OSU vs. New Mexico State

The Buckeyes step out of conference this week to take on the Aggies of New Mexico State.  OSU is a 44-point favorite.  I don’t like those huge spreads, because they are hard to cover and for some reason that makes a difference in the polls and the national perception.  Although, Ohio State is clearly out the national title picture this season.

Although Ohio State may not cover the spread, they should have an easy time with the Aggies, who, in a word, struggle.  The Buckeyes should get a chance to work on their running game and it looks like Brandon Saine may play despite having suffering a mild concussion last week.   It was good to see youngster Jordan Hall gets some more carries and the Scarlet & Gray may have found something in Jermil Martin.  Although, I must remember it was Minnesota they were playing.

The coaching staff should get a chance to get extended looks at some people on both sides of the ball.  I think the chances of the Buckeyes looking past New Mexico State is virtually nil after learning a very tough lesson two weeks ago in West Lafayette.

An interesting side note to this game is Trevor Walls, the Waverly, OH product.  I announced games for the Waverly Tigers when Walls was a freshman and even though he didn’t play much, the talk that he was going to be very good and you could see it.  And he was very good for the Tigers. 

I’m sure a contingent of Waverly folks will make their way up Route 23 and root Trevor on.  The reports are he may play — he may not — I watched a little bit of their game last week and he was in the line-up.  Good luck to him in the rest of his college career, but I think he and his fellow mates are going to be in for a long day.  Walls may get up close and personal with the likes of Thaddueus Gibson, Nathan Williams, Doug Worthington and Co. 

OSU does win in rout in preparation for what hopes to be a November to remember with Penn State, Iowa and the team from up north on the horizon.

Be Courageous, Take a Stand for Christ

John 19:12 “From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, ‘If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar.  Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.’”

Pilate was caught between the conflicting voice of his own conscience and the voice of the people.  In listening to the people — he took the easy way out — he did what was easy.   In the following verses (v.15-16) we see that Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified. 

It takes courage to stand against the crowd.  It is getting tougher by the day, because you can be called a “hate-monger” or be accused of uttering hate speech by denouncing sinful practices. 

No matter how hard it may be — a Christian must be courageous and take a stand for Christ. 

Galatians 1:10 says the following:  “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men?  If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

There isn’t a whole lot I can add to that.  So, I bid you farewell for now.

Some Good Instruction

Read Luke 21:34-36.  It just good instruction from the Master on how we need to live our lives.

“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkeness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap.  For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth.  Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.” (NIV)

For Christians of every age — every circumstance, this is good instruction.  It reminds us to not follow a course that leads to suffering, a course that leads to nausea that follows a debaucherous night.  Don’t get drunk.  I’ve frankly have never understood the big deal with that one anyway.  To get the point where you don’t even remember what happened.  Yeah, that sounds like fun.

Also, don’t allow the cares of the world to become a snare.  It’s very easy to get wrapped up in the cares of the world, we can do it without really trying.  Jesus tells us beware, keep alert and do not let this happen. 

If we can do that, oh what a great life we can have.

What Lesson Do You Teach?

The following is a from a church bulletin that I receive.  It poses a very important question.  Because little ears may listening, and little eyes may be watching.  A spouse whose faith may be wavering and in need of encouragement is listening and watching.  A relative or friend who is in need of hearing more of the gospel may be listening and learning something about you. 

The question is What Lesson Do You Teach?

Every Sunday, folks leave church, get in the car and begin to drive home.  Here are some of the positions a person can take as you drive away: 

1. Do not mention anything that happened.  The whole experience was lived in another world; now you are back in the real world.  Play Devil’s Advocate.  Take the opposite side from the preacher; punch a few holes in the sermon.  Make fun of the song leader noting that he sang too slow, too fast; pitched the songs too low or too high; sang too many songs or not enough.  Make fun of the prayer leader.  Criticize the entire service and the public ministry.

Or 2. Make an effort to be supportive.  Speak kindly of the Elders, Deacons and Minister.  Display an attitude of love and appreciation and above all unity.  Remember; there may be ears listening and learning.  There is a teachable moment right after worship.  Give some thought as to what you make of it. 

Very important for us to ponder.  We must remember that sometimes Jesus and the Lord’s Church is judged by actions, by our words, by our feelings.    

OSU v Minnesota

Ohio State’s season is at a crossroads after last week’s disappointing loss to Purdue.  They can move forward and go after another Big Ten title or they can continue to spiral downward to a lesser bowl and have to hear more about how the University of Cincinnati has passed them by as the top team in the state.

The problems are fixable, but the supporting cast must help Terrelle Pryor.  He is on an island, he feels like and has probably been told that he has to make the plays for the Buckeyes to be successful, which is what led to his turnovers against the Boilermakers.

Granted, he must play better and be more consistent, but he didn’t get a lot of help last week.

Turning the page to Minnesota, in year’s past a person would feel sorry for the Gophers because they have to play OSU after a loss.  That was not a recipe for success.  The jury is still out as to whether that will be the case this year.

This is why OSU’s season is at a crossroads –they have figure out a way to put Minnesota away early and for the offense to get some confidence. 

The defense was not at fault last week, but having had to play the majority of the game on the field for the past several weeks it finally caught up with the Bucks versus Purdue.

It’s homecoming and Ohio State should start on a new win streak.  There is still a lot to play for, another Big Ten Championship is still possible and its start on Saturday.

Pryor and head coach Jim Tressel will answer the critics and I expect the Buckeyes to respond from the sucker punch from last week, which is what happens when you get caught flat-footed.

I think it is lesson learned for Ohio State and we begin to see what they are made of or not.

Minnesota has a solid offense and beat Purdue by 15 points when those teams met head-to-head.  Defensively, the Gophers are not particularly strong, but yet neither was Purdue. 

It’s a Noon kick on ESPN.

The Mind is a Terrible to Waste

This is a slogan from the United Negro College Fund — it is a tremendous slogan.  It talks about education and not letting that slip away.  I want to use it in a spiritual sense.

In Matthew 15:19-20, Jesus says “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.  These are what make a man ‘unclean’; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean.’”  (NIV)

His words in Mark 7:20-22 are very similar, “He went on: ‘What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean’.  For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.” (NIV)

Jesus used the word heart, he is not referring to the blood pump that sends blood throughout our body.  He is talking about the mind.  This is the source of human conduct — everything comes from it — good and evil.

It is a struggle, but we must keep the heart (mind) thinking on good things.  Phillipians 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.” (NIV)

Many years ago I heard a statement — “garbage in, garbage out.”  The reference was to us being like a computer.  The computer spits out only what is entered into it.  The same holds true for us.  If we only take in garbage (evil) then that is what will come out. 

All of us take in plenty of garbage, let us strive to take in more good because “a mind (heart) is a terrible to waste.”

No Room in the Inn

“and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.  She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”  Luke 2:7 (NIV).

“No room in the Inn.”  This is without a doubt one of the saddest statements in all the Bible.  No room for Jesus.  No room for the One who came to make room for others (John 14:1-4), but yet, found no room for himself. 

This leads me to two interesting and very sobering questions.  Is history repeating itself?  How much room is there for Him today?

OSU v Purdue

Ohio State heads to West Lafayette, IN this week to meet up with Purdue.  On the surface this looks like the blowout, considering that the Boilermakers are 1-5.  Playing on the road in any conference is difficult and the Big Ten is no different.

Purdue has lost five straight and an upset over the Buckeyes would make their season.  Purdue has lost close games to Oregon, Notre Dame and Minnesota, all decent teams, which at least causes you to stop and think for a moment. Add to that Ohio State doesn’t seem to play very well at Purdue for some reason.

I see OSU winning this game, again because of its defense.  The offense really got an incomplete last week, because they weren’t on the field, thanks to the ball control of Wisconsin, the two defensive scores and a kickoff return for touchdown.  Also, let’s face it, the Bucks went into kill the clock mode after they gained the big lead, yardage wasn’t the issue, running out the clock was, because they had enough points to win the game. 

Not to make excuses for the offense, they must play better.  Purdue will bring everything they have and Ohio State’s defense must get some help from their offensive brethren.

Terrelle Pryor is under scrutiny and some of it is warranted, but he also is a victim of play calling I believe.  I was watching some old Ohio State game tapes this past week and they don’t run any of the pass plays that they used to and I don’t believe it’s because they don’t think Pryor can make the throws or that they don’t have the receivers.  Pryor also hasn’t had a consistent running game to help him out either.

Hopefully Ohio State gets some of its offensive problems worked out this week against a less than stellar Purdue defense.  Purdue is a better team than their record, but in the end, OSU will keep its Big Ten road winning streak in tact.

Where is Your Faith?

Today, I pose this question.  Where is your faith?  In Luke 8:22-25 we read the account of Jesus calming the sea.  He had told his disciples “let’s go over to the side.” And they did. 

But while sailing Jesus fell asleep and a huge storm came up and the boat was being swamped and the NIV in verse 23 says that the disciples were in great danger, except for the fact that had Jesus on the boat with them. 

They go to wake him in a panic, to borrow a phrase from Max Lucado,their calm became chaos, and they yell “master, master we are going to drown!”  in verse 24. 

Jesus gets up and calms the storm, the danger is gone, the chaos is calm again.  Jesus asks them “where is your faith?”

We don’t think about our faith in situations like that.  Apparently the apostles faith rested in a still wind and a calm sea and when the storm hit, their faith cracked.

How would you have answered Jesus then?  How do you answer him now? 

Where is your faith?  In money, friends, possessions, health?  If so, what will support you if you lose them?

Even though this event is early in the ministry of Jesus — and the apostles are still finding out who this man is that asked them to follow him.  They should have seen enough to know that what they had with Jesus was all they needed.

The same holds true for us — money will come and go, I think we see that for sure in this day and time, the same with friends.  Possessions can break, become useless, obsolete and out of style and our health can go at anytime.

Faith in Jesus gives us security in the time of storms.  Where is your faith?  I hope it is with the One who can make your storms calm once again.

No Fear

No Fear.  You have probably seen that phrase on a poster or a t-shirt or in a magazine.  In most instances it is referring to athletics.  The athlete has no fear of preparation, no fear of what it will take to win the game, no fear of losing, etc.

For this post, I give an assist to Phil Ware.  Phil has a website http://www.heartlight.org .  He has also written a number of devotional books.  His latest entry in the devotional book entitled “What Jesus Did”, in which he goes through the book of Matthew and chronicles the Life of Christ, talks about the fearlessness of Christ going to the cross. 

I love this entry about Jesus going to the cross without any fear.  I know you will enjoy it as well.

“The leading priests and the Pharisees heard these stories that Jesus told. They knew that Jesus was talking about them. They wanted to find a way to arrest Jesus. But they were afraid of the people, because the people believed that Jesus was a prophet.”    — Matthew 21:45-46

Jesus is the one attacked and hated. Jesus is the one who appears powerless. Jesus is the one who is crucified. Jesus is the one without friends in high places.

But … Notice that Jesus is the one who is not afraid. Notice that Jesus is the one who is not looking over his shoulder at his popularity ratings. Notice that Jesus is the one who speaks authoritatively while those in power can only ask questions, plot in dark alleys, and cower in fear of losing their popularity with the crowds.

There is a remarkable freedom when passion for God’s will floods out fear. Jesus is the one who follows the will of God. He is free to act and speak, even though his faith will lead him to the cross. In the end, it is not the mob, nor the soldiers, nor the chief priests, nor the Sanhedrin (the Jewish ruling council), nor Herod, nor Pilate that place Jesus on the cross. They couldn’t do it. They didn’t have the power or the courage to do it on their own. Jesus ultimately will go to the cross to fulfill the Father’s will and to save us.

His fearlessness gives him the freedom to choose the cross. Everyone else in the story is afraid and out of control. Only Jesus chooses his own path. Praise God, praise Jesus, because he used his freedom to die as the sacrifice for our sins!

Talk about no fear — that’s why I call no fear.