Experimental Blog

Funny how my opinion can change

Hey everyone,

Ok, if you would have asked me twenty minutes ago what I thought about Stephon Marbury of the New York Knicks, I would have told you he represents everything I dislike about the NBA. But ladies and gentlemen, I now have the utmost respect for him. Read this article to find out why. All I have to say is thank you Stephon for seeing something wrong with society and actually trying to do something about it. I applaud you.

I'm pretty sure thats all I have right now to talk about...

Oh, go and buy the new City and Colour Live CD/DVD. It is phenomenal. I love Dallas Green. I know I have said it before but it is no less true today.

Well, I'm going to go and get ready to hand in my history paper. I actually enjoyed writing it. That is all.

So Long and Goodnight

Petestar

The Gad Complex

So here's the deal, I have had a bunch on my mind, some of it heavy, other stuff not so much, and I just decided now is as good of a time as any to get it out. I'm going to jump right in to the heavy and leave you with a lighter note. Then maybe I'll hit you with a zinger or something.

As a Christian, I know part of my duty is to help further the kingdom of the Almighty God here on Earth. Now this is very much so easier said than done. At first, it seems like the logical thing to do is to study the Word and memorize it so that you can spit out an answer in any situation to show how much you know about the Bible and what it says. It seems to make sense that through this, people will be able to understand what being a Christian is all about and be drawn to it. But let's face it; no matter how much scripture you know and how good you are with words, there is always going to be somebody who throws you a curveball and just baffles you with all of your knowledge. It's true, knowledge can be fallible. Luckily, there is another way. I've been coming to realize more and more that the only foolproof way to show people what being a servant of Christ is all about is... drum-roll.... to just plain live it. All of that scripture you know and all the memory verses you studied so hard as a kid mean nothing if you aren't out there on the battlefield living out what they say. People may not be too keen on you coming up to them and saying, "love your neighbour as yourself because the Bible says so."

But if you just show that person the love you are talking about and when they ask you why you do it you respond, "because Jesus commands it and I want to obey him," it may leave a bit more of an impact. Someone will look at that and say, "Wow. I want to serve that Jesus guy too!" But at the same time you must be ready for some ridicule. The reaction to your response could very well be the opposite. Someone might say, "That's just an easy answer." And they are partly right. It is an easy answer. But that's because it is the only answer. You can quote verses that support what you are saying but it doesn't change the fact that at the root of it all is obedience to Christ. It's not an easy thing for a non-believers to understand, you know. Now I apologize for the reactions this example may generate but picture this. We are all members of the church of Oilers and Pastor Lowe comes and tells us that we got rid of Ryan Smyth and it was the best thing for us. Though some people will agree and handle it well, others will react radically and reject this idea and call for blood. Some people may turn away forever and some may just take a while to warm up to the idea. Needless to say reactions will vary but we do just have to take Lowe at his word that it is best at this point in time (my thoughts on the trade later). In the same way, people can only take us at our word when we say we are choosing to obey Christ and they can't understand it until they choose Christ for themselves.

Ok, that felt good. I hope you got something out of that. Now there is something else that I have been thinking about for a while. To quote Pharaoh in Exodus, "Who is this Gad?" Now it isn't a big deal to me but what is the deal with this. I know a lot of people that, whether in prayer or in bible study or whatever, have been known to talk to or about Gad. Where did the "a" come from? It boggles my mind. Now if we were Southern Baptists I would understand. The short "o" sound wouldn't even by a possibility. But here in the middle of Alberta? What is the deal? Do you or your loved ones suffer from this? There is hope. We may need to pull a caper of "My Fair Lady" proportions to fix this but we can fix it.....

Clearly I'm being sarcastic but I do find it funny. I can't say I have never been guilty of this but after thinking to myself, "What if when God is talking to me he starts calling me Paduh (pay-duh)?" That would get a little annoying. So I stopped. Anywho

Alright, finally, put your nooses away (or is it neese?). We don't need to hang Kevin Lowe. He made a really good move. We picked up a future 1st round pick and two highly touted prospects and still have an opportunity to re-sign Smyth in the off-season. It was a really good move. Face it, we know we weren't going to make the playoffs this season. And if Ryan Smyth wouldn't budge 100 000 dollars a year who knows if we would actually get him locked up in the next few months. The difference between today and two weeks ago is that we have 2 new prospects, a future draft pick and a chance for some young guys to prove themselves. Smyth still is a free agent at the end of the season so whatever. If we get him back we get him back. If not, we didn't lose him for nothing. So put the pitchforks down and dowse the torches. Kevin Lowe did us a favor. Ok, this is a crazy long post now so I will end it. In conclusion, Go Penguins and bring on the baseball season!

So long and goodnight

Petestar

A Jussi New Rumour!

Ok, I don't want to jump to any huge conclusions but there has been some activity in the minors for the Oilers. Jussi just started and won two games in a row because they are trying to rest Dwayne Rolosson right? Wrong! I just want to have it on record that I think the Oil are shopping Jussi Markkanen. Devan Dubnyk just got reassigned to Wilkes-Barre of the AHL where Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers and Andrew Penner are both having terrific seasons so it can't be because the Baby Pens need more help between the pipes. What I think is going to happen is that Markkanen will be shipped somewhere and Jeff Double D will be called up to back up Roli. I haven't heard any rumours saying this yet so I wanted to have it on record if this happens. If I turn out to be wrong, I just want to know why the crap we have both of our goalie prospects splitting an already platoon situation. I guess we will see. As long as we pick up a D-man I am fine with this. Good Luck Jussi!
Well, I don't want to say told you so.... actually this clearly indicates I look forward to saying it...

So long and goodnight,

Petestar

Everbody's doing it

Good afternoon true believers, it's that time of year again. We are about half-way through the NBA season so why not be like everyone else and make my mid-season award picks? I can't think of a reason not to either. So here goes...

Really the only award I feel right in discussing is the MVP. For those who don't want to read about this any longer I will cut to the chase. Steve Nash will win his third consecutive MVP award. Ok, you may now skip to whatever else you want to read. For those still hanging around, I give you some more to chew on. Individually, Nash has actually improved his numbers. He is scoring more and shooting a higher percentage from everywhere. Throw in the fact that he has hit countless clutch shots already this season and it looks like he is a runaway. But wait! There's more! Not only is Nash having a better season than his previous two MVP seasons, but the Suns are having their best year yet under his control. Yesterday the Suns extended their winning streak to 16 games which set a new franchise record. The record they just broke was 15 games and it was actually set earlier this season. It's incredible. At this point, if Nash doesn't take home the hardware again, he got robbed.

I do have to give honorable mention to Gilbert Arenas. I'll be honest. I don't really like him. Well... I didn't really like him. Now I kinda do. He's cocky, he's arrogant, and he is almost single-handedly carrying the Wizards to the best record in the Eastern Conference (though that hasn't meant much since the days of Jordan and the Bulls). My goodness, the guy has celebrated game winning shots before they even go in. That's how locked in he is right now. The shot goes up, he turns around and celebrates, the shot goes in, the rest of the team joins him celebrating. That's pretty much how things go down. It doesn't hurt that he is second in the league in scoring right now. Impressive stuff. I also want to give honorable mention to Dirk Nowitzki and Kobe Bryant. Both having very valuable seasons.

Ok, I think that is about enough of that. So if anyone desperately wishes to know how many days remain until my wedding you can check out http://www.myspace.com/petestar4. There is a countdown that is running and it will hit zero at 1pm on August 18th, 2007. Just in case you're as excited as I am.

Hmm... what else...my theology class is really interesting. It's really making me think about what I believe in ways I haven't thought of before. Just a bunch of little things really. It's not like I am suddenly questioning my faith. By no means. Wow, I don't really feel like typing out all that we have talked about so I'm just going to stop typing and you can ask me about it if you really want.

Ok, that does it for me. Keep up the good work with comments and such. Don't be afraid to leave your name because I just stay awake at night wondering who the anonymous characters are. Right.

So long and goodnight,

Petestar

Free Hugs!

Free Hugs Campaign. Inspiring Story! (music by sick puppies)

Ok guys. I seriously almost cried when I read the info on his website http://www.freehugscampaign.org. This guy is my hero. Free hugs for everyone!

So long and goodnight,
Petestar

Micah's Challenge

Well let's get started then. I really don't have a whole lot to talk about. I just figured my adoring audience would appreciate a new edition of the Petestar Runner blog. Anywho, for the past two days (well mostly, I may have slept through some of it), the biannual Interdisciplinary Studies conference has been going on at The King's University College. The topic of discussion this semester: The Micah Challenge. What is the Micah Challenge, you ask? Well let me explain a little. Micah 6:8 says, "... And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." First of all, I don't like the way that one verse is taken for the basis of a conference. Anywho, that aside, we had 3 keynote speakers and a bunch of other speakers doing break-off sessions as well. The point, more or less, of the Micah Challenge, is to encourage development in third world countries. With the verse from Micah in mind, you would think that this would be predominantly from a Christian perspective but with the exception of two of the speakers, who I loved by the way, the other keynote speakers addressed it from a business point of view. It really upset me. One of the speakers seemed more concerned with plugging World Vision and glorifying what they are doing than she was concerned with actual progress. Anyways, I should really save some of this for the short essay I have to write for the conference. So enough about that....

Is it August yet?

Hmm.... I don't have much else to update right now. Oh, except everyone should check out the Dr Bruce Giraffes! They are an outstanding hardcore acoustic band (I think I just made that genre up right now) from my school. You can find them on myspace at http://www.myspace.com/thedrbrucegiraffes. it will be a very worthwhile couple of minutes. You would probably laugh more if you recognized who the songs were about. Is it ironic that Sam Smiley just walked by me as I wrote that? Meh, who knows? Ok, thats good for now. I'll catch you all on your respective flipsides.

So long and goodnight,

Petestar