2013 NHL Playoffs: Round 1

It's my favorite time of years friends.  Playoff time.  Along with that comes my round by round predictions.  As always I have a few friends who will be predicting with me what's gonna happen.  I've been horrible at this in the past....I think I over-analyze.

So this year our predictions will be weighted.  Because there are 8 match-ups in the first round, someone could do well in that round and just OK in the other rounds and still win.  So this year the first round match-ups are worth one point each.  The second round are worth 2 points and so on.  So that the later rounds are worth more and getting them right could right your ship.  We'll see how it works...or doesn't work.

I have 3 friends that will be joining me this year.  Last years winner was Randy who lives in Toronto.  He no longer uses his blog so he will be submitting his picks to me via Facebook.  I will try to include them here so they are up for all to see (see bottom of post).  Matt lives in Kansas City.  Jeff lives in Titusville PA.  If you'd like to join us in predictions this year, let me know and I"ll include you, but for now these are the powerhouses.


Before I give you my picks, I want to say that the shortened season hasn't given me much of a chance to see enough hockey to make great picks this year.  So I'm already making excuses for losing.

Eastern Conference

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. New York Islanders
The Penguins are loaded for bear this year.  At the end of the season they took on a bundle of players in trades.  Even without Crosby they went 8-4 down the stretch.  Next to no one has the Islanders beating the Pens in this match-up....and neither do I.  Crosby is still questionable.  I think the Pens win this even if he can't go.  I like the Isles and am glad they made it this far this year.  They're young and will be here again....this isn't their year.  My pick:  Pens in 5

Montreal Canadiens vs. Ottawa Senators
I don't have a dog in this fight.  I could make arguments for either team winning this one.  I like that Erik Karlsson has made his way back from a crazy Achilles injury.  That gives them some firepower they've been missing most of the year.  I'm just going to roll the dice on this matchup.  My pick:  Sens in 7

Washington Capitals vs. New York Rangers
I know who I want to win.  I don't know if it'll go that way.  I've never liked Ovechkin.  I think he's a pouter.  I think he's turtled during the playoffs again and again.  I'd like to believe this year will be the same.  At the same time they've played lights out down the stretch while the very talented Rangers have faded.  I think New York is the more talented team.  I just don't know about this one.  My pick:  Rangers in 7

Boston Bruins vs. Toronto Maple Leafs
This should be an interesting series.  These two teams don't have much history together....or rather they only have HISTORY together.  The Maple Leafs haven't seen the playoffs for 9 years.  (Cool aside is this is the first time all original six teams have made the playoffs in 17 years.)  Boston started the year very tough and have softened up as the season has gone one...mostly due to injury.  Toronto has also been a bit of a surprise but have stayed consistent most of the year.  I don't have strong feelings on this one.  I really like the way Boston is made up....tough and gritty...made for the playoffs.  My pick:  Bruins in 6


Western Conference

Chicago Blackhawks vs. Minnesota Wild
The Wild snuck into the playoffs.  The Hawks clinch a spot weeks ago.  People have been predicting Chicago to win the Cup since the beginning of the season.  They're tough.  I wouldn't be shocked if they at least made the Conference Finals.  I would like to see Jason Pominville play well since he got traded on deadline day to the Wild though.  My pick:  Hawks in 4 or 5

Detroit RedWings vs. Anaheim Ducks
Anaheim has been the quiet amazing team this year.  Pittsburgh and Chicago have made the noise and the Ducks have flown (pun intended) under the radar.  The Wings snuck into the playoffs on the last day of the regular season.  They're just not the wings of old.  This should be a great series though.  It could go either way.  I'm gonna stay safe and say My pick:  Ducks in 6

San Jose Sharks vs. Vancouver Canucks
It's hard for me to pick the Nucks here.  They've been on the decline in general I feel.  They're not the team that went to the Cup Finals two years ago.  I don't really like San Jose's game, but I think they will bring enough to take the Canucks....particularly if Luongo is in net (Schneider is still uncertain for playoffs though is practicing).  My pick:  Sharks in 5 or 6

St. Louis Blues vs. Los Angeles Kings
Kings have been streaky.  Will they be streaky at the right time?  I have really liked watching the Blues this year.  I really have loved watching their goalie Elliott come on strong in the last couple weeks.  If he plays like that, this series is going to be awesome.  Also....announced just today is that T.J. Oshie is going to be in the line-up after missing significant time to injury.  Knocking off the defending Stanley Cup champs isn't going to be easy.  They're still a highly skilled team and they now have experience to boot.  This is another one that I could argue both sides of.  My pick:  Blues in 6



RANDY'S PICKS

Pittsburgh over New York
Ottawa to upset Montreal
New York to upset Washington
Boston over Toronto
Chicago over Minnesota
Detroit to upset Anaheim
San Jose to upset Vancouver
Los Angeles to upset St. Louis

Guest Blog Monday: Trust

Guest Blog Monday is a feature for 2013 where a friend writes a blog post for Monday morning so I don't have to.  April's theme is "New"

 

Our church is unique in many ways but chief among them is that over half our congregation is made up of refugees and their family.  (A refugee is an individual who has been forced out of their own country due to political, religious, or other persecution and has been granted legal status in the United States through the United Nations refugee program.)  While our refugees come largely from various countries on the African continent, we also have some from places such as Cuba and Burma.

Recently, our church found out that we will need to find a new building.  Our congregation is rapidly expanding and so is the non-profit medical practice/ministry that operates out of the same building.  And, since the medical practice owns the building, that means we're the ones that move.

Our church has experienced many transitions in its short 7 or 8 year history.  The church originally met in a school gym.  Now we meet in a sanctuary that was retrofitted (new!) for us to move into.  Since being in this building we have had several new worship leaders and due to the majority-refugee nature of our congregation, we constantly see new faces in the congregation and in front of it.  

This time around, however, "new" has much greater consequence.  We had not planned to find a new building any time soon.  There is not much money to go around.  Our pastor is woefully underpaid and the budget is quite small beyond his and the assistant pastor's salaries.  

However, at our most recent meeting on the topic of moving, the founder of the non-profit medical practice/ministry (who is also a member of our congregation) spoke a word that I think is a great reminder of what we all need to hear: God did not bring us (these people, this congregation, this family) all this way just to abandon us now.  

Certainly, each member of the congregation has a part to play in the transition, in the new-ness, but if the church has trusted God to provide up to this point, now, as we make a bigger leap, it is even more imperative to trust him.  

I think the same holds true for individuals, not just the corporate body of Christ.  If we have made it this far by God's grace, we have faith that he is not going to stop providing.

Ryan Ledebur is a 26 year old husband, father of two (ages 20 months and 1 month), a part-time law clerk, and a full-time law student.  Yep, he's crazy and seriously blessed!  He also loves the city he's in and the people he lives, works, and goes to church with.  

Tuesday Coffee VIDEO

Last week the boys and I were on our own for dinner one night.  As we ate Corban asked how....oh shoot I forgot...."something" was made.  So we YouTubed it.  We ended up watching a series of videos on how things were made.  This was one.

Guest Blog Monday: New?

Guest Blog Monday is a feature for 2013 where I ask someone to write a post for Monday morning...so I don't have to.  April's theme is "new".

Much like the word “normal,” I’m not sure that the term “new” really exists. I can be a bit of a conspiracy theorist and sometimes I wonder if this word was made up simply to excite the masses. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not against the word at all, it just doesn’t really make sense to me. Especially when you consider that there really hasn’t been anything “new” since the beginning of time, just variations or differentiations of what already exists.

I know what you are thinking- “We are made new in Christ” when we accept him into our hearts. But is that really what we mean? Do we really become an altogether different person or, rather, do we begin to think consciously and try harder to accentuate what is good in us? Is becoming conscious of who we were created to be make us “new”? And if so, does it negate who we were prior to that? Because, honestly, I don’t want to forget who I was… lest I become it again. 

 

We live in a “new” world dominated by technology. But has it really made our lives “new” or has it just ramped us up and ushered in an age of paranoia and fear of everything from the government to the nice couple next door that twenty years ago you would have taken a lasagna over to on the day they moved in. Has it completely changed us, made us “new”, or has it simply allowed us to ignore each other in the grocery store and at family dinners (amplifying a part of us that secretly always wanted to do that)? 

 

My wife disagrees. She submits, “Every year new leaves grow on trees.” I retort that it’s not really “new,” it’s just a continuation of the leaf before it- hopefully better in some way, but still, ultimately, a part of the tree that was lying dormant throughout the winter. Just like us when we re-discover who we were made to be. New parts spring out. Better parts. Different parts. Nonetheless, parts that were already there, just unseen by most. Then again, my wife is a lot smarter than I am so I should probably just listen to her (Don’t tell her I told you that though. It’ll be our little secret). 

 

I realize this is kinda out there really. I don’t hate the word “new.” This is just where my mind and heart when Aaron gave me the subject. I do like the idea though that nothing is really “new” because, honestly, it reminds me that we aren’t alone, that there are other people out there who have been where we are…. and there are people who will be where we are. Whether you are scratching your head right now or burning a picture of me in your front yard, thanks for reading. 

 

Mark Fisher is a dude who lives in West Virginia. He teaches elementary school. He reviews music for some online music sites called Colossal Pop and Metal Forces. He has a blog that reviews special kinds of albums at http://markfishers.blogspot.com He likes being a Dad, and a husband, and a believer. He even thinks deep stuff on occasion.

This week

 This has been a crazy week. 

Bombing in Boston
Ricin in letters in Washington DC
Fertilizer explosion in Texas

I've spent this week processing.  At present time I don't have much to give you.  A love of people have already put a lot of thoughts out there.  People much smarter than me.  I'm going to hold off for a little longer.

Come Lord Jesus Come.

Tuesday Coffee

Guest Blog Monday: old and new both

Guest Blog Monday is a feature for 2013 where I ask a friend to write a blog post for Monday so I don't have to.  This month the theme is "New".

 

 

 

So Aaron asked me to write a blog post for him this month and the theme is ... New... 

This past year has been full of lot's of new... 

In September we brought home 2 new boys from Ethiopia. For them all things have been new. New rooms. New beds. New clothes. New schools. New brothers. New toys. New smells. New food. New church. 

Sounds awesome doesn't it?

Yes.

And no. 

For them new also means loss. No old room, old bed, old clothes, old schools, old toys, old smells, old friends and old food. 

For them new meant that all things familiar were gone. Nothing was as it used to be. And for us all it was an adjustment.... many times it still is a painful adjustment. 

Leaving all that you know and love ... even if it means new family and new love, doesn't mean that old was all bad. There are parts of their lives in Ethiopia that were really good. They had family in the kids that they lived with for years, and in some cases birth family still living there. The unique relationship that Ethiopians have with each other and the world... the pride, the joy, the way they interact... the part that makes MY heart ache with longing every single time I leave the country I call MY second home. 

The new that our family experienced with introducing these 2 new boys... pre-teen boys... hormones and all!! 

We longed and prayed for these boys for 21 months... cried tears, missed them, prayed for them, thought of them, wrote them letters and dreamed of them at the dinner table and at ball games... bought them gifts and painted their rooms. It was a very long gestation period. :) 

Then came the new reality... and it wasn't rainbows and unicorns. It's hard. Every day it's hard. Every day we have a new challenge. Every day we have a new layer of pain we need to work through. We have had to chase them down the street as they tried to run away, wrestle with them in a love hold so that they would not hurt themselves or their brothers, listen to attitude and anger, work through language barriers and misunderstandings. 

We have also had so many new joys. First trip to the ocean... watching them do cartwheels and flips in the sand and play in the water. Their first Halloween, first Thanksgiving... eating a giant turkey leg each... and wonder why the Turkey didn't have more legs, first snow, first Christmas. Realizing that the cold stays and that just because the sun is out that it's not going to be hot. Trying new foods and realizing that it's pretty good. 

New ... is sometimes shiny and pretty on the surface... but to really find a treasure you have to look with God's eye to see the real beauty. 

Andrea lives in Virginia Beach with her husband of 20 years, Don and 6 kiddos. She works full time as a Digital Media Specialist at a large healthcare company, and part time as an Executive Consultant with Rodan + Fields and in her spare time is helping open a daycare in Korah, Ethiopia and on the board for Because Every Mother Matters.

Dumb

I'm an idiot. 

I just messaged a friend to make sure they were good to do their post for Guest Blog Monday.  My brain started putting things together.  I'm dumb.

For whatever reason, I chose the theme "New" for April.   That was also the theme for January.  STUPID. 

Sorry for being horrible at this.

Remaking Family Photos

This is my new favorite thing.  People take old family photos and remake them 5-10-15-30 years later.  So dang funny.  Anyone want to try their hand at this?  Come on!!!!

 

I Need You

I need You, Lord I need You
every hour I need You


I haven't been to jail.  I've never been on drugs or sold drugs.  I haven't been in a gang.  I haven't been a pimp.  I haven't been a drunk or had any other major harmful addictions.  I've never run away from home.  I've never cheated on my wife.  I've never been in prison. 

Some people have.  Their stories are dramatic.  Their relationship with Jesus...the story of change in their life is dramatic.  They met Jesus in dark places.  He changed their life completely.  Night and day. 

The lie that many of us who've grown up in the church have bought is that our lives haven't changed. 

My dad's a pastor.  I grew up in church.  (almost literally...our house was 16 kid steps from the back door to the church)  My parents love Jesus.  Their every day life reflects their passion for following him.  My earliest memories involve God's presence in our house.  I've always just understood that God is real and he walks with me and wants relationship with me.  Even when I went through a minor "I don't care" mode, I still knew God was real, I just wasn't hanging out with him.  I've always just known because I saw my parents live their lives out in obedience to him.  I saw God everywhere. 

So I don't have a story that says I didn't know God was real and then I sold crack and was about to die then I met Jesus and I fell in love and changed completely.  That's not me.

However I think there's something to be learned about who we are.  I think it's possible to evaluate our tendencies and know who we "could" be without Jesus in our lives.

I have an addictive personality.  When I do something, I'm all in.  I play goalie.  You can't casually play goalie.  You have to throw your body around and intentionally move it into the line of the puck.  You can't stand beside the net and casually wave at the puck with your glove.  So I flail....sometimes in vain...but I go full out. 

A bunch of years ago a friend got me interested in paintball.  I shopped for a few months for my first gun.  Then I went and played with them one time.  I was hooked.  I started reading and learning.  I bought a second marker and took it apart and put it back together.  Over the years I have bought, fixed and resold hundreds of markers.  I've shipped parts and gear around the world.  I have a private collection of vintage markers numbering in the 60's (for the record...not that it's your business...I have paid for all of that by making profit on markers I fix and resell....not one penny has come out of our money).  I am all in.

I know me.  I know that if I had started drinking, I would be a knockdown fall over drunk.  I know that if I had ever had a cigarette, because I love habitual things...I would be 3 or 4 packs a day guy...easy.  And so on, and so on.  I know that had Jesus not been in my life, I could've easily been in a very bad place. 

So while I haven't come out of a bad place....I've been saved from getting to a bad place.  My life has been changed.  It might not be as obvious, but my life has been dramatically altered because I met Jesus when I was a little child. 

Tuesday Coffee

One of my favorite places in the world.

Guest Blog Monday: Mistakes

Guest Blog Monday is a feature for 2013 where I ask a friend to create a blog based on a topic I give them.  April's theme is:  NEW

As a Christian musician, I have heard the phrase "sing a new song unto the Lord" more times than I can remember.  Years ago I realized that not everyone can, or should sing so there must be more to it than that.  I broke it down into a simpler form and it translated into "act on a new idea you had and go about it in a Christ-like fashion."

My thoughts for today, though based on the preceding paragraph, is more of a word of warning to those that exercise ignorance while acting on their new ideas.

There are people that hear a message like the opening paragraph in their church.  It's usually a recently started church (within the last 15-20 years).  The head "pastor" or "bishop" could be Joe accountant who believes they have the answers (as opposed to the Bible having the answers).  These parishioners, desperately seeking answers to the point they will listen to any idea, get inspired and fired up to change their lives.  That is good, but  the results go one of two ways, The few that have perspective during their times of despair will succeed but the majority usually fall flat on their face.  These people then leave church with a bitter taste for God.  Wash, rinse, repeat.

Having gone through some of these things in my own life, and having witnessed many others, I am going to say a couple things people consistently overlook.

The most important thing that is overlooked is that GOD ALLOWS PEOPLE TO MAKE MISTAKES!!  The majority of wealth and health church messages neglect the preceding sentence.  Mistakes are made because people are not prepared, and they are not patient.

When I refer to being prepared, I mean make sure you can afford the changes you are moving into.  I am referring to money, mentally, and with your time.  I imagine God is not afraid to let you go bankrupt in all three areas if you are not diligent and prepared.

Impatience is the other major factor in failure to implement something new.  It creeps up in a lot of ways, and no matter how hard one tries, the stress of impatience shows up, even when no one wants it to.  We live in a very corporate, mean, and pushy society that is trying to force mistakes on people daily.

The worst thing about impatience is that it is the direct opposite of transition.  Transition, a requirement of change, is slow process.  It seems even slower when we are excited about the new things in our lives.

Taking what I've said, please go out and try to implement new things in your life.  I do it all the time and it's very rewarding.   If a mistake is made, remember you always get another chance.


Randall Hall is a musician living in Toronto with his wife. You might catch him on a Sunday bassing it up at Revivaltime Tabernacle.

Distance to Mars

Ever wonder what we're looking at to get there?  Check this out.

Keeping "it" in the States

This is something stuck in my craw.

The other day it happened again.  I've heard it a bundle of times before and it gets no less frustrating to me.  "Why can't we just keep our money in the United States and help people here."

There are a million things I want to say in response to that.  Let me pick some of my favorites.

1.  How many places in the United States need wells drilled just so an entire town can drink clean water?  I'm not talking about water to your private house, I'm talking about an ENTIRE town.

2.  The United States in all of it's wealth has government run programs for those who are down and out.  We have welfare.  We have food stamps.  And when all that fails, we have a variety of non-governmental agencies that run food kitchens, food pantries, shelters etc, for those who need help.  Most other countries (particularly those in Africa) have nothing of the sort.  There isn't food to be had.  There isn't aid to be given.  No external agency is going to step up because there is no agency.

3.  Even if the idea is to take care of the less fortunate here in the US.....are you really going to do it?  or is that just your excuse to not help internationally?

4.  When did it become OK to believe that WE are better than everyone else.  So it's a bad thing that I desire to help people who literally go days without food because they live in a different country than I do?  You'd like to make me feel bad about that?  Because they're not human like we are.  They don't have the technology and know how that we do........exactly.


This gets considerably more frustrating when the question isn't about money or aid to other countries....but when the question is "why do you have to adopt from Ethiopia...there are plenty of kids here to adopt too"

Yes.  Yes there are.  And we've never ruled that out as a possibility.  In fact we've had long very hard discussions about foster care and adopting domestically.

All I can tell you is this....about 9 years ago God turned our heart to Ethiopia.  He has yet to turn it off.  I am moved by the people.  I am touched by their quick smiles and rich heritage.  I see a need and I'm trying to meet it in a way that I am able.  I don't see country borders as a reason not to.  We have friends who have/are adopted(ing) domestically.  We have friends that have adopted from Korea, Ethiopia, Ukraine, China, Vietnam, Guatemala, etc. etc. etc.  Why is one better than the other?  It isn't.

Also....let's be clear here.....this isn't the government waging a war in another country.  Don't compare the two.  This isn't foreign aid to oil rich countries.  This is human need.  This is changing the world for the better.  So don't bother trying to compare us to Obama or whoever happens to be president.  Having our government police the world, and believing that all lives are worth saving is a little different.

Tuesday Coffee

Since my heart and brain are thinking hard about Africa right now...and Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee.....

Guest Blog Monday: New Shirt

Guest Blog Monday is a feature for 2013 where a friend writes a blog post for me on Monday, so I don't have to.  April's theme for the guest bloggers is:   NEW

Two weeks ago, during my spring break, I was in New York City for an Urban Project through InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. During the week, we discussed justice on a social scale, and then on a biblical scale. One of the definitions given really stuck out to me: charity is giving someone the shirt off your back, while justice is buying a new shirt and giving it to someone who needs it.

Thinking about justice now, just over a week removed from that experience and on the day we celebrate Jesus’ rise from the grave, I’m incredibly humbled by thinking about this act. A lot of the time, we think that we’re doing justice by donating all of our old clothes to a clothing drive. But that’s just charity. It’s fairly easy to get rid of something that is old, used, and worn and to replace it with something new.

What we have a much harder time doing is encountering someone who deeply needs something new - a homeless person who needs a new hat and gloves or someone who has been sex trafficked and needs a new perspective of a world they’ve come to hate, fear, and despise –and being willing and/or able to supply them with that. Jesus saw all of our need, God saw all of our need, and the Holy Spirit saw all of our need.

Our need was met when Jesus willingly died on the cross, carrying with Him all of our sins, tears, and sorrows. We were given a “new shirt”; so long as we believe and have faith in the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus our Lord, then we can have it. Not only is this shirt spotless, but it can never be stained.

Think about a car. When you first buy and use a new car, you expect it to work without a hitch. Years down the road, we see the car begin to rust, the parts begin to fail or break, and suddenly it’s time to start looking at new ones. What a pain. Between the initial cost of the car, and the subsequent costs of repairing it, the money starts to add up.

Or think of new sporting equipment. Wearing it at first feels so great, and you want to wear it around the house and break it in. But after all the wear and tear, you’re ready for a new helmet, or new pads, or new spikes or shoes. Imagine if I could play soccer in a pair of spikes that could never be tarnished or break, and how great it would be. But what would they cost? $100? $200? $500? We can’t be sure, because they have never been made.

We need to put our faith in God’s sacrifice of His one and only son. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, NIV) Eternal life is this “new shirt”. It is the only thing that we need, and it is the only thing that would give God reason to sacrifice his only begotten son for our sakes. We are not called, therefore, to merely give someone the shirt off our back; we are called to share the Good News of Jesus’ sacrifice to pay for these “new shirts”.

This IS the Good News. This is why being “new” in Christ is worth every liter of our hope, every pound of our faith, and every gallon of our love. God will never run out of “new shirts”. In fact, He’s got one with your name on it. If you’re not wearing it now, I hope it’s not because “new shirts” are too costly; the cost has already been paid for you. What’s better than a free, new shirt?

Steven Goebel is a sophomore at SUNY Geneseo and is majoring in Dragonology, with a minor in Knitting. (Sociology major, Human Development minor).  You can follow his blog at http://boymeetsdragon.wordpress.com/