This week’s column: Prayer in Schools

Ok — everyone take a deep breath. We’re about to touch on another very fun topic — prayer in schools.
I’ve been reading Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala, pastor of Brooklyn Tabernacle.
While reading about prayer, which most of the book is about, a section struck me straight to the heart.
“What does it say about our churches today that God birthed the church in a prayer meeting, and prayer meetings today are almost extinct?
“Am I the only one who gets embarrassed when religious leaders in America talk about having prayer in public schools? We don’t have even that much prayer in many churches! Out of humility, you would think we would keep quiet on that particular subject until we practice what we preach in our own congregations.
“I am sure the Roman emperors didn’t have prayer to God in their schools. But then, the early Christians didn’t seem to care what Caligula or Claudius or Nero did. How could any emperor stop God? How, in fact, could the demons of hell make headway when God’s people prayed and called upon his name? Impossible!
“In the New Testament we don’t see Peter or John wringing their hands and saying, “Oh, what are we going to do? Caligula’s bisexual… he wants to appoint his horse to the Roman Senate… what a terrible model of leadership! How are we going to respond to this outrage?”
The lesson continues, but I’ll let you get your own copy of the book and read it for yourselves.
I’ve never been a fan of prayer in schools — not because I’m not a fan of prayer or don’t believe in it. I just don’t think it belongs in schools.
If Christians are allowed to have prayer in school, so are Islamics, Buddhists, and Wiccans.
Personally I don’t want a Wiccan teacher telling my future children how to pray.
They will learn to pray at home, and it won’t be up to a principal or teacher to tell them when they can or can’t pray.
They’ll know, just like I did growing up, that when you feel the need to pray – do it.
Don’t wait on a teacher or principal to give you permission or set aside a time to do so.

eveningstar@hot.rr.com

Tuna/Crab Salad

Everybody sing:
“After midnight – we’re gonna let it all hang out…”
Or not. I was catching up on my blogs and Scoble sent me to Wikipedia in one of his entries and I spent a couple hours there just reading random entries. It’s like when I was younger and I used to go to my grandparents and just sit and read the encyclopedia cause there was nothing else to do.
Bad habits fade slowly. But needless to say, Jamie Cullum still rocks and I think I’m starting his DVD over for the third time now. It’s just on ALL REPEAT. Wonderful.
Oh and BTW, I made an awesome tuna/crab salad tonight for my lunch tomorrow.
Yes, I am impressed. No recipe in front of me – of course that’s where most of my favorite dishes come from anyways.
Lets see if I can remember the recipe.
1 Cup of Pecans
1 Apple (sliced with core and stem removed – naturally)
1/2 Can of White Crap Meet *EDIT* 1/2 Can of White Crab Meat *EDIT*
1 Can of Tuna
2 Boiled Egg Whites
1/4 Cup of Fat Free Ranch Dressing
Put all of the above in your local food processor, slice, dice and chomp and there you go.
I estimate the whole bit has around 250-300 calories.
Not too shabby. Sounds like a good lunch.
My doctor told me today I need to lose 48 pounds over the next two years. That’s only two pounds a month, but I’m gonna shoot for 48 pounds in a year. We’ll see how that goes. Four pounds a month can’t be too bad – except that the only time I’ve ever been successful at weight loss is when I was sick and not actually trying.
But then again – I’ve never really tried.
Here’s to a September 2006 211 weight class.
And with that – I’m off like…. well nevermind.

Jericho out… for now

ChrisJericho.com has a letter/press release from Chris Jericho on his break from the WWE. He had a “You’re Fired” match with WWE Champ John Cena last week and was well – fired. Or so they say. Actually word is his contract with WWE was up at Summerslam and he had it extended to last Monday to finish with the “You’re Fired” match.
Anyways, its an interesting read. Basically boils down to Y2J needing to recharge his batteries. He doesn’t give any type of timeline for his return, but you can bet it will be big when he does come back.
And for those wondering, here’s a list of his favorite matches:
July 16, 1993-w/Ultimo Dragon vs Negro Casas and El Dandy-Mexico City, MX
July 7, 1995-Ultimo Dragon-Tokyo, Japan-IJ Championship
June 22, 1996-Pitbull #2-Philadelphia, PA-ECW TV Title
Feb 22, 1998-Juventud Guerrera-San Francisco, CA-Cruiserweight Title vs Mask
April 17, 2000-HHH-State College, PA-WWF Championship
July 23, 2000-HHH-Dallas, TX-Last Man Standing
Jan 21, 2001-Chris Benoit-New Orleans, LA-Ladder Match For The IC Championship
May 21, 2001-w/Chris Benoit vs HHH and Stone Cold Steve Austin-WWF Tag Team Championship
May 22, 2001-w/Chris Benoit vs The Dudley Boys vs The Hardy Boys vs Edge and Christian-TLC Match
Oct 21, 2001-The Rock-St Louis, MO-WCW Championship
March 1, 2002-The Rock-Yokohama, Japan-WWE Championship
June 15, 2002-The Rock-Honolulu, HI
Oct 7, 2002-w/Christian vs Kane vs Bubba and Spike Dudley vs Jeff Hardy and RVD-Las Vegas, NV-TLC Match
Mar 30, 2003-Shawn Michaels-Seattle, WA-Wrestlemania 19
Feb 7. 2004-Chris Benoit-Tokyo, Japan
Oct 19, 2004-Shelton Benjamin-Milwaukee, WI-IC Championship
Jan 9, 2005-Edge vs Chris Benoit vs HHH vs Randy Orton vs Batista-San Juan, Puerto Rico-Elimination Chamber For The WWE Championship
April 3, 2005-Edge vs Christian vs Chris Benoit vs Kane vs Shelton Benjamin-Money In The Bank Ladder Match At Wrestlemania 21
July 2, 2005-Shawn Michaels-Tokyo, Japan
Aug 21, 2005 John Cena Washington DC WWE Championship

For the record, my favorite opponents in no particular order are Ultimo Dragon, Chris Benoit, The Rock, Christian and Shawn Michaels (my personal best friend – or so I say).

No to Go

Communication Nation writes we need to change our default manager settings from No to Go.
I’ve found personally that its much easier to delegate and get things done when I can trust people to make decisions and not come to me for every single decision they make. I hate micro-management. I don’t want to have to sit over people and tell them what to do every step of the way. I like to assume that if you got the job, your capable and can manage to get a job done.
Unfortunatly, one thing I’ve seen is that some people who don’t know how to do something, just shut down and avoid asking questions. That’s not the right direction either. I’d rather have someone ask me how to do something than not do it at all.