) Imagine the unrest over a cartoon, and now imagine that same unrest with nuclear capability and the determination to destroy Israel (which according to them, apparently doesn’t exist).

Now the real question here…is…if there was an illustrated bomb in a Where’s Waldo book, would you go crazy and get nuclear weapons and say you are going to destroy people? No…you would be way to busy yelling across the room “Seriously guys, my eyes hurt, where the hell is Waldo!?”

I think cartoons should stick to what they are supposed to do...make us laugh.

"Tee hee hee" -God

This is a segment I call 'What I Learned Today'

The Lord learned me a valuable lesson today. He said:

"Chase, diving in the outfield to make a play takes a hard nose, and guts...diving on astroturf...now that is just plain stupid."

Point well taken (and a bloody mess on the back of my left shoulder)

Woe to the Hands of Time!

It has been a long time since I’ve written a post! I’ve been really crunching my time lately because I just joined the club baseball team here at IU so I have been busy busy busy trying to keep on top of my studies whilst whipping myself into shape before our first game in a couple weeks. Because I don’t have a whole lot of time I’m devoting this next post to my nephews Collin and Max. This will just be a couple pictures of the little guys that have made the holidays a lot louder, which no one apparently ever thought was possible in the Haller household. It’s amazing how much even a picture can make your day!


Collin Timothy Tooley


Max William Menke

The Bullet

The Bullet

How odd it is to be born to end life. I wear a metal jacket when it’s cold, but the coldness stings deeper than can be covered up. My journey from the barrel is a lifetime yet only lasts a second. My flight is death on a one way ticket. Like the snap of a whip I propel through the air. Everything blurs. The sky is deep blue, a storm is brewing. I guess no one will know me until I die. The city lights are streaking overhead. Children laugh and play on the sidewalk before me, hate rules behind me. The sound of my presence rushes far behind. I knew this was my purpose but it’s something I can’t handle. All my life I’ve been waiting for this death. I was meant for someone else, but meaning is empty when not on target. And I still wear responsibility like a cloak that doesn’t fit. Death approaches with an unfamiliar face. At a small girl it points and I don’t have a choice. The storm is overhead, and with its wind it groans in my direction. Death lets out a cry as I slam into the bricks. How badly I hurt, and yet how joyful I feel.

"Ernest Hemingway once wrote, 'The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.' I agree with the second part." --Se7en

He had a Dream.

I think everyone should take some time today to remember why we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I was first introduced to Dr. King this past summer at church camp when we listened to his last speech on CD. I organized a few of my favorite quotes and a couple excerpts from that speech. You can read it through this link. A man of strong words, and even stronger dedication to a cause that even today struggles abstractly as we strive to love one another unconditionally and look past the differences that keep us apart.

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

"It may be true that a law may not make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that is pretty important."

"Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true."

"We must learn to live together as brothers, or die together as fools."

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."

"I submit to you that if man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live."

"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missles and misguided men."

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in moments of challenge and controversy."

In the last speech he gave before his death, he recounts when he was stabbed while he was signing books in New York City:

" You know, several years ago, I was in New York City autographing the first book that I had written. And while sitting there autographing books, a demented black woman came up. The only question I heard from her was, "Are you Martin Luther King?"
And I was looking down writing, and I said yes. And the next minute I felt something beating on my chest. Before I knew it I had been stabbed by this demented woman. I was rushed to Harlem Hospital. It was a dark Saturday afternoon. And that blade had gone through, and the X-rays revealed that the tip of the blade was on the edge of my aorta, the main artery. And once that's punctured, you drown in your own blood—that's the end of you.
It came out in the New York Times the next morning, that if I had sneezed, I would have died. Well, about four days later, they allowed me, after the operation, after my chest had been opened, and the blade had been taken out, to move around in the wheel chair in the hospital. They allowed me to read some of the mail that came in, and from all over the states, and the world, kind letters came in. I read a few, but one of them I will never forget. I had received one from the President and the Vice-President. I've forgotten what those telegrams said. I'd received a visit and a letter from the Governor of New York, but I've forgotten what the letter said. But there was another letter that came from a little girl, a young girl who was a student at the White Plains High School. And I looked at that letter, and I'll never forget it. It said simply, "Dear Dr. King: I am a ninth-grade student at the White Plains High School." She said, "While it should not matter, I would like to mention that I am a white girl. I read in the paper of your misfortune, and of your suffering. And I read that if you had sneezed, you would have died. And I'm simply writing you to say that I'm so happy that you didn't sneeze."

He continues:

"I’m so happy that I didn't sneeze. And they were telling me, now it doesn't matter now. It really doesn't matter what happens now. I left Atlanta this morning, and as we got started on the plane, there were six of us, the pilot said over the public address system, "We are sorry for the delay, but we have Dr. Martin Luther King on the plane. And to be sure that all of the bags were checked, and to be sure that nothing would be wrong with the plane, we had to check out everything carefully. And we've had the plane protected and guarded all night."
And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers?
Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”
The very next day, Dr. King was killed in cold blood. He would be 77 if he were alive today. There is no doubt in my mind that God had unbelievable riches stored up in heaven for Dr. King that day. He may no longer have a beating heart, but his will that was also the Lord's is like transcendent path through time that we all can make the choice to follow. The darkness will become light, and we will see the glory of the Lord together...maybe over the same mountaintop. So today you can make the choice to continue his dream or let it disappear with the passing of time. You may ask how I know it is God’s will that we live in the way Dr. King describes so now I ask you to do some thinking yourself and turn to Luke 10: 25-37 and let the Lord tell you.

“The cry is always the same — "We want to be free."

300 Pound Man

Have you looked in the mirror and seen an ugliness that you hate?
I’ve seen more beauty in a 300 pound man sitting in a little wooden chair
He moves and it squeaks and he laughs at the world before it takes his big black smile
I could feel the laughter if he fell in splinters of wood
And the world the feeling embraced

The lecture was The World After 1945
Writing the history of now and my begin
I can’t stand to read the words

You don’t know what you want
I don’t know how much I can take
How long will you wait until your dreams are gone?

I fall back into the crowd…lonely in a town of thousands
I’m silently screaming…what if the man had fell
Would I have broken my teeth in a smile…or found myself in his place on the ground?