Was I jumping to conclusions?

I posted last night about the people who came onto Winthrop's campus yesterday to preach. My initial reaction was of disgust and dismay that once again there are people out there giving Christians a bad name.
But I watched a video from that the school paper posted on youtube and I've got to say that it wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting. Then I started thinking about the people who were telling me what happened yesterday and that I'm not sure that either of them are believers. And if they aren't believers than how can they be reliable sources for retelling something that may have involved the Gospel.
At the same time, that video was only two minutes out of the something like five hours that they were on campus.

So, tell me, if you saw or heard anything yesterday what was it? Is it as bad as what I was told or were they just warning people of the consequences of sin?

Winthrop never makes it in the news for something good

I love Winthrop, I really do. But can we please make the news for something other than our President being involved with hit and runs or a fraternity getting caught partying it up in a U-haul going down Cherry Rd.
In Winthrop's defense it wasn't their fault the people hater's that call themselves Christians came to campus.
I must say though, by all accounts, the true believers on campus really stepped up to the plate and called these guys to the carpet. Or at least they got up and preached the Gospel of love and redemption instead of hate and hopelessness and that is exciting to me.

I wish that I could have been there to see and experience this first hand.

"Happy October!" or "Two Blogs in One Week...Crazy!"

I bought candy corn the other day. It was a mixed bag containing regular candy corn, candy corn pumpkins (my favorite in the candy corn family) and the kind-of-weird-but-still-tasty chocolate candy corn. For me, this was the welcoming of Fall, my favorite season.
I love the warm colors and the cool temperatures. Fall also means football. I've actually been able to watch a couple of Clemson games this season which is something I haven't been able to do in a couple of years.
And, Fall means that the holiday season is right around the corner (confession: Relient K's "Santa Claus is Thumbin' to Town" came on shuffle the other day and I didn't skip it). To be honest, I'm still trying to figure out my thoughts on Halloween but I will hopefully get the opportunity to get lost in a corn maize this year.
Another holiday staple that I enjoy are the shaped Reese's candies. Right now there are the pumpkins but shortly there will be the Christmas trees followed by Hearts in February and Eggs during Easter.

What about you? What is your favorite season and how do you celebrate it's beginning?

SCL: Copying Popular Fads

(This is my entry in a writing contest for Stuff Christians Like. I hope you enjoy.)

The bookstore that I work at was one of the first places to start selling Silly Bandz. In case you don’t know what Silly Bandz are (or their equivalents; Zany Bandz, Crazy Bandz, Insert Synonym Here Bandz, etc…), they are rubber bandz that have been molded into various shapes. Sounds simple right? Nothing too special? Tell that to the kid who exclaimed to me at work one day, “I’ve only got 90 of them!” as she held up both of her arms that were adorned with so many colors that Joseph himself might have gotten jealous. Because the bookstore was one of the first venders of these things, I had the rare opportunity to watch this fad grown into fruition.

I was born in the late ‘80s, so I was in on the end of the slap bracelet phenomenon. I was on the front lines of the P.O.G. revolution as well as the Tamagotchi invasion and the Pokémon card wars. Over the years, I’ve learned the pattern of fads. And I knew that, eventually, the Christian companies were going to stick their products into the mix. Sure enough, since the fad began I have seen no less than four different sets of Christian-themed Silly Bands come into the store.
I don’t think that there is anything wrong with Christians making their version of the current fad, but what if, instead of going on the defensive by copying fads, we went on the offensive by creating fads? We had the W.W.J.D? Bracelet phenomenon back in the ‘90s and that was cool, but I think that we’re long past due for creating a new fad.

What about coins that bear the faces of various Bible characters? People like Paul, Steven, David, Moses, Jesus of course; the possibilities are endless! They could take them to school and trade them with friends. And, as a bonus, teachers can’t take them away without looking like sinners.
Or what about T-shirts with fake advertisements that reference obscure Bible stories. Even though the concept of fake ad shirts isn’t new, we could make up our own.

Got She-bear problems? Call Eli @ 2SA-M224
Right-handed assassin not getting the job done? Call JUD-G315

Or, for the less morbid:

Tax troubles? Call MAT-1727 and we will help you fish for a solution.

What are your ideas?

*Edit: All of the 's's have been changed to 'z's. I should have known that the only thing that could make these rubber bands cooler is to make them rubber bandz.

Coney Island

It should be stated that I love amusement parks. And because of a venture out West that I took with a friend a few years ago with Campus Crusade for Christ, boardwalk parks have a special place in my heart. So when the opportunity came to go to New York, Coney Island was on the top of my to-do list.

The main ride that I wanted to experience was the Cyclone, which was built back in the early 1920's. In 1968, it was declared a New York City landmark and in 1991 it was placed on the National Registrer of Historic Places.

There is a legend that speaks of a coal miner who had aphonia (which means he couldn't talk). Even though he hadn't spoken in years, he screamed on the way down the coaster's first drop. As the train returned to the station, he said, "I feel sick" and promptly fainted at the realization that he had spoken.

Coney Island is also the home of the Polar Bear Clubs, those crazy people who jump into freezing waters. Why do they do it? For health reasons. Many people who have tried this say that they haven't been sick since. They believe that swimming in cold water at least once a week will strengthen the immune system and make them stronger.

Fact or fiction: feel free to decide for yourself.

photo by voigti fox behind the lens

New York , Day 1

We met some friends at a place called the Shake Shack at their suggestion. I went to their website to see what I could find out about it. It's a little place in the middle of Madison Square Park (not to be confused with Madison Square Gardens) and it specializes in burgers, fries, and of course, shakes. They even have their own beer called the ShakeMeister Ale and a couple of unique wines as well.
If you know me, then you know that, for me, there is nothing greater food-wise than a good burger. I am always excited to try new burgers and yesterday was no different. And my excitement was not in vain. The food was amazing! If you're ever in New York (or Miami) you need to make a trip to the Shake Shack.

The rest of the afternoon was spent meandering Manhattan with our friends as they showed us some good places to shop (including an awesome comic book shop). They have a nine-month old child so they left eventually to get her settled down and we went to Cafe 28 to dinner and to meet our other friend for the evenings activities.

Once she got there, we made plans to go to ground zero (which isn't really ground zero anymore) then the Staten Island ferry to ride by the Statue of Liberty and end with going to the top of the Empire State Building.

The only thing we didn't get to do was the Empire State Building because we felt it would be too cold and windy so we're going to try again today.

To make up for not going up we went to Times Square and meandered around for a while (I was slightly creeped out by the faux Mickey, faux Batman, and faux Elmo that were there for pictures). Again, we'll be returning later when more places are open.

We ended up back at the apartment and about 2 and basically passed out.

Squashed Penny Count: 2 today, 2 total

Mighty Casey

In Rock Hill, SC, there are quite a few odd statues around town. The Civitas statues represent four goddesses as well as the four pillars of the town and they act as a gateway to the city. One of the more obscure statues we have is the "Casey at the Bat" which greets the visitors to Cherry Park.

What's obscure about having Casey welcome people to a park with multiple baseball fields?

Well, Casey's statue is a reference to a poem that was written in 1888 by a guy named Ernest Lawrence Thayer about an arrogant baseball player (Casey) who strikes out and ends up losing the game.

So, why does Cherry Park bare the resemblance of a player who costs his team the game because of his arrogance?

I don't actually have a answer. I tried to do some research and find out but came up with nothing.

My first stop was wikipedia of course. Among the things I learned was the history of the poem and that Disney made a cartoon back in the day based on the poem as well as a sequel with a more positive ending (you know Disney and Happily Ever After).

But nothing that made me understand why Rock Hill chose Casey as the mascot for Cherry Park.

Rock Hill's website also didn't enlighten so the mystery remains, why is Casey at bat in Cherry Park? Like the number of licks to the center of a tootsie pop, the world may never know.

photo by voigti fox behind the lens