Bursting their Bubble in the Big House

In two weeks, the Oregon Ducks have gone from unranked to being ranked 13th in the nation. The Michigan Wolverines, Oregon’s opponent two weeks ago plunged from 5th to unranked. Oregon’s win in the Big House was the primary reason it was boosted so high, so fast. And, one play in that win has become one of the most talked about in college football so far this year. It was nationally televised. The most revealing part of this TV coverage was the reaction of the Michigan fans at the end of this clip. The Big House is one of the most intimidating places for opponents to play. To see the expressions of disbelief on the fans’ faces was priceless.

Thanks to Addicted to Quack for this YouTube video.

Fear the Ducks!

It is football season again. I get the most excited over my alma mater, the Oregon Ducks. When someone would make fun of the fact that our team mascot was a “duck”, I would inform them that we weren’t just ducks. We are Mighty Fighting Ducks! I give you two observations to prove my point.

1. This year, so far, we are 3 – 0. The first game we beat the Houston Cougars (more on that later). The second game we trounced Michigan in the Big House. And now we have just beaten the Fresno State Bulldogs.

2. Our mascot has always been the Disney duck. Years ago, Oregon got permission from Walt Disney himself to use Donald as our animal representative. Every decade or so there is a push to change the mascot to something more formidable. After all, Donald doesn’t strike fear into the opposition the way Cougars or Trojans or Bears do. A couple of years ago, in an effort to look tougher, Donald started doing push-ups at football games. Every time we would score, Donald would go out onto the field and count off the total amount of points on the scoreboard. I’ve seen some high scoring games where Donald had to do a lot of push-ups.

In our first game against the Houston Cougars this year, Donald noticed that their Cougar mascot was doing the same thing. Every time they would score, he would go out onto the field and do push-ups. Hey! Donald does the push-ups! Not some goofy guy in a cat suit. See what happened next:

Donald got suspended for unnecessary roughness. I wonder if they check mascots for steriods? This looks like 'roid rage to me.

Here's Looking at You, Kid

I remember a movie plot one time that revolved around a scene where a man was peering though a telescope across the skyline of a city. He focused in on a window of a tall building across town only to see a man peering through a telescope back at him. That’s what I thought of when I came across this picture taken by the Hubble Telescope. It is appropriately named The Eye of God.

I know that I sometimes forget that He always sees me. While we are diligently searching for him, he is always very aware of us. If for a brief moment we could focus a telescope on God, would we find him busy working on something else? I don’t think so. I think we would see him looking at us – not missing a thing. Sometimes we would like it if we could hide from him. I remember when our daughter was just two, she would cover her eyes, thinking that it blocked our view of her. Having been caught getting into her mother’s dresser drawer, she wanted to disappear. But she had little understanding that when a parent looks upon his child, he does it with love.

ONE Idol Who Invests His Fame

Lately I have been really down on the idols of our society. That would be the entertainment stars and the sports stars who have become more than just rich. They have become idolized. They lead an unreal life that is not just one of luxury, but of super-celebrity status, whom we grant permission to live outside the boundaries of decency and civility.

Many have taken this idol status and used it as a license to live lustful and deviant lives. Michael Vick is such a person. Lindsay Lohan is another. Believe me, I am not as upset at them as I am at our society that needs them and pays them. This world has lavished riches on them and they have responded by not only ignoring decency but by displaying their disregard for it.

Still others have used it for political voice. Over the past decade many celebrities have, for some reason, been granted a political voice. We all too easily gave a microphone to Rosie O’Donnell and listened to her “view” on politics as she bellowed her opposition into silence. There are many other idols such as Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon who also used their celebrity currency to push their radically socialist opinions into the heads of their unquestioning fans. I believe that for many of these people who have become political, the world travel and exposure have shown them scenes that are very disturbing. Not having a box for it and not having God in their lives they grasp at humanist socialist solutions and use their celebrity status to sell it.

Well, I have been amazed at one person who has used his celebrity status quite differently. This man is surprisingly a believer in Jesus Christ. His favorite scripture is also mine. John 8:32 “Know the truth and the truth will set you free.” He states in the following You-Tube session that he actually didn’t have much use for Christians or the Church. The interview is of Bono. His interviewer is Bill Hybels of the Willow Creek Community Church. This segment is 8 minutes of an hour long session. Watch this segment and then click on the link to watch all of it. He sets the standard for how an idol can invest his celebrity capitol to change the disturbing things that he has seen around the world.

This is Segment 4. See all the segments of this incredible interview here. Find Segment 1 and go through them all.

Here is the question that is haunting me. OK Dave, you are not Bono. You don't have that kind of celebrity clout to change the world. But you are known in your world. You have capital with your friends and neighbors. Are you as motivated by Christ's passion and peoples plights to demand that their world be changed?

Muslims dig and find the truth

I reported earlier that Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had approved giving millions of dollars to the Fatah leaders in hopes that their legitimacy would grow and Hamas’s would weaken. But somehow Fatah managed to give at least $3.5 million to Hamas soldiers.

In another act of kindness Olmert has now given permission to the Palestinians to dig a trench across the Temple Mount to replace a faulty electrical line. The trench is long and deep. Archeologists are furious. Observing from afar they can see where engraved stones have been dug up by the heavy equipment and tossed in the rubble. Experts are convinced they have uncovered a wall of Herod's Temple.

Although the major news sources have refused to give this much attention at all, the digging is a huge issue on many fronts. Muslim clerics have been blatantly claiming that there never was a Jewish Temple there. According to them the stories about a Jewish Temple are all lies. It's very ironic that they are the ones who are digging up the proof that it is there. Another huge issue is that the Temple Mount is an international historical site. There should be international outrage, but there is only silence. Then there is the obvious faith issue to everyone who is of Jewish or Christian faith. The stones that are being uncovered were undoubtedly from a wall from Herod’s temple, the same Temple that Jesus himself walked through. I visited many of the traditional sites in Jerusalem. They are just that; sites that “are traditionally believed to be ones that Jesus visited." No one has uncovered something specifically from Herod’s Temple before.

As I explained in my last post on Prime Minister Olmert, he is a favorite of the secular Israelis. They believe that the less they care about their religious past, the better chance of survival they have. They not only reject the thought of God coming to their rescue, they embrace the idea that capitulation to the Palestinians is the path to their future.

I believe there is another front to seriously consider. Remember the first Indiana Jones movie where Indy sneaks into a temple in the jungle and steals an ancient artifact? He soon realized that he touched off a huge mechanical chain reaction. Well, I believe the Palestinians’ digging could also touch off something huge. And I don’t think it will be mechanical. The very Temple where Jesus stood and spoke to every generation from then until now is being revealed. It existed. It is there just as the gospels said it was.

If you research it, you will learn that there were some amazing supernatural incidences that happened around the Temple Mount in the 1947-48 war and again in the 1967 war. In one incident, a large group of Palestinian soldiers were forced back from attacking and slaughtering a small group of Israeli soldiers. As they approached the Temple Mount they were confronted by a large image of a foreboding Father Abraham. There are other instances of Israeli’s becoming invisible and Palestinians being confused. What might happen in 2007?

The Palestinians don’t care that God told David that His temple was to go there. Prime Minister Olmert doesn’t care. Many of the Israeli people don’t care. The international community doesn’t care. Only the “powerless” believers and the Jewish faithful still care. I know that God still cares too. Let’s see what happens.

Want to read about it? Look here and here.