Although rambling rarely gets me anywhere, this morning will be more of a rambling post, because I have so much on my mind.

We’ll start our morning with a shout out to my Savior Jesus Christ, who loved me with amazing love and grace, and proved that love by taking the penalty for my sins by sacrificing himself as an atonement for the world.  I have believed and trusted (and failed many times over), and so this motivates me to do all of the things I do, including blog.

Also, yesterday, I was privileged enough to be on this list of growing blogs in WordPress.  I’m not on the list today yet, but I was yesterday, and that was pretty cool.  Thanks to those who read my blog and gain some value from the thoughts that flow through my head.

I wanted to give a shout out to two new friends who blog.  I’ve wanted to do this for a week now, but every day I’ve forgotten in the daily grind of things.  But you should really check out Steve and Garrett’s blogs.  They don’t blog on a daily basis yet, but when they do blog, it’s usually pretty interesting.

Last night my basketball team played a make up game.  It was the first game Carie was able to attend.  As you may recall, our team now has been beaten by 40 points, 20 points and in this post, 1 point.  Our team rallied around one another last night to win in an impressive 11 point game.

I say it was because of Carie.

My friend, Scott put in his usual 15 points, along with an impressive 3 pointer as the opposing team was attempting a comeback in the start of the 2nd half.  I chipped in 13 points, but with the addition of a really tall new guy who didn’t have a great shot but was a great presence in the middle, I was able to play the role of a shooting forward instead of a power forward, which you might say is not my calling.

So we won 46-35!

This weekend will be another great time at Fellowship Church.  I’m excited about what God is doing here on a regular basis, and this week will be Al’s first week being here two weeks in a row.  Woohoo!

Last week we announced that we will be combining our services for Easter Sunday, so be aware Fellowshippers that we’ll have one service at 10:30 am for Easter!  We’ll be announcing our new theme for this year that day as well!

Yesterday I took part in Watercooler Wednesday, an event you might want to look into if you enjoy blogging and culture.  It’s the brain child (I believe) of my new friend Randy Elrod, and it was a lot of fun to check out. I’ll be a regular at the cooler, Randy.

So my mind is now empty for the most part.  This afternoon, I’ll be sharing an idea we’ll be using for our Easter series for the purpose of utilizing and helping someone’s personal vision and potential.  I’ll post it around 2 pm.

Until next time…

So I decided to write the story and show a different video this afternoon. 
So here’s the end of “the last shot.”

As you might recall, the ball was inbounded with 6.1 seconds left.  I grabbed the ball thinking that I would dish it off and decided instead to heave it to the basket from about 4 feet past the 3 point line.  It fell just short, clanging off the rim, and I ran towards the ball.  The ball flew toward my teammate Tim, who was guarded on all sides, and threw it back to me.

I shot the ball, and the ball fell through the hoop without even the slightest of touch to the metal.  If the net had a wider mouth, it would have gone through without touching the fabric too.  We jumped up in celebration.  And I was a hero once again!

But my foot had been on the line.  Which meant that the shot did not count for three points, it counted for two points.  And we lost 41-40.

So enjoy this video.  It’s 5 minutes, and you have to watch the 5 minutes to get the full effect, but I do admit that I laughed as hard as I’ve laughed in a while.  Thanks to Ragamuffin Soul for sharing this with me and his readers.  The funny thing is that I’ve sat under preaching that’s not too different from this.  Amazing!  Enjoy and have a great night!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDxcyqeRc-4]

Yesterday’s lively discussion about the Link was great, and I’m pumped about some great ideas we now have for the future of this amazing event.
Billy had some thoughts on the service and the Link you might want to check out.

And now, an interesting story.  Yesterday afternoon Carie and I had some extra time, so we hung out and chilled.  It was a great time!  We went out together because I had a basketball game in the evening.  After our mini-date, I headed for home to get changed and go play some basketball for my team that has been beaten by 40 and 20. (But we’re getting progressively better). 

The game started out as both of the others had, with the other team not being able to miss, and our team not being able to place the orange spherical object in the horizontal metal hole.  But slowly but surely, our team came together, and we began to dominate post play, which really helped our guards get out on their shooters and they were shutdown from about 5 minutes left in the first half until about 10 minutes were left in the game.

The problem was we still couldn’t hit a good amount of our shots, and so the game remained close after we had come back from an 11 point deficit.  One of the brighter spots in our game was the awakening of my good friend Scott Herzig.

The man became on fire, draining layups and 3 pointers in a beautiful display of basketball marksmanship not yet seen by our team this year.  Our low post guys, myself included, communicated and did a great job keeping the ball out of the middle for easy shots, then when our guards shut down their 1 or maybe 2 shooters, life was good.

We went up by 3 with 2 minutes left in the game, then we forgot how to win, because we continually gave the ball back so they could attempt to get some shots off and foul shots.  We did this by means of travelling, fouling, turning the ball over, and (yours truly) grabbing the ball and allowing it to slip out of our hands and to the other team. 

Eventually we found ourselves in a position where we were down by 3 points with 6 seconds to go,and all of their 6 points were from foul shots (though they missed about 10 during the same time period).  I was totally reminded of this story.

The ball was inbounded to me at half court, and I was going to pass it off to Scott, who no doubt would have put the ball in the hole to win, but he was well-covered.  So I took the shot from about 4 steps past the 3-point line and with about 4 seconds on the clock. The shot was just short and I ran inside to help with the rebound.  This was unnecessary however as the rebound went to Tim, my teammate, who lobbed it back out to me.

I had no clue how much time was on the clock, so I dribbled, took a step back, and launched what would be the last shot of the game. 

This afternoon on my afternoon video blog, I’ll tell you what happened.

  I’m the tall one in the middle.  My best friend in high school, Clay, is the second to the right on the front row.  This year, our team went 18-3. Good times!

 The Cheerleaders at my high school.  Someone had put this on a facebook account.  Holy early 90′s!

    Let the “Wonder Years” jokes begin.  January, 1988

Until next time… < The last shot, part 2

Last night, Carie convinced me to go with her to the mall to pick up some curtains for the house.  This action was definitely going to make me late for the game I was supposed to be attending that evening.  First of all, my game was cancelled because of weather.  I was supposed to be playing an 8:50 pm game in Rutland.  So because of that, I decided to go see the Holy Cross womans team play Army.  It was #1 verses #1, and they were playing to see who was still going to have that title.

Brian Wilson attends Fellowship Church and is an assistant coach of the Holy Cross team, so occasionally I’ll go watch some games.  They say if you want to know how to play basketball the right way, go watch a women’s Div. 1 game.  So last night I did, but Carie and I showed up late.

I listened up til halftime on the local radio station that broadcasts the games, and the Crusaders (HC) were down by 6, having been down by as much as 9 earlier in the game.  They were like 6 for 23 near the half.  When we finally walked in the Hart Center, the Crusaders had taken a one point lead and the fight was on in the 2nd half.

Back and forth the two teams fought.  A 3 pointer here. A layup there.  Foul shot after foul shot.  I was really impressed with the quality of play of both teams in the 2nd half, on both sides of the ball (For you who aren’t real big sports fans, that means offensively and defensively).

For a while, from about 5 minutes to go, until about 2 minutes to go, the scoring was scarce.  I began to notice a disturbing trend, however, on the HC side of the ball.  They held a 5 point lead for several minutes toward the end, and they could have built that lead up, except they kept missing their free throws at the end of the game.

Finally, Army took a lead with (check this out) 0.6 seconds left in the game.  Time Out – Holy Cross.

The ball was on the sideline after the timeout, and both teams began to move.  Holy Cross with the picks and Army with the defense.  On the far side of the court, Ashley McLaughlin set a back pick for Laura Aloisi, who moved toward the basket.  The person inbounding the ball threw what appeared at first to be an overthrown ball to McLaughlin, but in reality, was a picture perfect, Tom Brady (pre-superbowl) like pass to Aloisi, who happened to be right in front of the basket.

Now games like this often make me think back to days of yesteryear, when I was lighter of foot.  And I was reminded of this game in 8th grade, when our junior high team was playing a team that we always liked to beat.  We were down by 5 one particular game with 14 seconds to go when I dribbled the ball down the court, and shot a successful 3 pointer with 3 seconds to go to only be down by 2.

We took a time out and everyone congratulated me, and it was all good, right?  So we planned this amazing defense and went out to the court.

The problem…I thought we were down by 3.

On the inbound pass, the passer, threw it immediately to me in the center of the key, and all I had to do to tie the game was go up (wide open) for a layup. But since we were down by 3 (or so I thought), I dribbled out to the 3 point line.  Actually, I walked out to the 3 point line, and got called for travelling. Game over.  Thanks for your help Marty.

Back to the Holy Cross game.

Aloisi had momentum.  A lot of momentum.  Too much momentum. So when she grabbed the Tom Brady-like pass, she had a wide open layup that she threw up into the air, and the ball hit the back of the rim and bounced on to the other side.  No good. Game over.

I felt so bad for her and the team.  For the most part, this was their chance to play in the big dance in March.

But the beautiful part of any sporting event and competition is this:  It’s really not the end of the world, its only the end of the game.  And tomorrow there will be another one.  And in that, who knows?  Maybe the ball will not have so much momentum and wil drop in instead of going long…

Or perhaps I won’t get called for traveling.

Until next time…

I’m sore again.  Played some basketball last night. Got beat again, but this time not by 40.  Only by 20.  This was good news.  We’re getting better.  I hit 8 points, including 2 3 pointers.  And I didn’t shoot all that much.

This week is going to be a good one in the life of Marty.  Have a busy week and a lot of fun things happening.  Doing some major planning for the LINK, coming Sunday, February 24th, 2008.  Going to a pastor’s meeting today in New Hampshire.  Spending quality time with my wife.  Possibly having dinner with one of my blogging heroes, enjoying and learning from a sermon this Sunday instead of giving one, Life group, Being visited from Germany by a good friend,Mike Burns, this and next week, Sunday mornings continuation of our series, “The Atom Bomb”, and our Vision Experience, happening immediately after the service on Sunday.  So pumped.

So there is no shortage of interesting hapenings in my world.  (Intersting meaning I am interested in them, and you may be interested in some of them)

Did anybody check out the ABC 20/20 news story last night about the girl from Alabama who disappeared in Aruba?  Some guy from Holland befriended the guy she left with in the bar, and ultimately taped the kids confession.  Read about it here.  Watch it here.The kid didn’t even know whether or not she was dead whe he had her body dumped.  Unbelievable.

Perhaps there’s a lesson to be learned here.  Somewhere.  What’s the lesson you take out of it?

Until next time…

The game was great last night.  I mentioned here that I was invited to the Celtics-Mavs game last night.  I of course had a decision to make.  The Celtics game was great, and Rajon Rondo was the hero in a 96-90 victory for the C’s.  This was an important victory for the Celtics, who had lost a few games to some mediocre teams in the last couple weeks.  And they did not disappoint.

However, I was not in attendance last night.  I chose to attend my life group. I love the Celtics like I love pizza, roller coasters, and any other of my several sports teams.  But I really love my life group.  Like I love my family.  Ya know, my mom, my dad, my sisters,etc…?  We had planned a special event of nothing more than hang out time, but I wanted to be there for it. 

You see, as much as I like the Celtics, they won’t be there for me if I have a family emergency or if I’m going through a hard time with any number of emotional, spiritual, or relational struggles, or if I just want to hang out with friends.  They might make for a good 2 hour event, and I’ll certainly go again if I’m asked in the future, but priorities are priorities and I’m committed to growing spiritually through the relationships in my life – not the least of which is this group that has been meeting together for the last year.

This weekend at Fellowship, we’ll be continuing our series on “The ATOM Bomb” by addressing the principle of Transformation.  I’m excited to share what I’ve learned in the last few years about this subject that I’m pasisonate about.

What relationships are transforming your life?

Until next time…

Decisions are hard sometimes.  Making the right decision can be even harder.  We face all sorts of decisions everyday that we don’t think twice about, and then some, both of consequence and otherwise.

Like for instance the decision I had yesterday when a friend of mine called me up and invited me to join him for the Celtics-Mavs game tonight, which according to this poll, is the 2nd and 3rd best team in the NBA right now.

The situation:  I have life group tonight (our small groups) and its at our house and I really believe in authentic community, and it’s italian dinner night and 100 other things on my mind.  The other end:  I love the Celtics (specifically the new Celtics).  Always have. Ever since the 80′s when my dad and I would sit in front of the TV and watch Larry, Robert,and Kevin dual away at Magic, Kareem, and James.

So what decision do I make?  I’ll tell you tomorrow, but I’ve learned this:  Some decisions don’t have a right and a wrong answer.  Some just are.  You go with what feels right based on your past experiences, present circumstances, and future hopes and dreams, and “hopefully” represents the direction you want your life to go.

In this case, both answers in different ways represent a good direction.

What would you do?

I am so sore, as you can see here.  Last night I had my first official basketball game in 14 years.  So let’s say the highlight of my game came in the 1st minute when Someone passed me the ball down loe and I backed my defender up, then shot a turn around over the 6’6″ giant who was guarding me. It went in.  2-0, our only lead in the game.

After that, there was not much to say, other than my team, otherwise known as the town of Paxton, was beaten 82-43, or something like that.

Afterwards, I was going to go get a Big Mac, but decided to call my wife and see what she was doing.  She didn’t answer, so I drove home and all the lights were out, so I concluded that she had gone away with her sister shopping or something.

So I went to play Volleyball.  I played until 9:00 pm, and won 3 games by a total score of 63-25.  Now that’s better.

This morning I woke up at 5:30 and my body begged me not to get up.  “Don’t do it”, it whispered in the annals of my mind.  But I did it, and at this point I’m glad i did, though I really am very sore.

It’s gonna be an amazing week my friends!  Let me know what you’re doing to make it eventful.

 Until next time…

So the engagement of Mark and Nicole from Sunday is  now on You Tube.  What a great time that was! If you have about 3 minutes, check this out! 

I have nothing really exciting to say today, and I’m not really in the mood to write.  The only thing I’ll say is that last night was supposed to be my return to playing basketball in an official capacity.  I have decided to play in a 30 and over league for the town of Paxton.  I can feel myself getting older and decided I wanted to play in an official league again.  However, last night’s game was cancelled because of the snow storm that cancelled virtually every school in Massachusetts yesterday morning.  We got about 10 inches, but there were several places that went over the foot mark.  Uuugh.

So I guess the world will have to wait for my reignited emergence into the basketball world again.  I haven’t played in a league since my 2nd year of college, which we’ll say was in the middle 90′s.  Games are on Monday nights, which means for a few months I’ll be missing the Monday night volleyball escapades, but I think it will be worth it.

Until next time…