5 reasons I won't wear a Scottie Pippen jersey

I'm going to my first Timberwolves game today. Well, a preseason game anyway. My new friends Mike and JJ got four free tickets in a very sweet spot. They are playing the Bulls, and Mike, from Illinois, is a huge Bulls fan. He offered to lend me his Scottie Pippen jersey.

Not so fast, my friend.

5) Mike would never let me live it down. I'd always be a Bulls fan.

4) Even if I were to pick an NBA team besides the Timberwolves to support, it wouldn't be the Bulls. I'd have to think more about it, but I can think of several teams I'd rather support.

3) I'd rather antagonize Mike.

2) I am a moderate Timberwolves fan. Basketball is a fine sport. It's not my favorite, and I don't closely follow it, but I do like the Timberwolves and follow them fairly closely. They are currently not a good team, but they are rebuilding and have taken some encouraging steps in the past few months. I have no desire to cheer against them.

1) I am from Minnesota, and I support Minnesota sports. Once you cheer against a Minnesota team, there's no going back. Wearing the opposing team's jersey is a one-way street. The only time I will cheer against a Minnesota sports team is when NDSU, my alma mater, plays the Gophers.

Someone had their proud pants on today

I thought of a story today that I meant to blog about but forgot.

A few weeks ago I went to the mall and bought a new pair of pants. Bear with me. As is the case almost all clothes that I buy, these pants were on sale. There were two racks of pants on sale. One rack cost $20, the other $15. The pair I bought were on the $20 rack.

I went to the counter to pay for them, and the girls behind the register were having trouble with the computer system (I know this because they were complaining that it had crashed earlier and still wasn't working right.) So, when the girl at the register I was at went to ring the pants up, she had to manually enter the sale price, which was not on the tag. The girl next to her looked at the pants and said, "They are on sale for $15."

Ding ding. An opportunity for Josh to reveal his character has just presented itself. I could easily let this slide and save $5 on a pair of pants.

A few thoughts flashed through my head: "Josh, you have been called to be faithful in the little things." "Josh, these cashiers probably don't know Jesus, maybe this could be an opportunity." These are good thoughts, encouraging thoughts that indicate the Lord is drawing me to himself and making me more like him.

Unfortunately, Josh Koehn is a dirty little sinner, and this thought also entered my head: "Josh, congratulations. You are such a good person. Most people would take that $5 without flinching, but not you. You're better than that. In about two seconds, these girls are going to compliment you for doing the right thing. You really are impressive."

So I tell the cashier that the pants actually came off the $20 rack. And she said...nothing. "Ok, $20. Thanks for shopping at Aerostaple (that's how it always sounds in my head)." She was not in the least impressed that I had done the right thing.

I walked out the store with a simple prayer. "You win God."

Matthew 6:1
"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people inorder to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven."