It is finished

Its not November yet...and Shaina and I just finished ALL of our Christmas shopping.

While all of you poor saps were out celebrating a holiday on the day the holiday should be celebrated, we were out crushing Christmas.

At Thanksgiving, we will knock out Valentines Day. We are well oiled machines.

Car Thief Delight

Love, Love, Love

Our Church is going through the 40 day Love Dare and last night, our small group studied the different words in 1st Century Greek for 'love'.

It's important to study this because we have demolished any meaning of the word love in our language. I love my wife...and I love pizza?

There are 4 words in Greek.

Eros- This is the compulsive, passion oriented type of love. We get the word erotic from Eros. It is a surfacy experience, but a powerful physical experience involving the five senses. Some philosophers in the 1st century believed that the ultimate purpose of life was to reach a place where Eros was experienced perpetually. (Some people today have adopted this goal in lifestyle.) But this type of lifestyle ends up very self-centered and would be a mile wide but an inch deep.)

Storge-This word appears once in scripture I think. It has the notion of natural affection and is used most often for familial love.

Phileo- This word appears more frequently in the New Testament and is a friendship oriented love that connects people out of mutual affection, likes, interests, etc. It is used to depict friendship, (love that Jesus had for John and Lazarus), love that God has for us, love between parent and child, etc.

Agape- This word appears numerous times in the NT and is the deepest most profound of loves. Agape is a willful, conscientious love that is unconditional and unwavering. It is the love God has for us (John 3:16, 1 John 4:7-11). It is the love we are to have for our enemies (Matthew 5:43-48). It is the love Jesus commands regarding the Great Commandment.

It's a radical reorientation to understand the love that God is calling us to. Many times we are inclined to love based on condition and transaction...But Jesus calls us to the next level. To agape love. Unabashedly loving the unlovely, the unlovable without condition. Because that is exactly what God has done for us. "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

So how's your love life?

Dave and Phibby

Still going through 2 Samuel. This has simply been a rich experience.

2 Samuel 9 depicts King David and lowly Mephibosheth, crippled since youth. Mephibosheth is the sole surviving son of Johnathan, David's best friend. In their friendship, they made a covenant with each other and Johnathan loved David as himself and even protected him from his father, Saul's murder attempts.

Get this...Johnathan was next in line to the throne. He had everything to gain by David's death, but because of their deep friendship, he saves David and ends up losing his life in battle along with his father.

So David establishes his kingdom and seems invincible with God's blessing everywhere he goes...and then David remembers his covenant and seeks out Mephibosheth and more or less adopts him into the kings court, returning his father's land to him and then promising that he would eat each day at David's table.

The mighty King, remembers the lowly and unlovely Mephibosheth and invites him to dine with him...If this doesn't resemble God's act through Christ to reconcile us to Him even while we were yet sinners, then I don't know what does.

We are all invited to the table of the King...only too many of us are more concerned about what to wear or earning our spot there, or preferring to eat at our own McDonalds rather than accept the invitation.

Way to go Indians

Let's be honest. Has there ever been a team in history that has groomed two top tier Major Leaguer ball players, got them to Cy Young Status and then dealt them to real baseball teams so that they could go to the World Series?

Cliff Lee gets to face up in game one of the World Series against C.C. Sabathia tomorrow night. Just to spite Cleveland...they will each throw no hitters for 9 innings and then someone in the bullpen will have to blow it.

I digress...thankfully we have the Browns...

great song

Aaron Keyes...get familiar with his stuff. That's all I have to say.



Off to finish a 12 hour day with a meeting!

We are broken but we are yours!

5 Impactful Books

There are books that just move far beyond information into the realm of transformation. Here are five that have done that for me:

1. Leadership and Self Deception--by the Arbinger Institute...One of the more insightful things I've ever read...It is very helpful in understanding the layers of interpersonal relationships.

2. Irresistible Revolution--by Shane Claiborne...Pretty radical book...He actually takes the things said in the scriptures and seeks to live them out in community. He is part of a movement that may become the primary role of the Church, particularly to the Urban Poor.

3. Sex God-- I have not figured out what the big fear is of Rob Bell's teaching. The guy has some incredible insight because he spends time reading and learning from rabbis. Sex God was one of those books that reshaped the lens of the Hebrew Bible for me.

4. Why Sin Matters--Mark McMinn...book on the prodigal son...phenomenal.

5. Work of Heart--Reggie McNeal...Probably the best book I read in seminary and I want to get back to it in the next year or so to let it fester some more.

What are your top 5 books ever read?

Reading Part One

I am becoming more and more convinced that Great Leaders are Diligent and Intentional Readers.

This applies both to the Bible and to books, but we can not merely read for the sake of reading. We need to be thoughtful in what we are investing our time into. So, while I enjoy books like the Narnia and LOTR series, as well as getting caught up in a Dan Brown novel (by the way...they are relentlessly fictitious!), these are not life-shaping reads. I will read "thoughtless" books like these on vacation, for a change of pace. (I don't mean thoughtless in that they are poorly written or having good meaning/layers of significance).

I love to read. One of the things that happened at the end of Seminary is that I went into shutdown mode and despised reading for about 3 or 4 months after graduating, but I'm back at it.

Here's what I'm reading right now:
From the Scriptures, I've been going through 1 and 2 Samuel, revisiting David and his process to the throne. I've loved it and have virtually been reading my pastor's commentary on 2 Samuel each chapter I go through.

Today for some vision casting/sermon series ideas, I read all of Ezra and 1 and 2 Timothy as well...Some messages came out loud and clear in both! Hoping to preach through one of these in 2010.

As for books, I am currently reading a book called "Scouting the Divine" by Margaret Feinberg. It is a neat book. She noticed some major thematic imagery in the scriptures and has sought to rediscover the context of these passages, so she spent time with a shepherdess, a farmer, a beekeeper, and a vintner (winemaker)and she does a great job of subtly repainting the scriptures through the lenses of these people. Good book, though it leaves the insights (at least so far) very open ended and forces you to either meditate on them and let them shape you or skim through and pass by.

Next on the dockets for me is three books at once. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (got this book for free at Catalyst, and I'm curious what he has to say.) Seeing God in HD by Mark Moore and then a book on the context of first century adoption to prepare for a sermon at the end of the month.

I also read lots of blogs, hundreds of emails a month, and ESPN's weekly fantasy football update to see who to play and who to bench. haha

What are you reading right now?

good ad

can't remember if I posted on this before or not.

Good stuff.

Vote Yes on This Issue in November

Double Dog Dare Ya.

Can't tell ya how excited I am about the current series our church is doing. We have embarked on "The Love Dare", a 40 day challenge to renew our view of relationships. It is based off the movie Fireproof, which is inexpensively made with some relatively cheesy acting, but is still powerful and leaves folks crying each time!

Anyways, the concept is that for 40 days we would invest in daily challenges to improve our relationships. The actual devotional book is geared specifically to marriage, but many of the truths found in each day's reading are universal.

Here's my take-away so far after a week of the Dare. Men tend to be thoughtless. Well, there, I said it. I have never given much thought to how little I think about doing little acts of love for Shaina. There are just little things that men can do to be thoughtful to their spouse that go a long way to her knowing our continued pursuit and love for her.

Today, I cleaned up our basement, did a couple loads of laundry and organized a spice cupboard. True love asks how I can serve, not how can I be served.

When we think of blessing others we live Mustard Revolution. Genesis 12:1-3

What thoughtful gesture have you done today for someone else?

1:22,900

That is the current projected ratio of Doctor to patients in the Thika District of Kenya (where Shaina and I were for two weeks in June).

Add to this that 33% of the population in Thika is believed to have HIV, severe drought has hit the land and we must conclude that a Crisis is on our hands.

How will the Church respond?

Hockey Hockey Hockey

Play Video One for the music while you watch Video 2.

What I'm workin' on today

I am really excited about something God is developing at our Church in 2010.

What would happen if potential church leaders would take a year of their lives and devote it to holistic growth, letting God build a foundation in them that is biblically, theologically, emotionally, holistically focused? What would happen if instead of us plugging in potential leaders into areas of vacancy in our ministries, we unleashed them to dream and trust God to uncover their passion and calling? What would it look like to have more adequately trained and rooted leaders in the Church who are ensuring that discipleship is happening in all areas of ministry?

What would happen if we began to see things as God sees them rather than how we see them?

20/10 Vision is essentially perfect vision...It means that you can see from 20 feet what a normal person could see from 10 feet.

But it is also a vision to develop new leaders in 2010 who are called, rooted, equipped and passionate about ministry! It's a small group experience that will challenge participants to see things differently, shape the next movement of the church and draw nearer to the fire that is our Mighty God.

Are you ready for corrective lenses?

2010 Vision: Building the Next Generation of Leaders
"For my eyes have seen your salvation." Luke 2:30

Thinking outside the box

Got an email with this pic from a buddy of mine...pretty appropriate after church yesterday.

I shared from Matthew 17...Jesus' transfiguration story. Peter's quick response is the same response we have..."Lord this is good to be here...let me build shelters for you, Moses and Elijah." In other words...God this good...let me box it up and hold on to it.

We experience God in some significant way and we think that we have discovered the corner on God and we try to box Him in and suggest that this is how God works (and only this way).

Some of the boxes I believe our churches struggle with confining God to:

1. Worship War Dimensia: God can only move and be present in 'our' style of worship. This is the difference between Consumers, who think worship is about their preferences and Producers, who prefer to worship God.

2. Edifice Complex: God is present in the Church and the Church is a location, with a building and an address. This is the difference between the Church as a What (something we go to on Sundays) and the Church as a Who, something we are every day of our lives.

3. The Way We've Always Done It Syndrome: God works this way because its the way he worked in 1878, 1943 and 1982. This is the difference between Traditionalists (the dead faith of the living saints) and Tradition (the Living faith of the dead saints).

4. The Messiah Disorder: God will bring our church to the heights of its potential, if we get the right pastor who will save us, lead us, grow us, etc. This is the difference between putting hope in a system and in a man vs. putting hope in the Risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the only one who can save us, lead us and grow us!

So what other boxes do you see God being stuffed into?

Gifting vs. Grasping

I am still reading through 1 and 2 Samuel for my own devotional time and I am starting to pick up on a theme. God's kingdom and God's plan cannot be grasped at or achieved by us on our own initiative. It is gifted to us by God in God's timing.

David is promised to be the new king after Saul loses favor with God...but notice David's resolve. Two times in 1 Samuel 24-26 he has the opportunity to kill Saul and speed up the process. And it seems reasonable that he has a right to do this because Saul has tried to kill him numerous times...but David stands down...resists the grasp and waits for the gift.

Then when Saul dies, an Amalekite brings David news of this, thinking there would be great rejoicing at the news...Instead, David has the Amalekite killed and then grieves passionately at the loss of Israel's king.

With Saul out of the picture, David is still not the next in succession. Saul has a son remaining, Ish-Bosheth (also known as Ish-Baal). Ish's general, Abner defects to David's side, but is killed by David's general, Joab. Abner had quite a following and his death both benefited and hindered David's likelihood of succession to the throne. David, showing that he was not about to take the throne by his own conniving, manipulation, coersion, cursed Joab and his own military at Abner's death.

Then Ish-Bosheth, weakened and fearful after Abner's departure is killed during a nap by two of his own military leaders. The leaders bring his head to David seeking approval, but David has the men killed for their bloodguilt.

Integrity and obedience are the keys to the Kingdom. David waited for the gift to be given, rather than to go apprehend the gift. There will come a time where David will try to seize what he wants (Bathsheba) and there will be terrible consequences for this...but the first few chapters of 2 Samuel suggest that David was innocent of all the political games and treachery that often come with leading a kingdom.

As we participate in the Kingdom of God being established in the world, we must remember that it is not taken by force or might. But it is a gift that we receive as the people of God through our witness to the King and our obedience and allegiance to Him.

Broken

Things aren't quite right are they? Our days are filled with continual reminders that we are not yet home and that this world can be a brutal, hostile reminder of that.

Today friends of my sister and brother-in-law lost their 5 year old boy, to this H1-N1 pandemic. Can I be honest? This sucks. I want to say that I can elaborate on how God is at work through this, and how suffering brings about endurance and depth of faith, and all of that may be true, but the fact that in a few days a little 5 year old boy will be put in the ground sucks. There is no good explanation or reason, except that we are not yet home.

And what bothers me maybe the most is what this family will hear over the next few days, weeks, months...you know the cliche's and have maybe said them..."He's in a better place." Well that's fine, but it doesn't make the pain or how much this sucks go away. "God got another angel." Ok, if this is God's doing, I have some serious questions for Him. "Everything happens for a reason." Fine, but this thing that happened sucks and the reasons for it suck.

The Jewish people have a beautiful tradition that might help us grieve and comfort with one another a little more gracefully than saying these awkward, unhelpful words. It's called sitting "sheva". The first example of this comes from scripture, in the story about a man named Job who had endured his fair share of hardships, pain and circumstances that flat out sucked.

Job 2:11 "When Job's three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. 12 When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. 13 Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was."

May we learn from this example what it means to grieve with those who grieve and may you remember the Marotta family who has dealt with unspeakable pain in the last 24 hours. Pray that God would answer their cries, their questions and their heartache as only He can.

"THE CHURCH DOESN'T HAVE A MISSION! THE MISSION HAS A CHURCH!" -REGGIE MCNEAL

What do you think?

wrong...yet funny

Abners and Joabs

If you are in leadership, you need to figure out if you have Abners or Joabs surrounding you. 2 Samuel 1-3 talks about the role these two men play as David slowly moves into his role as king of all of Israel. Abner is an ambassador, a diplomat, a peacemaker, who aligns himself with David after Saul's death and the subsequent accusations from Saul's son, Ish-bosheth.

Joab is David's nephew and is impulsive and violent. He has an agenda and often takes that agenda by force.

Joab kills Abner to ensure his own position in David's coming kingdom.

So if you are a leader, make sure you're surrounding yourself with Abners, those who will advocate for you, but who will not act on impulse or violence.

If you're not in leadership, are you an Abner or a Joab? Do you diligently work to be an advocate for your pastor or your boss? Or do you have your agenda, and wish to force that agenda to happen where ever neccessary/possible?

Following My Dream

Well, this has been a long time in the making, but I have decided to leave my role in the ministry to become part of something that I have dreamed about for quite some time and believe that God has gifted me toward. It has been a pleasure serving you.



It's time to join the fellas at Dude Perfect making ridiculous shots for the sake of all people.

(p.s. this is a joke!)

Catalyst Day Two Part Two

**Shane Hipps

This Porsche advertising executive turned Mennonite pastor talked about how the everchanging gospel message never changes. I followed at times and felt sort of muddied in my thinking at others but he said two things that have stuck to this point. We should be Gardeners of the Gospel not Guardians of the Gospel...meaning we should cultivate it in our lives, and let it grow and go where God wants rather than protect it and keep it from being polluted or diluted. Second he said that there are diamonds in the rock of Scriptures that are yet undiscovered...that just creates a thirst in me to go on a treasure hunt!

***Rob Bell
Vintage Rob Bell. "Sometimes the crowd thins and people leave. If you talk about war and how we live in a country that owns the majority of the world's weapons, people will leave. If you talk about Women and how they are called by God to minister, some even to the pulpit, people will leave. If you talk about the relationship between faith and doubt, people will leave, because the truth of the gospel is offensive."
Bell also referred to the Church as another Eucharist...in other words, our role is to be broken open and poured out for our communities, our nation, our world. Good stuff. IS BIGGER BETTER? IS MORE, MORE?

**Tony Dungy
I think Dungy was the only guy to get a standing 'O' just for coming out on stage. He is doing a lot of good things and has a deep, authentic faith, but the fact that we was celebrated like he was, makes me nervous...but then I was praying yesterday morning and began thinking about my fantasy football team...I digress.
We won't win every game and we may not see the fruit of our labor (Dungy got the Bucs to be a pretty strong team, then got fired...and they won the Super Bowl the very next year without him).

Next entry will wrap up day two...Matt Chandler and Francis Chan!

I witnessed a world record

35 feet 11 inches, diving into 12 inches of water.

0 spiritual significance or application...just psychotic, unadulterated entertainment. Good times.

5 songs from Catalyst

These songs were powerfully done at Catalyst. There are so many amazing worship songs out there. The Church is the most creative place on earth because the source of creativity resides in us and works through us. We as the church have simply sought to squelch the creativity for the sake of ritual or tradition.


(Not 100% sure but I think that Kari Jobe may have sung this at Catalyst)


(I heart Fee.)


(There is something about Aaron Keyes, the depth of his worship leading, the power of his words...He is anointed and truly is a worship pastor, rather than a worship leader...and maybe a worship preacher too! I drew closest to God during his worship times at the conference.)


(I knew this song from his free album download at philwickham.com...Great stuff)


(There's a reason that Hillsong has the top songs in the last 3 or 4 years.)

Catalyst Day Two

I'm behind in my blogging...what else is new...It has been a whirlwind of a week and this week looks to be even more hectic...but my cup is full and God is good and God is relentless in His love and grace. Here's a few thoughts from the first day of the large gathering at Catalyst (Labs were the day before).

***Andy Stanley

Stanley just brings it in such a practical way. He spoke out a passage that has been meaningful to me from Joshua 5...the moment that Joshua was marked as the leader of Israel. It is not about who is for or against us...it is about who we are for. If my leadership is influenced by my own popularity and likeableness, rather than my delight in God and my humility in leading, then I am off track.

**Jessica Jackley

I went to her lab the day before and she actually shared a good deal of the same material in the big session...but you have got to check out KIVA if you have a heart for the poor. Microenterprise is quite possibly the future of world missions. (This is why I believe in what Empower is doing.

***/ Malcolm Gladwell

As far as I know, Gladwell is not a Christian but he is a wonderful, deep speaker. He talked about Civil War, the Economic meltdown and the most important virtue of a leader...HUMILITY. He did a great job. I believe he is a writer for the New Yorker and I am looking forward to diving into his book, Outliers soon.

There are so many take-aways from this leadership conference. I will talk about the rest of day one in my next post...but answer this question...Are you more worried about who is for or against you than you are about being facedown, fully yielding to God?

Catalyst Day One Highlights

Just wanted to go through the day, covering all the speakers and the top nugget or insight from each...I ranked each with a star rating system (just like how I rate my friends) 4 stars is out of this world. 3 is exquisiteness. 2 is very beneficial and 1 is a time frame I'd like back.

***Perry Noble

Perry kicked us off at 8:30 a.m. with a dynamic talk on Vision out of Acts 26. A really compelling statement..."As the Church we don't want to try to close the backdoor (unhappy people leaving the church). The Church is referred to in the Bible as the Body...and you know what would happen if we closed the backdoor of that?" Not pretty...This was helpful...If we are to really to go with God and lead toward the changes He wants, we need to expect and embrace that people to leave.


**Reggie Joiner

Reggie dealt with a shift in discipleship recognizing that it will never happen if it is dependent solely on the influence of the time when the people are in the Church. On average, leaders have 40-80 hours a year to impact the typical church goer...This does not even compare to the amount of time parents have to influence their children at home (about 3000 hours a year). The Church will not ensure that your kids know who God is. It's your job as a parent!


**Mark Batterson
I follow this guy on his blog www.evotional.com and I really think he is doing some great things in Church Leadership. He had some great points. The big take away for me was that Insecurity will sabotage our anointing. We aren't appointed, hired, selected, or any other manmade notion of positioning. If we are called by God, we are anointed and we had better be secure on this. Are you called and anointed by God in the area(s) you are serving?

****Reggie McNeal
Absolutely a hoot to listen to this guy. He is funny and dynamic, but above all else, he is a gifted and clear communicator. Reggie challenged that we must reorient ourselves about Church...Church cannot be considered a "what" or "it" anymore like it has for the last 1700 years. Church is a "who". The People of God must recapture what it means to be the people of blessing (Genesis 12).

**Ed Stetzer
Church planting is the hardest but greatest thing in ministry. The guy knows his stuff in regards to Church Planting!

**Jessica Jackley
Microfinance and ending poverty. She told the story of the founding of KIVA. If you have not heard about this...you need to learn about it. It is a microfinancing loan program where you can support entrepreneurs all over the world with launching their microbusiness and helping defeat poverty and the repayment of these loans is about 99%! Unbelievable, simple, practical way to invest and receive blessing.

****Matt Chandler
The highlight of the day for me. Fantastic, deep, profound speaker, who unpacked the Gospel in a way that made everyone connect with Christ. Everything about what we do and who we are had better point to the saving power of the Gospel or we are off track.

The worship led by Christy Knockels and the Northpoint Community Church worship leader was Spirit Led...It has been a long time since I have been moved like that in corporate worship.

Good first day and the real conference begins tomorrow! Time to get some rest!

All Aboard for Catalyst

In the airport waiting to hop on a jet to the ATL.

I am excited about Catalyst for a lot of reasons, but here's 5 reasons in particular.

1. Great Worship...there's no responsibilities to plan, organize, preach, evaluate, or anything...its simply going to be time to praise the Lord with 12,000 of our closest friends.

2. Great Speakers...Drinking from the hydrant from leaders of the Christ movement, like Dave Ramsey, Andy Stanley, Louie Giglio, Perry Noble, Rob Bell Reggie McNeal, Mark Batterson and the list goes on and on. It is refreshing to get glimpses into these guys thoughts and methodologies.

3.Great Renewal...Change of pace + Change of scenery = Change of Perspective...Too often the routine becomes routine and we miss out on God moments...lessons He wants to instill into us.

4. Great Getaway...I love that my church cares enough about my well-being and the well-being of my marriage to help Shaina and I make this trip!

5. Great Weather...No more 40 degree mornings...Hello sunshine!

I hope to blog fairly regularly as I begin processing the speakers and what God is stirring in me.

Stay Tuned. Catalyst Lab Day begins tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m.

Sad but true

Unprecedented court ruling in Cleveland ,
Cleveland, OH (AP) - A seven-year-old boy was at the center of a Cleveland courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him. The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with child custody law and regulations requiring that family unity be maintained to the degree possible. The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her. When the judge then suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy cried out that they also beat him. After considering the remainder of the immediate family and
learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of
life among them,the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him. After two recesses to check legal references and confer with child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the Cleveland Browns, who the boy firmly believes is not capable of beating anyone.

Prodigals

Here's something I am thinking on. Part of the process of seeing a prodigal son return to the grace and love of the Father, is letting go completely. The father did not offer a bail out plan at every turn of trouble.

Once the son left, he was on his own. Sometimes I wonder if we are so emphatic on grace that we bail our loved ones out before the true work of God has come to fruition.

This is so counter-intuitive for people wired like me, who see a problem and want to fix it...see pain and we want to comfort it...see poor decisions and want to right them.

But what if the greatest love is sometimes the toughest love?

It was when the son came back in desperation to his father that grace and love were poored out. What would it look like to go the way of tough love?

ode to Cleveland sports

Well the Browns are on their way to 0-16. Mangini fined a guy 1700 bucks for not paying for 2 three dollar bottles of water from a Denver hotel. The offense has looked like a peewee football team. So to add to it, we change quarterbacks (demonstrating that we have no idea where the franchise is going.) It's a good thing we traded out of the 5th spot and let the Jets pick Matt Sanchez (3-0 start).
I'm not sure where the silver lining is...maybe that Pittsburgh is only one game ahead of us?

The Indians have limped down the homestretch and the only positive thing about it is that it has forced the organization to fire Eric Wedge. The past few years the team has started terribly but finished fairly strongly, saving Wedge's job each time. He had one good season when everything clicked...but then the team failed in every area that they had excelled in previously. By dealing one of the best pitchers and one of the best catchers in the league, the team has essentially said that its going to be a while until they are competitive again. (Which is a shame because we are in one of the weaker divisions in baseball.) The silver lining in this? Dollar Dog nights won't be nearly as crowded.

Don't forget about the Cavs, they are on their last leg with LeBron. It's title time or firesale time. I like the moves made in the offseason, getting Jamario Moon, Anthony Parker, Shaq, and Leon Powe. But we've got renegade Delonte West ridin' dirty through Baltimore on a tricycle. The pressure is not on LeBron to win a title, the pressure is on Cleveland to win a title. The Silver Lining is that if Cleveland doesn't win, LeBron is likely out and that will make the Browns the hottest ticket in town again...even if its mostly steelers fans buying the tickets.

Cleveland Sports...where the last will truly be first...in the draft.