Fall is coming, fall is coming : )

Greetings!   

    Good morning to all our wonderful readers. May the Lord bless you, keep you and prosper you in this season.

    It's safe to say ,we are so looking forward to the fall. The leaves changing, the cooling weather, breaking out the coats and the hats, pumpkins, holidays and a little bit of football. We can't help it! We're from the South, SEC is tradition. Now, we're not all-out fanatics, but both Leah and I have been mentioning how different the southern football experience is from up here in KC and we kind of miss it. What's really funny is that now that Mizzou is in the SEC, we actually have rivals up here (well at least Alabama does for now : ] ) The truth is that most of us as a nation love football. We love to watch it, to play it, and to discuss it. These are men who train, practice once (if not twice) a day, push themselves to be better at the game, eat right(hopefully), sleep on time(again hopefully), and push past pain to see the greater goal. So instead of doing my usual rant on why football is an idol (which it still is, like anything else, when used wrongly) I thought I'd take the time to point out why football is a good metaphor for our life in Christ.

Run, baby run

     The Bible talks about being an athlete competing to obtain the prize, running with endurance, and finishing strong (Acts 20:24, 1 Corinthians 9:24, 2 Timothy 4:7, Hebrews 12:1). What do they all have in common? Sports metaphors!

     Football players have a goal, to be the best. Not the best they can be, but the BEST. To win the trophy, to play all four quarters, and to make every play count. They see what's all put before them in life, choose the things that will help them obtain their goal and leave the rest behind as dead weight.

     Athletes all want to live in such a way as to obtain their goal. We saw this all last month during the Olympics because if they didn't, they were sent packing. Our goal as Christians is to obtain Christ. To try and be as one with Christ as we can. To be His hands and feet on this Earth. To be with Him, near Him, wherever He is.

    One thing to think about is that hypothetically if Christ wasn't in Heaven, if He was in a dingy shack in Mexico, on a mountain in China, on a remote island in the middle of the ocean, would you still want to be with Him or is your goal to get to Heaven? If Heaven isn't clouds and everything you want, but looked more like a 3rd world country, a prison cell, a forgotten wasteland, but Jesus was there, would you still want to go?

      Heaven is not our goal, Jesus is. I only want to go to Heaven if that is where He is. If my focus on Jesus is strong enough then I, like a football player, can learn to overcome my obstacles, train with diligence, be mindful of my time, be a team player, listen to my "coach", read the "playbook", and be ready to go when that "whistle" signals my game is over.

     As we begin to enter this season, remember have fun, enjoy life, and have Christ as the center and the goal of it all.