the unlikely orange

as we come to this day of giving thanks, and as i taste the salty juxtaposition of festive family feasts with such fear and famine around the world, there seems to be a great deal that is unsettled inside me. there is less and less that i know for certain, and more and more that leaves me searching, hoping, praying.  but one thing i know without a hint of doubt is that i am thankful for my family.  they are the song i keep singing, the beat that pounds in my chest, and the reason i can smile and laugh in such a time as this and in such a world as this.  i am beyond blessed. and i am thankful.  i can only pray the same for you.

listen, i share this with you as a public service, in part because no one's life is complete without an ice cream-pooping unicorn and a prince telling your how to squat to do your business.  but more importantly, i share this with you because you probably didn't know you've been doing wrong all these years.  all you needed to do was purchase a piece of plastic (made in china) to put your feet on, for the optimal openage of the orafice. i don't know about you, but i'm grabbing a stool the next time i need to go and, well, provide a stool sample, so to speak.  in the meantime, enjoy this wonderful testament to the accomplishments of western culture. ummm....yay capitalism and, um....murica!

on sunday the steelers hosted the cleveland clowns browns, and while they began the game with their starting quarterback on the bench in a backup role, the browns, ever inventing ways to self-destruct, knocked out the 2nd string guy in the first quarter, so they could see ben roethlisberger, who went on to have an amazing first half (one of the best of his career), and ended up being the offensive player of the week.  no big deal.   oh, and there's this guy: antonio brown.  he is just an amazing athlete, who is pretty much unstoppable.  it is such a joy to watch him play football, and when he and ben are out there together, it is something pretty special.  wow.  just wow.   so the steelers move to 5-4, and stay in the thick of things for the wild card hunt in the afc.  it hasn't been an easy season, with all the injuries (espn ranked the steelers as the most injured team this year), but i give the team a great d...

let me introduce you to the newest member of our family.  it is my tremendous pleasure to introduce you to john coffey, the one and a half year old boston terrier mix whom we brought into our household on saturday.   we've been thinking about adopting for a little while now, since it has been almost exactly three years since max died.    then, when caedmon said he was going to ask for a dog for christmas, we knew it was time to get serious.  so shannon has been combing the shelters and rescue organizations for awhile now, looking for a dog that would be a good fit for our family.  we finally found john coffey on Operation Paws for Homes , and began the process of being approved to adopt.  once we were approved, we were put in contact with john coffey's foster family, so we could both ask them all sorts of questions (does he like the steelers?  will he be okay with me sneaking him a bit of dinner under the table from time to time?  ...

seems like nothing can be easy for the steelers.  not only did they have to squeak out a close one on sunday against the raiders, but they may have lost ben roethlisberger (again) to injury for an undetermined amount of time. still, it is hard to leave this game with too bad a taste in your mouth, since this offense was really fun to watch on sunday.  the defense?  not so much.  but d'angelo williams and antonio brown were just unstoppable, and it was great to see. williams stepped in for leveon bell, who is out for the rest of the season with his knee injury, and the steelers hardly missed a beat.  he looked great, hitting the holes, getting through traffic, getting open in the flat, catching touchdown passes, and pounding for short yardage when necessary.  brilliant. but not nearly as brilliant as number 84. antonio was ridiculous.  he had more receiving yards on sunday than some teams had total offense!  he set pittsburgh steel...

on sunday we had our annual church conference.  we were able to do it combined with two other clusters in our district, and we had about 200 people there for worship before we split into our smaller groups for the business of church conference. one of the themes of the worship service was the idea that we all bring our own brokenness to God, and we all live and minister in communities that are obviously broken.  so when people entered the sanctuary on sunday, they were given a broken piece of colored glass and invited to begin to think about the brokenness of their community.  as i pondered the brokenness in sunbury, i couldn't help but think of Jesus in matthew's gospel, in chapter 9 as he saw the people who needed good news.  "when he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke....'what a huge harvest!' he said to his disciples. 'how few the workers! on your knees and pray for harvest hands!'" (matthew 9:35-38, the message). and so i wondered,...

it's the farmer, johnny appleseed, and the "bad chef" who serves eggs with spiders in them.