Lessons of a Cubs Fan

It's been a long drought for Chicago Cubs fans. In fact, it's been exactly 100 years since their last World Series Championship in 1908. It's hard to imagine that their last championship came a time when the Cubs were considered one of the best teams in the major leagues.


Since then, the Cubs have occasionally made the playoffs and teased their fans with thoughts of another championship only to ultimately disappoint their faithful in the end. But 2008 has been an atypical season for the Cubs so far. They have one of the best records in the majors and are leading their division as play resumes this week following the All-Star break. Suddenly the idea of a World Series Championship in 2008 doesn't seem too far-fetched.


But Cubs fans know not to get their hopes up too soon. They've been down this road too many times before. Their faithful (and I admit, I have been one of them for the past twenty years) know that things could still go horribly wrong before the year is out. Often, their fans are referred to as longsuffering because of the many years they've waited for a championship team. As the Bible shows us, there is much more to longsuffering that simply waiting patiently for our hopes and dreams to be fulfilled.


The most vivid picture that Scripture gives us of longsuffering is the life of Job. The Bible tells us that Job was a righteous man and that Satan sought to test him. God allowed Job to endure trials beyond what many of us could possibly imagine. All the while he remained strong in his faith in God despite what his circumstances and his s0-called friends told him.


The apostle Paul refers to longsuffering as one of the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. Unfortunately, many modern translations substitute patience for longsuffering. The dictionary defines patience as "an ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay". To me, this speaks more to how we wait in line at the drive-thru at McDonald's rather than enduring trials. Patiently waiting for something or someone holds with it a promise that the thing wished for will be provided at some point in the future.


By contrast, the dictionary defines longsuffering as "long and patient endurance of injury, trouble, or provocation". Longsuffering is the ability to endure trials and tribulations with no definite end in sight. Paul again helps us understand biblical longsuffering when speaks of the "thorn in his flesh" (2 Corinthians 12:7-10) which many speculate to be some type of ailment that plagued him throughout his life. God's purpose in not removing Paul's burden was twofold: to keep him humble and to rely on God for everything he needed.


God uses our trials to strengthen our faith in Him (James 1:2-4). He wants us to not only patiently endure them but to develop the spirtiual discipline of longsuffering. It is not merely being patient but waiting upon the Lord to provide even when it doesn't look like He will. It also means humbling ourselves and allowing Him to complete His perfect work in us.

Baseball Quote of the Week

When they start the game, they don't yell, "Work ball." They say, "Play ball."

~Willie Stargell

Friday Fun: Five Things About Me (v.1)

I don't normally write about myself. However, I have, on occasion, run across blog posts where bloggers reveal interesting facts about themselves. So here for your enjoyment are some random things about me:

1. How many books do you have on your shelf waiting to be read?
At last count it was somewhere around 40. If I would just stop visiting used book stores like this one (my personal favorite) I might be able to catch up on my reading. Here are five random titles from the "to be read" shelf:

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
John Adams by David McCullough
Second Objective by Mark Frost
Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season by Johnathan Eig
The Faith of The American Soldier by Stephen Mansfield

2. One of my favorite foods is pizza - especially Chicago style.
I love pizza. It's one of my great weaknesses. My first exposure to truly wonderful pizza was a college trip to Chicago (in the dead of winter, no less - oh to be young and foolish) where I was introduced to Gino's East. Chicago style pizza is by far the best and Gino's is the place to get it. Giordano's is a close second and is my preferred choice when in Orlando. By the way, you can order from both places by mail. It's worth the price.

My work takes me to Louisville every year and the trip would not be complete without at least one order from Wick's Pizza. Just forget about the diet and dig in.

If you're looking for something a little more unusual in pizzas, try Blossom Cafe in Charleston, SC. They bake their pizzas in a wood-burning oven and offer more exotic topping combinations than your ordinary pizzeria.

Another Charleston-area pizzeria worth mentioning (and a little on the unusual side) is Evo. The thing that makes their pizzas so good is that they use only local, fresh ingredients.

3. My other favorite food is hot dogs.
Another food that is not diet-friendly, I became a hot dog snob living (briefly) in Chicago. Nathan's and Hebrew National may be the best known and most readily available all-beef hot dogs but nothing beats Vienna Beef. Any self-respecting hot dog joint in the city will serve them and they are absolutely the best. If you're willing to pay the price, you can purchase them on line alone or in a kit that allows you to make them the way Chicagoans eat them.

4. The person I've seen perform in concert the most times is....
James Taylor (four times). Runner up: Chris Rice (twice). They are the only two performers I have seen more than once.

5. When travelling, my favorite places to eat are....
First of all, I always make it a point to have at least one meal at a local restaurant. I've made some great discoveries by willing to break out of my comfort zone and try some place that is unique to whatever town I'm visiting. But it's inevitable that when you're on the road you'll hit some chain restaurants. Here are my three favorites:

Fast Food: Chick-Fil-A. If it's a chicken sandwich you want, where better to go than to the original source. Plus, I love the fact that our of conviction, they are closed on Sundays.

Casual Restaurant: Panera Bread. I love bread and I also love pastries. This has the best of both worlds. It's also a place I could eat any meal (breakfast, lunch or dinner) and be truly satisfied.

Sit-down Restaurant: Sometimes a little longer respite from travel is needed and Cracker Barrel is the perfect place. I love the down-home, Southern style cooking plus you can get breakfast any time of the day. It's also one of the few chains that is consistently good at every location.

If I Were An Obama Supporter.....

Come November, I intend to cast my vote for John McCain. Like many other conservatives, I'm not terribly happy about having to vote for McCain but I really have no other legitimate choice. But if I were supporting Barack Obama, I would be increasingly worried about my candidate.

Given his recent track record of major flips on a variety of issues, Senator Obama is quickly making John Kerry look like a principled politician. It is becoming clearer by the day that the Senator is willing to do and say anything in order to get elected. It's not hard to imagine that if Obama wins the election his first two years in office will be marked by a hard tack to the left.

Senator Obama has been able to clinch the Democratic nomination by preaching an ambiguous message of hope and change without delving into much in the way of policy specifics. But as this campaign move into the more serious season he's going to have to make it clear what he stands for. Otherwise the "Change We Can Believe In" will be his platform that alters direction based on which way the political winds are blowing.

President Bush - Underrated?

During my recent interview with author Jane Hampton Cook, I asked her how she thought history would view President Bush. One of the interesting things she mentioned was how the President was more concerned with doing what he felt was right then what was popular or politically expedient and as a result history will likely look more favorably on his presidency than the press does now. I tend to agree with this view.

It's even more refreshing when members of the mainstream media begin to understand this dynamic. This article (from Great Britain, no less) nails it perfectly and at the same time calls liberals and Europeans on the carpet for their deranged hatred of the President (hat tip: Instapundit):

This is a man who has the courage of his convictions.

Let’s not forget how Europe does wars.

Usually we wait and wait until the enemy starts attacking, then we let them win a bit, then we fight until we are tired, then we just call the US to come over to clean our mess. That is what happened in WWI, WWII, and the Balkans.

Bush is just showing us what a bunch of dangerous ditherers we are and we hate him for it. Naturally.

And the Olympics. Bush said right from the beginning that he’s going to the opening ceremony because he saw the whole boycott thing as silly and counterproductive.

Compare that with Sarkozy who has changed his mind twice so far and to Gordon Brown who, well... err.

Not much leadership from Europe here, as usual, just doublespeak. Once again, it is to Bush that we look for leadership.

Bush may not have the slickness of his predecessor, but he is a man you can trust and who prefers to tell it like it is.

This is refreshing, and very scary for us who are used to our politicians always talking grandly about principles and hiding behind political mumbo-speak.

The fact is you guys hate Mr Bush because he is not a hypocrite and you are used to hypocrites as your leaders. We hate what we don’t understand.

Yes, yes, all you bleeding heart liberals are cringing out there. I can just hear you. But the fact is, Mr Bush has had to take some very tough decisions and the world needs people who can not only talk but also act tough and admit mistakes.

Well said.

Baseball Quote of the Week

You gotta be a man to play baseball for a living, but you gotta have a lot of little boy in you, too.

- Roy Campanella

The Revolution From The Pulpit

In my previous post, I referred to the fact that churches in colonial America had much to do with the change of hearts and minds in the colonists that had to take place in order for there to be an American Revolution. This terrific article from Christian History and Biography explains further the role of the church during the Revolution. It is well worth reading.

Learning from the Revolution

When we think about the American Revolution, we tend to think about the war itself. But as John Adams once wrote, "The American Revolution was a change in the hearts and minds of the people." As Jane Hampton Cook shows in her excellent book Battlefields and Blessings: Stories of Faith and Courage from the Revolutionary War, the change of hearts and minds took place over a period of 25 years before the first shots were fired at Lexington and Concord. There is also no doubt that the Revolution would not have occurred if people of faith hadn't been leading the way.

"What I realized was that there really couldn't have been a revolutionary war without people of faith because part of their Christian duty, their understanding of their Judeo-Christian heritage was that they were to obey their king," Ms. Cook said in a recent interiew. (Click here to listen) "That was part of their responsibility to their faith. But they had to make this change. They ended up realizing and prioritizing Galatians 5:1 which says 'It's for freedom that Christ came, therefore, stand firm for that freedom.' The more they concluded that King George had abdicated his God-given responsibility to protect their God-given rights, the more they realized he had become a tyrant and it was part of their duty by their faith to stand firm for freedom."

Through 365 daily devotions, Ms. Cook provides insight into the hearts and minds of not just our most well know founding fathers but many others who played a vital role in the Revolution. By relying on letters, diaries, and other writings, she is able to provide a window into the minds of these courageous men and women who took up the cause of freedom as part of their Christian duty. We also get a keen insight into their own struggles and find much in their lives that is very similar to our own. The book can easily be read as a novel as Ms. Cook still manages to provide a cohesive overall narrative of the Revolution even though she is working within the devotional structure.

One of the book's greatest strengths is the incorporation of what Ms. Cook refers to as the pulpit perspective. Each week's readings conclude with an entry entitled "Sabbath Rest" that features a sermon from the time period. We get to see how pastors were also struggling with their duty to stand firm for freedom and the impact that their teachings had on the Founders.

Battlefields and Blessings: Stories of Faith and Courage from the Revolutionary War is the most comprehensive history of the Revolution that I have come across. It's devotional style makes it great daily reading for individuals or family study. I highly recommend this book as you will gian a much greater understanding of what motivated the founders to abandon their dreams of a quiet life in order to live loud for liberty.

The Lost Art of Hurling A Knuckleball

At one time it was a more commonly (but not widely) utilized pitch: the knuckleball. Now only one major league pitcher employs it. Sports Illustrated has a great profile of the strangest pitch you will ever see thrown and the one guy who still uses it: Boston's Tim Wakefield.

Hat tip: Jonathan

Baseball Quote of the Week

Ninety feet between home plate and first base may be the closest man has ever come to perfection.

~ Red Smith

Road Trip: National Museum of the Marine Corps

Yesterday we were taking a lengthy road trip along the Interstate 95 corridor south of Washington, D. C. and on a whim decided to drop in on the National Museum of the Marine Corps at Quantico, Virginia. Although we had only a short time to tour the museum, we decided very quickly that it would be worth a longer return visit.

The purpose of the museum is to honor the long history of the Marines. To really do it justice, you have to plan to spend several hours. There are numerous artifacts from the past 200 years of history of the Corps. A timeline allows visitors to see the important events of the Marines alongside important historical events from different eras. Separate galleries have been set aside for the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Viet Nam War.

The most striking and moving portion of the museum that we saw was the Iwo Jima exhibit. Visitors step into a simulated shipboard briefing room where they are given a simulated briefing of the Iwo Jima invasion. Then you step onto a mock up of a landing craft and watch a five minute film on a 180 degree screen of actual footage shot during the invasion. After the film ends, you step out into the remainder of the exhibit. On the wall is a display of a Marine Corps or Navy insignia for each of the 5,391 soldiers that lost their lives during the battle. This simple exhibit was by far the most moving of any that we saw during our brief visit.

It's fair to say that this is a museum that is not for the faint of heart. Some of the exhibits feature very graphic displays of combat footage. The museum doesn't pull any punches as far as what it takes to be a Marine or the unique role they play as part of the United States Armed Forces. It's also unique in that this is the only museum where I've actually seen profanity engraved on granite. I won't display it here but if you really want to satisfy your curiousity just let the flash introduction play through from the museum website. The quotes they display are the same quotes on the walls of the rotunda of the museum. As a result, this is a museum that you don't necessarily want to take younger children to visit.

All in all, they have done a terrific job of capturing the history and spirit of the Marine Corps. If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend a visit to the Museum. It's a terrific reminder of sacrifices that have been made for the sake of freedom.

Living Loud For Liberty

Jane Hampton Cook, author of the excellent book Battlefields & Blessings: Stories of Faith and Courage from the Revolutionary War, has posted this terrific video as an Independence Day tribute for those who sacrificed so much so that we could enjoy the blessings of liberty.

Baseball Quote of the Week

Baseball is almost the only orderly thing in a very unorderly world. If you get three strikes, even the best lawyer in the world can't get you off.

~ Bill Veeck

Now, This Is a REALLY Dumb Lawsuit

Absolutely absurd.

Trying real hard to scrub the mental picture from my brain......

Hat tip: The Point

Thoughts on the Great Commission

Author's note: I am recycling this post from 2004. As opportunities have been presented this week to meet people's needs where they are the truths contained in this post came to mind.

The Great Commission - Matthew 28:16-20

16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

If there is a single passage of Scripture that would serve as a "mission statement" for Christians then the case could be made that Matthew 28:16-20 is it. It is the passage that most Christians would cite as the passage that explains our primary purpose here on earth. It is also a passage that is probably one of the most easily misunderstood. I've observed many churches that focus their ministry on reaching non-Christians. The predominant theme running through most of the sermons is the Gospel. In other words, the focus is on salvation instead of discipleship.

Mark D. Roberts, a pastor and blogger, has posted a sermon entitled "Sent to a People Beyond Ourselves" that analyzed this passage and presented some applications for the church today. A couple of points he makes really stood out as I read it. He focuses on the phrase "Go and make disciples" in verse 19. He asks whether we need to "get up and go somewhere"? His answer:

"Thus, not only do we not have to go elsewhere to fulfill the Great Commission, but in fact our primary mission is here, right on our doorstep, right across the street, right in our schools, neighborhoods, and offices. "

Opportunities to share Christ are all around us: co-workers, neighbors, friends, family members, and anyone else we encounter through the course of daily living. That is not to say that going out is not important and there certainly is a place for sending out missions workers into the world. But we should not be focused on ministering to the world at large that we miss opportunities much closer to home.

Roberts then turns his attention to another key part of verse 19: make disciples.

Notice, Jesus didn't say, "Make believers," though believing in him is an essential part of discipleship. Nor did Jesus say, "Get people to clean up their lives," though genuine disciples become more holy as they grow in Christ. Jesus didn't say, "Get people to go to church," though faithful participation in the community of Jesus is absolutely crucial to discipleship. Rather, Jesus said, "Make disciples." To paraphrase, this means, "Make people who enter into an intentional, intimate relationship with me and with my other disciples, in which they put their trust in me as Savior, in which they submit their life to me as Lord, in which they allow me to teach them both how to live and how to serve me in the world."

So our mission in this community is not merely to make converts, but to make genuine disciples of Jesus Christ.

I am persuaded that this is what is missing from most of what passes for evangelism in the church today. We have become too focused on salvation and have not focused on discipleship.

I was discussing this topic with my former pastor this weekend who observed that when you have a church that is focused primarily on salvation (and often on increasing the number of people coming to church) that the believers in the congregation tire of hearing a salvation message over and over again. As a result, they become frustrated because they are not growing deeper in their relationship with Christ.

Roberts then moves on to this application for the church:

We cannot make disciples in this community unless we are living as a community of disciples, loving one another, bearing one another's burdens, teaching each other, forgiving each other, worshipping together. There is no discipleship without genuine community. And, in our day, there's no effective evangelism without genuine community. Our neighbors, those to whom we have been sent, won't believe the good news about Jesus unless they see this good news fleshed out in our fellowship together. Then, if they accept this good news and become believers, they won't live as disciples unless they can join a community of disciples.

This reflects what the apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:4-5:

4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.

The power of the Holy Spirit is demonstrated in how we live our lives. If we are truly living our lives under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, perfect strangers should be able to see a difference in us. My wife often tells me of the story of the kid who said that if Jesus was living in him He would be "sticking out all over". I remember once in college sitting in one the main areas of campus talking with a friend of mine when someone I did not know came up to me and asked if I was a Christian. I said that I was. He said "I could see it in your eyes". The church should be all about developing a community of disciples who will have Jesus "sticking out all over".

Too often the church falls into the trap of believing that there is a need for more ministries or programs to draw people into the church. What we really need to focus on building the community of disciples, intentionally being involved in each others lives, to hold others accountable so that we can "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." 1 Peter 3:15

ADDENDUM: I was discussing this idea with a friend of mine this morning who believes that the majority of churches overemphasize discipleship and do not emphasize evangelism enough. I believe that each church is going to have different needs and be at a different place. We both agreed that the important thing is for churches to be able to strike the right balance between discipleship and evangelism, and like seeking balance in our own lives, it's a constant process.

Baseball Quote of the Week

A hot dog at the ballgame beats roast beef at the Ritz.

~ Humphrey Bogart

Quick Takes 6-13-08

A roundup of random links for your weekend enjoyment......

A look at the 2008 election by the numbers.

According to Marvin Olasky, if Obama wins and the Democrats make big gains in Congress it could be 1933 all over again. That's a very scary prospect.

Jim Geraghty on the character of Barack Obama:

But there’s a pattern emerging here: The Iowa ABC reporter was wrong in presuming Obama had forgotten his flag pin. Voters were at first wrong to think
Obama had seen Wright’s controversial sermons, and then they wrongly and
unfairly judged Wright. Then even if they were proven correct in their assessment of Wright, the press was wrong in “caricaturing” the tone of services at Trinity United. Stephanopoulos was wrong to presume that Obama’s relationship with Ayers was of concern to the voters. Vieira was wrong to accuse Obama of mischaracterizing McCain’s remarks.

No candidate enjoys admitting when he or she is wrong. But one of the ways Obama stood out as more than just a freshman senator when he came to Washington
was his warm humanity, his humility, his willingness to express that “pang of
shame.”

The pang, it seems, is long gone.

If Obama fails to win this election it will not be because of one major issue but all of these minor things added together will be enough for voters to decide that he does not represent the change that they really want.

Meanwhile, LaShawn Barber takes a rare break from her self-imposed moratorium on political blogging to weigh in on the Obama nomination:

I feel no “racial pride” that he’s the first black major party nominee or that he’ll be the first black president of the United States, because values trump race in my world. Anyone who believes it’s OK for “doctors” to crush the heads of infants in the birth canal isn’t getting my vote. If you’re black and pro-life but feel “torn” between racial pride about his nomination and disgust for his pro-death stance, shame on you. Get your priorities straight. (Emphasis original)

I couldn't agree more.

A lot of noise has been made about Senator Jim Webb as a possible running mate for Obama but here are some reasons why that would be an awful pick. Personally, I think former Virginia governor Mark Warner would have been a much better pick. However, since he's almost certain to win the Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Republican John Warner it's not likely he would take the VP nod.

How to combine homeschooling and business travel. We're fortunate that we've been able to do a lot of this as a family. As a result, we have lots of great memories to treasure.

This is long overdue but at the same time it saddens me that it's necessary.

Congratulations to friend of this blog, Tim Ellsworth, whose book God In The Whirlwind about the tornadoes that ripped through the Union University campus has just been published.

Mike Huckabee didn't make the cut as a presidential candidate in 2008 but he does have a new job: political commentator for Fox News.

A plea to save fatherhood.

Hope everyone (especially my fellow Dads) has a terrific Father's Day Weekend.

Why Federal Education Programs Fail

The answer lies in the concluding paragraphs of this column by Joel Belz on recent proposals to extend federal education oversight into preschool and daycare programs from the current issue of World Magazine (subscription required):

I've said before in this space, and it needs to be said during just about every presidential campaign, that there is something much more potentially terrifying than to watch the government continue to fail in its efforts to prop up education in this country. Much worse than such a continuing failure would be to watch the government succeed.

Shaping the minds and the value system of our children is simply not the proper function of government—almost certainly not at any level, but especially at the distant federal level. (Emphasis added)

If your child's school chooses never to mention what Jesus calls "the first and great commandment of life"—to love the Lord our God with all we have—all the rest of that school's education will be as hollow as it is shallow. And even worse will be the effort, so often attempted (and sincerely so), to address some expression of the second great commandment—"loving your neighbor as yourself"—without having dealt seriously with the first one. The first provides both skeleton and heart for the second; the second is impossible without the first.

Society needs to understand, and so do evangelical Christians, that the real problem with state education today (and even with much private education) has nothing to do with teachers' salaries or funding levels or phonics or curriculum or how many months of the year or hours of the day children go to school. All those things have their significance and are worth discussing at the right time.

But the right time for that is always after settling what education is really about. Until educators get that straight, they're not going to get anywhere with "education reform." And they have no business talking about stretching the federal government's reach into preschool and daycare—where the best they will ever do is to compound their present clumsiness.

Well said.

Baseball Quote of the Week

We got sunshine. We got fresh air. Let's play two.

- Ernie Banks

TV Preview: When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions

In the past hundred years, the single greatest achievement of mankind is without a doubt our conquest of space. In less than 10 years, the American space program would go from knowing next to nothing about putting a man in space to landing atwo men on the moon and returning them to Earth.

Discovery Channel chronicles the first 50 years of NASA's successes and failures in a brand new documnetary entitled When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions which premieres on June 8 at 9PM EDT/PDT. The series is narrated by award-winning actor Gary Sinise. Over three consecutive Sunday nights, this series will take the viewer on a journey through the history of the space program like no other documentary ever has before.

"This project started out as a preservation endeavor," said executive producer Bill Howard in a recent interview. "We sat down with NASA and explained to them that we wanted to go back through their archives and preserve and remaster all of their original film source material, the film that had been to the moon and had been in space, the real treasures of the NASA archives."


Click here to listen to an interview with executive producer Bill Howard.


What followed was a painstaking process in which the producers viewed more than 500 hours of footage and converting over 100 hours into HD to be used in this series. HD copies were then donated back to NASA.

But they didn't stop there. The producers also went through the process of digitizing the audio archives which also proved to be a monumental task.

"At the time of Mercury and Gemini, they didn't record the audio on the same medium as the picture," explained Mr. Howard. "Film would be shot in space and the audio would be recorded back in Houston on some custom government magnetic reel to reel tape and you go back and you try to access those magnetic tape sources. Some of them are completely degraded and can't be played. Others are fragile and have to be handled with such care that you only get one chance to digitize it."

The result of all this work is a visually stunning series that puts the viewer right in the middle of what the astronauts experienced on these missions. You feel as if you're in the spacecraft alongside these astronauts as they embark on these magnificent adventures. For the first time, mission footage has been synchronized with the audio so that viewers will get to not only see but hear the astronauts during these missions.


Interspersed with the archival footage are present day interviews with both the astronauts and some of the flight directors. Viewers will get a greater understanding of the character of the men and women who undertake the challenge to explore space.


The first episode, entitled "Ordinary Supermen", begins with the earliest days of NASA. The Soviets have already launched Sputnik to begin the Space Race. NASA is working feverishly to try to catch up. They recruit the best pilots they can find to become the first astronauts. Out of 110 who qualify, only seven will become Mercury astronauts. Interviews with the two surviving Mercury astronauts, John Glenn and Scott Carpenter, are included to provide insight and personal recollections from their missions. In order to make it into space, NASA has to invent completely new technology. As flight director Gene Kranz puts it, learning to fly into space was like "learning to drink from a fire hose".


Episode two, "Gemini-Friends and Rivals", provides rare footage of the recruiting and training process and focuses on the steps that must be achieved to make it to the moon. Ed White's inaugural space walk on Gemini 4 is stunning to watch in HD. Another highlight is Gene Cernan's space walk on a later Gemini mission. For the first time, we get to hear Cernan's struggle to work in space with the mission audio synchronized to the film. Cernan also provides present-day recollections that add to the drama.


The third episode, "Apollo-Landing the Eagle", opens with the first major tragedy of the space program: the Apollo 1 launchpad fire that killed astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. NASA bounces back to a few months later launching Apollo 8 which was the first mission to achieve lunar orbit. The footage from this mission (including shots of the stages of the Saturn V rocket separating) is absolutely incredible. The episode concludes with the Apollo 11 landing and NASA's greatest achievement to date.


Episode 4, "A Home in Space", begins with Apollo missions 12-17 and the near-disaster of Apollo 13. Astronauts Jim Lovell and Fred Haise and flight director Gene Kranz put us right in the middle of the drama with their recollections of the ill-fated mission. As the Apollo program winds down, NASA decides to take the leftover hardware to create Skylab, the first attempt to put a space station into orbit.


Episode 5, "The Shuttle", brings us to the next great chapter of NASA's history. Astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen share their memories of the first shuttle launch which holds the distinction of being the first time that NASA will test a new vehicle with astronauts aboard. Both Young and Crippen tell us what it's like to ride a thoroughly untested spaceship. Another highlight is the footage from astronaut Bruce McCandless' untethered spacewalk which was the first time it was ever attempted. The episode concludes with the Challenger explosion and includes some specially declassified material of the solid rocket boosters being destroyed following the explosion of the Challenger.


As episode 6, "A New Space Age", opens, NASA is reeling from the Challenger disaster and scrambles to get the shuttle flying again. Their next great endeavor is the Hubble Space Telescope. But after deployment, they discover huge problems with it that require a daring repair mission that is documented here. After the successful repair of Hubble comes the Columbia disaster which, as the mission footage shows, might have been avoided. The onboard footage of the crew as they begin re-entry is eerie to watch. As with the other missions, the film is remarkable to watch. The series concludes with the construction of the International Space Station and the next great chapter of space exploration.


Unlike other documentaries about space, this series focuses more on the men and women of NASA than the technical achievements.


"What we tried to do is look at it as an adventure story: real heroes, real stakes, and relal jeopardy," said Mr. Howard. We gave it a theatrical score and built it as we would build an adventure movie and I think that's our effort any way to make it relevant to people now by putting it in a medium they understand: high definition television with a full theatrical score."


When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions certainly accomplishes that objective. It is our greatest adventure.


When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions will air on the Discovery Channel at 9PM EDT/PDT on June 8, 15 and 22.


This article was originally published at Blogcritics.

Missing: Bold Leadership

This week I've had the privilege to preview a new series that will debut on the Discovery Channel on Sunday, June 8th entitled When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions (click here to read my review). The six part series traces the first fifty years of NASA's missions to explore outer space.

While watching the series I was struck by how we no longer consider the exploration of space as something that is important for our country to invest in. It does not seem to hold the same interest for us as a nation as it did when I was a kid growing up in the late 60's and early 70's. Perhaps that is because we don't have bold leadership any longer in Washington.

On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American in space by piloting his Mercury spacecraft on a twenty minute sub-orbital flight. A little less than three weeks later, President John F. Kennedy declares before a joint session of Congress that the United States will land a man on the moon before the end of the decade. At the time, many in the space program thought Kennedy was crazy to make such a suggestion. But as audacious as his boast may have been, he inspired thousands of individuals associated with the program to work harder to ensure that his goal was met.

President Kennedy said it best in another famous speech that he made about why we must explore space:

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

We need a leader who is willing to challenge us to do hard things.

Baseball Quote of the Week

I love doubleheaders. That way I get to keep my uniform on longer.

- Tommy Lasorda

Now that's what I call a great work ethic.

Quick Takes - 5-30-08

Been on the road all week but still managed to gather up a few random links for your consideration:

Based on the results of the West Virginia and Kentucky primaries, it looks like Senator Barack Obama hasn't been able to put the Reverend Jeremiah Wright problem to rest. I think that's at least part of his problem and may prevent him from being elected in November.

Joel Belz agrees with my previous assertion that recent judicial activism in California will be an issue in November.

Enviromentalism is the new religion of America. I consider myself more a conservationist. God created the Earth. We are only stewards of his creation.

An interesting fact: the road has been unusually unkind to baseball teams this year.

Why people love to watch House, M. D. Count me as one of the faithful viewers.

I've always been a fan of space exploration and the potential that it holds for mankind. But ever since the end of the Apollo program we haven't really had any real goals for space. It's too bad none of our current presidential candidates have been willing to step up and share a future vision for NASA.

Speaking of space, this year is the 50th anniversary of NASA. The Discovery Channel will mark the anniversary with a brand new series entitled When We Left Earth that premieres on June 8th. I just received a preview copy in the mail this week and it looks like it will be a terrific series. Stay tuned for a review here next week.

Four generations of Eagle Scouts met with President Bush this week. Amazing.

Carol Platt Liebau on Scott McClellan's new book: "The fact is that when you offer two versions of the truth, you make it clear, at least one time, you were lying." Well said. Based on what his former colleagues are saying, it sounds like he may be lying now. Of course, the fact that McClellan's publisher is a far-left liberal outfit may explain what's going on. And I tend to agree with Matt Lewis that this endorsement doesn't improve one's opinion of McClellan.

Have a great weekend.

DVD Review: National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets

The intrepid treasure hunters from National Treasure are back for a second adventure. But this time it's not just treasure that is at stake. This time, the Gates family must clear their family name just as they were starting to receive respect in the academic community.

The film opens on April 14, 1865. The Civil War has just ended. Two men walk into a saloon to meet a man who can help them solve a puzzle: a playfair cipher that provides a clue that leads to Cibola, the lost city of gold. The man is Thomas Gates, the great, great grandfather of legendary treasure hunter Benjamin Franklin Gates (Nicholas Cage). Thomas Gates quickly discovers that the men who approached him were members of the Knights of the Golden Circle, a secret society that wanted to continue the efforts of the South to secede from the Union. Gates quickly burns the pages that were given to him and ultimately is killed for it.

Fast forward to present day where Ben Gates and his father, Patrick (Jon Voight), are giving a lecture on the diary of John Wilkes Booth, President Lincoln's assasain. At the end of the lecture, Mitch Wilkerson (Ed Harris), comes forward with what he claims is a portion of one of the missing pages of the diary. The page, Wilkerson contends, lists Thomas Gates as one of Booth's co-conspirator's in the assasaination.

In order to clear the Gates' family name, Ben and Patrick must solve the clues to prove that the story of the Knights of the Golden Circle seeking Cibola is true. The clues eventually lead them to the Book of Secrets which is a book written by Presidents for Presidents which contain all of the nation's most closely guarded secrets. To get to the book, Ben Gates must get to the President. His grand plan: kidnap the President and hope that he will be allowed to see the book.

Like the first installment in the series, National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets intersperses history into the story. The writers go to great lengths to incorporate numerous facts into the narrative which adds to the credibility of the story.

The other remarkable thing about these movies that in an age where it's easy to generate locations through computer animation the producers insist on filming at actual locations as much as possible. This is a much bigger film than its predecessor in part because of the locations used in the film: Paris, London, Washington, D. C., the Librayr of Congress, and Mount Rushmore. One of the most exciting parts of the film is a car chase actually filmed on the streets of London.

In addition, all of the principal characters from the first movie, both in front of and behind the camera, are back in this movie. The on-screen chemistry is evident throughout the film.
There are also a couple of notable additions to the cast. Ed Harris makes a terrific villian in Mitch Wilkerson. Bruce Greenwood makes a terrific and thoroughly believable President of the United States. But the best addition is Helen Mirren as Emily Appleton, Patrick Gates' ex-wife and Ben Gates' mother. The chemistry between her and Jon Voight is wonderful and it's thoroughly believable that they were married.

Disney has, as with earlier titles, offered a 2-disc collectors' edition that offers additional bonus features not available on the single disc. It's absolutely worth the extra money to purchase the 2-disc edition as the wealth of bonus featurettes add to the enjoyment of the movie. In the featurettes we learn how different aspects of the film were completed including the extensive City of Gold sequences as well as the aforementioned London car chase.

National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets does a terrific job of picking up where National Treasure left off providing another exciting bit of cinematic escapism. In many respects, National Treasure 2 is a bigger adventure with more exciting locales than the first film. Watching the movie again made me hope that we haven't seen the last of the Gates family adventures. These movies may be the best movies ever made but they are certainly are a good way to spend a couple of hours. Let's hope that there are more of these films to be made.

This article originally appeared at Blogcritics.