Beyond Mediocrity Blog

This is the third post in a series of posts entitled: "Truth's Heroes." Instead of standing up for what's right, we complain about what's wrong.... Today at school I saw a student being bullied by another couple of students.  Here's what happened: During lunch, a girl was walking back from the snack machine with a bag of candy.  Tearing open the bag, the candy spilled on the ground.  Two other students reacted and grabbed some of it for themselves.  Having seen what happened, I began walking toward the incident in the back of the lunch room.  The girl had finished picking up her candy and was asking for the other pieces back from the two bullies.  Instead of handing the candy over to the girl, they threw one piece on the ground and laughed.  The girl, shaking her head, turned and walked back to her seat.  In the meantime, one of the bullies took out a piece of the candy and began eating it.  This is about the time when I entered the picture.  Need

This is the second post in a series of posts entitled: "Truth's Heroes." If you were to describe Jesus in a few words, what words would you choose? Surely, words like loving , merciful , kind , compassionate , gentle , peaceful , and humble would be near the top of the list. The truth is, Jesus is so much more than cupcakes and good feelings.

This post marks the first in a series of posts entitled: "Truth's Heroes." I am operating under the general premise that Christians today are so afraid of offending someone that we keep the Truth to ourselves.  When a teacher at school teaches evolution to innocent children, we turn and look the other way.  When a policy is made in government that goes completely against the Bible, we might mumble under our breath - and then turn the other way.  When an athlete comes out as "gay," we sidestep any controversy about the subject and turn the other way.  My friends, I say "we" because I am guilty of it too.  But we shouldn't be.  None of us who know the Truth should be hiding it.  We should be speaking it. I am going to be focusing on some very controversial issues over the next few posts.  Some of you may agree with me wholeheartedly, others will undoubtedly emphatically disagree with me.  Regardless, I am not in charge of what you do wit

(Image courtesy of http://pixgood.com.) As I said in yesterday's post, I have been coaching an elementary-aged basketball team for the last month or so. Last night was our last practice, so I decided to do it the old "Cougar Camp" way and have competitions with prizes awarded to the winners. ("Cougar Camp" is a week-long, summer baseball camp in my hometown for elementary school kids that my dad has organized for over a decade. Prizes are awarded each day to kids who win competitions or display great character.)

(Image courtesy of http://wikipedia.org.) Beginning in early January and ending this Friday night, I have volunteered a few hours each week to coach an elementary-aged basketball team at a local church.  Now, in mid-February, we are in the final week of this very short, yet very draining, season. Have you ever tried coaching little kids before?  The first night I told them to line up on the line, and they immediately

(Image courtesy of Charles Schultz, Peanuts .) I have come to realization that I complain a lot more than I would like to think.  Complaining is so easy to do.  But why?  Why is it so much easier to complain than stay upbeat and positive?  How does one look at the glass half-full and not half-empty? Here are three simple and Biblical ways to stop the habit of complaining.

(Image courtesy of http://www.wdyl.com.) The results are in: The Love Approach works! I didn't get to try it on my class since testing changed the daily schedule this week, but I did try it on a few different students throughout the week.  Today, in fact, I practiced

(Image courtesy of https://pointsadhsblog.wordpress.com.) The last four days have been rough.  I contracted a stomach virus from somewhere last week (I've been keeping the toilets busy ever since).  On top of feeling sick, I had an early morning blow up during my first block class on Friday. This is how it "went down."