The Way, The Truth, and The Life

Good evening friends and followers,


We are 25 days, almost 26, into the new year. I hope 2016 has gotten off to a great start for each of you. If you've enjoyed my recent posts, then I welcome you back. I'd like to take a few minutes now, here in this post, to shift the theme of my blog back to one of its originally intended purposes... through the sharing of real life stories in my walk with God in the hope that they will encourage, and draw readers closer to Him as well.


A few days ago, I was looking through some digital photos that I had taken on my phone and then stored on my computer. I enjoy the occasional trip down memory lane. In browsing my photo library, I came across a particular set that really brought back some good times.


Many moons ago (well, to be accurate... only a little under four years ago)... I was a game leader for the week long Vacation Bible School (or VBS, for short) at my local church. It was the summer of 2012 and the theme that year was "Amazing Wonders" and one of the examples of God's amazing wonders was the Grand Canyon.


On one of the days (I believe it was in the middle of the week if my memory is still any good)... I thought about the Grand Canyon as I was getting set to plan that morning's activities during game time. I took two jump ropes and set them across from each other, divided the kids into two teams, and had each team line up across from each other, behind the ropes. The gap in the middle was to represent the Grand Canyon, the object of the game being to bounce a ball back and forth without it hitting the ground, or "falling into the canyon"


After a few minutes (not to mention several instances of having lost the ball in the canyon)... I had them all line up on the same side behind one rope and then repositioned the second rope so that it was about four feet away. I asked them a question. "Who thinks they can jump over this gap, this canyon in the middle, without any help?" Most of them had no trouble. Four feet is not a terribly long distance. But what if the gap was much wider, I thought? I moved the rope again, this time probably 20, or maybe 30 feet away... and again presented them with the challenge. "Who can jump the gap, without any help?" Some of the them admitted they couldn't. A few others tried to get a running start but still wound up falling into the canyon. None of them could cross the gap in one jump. So I asked them another question.


"How wide is the gap between us... and God?" A lot of these kids had grown up in the church, so they knew the answer. But for those that did not, I hoped that the illustration was a good one. "Very big... much much bigger than the canyon" seemed to be the consensus answer.


What is it that makes the gap so big? "Sin!" was the unanimous answer. And finally, I asked one more question. "How can we cross the gap then?"


John 14:6 says these words... Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."


This same illustration was used when I first heard the gospel, when I first trusted Jesus, at the age of 18. I never grew up in the church, and never knew Jesus as a child. Perhaps that is why I have always had the heart that I do for children's ministry. I know first hand, just how important it is to have that relationship with God at a young age.


Our sin is what separates us from God "For all have sinned and fall short of His glory" Jesus died on the cross to take the punishment for our sins, so that we could be reconciled to God. He is the only way!


Anyway, after the canyon game... I put away the ropes and I think we spent the rest of that morning doing relay races. I enjoyed so very much my time at VBS that summer, and it gives me such great joy to see how much the kids, and most everyone else at my old church as well, truly love God.


Blessings to you all,

Mike

Playoffs, Part Deux

Hello world,

Well, this long time NFL fan is back again for another round of the playoffs. Eight teams remain in the tournament, but only four will win this weekend.

By the way, just as an aside... this is not exclusively an NFL blog, or even a sports blog per se. In the month of January, however, it naturally trends towards that theme... as it is the topic I'm most likely focused on, as a 25 year follower of professional football. Also... I have changed the name of the blog. It was called "The Random Thoughts and Creative Works of Mike Kinnaly" and while that is still the main theme of the blog... it is now titled "The Other Side Of The River."

But I digress.

Last week I came on here, prior to the kickoff of the wildcard weekend, and let the whole world know which four teams I thought were going to advance to the divisional round of the playoffs. Keeping in mind that my regular season record for picking games was 174-82, with a winning percentage of over .500 in every single one of the 17 weeks, and finishing in the double digit win column (10 or more correct) in 10 of those weeks... I figured I'd probably do very well with the playoff contests.

So... how accurately did I predict last weekend's games? Well, I got four out of four... wrong!

Let's take a brief look back on what went wrong...

Green Bay vs Washington.... It's not so much that I over-estimated the Redskins, I think it's more I underestimated the Packers in this one. I considered it a toss up even before the game, but I gave the edge to the home team. I really wish I had double checked that one!

The Kansas City/Houston game... on second thought, let's move on...

Seattle/Minnesota... the Seahawks might just be the luckiest team in all of sports. As for the Pittsburgh/Cincinnati game... what can I say? The Steelers gave that game away, and the Bengals turned right around and gave it back to them.

Which brings us to the divisional round, and my picks for this weekend's games...

Kansas City vs. New England... I'm a Patriots fan, so naturally I would have to pick them to win. However, in taking a closer look, it would seem that after picking all four games wrong a week ago... that if I really wanted the Patriots to win, then I should pick against them, right? There's been some strange things going on in Foxboro over the course of the last week. Chandler Jones, Rob Gronkowski.... but perhaps the most bizarre of all? Bill Belichick shows up at Tuesday press conference with a black eye. When asked about it, he mumbles "I think I'll live." The next day, he was reported to have been seen at the facility carrying a pair of boxing gloves.

On to the game...

I think New England wins it. Score of 28-10. Next!

Green Bay vs Arizona... The Cardinals are not the Redskins. Green Bay will face a much tougher challenge going up against an Arizona team that blew them out just a few weeks ago. I think the score will be closer this time, but the outcome is the same. Arizona wins, 31-24.

Seattle vs Carolina... Tough one. The Carolina Panthers had the best regular season record. The Seattle Seahawks are the defending NFC champions. Two young, very great quarterbacks.  Two of the top defensive units in football. I think both teams make great plays on both sides of the ball, but something tells me Seattle is going to find a way to win at the end... like they have done in so many playoff games before. 28-24.

Pittsburgh vs Denver... The injuries on the offensive side for the Steelers may well just be the deciding factor in this match-up. Antonio Brown and Deangelo Williams not in the line-up, and Big Ben at less than 100% is not a favorable match-up against an elite defensive unit. I would have actually liked to see the Steelers win this one, as that would mean an extra home game for the Patriots... but Denver has the advantage, and a 20-10 victory.

Well... thanks for reading! Enjoy the games!

Playoffs!

So today (Saturday January 9th) is the start of the NFL playoffs. Anyone who has known me for some time knows that I am a huge NFL fan, and have followed professional football now since the 1990 season, 25 years ago.

I'm a regular and active participant in fantasy football... having been on a season long fantasy league through my church for five seasons between 2010 and 2014, and also a casual (not professional) player of daily fantasy.

Every year at this time, I normally spend countless hours analyzing the postseason and picking the teams I think have the best chance of winning. I seem to, usually, get my predictions right too! Well, about half the time! Maybe sometimes a little less than that.

Anyhow, I have made my picks for wildcard weekend. I usually wrap this up by the Friday before the wildcard weekend begins, but have had some other things going on this week... and as such, this is somewhat last minute and may appear to be hurried. Apologies in advance for any grammatical errors, not a lot of time to proofread.

Here we go...

Houston Texans vs Kansas City Chiefs... I'm going with Houston at home in this one, in a game I think will be higher scoring than expected, 27-24. Both Kansas City and Houston have enough weapons on offense in the passing game to move the ball downfield... and I'm giving the edge to the home team in what I think will be the closest game of the weekend.

Cincinnati Bengals vs Pittsburgh Steelers... The Bengals have not won a playoff game since the 1990 season, which as I mentioned above... was my first season following professional football. I think the long drought without a playoff win comes to an end tonight in Cincinnati. The Bengals are good enough on the defensive side of the ball to shut down the Steelers' high-powered offense, which will be forced to be one-dimensional with D. Williams being ruled out due to injury. I think they can score on defense too, and AJ McCarron at quarterback can make enough plays against a weak secondary to lead the Bengals to a 24-13 win.

Sunday's games...

Minnesota Vikings vs Seattle Seahawks... Seattle destroyed Minnesota just a month ago on this same field. That said, historically speaking, a team that gets blown out in the regular season tends to fare much better against the same opponent when a rematch takes place in the postseason. There's examples... I can't name them off the top of my head, but am pretty sure I can go back and look them up when I get more time, but anyway... in my upset of the week, I have Minnesota winning by a score of 23-17. The Seahawks are in a similar predicament that the Steelers find themselves in, their top running back being ruled out and as such they will be forced to take to the air more. Minnesota's defense is underrated but I think they can limit Seattle in the passing game, especially playing at home in what is projected to be one of the coldest games in NFL history. Vikings offense, led by Adrian Peterson in the run game, makes enough plays to lead them to the upset victory.

Washington Redskins vs Green Bay Packers... This one, I admit, was the hardest one of the weekend to pick. I could easily go both ways, making a case for either team. Washington has Kirk Cousins at quarterback and he has been playing lights out over the last several weeks, particularly at home. On the other hand... Redskins have not beaten a team with a winning record all season. Aaron Rodgers is a Super Bowl winning quarterback with a plethora of postseason experience, perhaps more so than the entire 53 man Washington roster. Rodgers is one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time and is going up against a Washington secondary that is one of the last in the league in yards allowed. And yet... the rest of the Packers' offense is just, well.. bad! I'm going to give the advantage to the home team in this one, in what should be the highest scoring contest of the weekend... and pick Washington to win, 38-31. I would not be surprised, however, if this one went the other way... if Green Bay's defense steps up, and if they can get their running game going early and often.

Well, that's it. Enjoy the games... I will see you all back here this time next week for the divisional round!