MTV

The Craziness Continues

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

There are always a few surprises in the NCAA basketball tournament. This year was definitely no exception. There were more than a few double-digit seeded teams knocking off their much-higher seeded counterparts. That happens every year. There will always be a few upsets to rattle everyone’s brackets a bit.

The biggest of all has to be #15 seed Middle Tennessee State University knocking off the #2 seed (and one of the favorites to win it all) in Michigan State University.

In my less-than-expert opinion, that has to go down as one of the greatest– if not THE greatest– upsets in the first round of any NCAA tournament.

No, I didn’t pick MTSU. Yes, I picked Michigan State to go far in most (if not all) of my brackets. Am I upset that my brackets are now busted? Meh. I didn’t have much hope going in of getting every pick right.

I am super excited for MTSU and Murfreesboro. I’m psyched that a team from close to where I live did what almost no one thought they could do– they brought down the Goliath of college basketball. I’m sure that people will be talking about this one for a long, long time.

From here on out, I’m just hoping for lots more upsets and stunners in the tournament. I figured at the very least I can print out those brackets of mine and make some very fine paper airplanes.

I’m thankful that nothing catches my God off guard. Nothing takes Him by surprise. Nothing that’s done to me or nothing I do to anyone will cause God to do a double-take.    Best of all, nothing can cause God to stop loving His children. Nothing.

God still works all things together for good. His good. My good. Your good.

That hasn’t changed. That will never change. No matter what happens or how bleak the future forecast looks.

That’s my hope that’s sending me off to sleep tonight.

My So-Called Blog

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 3 Comments

mscl“People are always saying you should be yourself, like yourself is this definite thing, like a toaster. Like you know what it is even. But every so often I’ll have, like, a moment, where just being myself in my life right where I am is, like, enough” (from My So-Called Life).

Yeah, I just probably violated some copyright law with that title, which could either refer to the early 90’s short-lived TV series My So-Called Life or the local band My-So Called Band, who more or less borrowed their name from the show, so I think I’m good.

I’ll be honest. I missed that show when it was actually on the air. I think I caught a glimpse of part of an episode when it was in eternal re-runs on MTV. I was probably too upset that MTV had gotten away from actual music videos to be able to truly appreciate what I was watching. I also seem to recall that my crush on Claire Danes started with seeing that fraction of an episode all those years ago (just keepin’ it real, folks).

Well, here I am, 18 years after the show ended and way too old for the demographic and in serious danger of losing my man card for saying this, but I really like this show. It captures a time, but it doesn’t feel dated.

The styles may be from the Nirvana-era early 90’s, but the themes are universal. The characters feel as real as any of the people I went to high school with. The issues they deal with are issues I dealt with, for the most part. I can actually remember specifically what I felt when I see a character going through what I went through.

I’ve been trying to find one particular quote that really struck me from watching the first three episodes. I just now found it and I’m having that satisfied feeling of “I’m glad I found it” mixed with the relief of “I’m glad it really exists and I didn’t just make it up in my head.”

“What’s amazing is when you can feel your life going somewhere. Like your life just figured out how to get good. Like, that second.”

I realize there is an overabundance of the word “like” in that statement. I also realize that I tend to get annoyed when people overuse the word “like.” Like I just did. Right this second.

All I’m saying is that it’s funny how God uses the unlikeliest things to teach you about life. Like TV shows and songs on the radio and offhand comments from friends. Yeah, that pretty much sums it all up for me.