Semifinals

Adaptation has been the hallmark of this weird season that we’re in. The important things in life have to continue even as the world as we’ve known it has ground to a halt. We try to do school from home as best as we can. We reach out and connect with friends and family over FaceTime and Zoom calls. We keep going where we are able.

My ministry with my students is the area where I have had to adapt on the fly the most. I am not always sure how we’re doing. The hallmark of a youth group is community and while we can see each other’s faces on our screen, I know that it is not the same as being in a room together or sitting down to a meal with friends.

But you do all you can to try and meet the needs of your community. We’ve kept meeting on Sunday mornings and nights over the internet. We have Bible studies through the weeks and gather once a week to just hang out and play some games. It has been encouraging to see those faces pop up on the screen to still talk about faith and share stories. You adapt. You keep moving forward.

The first Sunday of May at our church is traditionally Youth Sunday in which our students lead in morning worship. As the days of sheltering in place stretched into weeks, it became evident that we were not going to be able to follow the usual script for this capstone to the school year. But cancelling was never an option in my mind. Our church has been doing virtual services for weeks now, so we were going to put our spin on the service.

Apr 19

Apr 19 Like Thomas I Want to See Something

Like Thomas
I want to see something
That will make me believe

I have no need for nail-scarred hands
Nor wounded sides
Of a Savior back from the dead

But I want to see something
That will make me believe
Resurrection is possible

For I have my doubts
Not in the risen Christ
But in the rising rest of us

There’s a darkness I see
Inside myself
More often than I’d like

And I am tired
Of cruel avaricious kings
And their power-craving priests

Apr 11

Apr 11 First Breath After Dying

The tomb is silent and cold and dark as a starless night. Sealed on Friday, the grave was the lifeless void that first day, so also the second, and so it began on the third. It would persist undefeated. The cold midnight hush would envelope that space until the world caved in.

Yet something stirred. The flutter of a heartbeat; nearly imperceptible. The silence reasserts its dominion for a time before another pulse briefly flickers to life. This is how it begins: a tug of war between life and death. If what the writer of the epistle says is true and to God a day is as a thousand years then decades elapsed between those first new heartbeats.

A thin line of musty air is drawn in and barely inflates the lungs. A breath more shallow than the damp dust from the first drop of rain touching the ground. The sound is a nearly inaudible hiss. A space of silence. Then another wisp of air is drawn in and then another. For some time he hangs there a breath towards the living and a silence towards the dead.

Apr 4

Apr 4 An Awkward Parade

Several hundred, some may say several thousand, years worth of anticipation hung in the air. Like summer humidity that sticks to your shirt the second you step outside, you couldn’t avoid it. Not today. Not on Passover week.

A guy claiming to be the Messiah or at least someone who people said was the Messiah was nothing new. There had been tons of guys going around saying that they were the One; saying that they were going to show Rome what’s what. So a messiah making his way to Jerusalem was about as common as a singer-songwriter making their way to Nashville.

But this guy was different. There was a good deal of discussion over whether he was the right kind of different. It wasn’t so much that he talked like he was the Messiah. Word had it that he had tried to keep a lot of that talk and even tales of his miracles under wraps. But the stories still got out: dead men walking, the blind seeing, demon-possessed pigs plunging over a cliff, and thousands fed with a lunch meant for a kid. It is hard to keep those type of things hush-hush.

His name certainly carried great weight. Yeshua, which translates to Joshua or—as the Greeks put it—Jesus. It means “the Lord saves.” It’s true that tons of people gave their boys this name. What parent doesn’t want their child to be the redemption of his people? You have to name the kid to fit the bill. Poindexter isn’t going to quarterback the state championship team and Biff isn’t going to find the cure for cancer. Joshua, like Messiah talk, was nothing special. But it seemed special. At least with him.

All of this—the miracles, the name, the hope that he was the Messiah—mixed with Passover week like a molotov cocktail. Jerusalem seemed like it could explode at any moment. Roman officials were squeamish enough with all of these people that they had underfoot flooding into the city. The last thing they wanted was for another revolution-driven Messiah to take the religious devotion of the masses and turn it into a riot.

Apr 4

Apr 4 Ultimate Mascot Madness Final Four

The ball is tipped
But there’s no ball
An epic mascot fight
Give it all you are
Bears, ducks, and storms
Mascot fest
Now the question is
Which one’s the best?
One Shining Moment
It’s kind of absurd
One Shining Moment
When knights fight some birds

That One Shining Moment, you fought all the way
One Shining Moment, you knew
One Shining Moment, in a mascot melee
One Shining Moment, you knew
One Shining Moment

Semifinals

#9 Miami Hurricanes over #34 Canisius Golden Griffins - It has been quite the run for the Golden Griffins: from the Play-In Tournament to an epic run through the East Region. However, their mighty lion-eagleness is no match for a Hurricane which would completely incapacitate the Griffin’s go-to attack of flight. Plus how does one stop a hurricane? Will some college take notice of Mascot Madness and nickname their school the Weather Wizards?
#26 Iowa State Cyclones over #19 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos - Another obvious result. The legendary Gauchos got hot in the West Region and took out some tough human opponents with their more modern weaponry. Yet again, they were no match for unbridled ferocity of a natural disaster.

Apr 4

Apr 4 Ultimate Mascot Madness Sweet 16 & Elite Eight

Sweet Sixteen

South Region

#9 Miami Hurricanes over #5 Furman Paladins - Never let it be said that I play favorites. Ever since I started Mascot Madness, I have wanted to include my beloved alma mater to see how they would fare. I’m proud of this run to the Sweet 16. The Hurricane is just too tough an opponent to overcome.
#UAB Blazers vs. #31 Longwood Lancers - A Lancer is a member of a cavalry regiment with a lance or spear. The weapon may give them a shot against a dragon, but a Google Image search does not show much in the way of armor. Blazers win.

East Region

#34 Canisius Golden Griffins over #21 Marshall Thundering Herd - Remember in the last round when I mentioned the medieval drawing of a Griffin carrying a horse and knight in its talons to feed to its young? That’s how I see this playing out: the Golden Griffin flying around a field picking off buffalo with its talons.
#6 Hofstra Pride over #26 LIU Sharks - This was a tough pick. Lions can swim but they don’t love the water like tigers. However, we are talking about one shark against a pride of lions. I feel like their strength in numbers would negate any water advantage the Sharks have. Victory for the Pride.

Apr 2

Apr 2 Ultimate Mascot Madness Third Round

South Region

#9 Miami Hurricanes over #37 Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils - Where have the Delta Devils succeeded where their demonic brethren have failed? Their apparent ability to shoot fire at people. But that fire does precious little against driving storms and 100+ mile per hour winds.
#5 Furman Paladins over #20 Vanderbilt Commodores - I feel like I don’t have to explain this, but as a reminder a Paladin is a knight on a horse and a Commodore is a dude with a sword inspired by a business magnate.
#19 UAB Blazers over #6 Tennessee Volunteers - “Blaze the Mascot Dragon / Reps UAB / And barbecued the Volunteer from a state called Tennessee”
#31 Longwood Lancers over #10 North Carolina Tar Heels - Not a great couple of games for human mascots that also represent their respective state’s nickname.

East Region

#34 Canisius Golden Griffins over #24 Army Black Knights - This one is a toss-up. I found a website that had some medieval art depicting encounters between Knights and Griffins. Obviously these are all fictional, but some depicted knights slaying griffins because you’re not going to beef up your legend by showing your butt getting kicked by an eagle-lion. But there was one image of a griffin carrying a knight and its horse in its talons to feed the two to its baby griffins. Golden Griffins get the win.
#21 Marshall Thundering Herd over #4 Penn State Nittany Lions - Per Mascot Madness rules we are talking about one mountain lion verses an entire herd of buffalo.
#6 Hofstra Pride over #3 Rutgers Scarlet Knights - Pride of lions versus a single knight; one wearing scarlet which is not the most stealthy color.
#26 LIU Sharks over #15 UMass Minutemen - I know what you’re thinking: the minutemen has a gun. But a Revolutionary War-era musket would not shoot well into the water and take a heck of a long time to reload. Suddenly we’re talking man versus shark and shark wins.

Mar 31

Mar 31 Ultimate Mascot Madness Second Round

South Region

#37 Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils over #16 George Mason Patriots - For a brief moment, I thought that the short story “The Devil and Daniel Webster” might save the Patriots from our fire-throwing Bayou Beelzebub. Alas Daniel Webster was born at the tail end of the Revolutionary War and thus could not really qualify as being a Patriot in the strictest sense of the word.
#9 Miami Hurricanes over #25 Stetson Hatters - Making the Second Round is an unbelievable run for the Hatters.
#20 Vanderbilt Commodores over #4 Arkansas Razorbacks - The sword does in the hog.
#5 Furman Paladins over #12 North Florida Ospreys - And the sword, shield, armor, and horse does in the bird (not that it would all be needed).
#6 Tennessee Volunteers over #22 Arkansas State Red Wolves - Tennessee is the Volunteer State in part because of those who volunteered to fight in the War of 1812 and Mexican-American War. Thus this type of individual could take on a wolf.
#19 UAB Blazers over #3 Florida Gators - My kids like Pokémon a fair amount and the Gator seems like the first stage of a Pokémon evolution with the Blazer being its final form.
#10 North Carolina Tar Heels over #26 Florida A&M Rattlers - I briefly considered going the other way, but I think a person could win out over a snake.
#31 Longwood Lancers over #15 Wake Forest Demon Deacons - I finally looked it up and a lancer was a solider of a cavalry regiment who was armed with a lance or a spear. I may have underestimated the Lancers.

Mar 30

Mar 30 Ultimate Mascot Madness First Round