You better have your twitter lingo down as you will be attending tweetups, asked about your twaffic and surrounded by other tweeples.

2.  Moleskin – the notebook for hipsters

‘Losing my passport was the least of my worries, losing a notebook was a catastrophe.’ — Bruce Chatwin

3.  Flip Mini HD – you know….for your vlog.

Also use to video guys walking into walls, signage or other barriers as they are checking their twitter account.

4.  SCL – The Book

Jon Acuff breaks down Christian antics in a humorous way on his blog Stuff Christians Like and in his new book.  ps.  Follow him on twitter as well @prodigaljon.

5.   Geek T-shirt

It’s true right.  If you have an iphone, the time you spend dropping the kids off at the pool, has increased 45%.  Actually having an Iphone goes without saying…right?

6.  Macbook

I promise you.  If you go to a Christian tech conference and don’t have a mac notebook you’re going to feel like you are carrying around a typewriter by some of the looks you get.  I know…I’m a PC.

7.  Unique Business Card

Make a business card that people will remember.  Your business card is their first impression of you and your business or organization.  It doesn’t have to be fancy,  just put some thought into it.

http://creativebits.org/cool_business_card_designs

8.  The New Business Card – Bump App

You may have seen it on the commercials but this iphone app is pretty slick.  Just bump phones with a friend or someone you just met and the app will automatically sync your contact information.

Scott Brosius is now the head baseball coach at his alma mater.  He is in our Men of God spotlight this week and we recently caught up with Scott over the phone to talk about faith and baseball.

His Life

Scott grew up in Oregon and would attend college at Linfield College.   His roots were not in the church, but Scott had attended various churches while growing up.  After being drafted and playing in the minor leagues, Scott would meet someone who helped him to learn about Jesus.

Q – Can you share your testimony with us?

“Growing up, I had gone to church at a lot of different places, but as a family, we weren’t really a church attending family.  I would hop on the church buses and go wherever they took me and went with my friends as a kid but I never really understood what it meant to have a personal relationship with Christ or knowing God in a personal way.  As a kid, it was that eye in the sky and you just wanted to mind your business.  Growing up through high school and even in college, I didn’t have one of those wild lifestyles.  I lived a pretty normal, focused life, stayed away from all the trouble, but as far as the church goes, I never really attended in high school or in college much.  When people would talk to me about who Jesus was and was wanting me to become a Christian, I just sat on the fence, trying to figure this whole thing out.  I tried to figure out what that meant and was kind of afraid to jump off.  Like it is for a lot of people, sometimes it takes something in your life to kind of push you and for me, it was dealing with the death of my mom.  She was battling cancer and I was in the minor leagues playing Double A baseball, and to that point in my life, everything had kind of gone exactly as planned.  I had a goal of playing baseball from the time I was four or five years old and I got the opportunity to play in high school and play in college, a chance to get drafted and play professionally and I was just working my way through the minor leagues and everything was going as planned.  Then all of the sudden, something happened that was out of my control, the first real negative thing that I had to deal with.  I think it was really kind of through that process that I ultimately ended up making that decision.  I had a former player in Huntsville, Alabama named Rocky Coyle, who I was working out with in the offseason.  He was very active.  He was the youth pastor for years and years but as I knew him, he was just a few years out of baseball.  He was talking to me quite a bit about what it meant to be a Christian and what that meant in your life.  At that point, I was still really hesitant to make that commitment.  I just didn’t get it and I was a little fearful of what that meant and how it could change my life.  My mom was in the middle of a bone marrow transplant.  I was in Alabama and she was in California.  She worsened quickly so I had flown back to California to see her.  My stepdad called and said, “I think you need to get out here. It doesn’t look real good for her.”  So I got out there, I guess on a Wednesday.  I got to the hospital and stayed that the hospital for the first day, overnight, and it was apparent that she was getting worse.  On Thursday morning, the doctors came in and talked to us about her situation and said that at this point, it didn’t look like they were going to be able to save her; they were just going to try to make her as comfortable as possible.  It was pretty devastating news to deal with the reality that my mom was going to die in the near future.  I left the hospital that morning and went back to the house and cleaned up, showered, just trying to gather myself a little bit.  A few hours later, I went back to the hospital.  I got to the hospital and my sister met me at the front door.  She was crying and said, “Mom died while you were gone.”  The thing that I remember about that moment was just this overwhelming kind of panic feeling.  I started taking off and just running through the hospital, just kind of blowing through the doors, just banging through all the doors.  The cancer unit was kind of in the back of the hospital.  I was just running, feeling like I had to get there to see her and just feeling this panic.  When I got to those glass doors, this sliding door that went into the unit where she was at, this mom was walking out with this brand-new, newborn baby.  To this day, I still don’t know why they would have been in that part of the hospital.  But she came walking out with this little, tiny baby and just made me stop dead in my tracks and I just looked at this baby.   I heard this voice inside me that said, “It’s ok.  With her death, she has new life.”  It was just as clear as a bell, the words.  I hung there for a second and the thing that hit me at that moment was all the panic was gone.  The pain, of course, and everything else that I was feeling was still there, but that overwhelming panic was gone.  It was replaced with some kind of peace.  After the funeral, I came back and was talking to Rocky about what happened and about what I heard and what I felt.  He looked at me and said, “Scott, you’ve got to know, don’t you?  You have to know that God is real and God is personal and He just spoke to you in a way that nobody else could have spoken to you.  No human could have said anything at that point that could have taken away those feelings that you had, but they were taken away.”  As I was sitting with them, it was a real rainy day; we weren’t working and were just sitting in his Bronco and talking about all of this.  He was like, “You can’t deny this anymore.  You’ve got to understand that God is real.  Don’t you want that?”  I was like, “You know, you’re right.  I can’t deny this and if that’s who God is and can be that personal and help me through something like that, then I want that.”  It was in the car that afternoon that I prayed with Rocky.”

His Career

Scott made it up through the minors and took over at third base for the Oakland A’s.    He hit a home run in his first game and held the position until the end of 1997, a season of struggles for Scott.  The A’s traded Scott for Kenny Rogers and Scott would find his new home in New York would propel him to the top of the baseball world.

Q – What was the highlight of your career?

“It would be hard to pick one out.  I think getting called up to the big leagues for the first time was certainly a highlight.  It happened on my dad’s birthday.  Being able to call him and say, “Hey!  Happy Birthday!  By the way, do you want to come to Oakland and watch me play?” that was a pretty special time.  Your first game in the big leagues is something that you will never forget.  Of course, going to New York and having the chance to play in four World Series and winning three of them.  Each World Series was special in its’ own way.  I think that there’s something about the first time you that you do it.  So, 1998 and that season, winning the World Series.  My dad, at that point, was diagnosed with cancer as well and had gone through surgery earlier in that year, but I made the All-Star team and was able to fly him out and share the weekend with him at the All-Star game.  There are a lot of things in that 1998 season that stood out as special.

Q- Who was the toughest pitcher you faced in your career?

“I wish that I could say there was only one but there were a whole bunch of guys that seemed pretty tough on me.  I think the guy that stands out to me quite a bit is Randy Johnson.  I thought he was tough and I think the thing that was interesting about Randy was that overall, I was a pretty good fastball hitter and he’s a fastball pitcher.  I still had trouble with him.  He was probably the toughest lefty that I remember facing.  There are a couple of guys that stand out.  A couple of guys I didn’t have to face too much.  Rivera, obviously, I got to be on the right side of him, playing defense instead of facing him quite a bit.  Jack Morris was a guy that when I first came up, I got to face him and he was pretty nasty.  There are a lot of them that were tough.”

Q – How did faith influence your career?

“For all of us, there’s a lot of growth that happens.  A huge part for me was dealing with adversity.  In baseball, just like any time in life, it’s not if the adversity is going to happen, it’s when it is going to happen.  There was a season going through them.  My 1997 season in Oakland, I had an absolutely horrible year, injury-filled, didn’t play well.  The team didn’t play well.  I was away from my wife and kids more as they were getting older.  It was really a kind of miserable year.  I remember coming home after that season and talking to my wife, just saying, “I can’t do this again.  I can’t play like this.  If this is what baseball’s going to be, I’m going to walk away from it.”  As we talked and prayed about it, I think god kind of hit me over the head a little bit that offseason and said, “You know. To this point, you’ve turned over everything in your life but baseball.”  For me, baseball’s like, “Yeah, I’m the guy facing the ninety-five mile per hour fastball and I’m the guy that has to catch it.  I’m the guy who’s got to do this kind of stuff.”  I think I was holding on pretty tight.  I think God was saying, “Look, you need to let go.  Can you trust Me with baseball as well?”  Growing after that 97 season, just making the commitment that from here on out, this is no longer my thing.  I’ll play it under God’s terms and not mine.  I got traded to New York, which was probably the last place I would have ever chosen for myself to get traded to, but it ended up being the time of my life.  Going through the adversity that I did and coming to a point where I said, “Man, I’ve really got to let go of this, play hard, and do all of those things, but don’t worry about the things you don’t control.”

His Advice

Scott retired after the 2001 season, walking away with three World Series rings, a Gold Glove, an All-Star game appearance, and the MVP trophy of the 1998 World Series.  He has stayed in baseball, teaching young men about the things that he learned along the way.

Q – How is faith influential in your career now as a coach?

“I think that’s part of the real fun of coaching kids at this age.   They’re coming to a point in their lives now where they’re making decisions that will impact the rest of their lives.  (It’s fun) Being able to speak into that a little bit, you know.  “Let’s talk about the things that really have true importance.”  Everybody talks about getting a job and making money and all these types of things that college-aged kids talk about but being able to talk to them about the bigger picture things and things that do have more importance than just the things that we do.  We talk quite a bit about how people are going to remember who you are as a person and what you believe a lot more than they’re going to remember what kind of average you had or what you did and things like that.  My faith is the foundation of everything that I talk to these guys about when we talk about these big picture things.”

Q – In your opinion, what does it mean to be a man of God?

“It’s a journey that never ends, that we never get figured (out completely).  Even last night, in our small groups and in our Bible studies, as we’re talking about things, it’s just learning to understand and learning to recognize God in everything that we do.  I think that sometimes for me, I get focused on the do’s and the don’ts and the trying to do this and sometimes, I think it’s just being able to slow down and live a life that’s in recognition of the joy that God brings to our life.  As we talk to our kids, friends, and people around me, maybe help people to see that they might be missing as well.”

With every new door that God has opened in Scott’s life, with every adversity he has had to face, with every change in scenery and with every opportunity, Scott has been able to see that God stand by His Word and has never left him.  Each day brings those opportunities for each of us to see what Scott has seen in his life.  God is there and God is waiting for us to turn everything over, understanding that this life is not our own.  It is a chance for us to praise God, glorify God, and to spread God’s Word and love to a world that is desperately in need.

Insulation is good in houses, clothes and cars, but we dudes tend to isolate relationally as well.  We insulate our lives with sports, business, ministry, seclusion, and pretend relationships. We try to protect ourselves from pain. We insulate. We live in denial of other “atmospheres” right next to us. We create our own atmosphere, our own reality, and our own perfect worlds. All the while, we are craving real relationships. All of us do. The longing for intimacy is universal, and God breathed.

When it comes to jumping over a six-foot high bon fire, free-falling off a 30’ cliff, or driving 100mph with our car, we are more than ready to act. We typically love the adrenaline of danger and speed….

Why are we such wussies when it comes to relational risks? Isn’t the adrenaline rush of these risks quite similar to physical risks? Why does fear cause us to Isolate?

I remember a period of time when God was restoring my relationship with my father. I lived with my parents for a short time after college. My father and I were going to bed at the same time one night, going around the house turning off lights. Our paths crossed in the pitch black location where one set of stairs goes up, to his room, and the other stairs descended to mine. My heart raced as I had no idea how to feel comfortable saying “good night” to my own father in a dark room. The great chasm between where I wanted to be with him and where we actually were was a jump too big for me. I thought of the easy way out…a quick slap on the shoulder and a mumbled “iloveyou”.

That seemed safe. No risk there. Yes, isolate.

But I longed for more. I knew it. I have known it since I have known anything at all. I wanted to be authentically intimate with him. There is probably nothing I wanted more than that. I could not repeat the same patterns with him and expect different results. I knew I had to risk a new pattern if I desired new results.

So, I pulled him into a hug, and held it. My impulse was to let go quickly. After 2 seconds I wanted to pat him on the back to let him know we were done. But I did not. Ahh the risk! The fear inside me wanting to run downstairs…but how great this felt…I held on! All the anger and frustration I had for him for years…the river that had been dammed was running again! I held on! Forgiveness, closeness, affection…Intimacy. I held on…

It lasted a minute or two, and it was awkward the entire time.  Yet, the power of that hug will be one that I will remember to my grave. It is a milestone, never to be forgotten. The risk was high, and the reward was great.  When the potential reward can be this great, why do we try to self-protect through isolation?

I think there are two main reasons.

1. Insecurity [we are not good enough for others]

2. Pride [we are too good for others]

Both causes of isolation seem to ruffle God’s feathers.

Insecurity says “God, you did not make me good enough”, “I have nothing to offer”. These are lies from the enemy. Insecurity goes against Genesis 1:27 “I have created you in my image”, It goes against our identity in Psalm 139 “I am fearfully and wonderfully made”. It opposes the truth in Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Insecurity is not from God.

I would also suggest that excessive busyness is most often a symptom of insecurity. Busyness says “I need to work hard to earn my approval” or “I am too scared to slow down and feel what is really going on in my heart”. We are not at peace with who God says we are. We are simply hyperactive children searching for approval.

Pride says “I am better than others, and better than God.”  No body enjoys a know-it-all, or a constant self-promoter. Proud people have replaced God by putting themselves on the throne. Ephesians 4:2 says “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” Hebrews 4:6 says “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” I Peter 5:6 writes “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”  Philippians 2:3 was written “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”

Jesus modeled these two for us. He knew who his Father was and that made him humble as a servant. He knew who he was in relation to God, and that made him confident with authority.

What are the ways we can start to Un-isolate with humble-confidence?

Take a risk. If God is for you who can be against you? Is there a guy you feel you have natural “fun” with? You feel like there is divine connection with him? Go deeper in conversation. Talk about your goals, dreams, desires; help each other get there.

Develop common interests and use those as a bridge to get to know others. Do you love mountain biking? Surfing? Movies? Find others who love the same and use those activities as a launching pad for deeper relationships. Shared struggle is not the greatest way to connect with others, but shared interests are.  Is there someone you could call right now?

Fail. Yes, friendships we think are headed to epic levels might crash and burn.  God works all things together for the good, even failures. We might get hurt, abandoned, rejected. Forgive as you have been forgiven. Confident in your status as God’s son, get up and try it again. The reward is great.

Confess sin. There is no greater way to connect with a brother than to humble yourself and confess your shortcomings to him. As cheesy as it sounds, it is hard to look down on someone, when you’re both on your knees.

Ask God and others what prevents you from relating well. You might be unapproachable, or have quirks that make you un-relational. We all have blind spots, and we can only find out by asking someone who is around us to give us honest insight.

I believe you will experience incredible tensions, but multiplied joy when you start walking in humble-confidence with others. When your deep desire for intimacy is met, when you are authentically loved and loving, your joy will skyrocket.  Insulation is good for saving money on your heating bill, but not-so-healthy for your personal life. Isolate no more, friend, the world is waiting for God’s image to reflect through a confident-humble man like you.

Hey Jason,

About 4 years ago you sent this message to me and some other folks helping you launch the Prodigal Son magazine:

“Writers-

Today we officially launched the beta mode of Prodigal Son Magazine. Please check it out and let me know of any links that are not working correctly. Stay tuned because we will be adding things consistently such as rss news feeds, streaming video and podcasts. There will also be some more format changes but for the most part this will be the overall design. Any feedback will be appreciated.

Note: We will publish every 2 weeks, so please continue to let me know of article ideas you have. We have most of the material for the next issue, but we would like to keep one issue ahead, so if you want to write another article soon, just let me know.

Thank you to all the writers that have contributed so far, we will get all of your work published in the next couple issues, so stay tuned. I will email you the final draft and when it will publish before it goes live.

Finally, just to let you all know. My father passed away this morning at 2am, he went peacefully as my family sang “be glorified”. He in now in a better place, gazing upon Jesus. It is so interesting that the man that inspired this magazine returns to his father, the same day the magazine is launched. Just another way God’s hand has encouraged and been a part of this ministry. Thank you all for your prayers and kind notes you have sent me. You have no idea the love I felt, and how encouraging it was for me. Bless you, brothers and sisters in Christ.”

I haven’t ceased praying for you since. Stay strong bro and you are probably in more people’s prayers than you know!

don

My father is a union pipe fitter and drives a Chevy pickup which was made in 1996 and still only has 80,000 mile on it (it even has a plow which has never seen a snow drift since my dad purchased it.)  So I shouldn’t have to tell you he is not what I call a risk taker, matter of fact,  he has a backup plan for his backup plan.

Then my step father,  an interesting character.  He as of the last couple of years,  is nowhere to be found. He has pretty near disappeared. His family informs me of when they hear from him so I know he’s alive (I wish I was making this up).  So with that said….he takes risks!  He rarely stayed at a job for more than 2 years. He has run for state representative, owned a knock off perfume business, managed nightclubs, was a chef, even dealt drugs for a while!?   He didn’t have a backup plan ever, but was like MacGyver when pushed into a corner.

Even as I write this down I am shocked at the difference of knowing both these men as my fathers.  Life was very interesting at times.  I have stories that go on forever.   My step father knew how to pretty much do anything you needed done but he was never good at just one thing.  My father was excellent at one thing and focused.

I now know that those 2 extremes need to meet somewhere in the middle, because my father, and I don’t have many stories from when I was a child, but he has educated me on many things as an adult.  My step father…well I have stories that are hard to believe, literally I wonder if I dreamt them at times.

I now am a father to 3 children and I am proud that I have a little bit of both my father’s in me.  Sometimes the focused directed father reveals himself to guide my children and make wise choices and other times , well let’s say my kids will point at me when Mom wants to know what happened.  I hope that my children see my father’s in me.

Thanks Dad’s for making me who I am today.

So I came across a twitter update from Mark Batterson the Pastor and Author.  He mentioned that He is a member of the Junky Car Club. Awesome!  I have been trying to sell my NOT paid for Volkswagon and replace it with a PAID for vehicle or Junky Car!  I love that other Christian men are seeing the value being debt free to give more.  Can you imagine what you can give, save, and even buy out right if your pay check was not completly absorbed by a car payment and insurance?

I am wondering if there is a lot of other men out there working on the same plan as I am. I’ll tell you what it is easier said then done. I love my v-dub.  I want to be apart of the Junky Car Club!  I love the challenge of this website to say hey we are successful people, but we are going against the grain for change.  I will update the post when I get my Junk Ride.

WEBSITE: junkycarclub.com

FUNNY: You will find Mark Batterson posing with his hoopty Ford Taurus circa 1993 in – About Us – Junk Pride. The dude has written a few great books come on now.

Blood Water Mission

Charity: Water

Living Water International

LifeStraw

Think Outside the Bottle

The Facts:

In the early 1900′s, racist postcards dipicted peoples views of Interracial marriage.

Not Particular
I know you’re not particular to a fault
Though I’m not sure you’ll never be sued for assault
You’re so fond of women that even a wench
Attracts your gross fancy despite her strong stench

Interracial relationships banned at a University until 2000

 For decades, Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina used biblical references in attempt to justify its position and threatened students with expulsion for breaking this rule. It was only in 2000 when their interracial dating prohibition was repealed when President Bob Jones III publicly announced its nullification on Larry King Live.

I would love to know what scripture he used to back that up when the bible clearly says: 

The Bible does not even use the word race in reference to people,⁸ but does describe all human beings as being of ‘one blood’ (Acts 17:26).

The number of interracial marriages in the United States, although varying by region, has been on the rise:

In 1970, there were 310,000 documented cases, representing .7% of all marriages

In 1980, there were 651,000, representing 1.3% of all marriages

In 1992, there were 1,161,000, representing 2.2% of all marriages

For Americans, Black-white marriages tend to be the most controversial.

In a 2003 Ford poll of 1,314 Americans of varied races, 3 in 10 reported they were against black-white marriage, but were more willing to accept white-Hispanic or white-Asian marriages. Marriage between Whites and Asians, and particularly light-skinned North East Asians, is considered the least controversial.

But it is getting better, acceptance is on the rise.

2001 New York Times study (summarized in the Pulitzer Prize winning series) published in the book “How Race is Lived in America” found that approval ratings have steadily increased over the years.

2001 – approve 65%(whites 63%, blacks 79%) disapprove 26% (whites 29%, blacks 15%)

1991 – approve 48%, disapprove 42%

1972 – approve 29%, disapprove 60%

1978 – approve 36%, disapprove 54%

It really suprised me that almost 1/3 of people still have an issue with a white/black couple.  However, by looking at the trends, I believe this issue will almost be obsolete for our children.  We owe so much to Dr. King and the civil rights movement.  Personally, I get to live with the fruits of his labor, everyday.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2964793.