Catching up...The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Been kinda' busy, but not in any rigid, business-like manner. Here are a few things of note that have transpired in the last few weeks.

• The Good: Went to prison again with Jimmy - no, we're not repeat offenders who keep getting sentenced to do time. We had the chance to join Champions for Life (Bill Glass ministries) for the big Dallas/Ft. Worth Weekend of Champions outreach. Jimmy and I were assigned to a facility in Mineral Wells (about an hour and a half from Dallas). We had a great time sharing the Gospel with inmates there. The special guests also did a great job of challenging the inmates to turn to Jesus Christ with their lives. Bill Glass aptly noted that life can be like a football game and some people have pretty bad first halves, but a good halftime can lead to the right adjustments and decisions that can eventually result in victory in the second half. He challenged the inmates to make the most important "half time adjustment" of all - trust Jesus Christa as Lord and Savior. I felt refreshed by our time there.
• The Good: Had a good Thanksgiving break. We enjoyed our annual "fried turkey" which is definitely our preferred method of preparing turkey. It's tasty, it's faster than the oven, and definitely more fun to do. We kept our Thanksgiving tradition of hosting "abandoned people" - people that may be around who are away from home. This year we enjoyed having Kris, a medical student in Dallas for a clinical rotation over. This was his first time ever trying fried turkey and seemed to enjoy it. We've rarely been able to celebrate thanksgiving with a lot of family so going all the way back to our days in Ann Arbor, where lots of college students can get stranded far from home, we have always made it a point to invite people over to celebrate with us. We never really planned on doing it in any formal sense, but it has been a blessing to be able to celebrate with lots of different people over the years. It definitely makes our home feel a bit warmer.
• The Good: Did an overnight camp out with Jimmy, Hyunho, Ho, and Stefan this past Friday night. Jimmy found a great, secluded spot by Lake Ray Roberts. We were looking forward to doing something like this because we've been inspired by Survivorman, Les Stroud. We ended up having ideal conditions - temps in the 30's, a little rain, no tents, no amenities. Jimmy did a great job of preparing the right gear (as usual) so we made it through a cold, wet night with a lean-to and a healthy camp fire. In addition, we had some good eatin' with chicken and pork rib tips cooked survivorman-style on the fire. Throw in some beans and gas and it was truly the perfect "man"ping outing.
  
• The Bad: We had a great turnout for the Hanuri Turkey Bowl and everything was really fun this year except for one thing - my stupid left foot. On our first series I played QB and as I went back to pass, a planted my left foot and felt a distinct "pop." It was so sharp that I actually thought I had cracked some plastic on my cleats. I didn't feel anything at first so I actually played 2 more plays (which did result in me throwing a TD pass - hehe), but by that time I could feel that something was really wrong with my foot. Ho comes over to say nice play after the TD and all I could say was, "I'm out." "What?" Ho asked quizzically, "Yeah, I'm out - I think I busted my foot" is all I could say. I sit out and within minutes I could feel my foot swell and get really sore. X-rays showed no fracture, but the doctor said that I had a partial tear of my plantar fascia. The bad news is that I'm out of action again for a while and just when our church is about to finish the gym (aaaarrrrrgggghh!). I guess I'm getting old and there's nothing I can do about it.
• The Ugly: Michigan lost to the Buckeyes - 'nuff said.