Versus: Static Electricity vs. Flies (last post)

For my last Versus post, I thought I would have a little fun in the opposite direction of all the other posts. This one pits two things I hate against each other. I'll determine which one I hate most.

I hate static electricity for this reason - it makes my shorts/pants stick to my legs. I hate it so much that I carry a can of static guard around in my gym bag when I go workout. The feeling of something clinging to my legs may be comparable to fingernails on a chalk board for some of you. Uck, I get squeamish just thinking about it.

I hate flies. The sound of them flying around my head in particular is what I really hate. I hate them so much that I have worked hard at becoming a proficient fly swatter. I pride myself on making sure no flies exist in my house. I've also found that it's good for my hand eye coordination. I'm currently working on hitting them in the mid air. My wife is impressed.

The winner of the last Versus post - Flies. I hate them with a passion! I think I could handle walking around with statically charged shorts longer than I could handle a fly buzzing around my head.

Thanks for reading along over the past few weeks. It's been a fun series. Wonder what's next...

Versus: Being a Teenager vs. Being an Adult

Lately I've had a few conversations with teenagers about their excitement to be done with high school and how much they look forward to being out of school. In the past I've also had conversations with adults and how much they miss their teenage years, what they often refer to as their glory days. So which one's better? Based on my experience, here's what I've found.

Teenager
My teenage years began in Chicago (2.8 million people) and ended in Lindsborg, KS (3,000 people) with a 4 year stint in Salina, KS (45,000 people). Here are some of my memories from those 7 years.

• Great friends (several in jr. high, high school, and college), many of which I still keep in contact with.
  
• Sports opportunities. I played for a great basketball team and coach in jr. high. High school and college football provided me with a chance to play for two quality programs and coaches. Summer baseball and college baseball enabled me to play at some great ball fields, under great coaches, with some great guys.
  
• I had a few good jobs during my teenage years. Delivered pizza during high school summers. Worked at the ball diamonds during a couple summers in high school and college. Also spent a summer in Estes Park as a camp counselor.
• Learning experiences. Some lessons were learned through more difficult situations than others.
  
• School work. I hated school. Reading and homework were at the bottom of my "favorite things to do" list. My grades were good, just didn't enjoy the work.
• Peer pressure. This comes to the forefront of my mind when conversations about my teen years come up. It's the reason I was so excited to be done with high school. Being that I tried my best to hold to a moral standard that I felt Christians were supposed to live by, I had my share of "friends" who wanted to test my moral strength. It was draining.

Adulthood
It's been a pretty wild ride. Here's the last 7 years.

• Divorce. Great way to start adulthood right?
• First, second, and third job. First - account executive for radio station. Second - sales manager for fitness club. Third - Youth Minister.
• Moving. I've moved eight times since college. Manhattan, KS - Springfield, IL - Salina, Ks (inlaws) - Salina, KS (Roach St.) - Salina, KS (Cheyenne St.) - Salina, KS (Foxtail) - McPherson, KS - Salina, KS (Prescott) - Salina, KS (7th).
• Married to Melissa. Hooray, the best part of my adult life! November 3, 2006.
  
• Baby Owen. What a blessing! May 11, 2008
• Master's Degree. I thought school was over, but God had other plans.
  
• No more peer pressure. Quite possibly one of the best parts of adulthood.
  
• Found my calling. Ministry is where I'm meant to be. Don't know if it's for sure what I'll do the rest of my life, but I love it right now.
• Learning experiences. Never stop learning.

This was actually a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. When I first started writing I was convinced that adulthood is much better than the teenage years. Writing these things out made me realize that the teen years weren't quite as bad as I remember them. My winner? Being an adult (hard to beat being a husband and a dad).

Versus: Motorcycle vs. Truck

This is one of the more difficult Versus to date. I have owned both and now own neither, which makes me an expert on the subject.

Motorcycle:
Pros -

• Freedom
• High MPG's
• Fast
• Loud
• Wife has to hug you to stay on
  
• Chicks dig motorcycle guys
• Cool to wear a leather jacket
• Fairly inexpensive unless you by a Harley Davidson
  

Cons -

• Unsafe
• Doesn't go in reverse
• Weather dependent
• Can't carry a guitar with you

Truck:
Pros -

• Bigger than everyone else
• Truck bed - 'nuf said
• Pull trailers
• Don't have to keep it clean
• There's somethin' women like about a pickup man
• Safer than a car
• Bench seats
  

Cons -

• Low MPG's
• Not conducive to passengers

If you only look at the cons of these two manly motor vehicles, it would be easy to pick one over the others, but it's not that easy. You see, there is just something about riding a motorcycle that carries a bit more weight in the pros than it does in the cons. Riding a motorcycle just releases something in a guy's mind, body, and spirit that nothing else does.

However, I've always wanted to have a truck. When my last one bit the dust, I was pretty bummed out. I really did love driving that thing even though it was a junker.

Without further ado, the winner of this versus is...TRUCK.

Versus: Traditional vs. Contemporary Worship

This Versus comes per my dad's request.

I think it's important to define exactly what I'm referring to here when I write about traditional and contemporary worship. These are my definitions based on my own experience.

Traditional Worship - As I've mentioned before, I come from the United Methodist tradition although I would say that I never really participated in your "traditional" worship growing up. Being that I went to a small rural church who embraced guitars and open conversation during worship with the leaders, I have to turn to other experiences I've had with traditional worship. Here's what I include in traditional worship...

• Call to Worship
• Some sort of call and response
• Majority of the worship led by the lead pastor
• Music - organ or piano leading hymns out of the hymnbook
• Special music number by the choir or a church member
  
• 15-20 minute sermon

Contemporary Worship - This term has so many different definitions. Everyone defines it differently based on what they think is "contemporary." Here's what I would say it is...

• 20-30 minutes of opening music led by a praise band (guitars, keyboard, drums)
  
• 30-45 minutes of sermon
  
• Use of technology including lyrics on screens and video

Before I lay out my answer to this Versus, I want to be clear that I don't think one style is more pleasing to God than another. The worship that God finds pleasing is the one that is done in Spirit and in truth. (John 4:23) Both styles can lead individuals into a place of worship and I hope that each of us seeks out the place that does just that.

If I had my choice, I'm not sure I would choose either one of these styles as I've described them, however, since that's not how this series works, I'm going to choose one over the other. I choose contemporary. I find myself in a much more worshipful place when I participate in contemporary worship. The style of music and the order of worship just seems to bring me into the right heart and attitude for worshiping God. I'll take some time to explain my personal best way of worship in another post down the line.

Versus: Biscuits & Gravy vs. Chicken Parmesan

This Versus comes from a request from my youngest brother. Let me first explain to you that I don't enjoy food quite as much as he does. If I were to guess the things that are on his mind the most, I'd guess they would consist of the following...
Food
Girlfriend
Food
God
Food
Pie
Food

With that said, I'll attempt to put my mom's biscuits & gravy up against the chicken parmesan that originated with our good family friend Joni.

Biscuits & Gravy:
I never realized how easy it was to ruin biscuits and gravy until I began ordering it more often at different restaurants. Of course we all have our own taste for specific foods, which holds very true for me and biscuits & gravy. We grew up with mom making the biscuits and the gravy from scratch. So now whenever mom asks us boys what meal we'd like prepared, one of the first ones to come out of our mouth is biscuits & gravy. It's a family tradition and favorite.

Chicken Parmesan:
I'm not sure when I first tasted Joni's chicken parmesan, but I do remember that it was an often requested meal from that point on. Recently my mom brought us some of the sauce that is used on the pasta for us to use. I'd forgotten how much better that sauce is than the canned stuff you can buy at the store (what we typically use). Chicken parmesan includes a breaded breast of chicken with what I think is usually linguini and the special marinara sauce. It's quite yummy!

The Winner:
As much as I do love the chicken parmesan, this is a pretty easy choice for me. Biscuits & gravy are just too much to compete against. Congratulations B&G!

Versus: Hymns vs. "Praise and Worship"

I grew up in a United Methodist church singing some of the great hymns including Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art, O For a Thousand Tongues To Sing, and Great is Thy Faithfulness. I also was a part of the influx of some of the great southern gospel songs including I'll Fly Away, Just a Little Walk With Jesus, He Touched Me, and His Name is Wonderful thanks mostly to the involvement of my family in gospel quartets and bands.

I was also exposed to some of the earliest praise and worship songs (this is a ridiculous name since all hymns and southern gospel songs are full of praise and worship) including As the Deer, We Exalt Thee, Majesty, and Great is the Lord. I remember watching as my dad, mom, uncle, aunt, grandpa, and grandma played and sang these at our small rural church in Kansas before moving to Chicago.

I currently play guitar and sing with a praise band in the church I serve and we do some of the newer contemporary praise and worship songs like Let the Praises Ring by Lincoln Brewster, Mighty to Save by Laura Story, Because of Your Love by Paul Baloche, and You Never Let Go by Matt Redman. I greatly enjoy playing and singing these songs.

So as you can see, I have a vast background of music styles, which could make this a tough decision. However, given the choice to sing and play a hymn or a praise and worship song, I would chose the praise and worship song probably 90 out of 100 times. I know my grandpa and dad's response, "but there is such great theology in the old hymns." To which I would reply, "Yes, but I can't understand half of the words I'm singing."

As great as the old hymns are, I'm definitely going to pick the winner as praise and worship. But I will say that praise and worship music loses the name contest. I would also add that I've found some arrangements of the old hymns to be very powerful in bringing me to a place of worship through music.

Versus: Pepsi Cola vs. Coca Cola

As I think about these two soda products I find myself thinking about each one as a whole. How they taste, logo used, marketing slogans, and variations of each product.

Taste
This is perhaps the most important of all the factors that goes into putting sodas up against one another and according to my palette, Pepsi wins this by a fairly large margin. To me, Coke has a more flat and syrupy taste than Pepsi does. Pepsi also has that kick that makes your throat tickle as it goes down. I'm not sure what it is that makes that happen, but I like it. (Pepsi wins the taste test)

Logo
(Coca-Cola wins the logo test. They've stuck with the original with some slight variations along the way not shown here)

Marketing Slogans
(I don't give any advantage to either here. Both are about the same)

Pepsi

1909-1939	Delicious and Healthful
	When they find the Pepsi-Cola bottles are empty, their morale will go down another 10 points
	Pepsi-Cola hits the spot, 12 full ounces, that's a lot, Twice as much for a nickel too, Pepsi-Cola is the Drink for you! Nickel, nickel, nickel, nickle, Trickle, trickle, trickle, trickle...
1939-1950	Twice As Much For A Nickel Too
1950-1953	The Light Refreshment
1953-1961	Be Sociable
1961-1963	Now It's Pepsi For Those Who Think Young
1963-1967	Come Alive! You're In The Pepsi Generation
1967-1969	Taste That Beats The Others Cold
1969-1973	You've Got A Lot To Live, Pepsi's Got A Lot To Give
1973-1975	Join The Pepsi People Feelin' Free
1974	Lipsmackin thirst quenchin (ace tastin motivatin good buzzin cool talkin high walkin fast livin ever givin cool fizzin) Pepsi
1975-1978	Have A Pepsi Day
1978-1981	Catch That Pepsi Spirit
1981-1982	Pepsi's Got Your Taste For Life!
1983	Pepsi Now!
1984	Pepsi, The Choice Of A New Generation
	Are you ready to take the challenge?
	Taste the difference
	Generation Next
	Join the Pepsi generation: feel the taste

Coca-Cola

• 1886 - Drink Coca-Cola.
• 1887 - Delicious! Refreshing! Invigorating! Exhilerating!
• 1891 - The Ideal Brain Tonic./The Delightful Summer-Winter beverage.
• 1904 - Delicious and refreshing.
• 1905 - Coca-Cola revives and sustains.
• 1906 - The great national temperance beverage.
• 1908 - Good til the last drop
• 1917 - Three million a day.
• 1922 - Thirst knows no season.
• 1923 - Enjoy life.
• 1924 - Refresh yourself.
• 1925 - Six million a day.
• 1926 - It had to be good to get where it is.
• 1927 - Pure as Sunlight
• 1927 - Around the corner from anywhere.
• 1928 - Coca-Cola ... pure drink of natural flavors.
• 1929 - The pause that refreshes.
• 1932 - Ice-cold sunshine.
• 1937 - America's favorite moment.
• 1938 - The best friend thirst ever had.
• 1938 - Thirst asks nothing more.
• 1939 - Coca-Cola goes along.
• 1939 - Coca-Cola has the taste thirst goes for.
• 1939 - Whoever you are, whatever you do, wherever you may be, when you think of refreshment, think of ice cold Coca-Cola.
• 1942 - The only thing like Coca-Cola is Coca-Cola itself.
• 1944 - How about a Coke?
• 1945 - Coke means Coca-Cola.
• 1945 - Passport to refreshment.
• 1947 - Coke knows no season.
• 1948 - Where there's Coke there's hospitality.
• 1949 - Coca-Cola ... along the highway to anywhere.
• 1952 - What you want is a Coke.
• 1954 - For people on the go.
• 1956 - Coca-Cola ... makes good things taste better.
• 1957 - The sign of good taste.
• 1958 - The Cold, Crisp Taste of Coke
• 1959 - Be really refreshed.
• 1963 - Things go better with Coke.
• 1966 - Coke ... after Coke ... after Coke.
• 1969 - It's the real thing.
• 1971 - I'd like to buy the world a Coke.
• 1976 - Coke adds life.
• 1979 - Have a Coke and a smile.
• 1982 - Coke is it!
• 1985 - America's Real Choice
• 1986 - Red White & You (for Coca-Cola Classic)
• 1986 - Catch the Wave (for New Coke)
• 1989 - Can't Beat the Feeling.
• 1993 - Always Coca-Cola.
• 2000 - Enjoy.
• 2001 - Life tastes Good.
• 2003 - Real.
• 2005 - Make It Real.
• 2006 - The Coke Side of Life
  
• 2007 - Live on the Coke Side of Life
  
• 2009 - Open Happiness

Variations (current)
(I lean towards Coke on this one. I'm a big fan of Cherry Coke and Vanilla Coke)

• Pepsi
• Caffeine Free Pepsi
• Diet Pepsi
• Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi
• Diet Pepsi Max
• Jazz Diet Pepsi
• Diet Pepsi Lime
• Diet Pepsi Vanilla
• Pepsi Wild Cherry
• Diet Pepsi Wild Cherry
• Pepsi ONE

• Coke Classic
• Caffeine Free Coke Classic
  
• Diet Coke
• Caffeine Free Diet Coke
  
• Diet Coke w/Lemon
• Cherry Coke
  
• Vanilla Coke
• Coke w/Lime
• Coca-Cola C2
  
• Coca-Cola Zero
• Diet Coke w/Lime
  
• Diet Coke w/Splenda
• Diet Cherry Coke
  

Even though I gave Coke more advantages out of the four factors I considered, I still go with Pepsi for the taste. I think I'll go pour a glass now.

Versus: Baseball vs. Football

I'll begin by putting my two favorite sports up against one another.




FOOTBALL:

Pluses

• There is absolutely nothing like playing in a football game. The anxious hours of pregame. The rush of the initial kickoff. The thrill of beating the guy across from you. The roar of the crowd.
• The strategy of the game. If you've never been to a practice or involved with a film session, you have no idea how much football is a mind game.
• Incredible atmosphere whether you participate as a player or a spectator.
  
• Tailgates
• You get to hit others without getting in trouble. It's actually encouraged.
• Fantasy football
• When the season is over you're already thinking about the next season (can't get enough)
• Chicks dig football players
• Camaraderie of the team
• Playing in the rain or the cold isn't all that bad
  

Minuses

• Possibility of getting hurt is quite high
• Football practice. I've never quite put my finger on it.
• Wearing a helmet and pads
  
• 2-a-days

BASEBALL:

Pluses

• Practice is fun. Taking batting practice and fielding ground/fly balls is something I could do all day.
• America's past time. Being a part of a sport that has had a great effect on part of America's history definitely has its advantages.
• There's just something about going to a baseball park and watching a game with your dad or your buddies.
• Hitting a round ball with a round bat is perhaps one of the hardest things to do in sports. The challenge of it is a plus even though some might see it as a minus.
• Hot dogs and peanuts.
• Chicks dig baseball players
• Close relationships built with your teammates. You're stuck with them in the field, on the road and in the dugout for hours on end. You really do become a family.
  
• Baseball uniforms.
• Failing 3-4 out of 10 times at the plate is considered doing pretty well
  

Minuses

• Games are slow and can be what some might call "boring"
• Played during the dog days of summer
• Extremely long season
• Playing in the rain or the cold is a bad experience
• Steroids and performance enhancing drugs
  

And the winner is - FOOTBALL. I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone who likes baseball more than football.

Versus

After coming across a post of another blog, I've decided to do a combination silly and serious (maybe we could call it sillious) post series that I'm calling "Versus." In this series I'll put similar things up against each other to determined what I like best. This could range from restaurants to musical bands to daily activities to grandma's best meal.

If you have any suggestions, please send them my way. I'll do my best to keep up with this for a few weeks. Should be fun. And in this corner...