Sunday: The Non-Triumphal Entry of Christ

This is part of a series of blogs entitled: “The FinalCountdown” based on a sermon series we are actually doing at church. This will take some differing views on the last week of Jesus.

Commissioner Gordon says of Batman in the Dark Knight, “…he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now.” I imagine some people thought something similarly about Jesus in the week before his crucifixion and resurrection. Many people’s expectations of what was to happen were much different than what did happen. Our ability to know what the end result is sometimes blurs what is actually happening.

So let’s start from the top:

On Sunday, Jesus looks at his disciples and says to them, “you guys go grab me a donkey,” and to some others, “go let everyone know that the King of Zion is coming.” So this happens, and Jesus mounts the donkey with his disciples’ cloaks on it as a makeshift saddle. He then makes way to Jerusalem.

The people along the way are shouting and cheering on Jesus on his trip into Jerusalem. They are shouting for the rescue and salvation that he is bringing. Which is exactly what he brought. But these people weren’t looking to be freed from the oppression of sin but rather to be freed from the oppression of the Roman Empire. This was not the cheering for the Son of God comes to save mankind, but for Israel’s King to replace the leadership above them. The expectation of Jesus’ entry was a new reign of earthly kingdom, and looking at that there is something to be said.

Jesus’ triumphal entry was anything but triumphal. A king on a donkey, walking with a party of tax collectors, being praised by people hoping for rebellion. The triumphal entry was only triumphant because of the end result one week later.

He rides in on a donkey, not a horse like a true earthly king would. These people cheering for him are praising his salvation from their government and not what salvation he actually came to bring. Then, to add to all of this, He is riding in with a party of people that would be considered the lowest people of society that he has been walking around talking with.

Now it was triumphal because even though he is arrested and crucified in just a few days, thus ending his chances to be the savior they all wanted, He rose again to be the Savior of the world. This is the Christian story.

Often we believe that Jesus is the hero that we deserve but not the one we need right now. This couldn’t be further from the truth, when all is said and done, we don’t deserve a hero at all, we deserve death of two types: physical and spiritual. But through Jesus, the hero we need right now, we can defeat spiritual death and live beyond our physical bodies. Jesus’ death and resurrection can do to our lives what it did to Palm Sunday. It can take something that is looked down upon at the time and elevate it to something that has a place in eternity.

In Christ,

BGann  

The Final Countdown

Over the next several weeks, I will be posting a series entitled the Final Countdown. This series will be a view on the final week of Jesus leading to his resurrection. This Sunday to Sunday look will be from a different angle than most with a look in how it was at that time vs how it is now.

Actually this matches up with a series we are having at our church. Our pastor and I fleshed this idea out on paper and because we both went different directions in the approaches to similar points. So here is a little insight of both meshed into a few blog posts.

Sunday:  The Non-Triumphal Entry of Christ     
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
Saturday:
Sunday:

Bipartite Nature of Our Government System

Tonight, as I observed the State of the Union address while working on homework, a few things that I had been noticing earlier were clearly observant. Many people think our government has problems and I would tend to agree most of the time. The problem is we want to blame one side or the other, but at the end of the day, it's the fault of both sides.

We have a dangerous setup right now. The government we have is no longer about what's right and wrong but only right and left. We have an institution that's not about helping the American people but it's about winning.

Ben Carson recently said that lawyers "are taught to win by hook or by crook." Look at our current political climate and you will see, they are mostly lawyers.

But the other problem is that emphasis on winning with two distinct sides has other repercussions. The left/right paradigm has tied together completely unrelated issues that you are forced to support if you feel strongly about issues. If you believe in equal opportunity for gay marriage rights, you obviously feel that gun control is the best way and must be pro-choice. If not you are an outsider in a political climate that shuns those who aren't in one of the two camps. In the same way, people who are pro-life are assumed to be for the death penalty (interesting dichotomy here).

It's a dangerous trend. A few major issues overshadow the majority of issues and we keep electing the same people who reinforce this idea. The issues are no longer based on moral consciousness or any relation whatsoever. They aren't based on what the people of America really want. They are based on winning or losing for this team or that.

That's where the problem in America lies. We have made a land of moral grey into red and blue, right and left, and with no regards to the people we are effecting. It's a land of control, power, and regulation but not about freedom, morality, and hope.

Red, White, and Blue <- Three colors for 2 sides

BGann

DON'T Give Up, DON'T Ever Give Up

Part of an ongoing series about Do's and Don't's 

"we are starting the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research. And it's motto is 'Don't give up, don't ever give up.' That's what I'm going to try to do every minute that I have left. I will thank God for the day and the moment I have. If you see me, smile and give me a hug. That's important to me too. "  - Jim Valvano, ESPY'S 1993

This is an excerpt from one of the most influential and famous speeches in the history of athletics which can be seen here. Jim Valvano in this speech knows he is dying from cancer. However, he provides one key line that is the motto of his foundation and should be the motto of most of our lives.

DON'T Give Up, DON'T Ever Give Up

To often in life, it's much easier to give up than to keep pressing on. I have often noticed though that the people who refuse to give up are the people going through the most. I spoke with a lady recently who almost died from breast cancer. She lost one half of her chest and had a prosthetic "bra" designed as to not draw attention in public. This lady, who had the world against her, said sometimes she doesn't wear it, apparently it's a cumbersome process, but had a phenomenal attitude about it. Even saying she wanted to get a shirt that said "My hair's going to grow back but this won't." She was joking and in good spirits and all because she refused to give up on life no matter how bad it was. Too often, we give up on the little things when people with monsters staring them in the face refuse to give up. That's the only reason we live our lives in such comfort.

DO Keep Trying

Just watch the story of Arthur here. He was told to give up by people who "should" know what's the best for him. The doctors said he would never walk unassisted again. 



Shows what they know. He had given up, and he would've never walked unassisted again. However, when he stopped feeling sorry for himself, and stopped giving up, he not only started walking but started running. He changed his life because he refused to let other people tell him what he couldn't do and focused on what he knew he could.

Don't Give Up, Don't Ever Give up

BGann

National Signing Day : College in our Culture

Today is the day. Over the last year, older well privileged have scouted and scoured the training of teenagers. They have analyzed every little strength and weakness to the point of knowing exactly what each person is capable of. They have gone through and spoke with them and discussed the possibilities of the future. Now they are asking that this teenagers volunteer themselves for a battle that takes place on television in front of a live audience for people's pleasure. It's not the Hunger Games but rather National Signing Day for collegiate football.

Now all of the above points were not to suggest the brutality of football but the media explosion around it. You will have hundreds of thousands of people watching ESPN cover where an 18 year old is deciding to go to college for four years and cursing the kids who decide to play a switch-up on their schools. This is the culture we live in, that raises athletic scholarships to a point where merely accepting one is a feat worth of national accolades. Some of these guys will get their 15 minutes of fame and not even qualify for school and will never step foot on campus.

So check this out, the NCAA awards roughly $1 billion in athletic scholarships in Division I and II sports (Division III doesn't offer athletic scholarships). These scholarships are split up into approximately 126,000 scholarships over 138,000 students (more on the shady math of the NCAA another day). So you have students being awarded an average of just under $8000 per scholarship and just over $7000 in an athletic scholarship per student, much of this due to the splitting of scholarships in sports not called football, basketball, or volleyball. 

Now on the other hand, there is about $3 billion in private scholarships and $15 in public/institutional scholarships and grants for academic and merit based students. That's 18 times what is offered athletically. Also, since there are $3 billion split up into $2000-3000 chunks, that's at least 1,000,000 private scholarships alone. However, there is little to no fanfare for the student who receive these scholarships.

We have generated a culture in which it is a source of pride to accept a restrictive scholarship that is a "full-ride" to an institution to go above and beyond just your studies for mere entertainment of others and disregards the achievements of those who receive much more money to do precisely what college is about, study, learn, and succeed in bettering yourself.

I am not saying that college football is bad, I love college athletics. What I am saying is that it's a dangerous time when a society places more stock in physical prowess than in mental capacity. If the next Steve Jobs runs a 4.3 40, we may never see the next Apple. The most incredible part of all of this, these athletic scholarships that are amazing full-ride's don't cover all of the cost and the restrictions they come with limit options for the student athlete. (more on this in the future NCAA shady math post).

Ultimately, it's probably time we look forward with our minds rather than our muscles. There are a lot of bright people in this nation and we need to let them know that they have options and reward those who are as strong in the classroom as Ray Lewis is on the gridiron. But seriously, when's the last time Rivals gave a darn about anyone's GPA.

Study Hard,

BGann

DON'T Be a Bad Tipper

A few days back I came across this post on Reddit. It's a picture of a receipt from an Applebee's by a waitress (the poster was actually not the waitress stiffed by this Pastor). Immediately on seeing it, I realized one thing that we should not do:

DON'T Be a Bad Tipper

Being a bad tipper has several negative outcomes. First of all, your nice and caring waiter/waitress makes most of their income by tips and no by their low hourly pay. Second, they are working their tails off so that you can go somewhere and eat without working hard. Most of all, tipping is a direct reflection on you. If you are a bad tipper you give a bad impression on:

• Yourself
• Employer
• Family
• God

You misrepresent all of these if you are stingy with your tips. I know people who work in the industry that say that church people are the worst tippers. Shouldn't it be the other way around.

DO Be a Generous Tipper

Go over the top, don't just tip nothing or a buck. But also, don't tip out of some misguided obligation. We should want to be generous. Think of a tip as saying "thank you" when you get your check. So next time you get your check, say "I appreciate you for working you butt off so I can sit here and enjoy a wonderful meal." That's how we show the love of Christ and how we lead people to see we are good people.

Give more.

BGann

DON'T Assume "It'll Work for You"

The first in a series of Do's and Don't's: Check on more info and posts here.

So, a couple of days ago I am scouring the internet getting ready for the Super.... I mean the Big Game. I come across this story about Colin Kaepernick (who I mysteriously can't read enough about) done by Rick Reilly (who I've read too much by). 

SOURCE: http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/8897116/colin-kaepernick-birth-mom

So, this article is basically saying, "Colin Kaepernick should reunite with his birth mother, because it worked for my daughter." That's where this is going. 

DON'T assume "It'll work for you"

Rick Reilly made the arrogant assumption that his and his adopted daughters lives were a valid testing ground to figure out what Kaepernick should do. Quite frankly, it's a completely different scenario, with different players, different feelings, and different attitudes. Quite frankly, if Colin Kaepernick has no desire to ever see the woman who birthed him in favor of seeing the woman who raised him, that's his prerogative.

We usually do the same thing though. We often look at someone else's situations or hardships and offer our advice with a phrase similar to "It worked for me, it'll work for you." That's where we have to stop. People will turn your off and never listen to a word if you are arrogant enough to assume you know what's right for them.

DO Offer your story as a possible outcome

Now this wouldn't apply to Rick Reilly because he really should've never used the public form of ESPN.com to call out Kaepernick. However, in our situations, it IS perfectly acceptable to tell someone your story. If someone goes through something or has something that you went through, you can tell them what happened to you and how you worked through it. This gives them an opportunity to evaluate the possibilities and take in what you said. It also leaves them under no obligation to actually do what you did.

All Rick Reilly needed to do was say to Kaepernick, "Hey, let me tell you about the time my daughter got to meet her birth mother." Instead, he hit him with questions on why he hadn't met her and then wrote an article discussing on why it was bad for Colin to not meet using the thinly veiled reasoning, it worked for us, it'll work for you.

Hope this blog works for you

BGann

Do's and Don't's : A New Mini-Series

I have been reading some blogs on my days that I don't blog on here, and I have noticed a theme. Even the most random blogs still have their "series" type posts. So here's my first go at it:

Do's and Don't's

The idea here is to find examples of Do's and Don't's of stories and show that example and post an alternative to what happened. These are designed to be shorter and simpler blogs with quick nuggets of truth. This page will stay a landing page that will show a list of them as they come up.

• DON'T Assume "It'll Work for You"
• DON'T Be a Bad Tipper
• DON'T Give Up, DON'T Ever Give Up

Fame, Fortune, and Moral Fortitude

I was scouring the web today, and I came across an interesting story about R.A. Dickey - that awesome knuckleballer that the Mets let slide over to the Blue Jays. 

Source link: Blue Jays ace R.A. Dickey fights child sex trafficking in India

So anyways, I read this article and it got the wheels turning. I went to the Passion Conference in Atlanta back on January 1st through 4th. It was an incredible event with a lot of great things said. Also, at the conference, was the small kickoff to the End It Movement (which nationally launches tomorrow, 2/1). The entire premise of the End It Movement is to over the next few months, shine a light on slavery. Ultimately, making people aware that modern day slavery not only exists, but is a way of life for 27,000,000 people in the world today.

To continue, they built this giant cube of screens, and had people take a picture of themselves with Twitter/Instagram and the #enditmovement tag to be added on there as a way of saying "I'm in it to end it." All great and something that needs to be done, because the quickest way to end it, is to make it known. Upon poking around on Twitter, I have seen several famous people who have stuck their mug shot in the feed with a logo (Carrie Underwood, Steve Wozniak, Kyle Korver, to name a few). 

If you have any Gen-X or millennial generational cynicism, you probably have the same thought as me, "It's nice you used your multiple millions of dollars to take a picture with a big red 'X', and I appreciate your help in building the knowledge base (especially prior to the national launch), but you could probably do a lot more with your platform and resources than a silly photo." Now once my cynicism recedes, I really have an affinity for these people doing this still, but it still just seems like the hip thing to do. No one on a platform like that is out there saying, "Yep, I am all for slavery and so happy that it exists." Apple even recently pledged to clean up child labor in their supply chain. It's popular to want to end slavery.

Back to R.A. Dickey. This is a guy doing his part. I am blown away by the generosity this guy has. He is raising awareness and actually taking an active part. He raised money by climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. R.A. Dickey is the antithesis of what my cynicism sees in celebrities. A man, who as a child was marred by sexual abuse, has become a beacon of light when he stands up and shines a light on slavery. He is doing exactly what we should be doing.

I am not saying we should all go to Mumbai, or climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. What I am saying, is we should all do our part, to help those in need. It's about being loving, caring, and generous; because at the end of the day, that's what is expected of us. Going a little bit out of your way, can go a long way for someone else. 


“If the organization rescues one human life from that hell, then it has done it’s job in some way,” Dickey said.  


In the same manner, if we can go a little bit out of our way and say one human's spiritual life from hell, or their physical life from hell on earth, we have done our job in some way. 

#ENDIT

BGann

P.S. Random facts on modern day slavery from the End It Movement Twitter.

1 - 27 million enslaved is equal to the population of Florida and Georgia, combined.

2 - Slavery is a $32 billion industry. Making more money each year than Google.

3 - Half of those 27 million are children.

4 - Slave traders will trade people for $90 or less.

5 - 600,000 - 800,000 people are trafficked internationally EVERY year.

6 - Almost 48 people a day are trafficked into the UNITED STATES.

7 - 80% of today's slaves are female.

The Anti-Social Nature of Social Networking

We live in a world DOMINATED by "social networking." I use the term loosely as I believe that the name is actually the antithesis on the implementation. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Tumblr, LinkedIn, etc. have completely deconstructed our social beings while making us feel good about ourselves and all of our connections. Even texting as a means of communication as dehumanized communication. Let me explain:

I work in a retail environment where I see many people buying smartphones. I once had an old man say that people are buying smarter phones because they are getting dumber. I totally disagree with his wording, but I understand his premise. We are getting all these new techno-gadgets but not understanding what really happens. 

I am not as big a product of the Facebook generation as my peers. I avoided it in high school (and didn't care to know what I was missing). I feel this helped me to gain a view point as an intermediate between what could've been and what is. I often find myself a better interpersonal communicator than some of my peers and those younger than me. In my retail job, I see kids as young as 12 getting smartphones and checking their Facebook and all of that jazz. What I also see is a lot of 12 year olds that have no idea how to communicate beyond a screen and keyboard.

I will admit, I have 846 Facebook "friends", over 300 combined followers/following on Twitter, 150 on Instagram, and a handful on Google+. However, of these 1,000 connections, I barely know the vast majority of them. It's unlike when you had to have physical conversations with people. Now you can skim your News Feed for 15 minutes and feel you have caught up with all of your "friends" and post your status so that they can catch up too. 

So what this has done is built a communication barrier. Because of this, inter-generational communication has suffered. Interpersonal communication has suffered. However, large group communication has shockingly seemed to increase. People can now speak in front of large crowds easier (maybe they have gotten over embarrassment with their 1000 person digital audiences).

Here's what this boils down to. Your Facebook friends and Twitter followers are more of an audience to the story of your life, than "friends" that you communicate with. If you aren't regularly communicating with people, it's something that you should definitely do. Those bonds are the ones that will last and the ones that will create lasting friendships and not temporary shows for the world to see.

So do it. Call up an old friend, go have lunch with someone, grab coffee with an acquaintance. Let's not let social networking be the death of social communication. While you're at it, it may not be bad to check up on some of those "friends" you have on Facebook and truly network within that web of friends you have created.

BGann

P.S. What some will see as irony - my sharing of this on social media - actually proves the point more. Blogs are less conversation and more dictation and enjoyment reading. It's showing off the audience-like nature of your "friends."

The Transformation of Ray Lewis: Hypocrite or Hero

Sunday, the Ravens clinched a bid to the Super Bowl in Ray Lewis's farewell tour of the year. So I did what any sports fanatic would do (or so I thought), I took to Twitter to congratulate #52 on making it because he is just a great dude. Much to my surprise, the vast majority of people are accusing him of being a hypocrite because he now has this strong faith.

If Ray Lewis is a hypocrite, I may want to be a hypocrite. Let me explain:

For those who don't know, in early 2000, after a Super Bowl party in Atlanta. Ray Lewis was somewhat involved with a group of people found to have murdered a man. There is no consensus over what role Ray Lewis had, but a plea deal where he flipped on the other guys is what ultimately kept him free from jail. The long standing evidence in question, Ray Lewis's white suit from that night, was never found. 

But that's the past. According to the legal system he is innocent, just guilty of obstruction of justice. In the end, we may never know what happened that night but legally Ray Lewis didn't do it. So now to why I say if he is a hypocrite, I wouldn't mind being one:

From that point on, Ray Lewis has seemingly strived to be a better person and has said that his newfound Christian faith has been a part of it. The murder and different women behind him (Lewis has 6 children by 4 women), Ray Lewis is a newer man than what he was years ago.

This transformation is what Christianity is about. We were all once lost and can be found. Christ can take lives and change them for the better. Simply because Ray Lewis had some bad decisions early on, everyone wants to vilify his current persona and achievements. This man is the Christian story on a national stage better than Tim Tebow.

His ascension to stardom and power on the field has made him an easy target. Now he will always have the baggage of some decisions that affected him early on. Finally, whether he did it or not, if he asked God for forgiveness, he has been forgiven. Whatever happened in the past, Ray Lewis today isn't a hypocrite he is a transformed person by the blood of Christ.

If you think Ray Lewis is a hypocrite, label me a hypocrite because I am and want to be transformed.

BGann

Doped Up Heroes

Today, Lance Armstrong may or may not be shown admitting to doping in his incredible run of 7 straight Tour de France wins. If you believe the reports, he will end the run of his defense against such allegations and finally come clean about really happened. But I keep thinking one thing, why does it matter?

Let me explain, the 90s and beyond have been bad years for athletes and drugs. You had a time in baseball so bad that the era has been named the Steroid Era. You had the ephedrine rush in the late 90s early 2000s that effected the NFL. You continually have the illegal drugs plaguing all sports, but seemingly effecting the NBA the most (most likely fewer players per team than the NFL so it seems to have a bigger effect). Cycling is an incredibly corrupt sport in the realm of drug use. Marion Jones and Justin Gatlin brought it to the track. No sport has a clean drug record, even NASCAR has had two high profile busts.

But this is explicitly about cycling, so let's look at this. From 1998 until 2011, there were 14 Tour de Frances (the Super Bowl of cycling). That would leave 140 top ten spots over the course of those years. Of those 140 top ten spots, 42 have never been accused and at some point found to have used performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) or other illegal substances. That being said, in that time frame 70% have been implicated (and time could add to that number with some of the more recent races). In Lance Armstrong's 7-year run, (70 total spots) there were 12 clean racers, (83% dirty). 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2010 saw their winners banned for illegal substances. This sport is just rampant with illegal use of PEDs and doping. 

I say that to say this, Lance Armstrong has lied at some point in his career, I will give you that. But this man is still a hero in my eyes. He may not be the moral hero of the century, but this man beat cancer and rose to the top of the sport of cycling. The detractors will say that he only was able to because he was doping, and I would agree. In that time span, NO ONE would have rose to the top (healthy or not) without some level of doping. He competed against his peers that never had cancer and even if he was doping, had done the same thing that they had. 

Scandals aren't new to sports, the 1919 Chicago Black Sox are a prime example of an older scandal. We have created a culture in which win at all costs is the only acceptable approach. There is no end in sight to the doping craze. This problem is here to stay and there is nothing we can do about it. But Lance wasn't alone, he just was the best of the dopers at the time. If he were the only one doped, I would probably have a different view, but he competed against a field of doped athletes.

All of that brings me to my final point. Lance Armstrong is a hero because he beat cancer and inspired millions. I could care less if he is a 7 time winner of the Tour de France or an accountant for a local kite shop in Detroit. What matters is that he opened many doors for cancer research and patients while raising millions of dollars to fund it. He has given us an enemy to fight together and now people just want to hate him because they were tired of him being at the top of the world. I wear my yellow rubber band with pride to know that I want everyone with cancer to have the ability to rise above it like Lance did. 

Is it bad he cheated? - yes
Is it bad he lied? - yes

But in the end, haven't we all lied and probably cheated at some point? However, he didn't have fake cancer or a fake Tour story. He really did it and quite frankly, I don't think i could win it doped. 

So now I hope he comes clean. He will be banned from racing so another Tour run is out, but I hope he can be the face and the story that ultimately provides a way for cleaning up an awful sport. If he can do that, it will mean more that 100 Tour wins and he will reaffirm himself as a hero of cycling one more time.

Livestrong

BGann

The Full Manti of Imaginary Friends

I think everyone has a point in time where they have an imaginary friend. I know I had that stage shortly when I was younger, and it seems everyone goes through it and has at least one imaginary friend (whether imaginary or inanimate is irrelevant, just an imaginary persona). Manti Te'o apparently never outgrew this phase.

For those that aren't caught up on this saga : Deadspin broke this story here.

So, you have this super star football player, who created a fake girlfriend and then killed her off in the middle of his super star senior season, or a super star football player that got duped.

Honestly, I don't know how you can believe Manti didn't create this girlfriend. He at least lied because he said he met her personally at a Stanford football game and vacationed with her to Hawai'i. We now know those to be false stories (mostly because she doesn't exist). It's a shame and though we don't know his reasonings now (I am sure we will learn in the days/weeks to follow), there are some things that we do know at this point.

• Manti Te'o has a dropping stock in all facets

This guy is already losing future endorsement deals and probably draft stock. Nobody wants this guy promoting your product (unless it doesn't exist) and he has instantly become a liability to whatever NFL team he ends up on.

• Say it, convince the media, and it shall be

We see this all of the time but it's scary. All Te'o did was convince one ESPN reporter that his girlfriend had died in a car accident, appealed to his emotions, told him to back off out of courtesy, and you had the emotional story of the year. Te'o tugged at the heart strings and if perception is reality, he had a girlfriend and she had died. Welcome to the power the media has, word is reality.

• ESPN is hating this.

For two reasons. First, they must hate mentioning Deadspin on television as they are nothing in resources to what ESPN has. ESPN was beat to the punch on this one but they also initially reported on Te'o's dead girlfriend. They have two blackeyes after today. They will survive because they are the sports television monopoly, but this hurts their emotional story credibility. Especially when the man who wrote that piece said he had no evidence other than the word of Te'o about her death.

• A microcosm of our "social" generation

There's another blog post coming down the pike on this in the near future that was already in the works. But essentially it boils down to the fact that the more we social network, the less social we actually are. It was completely believable that Te'o had a girlfriend that no one had ever seen. It also was completely verified that he could show her off in a way because of it. But certainly look for this post down the road.

• Lance Armstrong is LOVING this

For the first time in a few days, Lance Armstrong is not even being mentioned. The day before his confession airs, he is not the biggest liar in the sports world. Armstrong has been overshadowed because he isn't a relevant cyclist right now and Te'o is on top of the world. This hoax is an awful event because there were a lot of people fooled. The tale of the tape will ultimately reveal who duped whom.

So, I always try to end the blog with some kind of practical application or some takeaway. It's a little harder this time, but simply put - question everything. Don't let people tell you the story through their lens, but simply ask questions and always be awake. You may never know if you are being duped like Manti Te'o alleges he was or like the whole nation was by Manti Te'o as I alleged. 

Be Awake, Be Aware, Be Alert.

BGann

Additions and Changes : The Taco Bell Philosophy

Today, after work I went to go get lunch, and I will admit it, I am a creature of habit when it comes to ordering lunch. No matter where I go, I usually end up ordering either the same thing, or something really similar. But I digress somewhat, I get to the drive thru ready to order my typical box deal (which may be the best deal in the history of fast food for college kids). 

So I pull up, and to my dismay (and later joy) they had changed the box from the burrito, taco, drink and 5 layer burrito to a burrito, taco, drink and loaded grillers. I began to think why Taco Bell feels the need to always change the box, and then I realized it. The box has become a method for Taco Bell to introduce new additions and changes, it's a genius philosophy we could all learn from. 

Let me explain:

Several years back, Taco Bell introduced the Crunchwrap Supreme, and it flopped. Then, they came out with the 5 dollar big box. It came with a crunchwrap supreme, burrito supreme, hard taco supreme, cinnamon twists, and a large drink. It was a phenomenal deal and a genius marketing ploy. The crunchwrap supreme became a hit overnight because of it. Then, Taco Bell took the box, something everyone loves, and instituted it as a vessel of change.

The box has been around since then, varying in price from $5 to $5.49 but always in that price range. Shortly after it's release they dropped the cinnamon twists and the large drink became a medium drink, but the box was here to stay. Then the change began. 

• When the "Volcano Menu" came out they replaced the crunchwrap supreme with the Volcano Taco (which introduced the awesome effect of the hot cheese and the Volcano Nachos became a constant on the menu)
• Then the Doritos Locos Taco came out, they replaced the Volcano Taco with it and the Locos Taco became a cult favorite.
• After that, the Beefy Crunch 5 Layer Burrito came out and replaced the Locos Taco and it introduced that effectively. 
• Taco Bell teeter tottered the 5 Layer and Locos creating a demand for both of them.
• Today I drove up and saw their new Loaded Grillers being introduced new (and I am sure you know what was the third item in the box). 

So after I got my griller I realized the trick. Taco Bell has taken something that everyone loves (The Box) and changes the one thing that isn't a staple periodically so that 

1. People don't get attached to it
2. People learn about new items
3. People accept change and newness because of their attachement to the over hanging idea.

So here's the lesson. When introducing change, don't over haul everything. Stage it in steps, keep the staples, and press forward. If you are open to frequent change, it doesn't give time for people to get attached to the things you might want to change.

Live Mas.

BGann

The Beginnings

So for the first 22 years of my life, I have traditionally been labeled young or idealistic, or even sometimes both. Those can be the marks of death, especially when you have an idea. The combination is hardly ever good, unless you want to blog or brainstorm. So I decided to blog. I have tried in the past but always get burnt out because I try to post everyday, so this time I'm not, I'm simply going to blog when I have something to say.

Over time, I have learned the rules to blogging that make a good blog or a pointless one. 

1. Only blog when you have something to say. Too many people get caught up in mindless fodder just to fill the page.
2. Keep it simple and short. Nobody in the Twitter generation wants to read 20 paragraphs when they can read 20 sentences.
3. Stories not stats. Don't build an entire post around numbers but rather people

I am sure over time I will have more rules to guide this blog but here it goes. The ultimate blog from a Christian college student, with retail and church working experiences. Should provide some diverse and wild posts.

BGann