I think I’ve embarrassed myself in almost every sport

Yesterday I was thinking about the MOST EMBARRASSING sports fail in my entire 39-year life. It was so bad… the kind of thing you’d see in a movie or in a YouTube video, like this.


Thankfully no one was recording me, so I’ll just have to tell you how it went down…

I was playing soccer, a sport I love to play. But I was playing a position I wasn’t cut out for: goalie. Yikes! So that already made me uncomfortable, plus I only knew one person on the team so I felt like I had a lot to live up to with all the teammates who probably expected me to help them win. Help them win, meaning stop the ball when someone kicks it towards the goal. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, just hold your horses right there!

One time someone kicked the ball from about mid-field. Not a hard kick, but it had some leg behind it. I was all alone since both teams were still mostly on the other end of the field. As the ball rolled towards me, I had zero pressure to do anything athletic. And “not do anything athletic” is exactly what I did! I remember thinking, “Oh man, I’m going to knock this ball so far.” I was so proud of myself for what I was about to do, the team would love me for it. They would carry me off the field on their shoulders. High fives all around. Tell their grandchildren about what their goalie did that day.

Well, they probably WILL still their family what happened… I moved towards the ball and engaged my kick approach. Head down. A few steps, then boom with the left foot…

In my defense, the field was really rough, so the ball was bouncy. So bouncy that when I made a swift kick, I came into contact with nothing. Nothing at all. Air. The stupid bouncing ball had bounced OVER my stupid foot! Embarrassing, right? Well, not as embarrassing as the ball bouncing over my foot AND rolling into the goal. Yep. That’s exactly what happened on the worst day of my sporting career.

I can’t ever show my face at the Donelson YMCA soccer fields again.

via Giphy.com

Other bad days include a critical “go on two” false start in flag football, an “I got up too quick from a slide” in softball where I got up too quick and fell backwards, another softball blooper where I slid head first into first base and was called out because I never actually reached the base, and my entire middle school basketball career was minutes long because my coach only played me a few minutes each game– entirely embarrassing! I still have room for other sports like volleyball, baseball (although I might have a story to share about that later), tennis, and maybe running.

Please don’t judge me. But I will accept any empathy from you, dear reader.

-Out of the Wilderness

The dancers in Mat Kearney “Kings and Queens” video

Some music videos need to be over the top to get your attention, but others just let the lyrics, location, and a few talented storytellers draw you in. Such is the case with Mat Kearney’s video for “Kings and Queens.”

 video released on March 27, 2018

This beautifully stripped-down music video features Mat singing amongst majestic, jagged rocks, in the desert land just north of Los Angeles and east of Santa Clarita (a city that’s small yet familiar with all kinds of movies, TV shows, and even has a Netflix show named after it–Santa Clarita Diet). This impressive backdrop is a tiny part of the Sierra Pelona Mountains called the Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park. Take a look at a few pics found online…

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image via Wikipedia
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image source: LA Times

The LA Times published an article listing the various Star Trek movies/episodes that were filmed here, too.

It’s also a popular place for weddings…

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Check out Jonathan Yacoub for more amazing wedding photos.
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Gene Kang used the location to create breathtaking backdrops for a wedding shoot.

…and even Easter sunrise church services.

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If you’d like more info on attending this multi-church celebration, click here.

But what we really want to know is who these dancers are, right? After all, while the lyrics of “Kings and Queens” describe a genuine love most people hope for, the choreography is a love story in it’s own right, without using any words at all.


Say hello to Stanley Glover and Bridget Whitman. Well, actually just say, “Nice to see you again!” since you probably recognize both of them from So You Think You Can Dance, among other endeavors they take part in all over the world. More of Bridget’s bio is here and Stanley’s is here.

The above photos, and more images can be found on the Bloc Agency website. 

Mat’s video was directed by a veteran in the music video world, Justin Clough. To his credit, he’s directed videos by Rihanna, Chris Lane, and Brothers Osborne just to name a few. Take a second to check out his reel here.

Since there’s sure to be much more from all of these talented folks, do yourself a favor and follow them to know right away when they do their next entertaining thing! Also, thank you for checking out this post, I hope you learned more about the video and as always, please feel free to comment below!

Mat Kearney Instagram (and a behind the scenes clip) and Twitter

Justin Clough Instagram and Twitter

Bridget Whitman Instagram and Twitter

Stanley Glover Instagram and Twitter

-Out of the Wilderness

The case of the unfit underwear

I tried to get in and out of Walmart without embarrassing myself too much, but how often do those plans usually work out, right? I was up front with the customer service lady, telling her I need to return my underwear. At first it was just her and I, still embarrassing but at least it was our little secret.

Then somehow it spread to another employee, then another and another! All I wanna do is return these “fashion” briefs for just regular ol’ briefs. Is that too much to ask?

Not to mention, take a look at the pic on the package, no pun intended…

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I was silly to think I could pull these off (I intended that pun). But look at this guy, totally rockin’ the briefs! I swapped out this set of 6 briefs for another set of 7. And I can’t even tell you the amount of times I had to say the size… yes, they’re smalls. Dang it. They were less expensive but not colorful and fashionable. Plain. White. Small. Briefs.

I guess it’s time I face the facts, I’ll always be a tighty whitey kind of guy.

-Out of the Wilderness

Jesus, The Risen 1k – a short run/walk

You’ve heard of, and probably participated in, a 5k run, or a 10k… well, this one is much shorter than any of those… but first, happy Easter! This whole idea of running a 1k is to remember and symbolize the same distance Jesus’s disciples Peter and John ran the day they heard Jesus was no longer in the tomb. A quick backstory is that for the few days after Jesus was crucified and buried, his disciples and other followers pretty much went into hiding. Knowing what the Jews just did to Jesus, they were afraid they’d be next.  I guess this was the first case of the witness protection program.

So it’s pretty fascinating that when these followers of Jesus were told his body was no longer in the tomb, Peter and John took off running. So much for being in hiding.

My best guess is they ran about 1.2 kilometers, or roughly 0.75 miles. More on that is in this post. So I challenge you (and me) to do the same this Easter weekend and imagine the adrenaline those folks must’ve felt as they ran to discover the tomb was missing one key thing… a body. Crazy and amazing stuff!

It’s the “Jesus, The Risen 1k”…

-Out of the Wilderness

 

 

How far Peter ran to the tomb of Jesus

I’ve been fascinated by the details surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus as it relates to Peter, particularly after Jesus was arrested, all the way up to the empty tomb. The rooster story happens (where Jesus predicted Peter would deny him 3 times, then a rooster would crow), and Peter weeps about it. Jesus is led to the place where he hung on the cross, he dies and is buried in a tomb. A few days later when some women go to visit this tomb, they discover it’s empty. Upon hearing this news soon after, Peter takes off to the tomb (but always remember, Mary and Mary did it first). The story as it’s told in Luke says Peter ran to the tomb. I may have another entire post on how he was beat by another disciple, who made a point of saying he outran Peter. 🙂

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famous painting “Peter and John Running to the Sepulchre” by Eugene Burnand, ca. 1898

How far did Peter run, though? Well, I thought it would be easy to find out so I just Googled “How far did Peter run to Jesus’s tomb”… nada, zilch, zippo. I couldn’t find any info. Long story short, I figured I could possibly make a guess based on where Jesus’s tomb is believed to have existed, and where Peter first heard the wild claims that Jesus’s body wasn’t there.

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Jesus was buried in a tomb carved out of rock. Most people believe it’s where the Church of the Holy Sepulchre exists today. Easy enough to get an address or location for that. But it would be more difficult to find out where Peter was that early morning when the news broke. None of the four gospels give any sort of landmark or description of wherever they were that morning, so I first looked up where Peter lived. It was in Capernaum. Ok, we have 2 points to measure! Only problem is Capernaum is 123 miles away from the ancient tomb of Jesus. Certainly Peter didn’t run that far!

Further research brought me to the place where the Last Supper happened. From what I read, it seems that this room was used by believers even after the Last Supper, crucifixion, and resurrection. This location is now called Cenacle, which is defined as the room where Jesus and his disciples had the Last Supper.

So from my little bit of research, I’m going with this…

Peter ran from the Last Supper room to the tomb, about .75 miles (about 1.2 km).

I’ve even made a habit of running this same distance, I call it “Jesus, The Risen 1k” every Easter. Join me won’t you, as a way to remember the radical news that Jesus is no longer in the tomb!

Take a look at the attached maps for these locations, and as always thanks for stopping by! For another interesting read based on some research I did, check out “A Bible verse exposing the glass half empty personality”.

-Out of the Wilderness