We had a game-winning goal disallowed for no reason. The referee wasn’t even able to give a reason why after the game. Go ahead and watch the replay of that call. 2 Americans are being bear hugged and dragged to the ground in the box, and the referee calls a penalty on us. What a terrible call!

Fast forward to the game with Algeria. Another goal is disallowed for an offsides call that was clearly not offsides. Thankfully Donovan was able to score in stoppage time.

And then today’s game with Ghana. Granted, the US put itself in a giant hole once again early in the match, but they equalized again with an amazing penalty kick from Donovan. Then Ghana scores an early goal in Extra Time.

And then the insanity began. The Ghanaians started flopping all over the place. A guy went down in midfield who wasn’t even touched, and they sent a stretcher out! A guy fell after making a bicycle kick, and you would have thought we cleated him in the chest. Then they sub the guy furthest away on the field just to run off time. They took their good sweet time for throw ins, corner kicks, goal kicks, etc. By my count there should have been about 5 minutes plus added on, not 3.

It seems to me (and I’m biased for sure) that FIFA did not want the US to even make it out of the group stage. Maybe trying to make a political statement or something, I don’t know.

It was amazing to watch our team fight against 11 and sometimes 12 players and do as well as they did. They never quit and actually played better soccer as the matches went on.

Unfortunately, they put themselves in holes one too many times, and now we must wait another 4 years, but shame on you, FIFA, shame on you.

I honestly don’t know much about the situation, and that’s saying a lot for someone who usually stays really up on politics. Work has been crazy busy with an end of the month project, my new MacBook Pro just got here, and there have been a ton of other things going on.

All I know is that the General made some comments critical of the administration. And now he’s not the top commander in Afghanistan anymore.

I will not comment on whether or not the comments were out of line, because I don’t know what they were. I do think that this administration seems to have thin skin and does not like it when anyone stands in there way or is critical of them.

The thing that just makes me chuckle is the top name on the replacement list – General David Petraues. One on the most demonized Generals from people on the Left during his time as the top commander during the war in Iraq.

I think that is the thing that strikes me as most ironic. A President loved by the left bringing in someone they hate to lead the war in Afghanistan.

Here it is. Thanks to the guys at RustyBrick!

Seems pretty similar to the app for the iPhone.

Another great solution for mobile blogging.

I must say that it’s pretty amazing. It’s got a great interface, especially when adding categories to a post.

Highly recommended.

Seems to work pretty well, and I’m finally starting to get used to the physical keyboard on the Droid, so that’s a plus.

Loving the phone so far.

The speakers were also great. The first night was Joe Jackson, a former player for the Minnesota Vikings during the days of the Purple People Eaters. The last speaker, on Saturday afternoon, was also good, but I really connected with the middle speaker – Mark Batterson.

Mark spoke about cages that we live in that keep us from being who God wants us to be. His talk focused on the cage of guilt – a cage we all deal with. Most of Mark’s material came from Luke 22 where Peter denies knowing Jesus 3 times before the rooster crows. Mark made an interesting point. Peter would have had to wake up every day to the rooster crowing – a reminder of what must have been one of the lowest points of his life.

I had never thought about it that way before. Imagine the guilt Peter must have felt each day he heard that rooster crow. Later Jesus “reinstates” Peter by asking him 3 times if he loves Him. This reinstatement happens “early in the morning”, perhaps around the time the rooster would have crowed. Jesus didn’t want Peter to live with the guilt of what he had done. It is interesting to note the time that he chose to reinstate him and to make a new association with the crowing of the rooster. Peter did not have to live with that guilt any longer.

Many times we live with guilt. We struggle with certain sins or habits, and even when we ask for forgiveness, we have a hard time get over the guilt of what we have done. We can accept that God will forgive us, but we often don’t forgive ourselves, and we stay focused on our shortcomings, which keeps us from being able to move and do the things that God has called us to do.

Which brings me back, in a round about way, to the title of this post. Many times Peter gets a bad wrap. He was the one who sank when trying to walk on the water to Jesus. He was the one who hacked a guy’s ear off when they arrested Jesus in the Garden. And Peter was the one who denied Jesus three times in the moment of Jesus’ greatest need.

Mark made some good points when looking at all these shortcomings. You don’t hear about any other disciples being willing to jump out of the boat to go to Jesus. Where were the other disciples jumping to Jesus aide in the Garden? And why weren’t there any other disciples even in the vicinity of Jesus’ location to be able to be questioned about their association with Jesus?

Yes, Peter made mistakes. But he also lived dangerously. He got out of his “comfort zone” and took risks for God. And look what happened on the Day of Pentecost due to the reinstatement that occurred after Peter’s lowest moment.

We’re here at the Boyer-Turner wedding near IthacA at the Benn Conger Inn. This place is amazing, and as an added plus it has free WiFi!

Congratulations KT and Chase. We love you both and can’t wait to be down-the-street neighbors!