On Friday, I saw a 4,000 word article about a play that happened in a football game the previous Sunday.  Yes, 4,000 words dedicated to one play.  If you watched the game between the Patriots and the Colts, you know that coach Bill Belichick of the Patriots went for it on 4th and 2 from his own 28, last 2 minutes of the game, Patriots were ahead by 6.  The Patriots didn't convert.  Colts ball.  Turned it into a touchdown.  Colts win.

The sports world has been calling it "Belichick's Blunder."  Hundreds of thousands of words have been dedicated to this one play.  I opened an article on Friday that was 4,000 words.  But I didn't read it.  I've watched a lot of sports, I've seen a lot of awesome moments, but I can't think of any reason to write 4,000 words on one play.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words?  Apparently a single down in football is worth more.  (By comparison, this column is under 600 words.)

Now, I love sports.  I'm a fan.  I get excited watching games.  I cheer.  I yell and scream.  I jump up and down.  I knock my head on the ceiling (yes, that's actually happened).  I have to go for a walk and cool off if my team loses.  I just love sports.  But at the root of it all, I know this...  Every major sport is all about chasing a ball around.  (In hockey, it's a puck, but it's the same concept.) 

We get all worked up and we dump literally billions of dollars a year into a bunch of guys chasing a ball.  I know all the talk about how sports bring people together, how they teach teamwork and instill a competitive spirit, how they inspire and motivate, how they're cross-cultural, and whatever else.  Sometimes that's true and sometimes it's not.  But it's always about chasing a ball around.

I thought about doing a sports blog a few times, but I could never think of a justifiable reason for doing it.   Perhaps if I was pursuing some kind of career in sports journalism, then it would make sense.  But since I'm not, what would be the point?  I can't see myself enhancing anyone's life through writing a sports blog.

But 4,000 words on a single play?  Why?!  There are other reasons why teams lose games than just one single play.  And if he had converted that 4th down -- which the Patriots missed by just inches -- all these sports writers would have thought he was a hero.  (That's another thing: No one is a "hero" making plays on a football field.  No one.)

I love what these guys are doing.  They're called Dude Perfect.  Basically, they just make videos of awesome basketball shots.  Sounds pretty pointless, right?  Hey, it's more sensible than writing a 4,000 word column.  They're having fun, and watching one of their videos doesn't take nearly as long as reading 4,000 words.

But these guys are doing one better than that.  They're taking all the proceeds they make off of Dude Perfect videos, and using them to sponsor kids through Compassion International.  Outstanding.  Because people love to watch their fantastic basketball shots, there are kids getting fed, receiving medical care, and getting an education.  It's one of those times when you can see that chasing a ball around is actually doing someone else a much greater good.



Proverbs 10:16 "The earnings of the godly enhance their lives, but evil people squander their money on sin."

Earlier this year, I wrote a blog about Carrie Prejean, the former Miss California and runner-up in this year's Miss America pageant, and likened her to a modern-day Esther.  With the crown of Miss America on the line, she was asked her opinion of gay marriage.  Carrie answered that she believed marriage should be between a man and a woman.  She's been media fodder and the target of a public smear campaign ever since.

A couple weeks ago, word broke that a "sex-tape" had been uncovered of the beauty queen, a video she did of herself when she says she was a teenager sent privately to her then-boyfriend.  I started getting e-mails from a few of my dissenters: "What do you think of your Esther now?"  Rumors started this weekend that there are eight alleged "sex-tapes" Carrie made.  "Hypocrite!" her critics are saying now.  "So much for Christian role model!"

If that's what you think, you're missing the point.  The point is not, "It's okay to be like Carrie Prejean.  It's okay to enter beauty pageants, take nude photos, and get breast implants as long as you believe marriage should be between one man and one woman."  No.  Carrie Prejean is not being raised up as a role model.  The point is that a person like her who expresses their views -- if that view is marriage should be between a man and a woman -- is going to get smeared.  So far, so right.

We may never have known of Carrie's topless photos or making a sex video for her boyfriend if she didn't say, "I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman" in the Miss America pageant.  In fact, most people would probably be saying, "Carrie who?"  The more those who don't like her keep saying she's "a dumb [whatever]" or push everything negative that comes out about her, the more they reinforce that "Personal convictions will be punished if they dare to disagree with same-sex marriage!!"

Carrie's past or even present mistakes have nothing to do with it.  The woman's a beauty queen!  She's already been sexualized by the media, let alone by herself.  It's supposed to be shocking that there's more "sex" connected with her name than we were first aware of?  I would never condone these things she's done, but that's not the issue.

Besides, those reporting on all of her shenanigans are not so noble.  TMZ had been sitting on that Carrie Prejean "sex tape."  Why didn't they say something about it earlier?  Because they wanted this news item to coincide with the release of Carrie's new book.  Now they get paid for breaking the story.

In addition, those sympathetic with the homosexual agenda are in no position to judge anyone's sexuality.  They might say, "Carrie Prejean is in no position to judge anyone's sexuality either!"  But she didn't.  She was asked her opinion, and she gave it.  The homosexual agenda is trying to impose their sexuality on her and on the public, but Carrie hasn't imposed anything.  The things Carrie did privately have been made public by the hyper-sexual media and those attempting to smear her -- not by Carrie herself.  Again, it all goes back to her saying, "I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman."  That is why all of this is happening.

Back in May, I wrote, "Carrie Prejean has been likened to a modern-day Esther.  This famous queen won a beauty contest to be married to a king she didn't love.  But because of her influence, because of what she'd attained through her beauty, she was able to save her people, the Jews, from possible extermination.  She put her life on the line for a cause greater than her crown.  Carrie's answer wasn't one to save a nation, but she laid down her crown for the truth."  Carrie lost a chance at winning because she stuck with her convictions.  And she's still being smeared because of it.

Esther 4:14b "Who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"

What's more important to the administration's foreign policy -- climate change or human rights?  You may find the answer disturbing. 

Many were shocked last February when Secretary of State Clinton said that pressing China about its human rights abuses "can't interfere" with more important things -- like "the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis, and the security crisis."

Even the Washington Post was shocked; its editors said Clinton's comments were "misguided."  But now it seems that Clinton was only stating what was to be official Obama administration policy.

We saw this same attitude last month when Barack Obama declined to meet with the Dali Lama.  The snub was an apparent effort to curry favor with Chinese leaders -- leaders who deny religious liberty and human rights, not only to their own citizens, but also to Tibetans.  Obama's refusal to meet with the Tibetan spiritual leader reminded me of when President Ford wrongly refused to meet with Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the heroic Russian dissident.

Obama and his aides have also reportedly refused to meet with a representative of Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.  And now we learn that the President has been quietly cutting off aid to groups that monitor human rights abuses and fight on behalf of human freedom -- especially in Iran.  In the Wall Street Journal, David Feith and Bar Weiss write that the administration has eliminated millions of dollars in funding for the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, Freedom House, and the State Department's Iran Democracy Fund. 

These actions go against everything America stands for.  Our worldview is largely informed by our Christian heritage -- one that puts human dignity first.  Has this administration forgotten that human rights have always been America’s greatest export?  We believe that all humans are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, as our Declaration of Independence says.  We can't just write off these rights for the sake of climate change or the economy; they're central to who we are.

I knew this before I became a Christian.  In 1973, President Nixon sent me to Moscow to negotiate for the release of Soviet Jews.  I told Vasily Kuznetsov, the hard-line Soviet negotiator, that if the Soviets did not loosen their restrictions, Congress would not pass the trade treaty, which the Soviets desperately needed.  Release the Jews, I said -- or kiss American grain goodbye.

Kuznetsov pounded the table and shouted, "You have no right to interfere in our internal affairs!"

"These aren't your internal affairs," I replied. "Human rights are not conferred by government; they cannot be denied by government.  They are God-given.  We call them 'inalienable.'"

Kuznetsov finally agreed to release the Jews -- and America shipped its grain.

I can't take credit for that; it was the U.S. Congress and the American people who freed those captives.  And it will take the same pressure from Congress and the American people to free captives in China, Iran, North Korea, and anywhere else people are denied their God-given rights.

I hope you'll contact the White House (call 202-224-3121), Hillary Clinton, and your representatives with a strong message -- one loud enough to be heard by people languishing in prisons around the world: The principles that guided us throughout our history are not for sale.


Proverbs 24:24 "Whoever says to the guilty, 'You are innocent' -- peoples will curse him and nations denounce him."