Summer reading project.

This past Friday, I got my graduation gift from Farewell Service. It was a book by Charles Colson titled, “The Body: Being Light in Darkness”. Sadly, this just reminds me that my collection of unread books is still increasing. Counting this addition I now have 17 unread/unfinished books on my bookshelf and 4 on my floor.

Well, since I can’t play basketball for a while , I’m gonna try to read all 21 unfinished and unopened books by the end of the summer.

Does anyone want to join me in this book reading endeavor?

(I’ll make a progress chart and we can keep each other accountable…;) )

カリス (Karisu)

In response to Mr. Fields, I thought I’d share a little bit about my guitar. She’s a Taylor 414CE (2007)* and is made of Ovangkol/Sitka Spruce. She also has a very unique name (and I just realized that I should have used Katakana to spell her name the whole time). Anyways, her name is カリス (karisu), which has no meaning in Japanese, but it is a Japanese transliteration of χάρις (Charis) which means Grace in Greek. The real word for grace in Japanese is めぐみ [恵み] (megumi).

I know that it sounds kind of lame to name a guitar after a pseudo-pronunciation of a transliterated word, but there is meaning behind it!

#1 – It reminds me of Japan. Last summer (2007) I had the privilege of going to Japan for a short term trip with CFC. By far, it was one of the most influential trips that I have ever taken. Beyond getting immersed in culture, making friends, and doing a lot of ministry, God frequently taught me many lessons. One of the most memorable lessons was a reminder that I stand on grace and am saved by grace alone. So the Japanese name reminds me of that summer trip and all the lessons that I’ve learned.

#2 – Response to Grace. In my opinion, responding to grace is associated with an overflowing feeling of thankfulness and sense of hope. Since I got involved in Special Praise Ministry as a sophomore, God has been teaching me how music and songs can be powerful tools to encourage and strengthen people. How many times has the chorus of a song helped you fight throughout the day? In a similar way, I wanted the songs and sounds that come from カリス to be an aide to encouraging and strengthening people.

#3 – Grace is a pretty word, and my guitar has a pretty sound. ‘Nuff said.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast. – Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV)

*In 2008, Taylor changed the way they number their guitars. The 414 is now the GA4. Pretty lame huh?

Baseball pt.I: Minor League Prospects

Baseball is my life’s staple spectator sport. Though I don’t play it, I love it – I love watching the Cubs, I have an unexplainable bias towards the two Florida teams (Marlins and Rays) and I love participating in Fantasy Baseball. I don’t know how many insightful illustrations or analogies can emerge from baseball, but since I think about it enough, some good things are bound to come up. So I guess this is part one of many of life through the eyes of baseball.

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One aspect about baseball that differentiates itself from other sports is its method of developing players through a minor league system. Each year, dozens of minor league prospects are called up. Teams hope these young studs can develop into the next franchise player that will carry them into the World Series. This year, there are two prospects that I want to look at: Evan Longoria (not to be confused with a famous housewife) and Chicago’s own Felix Pié.

Both players were considered to be “Minor League All-Stars”, but their short time in the Majors look very different. Pié had some time in the Majors last year, started the season on the Cubs active roster and is currently struggling for a position in the lineup. In contrast, Longoria began the year in the Minors, was called up 8 games ago and already signed a contract worth (up to) $44.5M over 9 years.

But which of the two will be a perennial MVP? Which one will have a much more successful career?

The truth is, no one knows. Both have elite potential, but both have issues and can still be a total bust. What can we learn by looking at these two prospects?

Even though Longoria is off to a better start than Pié, you just don’t know will happen because people keep developing. For example, Derrek Lee wasn’t anything spectacular until his late 20’s. Pié is struggling early, but he is learning, developing, and changing. Similarly, if Longoria doesn’t break bad habits, pitchers will figure him out in no time.

Last Large Group, Pastor Min spoke about the value of Man. He said:

Never ever forget that a human being is made in the image of God.

Each of us has great potential to image, reflect and display God, but sometimes its hard to see. We may be struggling at the moment, but we won’t be like our current selves forever. God is working in us and will finish His work in us. The Gospel that is in our hearts is so powerful that it can change our very core. Have hope in the Gospel. Put in the time and energy to fight! You are not who you are forever.

So if all humans have immense potential in the eyes of God, what matters then? Well, as a Cubs fan, your potential means nothing to me if your not a Cub. It’s great that you have talent, but if you play for the wrong team, it doesn’t matter. As long as we’re on the right side, we won’t disappoint.

And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. – Romans 8:3

Stat Cats.

Before I get labeled a nerd by the “masses”, I think I should come forth and admit it myself: I am a nerde*. Also, my “passion” for baseball statistics coupled with my new interest in blogging has me thinking of a new way to gauge/rank a blog or blogger.

Why do we need to assess blogs/bloggers? Well, we don’t. But it’d be fun to. Besides there are too many idle blogs floating around on the web. People create a blog and let it collect dust. Just look at Xanga. Among all the reasons why everyone moved away from Xanga, idle blogging has to be one of them. So it’d be nice if people could know who’s lagging and where they can find a reliable read.

Using something that somewhat-kind-of-resembles basic Sabermetrics, I created some new stat categories that can be used to assess blogs. These stats should be good enough to asses what blog readers are looking for: quality/interesting content and consistent/frequent posting. Something like this probably already exists, but my stat cats are:

P/7: Posts per 7 - # of posts per week

H/7: Hits per 7 – # of site visits per week

DBP: Days between Posts – Average # of days in between posts

CPP: Comments per Post – Average # of comments per post

Total Hits – # of Total site visits per year

Total Posts – # of Total Posts per year

Total Comments – # of Total comments per year

Will this take off? Will people care? Will people want to work hard enough to be considered an “elite” blogger? Probably not, but if they can have Fantasy Nascar, why can’t we have Fantasy Blogging?

*nerde – spelling nerd with an added “e” at the end is subjectively cool.

BibleMap.org

EDIT::

Alright, I guess I was called out on the plug. I guess this is my second plug and not my first. I’ve also added a “Resources” section that can be pretty helpful when studying the Bible (especially if you like free things). Also, some of the other blogs that I have linked to are useful and insightful as well. So give’em a read if you please.

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I guess this is my first official plug. I was doing my QT and thought to myself, “Hey, where’s Jesus at right now? Capernaum. Ok…What’s Capernaum like?” The words of P.Jung in UBS still ring in my ears: “Context is king.” I do have to say that by paying attention to context and going through UBS, my QTs have changed for the better. But anyways, if you’re ever wondering about a town or a city that the Bible mentions, check out BibleMap.org. It uses Google maps and allows you to search for locations based on Bible passages and gives you some context about the region. Though I have to admit I found it more fun the first time than useful, I plan on using it in the future. (Hooray for free Bible atlases!)