the first player is a very big man. very big. i told everyone that i wanted to arm wrestle him. then i told them i might have a better shot in a foot race. they all doubted me. they said i could probably only beat him in squeezing through small spaces. once he walked out, i noticed despite his large size, he had tiny muscle legs. he probably could beat me in a foot race...dang! i tried on his 4XL shirt and i told him that it fits me well since we have the same build. he was a big friendly guy, so he laughed it up.

the second player was smaller in comparison, but still big since he plays football. duh. he's a faster member of their team so i know that i would never beat him in a foot race. someone from our crew told me, hey, you beat him in the height contest. finally i could go home victorious.

they were both very nice guys, and it was a fun day. i think i'm an honorary viking now since i'm scandinavian and i won the height contest. this all plays into how i want to be buried when i die. a traditional viking burial at sea, after doctors remove all my useful organs.

as a form of strengthening fellowship at my church, i attend a small group on sunday evenings. we just finished studying a book called Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community. it was written by a fellow named dietrich bonhoeffer. this guy lived a heavy life. he was a german preacher as hitler was coming into power. he warned others that hitler was misleading the church and country. after an inner struggle on the morality of killing, he eventually joined a secret group planning to assassinate hitler. he was killed by the nazis for being a part of this group, but not before leaving behind his writings.

much like his life, his writings are very heavy. i'll be honest, i don't like reading heavy stuff. so i have to find ways to lighten it up a bit. one section of the book stood out to me. in his chapter titled ministry, bonhoeffer writes a section called the ministry of bearing. it was fun for me to read, because everytime i read the word "bear" i thought of grizzly bears. i told my small group this and they got a chuckle too. but there was some good stuff in it besides the stupid pun i find funny.

he referenced galatians 6:2, in which the king james version says, "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." a more modern translation that i like, called the message, says it this way,

"Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day's out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ's law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived." -gal 6:1-3

we all have a lot to bear. i find comfort in knowing that i can turn over all my worries and frustrations to God. there's a song by jon foreman stuck in my head that pertains to this thought, "so why should i worry? why do i freak out? God knows what i need." we all struggle through life. God is always there for us, even when life doesn't make sense to us (proverbs 3:1-12). this helps me appreciate bearing the burdens of others, because i know God has done it for me. much like bonhoeffer said, "he who is bearing others knows that he himself is being borne, and only in this strength can he go on bearing."

i hope this didn't come off as preachy, but if it did, at least it came from a bear preacher. some other bear verses bonhoeffer mentions that you may want to check out include: isa. 53:4-5, eccles. 4:10, col. 3:13, and eph. 4:2.

the life of creeping people out isn't all that it's cracked up to be. george was getting a lil lonely. so roommate tom hooked him up with a girlfriend. meet tami donaldson, aka miss black velvet. she's the newest roommate and she's a lil less creepy. some may say george is rocking the cradle, others may say tami is a gold digger, but they found a common love in alcohol, cardboard and each other.

i'm not a fan of the head cold.

boy: sure. hey, these remind me of teddy grahams. i loved those.

me: i always liked the telephone shaped graham cookies.

(blank stares)

me: they were called tele-grahams.

boy: haha!

girl: booooooo!

when roommate tom gave me his camera so i could upload george pictures, there was also pictures of his legos on the camera. so i put them together and put it on youtube. for all to see.

when we are trying to spook each other, it's not working so hot. last night, tom tried to sneak george under the covers of my bed. for whatever reason, a creepy old cardboard man in my bed didn't phase me. i stuck george in the shower. unfortunately the sun shining through the window cast a shadow on the shower curtain. so george's victim saw him coming. the fact that george likes to sing in the shower didn't help matters either.

also, i posted some roommate pictures with george on the previous george posting.

looks like i need to buy more twins tickets. or maybe carl pohlad should start giving me complimentary tickets to games since i help them win. it'd be like that movie, angels in the outfield. lil kid named roger sees heavenly angels helping the baseball angels win games, so george knox (played by danny glover), starts bringing him to every game.

i mean, i saw angels in the outfield last night. named vlad, torii and garret. and last night they helped the twins win the game by misplaying balls. torii hunter, former twin who is still a twin in my eyes, has helped the twinkies in their first two games by batting .000. i hope he has a sweet season, just not against minnesota. and basically all of this is a direct effect of me being at the game. so carl pohlad, make yourself like danny glover, and bring me to some more games. or, if you don't want to spend more money on me, i'd be happy if you'd spend some more money on the twins.

umm, that's it. it's not a knock knock joke. it's just a cardboard cutout tom got from work. he lives with us now. and while he's not a knock knock joke, he is a practical joke. tom and i like to hide him in unexpected places to catch each other off guard. i get home from work, open the door, and george is staring me right in the face. needless to say, my heart stopped for a lil bit. so i decide to get tom back. i sneak george outside his bedroom door in the middle of the night so that he greets tom in the morning. instead george spooked tom while he was on his way to a midnight pee. luckily he held it in. george doesn't only live indoors. one night when i got home, i opened the backyard gate to see george waiting for me. i just bout knocked george's head off. sometimes george backfires. tom hid him the other night in the kitchen, then in the middle of the night he went down for a water, but forgot he left george there. tom thought the large dark figure was a burglar, before remembering that's where he left george.

george is a fun new roommate.