Super stuff

This week, the moon showed up fully for the second time in a month. That gives it the title of "Blue moon," a term which means just that, a full moon appearing twice in any calendar month. And somehow this particular full moon was also labeled "Super." That term has to do with distance from the earth to the moon. During a 'supermoon' the moon is at perigee, that is, the closest spot to the earth in its elliptical orbit. OK, so we had a Super Blue Moon. I love double dipping. And it was pretty amazing to view.
Here's an example of what it looked like. The half moon on the left is the normal size; on the right is how it actually appeared last week.
The only ones who saw the moon of course, were those who looked up.

Tomorrow is 4 February and if you have a television and live in almost any of the 200 countries in the world you will know that there is a game of football being played in the north of the US, in Minnesota, between the New England (think Boston) Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles. A regional affair, but nationally and now internationally considered, watched, gambled on, and cared about. Over 100 million in the US will watch, at least the first half, and then the Super Halftime show with Justin Timberlake. Many watch only for the commercials! I will be in Berlin, Germany and the game will begin at about 1:30 on Monday morning, so I'm hoping that I will find a friendly pub open and with a comfy chair to watch the 4-hour contest. Isn't the game only 60 actual playing minutes? Yes, but they have to leave time for the super commercials which cost an arm, leg, and corporate equity for each 30-second spot. If you want the real cost in US dollars, it's 7.7 million. Yes, for 30 seconds. Yup. Super. Just to watch. You have to watch!

'Super' by definition means 'above' as in 'superlative' or 'superior' or even 'supernatural.' Great, marvelous, fantastic, tremendous, excellent, splendid, terrific, superb, brilliant, ace and cracking are synonyms. I consider the word overused, as most people are looking for alternates to 'awesome' or 'absolutely' in normal conversation. What most people mean by 'super' is actually 'ok.' I am in Israel as I write this and the colloquial here is "B'seder" meaning "everything is in order" but really it's simply "ok." Some say "nachon" which again means "all good." Or really simply "ok." I've actually been hearing more "OK" here this week than ever before. Maybe the Yank "OK" is winning over the Hebrew. 

Seriously, "OK" is normal. And I'm ok with normal.

This week I was on a bus sitting next to a woman named Lior. Her name carries the word "Light" in it. We spoke about the full moon, the supermoon, etc. I told her during the conversation that most of life is boring. That most of our world is mundane and ordinary. She took issue with that. She is young and enthused and was heading to a yoga class. No, she retorted, life is great. Look at the moon! And sunrise! I noted that the sunrise lasts only a few minutes. And to be fair, I love sunrise, but you cannot grow crops in sunrise. Most of the day is the long, slow, painful reality of sun blazing on us. Then again we have the inspiration brought us by sunset, but it's also ephemeral. She finally agreed; we just had to find what each term really meant. 

I agree; there are super moments in our lives. But not very often. Sunrise lasts only a very small percentage of the 24-hours we call a day. But there are sunrises. Those are wonderful and could be given the term 'super.' 

When people say 'every day is a miracle' I argue with them. But when they say that 'supernatural' things happen, I'm totally with them. Yes, and that's why the ministry of Yeshua was so noticeable. He went about healing and doing good. He performed miracles like feeding 5,000 folks from a little boy's lunch. He walked on water in the Galilee. He raised Lazarus from the dead. These were not ordinary; they were EXTRAordinary. They were not natural; they were SUPERnatural.  When the Romans killed and buried him, they thought the natural would carry on. Surprise of surprises! On the 3rd day he rose from the dead and was seen by 500 Jewish people afterwards. That's SUPERNATURAL.

I enjoyed the supermoon.

I hope to enjoy the Super Bowl.

I really love the God of the Universe who does wonders and brings his Supernatural life to us, each of us who look up.

The coin toss and the captain who chooses

The coin flip at the beginning of overtime in today's New England Patriots vs New York Jets is controversial. Not that the coin landed on its side. The call by special teams captain Matthew Slater #18 may have been the weirdest call in history. I watched the replay several times. Referee Clete Blakeman said after Slater chose 'heads' and it landed 'heads', "You want to kick?" And then the response by Slater was almost parroting. "We want to kick" When Slater argued "We won, don't we get to choose?" it appeared that Slater tried to fix things, but Blakeman wouldn’t let him. The commentators wondered if it was 'muscle memory' as the Patriots often when winning the toss at a game's beginning will choose to defer/ kick and take the kickoff at the 2nd half. This whole ending was odd.

Right now, there is discussion in cricket to scrap the tradition of the coin toss, and when we say 'tradition' we are talking since 1744! Whereas in many sports the toss is often irrelevant, in cricket it often does matter. The pitch deteriorates throughout the five days of a test match, and getting in early is crucial. Unless the pitch is very green, and the conditions are overcast, it's sensible to follow the axiom of WG Grace who said, ‘When you win the toss – bat. If you are in doubt, think about it, then bat. If you have very big doubts, consult a colleague – then bat.’

So some situations warrant defence and some offence, and it's up to the captain to decide which way the team should go. This Patriots situation is bizarre with QB Tom Brady with or without a deflated ball ready to go on the sideline. You have to wonder what else took place out in the middle, and maybe the NFL will investigate and let us all know conclusively. You have to wonder if Steve Harvey was on a microphone nearby or Regis Philbin was saying "Is that your final answer?"

Turned out that the coach Bill Belichek had actually wanted Slater to kick if he won the toss.

Still, the coin toss is a random luck-but-also-probability game I've studied for years. After all I used to teach high school mathematics.

So who is the captain in your life? Who helps you make a decision when you have to choose heads or tails? And then when you win the toss, what has the captain told you to choose? Life gives us many choices, in what we will do in time off or when to arrive for a meeting. We have to choose where to attend uni and what career path to take. The captain knows better than we on the team know. And if you know that I'm speaking about Yeshua, the Captain of our Souls, the Jewish Messiah and Saviour of the World, then this makes sense. The Greek word for 'captain' is 'strategos' which is used 3 times in the Book of Acts. At times the word indicates a magistrate or a politician. In the modern Hellenic Army, a stratigós is the highest officer rank.

I've been a believer for 40 years and find that a quick check-in at headquarters, with Yeshua my Captain, informs me about life choices, and especially about life mistakes. When I am sent 'on the field' and have to engage with the enemy, if I have my plans set, if my play is determined and I am out to carry out His plans-- life is good.

May I recommend that you personally ask God what His plans are for you, and for your life this week, this year, and resolve to follow Him. He knows the percentages. He has the final answer. Sh'ma... listen to Him!