Association with Non-Christians; Judging Others

I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler - not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves. 1 Corinthians 5:9-13

Random thought: as I re-read this, I couldn't help remembering the case of Ms. Kessmann, until yesterday leader of Germany's protestants, who resigned in the wake of a drunk driving episode. Lots of people were declaring that she alone could make her decision, or that she should not resign. "The drunkard"... "remove the wicked man." Maybe God does think this is a bigger deal than some people would like to believe.

Nonetheless, my real reason for posting this were the themes of, "don't rip [sinners] for acting like [sinners]" (anybody ever read 1 John 3?), and "quit judging others - that's God's job."

Blessed

What do you have that you did not receive? 1 Corinthians 4:7

When pride or self-satisfaction come knocking, remember.

Lord, Save Us From the Knock-out Punches

How often have you received this e-mail?

Christian says...
Muslim says...
Christian says...
Muslim says...
Christian says...
Muslim says...
Christian delivers knock-out punch line...
Muslim has no response.

How I wish we could make these e-mails go away. First off, I doubt many of them ever happened. Maybe more importantly, things don't work that way. Do we really think that very many people will want to get to know the 'God who is love' when their experience with his followers is that of an intellectual argument - which in our e-mail, they lost?

And yet, we keep reading them and forwarding them with gusto. Trust me, if Jesus had e-mail, he'd hit 'delete.' He may click "unsubscribe," too.

W.W.J.D.

For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps. 1 Peter 2:21

I have to wonder how many of the fadistos ever thought about that they were committing themselves to suffering, or more specifically, to taking up their cross.

Oops! No Sidewalks!

If you were wondering why they're building ramps all along Council Road, but no sidewalks - city government has explained the riddle. It's - surprise - government bureaucracy at its best.

Optimism

"The optimists are usually wrong and the pessimists are usually right. Yet, all the great changes in history were done by optimists."

Thomas Friedmann, three-time Pulitzer Prize winner [quote is not verbatim]

Fragile

"I envy those few people who truly understand that life is a fragile bargain, rescindable at any time by the other party, and live their lives accordingly."

Joseph Epstein

Nonsense

Why do all these clever newspaper reporters point out that only a victory counts in Tuesday's game - when it is a direct elmination competition? You always have to win in the DFB Pokal. Which is what we will do.

Greulich Fuerth Means Nothing

What's all this Schmarn about the game against Fuerth deciding Babbel's future?

Let's say we win. Whoop-dee-doo. We beat a team from the second Bundesliga. That would make me keep a coach. Are we going to win against Sevilla and Bayern afterwards? I'd love it, but I don't see it happening. You can lose games like that. Any of our best coaches has at times. Now, keeping on losing afterwards wouldn't be pretty, and that needs to stop.

Let's say we lose. You really want to fire your coach and waste whatever stimulus you're hoping for from a new coach on very possible losses to Sevilla and Munich? Nice move. Either way, let's just give Babbel time at least until after the Moenchengladbach game.

And yes, Markus Babbel needs to remain our coach. We need to become a team like Manchester United or Arsenal who stick with a great coach for years.

P.S. Send that Mappus fellow across the border to Bavaria. Or better yet, France. Traitor.

Nothing Has Happened

Alright, let's assume that we're going to lose in Sevilla, too. What does that mean?

Nothing.

Of course, I'm assuming Sevilla keeps on winning. As long as they do,

• if Glasgow beats Unirea in Romania, we need to tie Glasgow and beat Unirea
• if they tie, we need to tie Glasgow and beat Unirea
• if Unirea wins, we need to beat Glasgow and Unirea

If we managed to tie Sevilla, we could even afford a loss to Glasgow if they beat Unirea. All this would leave us second in the end. While all that doesn't look pretty, our chances are anything but terrible.

And yes, Markus Babbel needs to remain our coach.

Playing It Safe

Out of the blue, I quoted (the German translation of) Augustus this morning after he heard of his army's defeat by Arminius:

"Varus, Varus, gib' mir meine Legionen wieder!"

Ch gave me a skeptical look, and decided to respond with an answer she deemed safe:

"I love you."

Shortly thereafter, La chimed in,

"Ich hab' den Bananen-blues."

Guess we still need to work on that German language expertise.

Doing My Best

If the 18 teams of the Bundesliga (top German soccer league) have an average of 25 players on roll, that's 450 pro's. Compared to the 6.3 million members of the Deutscher Fussball-Bund, that's 0.007%. Am I in the top 0.007% in my calling? Am I on my way there? Or do I want to spend my life playing Kreisklasse?