Thunder Pride

"A Little Thunder is all it takes to Beat the Heat!"

One of life's greatest privileges is to be proud of something without reservation. The pleasure of being proud is enhanced if you feel like you have a role in creating the thing you are proud of, but even a distant association with something worthy of praise and recognition is cool. That's the way I feel about the Oklahoma City Thunder.

I'm not an NBA fan. For the most part, I think the NBA consists of thugs and gang bangers that would probably be in prison if they weren't making millions playing basketball. I'm not a student of the sport, so I don't get the nuances of the game. If the game is any good, only the last 2 minutes matter, and if the game is not good, none of it matters. It seems to me like they could accomplish everything involved with one jump shot, and whoever wins that wins the game.

But the reality is that, second only to soccer, NBA Basketball is the most watched and followed sport in the whole world. And tonight, OKC has home court advantage in Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the Miami Heat.

And I am really proud of our team.

First, overall they seem to be really good guys. Durant and Westbrook just don't fit the typical NBA mold discussed above. The whole team seems like a group of really good guys that care about each other and want something bigger and better than any of them could have individually. I'm proud of them.

And they're pretty damn good too. They beat Dallas, those filthy Lakers and the Spurs to get to the finals. You don't get through three 7 game series on beginner's luck. Those guys played hard, and played well, and earned the position they have taken. I'm proud of them.

And the future looks bright. I'm sure that salary caps will eventually disperse the team to other NBA franchises, but not for the next couple of seasons. And at their current level, I don't think anyone will be able to challenge them in the near term. Wow. It looks like we've got more than a basketball team. We've got the beginnings of an NBA Championship caliber dynasty. I'm proud of them.

And the entire city has coagulated around this team like flies on a donut. OKC, with all of its faults, knows what it means to come together. And it's a whole lot more fun to come together around a basketball team than around a tragedy like the 1995 bombing. This weekend I was out and about, and people were stacked up to buy their Thunderwear. I think everyone in the city has at least three Thunder shirts and a hat. It is wonderful that the community has something to gather around and support, even if it's just a basketball team. I'm proud of them

I don't know much about basketball. But I know what I'm proud of. And I'm proud of the Thunder. There's nothing like a good thunderstorm to cool off a hot day. And there's nothing like the Thunder to beat the Heat for the NBA Championship. Bring it on!

40 Years Ago Today...

"I've made many decisions I'd like to have back, but not this one."

Forty years ago today, when I was nine years old attending Vacation Bible School at some backwards Baptist church, I made a decision to become a Christian. All of life taken together, it has been the one decision that has had the most impact on me - then and now.

I've second guessed that decision many times, of course. I've asked myself what made me able to make such a decision when I was that young and stick to it all these years. But Christianity, for me, passes all of those tests. I'm proud of who I am, and my identity is lost in Christ and everything He represents.

I don't have a story of being delivered from some great evil or being brought back from the edge of the universe, or being healed of some terrible disease. Other people have such stories, and many are legitimate. But those are not my story.

My story is of a faithful and effective connection between my deepest self and the God that created me and everything else on purpose, for purpose, in joyful anticipation of a destiny that is good. And at least through the lens of being 49 years old now, it seems like it was always that way even 40 years ago.

I remember being in High School when others did things I knew to be wrong. But I was Baptized, and those things weren't an option for me. Without criticizing them, I knew that my life needed to be different.

When I ran my own business, principles that I absorbed through Christianity found their way into every decision I made. I genuinely tried to make decisions that were in the best interests of my employees and customers, and that honored God and accomplished good things.

As I have grown older, my understanding of Christianity have grown, refined, coagulated and matured. But I don't think my passion has changed at all. I want to be everything that God created me to be, and I want to reflect and honor Him with all that I am - just like I did when I was 9 years old.

Oddly enough, I think being gay really helped the process of fervently developing my knowledge and commitment to Christ. Over and over again, the two seemed to collide. If indeed a gay Christian was (or is) an oxymoron, I choose Christ without reservation.

Had I been raised in an environment that could tolerate a gay Christian, had I known then what I know now, had I been pushed earlier in life to really think through the issues involved, my life would have been different and arguably better. But that isn't what happened. In my life before I turned 40, the two were mutually exclusive, and I chose one and rejected the other.

And today, as I look back over 40 years of being in Christ, it is wonderful to do so without regret. I am very thankful and excited to stand with Christ and all of the good things he brings to life. And given the cards I was dealt, I wouldn't change a thing.