I was “geared up” to write an article dealing with the Markham family. Born to this family was a very special little child, whom they named Noah. He was saved from a clinic in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. At the time, Noah was a frozen embryo.

With a great plan to write an article in mind, I sat down this morning. Then, I read Drew Kizer’s article on the same topic. He did a great job (as always), and I decided to link to it. Please take a moment and read the article found here.

Thanks, Drew, for another great article.

As much as I like sports, I like college basketball even more. It is, without question, my favorite. I’m one of those nuts who follows every school in NCAA Division I as much as possible. I love watching everyone you’ve heard of (like the Duke Blue Devils or the UCLA Bruins) and those you probably haven’t (like the North Florida Osprey).

One of the things that makes college basketball so special is the atmosphere. Those great “gyms” that are filled to capacity with fans make the perfect setting to watch a game. And the schools where the student sections are right by the court have gotten it right. There is nothing like watching a game played at Duke (Cameron Indoor Stadium, home of the Cameron Crazies), Illinois (Assembly Hall, home of the Orange Crush) or Pittsburg (home of the Oakland Zoo). (Michigan State’s “Izzone” is pictured.)

This week, ESPN is having “Student Spirit Week” as part of its college basketball coverage. The idea is to show the game, but also devote part of the time to the students seated near the court. Interviews are a part, but the main feature is that, somehow, they are having more sound from the crowd. (I tried to look it up, but I don’t know if they are having extra microphones, or just leaving their usual mics open.)

Sadly, this has caused much to be put “on the air” that would not be allowed from any other part of the game. “Live” sporting events are actaully tape-delayed, but only for a few seconds (usually, less than 10). This short delay gives the producers a chance to hear the audio and remove offensive language. If a player is called for a foul, for example, and blurts out a curse word, the producers have time to remove that split second from the audio before sending it out to your television.

Question: why don’t they do the same when it is the fans swearing? I have watched parts of 4 of the games thus far, and have been totally embarrassed by what I was hearing. I’m not even talking about one or two fans yelling something at a player or official. I’m talking about entire student sections chanting curse words and phrases. Why aren’t these removed from the audio? It has completely ruined wonderful games (including a triple-overtime classic late last night between Texas and Oklahoma State held at Gallagher-Iba Arena).

Many people struggle with profanity. Sadly, many Christians do, too. Many are fine with their speech until they come to an athletic contest or similar endeavor. I hope none of those students I’ve been hearing this week are Christians!

Paul urged the young preacher Timothy, “[Avoid] the profane…babblings…of what is falsly called knowledge” (First Timothy 6:20, NKJV). There was no time or place restriction on that command. We need to guard our tongues at all times, even in the “heat of battle.”

ESPN, please cut the audio! I want to enjoy the games again.

Members of the Lord’s church constantly mention the breakdown of the home as one of the major problems facing our society. We know that the home is the basic unit of society and, when it fails, so does our way of life.

The following article shows one more way that is happening. It was written by Richelle Putman, and published on All Headline News Online:

2005 found more independent women without a spouse, approximately 51% percent, according to Census Bureau statistics reported on in the New York Times.

The recently published findings are an increase of 2% from the 2000 statistics, two reasons for the increase may be that women are choosing to marry later in life and widows are living longer and not re-marrying.

The report also stated that 30% of black women live with a spouse, a relatively low percentage compared to the 60% Asian, 49% Hispanic, and 55% other women living with a spouse.

In an interview with the NY Times, Stephanie Coontz of the Council on Contemporary Families, was reported to say “This is yet another of the inexorable signs that there is no going back to a world where we can assume that marriage is the main institution that organizes people’s lives.”

The bottom line is that women are choosing independence over marriage, some returning to college and participating in activities that they hadn’t been able to while married.

I say that this study is worth our interest. It shows the growth of many things in our society, including divorce. Of course, not every woman who is living without a spouse is divorced. Millions are widows and many more are delaying marriage until later in life. However, the trend cannot be disputed. And, for the trend to continue upward, many women must be getting divorced.

Single mothers have an extremely difficult job. Mnay are divorced for Scriptural reasons (i.e., the husband committed adultery), but many more are divorced for another reason. When that happens, the children suffer, as does society as a whole.

Pray that these numbers decrease, or that they only increase due to reasons that are not tied to the spiritual side of each woman. Let’s keep our families whole.

Seeking True Unity was written by several faithful Gospel preachers in response to the “unity movement” between some members of the churches of Christ and the Christian church. The book responds by reminding all readers that we cannot have true, Biblical unity while still holding differences. It also gives the reader a brief, but insightful, history of how we have come to this point.

Sadly, many today feel as though such issues as instrumental music are just “non-issues.” Some say that we used to “fight” over these issues and that was wrong, because they just aren’t that important.

Nothing could be further from the truth!

What we all need to understand is that the tension is not about one specific issue. We are dealing with the idea of how to view Scripture; specifically the silence of Scripture. Mike Baker, Mike Green, Wayne Hatcher, Steve Higginbotham, Jeff A. Jenkins, Dale Jenkins and Phil Sanders all remind us of the struggle to prove that the silence of the Scriptures is prohibitive. When God tells us what He desires (e.g., singing), that leaves out all other options (e.g., mechanical instruments of music).

The book is short (64 pages), but helpful. It would make a very good “mini-study” in a Bible class, or the material could easily form the basis for a teacher to use for an entire quarter of study.

Please visit the website, www.seektrueunity.org, for more information. While there, make sure you order a copy of the book. The cost of this short book is just $4 (plus shipping). Elders might even want to consider ordering a copy for every family in a congregation.

Lake Superior State University annually releases her list of “Banished Words.” The list for 2006 came out on New Year’s Day.

Last year, I was informed of this annual project and was immediately impressed. Yes, it is a lot of fun, but the “fun” represents a serious side, too. The words are “banished” because they are constantly over-used, misused or considered useless. The smallest state university in Michigan, LSSU has been “banishing” words since 1976.

Here is the list for 2006, followed by the reasoning for banishment from the LSSU website:

GITMO — The US military’s shorthand for a base in Cuba drives a wedge wider than a split infinitive. “When did the notorious Guantanamo Bay Naval Base change to ‘Gitmo,’ a word that conjures up an image of a fluffy and sweet character from a Japanese anime show?” — Marcus W., St. Louis, Missouri.

COMBINED CELEBRITY NAMES — Celebrity duos of yore — BogCall (Bogart and Bacall), Lardy (Laurel and Hardy), and CheeChong (Cheech and Chong) — just got lucky. “It’s bad enough that celebrities have to be the top news stories. Now we’ve given them obnoxious names such as ‘Bragelina,’ ‘TomKat’ and ‘Bennifer.’” — M. Foster, Port Huron, Michigan. “It’s so annoying, idiotic and so lame and pathetic that it’s ‘lamethetic.’” — Ed of Centreville, Virginia.

AWESOME — Given a one-year moratorium in 1984, when the Unicorn Hunters banished it “during which it is to be rehabilitated until it means ‘fear mingled with admiration or reverence; a feeling produced by something majestic.” Many write to tell us there’s no hope and it’s time for “the full banishment.” “The kind of tennis shoes you wear, no matter how cute, don’t fit the majestic design of the word.” — Leila Hill, Damascus, Maryland. “That a mop, a deodorant or a dating service can be called ‘awesome’ demonstrates the limited vocabularies of the country’s copywriters.” — Tom Brinkmoeller, Orlando, Florida. “Overused and meaningless.’ My mother was hit by a car.’ Awesome. ‘I just got my college degree.’ Awesome.” — Robert Bron, Pattaya, Chonburi, Thailand.

GONE/WENT MISSING — “It makes ‘missing’ sound like a place you can visit, such as the Poconos. Is the person missing, or not? She went there but maybe she came back. ‘Is missing’ or ‘was missing’ would serve us better.” — Robin Dennis, Flower Mound, Texas.

PWN or PWNED — Thr styff of lemgendz: Gamer defeats gamer, types in “I pwn you” rather than I OWN you. “This word is just an overly used Internet typo. It has been overused to the point that people who play online games are using it in everyday speech.” –Tory Rowley, Corunna, Michigan.

NOW PLAYING IN THEATERS — Heard in movie advertisements. Where can we see that, again? “How often do movies premiere in laundromats or other places besides theaters? I know that when I want to see a movie I think about going to a shoe store.” — Andrea May, Shreveport, Louisiana.

WE’RE PREGNANT — Grounded for nine months. “Were men feeling left out of the whole morning sickness/huge belly/labor experience? You may both be expecting, but only one of you is pregnant.” — Sharla Hulsey, Sac City, Iowa. “I’m sure any woman who has given birth will tell you that ‘WE’ did not deliver the baby.” — Marlena Linne, Greenfield, Indiana.

UNDOCUMENTED ALIEN — “If they haven’t followed the law to get here, they are by definition ‘illegal.’ It’s like saying a drug dealer is an ‘undocumented pharmacist.’” — John Varga, Westfield, New Jersey.

ARMED ROBBERY/DRUG DEAL GONE BAD — From the news reports. What degree of “bad” don’t we understand? Larry Lillehammer of Bonney Lake, Washington, asks, “After it stopped going well and good?”

TRUTHINESS – “This word, popularized by The Colbert Report and exalted by the American Dialectic Society’s Word of the Year in 2005 has been used up. What used to ring true is getting all the truth wrung out of it.” — Joe Grimm, Detroit, Michigan.

ASK YOUR DOCTOR — The chewable vitamin morphine of marketing. “Ask your doctor if ‘fill in the blank’ is right for you! Heck, just take one and see if it makes you ‘fill in the blank’ or get deathly ill.” — R.C. Amundson, Oakville, Washington. “I don’t think my doctor would appreciate my calling him after seeing a TV ad.” — Peter B. Liveright, Lutherville, Maryland.

CHIPOTLE – Smoked dry over medium heat. “Prior to 2005 . . . a roasted jalapeno. Now we have a ‘chipotle’ burrito with ‘chipotle’ marinated meat, ‘chipotle’ peppers, sprinkled with a ‘chipotle’ seasoning and smothered in a ‘chipotle’ sauce. Time to give this word a rest.” – Rob Zeiger, Bristol, Pennsylvania.

i-ANYTHING — ‘e-Anything’ made the list in 2000. Geoff Steinhart of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, says tech companies everywhere have picked this apple to the core. “Turn on…tune in…and drop out.” “Banish any word that starts with it. i am just tired of it. it’s getting old. — Brad Butler, Adrian, Michigan.

SEARCH — Quasi-anachronism. Placed on one-year moratorium. “Might as well banish it. The word has been replaced by ‘google.’” — Michael Raczko, Swanton, Ohio.

HEALTHY FOOD — Point of view is everything. Someone told Joy Wiltzius of Fort Collins, Colorado, that the tuna steak she had for lunch “sounded healthy.” Her reply: “If my lunch were healthy, it would still be swimming somewhere. Grilled and nestled in salad greens, it’s ‘healthful.’”

BOASTS — See classified advertisements for houses, says Morris Conklin of Lisboa, Portugal, as in “master bedroom boasts his-and-her fireplaces — never ‘bathroom apologizes for cracked linoleum,’ or ‘kitchen laments pathetic placement of electrical outlets.’”

For what it’s worth, I submitted a word for this list, but it was not selected. I submitted “SAT test.” Doesn’t the “T” in “SAT” stand for “Test”?

To read every list ever produced, click here.

While I am not as good with the English language as I should be, I think Lake Superior State is on to something here. We “butcher” the language terribly, and, in my opinion, all of us should do our best to at least select the right word for each situation.

This also brings up another point. Are there words or phrases we “overuse” or “misuse” in the church? David Courington, minister for the Sylvan Springs congregation thinks so. Here is a portion of a recent post from his blog.

Many who read this blog know that there are certain phrases that members of the church of Christ tend to “misuse, overuse, etc.” I submit the following for your consideration:

Awesome- to borrow a word from the [Lake Superior State list], to describe God as awesome and then to describe banana pudding the same way just can’t be right, can it?

Our fellowship- can’t we, at least occasionally, identify the church as the church? A
re there faithful brethren that we do not fellowship? If so, isn’t something wrong?

Separate and apart- as you already know, the rest of the phrase is “from the Lord’s supper.” If something is “separate”, isn’t it also “apart?”

Providentially hindered- Some would question whether “God’s providence” really “hinders” us in the first place, but regardless, I submit this word for overuse. Is one providentially hindered from coming to church when he chooses to go to work instead of worship because he wants to make more money? Is a whole family “providentially hindered” from coming to church because one kid has the sniffles?

Arbitrary commands- They may seem arbitrary to us, but don’t you think God had a reason for giving them?

Again, I think David is on to something. We need to be careful not to become so lax in our choice of words that we forget the meaning behind them. Words mean something, and we need to make sure we choose properly.

What do you think? Are there more phrases that are used incorrectly, or have been over-used by members of the church? Please comment.