Here We Go................!

It is a happy day to be a Steelers fan. A great day to be a part of the AFC! Also, if you watch the news, you might want to hold on as this could be one of the greatest matchups ever in the Superbowl!!

As all of the crying winds down on the missed calls and what should-have-been, the reality is that the Arizona Cardinals led by Kurt Warner and the Pittsburgh Steelers led by.... an awesome defense, are heading to SuperBowl XLIII!!
Last night we knew that it would be a shootout in the desert and a slugfest in the snow! These two games did not disappoint anyone! Each of the four teams had opportunities to take control of the game and turn the outcome to their favor. There is, however, tons of speculation surrounding the officiating crew and penalties given and not given. The reality in my mind is this... No matter how a game is called, you have to do what it takes to win! The Cards and the Steelers did just that. In the Cardinals game there was a botched kickoff that looked for a moment that it went out of bounds and then bounced back onto the field of play. What really happened though was that the ball bounced in bounds and fell onto the feild of play and was recovered by the kickoff team (Arizona). They didn't cry a river! They simply played on!! The correct no call was made at the end of the game when no pass interference was called on a throw to Curtis who got tangled up, and the ball hit him in the hands. You have to play through adversity in the NFL. He makes the 4th down catch there may have been a different outcome??

In the other game there were multiple times that the officials "took control" when they should have left the flag in their pockets. How about the two touchdowns that the Ravens got. On both occasions the Steelers were flagged for pass interference in the endzone! Wow, both were questionable calls. Then the running into the kicker call at the end of the half that gave the Steelers the ball back, aweful. Then the no call that everyone is crying about today was the hit on McGahee at the end of the game. It was not a helmet led hit! The shoulder hit first and the unfortunate result was a knocked out cold McGahee! After a scary moment the game was won by the Steelers and McGahee should make a complete recovery.

All in all the best teams won yesterday and Superbowl XLIII should be a good one!!

I am Resolved to be Resolute!!!

I write this today very humbly because I recognize how God has blessed my life over the years. I look at where we are at in our lives and I see areas that we must work on. I have resigned myself to the fact that I need to work on my physical body over the next few months. Ouch, that sounds like pain doesn't it?? Yes it will hurt some days, but with some consistency I will look and feel better about myself in no time.

See, we often work hard at the spiritual things in our lives, setting aside daily time, and taking time to be with the ones that we love. But there always seems to be a side of us that gets a little (or a lot) neglected. A couple of years ago I got it in my mind to "get in shape" and I did a pretty good job of it. I lost around 30 pounds of excess weight and was doing very well. Since then there has been a lot of bad habits formed. I have not done much work to take care of this old (getting older) shell of mine. I think that it is important for me to be healthy so that I can be everything that God wants me to be. Soooooooooo I have decided to try to get to a target weight of 215 pounds. Wow, right now that seems insurmountable, but with God's help and encouragement from others I will be able to do it. My current weight before I began was 265!! I have a lot of work to do here. I trust that you will pray for me for strength and courage as I go after this goal. I am going to really push myself to be in much better shape by 3 months time. I am hoping to be back to where I was a couple of years ago after three months. We will see! Thanks for allowing me to be transparent with you in this matter! We can all be better together!!

Blessings,
Pastor Carl