Its All A Part of Something Greater...

First of all, I am as guilty of this as anyone else, so this is not me "calling you out". I've just been thinking a lot recently on why is it that whenever we refer to our favorite sports teams, we refer to ourselves as a part of the team by saying "we"? Whether its in high school, college, or pro sports, we all desire so badly to be a part of the action, we want to live in the moment just like those who are actually participating in the events. When I was a student at Ole Miss, I can remember vividly games on Saturdays, (though my friend Ryan can attest to this, we didn't get to attend many games due to work), and in the spring, sitting up in Section I at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field yelling "throw it in the dirt!" at the top of our lungs. Whenever I'd describe what happened during a game, I would always refer to the team as "we", but I've never realized how often I do that until a couple of weeks ago when I was talking about how the University of Georgia was punished for 60 minutes by Boise State University (who I was cheering for, btw...). Now I've never been to Boise, I've never gotten to see, (outside of a TV screen), the "smurf turf" that serves as the single greatest home-field advantage in collegiate athletics, but when I talked about the game the next day, I used the word "we". Maybe its just that I love cheering for the underdogs and defending their right to be able to play on the national stage, (since they've constantly proven themselves, and believe me, I'll defend them against any of you "SEC supremacists" whenever you want, and I promise, I WILL WIN), or maybe its just that I can choose whoever I want to cheer for whenever I want. But as I watched that game, I felt myself wishing more than ever that I had played football in high school, tried out in college, and was not in the position I am today.

In all that, it still boggles my mind that we all just want to be a part of something so badly that we live in the delusion that in some way, us yelling through the TV at the referees or the coaches really make a difference and that whether we're at the games or not will make the team play harder or even win more often. Now, I've never seen Boise State play live, but I'll tell you, I think they'd still beat any team in the country whether I was there or not, (and I really want to see them play live sometime), and whether they win or lose, I'll still fight for their right to be placed in the same company as the top conferences and not reference them as "the little sisters of the poor". But personal thoughts aside, why do we have to feel like we belong to these teams? Is it our desire to be with like-minded people? Is it our desire for community?

We were meant to live in the company of others. But is this really the way for us to feel like we are a part of something bigger?

These questions can unlock all sorts of doors. But its when our desire to be a part of something bigger becomes who we are, we can destroy ours and the lives of others. (reference to Harvey Updyke, the man who poisoned the trees at Toomer's Corner in Auburn, AL.) We all love our rivalries and the jokes and gloating we get to make, (which still makes it funny, cause we didn't play in any of the games that allow us fans to gloat), but why do we take them so far? Why is a man willing to destroy another school's tradition over a the fact that "his" team lost a game? Its sickening to think that we are a people who are so petty that we're willing to destroy things in the towns of a rival school. The "sickness" of the human condition blows my mind and continues to make me wonder why I love sports so much...oh yeah, I know now...the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.


That says it all.

Words often quoted, but rarely ever meant...or understood

 As I sit upstairs in a room that isn't mine, about to go to sleep on bed that isn't mine and watching Missouri play Arizona State on a wireless internet signal that once again isn't mine, I find myself contemplating how many times I've heard phrases that are famously quoted and "owned" by us but we rarely, if ever actually take that quote and do something useful with it. I mean, honestly, how many times have you heard Jeremiah 29:11 get quoted by someone as a "theme verse for their life"? The simple fact is that while that verse is incredibly uplifting and hopeful, it wasn't meant to be used in the context of "Dear God, I don't have a job, I don't know if I'm going to be able to pay the rent next month, but I know you have a purpose and a plan for me..." HOW SELFISH TO MAKE A PRAYER ALL ABOUT YOURSELF!!! 

Jeremiah was around in a time where the people of Israel had been enslaved by the Babylonians and they were crying out to God hoping that there would be a reprieve to their struggles. God tells them in Jeremiah 29:10-14, (SEE THE USE OF CONTEXT), ¹⁰"For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. ¹¹For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. ¹² Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. God is simply saying that you MUST WAIT ON ME! It is going to be 70 years before you have the chance to come back home. I made you a promise and I will come through on it, but you have to be patient. A vast majority of people don't ever read the context of that verse and understand what its truly about. The same thing exists in essence with the phrase "Here am I, send me", famously said by Isaiah in the sixth chapter of his book in the bible. 

Isaiah believes that he is the lowest of the low and he doesn't deserve to be in the presence of God. But during this time, a seraphim takes a burning hot piece of coal and touches Isaiah's lips with it (talk about ouchies!!!) and says, "your sins are forgiven". Since Christ had not yet come to save us from our sins, this is a huge moment, for a man to be forgiven is just incredible. But then, a voice is heard saying, "Who will go for us?" and Isaiah famously utters, "Here am I, send me!" 

Yes, this is absolutely amazing, but also very scary. Isaiah is going in blind, he has no idea where he's going or what he's doing, but he does know that he is going to be the voice of God in what he does. How many times have you heard that uttered from someone at a camp, in a dramatic reading, or even as a person being called to full-time Christian service, yet doesn't do anything with that call...was their call fake? Was it a mixed signal from God? What are we to do? Simply this, WAIT ON GOD, don't try to do things yourself. When we try to do things alone, WE WILL FAIL. But also, if you don't take these words, "SEND ME" seriously, WE WILL FAIL. We have to understand what it means to tell God to send us. It means leaving all comfort and what we see as basic necessities of life and trading them for little or next to nothing. I'm not saying that you should give up and say that maybe God didn't really speak to you, but search into what God is calling you to do, just because you have a call, doesn't necessarily mean that you have to go overseas. You could be simply a teacher to 3rd graders at a church or helping out at your local Boys and Girls Club or anything inbetween or further out. 

This is a cautionary tale and a sincere hope that before you go quoting words and claiming that they're from God, that you do some research and soul searching (and of course, praying) that HIS will be done and not YOURS.

-D-