Get Big or Die Trying

On a crisp September night the Beta Sigma fraternity stepped foot on the gridiron of Thorne Field and prepared to take on their bitter rivals, the Okies. With only half of their personnel present they knew this game would test their wills, but after a stinging loss to the Okies earlier in the season they had a singular purpose: win.

The offense took the field with an air of urgency. Their first possession was less than stellar but that would all change after they found their stride later in the game. After a quick 3 and out and a deep punt by El Presidente the defense took the field. The ball was snapped and the magic began. The Okie line quickly fell apart like a poorly made Bon Appetite burrito. Desperate to find a receiver before he was smothered by the Beta defense, the Okie QB scanned the field only to find that his receivers were covered by the Beta secondary like the Delaware Indians were by smallpox blankets. As his line crumbled around him he did the only thing he could do, he backpedalled scared out of his mind by the horrors which awaited him if he were to hold his position in the pocket. Terrified by the advance of Scar, Bearcat, and El Presidente he heaved up a Hail Mary pass…unfortunately he was already 5 yards out of bounds. Safety #1. 2-0 Betas.

     Reinvigorated by this tremendous turn of events, the offense prepared to march down the field. They had not hit their stride yet. Interception. Undeterred the defense returned to the trenches and prepared to make a legendary goal line stand. With their backs against the wall they did what all great defenses must do; put the field on lockdown. For the next 4 plays the Beta defense crashed over the Okies like a Tsunami against the Thai coastline. The Beta line was bringing down the house like Queen Latifah and the secondary overshadowed their opponents like Mary was by the Holy Spirit. The defense held.

     This was the offense’s moment to shine. They took the field knowing what had to be done. The line laid their blocks like the foundation of a fallout shelter, the receivers burnt their defenders like toast, and the quarterback chose his target like a prize at a carnival game. First down. A few more short gains and it was 4th down on the Okie goal line. It was time to stop knocking on the door and just kick it in. The ball was snapped and the line held like Stonewall Jackson at Bull Run. Brendon Hall, hereafter referred to by the Okies as “The Red Menace”, cut across field and reeled in a pass fresh from the Bakery for a heroic catch. From the sidelines a roar erupted from our dedicated lady fans and beautiful sweetheart. The conversion failed but the score stood as a testament to our iron will. 8-0 Betas.

     The Okies were visibly shaken by this turn of events as they crept back onto the field. Clearly they had different expectations for the outcome of this rematch. Fools. Our defense confidently strode up to the line of scrimmage ready to punish the insolence of their foes. The center had a look of panic in his eyes. He knew what was coming but there was nothing he could do to stop it. His girlfriend tried to strengthen him from the sidelines with some encouraging words but the fact was he was going to be steamrolled like a patch of asphalt in the summer. The pressure was building inside of him. His thoughts were racked with fear. He was already cracked and the Beta defense was about to break him. He snapped the ball. The QB tried to save it but there was nothing he could do. The ball hit the deck deep in Okie territory. We had done it; we were inside of their heads. Safety #2. 10-0 Betas.

Back on the offensive side of the ball the Betas were making a name for themselves. The line, Scar, Bearcat, and the Pittsburgh Plow, were collectively being referred to as The International House of Pancakes (IHOP) because of the ferocious blocks they were laying down.  The Bakery was in full production mode serving up passes and runs like no other, and the receivers were moving so quick the defense could barely see them, let alone give them nicknames. We had hit our stride. On defense the line and secondary were rotating like a rotisserie chicken, but the outcome was the same; the Okies were on lockdown like Lil Wayne.

As the final minutes of the 1st half wound down the Okies began to resort to deceit and trickery. In an ill-conceived attempt to draw our defense offside, the Okies decided to snap the ball on 2. Unfortunately for them, their tight ends were not told of this decision; they flinched. Bearcat and El Presidente, smelling the fear in the air, punished them for their mistake. The field was littered with yellow linen and the call came down from AT himself: false start on the offense. As the penalty was assessed the Betas had a decision to make: bring the noise or play conservatively.  Obviously the Betas intended to deafen them. Our defense blew through their line like a sonic boom through windows, the receivers were jammed like strawberries and once again the QB found himself flat on his back in his own end zone flailing like a turtle trying to right itself. Safety #3. 12-0 Betas.

We took the field after halftime ready for battle. In desperate need of points, the Okies had switched to the hurry up offense. We adjusted our defense accordingly, but it had thrown us for a loop. The Okies marched down the field and scored a devastating touchdown. Angry at the loss of our shut out, we devised a play to bury the Okies. The Baker sent El Presidente in motion and snapped the ball. The Okie defender had fallen for our rouse and switched to the other side of the field to follow his man. El Presidente laid a block on the outside rusher as Scar and Bearcat pulled around to the weak side and The Baker followed behind with the ball as the Pittsburgh Plow sold the fake like a used car salesman. Sadly, a young Okie lost his life on this play as he was buried alive by Scar’s block. Meanwhile, Bearcat held off defenders as The Baker dashed for the end zone. We were stopped just short, but we knew how to trick the Okies. Off the advice of Swaggster on the sideline, “Run it until they figure out how to stop it!” we ran the same play, but faked to the other side. It worked like a charm. The Baker walked into the end zone. 18-6 Betas.

The Okies, foolishly thinking they still had a chance to win, continued running the hurry up offense. Infuriated by the previous score, our defense went absolutely buck. The Okie line was being cut down like wheat at harvest time. Knowing they had to do something to protect their QB before he broke something, they resorted to bush-league tactics. Tragically, Scar’s jersey gave it’s life for the Beta victory. But out of the ashes of this calamity there rose a glorious yellow phoenix of hope: a holding call. With their backs against the wall once again with less than a minute to play and with no time outs left the Okies were forced to go deep against their better judgment. The Beta defensive machine however was ruthless and unrelenting. Scar and Bearcat tore through the line hungry for duck. The secondary picked off the receivers like a kid holding the gun to the screen in Duck Hunt. Bearcat pressed the QB into Scar’s path and he was subsequently destroyed. Safety #4. 20-6 Betas.

The game was all but won and a new GCC record for safeties was set and confirmed by AT. The Betas kneeled out the clock in classy Colas fashion and the mighty Okies fell beneath the Beta Behemoth. The victory was celebrated with the following face:

In Memoriam:

Rest in peace #86 - Scout Team All-American

Over the years I have become engrossed in the TV show Law and Order: SVU. I loved every single one of the characters on this show. At one point they had about 8 main characters and they were all wonderfully unique and brought something special to the show. The writing has always been spectacular. These were the types of shows where you would be watching it and realize that there was still 15 minutes left and you wonder what more they could add because they had already done so much in the episode. The very first episode I watched I happen to catch as I was about to go to bed, but the opening minutes were so intriguing I had to finish the episode and from then on I was hooked. The endings would often take dramatic twists and don’t even get me started on the season finales. These were the type of thing that would leave me in shock at what just happened. No other TV show has aroused so much emotion in me as this one has. I have felt enraged, terrified, and depressed at some moments and satisfied and vindicated at others.

I watched the first episode of the new season of SVU tonight. It was heartbreaking to watch those opening titles and not see Christopher Meloni’s name. Without Stabler I just cannot imagine this series producing the same caliber of material. Stabler was the person that everyone on the show rallied around. He was the head detective and main character. He didn’t take guff from anyone and he didn’t play by the rules. He treated the criminals he dealt with, rapists and pedophiles, like the scum of the earth. He was a character that real people could relate to. I always found myself cheering for whatever it was Stabler was doing. Perhaps worst of all is that they didn’t even give Stabler a dignified exit. They simply had him retire because he couldn’t take the stress after a shooting. This is totally out of character. Stabler had several shootings before this and had recovered from everyone. He would have recovered from this one too. Stabler should have died in the line of duty, like a hero, or gone to jail for killing or abusing a pedophile. This way I would have at least had one more thing to cheer for Stabler for. Instead he just gets mentioned in passing, as if her were a side thought.

Now the show still has Olivia, Fin, Munch, and Craigen. They even brought back the good ADA, Cabbot, for good this time (hopefully), but it still isn’t the same without Stabler. Liv and Stabler were a team and splitting them up killed a little part of me. One of my few joys in life is dead now. I guess I’ll have to get my cop show fulfillment through Psych alone now. At least I have the first twelve seasons of SVU on Netflix I can revisit. Rest in peace SVU glory days, you will be missed.

Tuesday during the day I planned for a party that we had on Thursday. On Tuesday night I met with the pastors and the elders of the church. I presented a report on what I had done for the summer with my internship. I also got to see first hand how things are run at my church. There was a debate about what version of the Bible we should use now that the new version of the NIV is out. There were also reports presented by all of the pastors on their ministries. It was a very interesting thing to be a part of and it gave me an idea of what working at a church would be like.

Wednesday was my last Bible study. I taught on Peter this week. Everything else was normal as usual. I have really enjoyed getting to know the guys in my Bible study. They have been a joy and blessing to me during my internship and I hope that I have been the same for them. After Bible study Nate had me and a few of the guys help him move things out of our youth room which was being remodeled. One of the things, a bumper pool table, wouldn’t fit in the dumpster so we had some fun with it to make it fit. The video of that can be found below.

Thursday I picked Isaac up and took him out for lunch. I got a chance to learn a little more about him and pray for him as he prepares to start a new school year.

Later on Thursday night we had a back to school pool party for Senior High at a local pool. We swam, ate, and played Nuke ‘Em and Ultimate Frisbee. It was a great last event.

Today was my last day at work. Nate and Paul didn’t really have anything for me to do so I kinda just hung out and said goodbye. They gave me a shirt as an intern present and we made plans to meet next week to go over my evaluation. I loved my internship. It was lots of fun and I feel like God gave me some insight about my future even if it wasn’t exactly what I expected.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHBcDaexFMY

I didn’t teach Sunday School this week because I had to be in both services to speak on what we did on our mission trip to Philadelphia. We had someone from each of our summer mission trips speak about how God impacted their lives. Their was a student who went to SERVE who spoke, one who went to Philadelphia, and one who went to Africa. The video I made was showed this week in the service as well.

The extended version of this video can be seen here:
http://www.veoh.com/watch/v21241258bPFp438T

On Tuesday this week I took Chuck out to lunch at Steak and Shake. This gave me a good chance to talk about what was going on in his life. I gave him some tips about how to handle himself in high school and prayed for him. Then I took him back to his house and we just hung out for a couple of hours. It was a really enjoyable experience and i feel like we are really close now.

Wednesday was Bible study as usual. We played Call of Duty, hide and seek, ate pizza, and studied the word of God. I taught on Job this week. I also made plans with the guys to have a lock in at the church on Friday night. They were all pretty jazzed about this and so was I.

Thursday we had a back to school party for the Junior High at the church. We played a bunch of games and had lots to eat. It was a great time of fellowship and just hanging out with the kids. I had been planning for this event all week whenever I wasn’t doing something else.

Friday was one of the most fun days I have had so far in my internship. I took the day off from work because I would be at the church from 8 PM - 10 AM that night. My friend Travis agreed to help me chaperone the overnighter and we had about 7 guys show up. I ordered us some pizzas and we played video games until about midnight. Then we decided to play cops and robbers in the church with all the lights turned off. After we played that for about an hour we played basketball in the gym. Once we were all tired from these games I put in a movie to watch upstairs and some of the guys watched that while the others played video games. In the morning I went and got doughnuts for all of us. All of the guys told me they had a blast and their parents all thanked me when they picked them up. I know that I had a great time and I’m glad I got the opportunity to spend so much time with them.

I didn’t have time to make a lesson for Sunday School this week, so instead I discussed out mission trip to Philadelphia with Senior High. I had some of the kids that went on the trip share their experiences and I shared mine. I also had some of the students that went on the Africa mission trip share their stories. Overall the students seemed to enjoy it and I feel like they were able to see that people their age can be involved with mission work.

I took Monday and Tuesday off from work to recover from the mission trip.

On Wednesday morning I had breakfast with Pastor Bob. It was like most of the other meals I had with the pastors. We discussed my calling and what I had done with the internship so far and what God had taught me. After breakfast I prepared for Bible study which was at noon. I picked Isaac up at around 11:45 and got our lunch from Pizza Hut at around 11:55. I had more kids than usual at Bible study this week because Lucas brought some of his friends. We had lots of fun playing hide and seek in the church and I taught on Joseph (Jesus’ step-father) this week.

On Thursday we did a dodgeball and movie night for the Senior High. I planned for this during the day and it went from 7-11 that night. We showed 2 movies, The Prince of Persia and Tangled, and played dodgeball for about an hour an a half. It was a really fun event and I got to meet some new high schoolers that I hadn’t yet.

Friday I helped Nate put away things from the mission trip that were still all over the place.

Wednesday our schedule was essentially the same as the previous days, but instead of handing out water on the streets we gave out socks, gave haircuts, and painted fingernails instead. This was a great way to meet the physical needs of these people and get into a conversation with them. I was really excited to cut hair and it was a neat experience for me. Having someone stuck in a chair while I cut their hair gave me a chance to really talk with people when they couldn’t just leave. There was no big conversion experience for me, but I did get a chance to pray with a lot of people and give out a few Bibles.

After dinner on Wednesday night we went to a church service at the church where we have been doing VBS. Some of the people from our group and the other church from Virginia led a few songs in worship and then the members of the church we were at led some songs as well. It was a wonderful experience to worship the LORD in a way that you aren’t accustomed to. The message that the pastor gave was also very powerful and uplifting. After the service we drove back to the dorms, but on the way we stopped for gas, and some of the kids got our of the van to get something from the gas station. One student, Dave, saw a man sitting on the curb and went up and spoke with him. He ended up praying with that man. This was really encouraging to me, that this kid was willing to let God work through him even when we weren’t “on duty”. I was really impressed that he was tuned into to what the Holy Spirit was impressing upon his heart and willing to listen.

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We left for Philadelphia on Sunday morning. The congregation prayed for us in the morning service and then we piled into the church vans for our 7 hour drive to Philadelphia. The boys were in one van and the girls in another. I had made a bunch of CDs for the girls to listen to on the ride and the boys had my phone and connecter which let us play music through the car’s radio. We amused ourselves for a few hours with this by singing along to songs and telling stories. After awhile things calmed down and some of the guys fell asleep. I slept for about the last 2 hours of the trip.

Once we finally got close to Philadelphia everyone got excited again. We arrived at about 5 PM. There were so many things to look at and most of them were completely different from what we were used to. A lot of the buildings had murals on the sides of them which were always of interest to us. Some of the houses and nearly all the businesses we passed had barbed wire around them which was quite different from what we considered to be normal.

As we pulled up to the church that would serve as our home base for the week, I began to recognize places I had seen the last time I was in Philadelphia. The other church that we would be serving with that week had already arrived when we got there. They were from Virginia and we played a few games to get to know them. For dinner that night be had pizzas from Little Caesar’s. After getting to know the other church and the leaders from AIM (Adventures in Missions) we headed to the college where we would be staying for the week.

We stayed at Philadelphia Biblical University which was about 30 minutes outside of the city. Our rooms were air conditioned which was wonderful considering how hot it was outside. We got all of our stuff unpacked and settled into our rooms before having a meeting with Phil, one of the leaders from AIM, about what we would be doing the next day. After this we went off to sleep.

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On Monday I planned for the cookout we had on Tuesday for the parents and families of the kids going on the Philadelphia missions trip. We used the left over hotdogs and hamburgers from the cookout in the park last week. I also got a hold of each family and asked them to bring a side or dessert to it. In addition to planning for the cook out, I also went to shop for work clothes with the rest of the Philly team. We went to a store called “The Village” which has really cheap clothes. It is kind of like Salvation Army. The idea behind this was to get clothes that we wouldn’t mind getting dirty or ripped on the missions trip. I got about 8 t-shirts and some of them were actually pretty cool, especially the Vanilla Ice one. After our trip to the Village, the team headed over to Wal-Mart to buy toiletries and other things to give to people that we would meet in Philly.

On Tuesday we had the Philly trip cookout at someone’s house. I set up a volleyball court and cornhole boards for people to entertain themselves with and we cooked up the hotdogs and hamburgers that we had. While everyone was eating Sliter briefed the parents on everything that would be happening during the week and gave them all a schedule as well as contact info for all of the leaders. After this was over we decided to play a few games of Nuke ‘Em, parents and leaders versus kids. I played 2 games for the leaders and 1 for the kids. (My team never lost, there must be some correlation there). After all of this was over we gathered together to pray for the trip. Various parents took the opportunity to pray for safety on the trip as well as boldness and a servant’s heart.

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I brought donuts for Sunday School today. For some reason there weren’t as many kids as usual in the class at the beginning, so I decided to wait until some more showed up before I started the lesson. While I waited I just hung out with some of the kids. It was really cool to have a chance to just chat with some of the kids that I didn’t know as well. Eventually the kids shuffled in and I started the class. I taught on being courageous in the face of persecution and standing up for your faith no matter what the cost. After class was over I hung out some more with the kids in the hall until the main service started and that was it for today.

This week was really slow compared with last week. I had to cancel bible study because everyone was out of town for some reason or another. The only things I did this week were to get ready for the event we had planned for Thursday in the park. I went out and bought 80 hotdogs and hamburgers and 160 buns and pieces of cheese. It was quite and experience and I learned how to do my expense reports and purchase requests in the process. All the other time I had was spent planning for future bible studies and events.
On Thursday Nate and I went to Howland Park to grill out and just hang with some kids. At first there was only one guy, but eventually we ended up with around 20 kids. We grilled up the hotdogs and hamburgers and had chips and cookies to go with them. After we ate we played Nuke ‘Em until it got too dark to play anymore, then we went to Tigertown. We swung on the swings and talked with the kids for awhile and then we decided to play Jackpot with Nate’s light up frisbee. Once it got too dark to see at all we decided to go home. The event was a lot of fun and it was nice to just hang out and get to know some of the kids in a straight up fun setting.

Today was the last day of Serve. We got up and ate breakfast and then Pastor Paul taught a quick lesson. After he was done we met with our teams briefly to pray for the work we would be doing and then it was off to the work sites. Today the green team went to work at Bella Women’s Center. It is a pregnancy resource center that is run by a lady from our church. They provide medical care, such as sonograms, and resources, such as counseling, for women in our area.  When we first got to Bella we were taken on a tour through the center and got to see what each of the women who come for treatment go through. After the tour it was time to get to work. The first job we had to do was to stain the ramp at the front of the building. Once we got the kids started on that I grabbed 2 of the most responsible guys to go up on the roof and clean out the gutters. Once all of that was taken care of I had nothing to do because we only had enough brushes for the kids to work on the ramp, so I pulled up my car and hooked my iPhone up to the stereo and blasted Taylor Swift. We were having a great time, working, singing, and playing around. After about 15 minutes of this Sliter showed up with the rocks we were going to spread across the back of the building. So I grabbed the guys and we headed around back to start spreading the rock. We worked at this until about 11:45 and then headed back to the church for lunch.

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We woke up this morning and had breakfast followed by a quick devotional, lead by Tony, and team meetings. After all of this was over it was time to head out to our work site. Today the green team would be working at Mrs. Rumbaugh’s house. This is by far the house which needed the most work done to it. My team had worked on it Monday afternoon, but this was my first time being there. There was still a lot that needed done, but what they had accomplished so far was impressive. I got the boys set up with what they needed to be doing and Jess took care of the girls. Before I started working I took the time to take some pictures of the progress and of the kids working for use in a slideshow later.

After a few photos I grabbed a rake and started raking all the grass in the front yard into a huge pile. While I was doing this one of Mrs. Rumbaugh’s neighbors approached me. She asked what we were doing and I took this opportunity to share our reasons behind doing Serve and what exactly it was. The lady was really impressed with the kids and their willingness to give up part of their summer to share God’s love with their community. In fact, she was so impressed that she called up the local newspaper to have them come down and hear about our little operation. This was exciting news so I gathered our team up and told them to be thinking about what they might say when the reporter got there. I told them that this was an incredible opportunity for us to be bold in our faith and to bring glory to God. This got all of us really excited, but I told them to just keep up the hard work and not to get distracted.

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