PaulStiver.com

This might sound like kind of a strange dream, but I always loved the idea of playing on a church softball team. I have always thought it sounded cool to play church league softball. Well, this year my dream has become a reality. I am a member of a church league softball team and I even have my own cheering section (Allison & Sage). Despite the fact that I've played baseball almost my entire life, and know how to handle a bat, I struggle with hitting in slow-pitch softball, which has been confusing me. A quick Google search today helped me realize that my swing approach for slow-pitch softball must be changed - I can't take a baseball approach. I've learned that contrary to baseball, I have to leave my bat lagging behind my hands, snap my wrists through the zone at the point of contact for extra bat speed, and aggressively transfer my weight to my front foot. I'm hopeful that making these changes will really turn my batting average around. However, I will nee...

The Crucifixion of Saint Peter - Luca Giordano - c. 1660 The founders of the Christian faith were killed for what they believed. Jesus was crucified for preaching the gospel, and all of the apostles except John died by martyrdom. Throughout history many Christians have tasted death because of their professed faith in Jesus Christ. Martyrdom is a powerful and undeniable aspect of the church's history. Early Christian author Tertullian is quoted as saying, "The blood of martyrs is the seed of the church." Martyrdom and Christianity are inextricably linked. The painting above depicts the martyrdom of the apostle Peter. This is a death that is predicted by Jesus in the Gospel according to John. Jesus tells Peter: "Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said ...

Easter can mean many things to many different people. For children, it can mean a great opportunity to gorge on jelly beans and chocolate eggs. For some, it can mean an opportunity to eat a giant ham. For others, it might be just another Sunday. For followers of Jesus Christ, it is the most important day in history, because it is the day Jesus Christ rose from the dead. He is not here, but has risen: But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands...

In the Christian faith, Good Friday refers to the day that Jesus was crucified. It's interesting that the day that the founder and perfecter  (Heb. 12:2)  of the Christian faith, Jesus Christ, died on the cross is a day that Christians call "good." Wouldn't a better title be "Crappy Friday?" The story of Jesus as the coming King of the Jews sure seems to take a weird turn considering he ends up dying! Doesn't that seem hopeless. This thought occured to me today: Good Friday is the reason for the "All Is Lost" moment in movies.  Think about it, in almost every movie comes the scene at the end of Act II where all is lost. In an "All is Lost" moment: - Everything seems hopeless. - The main character seems to be helpless to do anything. - Evil is going to win out.  This screenwriting website  tells us that the "All is Lost" moment should have three essentials, pain, emotion, and paradox.  "Those three essen...

In my younger days, I spent a lot of time at the gym. I would label myself as a very very very very amateur bodybuilder at the time. I lifted weights a lot, but I took very little protein supplements and didn't really watch my nutrition too much. I was good on the exercising side, but not really too focused on the nutrition side. For the guys and gals who are truly pursuing a better physique by adding mass through bodybuilding, their calorie intake skyrockets. Eating almost becomes a chore, because in order to gain mass and keep up with the metabolism spike that occurs from so much weight lifting, bodybuilders in training have to eat constantly! Most people will increase their daily caloric intake by 1,000 calories or more. Serious bodybuilders are basically stuffing their faces anytime they aren't pumping their muscles. Therefore, meal preparation becomes essential for these serious lifters. You always have to have hard-boiled eggs, sweet potatoes, broccoli, chicken b...

In approximately two weeks, 32 teams will get together for one of my favorite events of the year, the NFL Draft. I have loved the draft ever since I was a kid. The NFL Draft has hundreds if not thousands of players coming out of the NCAA seeking to get picked by an NFL team. There are players of different positions and backgrounds have been scrupulously evaluated by talent scouts on athletic ability, in-game skills, character, etc. These players all want to get drafted higher than others so that they make more money on their rookie contract. Each NFL team has a certain number of picks based on how they did the season before. These teams can also trade picks up or down to get the player they want. In terms of strategy, some teams might take players based on positional need. Some teams take the best player available no matter what position their team needs, as was the case when Green Bay took Aaron Rodgers with pick no. 24 in 2005. Other teams might strike gold late on in the d...