Touchdown!

I don’t know about you, but I watched a little football this past weekend. I don’t really have a “favorite” team; I just like to see well-executed games. Besides, I learned long ago that, no matter who wins, the sun will still come up, my dog will still love me, and I’ll still have to pay the electric bill.

One of the things that amuses me as I watch games, be it professional or college, are the fans that are compelled to decorate themselves with masks, wigs, hats, costumes, face paint and/or body paint (don’t these people ever catch pneumonia?). These are the folks that one might call “rabid” fans of their teams. During the game, one tends to see certain ones over and over. I like to notice their composure as the score tends one way and then the other. While they have their heroes, and cheer lustily when things are going well, it is not uncommon to see/hear negative responses if their team/heroes are not doing well.

I’ve tried to find comparisons between sports fans and Christians. The Christian, too, has his/her team and Hero. Like the sports fans, we have our “pep” rallies – but we call it church. There we are clued into the game plan, and hear exhortations to “hold that line”. But it seems we approach ”the game” a little differently.

First of all, any sports fan knows that on any given day, any given team might beat the other. So each game is approached with at least a little bit of fear of defeat. But for the Christian, each game day (that is, every day) can be faced with the knowledge that our Hero has already vanquished the foe, and as long as we stick with the team, there can be no defeat for us.

Again, like the sports fan, we have our “game” face. But instead of painting our faces red and white, or bright orange, and running around “half-nekked” as the more rabid football fans do, our game face comes from the inner-dwelling Spirit. We need only think of our Hero to have our faces covered by smiles of love.

And, finally, during the game, instead of chanting about destroying the other team, or worse yet, booing our team and Hero from time to time if things look like they might be going badly, we need only believe, praise our team, and speak words of encouragement to one another. That doesn’t mean that the game won’t have its rough moments. It doesn’t mean that from time to time it may not seem the other team is about to win. But we have a fast-forward button that has allowed us to see the end of the contest. And our team wins! What a game.

Now, go down and out. I’ll get the ball to you. On four!

Dr. G