If I Were the Devil (Typography)

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God, the Father (John Piper Typography)

John Piper Typography from Daryl Hiebert on Vimeo.

How to Fix NASCAR

I consider myself a lover of most sports--particularly sports that incorporate some sort of ball and/or some striking (of the ball), kicking, running, and vigorous physical activity. Just so I know I'm covering all of my bases I'll even throw in the sports that consist only of punching or hitting an opponent en route to victory. These sports are enjoyable to watch for a number of reasons; the objective is clear, the movements and action during the game, match, meet or event vary from moment to moment increasing the level of watchability and, there is quite a bit of room for commenting with your fellow spectators. For example, "Wow, that was a great pitch! He really brought his A-game today." or, "Man! He punched that guy square in the teeth. How could he just leave his whole face exposed like that?" or even, "Everything the offense throws at the defense is being shut down today! They're not giving them an inch! This game will go down in history as one of the greatest displays of defensive mastery ever played out on an athletic field."

These are just some of the reasons I, and many other sports lovers enjoy the sports we do. However, there is one sport I don't enjoy for one simple reason. I can't. The main reason is probably because I can't find room to incorporate my previous list of reasons why most sports are enjoyable to watch. This sport is the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, otherwise known as NASCAR. This dizzying sport was started by one Bill France Sr. and apparently finds its early origins in the bootlegging hills of the Appalachian region of the United States. I never knew Bill France Sr. and I don't know any bootleggers, but if I was ever given the chance I would suggest some ways to improve the great National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. So, what follows is a list of ways to improve this sport, written and compiled by myself and a good friend. They appear in no particular order or degree of importance simply because applying any one of them would bring NASCAR to its full potential of watchability. Here they are:

1. At any point during the race, pre-selected fans should be allowed to drive monster trucks onto the race track in the direction of the drivers. This would test the driver's hand-eye coordination as well as incorporate a sense of team pride into the race because the monster truck driving fans could drive towards an opposing team's car, upping the chances of a home team victory.
2. The Paintball Compton 500. Instead of an annular track, why not hold a race in Compton and have random drive by paintball shootings from red or blue cars equipped with hydraulics interfere with the race. This increases watchability while giving the drivers a new look at culture in an urban environment along with giving people a fun and safe alternative to actual bullets.
3. The James Bond Open. One car is equipped by Q to launch rockets and drop oil slicks during the race. The identity of the 007 car is not disclosed until the race is over.
4. Large gaseous men ride shot gun with the driver, prohibiting him to role down his windows until the race is finished. This would increase the speed of the race which would free up valuable air time for other sports. It would also get rid of that weird net window thing.
5. The Kids in the Car Sprint Cup Series. This race would take place during the summertime with two random, and fairly devious children in the back seat who constantly argue and ask, "Are we there yet!" This option allows children to enjoy the sport close up. We could even mic-up the drivers to hear their responses. I'd imagine they'd say something like, "WE'RE ALWAYS THERE! WE'RE DRIVING IN CIRCLES!!!!"
6. Include a half-pipe.
7. Include car jackers at pit stops. This would incorporate an element of competitive fighting during the race as opposed to the random angry tizzy fights that take place after a driver has already crashed or worse, after the entire race is over. I read an interesting article on this and discovered that one driver/angry loser was also a Golden Gloves boxer. Unfortunately the fight took place after the race. If only they could've found a way to incorporate the Golden Glover's skills into the competition.
8. Put the cars into a huge parking lot made to look like a football field and have eleven stock cars with convertible tops line up across from another eleven and play a game of NASCAball (National Association for Stock Car Ball). This makes the speed of the cars a bit more interesting to watch. It also gives the drivers a chance to use more of their insight and deductive reasoning as they construct different plays. It wouldn't be a bad idea to incorporate the Wonderlic test in there somewhere either. Maybe as an alternative to a qualifying race.
9. Allow texting while driving. This makes perfect sense because it incorporates two activities that are illegal and/or unwise everywhere else in the country besides a circle shaped race track: texting behind the wheel and driving over the speed limit. It could also be an educational tool used to teach teenagers and irresponsible, single thirty-somethings about the dangers of texting while driving.
10. Incorporate real soccer fans, anywhere. The mix of redneck silver-tongued, toothless swagger, light beer, and pure, unaimed, frenzied and chanting angry passion should make for an interesting day at the race track.

Maybe in the next few years one of these will catch on. In the meantime, I'll be watching football and hoping for the day I can enjoy a race with friends.

Here is that article I referenced: Flying Fists: Rating NASCAR's top 5 fights

* The name of my "good friend" was omitted from this entry to save his life from the angry pummeling he would get from another good friend who is a real lover of NASCAR and doesn't see the need for any improvements. I will endure whatever punishment would come his way as a result of his inclusion in this entry.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend;

profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

Proverbs 27:6

What Is Meekness?

I've been working my way through the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and read a great bit on meekness by James Montgomery Boice. Very convicting, and very rectifying.

"A final sense of the word "meek" comes from the fact that in biblical language the word is used most often to indicate a subservient and trusting attitude before God, and this makes meekness generally a vertical virtue rather than a horizontal one. It is the characteristic that makes a man bow low before God in order that he may stand high before other men; it makes him bold because he knows that his life has been touched by God and that he comes as God's messenger."

J.M. Boice, An Expositional Commentary: the Sermon on the Mount

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You Are Your Father's Son

You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

1 Peter 1:18b-19

I Have Some Bad News

When I as eleven years old my grandmother (who raised me and who I call mom) brought me into my room for a chat about my dad. Even at the young age of eleven I had a limited but detailed cache of memories about my father, and somehow I knew that I wasn't in for good news.

"Your dad is sick," mom said, "he's sick with a disease that has no cure."

"You don't have to finish mom," I replied, "I know what it is."

I don't remember how I knew, I'm not sure it matters really. My mom went on to tell me that according to the doctors, my dad would have about 6-10 months to live and that he was in the hospital. I can distinctly remember tuning her out after that as anger washed over my insides. I couldn't help but think that for some reason this was all a result of some bad decision, some enormously selfish misstep on his part, and in less than a year I'd be without an already absent father.

In tears I muttered, "I never want to be like him. . .ever."

God was incredibly gracious to my dad; he is still here, but from age eleven on, in many ways, that was my goal--to not be like my father. Even in my love for him I made pointed attempts to avoid following in his footsteps. This was a heavy load to bare. Mostly because it's near impossible to avoid being like anyone you are hardly ever around. In many ways you have to know what someone is like in order to make an effort to do the opposite of what they do. Not to mention the fact that he was and is my own flesh and blood. In effect, I was running from a ghost. From age eleven into my very late teens I carried this impossible burden. Because of this, in the later years, for most of the time I ran on three emotions--anger, frustration and depression. As hard as I tried not to, I left traces of irresponsibility, apathy, selfishness, and faithlessness everywhere I went--I was my father's son. My motivations were pitifully misguided. Clearly, I was not created to live like this.

We Are Created to Be

Sadly, because of the fall, the stories of our lives are broken, our fathers and mothers can let us down, our expectations and needs for love can go unmet, and our lives can be filled with mountainous obstacles too big for any of us to overcome on our own. At the age of eleven, my zealous reaction to my broken story was to be the opposite of the person who'd hurt me. As strange as it may sound, my goal was to live in reverse and hope that my story would end up the way I wanted. Our hearts were not created to live out of these kinds of motivations. Living in reverse only results in us skidding our wheels, emotionally taxed, and frustrated that we simply can't get it right.

In the very beginning of God's story He calls man to action, and showers him with generosity, grace and good gifts, (Gen 2:8-16; 18-22). Even in his commands of omission (Gen 2:17) He doesn't leave his creation without an alternative call to commission that is honoring to Him and good for man himself (Gen 2:16). All throughout Christ's life He calls His followers to lives of being different things; salt, light, branches on a vine, proclaimers of His Gospel, lovers, peacemakers, and carriers of a cross. In Paul's epistle to the Romans, he urges believers to: abhor what is evil, and hold fast to what is good, love one another, be constant in prayer, bless those who persecute us, and overcome evil with good (Rom 12:9-21) Clearly, we are not created to live in reverse, but to live onward and into eternity. While we are called to "be" all of these things we are continually reminded of one thing--As hard as we try, we are our father's sons. It's inevitable.

"None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; on one seeks for God. There is no fear of God before their eyes."

Romans 3:10,11,18

In my endeavor to not be like my absentee father, I'd missed all of the signs that I was more like him than I'd imagined. Consequently I'd missed out on the freedom that comes from knowing you are created to be a recipient of a heavenly Father's forgiveness and grace for all of the ways you are like your parents. Even more so, I'd failed to realize that there is only one perfect Son, who had a perfect relationship with His Father, and who was perfectly like Him in every way. At the end of His life He was cut off, and abandoned by His Father at the cross, but on the third day He defeated death and the grave. All of this so that the fatherless and those living to not walk in their earthly fathers footsteps could be redeemed of their burdens, and called to follow a good, and perfect parent and live like His Son.

The truth is that the perfect story of a Father and His Son is the answer and remedy to all of those whose stories are fractured and in need of rescuing.

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The Promised Trouble

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

John 16:33

Summer sessions for high school football is the last time I can remember willfully and intentionally walking into something I knew was probably going to bring me some level of physical discomfort. At least, that's the first thing that comes to mind--there are certainly other instances for me I'm sure. Things were made very plain to me; a proverbial hell loomed ahead and it was fully supplied with enough whistle blowing, spit and "do it agains!" to go around for days. I was not naive, and still, I strapped up, sprinted out and ran around like a mad man in one-hundred degree heat. For what? As far as I can remember, I did it for what I got when it was over--an opportunity to do the exact same thing, but instead have it actually count for something. This made any discomfort I'd endure peripheral.

After a morning conversation with a brother, and an evening spent reading a book that's been plucking at my heart strings, I can't help but be reminded that Christianity is bound up with the same idea--adversity is inevitable. I also can't help but be reminded that the misery of two weeks spent toiling in the boiling heat is much easier than following a perfect King while inside of an imperfect body adrift in a world that's gone amiss. Trouble is promised (John 16:33), and yet, when it comes I'm wildly amnesic. I fumble around in my brain for some sort of explanation or conclusion I can come to that will explain why a day, a week, or a month has been riddled with difficulty. This is not a physical distress, it's an inner anguish and fatigue. Physical pain withers in the flame of the troubles of the heart and the mind.

In the world you will have tribulation. . . (Jn 16:33)

This is the "trouble" Jesus is vehemently driving at when He promises His disciples that they will have tribulation in the world. The word 'tribulation' is also used to mea pressure. Following Christ is always a matter of the heart. Loving people is always a matter of the heart. Living selflessly is a matter of the heart. So, when trouble comes it always comes to put pressure on my heart. Temptation to sin does not attack my arm, or my chest. Instead, it attacks my heart. What does my King tell me to do? He says, "But take heart. . ." The phrase actually means "to be of good cheer". Not confused, or discouraged, or depressed that I've failed. Gladness is the call for all instances of trouble. Smiles, singing, laughing, praising, and worshipping are right because of what's be done and because of what's ahead.

The truth is this; Christ would endure the greatest promised tribulation and misery so that we could endure the promised tangible and intangible trouble that comes with being broken people who are progressively being transformed into new and newer creations. "Take heart," Jesus said, "I have overcome the world." What a heroically confident statement! Jesus hadn't yet gone to the cross to overcome the world and make the promise true, and yet He knew His suffering along with His victory was inevitable.

As certain as we can be that the pressures of the world are coming in with the next sunrise, we can be more sure of the victory of the Cross and the Resurrection over those troubles.

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