As I look over the landscape of the playoffs, it occurs to me that there are teams that ought to be there, which necessarily implies that there are teams in the post season who have no business in the goal of placing the two best teams in the biggest game of the year.

The Super Bowl began, for all intents and purposes, in a rivalry between the AFC and the NFC. In years prior, there was the NFL and the AFL, two rival organizations. The game was played by the champion of each organization to determine the best football team in America. But I contend that this goal is no longer being met by our current playoff structure, due largely to the divisions that comprise each conference.

At the moment, each conference has six teams in the playoffs. There are four divisions in each conference and each divisional champion takes one of the top four seeds. The remaining two seeds are added from that same conference. Because of this, the 8-8 San Diego Chargers have a chance to host a playoff game this year while the 11-5 New England Patriots will be watching the games from home. The system is broken and it is time for the league to revisit their quest to find the best team in the US at the Super Bowl.

How to resolve this problem?

1. No team without a winning record can be named the winner of their division.
2. No team without a winning record can be considered eligible for the playoffs.
3. The wild card teams (non-division winners) need to be true wild card teams, taken from the entire NFL, not just the local conference.
4. Seeding in each conference tournament is not determined by conference championship, but by overall record. Winning a divisional championship would be the first tiebreaker for seeding, however.
5. Separate the divisional contests from the postseason contests. That would mean a 9-7 divisional winner (Arizona) would not be assured a spot in the playoffs.

How would this look? First I break it down by conference to include only the playoff-eligible teams. Note the exclusion of the San Diego Chargers, who not only made it into the real playoffs, but did so achieving a seed above two teams with winning records.

This setup gives us nine teams in the NFC and seven in the AFC with winning records. Remove the Cowboys, Bears and Bucs from the NFC and the Jets from the AFC and you have a more legitimate playoff structure. Also note in the table that the Colts are in my AFC #3 spot while the Cardinals are in my NFC #6 spot. This is based on their overall record, not by division. The Cards won their division and used that as a tie breaker to get in over the Cowboys, Bears and Bucs.

This year, the new playoff structure would only make waves for teams who would rather whine about their seeding or who would whine that their 8-8 division championship team didn’t get to play a post-season game. Everyone who had a record better than 9-7 made the playoffs. The 9-7 team with the most successful season did make the playoffs. There are no examples this year of a team who would only make the playoffs in the opposing conference structure, but I am very open to this possibility.

Yes, I believe two teams from the same conference could and should face each other in the Superbowl if that conference is unable to provide a team who can beat out the 7th seed of the other conference. Perhaps next year, I will have that sort of result so we can all see what the possibilities are. Until then, I call on the NFL to take necessary steps in improving their criteria for teams to make the playoffs.

One of my most recent and fondest memories of my brother Ray took place this fall while I was visiting here in Valley Center. Ray asked me to go with him to begin the project of building some steps. When we returned to Ray’s pickup I opened the back door to put some tools in. When I saw what had happened, I called out “Ray, Ray, there is white paint dripping all over the ground and it is all over your floor board and on some of your tool boxes! Another co-worker had not put the lid on tight and the can had overturned. The paint had been dripping out for hours leaving a huge puddle of paint on the floor.

As is typical in our family we both jumped into swift action. Ray ran for a hose and I took the paint can and began to scoop what paint I could off the floor with a wide putty knife. I missed getting some of the paint into the can so we had paint on the driveway too! Ray emptied all the tools from the back seat and floor and quickly threw them into the back of the truck. Then Ray took the hose and started to scrub the floorboard with a brush and running water. While he was scrubbing, I would bail out the paint water so the floorboard wouldn’t get too full of water as we worked. We worked together like a well oiled machine. Ray made sure that he got the paint off of his client’s driveway before he would consider the cleanup job finished. I realized then how much closer we had become during these past few months as we laughed together as we worked.

One Memorial Day, when I was about 12, the family went fishing on the island in Mt. Lake, MN. Ray called out, “Duck, duck.” just as he was about to cast his line. I stood up to see the duck and promptly got hit in the head with the sinker! Several stitches and a turban of gauze to wear to Cousin Carol’s graduation and that was the end of that family outing. Ray felt so bad but I assured him that I was looking for the wrong duck!

Ray and Anita used to go “grassing” in Illinois. Under the dark cover of night, we would all pile into his truck and pick up bags of grass clippings set out for the garbage to mulch his huge garden. Ray told me recently that he was excited to help with the Valley Creek community garden this next summer. He truly came to love the people of Valley Creek.

It was a joy to observe Ray and Anita deeply loving each other. Ray loved Stephanie and Court and their families so very much and spoke often of the joy he had when visiting with them in person or on the phone. Ray struggled so much about leaving California as that would mean moving away from Court and his family. Papa Ray loved spending time with JD on the putting green outside their condo in California. Papa Ray looked forward to reading stories to Sidney and told me he loved the way she held his hand in both of hers. Papa Ray delighted in the joy that Katie expressed when she ran to him. Lindsay’s face would beam as she looked up at her Papa Ray.

In the past year Ray expressed his desire to reconnect with his extended family. Since he had two sisters living in the Kansas City area he couldn’t understand why God was leading him to Wichita. Ray soon realized that Valley Center, KS was exactly where God wanted Anita and him to live. Ray told me that despite their recent hardships and distress that he rejoiced to see Anita’s joy in finding new found friends and in deepening family relationships. Everybody in this room can be assured that Ray loved them dearly.

We would talk about the Lord and our own relationship with Him. Ray and I would often have deep conversations about life, world politics, books we were reading, and how we saw Bible prophecy advancing in our lifetime. I will always cherish the times that we have spent praying, crying and laughing together.

Ray had a close relationship with the Lord and was so looking forward to seeing Jesus face to face. Ray’s desire was that each of us know his Lord in the same way. I know that Ray has experienced the warm welcome from not only his Heavenly Father but also from his Dad and others who were waiting to greet him and show him his new home. Ray told me that he knew that when he arrived in heaven he would feel more at home than he had ever felt his entire life.

From “The Last Battle” by CS Lewis, with liberties taken by myself.

“The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.” The things that began to happen to Ray after he crossed into his true home were so great and beautiful that we cannot comprehend them. And for us this is the end of Ray’s story in this age, and we can most truly say that Ray will live happily ever after. But for him it is only the beginning of the real story. All of his life in this world and all of his adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last he has begun Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.

Ray, your journey is over. It is good to know that you are safely home! I can’t wait to see you, but I’ll be looking for Jesus first. You would want it that way.

I am always impatient for new life. Spring can never some too soon; flowers take too long to bloom; babies take too long to be born. I can hardly resist nature’s course and have, at times, helped the petals open on a flower or rushed planting in the spring. I’ve even helped those chicks hatch by picking away at the crack of an egg and I’ve even stolen out to the garden and carefully scraped away the dirt from where I planted those potatoes to find little marble-like new potatoes amazingly growing out of that old, shriveling, rotting, slice of potato.

I recently stood beside the shell of a man lying in his casket. They did their best to make him “look natural,” but the shell was cracked, the slice of humanity was shrunken, destroyed by those frightening, out-of-control cells. In these last few months he was pecking away at this mortal life longing for the eternal. His body was shriveling while he longed for new robes of righteousness.

He said, “It’s steep.”
“What’s steep?” I asked, “The pillows too high under your head?”
“No, the last mile is so steep, but I see beautiful places in my dreams. I didn’t want to come back. It was filled with azure skies and looked like the majestic mountains of Colombia.”

He often said, “What am I going to do?” as the shell crumbled or “Help me!” as the flesh dissipated. But then it dawned on me that he didn’t want help to stay but help to go, not help to remain but help to step over. He said, “I accept what God has for me. I don’t want to fail Him in the end and complain.” He beat back the doubts of the enemy. He examined his life and cleared his conscience of all things. He exalted in the truths of the Bible. He comforted in the old hymns in the night. He grasped the hands of friends. He prayed with all who visited. He prophesied to his children as Jacob of old. He encouraged many in the faith. He wept for those who didn’t believe. He gave his last advice. He set his house in order. He was chipping away at the shell of mortality. The old was dying, the new was sprouting.

As I stared at his shell in the coffin, I realized he had taken refuge under the almighty wings. New fruit was forming in the lives left behind. Somewhere he was enjoying resurrection life because of death. Jesus’s death. Than man lying there…didn’t want me to weep for the death but celebrate the life. This man taught me how to live and now he had taught me how to die. That man was my father.

We have a pre-lit tree. There are several sections that comprise the entire tree, each with at least one set of lights. If you have (ahem) lost the instructions, it can be a bit of a challenge to see that all of the lights are interconnected, and if you miss any of them there is a “bald” spot of darkness on the tree. Another reason for the bald spot would be the inevitable burned out bulb. Every year this tree goes up and I think it is the skinniest Charlie Brown tree ever, then the lights and decorations are added and it is really quite nice. Don’t tell Tina this, but I do look forward to this each year.

Well, we got the tree up in short order, and Tina made sure the branches were all bent to make the tree look as full as it could be. We then plugged it in and there were two dark patches. Great. One of the cords was hanging, and it only had a place to plug in, but not out. I’m no electrician so that is the best descriptor I can offer. If navally referring to it as an “innie” helps, then you’re welcome.

I approached the dilemma with my highly analytical mind, please stop smirking, and eventually had all of the cords set up in such a way that the circuit would be complete. I plugged in the lights and prepared for a contented gasp from Tina that would tell me how thankful she is to have such a handy husband.

One set of lights worked now. The other didn’t. Certain that the strings of cords were properly arranged, there could only be one cause for this. One of those bulbs attached to the ends of the tree was out. Not knowing which bulb was the culprit, I took each one out, and replaced it with one I knew was good from another section of the tree. It took two trips to Wal-Mart, but I found and replaced the errant bulb. The other decorations went up and we have the great tree up in the corner. But that broken bulb search is something I don’t hope do do again very soon.

It took me a few days to think of this, but in a way the life of a Christian can be similar to this. We may or may not know what is that is keeping us from shining brightly, but we know a few things. We know that God has rewired us in regeneration to be able to shine. We also know that something in our lives is keeping us from shining to the potential that is there. I suggest that we usually have a pretty good idea what that something is, but we oftentimes don’t truly want to change that bulb in our lives.

Harsh, huh? The sin that we hate so much can also be something that we cling to desperately enough that we would rather shine dimly, if at all, than go through the struggle to change that bulb out. But we need to remember that we are not a tree that set itself up. We also are not responsible for the rewiring that took place. We have no ornaments to add to our beauty and we are not being adorned so we can enjoy ourselves.

That last point is the crux of the matter. We are not our own, for we were bought with a price. We were created to enjoy God and worship Him forever, and this is all to the glory of God. How do you start the process of shining brighter, you may ask? Well, this post is rather timely as it all begins with thankfulness toward God.

And I can upload my own pics for the rotating pic in the header. All without losing the sense of continuity that a blog should have for easy recognition.

Huzzah!

It seems that most of y’all are fed up with all this Steve Deace talk, and that’s OK. But you really ought to read his explanation for the supposed endorsement of Obama. Call it shock therapy if you will. Heck, call him a shock jock! But please do read his final post before this election, then do as I continue to do.

Repent of your faulty allegiances and your unbiblical views of how Christians ought to vote. And to paraphrase Martin Luther’s 95 thesis, celebrated just days ago, I continue to repent of this and see no end to my repentance.

So now this “endorsement” has gone viral. It’s gone global. My personal email list included candidates, operatives, and activists all over the country. But it’s not my endorsement that’s the story.

Your reaction is the story.

Romans 12:21
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

To get the background of the argument click here:
Special Pre-Election Blog: Part 1 (The lesser of two evils)

If you haven’t been offended too much yet, click here:
Special Pre-Election Blog: Part 2 (The lesser of two evils)

Your thoughts? If I can get a compelling, biblical response before Monday morning as to why Steve Deace is wrong in these two posts, I will forward your response to him. Me? I’ve long been dissatisfied with this whole lesser of two evils strategy the Evangelical party has used, making us the schmucks of the Republican Whig party for over three decades.

Does this mean I’ll vote Obama as well? Not necessarily. But I don’t think I can vote McCain in good conscience.

Like many conservatives, I used to get much of my political thoughts from Rush Limbaugh and the various other talk radio voices out there. In recent months, I have “discovered” an alternative radio host with a more Christian worldview than we are used to hearing on any secular radio station. Truth be told, this host has a more consistent Christian worldview than anything I have ever experienced on a Christian radio station. Especially the sort of station that is positive and encouraging.

The host’s name is Steve Deace. His blog is a must read for me anymore. His podcast is one that I listen to whenever I am unable to listen live due to this inconvenient thing we all like to refer to as a real life. The local news that he discusses may not be what you are looking for out on the world wide web, but the points he makes throughout the show can serve as an honest way for a Christian to look at our responsibility as dual citizens here with the privilege of voting.

Listening to Steve has helped me think through several aspects of my life, most recently in the political realm. But also in other ways as well. He is an unapologetic Christian employed at the largest radio station in Iowa, with a show that runs through the afternoon rush hour. His latest post summarizes what I was wanting to get across the other day quite nicely. Perhaps I would have stated my frustrations better if I was more accustomed to posting political matters or if I was more in blogging practice. (was or were? no matter) Perhaps I could have waited for the frustration to pass, then post.

Nah… What’s the point of frustration if you can’t show it every now and then? And what’s the point of a blog if you can never emote?

I grew up in a post Roe v Wade evangelical home. Ask around, and you can bet for sure that this means that I grew up with very Republican ideals. Mind you, I do not think this is all bad, and I still tend to lean to the political right due to my ideals and to my upbringing.

In many ways, Christians have been single-issue voters for most of this time. All a candidate must do to swoon the church is to proclaim life values that are less inconsistent with Focus on the Family than their opponent and Christians will vote for that person. If they have any sort of a record, that does come into play, but Christians have largely voted for the lesser of two evils for far too long. And when we get someone in office who is “one of us” we will either defend that person to the death or will just pray that we are not embarrassed any more than we already have been.

Why? Why do we claim that the gospel is the hope for the nation, then put all of our eggs into a political basket that has been a disappointment for 35 solid years? Do you think I’m off base? This country has now slaughtered 50 million babies, and 10 million of these babies died during the watch of “one of our own.” Keep in mind that our president had a solid majority in the legislative branch of the government earlier in his presidency. I am not so naive as to believe that all of these Republicans made the sanctity of life a primary focus of their campaigns to be elected, but enough of them did. Instead, the executive and legislative branches of the government (the two branches responsible for introducing and confirming laws) have both agreed that a ruling made by the judicial branch (the branch that can only determine the constitutionality of laws) is indeed a law.

Folks, I’m no civics instructor, but this scenario is one that baffles me to no end. I believe that the original declaration of our independence was structured in a coherent manner. Promising life to the citizens of a nation is paramount. You cannot have liberty without life. Likewise, you cannot have the pursuit of happiness without a measure of liberty. It all begins with life, even for the least of these.

America is less than three weeks from an election to determine new leadership in the executive branch of our government. If you vote for Obama, at least you know that you’re going to get a wolf in wolf’s clothing. If you hold your nose and vote for McCain, you know you will be sadly disappointed. If you vote for a third party, you know that your candidate will have no reasonable chance of even being mentioned in the news as a distant runner up.

The church has painted herself into this corner. The Republican party has dangled carrots in front of us for far too long and we continue to pull the cart. And unlike an organization that is free to openly discuss politics, the church is either afraid of the greater of two evils or is unable to make a realistic effort to remove those who fail to do the will of those who placed them in power. That is why the Republican party does not respect the wishes of the church. They need only say the words we long to hear and avoid voting against our wishes too blatantly and they will continue to have our support.

I’m not going to waste my time watching tonight’s debate. Obama turns my stomach and there is little doubt in my mind that he will do everything he can to further his agenda once he is sworn in. And mark my words, he will win this election. The McCain/Palin ticket is floundering because the two mavericks have been reigned in and I think deep down they know it. McCain will say whatever he thinks the base of the party needs to hear to get us fired up for the election without saying anything that will alienate too many of the undecided people out there. He will try to sound pro-life, but if a fetus is alive from the moment of conception, than McCain supports killing innocent life for the sake of saving the lives of others. I still don’t know how I should vote next month, but I am confidant that this debate would not solidify anything.

All I know is that I don’t want to vote for either of the two major candidates, but that a vote for anyone else is essentially a vote for the most murderous man ever to run for the highest office in our country. The church has lost her salt, preferring the flavor of political relevancy. Because we have done so, we have a history of accepting the lesser of two evils for far too long and I suspect that I am not alone in this conclusion. Perhaps I should follow the lead of our next president, show up to the polls and just vote “present.”

Romans 2:17-24