Shijajuang

I spent the last 24 hours of my life in a place called Shijajuang, China watching my friend, Peter, get taped for a TV show where he sang a song called "Da Zhong Guo (Big China)" and performed with dozens of other foreign (non-Chinese) singers, dancers, and actors. He's actually a teacher in Northern Hebei Province, China, but he fit the role weell for this weekend. It remindeed me of "The UN" meets "The Super Happy Fun" Hour...complete with a set of African contortionists, flashing lights, a director going crazy to finish his show, and a Pakistani pop-star.

The first picture is of Peter, dressed in his traditional Chinese red-and-yellow attire, and I, dressed in my famous Chinese "The North Face" knock-off jacket, after his show.

The second is from the bus I rode on at 6:30 AM passing a tractor-trailer pulled over on the shoulder, which caught fire and had dozens of people streaming to pilfer the contents of the vehicle, which appeared to be mostly ramen noodles and dried food-stuffs.

its late

its late. I cannot sleep. I have to be at work early in the morning and I am not happy about this. This happens to me about once a month or so. Tonight is special though. i seriously think the spirit is not letting me sleep. almost like a man quietly, simply, unappologeticly shaking me every so often. I am wrestling with real contentment in the Lord. There is also a girl that I want to leave my head but wont. so i am praying that God have his way with these paths. my mom showed me a picture of a girl she wants me to meet and it stirred something deep inside me, and in typical fashion for me, it will be a slow mulling over process until i can even identify the emotion I feel. I thank God sometimes that even though my mind may be a different story, my emotions and my heart move very slowly, but quite forcefully. I began to worry about having money to have a family one day. worrying about teaching offspring about the creator. worrying about screwing it all up. amazing how one pretty face can stir these thoughts. i know yall have these. 2 corin 4 18 says to not worry about the seen, for it is the unseen that is eternal. God please drill this into my head. heart too. i dont want many things. I dont want to be attached to this world. I want to be happy with a bed, some food, freinds and family. good work to do. its funny. I dont feel christmas anymore. except in a sudden wave of emotion that might be set off by some trigger. like 'a charlie brown christmas' special. I think that brought me to God way back in the day when Linus says humbly..."I can tell you what christmas is all about Charlie brown." (Bettwy, bury me in blue grass just came on my computer radio...no kidding... and dave matthews Christmas song came on earlier) those songs we used to listen to in bed in whoppahouse late at night when bettwy slept under my bed. There is a lot going on right now in the unseen world.

to me yall are more than just people

Wheeler

easy way to pick up babydolls

I found a singles Christian group that meats every sunday night at a church near my house. I'm gonna go scout for quarterbacks.

Kevin's engagement

My fellows,

I feel inspired to ask if anyone is interested in setting apart some time next week together to be Going Before the Father together for Kevin and Whitney, in light of their recent decision to be wed. I'm aware of the fact that we'll be together on that weekend, so if it's gonna happen then, let me know when during the weekend.


Ryan

"Receiving Grace Fully"

My today:

8 woke up with a spirit of hate writhing against me.

8-830 battled with a spirit of hate that was writhing against me

830-845 got onto the couch and jumped around, rebuking spirit of hate writhing against me. received grace fully.

845-905 walked to classroom. packed up fake Christmas tree from last year and brought it back to apartment. Saw Sunshine and chatted for a few seconds. Thought about when I used to see him walking toward me on campus last year, how I'd always start singing "You are my Sunshine, my only Sunshine!..." to him. I haven't done that lately...which is something I must remedy

905-10 researched for message I was planning for on ps 37, to our congregation (six people, myself included). saw that one of my fantasy football teams was kicking tail, as Miles Austin had 79 yards and a TD before 10 minutes were gone in the first quarter. Received grace fully (no pun intended...)
Listened to John "Smokin' the Pipe"-r talk about envy.

10-1030 rebuked spirit of fear in my living room. jumped around on my couch some more, dreaming of our time together. Wore: blue jeans, maroon VT rugby t-shirt, and oversized Hokie slippers. Perfect uniform for rebuking spirits, I do believe.

1030-11 Made/ drank coffee. Sat with friends in sanctuary/ breakfast table/ movie theater/ study area/ dining room/ newly-christened "rebuking zone"...aka, the living room. Spoke of our time with Canadians who Are Like Us who we met with to exhalt the day before.

11-1 Danced...we danced a pure dance of freedom and left no stone unturned, searching for the Truth inside eight sentences printed in a book made from letters written to friends, poems written to brothers about the One, and stories written about true things in life. We read ps 37, v. 1-11 together.

"What sticks out to you here?" I asked.
"Delight yourself in Him," Kerry answered.
"The part that talks about not fretting," Amelia noted. "I like that."

I noted the action verbs: "Trust" (v. 3), "do good" (3), "dwell" (3), "enjoy" (3), "Delight" (4), "Commit your way" (5), "trust in him" (5), "Be still" (7), "wait patiently" (7), "do not fret" (1, 7, 8), "turn from wrath" (8), "hope" (9).

Listened to a 'teaching' from the Pipe-smoking Johnnie himself. Challenged to fight envy with faith. Intentionally Came before Him together.

1-230 Ate food with these precious people. Asked again, after planning English Night (aka, club) for our lives, for logistical concerns, and for Truth to be Seen.

230-4 Fought more spirits of hatred. Sent e-mails. Burried head in the couch in a position of desperation. Asked and received grace fully.

4-7 heard knock on the door. Answered and carried chairs to my next-door-neighbor and teammate, Bethany's, apartment. Commensed "The MSA Christmas party" with 20 Chinese girls, three dudes (Wang Ja Jun, myself, and John), and our British neighbor, James. Played Yankee swap, charades, 20 questions, and a strange chinese game where everyone pretends to be confused about everything that's going on around them (I often don't have to pretend). Strove toward glad heart, even in the tired moments. favorite moments were during 20 questions, wherein I held a tiny turtle in my hands for about 20 minutes and tried to tickle his belly until he started running away.

7-8 Ate supper...I had "Tang su Li Gi Gai Fan (ten yuan to whoever translates that first!)

8-830 Helped our neighbor get her head wrapped around her thesis for English class. She greeted us at the door with dough all over her hands from making jiaotzi (dumplings).

830-930 Planned English Night. Listened to Jon, my roommate, speak about the date he had in Beijing this weekend. Prepared for club and understood that, indeed, not all days are the same. Received Grace Fully.

930-1111 Listened to Jon play the guitar and talk to his friends on Skype. G-chatted with Robert Ramsey, a young guy who I used to walk alongside, mutually pursuing the King, and challenged him to question if "how you receive is just as important as how you give." Wrote a blog entry about my day and entitled it "Receiving Grace Fully". Received Grace Fully.

1122 Pressed "Publish Post," planning to and (inevitably) executing the full reception of Grace.

questions

I need ideas... how can i gather troops in greensboro together to break bread? 22-27 ish. not college bible studies. going over stuff in this phase... thoughts?

picture blog for my travels

hokieatremington.blogspot.com

excerpt

excerpt from 'Discovery'...

"He determined your sex, how tall you would be, the color of your eyes, and your skills. There is no one else like you. You are a special, unique creation, and you were created for a good purpose. You can trust that His purpose for you is good because God is good, and He can do nothing but good. .... when we wake up in the morning... 'Let's walk and talk together today. Let's live this day together because there are special things I want to share just with you'..."

get some.

Brothers,

I enjoy encountering the searing-hot coals inside of your hearts. Thank you each for the gift that it is to encounter Life in these true ways.

I long to be exposed before the cross for the fraud that I am. That is truly my joy, to be completely bear before Him. I'm tempted even as I write this to make it sound good so that you will think that I am spiritual or have a good heart or something. I rebuke that and simply invite us, as brothers, to come before the throne entirely. I'm asking today for Truth at whatever cost: my pride, my goals, my comfort, my family. There are no laurels to rest on and that is truly where I want to live my life: completely bare before the cross.

No, I don't mean bare like one might be if he was, say, sitting around with a bunch of dudes near a fire in the woods sipping brews with no one around for miles... although I can imagine how excited you just got, Wheels.

My Father has been getting up underneath me lately through ps 37, convicting me and showing me the face of Glory himself. I offer it to each of you in hopes that it can and will do the same for you.

Sincerely,

Brother Bettwy

we few

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg2OajyeZUE

Brothers

I've also been learning that there are a lot of dudes out there who want to know how to be a true friend, brother, father, whatever. And the world is in desperate need of them... Men who value faith and character over everything else. It takes courage to be a man, kind of like this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VizQ__xzU1M

and I'm thankful that I've got true brothers on the road ahead.

We’ve all been made in God’s image, brothers. I’ve been thinking about what it means to be in his image and what this image truly looks like, because together we are the body. As for relating this to life practically, I’ve been learning a lot about relationships. Being much more intentional, and loving people effectively. To do this it’s pretty durn helpful to know each other’s love languages, and get also get over the sappiness of the term “love languages”. I started thinking of events in my life where Christ has shown me his love in various ways and learned a valuable lesson about people.

We have an incredible God. He is the Truth, and the Truth is dynamic- as dynamic as a person (which He is) and He sets us free. Not only does Truth set us free, but He loves. On top of loving, he loves each person specifically and that is why he is dynamic. He meets us where we are and uses words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, acts of service, and touch. How? You tell me.

I’ve been blessed to see a myriad of ways that people love Christ back, and that has been the best part. I value being a Whoppahead and worshipping the God King alongside men
who worship well.

Be on the lookout for love that makes no sense but blows through us like the wind... the only thing we know is that it is driven by the Son.

Dang

Yes. That is all I have to say about Wheeler's post. In reality I thought "damn." Continue on Warrior Poets.

I have been faced with the fact that there is a calling on every day, that God does not wake me up to help me try and figure out my calling; he has already placed His calling in me when he put his presence in my life. His presence is a calling...to be in the presence of love is to be called. And my calling is to ask, seek, and knock for my joy and for the satisfaction and joy of others because we are the ones guaranteed, by the sealing favor of His blood, to receive, find, and eat at the banquet table.

"But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. ¹²Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ¹³In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you ¹⁴to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen." 1 Timothy 6:11-16

Wheels, continue to raise up that militia.

It Is an Honor,
Murden

Venting Part 2

Ok. So I'll admit it. I was reading Wheelers post yesterday in the early hours of a Monday morning workday and started to well up a bit. (that means starting to cry) and conveniently enough, at the same, time my co-worker - a nice lady about 35-40 years old peers over our adjoining cube wall and asks me a question about work...and then stops what she was saying and asks me, "are you feeling ok? It looks like your eyes are really red."
(Women are smart)

Well Dammit wheels.

"Yeah... I'm good," I replied. I wanted to explain that old friends, good letters, and TRUTH were the best things I could ask for, but I concentrated on maintaining what composure I had left. Yeah theres been some hard days whoppas. I love you guys. Whoppahead Ministries International. We're just getting started.. under what wheeler said best:

I see guys everywhere who need whoppaheads, and need to know that they are one.

Yeah we're all whoppaheads. In need of grace, and mercy from our Father made available by the blood of Jesus Christ. Let us not try to live a day without it.

Heres to tears, longing for fullness here, and knowing that we will be with HIM forever.

Dont give up. Strength and Honor..

Actions and Truth.


OH AND DO THIS: (SO PEOPLE CHECK THE BLOG WHEN YOU POST)
1. sign in.
2. click customize at the top of the screen
3. click on the settings tab
4. click on the "Email & Mobile" Section
5. Enter up to ten emails to notify when you post...that way we actually use the blog.

-Nicoletti

I need to vent

Vent

One thing that kinda comes naturally to me is that I don’t miss being places. Ive always been good at moving on from one phase into another without really looking back at the old one and wanting to go back. I moved to Blacksburg without ever a look back. I left Africa knowing it was time to return home. I moved out of my house in kville after one year at tech never regretting giving my room up. There is, however, this new phase of life. I miss Whoppahouse. The house, the dudes, the atmosphere, the brotherhood, and everything. The funny thing is, I knew the time had come over a year ago. Pat and I had returned to Blacksburg and things just were not the same. I am a believer in its not where or what you are doinig but its who you are with. We have the blessing of knowing we are with the Bigman at all times but upon returning to Blacksburg I knew the times were a changing. I knew it was time to get out because the men who had cemented my love affair with the burg were mostly gone. Life began to change. So I do miss it a lot. But I also believe what bettwy writes in his book. College was awesome but its not the best time we will ever have, that’s bullshit, because we have a life of freedom that will get better everyday walking with the King. The thing is, Im still adjusting to the shock waves. The ripples of my pool have not calmed. I do hope that one day we can all be near. Live close, work, raise kids who play together, laugh, fight, help eachother learn how to be married the right way, support eachother’s spouses as good friends. In my dreams we have like 300 acres of land and we all build a house on it in different areas. Maybe 20 minutes outside Richmond where business guys, engineers, ministers, and pilots can work and play. That’s my dream, and if I ever figure out a way I will be calling! In the meantime I know that our brotherhood is born of rock and steel that will not only be great in spirit but accomplish things in this world. Nico made up “whoppahead ministries international” to publish the book under and I think I might start a bible study in Greensboro. I see a need that should be filled. One that I think I can fill, and we all can fill. I see guys everywhere who need whoppaheads, and need to know that they are one. A goofball guy, trustworthy and hardheaded, but needs to be told he can kick some ass and take names in this world as part of the only real army in the universe the one that cant be defeated. We are not in control of our lives. Our lives are governed by the laws and codes and principles that God has designed. Like the rules of the ball game. And if you focus on Him, His laws, and His codes of character, manhood, and freedom, then you are, infact, in control . I think that one day we can surround ourselves with eachother again and play as a team. But for now we gotta play as a team geologically separate. But never forget that its only miles that separate our team.

There is that little pause. That little gap. That little moment that seperates stimulus from reaction. That gap, however small, is where your soul resides. That gap is what seperates you from the beast. That gap, between stimulus and response, is God. That moment if your freedom to use the law, no matter the stimulus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pD0YMb-7hlY&feature=PlayList&p=0C1010ABCF60D80E&index=21

Thanks for listening.

Wheeler

arms dealer

Never been shot. Selling them to get them off inventory.

visitor check in part two

Ok, ive added email notifications to people so hopefully we look at this more.

J.

Let me know if you got one via comment below. (theres a chance this will only happen when I Post and not when say bettwy posts...so we will just have to keep an eye on it.

Visitor check-in

This post is just to check if anyone is reading the posts here. Please comment to this message with "Pony dates a Yankee" if you read this.

Ryan

Infield Fly Rule

Saturday morning.

"That's not the infield fly rule," I said to my teammate, a Korean doctoral student in Baoding's Hebei University. "If just man on first, no...this. If man first, second, or man first, second, third," I said pointing to the now-empty bases, "then, yes. Otherwise, 'ma yo' (not have)."

My teammate looked at me, shaking his head, '.Okay.' He had been on first base with no one else on base when there was a pop up on the infield. No one caught it, but still he stood there, not trying to run, just pointing to the sky that there should have been an infield fly rule called. He was wrong, which I explained. Well, which I tried to explain.

A moment later, after talking with the umpire, he ran back to first base and took over the poisition of the batter who hit the pop fly, who rightly should have occupied first now. With that, I stood behind home plate and realized the great folly of my explanation:

1.) I'm an American in China and my teammates (Korean and japanese students) speak little to no English.

2.) No one can really understand the infield fly rule to begin with...

At one point, I started realizing the weight of this truth and cheered for my teammates in English:

"Hey, baby, no one can understand me anyway so I'm just gonna yell a lot!" I said while being the third base coach. There was a runner on second who simply shook his head 'Yes' and tapped the brim of his helmet.

It's cold. We're playing hard, and not just baseball and soccer, either. Battle onward, dear brothers.

Advent Study: "The Willard House Special"

I wanted to write y'all to let you know that I'm starting a study on Tuesday, something I'm calling "The Willard House Special." Remember with me the basement of the Willard House which, among other "charming amenities," housed a collection of several books. One of these books, for reasons perhaps some of you know better than I, was Max Lucado's God Came Near, which had a radical number of copies (maybe 30) that I never thought much of except that I wondered what they were there for.

Long story short, I stole a copy last Summer from the House and am going to read it as preparation for Christmas/ celebration of the Advent season (there's 31 chapters, so that will go from nov 24- dec 24). Please keep this pursuit in your thoughts, that it would expose me to Truth and the Greatness that He is in my life.

Feel free to join in the reading if you're looking for something to focus studies, thoughts, the like...let me know if you do. It would be a shame to buy it, considering the likelihood that there's still a bounty in Blacksburg, but as many of us are no longer there, so it may be.

jerry knows some whoppas

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/f80f01f1dd/jerry-seinfeld-on-men-and-women-from-standupfan

Stalwart of the Faith

This has been challenging me in my reason, thinking, and heart toward people/ the nature of friendship:

"The First [Friend] is the alter ego, the man who first reveals to you that you are not alone in the world by turning out (beyond hope) to share all your most secret delights. There is nothing to be overcome in making him your friend; he and you join like raindrops on a window. But the Second Friend is the man who disagrees with you about everything... Of course he shares your interests; otherwise he would not become your friend at all. But he has approached them all at a different angle. he has read all the right books but has got the wrong thing out of every one... How can he be so nearly right, and yet, invariably, just not right? He is as fascinating (and infuriating) as a woman." C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy

american boys

started reading some thoreau

They mistake who assert that the Yankee has few amusements, because he has not so many public holidays, and men and boys do not play so many games as they do in England, for here the more primitive but solitary amusements of hunting, fishing, and the like have not yet given place to the former. Almost every New England boy among my contemporaries shouldered a fowling-piece between the ages of ten and fourteen; and his hunting and fishing grounds were not limited, like the preserves of an English nobleman, but were more boundless even than those of a savage. No wonder, then, that he did not oftener stay to play on the common. But already a change is taking place, owing, not to an increased humanity, but to an increased scarcity of game, for perhaps the hunter is the greatest friend of the animals hunted, not excepting the Humane Society.

Housing market

I saw this article on Yahoo today and it reminded me a lot of what we were talking about the other day with health insurance, tax system/ incentive system, ect. It's an article about Detroit's housing market (or lack thereof):

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091025/us_nm/us_usa_housing_detroit

I hope that these things press us toward Life, Peace, and justice.

Stalwart of the Faith

"My experience of men has neither disposed me to think worse of them, or indisposed me to serve them; nor in spite of failures, which I lament, of errors which I now see and acknowledge; or of the present aspect of affairs; do I despair of the future.
The truth is this: The march of Providence is so slow, and our desires so impatient; the work of progress is so immense and our means of aiding it so feeble; the life of humanity is so long, that of the individual so brief, that we often see only the ebb of the advancing wave and are thus discouraged. It is history that teaches us to hope."

-Robert E. Lee, 1870 (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_E_Lee)

nico is a wild man

this is what nico did with dish and me without ever jumping at the quarry before. we thought he died.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgfiqhuJOP8&feature=geosearch

VT Rugby

Hey fellas,

I read today that Virginia Tech's rugby program has been suspended for hazing/ other things that happened during a party on campus. I hope that this occurs to the Glory of the Father. Please just ask for this to be done in the lives of the players and coaches of this squad, some of whom I played with during my time on the pitch and some of whom I'm sure you guys know.

Living Redeemed,

Ryan

http://www.vtrugby.com

http://www.americanrugbynews.com/artman/publish/college/Va_Tech_program_suspended.shtml

Stalwart of the Faith

This is what I'm doing this weekend. :

www.beijing-marathon.com

"He ran that day, everyone said, like a man inspired. But, in fact, he should never have won a race at all. Modern coaches would have been appalled at his running style. It was like his public speaking-- poor. . . "Liddle had a curious action, swinging his arms very high, bringing his knees well up, and throwing his head well back," said his competitor Innes Stewart. . . But that extraordinary style propelled him towards the finishing tape faster than anyone else in the world. And the exhilaration on his face as he ran! The exultation on his face as he threw back his head!

A fascinating insight into the style comes from Ian Charleston, the actor who plays Eric Liddell in the film, Chariots of Fire. . ."I suddenly realized--Liddell must have run like that. He must have run with his head up and literally trusted to go there. He ran with faith. He didn't even look where he was going. So I can see how that would have given him a lot of extra push in a way. He just let go, completely relaxed."

Sally Magnusson's The Flying Scotsman: A Biography of Eric Liddell, page 37.

definitions

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=whoppa%20head

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=WHOPPADONK

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=whoppa




Public Disclaimer: These have nothing to do with what we are discussing. We did not create these definitions.

something i think is important

I have been reading some political and economic stuff this weekend and wanted to share this link with you from Forbes Magazine.

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/1005/taxes-financial-aid-college-roughing-up-middle-class.html

This stuff makes me mad.

Keep living free in Him yall.

Wheeler

"Stalwarts of the Faith"

The Cambridge Seven.

These guys really impressed me with the way that they seem so ready to lay it all down. Obviously, the China connection is there, but that is insignificant when viewed from the simple fact that they are our brothers:

"When these seven young men yielded their lives to [Him], they didn't runaway to a cave and become monks. They didn't shut their mouths and become quietly self-righteous. Instead, they continued to struggle and grow in love for [Him] and for others. They made the most of their situations for the sake of telling others about their [brother, Father, and friend], even though their individual positions meant nothing to them because of the joy and meaning they had in [Him].

("Report on 'The Cambridge Seven'")

I really benefited from reading through their biographies on this link. I mean...they're just a bunch of Whoppaheads being Whoppaheads.

-R.L. Betwy of "The Whoppahead Seven" (eight, nine, ten...)

This week's "Stalwart of the Faith"

I got an e-mail from Steve Rawls today. He said a lot of things, but here's part of his update letter:

"... As we sat in the back room of the local coffee shop, I could feel
the excitement in our leaders. The new year was upon us. We were
, for the first time this year, meeting together as a team. Our
high school team consists of three guys and three girls. Myself,
Mike (a teacher who is in his 19th year leading in the area),
and Clarke - a full-of-life sophomore at W&L. Our girls (Jill,
Allison ad Crystal) are all juniors - entering into their second
year of walking with kids. We began to sit and talk through this
coming up year. It was exciting."

I'm sure that I have a lot of passions in my life and want to do a lot of things, but when I read about homeboy Mike, the teacher, who's been at it for almost two decades, I kind of just felt like I knew/ affirmed what I already know and am walking in with my life...that is "He who is my life." Okay, cheers boys!

FOOTBALL!

Miami weekend was great, brothers...I know I wasn't actually in Blacksburg to see the game, but little did we know that thousands of miles to the East, there was a game of immense importance waged between the English and the Finance Departments of Hebei College of Finance. Not only did I have the pleasure of being a part of this intense struggle for football immortality, but I was also honored with being the starting sweeper for the English Department!

The Finance department was the vaunted opponent on this overcast Thursday afternoon, set to play the role of refined, regimented, uniformed Goliath to our "Sandlot", "Squints" Paldorous-kissing-his-lifeguard, throwing up on the twirl-a-whirl while swallowing chewing tobacco David...they had defeated their first two opponents, 17-3, and seemed poised for another blow out. Vince had little faith that we would win.

"If we win this game," he posed before our match, thinking of the most outlandish threat imaginable, "I will become a (hr'$+/@^."

I paused at Vince's threat, then said in an insincere, yet ponderously upward-lifting tone, "Okay...I'll 'lift' that up for you."

The game began with the Finance Department kicking off, intentionally giving us the ball as a sign of friendship and acknowledging us as the "lesser" team in the competition. I recognized this as more of an insult than a sign of respect and honor. I gave three reasons for this reaction to the gesture:

1. I am American with bred American pride

2. I'm a Whoppahead

3. I lived with Wheeler for twelve months of my life.

Either way, I was touched with the tinge of tenacity, which thrust me to an athletic fury that saw shots which rivaled only the biggest Beckham ball game and Rinaldino ricochet. In actuality, I only had two shots on goal in this game, but our team did play brilliantly. Nearing the end of the first half, which saw many scoring chances for both teams, our enter forward, Henry (#5) got loose in a one-on-one with the keeper only a few feet from the goal. Shifting his body weight to the left, he baited the keeper to go with him, only to leave the ball off his right foot, just out of the reach of the keeper's flailing legs. Our team had drawn first blood...but knew well as the half drew to a close that we were far from finished.

"We're only a lucky shot away from this being tied," Jon, my roommate and Newly-Anointed Keeper of the Ring...uh, I mean goal, he's the goalie, the keeper of the goal and has exactly as much experience before entering this tournament at said position as Sean Glennon's estimated NFL starts at QB: zero.

"At least I know I can't get hurt playing goalie," Jon said. My mind instantly recalled the pictures immortalized on the "Wall of Pain" in the Willard House living room of Matt Walker and the clenched-jaw aftermath of his "not getting hurt" while playing goalie for FC Whoppa.

"Uh, just don't be too careful," I told Jon, rushing back into reality.

So, things were looking up/ lucky for our team going into the second half. There were a fair number of "Jia you, peng you!" (literally, "add oil," but also meaning "Let's go, friends!") chants emitted into the collective ears of my teammates during the next 35-minute half as we continued to feel the heat. I felt like it was FC Whoppahead all over again, except this time without the awkward-looking slips and strange positions I ended up getting into when trying to play defense against people who REALLY knew what they were doing. They controlled the ball most of the second half, but our defense stacked in tight and continued forcing tough shots and deflecting would-be saves for corner kicks. Jon made a few great saves and we ended up keeping them at bay until, with about 10 minutes left in the game, Henry received a cleared ball at midfield with only one defender back. He juked the defender for one move, then dumped the ball into the left corner of the goal box, running parallel with the defender step-for-step. When they reached the ball, Henry gained control, only to be dragged to the ground in a heap of man, reminiscent of a post-Hokie-TD dog pile in Lane. The ref blew the whistle and we'd earned a pk. Henry stepped up, brushed off some dirt, and promptly punched home the second goal of the game. We were winning, 2-0, with minutes left. The rest of the game was chippy, with a few fouls called on both teams. Our team cleared a few corner kicks and finally ended with a tough 50/50 ball that Jon punched out before colliding with the Finance's center-forward. The referee blew the three "tweets" indicating our 2-0 victory!

Life's living well, brothers. Ask for discipline, faith, and for thanksgiving.

Whoppa' What!

Bettwy

ps-- There's one "Perfect" shot where the guy shoots from the top of the TX A&M stadium and makes it into a hoop on the field...nasty stuff.

I bought a motorcycle!

FC English Department

In-game action versus Finance.

I dont get it....are all of those shots real? cuz I think we could make most of them.

Hm...

It just makes me want to go and visit all Young Life camps...

DUDE...This is crazy

K, so this is a whoppaheads worldwide (ryan) blog for fun. Just to shoot the breeze and laugh as brothers. We will keep the serious stuff to email. We need to add a bunch of people as contributors, but that will happen soon. I'll get on that tonight.

FOR NOW. Vote on your favorite camp edition dude perfect shot.

blag structure

1. Is this an open blog? I propose closing it to only contributors.
2. Do we want to have a theme to stick to?