Update

Hello. The Moody Thinking Blog is at Wordpress, just in case you were wondering.

http://moodythinking.wordpress.com.

Moving the Blog

Due to unforeseen circumstances (sounds ominous, doesn't it?) I am moving the blog to wordpress. The new address is http://moodythinking.wordpress.com.

Come visit. I will be moving the posts over as time allows.

Watch Out!

You don't want any of this!

The Story of Michael Oher in Video

A video from the author of The Blindside, Michael Lewis:



A special on CBS:



Please watch these videos about this remarkable story! Hearing about Michael Oher has really opened my eyes about what I can do if I am willing to help people.

3-2? Love that Spread Offense...

That was just painful! Auburn beats Mississippi State 3-2? Did we play them in baseball? Our offense looked mostly weak in the first half and just when things started to break open in the second half: fumble, injury to Brad Lester (going to be okay), fumble, safety (because of holding in the end zone), and a ton of false start penalties and holding calls.

Thankfully, the Auburn D showed up and absolutely stuffed Mississippi State. They had no idea what to do on offense and Auburn kept shooting themselves in the foot.

Granted, I know that the Spread Offense is not supposed to help you run up the score, but 3 points? Let's hope this week was an anomaly and that it comes together next week, because the LSU Tigeauxers are coming to town.

The Book to Read for Football Season

I love football. I am going to the Auburn v. Southern Miss game this weekend and I will cheer like we are playing Alabama. The NFL season kicked off last night and I am excited because Indianapolis is off the radar due to Harrison's injury last year and Peyton's injury this year. I always like teams with a chip on their shoulder and playing against a perceived slight.

This summer, I read a book that really got me excited about football season. No, it wasn't the lastest Athlon almanac or anything like that. It's The Blindside: Evolution of a Game." by Michael Lewis. I was first introduced to Lewis when I read Moneyball. Lately, I have been on a non-fiction kick and Michael Lewis weaves a great story by not only presenting the facts of a situation, but showing the development of the sport as to why teams or players act the way they do.

For example, The Blindside is about Ole Miss starting left tackle Michael Oher and follows his origin in the slums of Memphis to football prominence with the help of a local family, the Tuohy's. However, the first chapter of the book does not mention the primary character. In order to truly understand why Michael Oher is such a strong candidate for the NFL, readers must understand why the left tackle position is so important. The left tackle protects the quarterback's blindside and that position has become incredibly important with the rise of the dedicated pass rusher best represented by Lawrence Taylor, especially as he tackled Joe Theissman and turned his leg into beef stew.

As the needs of the NFL are passed down to the Colleges, the need for prep school standouts in that position grows. Into this world enters Michael Oher, a gargantuan teenager with the right kind of weight for his frame and quick feet. The intriguing part of his story is how he changed as a person during his time at Briarwood Christian. He went from a student with no hope of even graduating public school to making his grades (with some help from the Mormon Grade Grab at BYU) and going on to play ball at Ole Miss. The Touhy family, and the mother especially, saw Michael as a wonderful person who never had any guidance and they fought with him throughout the many trials of taking a street kid with incredibly athletic ability and turning him into a highly recruited college athlete. Also interwoven in this story is an NCAA investigation into the Tuohy family as potential violators of NCAA policies because they were Ole Miss boosters.

The book makes me ask the question as to whether I can help someone like the Tuohy's did. Clearly, Michael Oher had the potential learn, but was never given the opportunity until they came into his life with others. Why can't I do the same thing with someone in inner city Montgomery, AL? He or she probably won't be an NFL star, but I can do more than I am to help other people get out of terrible situations. I love books that make me ask these kinds of questions. They bust my comfortable bubble and challenge me. This book in particular does that while intriguing me with football strategies and college football information.

I won't write any more about the story itself, because I want you to go and read it. The reason I love this book is that Michael Lewis brings in elements from all over football to show why a person like Michael Oher will be a top 10 draft pick in the 2009 draft. His writing style is extremely engaging and he joins the chapters together nicely, even while diverting to outside strings of the overall narrative.

So go read the book. I am interested in your thoughts.

Humility

If you have to prove how humble you are, you are not really humble.

What is the true nature of humility? I have been thinking about this topic lately as I have had some interactions with people who work really hard at being humble. I believe that humility is one of those character traits that naturally shines, yet I believe that there are many that feel uncomfortable with people not thinking we are humble. Humility is an issue of the heart and actions flow from that heart.

Case in point: If God has so blessed a person to be financially wealthy, then appreciate the gifts and serve God with the money. This may mean giving all of it to the poor or finding other ways of blessing. I know of a family that owns a beach house in Florida. They are wonderful followers of Christ and use their home for ministry to others.

However, I also know a person who is wealthy, but he works so hard to hide the fact. He bought a new car for his 16 year old son, but felt he had to tell me how big a deal he got on it. in a 10 minute diatribe. I really think that he believes that to be wealthy and buy things is not humble, so he has to make excuses for the money he spends. If a person is working so hard at humility that he feels he has to prove it, then it is an issue of pride. We can be pridefully "humble" and in fact I think many of us fall into that temptation because we are trying to prove our humilty to other people.

We get worked into a frenzy so that we may gain the approval of others, so that they may talk about our great character. Is this not the definition of false humility?

What is the source of this false humility? "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven." Matthew 6:1. We are so much like Pharisees when we work so hard for those around us to see us as humble.

Where does true humility come from? Look at the story Jesus told of the tax collector and the Pharisee in Luke 18. The man who walks away pleasing God is the one who rightly confessed his sin to God. This man brought nothing to God buthis broken heart and he left blessed. Was he worried about others opinions? Was he like the Pharisees that prayed on the street corners and made themselves look sick while they were fasting so that they could gain the approval of men? No.

So who are we trying to impress? As long as our hearts are right before God, he will lead us to be content in every situation and humility will flow out of us rather than us trying to manufacturing it.

For this reason, we see people like a doctor I know who is one of the most humble people I know. So we should be who God has called us to be, humble ourselves before him, and quit worrying so much about what others think.