the unlikely orange

i saw a preview for a show (or a movie?  not sure which) that asked the question, "what makes a hero?"  the question was left unanswered, suggesting that we need to watch the show to find out what makes the flash so fast, or what makes superman fly or what makes criminals cower in fear from the dark knight.  you could do that.  you could watch the show.  or the movie.  or read the comic book. or you could come to church. because that is what we are dealing with in this season.  we are in the middle of a 6-week sermon series in which we are specifically looking at what makes someone a real hero.  so often we think that the heroes are the exceptional ones, the ones with "super" powers, or fame or fortune.  when it comes to the life of faith, we relegate heroes either to the pantheons of patriarchs (abraham, moses, david and so forth), or to the supposed "saints" in our own churches and lives, those who have taught sunday school for 47 ye...

oh, i've been dreading this post.  i've been trying to write it all week, and i just keep putting it off.  i can't believe the summer has bled into fall, and we stand here now in the final throws of the 2014 regular season of major league baseball.  just the passage of time would make that remarkable enough, for me.  but there is something far more weighty on my heart. now batting...numbah two....derek jeetah....numbah two.   hold on a second.  i need to go get a box of tissues before i try typing anything else. last week as i was in atlanta, i read ian o'connor's biography of jeter called "the captain."  as the number of games the yankees' captain has left to play has dwindled into single digits, it was almost too much for this fan to bear.  his life has been fascinating in many ways.  he declared at an early age that he would one day play shortstop for the new york yankees.  everyone laughed.  until he went and did it...

this: and this: welcome back to the postseason, buccos!  and welcome back to the burgh, deebo.

if you ever need to run through a brick wall, just watch this video first.  this is a high school football player, who appears to me to have spent some time listening to some exciting preaching and teaching, and it has rubbed off.  this kid is wired (probably over-caffeinated), and excited about life!   he started off slow, but he finished fast!  go attitude!  go mindset!  go awesome! hope your day has half the enthusiasm and passionate love of life that this kid's does.

well, that's more like it. the steelers put on a great show in charlotte last night in front of a national audience.  they shut down superman and his supporting cast, and completely owned the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.  if the game is won in the trenches, then the steelers put on a clinic on winning last night, because they consistently won at the line.  it was a beautiful thing to watch, in part because the patient running on le'veon ball makes the work of the offensive line really count for something. it was exquisitely beautiful to see bell wait for the hole, then hit that hole with conviction and power.  he is an excellent runner, with great vision, a great knack for making people miss him, and unbelievable patience.  however, the young man wouldn't have had the night he had if not for a group of men in front of him. the offensive line was awesome.  with cody wallace filling in for ramon foster, and with the much-maligne...

such a great song.  and very fitting at the moment. her voice, though.  wow.

--back in the spring, someone came to jackson's class and gave them all a small cabbage plant.  they were all to take them home and grow them and see who could grow the best cabbage.  jackson was pretty excited about this, and you can see that he grew a very nice cabbage this summer, as a result. it is currently being turned into sour kraut, which is a disgusting process.  i voted for egg rolls, but i was voted down.  oh well, it is really great for the kids to see the growing process and how the earth can bring forth sustenance for us if we take care of it and nurture it. --if you watched sunday's game, you will enjoy this: --and if you are a steelers fan in pennsylvania, you will enjoy this: --quinton's been cracking me up with his talking recently.      northumberland christian school has been "balella (which is umbrella) christian school," and then "banana" christian school.      lasagna is baskahnia.  ...

"it was the best of times, it was the worst of times."  so wrote charles dickens. he could have written the same thing if he was a beat reporter for the pittsburgh steelers after their by-the-skin-of-their-teeth win over the browns yesterday. indeed there were great expectations for the steelers heading into this game, against a browns team that looked to be missing several key ingredients to be a real contender in the afc north.  and the best of times, that is, the first half, revealed that to be the case.  the steelers moved the ball almost at will.  leveon bell was superb in every aspect, while antonio brown looked every bit the superstar wide receiver/punt returner that he is, even with his kick to the face of the poor brownies punter.  it looked to me like he was trying to jump over him, and when he realized that he wasn't going to get over him, he tried to push off of him.  whatever his intent, he kicked him in the face, and probably earned him...

"room in my heart" paper collage on stretched canvas (found papers, acrylic paint, glue) august 2014 8" x 10" gregory a. milinovich Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.   -Colossians 3:16 as i mentioned earlier, i was so blessed to be able to have some time back in my art room this weekend, and to use my creative energy to paint and glue bits of "garbage" together in ways that interest me and, somehow, inexplicably, feed my soul.  one of the results of that was the collage above, entitled "room in my heart," playing off the words of an old hymn.

we started off our summer with a bang back in may, and now that we have reached the unofficial end of summer, i thought i would share our summer bucket list with you.  i already shared it with you here , but now you can see that most of it has been crossed off.  we didn't quite get to everything, but we had a jam-packed summer, full of both crazy activity and rest, action and relaxation.  the list took us to danville, hazleton, new york city, elysburg, mifflinburg, and state college, to name a few.  it included making pottery, taking a nature hike, making a fort, building a lego version of our local courthouse, learning to braid, taking a paddle boat ride, and having a glow-in-the-dark egg hunt.  it got us to have ice cream for dinner, determine the best tasting root beer, play in the rain, make homemade orange juliuses and soft pretzels, go camping, see a new york yankees game, ride our bikes on a rail trail, see some awesome fireworks right outside beaver s...

i was able to spend some time in my art room this weekend, for the first time in a long time.  part of the problem was that it had become an unmanageable mess in there, and i finally got the nerve to deal with it and get it cleaned and organized.  as soon as that was done, i was itching to make something!  i had a project already in the works, so i got right to it.  a friend had given me a family bible that was from the 1800's, knowing that i use them for all sorts of things in my art, and the one condition was that i use the cover to make a collage dealing with hope.   what you see below is a progression of about 11 or 12 pictures showing my process, from beginning to end.  i start by tearing and cutting and just loosely placing things on the "canvas" to see what composition is most pleasing to me.  once i find something i am generally happy with, i remove it all and get to the work of gluing it to the backing.  in this case, i used acry...