Big Ten Power Rankings Week 5

1. Ohio State 5-0, (1-0) LW (1)
2. Northwestern 4-0 (2)
3. Michigan 4-0 (4)
4. Wisconsin 3-2 (3)
5. Michigan St. 3-1 (5)
6. Penn.St 3-1 (6)
7. Iowa 4-1, (1-0) (9)
8. Nebraska 3-1 (8)
9. Minnesota 4-1, (0-1) (7)
10. Illinois 3-1 (10)
11. Indiana 3-1 (11)
12. Purdue (1-4) 12

In Harmony

I have noticed something since I have started school.  I find myself feeling more in harmony with life.  As I am reading and writing and studying, I find myself connecting concepts and ideas together and thinking critically.  This has been a skill that I haven’t had to use in my life in over a decade, and man have I missed it.  I find it easier then some of my fellow students to think of class material in new and different ways and maybe see things from a point of view that others don’t.  For instance with my educational background in history and political science, I have been able to look at some of the issues and problems in LIS (Library and Information Studies for the civilians who read this blog) from a historical or political point of view.

We just read an article in one of my classes dealing with a lack of access to libraries for African Americans in the South in the 1920’s.  Well other people were connecting this to some of the concepts that we had learned generally in class, I was able to tie this in with the Plessy V Ferguson 1896 Supreme Court Decision and the whole concept of separate but equal, and how this set the tone of the Jim Crow era South and legalized segregation. As I was writing about this I was feeling a joy.  A joy of learning and a joy of applying previously learned knowledge to my current studies.

 I am not writing this to boast, I am no better or worse then anyone else.   I am writing this because I finally feel like I am in harmony with a major gift that God has blessed me with.  He has blessed me with a brain and the ability to think critically and connect ideas together.  I am studying now so that I can embark on a career where I utilize my God given gifts.  I also want to be careful to use my gift(s) not to glorify or puff up my own ego or career, but to glorify Him.  I want to be able to use my intellect to serve and make a difference for the better for others.  I want to do this to show the Lord how much I love him, and have joy in serving him.

In the job that I am in now, I am able to use my empathy to help people.  But I often feel “out of harmony” or out of sync.  While I am here I want to help others and make a difference, but it doesn’t feel the same.  I am out of my element in my current job, but that doesn’t mean that I use that as an excuse to shirk my responsibilities and not to do my best.  It is just more of a challenge at times to find my work fulfilling personally.  With school this isn’t much of a challenge, I love what I am doing, and knowing why I am doing it.  To better my life, but also to be able to someday have an impact and be able to reach out to other people and serve them while using my God given talents and gifts. That is living in harmony.

13 “Therefore stay alert, because you do not know the day or the hour. 14 For it is like a man going on a journey, who summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The one who had received five talents went off right away and put his money to work²⁷⁰ and gained five more. 17 In the same way, the one who had two gained two more. 18 But the one who had received one talent went out and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money in it. 19 After a long time, the master of those slaves came and settled his accounts with them. 20 The one who had received the five talents came and brought five more, saying, ‘Sir, you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’ 21 His master answered, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful in a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 The one with the two talents also came and said, ‘Sir, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more.’ 23 His master answered, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 Then the one who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Sir, I knew that you were a hard man, harvesting where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered, ‘Evil and lazy slave! So you knew that I harvest where I didn’t sow and gather where I didn’t scatter? 27 Then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received my money back with interest! 28 Therefore take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten. 29 For the one who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough. But the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30 And throw that worthless slave into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’” (Matthew 25: 13-30). (Parable of the Talents.)

Big Ten Week 4 Power Rankings

Big Ten Week 4 Power Rankings

1. Ohio St. (4-0)  (1)

2. Northwestern (4-0) (2)

3. Wisconsin (3-1) (3)

4. Michigan (4-0)  (5)

5. Michigan St. (3-1) (4)

6. Penn.St (3-1) (7)

7. Minnesota (4-0) (8)

8. Nebraska (3-1) (6)

9. Iowa (3-1) (10)

10. Illinois (2-1) (11)

11. Indiana (2-2) (9)

12. Purdue 1-3 (12)

Big Ten Week 4 Predictions

Nebraska 49, South Dakota St. 14

Michigan 34, Connecticut 18

Wisconsin 45, Purdue 20

Minnesota 38, San Jose State 34

Ohio State 52, Florida A&M 10

Penn State 35, Kent State 14

Northwestern 45, Maine 17

Indiana 37, Missouri 31

Upset Special:

Michigan State 21, Notre Dame 14

Keeping My Faith Strong

   I have found it to be quite a challenge to balance, school, my marriage, and my faith.  Every since I finished my Disciple Bible class in May I have struggled to find a routine with my Bible study.  Lately, I have done my Bible reading and meditation sitting in my car about a half hour before work starts.  I have been listening more and more the K Love a Christian music station.

  My heart and mind never wander far from Christ.  He saved my life.  I did not do anything to earn it.  I just gave my heart and life to him.  I will admit to feeling, as I have not held up my end of the bargain though.  Part of being a believer and disciple of Christ, is to go out and spread the Gospel. “¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (Matthew 28:19).  I have been so focused on the daily minutiae of schoolwork that I will admit I have lost sight of this calling from time to time.  I am not out there “saving souls”.  At least I do not think I am. 
   What I do is live my life and try to reflect God’s love in my actions every day.  I try (but often fail) to thank him for the blessings in my life.  I sometimes remember to pray before a meal, but often I do not.  I do make a conscious effort though to glorify Him in my actions.  My work ethic is miles better then what it used to be, but I still have a ways to go with that.
   In my marriage, I love my wife Charlie with all my heart, soul, mind and strength.  The same way that I love Jesus.  I wish I had more time to be involved in church activities and ministries.  With school, however I do not have time.  When I am doing school work I try as hard as I can, not just because I enjoy the challenge and want to get the best grades I can, (yeah I am competitive), but because I want to glorify God’s name as a way for leading me to this opportunity to further my education. “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31).
I love Christ with all my heart, soul mind and strength; I just want my life and actions to reflect that fact.

Big Ten Power Rankings Week 3

                                  Last Week

1. Ohio State (3-0)     (2)

2. Northwestern (3-0) (3)

3. Wisconsin (2-1)      (4)

4. Michigan St (3-0)    (7)

5. Michigan (3-0)        (1)

6. Nebraska (2-1)        (5)

7. Penn State (2-1)      (6)

8. Minnesota (3-0)      (T-8)

9. Illinois (2-1)            (T-8)

10. Indiana (2-1)          (10)

11. Iowa (2-1)              (11)

12. Purdue (1-2)           (12)

Big Ten Power Rankings Week 2

1. Michigan (2-0)  LW: T-1

2. Ohio State (2-0) LW: T-1

3. Northwestern (2-0) LW: 4

4. Wisconsin (2-0) LW: 3

5. Nebraska (2-0)  LW: 5

6. Penn State (2-0) LW: 7

7. Michigan State (2-0) LW: 6

8. Minnesota (2-0) LW: 8

8. Illinois (2-0)  LW: 10

10. Indiana (1-1)  LW: 9

11. Iowa (1-1)  LW: 11

12. Purdue (1-1)  LW: 12

Intervention or.... Not.

   Regular readers of this blog know that I rarely post about political topics.  I try to avoid politics, as I know that people have varied and strongly held beliefs on the subject.  There is one subject however that I will not stay silent on.  That subject is the potential for missile strikes in Syria.

Let me first state that as a Christian, I am appalled and horrified by what the Asad regime is doing to its civilian population.  He is a butcher and murder plain and simple.  The so-called “rebels” are no better.  They have ties to Al Qaeda the organization responsible for the September 11th attacks in 2001.  Therefore, we are in a Prisoner’s Dilemma of sorts.  Do we assist the Al Qaeda backed rebels, or the murderous regime of Bashir Asad?

My answer is that we give military help to neither side.  We provide humanitarian assistance through charities and the UN to assist the brutalized population of Syria.  I have a high standard by which I evaluate a support of US military intervention overseas.  That standard is: do I believe that the nation or group in question directly threatens the security of the United States?  The Syrian government is certainly a threat to its own population and the Middle East as a larger whole. 

Is Syria looking to invade or commit acts of terror on American soil?  I have not seen or heard any evidence to the contrary.  Using this standard I opposed the Iraq war of 2002, and the Bosnian war of the 1990’s.  I initially supported the Afghanistan war in 2001 because the terrorists who committed the acts of terror on 9/11 were directly supported by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.  Hence a direct link to a threat to the national security of the US.  In my mind, military intervention was justified for Afghanistan in 2001. At the current moment, I support the immediate withdrawal of all troops from Afghanistan.

Syria is a problem no question.  However, if you look at recent history.  When the US becomes militarily involved in the Middle East, things do not go well.  It is for that reason as well as not seeing a direct link between the Syrian government’s actions and a direct threat to the security and safety of the United States that I oppose a military intervention in Syria of any kind. (Including airstrikes.)  I call on Congress to vote “no” on President Obama’s use of force authorization now making its way through Congress.

Back To School

This week marks my return to academic life after a 13-year absence.  So, how do I feel about this?  Alternatively, more importantly what am I feeling at this moment?  I feel excited, overwhelmed, and afraid.

I am excited to be challenging myself on a high intellectual level again.  It is exciting to have a tangible goal to be working towards.  This was how I often pulled myself through the tough times in undergrad and graduate school in the past, by always looking at the end goal. 

I feel overwhelmed by the shear amount of information that I now have to digest and organize.  These next few years are definitely going to be a good test of my developing a better system of organization.  Still when I am feeling overwhelmed like this it is hard for me to be able to slow down and focus on what needs to be done.  When I am feeling stressed out and overwhelmed my tendency is to rush through things and get them done.  To succeed in the MLIS program, I will obviously have to fight that tendency.

This last one is easy.  What am I scared of?  Easy, I am scared of failing.  Scared of not passing a class, or getting my degree.  However, as my pastor John Wells has said to me on more then one occasion “I am worrying about things that haven’t even happened yet.”  Being back in graduate school if I so choose to look at it this way, can be an excellent opportunity to grow.  Grow intellectually, but maybe more importantly grow emotionally. Long time readers of this blog know that one of my long-term goals is to change and become a more optimistic and uplifting person.

Charlie has started to challenge me when I have one of my “freak outs”, to talk myself up.  Look in the mirror and turn the “cant’s” into “I wills” and “I am’s”.  There will be a lot of stress these next few years from school.  That is a given, and I have no control over that.  What I do control is how I respond, react and chose to think about myself.  Instead of saying, “I can’t do this, I’m not organized enough.”  I can look in the mirror and say, “yes this will be challenging and difficult, and you may make some mistakes, but you Bryan are smart enough, and a hard worker, you will succeed and get that degree.”

Big Ten Week One Power Rankings

Big Ten Power Rankings Week 1

1.     Ohio State (1-0)

1.     Michigan (1-0)

3.  Northwestern (1-0)

4.  Wisconsin (1-0)

5.  Penn State (1-0)

6.  Nebraska (1-0)

7.  Michigan State (1-0)

8.  Indiana (1-0)

9.  Minnesota (1-0)

10. Iowa (0-1)

11. Illinois (1-0)

12. Purdue (0-1)