“Take me out of this ballgame”

http://pres-outlook.org/2007/01/take-me-out-of-this-ballgame

Why is America so sports crazy? Why am I so sports crazy?

My eligibility to play on college athletic teams expired thirty years ago. I now have children older than the young men and women who are vying for national championships. Yet my interest in the outcome of those games — and, at times, my irrational responses to what I am seeing on the court and on the field — seem to be accelerating.

Why do millions of people experience happier days when their teams win, but feel sick to their stomachs after losses? Domestic abuse typically rises in metro areas whenever the local franchise chalks up an “L.” Sports stars aren’t only performers. They are “heroes.” The average annual salary for Major League Baseball players is greater than the lifetime earnings of tens of millions of American workers. Has our national sports fixation become a form of mental illness? ESPN advertises its NFL broadcasts with this slogan: “When you love it this much, nothing else matters.”  For the diehard sports fan no alternative view is imaginable.

Unquestionably the socializing that is frequently associated with spectator sports can be a welcome antidote to relational isolation. Fascination with athletic competition keeps a lot of people talking around the water cooler. Whole communities come together to experience The Big Game. Apart from sports some family members would struggle to find common ground. Think of that poignant scene from City Slickers in which Daniel Stern’s middle-aged character reflects that when he and his dad couldn’t find anything to talk about, they could always talk about baseball. Three cheers for the myriad ways that sports bring people together.

Other associations with seasonal games aren’t nearly so redemptive. It’s hard to overlook the symbiosis of major sports with gambling, alcohol, sexual images, and violence.

Theories abound concerning the rise of Sports Nation. Perhaps sports are a form of representative combat. Hating the Yankees is a safe and socially acceptable way of thumbing our noses at the Big Apple for its bigger-than-life arrogance. Others suggest that sports-crazed people (men, in particular) become ravenous fans because their own lives seem so dull and lifeless. Their personal dreams are stillborn. Vicarious success is just a televised touchdown pass or grand slam away.

As a pastor I am convinced that our church’s “competition” is not the Lutherans, the Methodists or that independent mega-church that’s mushrooming down the street. Would-be disciples of Jesus are torn between attending worship or supporting their kids’ 11:00 a.m. Sunday soccer league. The population thins in our sanctuary every time the local NFL franchise, the Indianapolis Colts, take the field at midday Sunday. (To be fair, our pastoral counseling opportunities soar every January when the Colts flame out in the playoffs.)

But the real effect of sports-as-life-itself cannot be documented as easily as attendance figures. We live in a culture of distraction. Our fascination with Hollywood, escapist vacations, political scandals, and the trivial details of the lives of celebrities — do Brad and Angelina truly love each other? — is symptomatic of the fact that many of those in our pews are not even acquainted with life’s great questions.

Addiction to sports can be a serious challenge to spiritual formation — that lifelong endeavor that requires relentless seeking of God’s kingdom through such disciplines as silence, solitude, and study. Manic attention to spectator events steals irreplaceable time from marriages, friendships and parenting. Today’s average couple works one thousand more hours per year than in 1975. Do we really want to turn on the TV as constant background noise when we finally find time to be with each other? Is it normal for dads to know more about the struggles of their fantasy players than the stresses faced by their own kids?

OK, I’m convicted. My name is Glenn. I am an addict. I watch too many hours of SportsCenter. I shouldn’t know (or care) about Chad Pennington’s double rotator cuff surgery. The beauty of autumn days should not be compromised because my favorite team may blow the World Series. With God’s help I will spend fewer hours in front of the TV and more time attending to the precious people in my home. As a pastor I will not dodge the issue of sports addiction as a major spiritual compromise for many of my members. God deserves my attention above all.

After all, when God loves us this much, nothing else matters.

Glenn McDonald is pastor of Zionsville Church, Zionsville, Ind.

Where Does Your Hope Come From?

On April 28-30, the NFL held its annual draft of college football players, and each team chose about 7 players each - fresh, young players.  Almost immediately afterwards, each team sign about 20 more undrafted players.  So every NFL team has restocked its roster with dozens of new, young players.  Thus every team believes they’re going to be better than last year.  Yes, this is the season when hope is renewed for every NFL team. 

Hope is an abstract thing that affects almost every aspect of one’s life.  It affects how one thinks or feels, how one sees oneself.  It affects how one relates to others.  You can just sense, when listening to another person, whether that person is hopeful or not.  One’s level of hope affects how much one accomplishes. 

In Isaiah’s time, the chosen people of Israel were feeling like they were no longer chosen, as if God had lost track of them; a few even dared to say that God no longer cared about them.  As Isaiah 40:27 says, “Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel,
My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God”?

God Himself says it best in the 4 verses that follow, Do you not know?  Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
   He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
   Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
   but those who hope in the Lord, will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;

 they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Did you catch that line in bold?  Did you notice where Isaiah’s hope came from?  Isaiah’s hope didn’t come from believing in himself, or following a self-help book, or from his wonderful friends.  No, his hope, the hope that renewed his strength, came from the LORD – the everlasting Creator of the world, the God who doesn’t get tired or weary, and his wisdom cannot be understood by any mere mortal.  Are you actively trusting in that God?

A few verses later, Isaiah wrote, So do not fear, for I am with you;
    do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (41:10)

If you aren’t listening to the God of Isaiah, why not start seeking Him today?  If you’re troubled or afraid, turn to the eternal Creator of the world.  If you’re weak or weary or discouraged, why not put your hope in the Lord who promises to renew your strength?  He will uphold you with his holy, right hand, and help you.

Tom Brady's Secret Weapon in the Super Bowl

By Thomas George on Feb 3, 2015

 

 

PHOENIX - "I didn't even think about it," Tom Brady said as he walked toward an elevator after his Super Bowl news conference on Monday morning. He held in both hands a shiny trunk that stored his silver, football-shaped MVP trophy. He was surrounded by security, yet comfortable, at peace. He looked tired. He looked relieved. He looked patient.

And that was the question: just how much patience it took in this Super Bowl 49 victory over the Seattle Seahawks for him to be content with a night of dinks and dunks and darts. The New England Patriots correctly discerned they could not block the Seahawks for long; that quick, timing passes were the formula. Brady kept picking, plucking. None of his Super Bowl record-setting 37 completions was for more than 23 yards.

This requires extreme patience for any quarterback. Their instincts are often to chuck it long. It demanded an extra dose of patience for Brady, whose long completions in each of his last six seasons were for yardage gains of 69, 81, 83, 99, 79 and 81. Each of those was for touchdowns, too.

So, I'm not buying that Brady "didn't even think about it" when considering a Patriots Super Bowl offensive design that took a dump-truck approach rather than a race-car one. Somewhere in the game plan creation, installation, practices and through four quarters of championship play, Brady had to keep pinching himself, reminding himself of the art of patience. To staying the course and sticking with the plan.

Consider that Brady averaged 6.6 yards gained per pass attempt in the Super Bowl. And that Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson averaged 11.8.

Brady's patience won. Seattle's lack of it, especially in the end, lost.

Now Brady is a four-time Super Bowl winner and three-time Super Bowl MVP and resides in rarified football air. But there is a DeflateGate investigation ongoing.  Was Brady involved in the AFC Championship deflated football controversy?

Brady must patiently wait for that answer to be revealed in the investigation's results. Some people think he already knows. That his fingerprints are all over it.

Brady found a way to navigate through this ruckus, patiently, while preparing for and then rising in the Super Bowl. This is an odd NFL moment. A player just received two of the richest honors the game offers -- a Super Bowl championship and the game's MVP. Yet, the threat looms that soon he could be punished and his team fined for cheating.

This is like hopping on a roller-coaster ride at the end and riding backward.

This trashes that popular notion of "it's not the destination, it's the journey." Heck no, Tom Brady just won it all. This, for now, is all about the destination. Mission accomplished. He will live fully in this moment. For now, it is the safest place.

With patience, he will deal with any potential later fallout, with another trophy by his side and with another ring on his finger.

Ahead by 10 points in the fourth quarter, the Seattle offense kept giving the ball back to Brady, unable to convert third downs and maintain possession and keep him off the field. It is always a dangerous track for a team when Brady has the ball in the fourth quarter with something to prove.

Brady reminded everyone of that once again. So did Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. He said he has never coached a fiercer competitor than Brady.

"It's a game of emotion," said Brady, referring to cornerback Malcolm Butler's game-clinching interception. "It happened so quickly. It was, obviously, as emotional a game can be at that point."

It's a game of patience.

There is no hurry-up-and-wait now in Tom Brady. He will just patiently wait. He will savor the arrival at this latest destination. Then dink, dunk and dart his way through.

Coped from http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2015/2/3/7969325/new-england-patriots-super-bowl-champs-tom-brady-mvp-deflategate 

Patience is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.  Those who actively trust in God and his Spirit will have patience.   God, in his wisdom, has shown so much patience with his people, in waiting for his people to turn from our sins, to Christ and his Spirit.  If you want patience, turn to Christ and trust in His Spirit to flow to you and through you to others!