Green's Game Notes: Volume I

If you flip to the sports section of your newspaper you will generally find brief game notes at the end of game stories, such as "Alex Rodriguez hit his 17th homer of the season, his second in three games...Red Sox left fielder Manny Ramirez was scratched from the lineup due to pain in his left hamstring." Since I often have a short attention span I enjoy those. I sometimes have a short writing attention span as well, so here is the first installment of Green's game notes, which focus on our life.

On Thursday we went with Jennifer to Abigail's t-ball practice and had a nice time. The day was gorgeous and I got to toss the ball around with Abby, but I had to duck out of the field to keep from interfering with practice. Remember Erik, the coach is in charge. Angie and I kept an eye on Lilly as she toddled around the park...

Keep Ramona Connor in your prayers; she is the wife of a former boss who I have worked for twice in my life. Romona is maybe the biggest Bama fan on planet earth. She is battling breast cancer right now. Years ago she had a kidney transplant and it has failed since her bout with cancer began, so things look very grim for her. She is a dear sweet lady...

Keep Angie in your prayers as well. She has to administer the CRCT test (the big standardized test for third grade) next week and is super stressed about it. But she will do fine...

Our health kick is going well so far, but it usually does during the first week when adrenaline is eager to flow. Keep us in prayer. Ask God to enable us to complete this 180 in our lives and stay healthy. Along those lines, I found a fantastic Web site for keeping up with your calories and helping you organize your diet. It's: http://www.thedailyplate.com/ ...

In other news, ESPN has loads of Bama and Dodgers news up today. It's a good day....

It's three days until Giants at Dodgers to open the season. Hallelujah!

--Erik

My Big Fat Greek...Salad?

Do you know we have been lied to all our lives? Of course you know that. We were told you can do anything if you put your mind to it. Yeah, but can a 7-foot man live in a doll house if he puts his mind to it? I don't think so. It's the same with food. I am beginning to believe that man was not meant to eat meat, at least in the quantity in which most Americans eat it. And it's killing us.

"The traditional American diet consists of extremely high levels of animal protein, dairy, and low-fiber processed breads,” according to Roberta Temes in an article on peertrainer.com. Sound anything like you? It sounds like me.

“Some studies have shown that Americans consume 93% of their daily calories from non-vegetable sources,” she wrote. “As a result, we are the most obese people on the planet and have the highest levels of cancer and heart disease in the world. Cultures that have high levels of calorie consumption from vegetables have much lower rates of obesity and disease."

Ding, a light goes off in my head.

Temes says we are taught about the basic food groups, which include meat and dairy and “It was drilled into us at an early age that a healthy diet was centered on meat and dairy. It was communicated to us that protein was the most important nutrient, and that these two food groups were the best source. Cancer rates subsequently soared.

"The reality is however, that whole grains, nuts, beans and vegetables are rich in protein and also contain additional nutrients that keep you healthy and nourish you," she wrote. "Meat and dairy is simply loaded with fat and cholesterol. A good way to think about the power of protein from plants is by asking this question: what do elephants, gorillas and giraffes eat? They eat plants and are plenty big. Green vegetables contain more protein per 100 calories than steak. We have also been told that milk is the best source of calcium. Again, plants are a phenomenal source of calcium. As you begin to eliminate meat and dairy from your diet, you are creating an environment in your body that is hostile to, rather than friendly to cancer and tumors. Instead of saturated fat your body is taking in more fiber and antioxidant. Your risk of osteoporosis becomes lower. Weight loss becomes possible."

Many people already know and understand this, but for others like me, who have been a slave to meat and dairy, it's alarming. More proteins in greens than steak? Creating a body hostile to cancer?

OK, so what's my angle here? Well, Angie and I recently decided it was far past time to get healthy. We are getting A BIT older and are planning for kids in the future and quite frankly we want to be around when they are grown. Clearly, most people who are thin and healthy simply know how to put a cork in their mouths and push away from the table. They understand the value of exercise and ACTUALLY practice it. The rest of us have to figure it out the hard way, like trying to squeeze into booths at restaurants, dreading the scale at the doctor, and taking blood pressure meds every day at age 30.

But I think many of us, healthy or not, have no idea that eating certain things actually makes your body function better or worse than normal, whatever normal might be. It’s a system that works, but which hasn’t been followed by many in centuries I suspect. Think of it as a proper order, like growing plants. You have the right soil then you add the seeds, the right amount of fertilizer, the right amount of water and voila, a healthy stalk of corn.

I am still learning certain key principles and I am in no way trying to seem like a 300-pound health expert. But there are simple things that can help us all, like not eating proteins with starches, such as a hamburger patty on a bun, which destroys everything we believe in as Americans when it comes to food. Other things include: eating nothing that requires digestion before noon (meaning, eat fruit for breakfast). Certainly there are many other things to consider but even if you are in shape it might do you well to research and consider more than “eating right.” Think about why.

--Erik

God's smile

Every morning I spend an hour alone on a sidewalk under a ceiling of dark clouds which pass by slowly as if they were watching me. That’s part of my job at Murray County High School. I’m a crossing guard. That hour gives me time to reflect. Regretfully, most of the time I don’t think about much of anything.
But today I thought about death. I often obsess about becoming sick and dying, especially dying young. I’ve always feared death. I’ve feared what those moments will be like as we pass from life to death. Will I be afraid? Will I be in control? I tell my wife time and time again that when I obsess over something and it turns out to be nothing that I hear God’s voice saying, “When are you going to learn to trust me.” Maybe today.
This morning as I was thinking about death, I believe God spoke to me. He said, “Why are you so afraid of death? If you’re that afraid then I would think you don’t really believe in Heaven.”
He had a point. After all, what is death if not a prerequisite for Heaven?
I don’t think I have ever been really sure of the existence of Heaven like I am sure that my wedding band is gold. It was always a nice possibility. I am a Christian, but I am truly like Thomas. I need to see the wounds. The idea of Heaven, like the majority of the Gospel message, has seemed at times a little far fetched over the years. So this morning I looked up at the dark clouds and told God, “If there is a Heaven, show me a smile.” I was looking for God to contort the clouds into a smiley face, I reckon.
But it didn’t happen and I looked at the ground and thought, “Stupid.”
About ten seconds later I looked up as a delivery truck rolled by me. On the side was a picture of a little girl, who looked to be maybe 5-years-old, holding a slice of watermelon. She had a big snaggletooth smile on her face.
What can you say? Thomas got his stupid sign.
God tells us in Matt. 19:26 “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”’
All things, from a smiley face on the side of a truck to our heavenly home.
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
—John 14:1-3
Philippians 3:20-21
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
—Philippians 3:20-21
Amen

--Erik

American kids

A poem by Erik Green

Inoculate me oh God
To the darkness of my heart
Land which has fled into the arms
Of anesthetization, peculation
The demise of education
The art of murder without trepidation

They’re cultist drones of the video box
Marching in soporific waves of pheromones
Eating with ravenous minds they are
Gorged and sated
Technology’s antennae latched to their heads
Beep, ring, buzz, ding,
What? Yes? Oh what do you mean?
Never would our ancestors have foreseen
This, a terror, a horror like death
Apathy, ignorance, maelstrom, duress

Did it start with war in Europe?
Or Communism and reds
Or hippies or yuppies
Or kids with wild dreads?

Now there’s just not a purpose
Nor cause to be found
Idle hands, dismal sounds
For the children lost
Have no solace now

About us

Though they went to the same universiy, Erik and Angela Green never knew each other as students. It was only years later that they found each other. Angela actually dated Erik's neighbor! They were married June 16, 2007 and currently reside in Dalton, Ga. They have no children (YET!). As a couple they enjoy going to football and baseball games, spending time with family and friends, Japanese food, sitting on the porch in the warm sun and traveling. They live (in their imagination) in Jekyll Island whenever possible.

Angela was born in Dalton and raised in Murray County. She attended Southeast Whitfield High School and graduated in 1998. She went on to attend Jacksonville State University (Jacksonville, AL) where she earned a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education. While at Jacksonville State she played the flute in the famed "Marching Southerners" marching band. She's in her fourth year of teaching third grade at Chatsworth Elementary School in Chatsworth, Ga. She also teaches a Wednesday night class at Dalton Evangelical Methodist Church. She enjoys music, spending time with family, attending sporting events (especially Alabama games) and of course American Idol. Her favorite movie is "White Christmas," the lines from which she can quote on command. She reads all things Nicholas Sparks. Angie has two sisters: Jennifer and Laura and a step-sister Christy as well as several nieces and nephews. Angie will be 28 April 23.

Erik was born in Anniston, Alabama and raised on a farm outside nearby Jacksonville. He attended Pleasant Valley High School and graduated in 1996. He attended Jacksonville State University but left in 2000 to take a job as a newspaper reporter in Americus, Ga. He worked in both sports and news writing at newspapers in Americus, Rome and Dalton before deciding to go back to school in 2008. He is currently majoring in Secondary English Education at UT-Chattanooga (being a bonkers Alabama fan, he is saddened that his degree will say only "University of Tennessee"). Upon graduation, Erik wants to teach high school English and earn more degrees. He currently works as a "teacher" at Murray County High School, supervising In School Suspension. He coached freshman football this past year. He is a rabid sports fan and follows Alabama and the Los Angeles Dodgers closely. In the past he played Xbox hardcore, but his game system went kapoot (it was sabotaged by Angie hehe). Currently he listens to a lot of sports talk radio at work. His favorite move is "Snatch." He enjoys reading, writing and the Discovery Channel. His favorite author is Cormac McCarthy. He has two sisters: Lisa and Donna and several nieces and nephews. He just turned 30 on March 7, sigh!