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Football & Jesus
A few things...
(1) I am devastated that Mizzou lost last night to OSU. Gosh it hurts my heart so bad! We were supposed to win and take over the #1 or #2 spot in the rankings, and go on to whoop some UT booty next week in Austin. We were supposed to be the brilliant, unstoppable Mizzou offense and dominate like we always do. It was supposed to be a night of victory, of celebration, of exhilaration. Instead we fell apart, Chase Daniel threw 3, THREE!, interceptions, and absolutely nothing went our way the whole game. Instead our offense was held to 23 points, had multiple 3-and-outs, and could not sustain a lead for more than minutes. Instead it was a night of pain, heartbreak, and very high blood pressure.
Today we are ranked #11. We are still a respectable team, and if we do win next week at #1 Texas by some miracle, we will be back in the top 5 hunting for that national championship. But it just wasn't supposed to be this way. I can't stop replaying all the "what ifs" in my head, over and over. I can't stop thinking that Chase Daniel's Heisman hopes are pretty much history. I can't stop hating the state of Oklahoma and their stupid orange cowboys. I told my mom I was sorry for telling that obnoxious OSU fan to shut up, but I'm not really all that sorry. (Let's face it, I'm not a lady). Every home MU game, I so look forward to the absolute joy and transcendence that comes from college football victory. There's just nothing like it. It makes you feel so fabulously alive when you're on top of the world...and it crushes your spirit when you get disappointed. It makes you bleed...black and gold blood for this girl. My loyalty to the Tigers is unshakable. It's like (1) Jesus, (2) birth, (3) MU football. I guess God just knew I needed a reminder that football is only the 3rd most important thing in the world... ;)
(2)Church today -- and lately in general -- has been pretty darn sweet. As Dave said at the beginning of his message today, "The prayer room is now the crying room." I love that The Crossing makes me feel that it is OK to cry about football. Anways, the series we've been going through is based loosely on the new book, "unChristian." This book (which is on my list with 500 others of those I need to read) presents the sobering research findings concerning how a new generation (those aged 18-41) perceives Christians. There are six troubling associations many people have with Christians (and honestly, who can blame them?): (1) judgmental, (2) hypocritical, (3) sold out politically, (4) sheltered/naive, (5) treat others as projects to "get saved," and (6) anti-homosexual.
Last week Keith gave an INCREDIBLE talk regarding the culture's perception (and unfortunately, the reality) that Christians are anti-homosexual. This has also been a personal issue for me -- I have two very close family members who are gay. I can't even explain how much it gets under my skin when I hear people, **especially Christians,** say, "Oh my God, that's so gay." It always makes me want to reply "Oh my God, that's so gluttony." "Oh my God, that's so coveting your neighbor's sheep." It makes me so incredibly ANGRY, not to mention embarassed, when I hear about Fred Phelps wielding his horrific signs that say "God hates fags" and other horrendous phrases. It makes me want to jump up and scream, "Those words and actions do NOT represent Christ!!!" It's sick, it's sick, it's sick. These hateful people claim to love JESUS. Jesus! The Friend of Sinners! HELLO?!?! Here is the thing, as Keith said so well -- we get angry with people who sin DIFFERENTLY than we do! No one attacks people who are greedy, no one tries to keep their children away from "those greedy people over there" -- because we consider greed to be some kind of "respectable sin" because everyone deals with it, when in fact the Bible says money is the root of evil! Homosexuality is a sin, yes. I'm not disputing that, and if you'd like to, we can talk about it sometime. But the point is that we (Christians at large) compromise the gospel when we focus on one sin to the exclusion of others. I think Billy Graham said it wonderfully: "Why do we focus on homosexuality as if it's the greatest sin? IDOLATRY is the greatest sin!" Guess who's coming to dinner? The poor, the sick, the blind, the lame. And the gays and the lesbians -- gasp. "And such were some of you." (1 Cor 6:11). Please don't say "gay" when you mean "stupid" in front of me...particularly if you consider yourself to be a sinner saved only by grace.
In church today, Dave preached about "getting people saved." About all the outreach, all the Bible tracks, all the surveys, all the talk about the 4 spiritual laws, and all the other superficial crap that makes me want to throw up in my mouth. Here's what the research from Barna Group shows in "unChristian" -- for every one person that responds positively to such evangelism efforts (and God bless them, I don't know how they find Jesus like that, but praise God regardless), but for every one such person, 3 to 10 others respond negatively and become MORE HOSTILE to the gospel message. Doesn't that make you sick to your stomach? It does for me. All that time, all that money...for essentially 1 step forward and 10 steps backwards. The take-home message of Dave's talk today was simple, something Young Life taught me well in high school -- sharing God's love with others has to be RELATIONAL and DEEP and motivated by a GENUINE LOVE for the other person. An agenda to "get someone saved" is perhaps the most unChristian concept I could ever imagine and it grieves me so deeply that people are being PUSHED AWAY FROM JESUS because of such superficial tactics. If you are a Christian reading this, I'll bet anything you would say your coming to Christ was not because of a radio ad or a track from a stranger, but because of a PERSON who KNEW and LOVED you.
(3) In other news, I am making a donation...
to locks of love!!!! 11 inches off!!!!
(1) I am devastated that Mizzou lost last night to OSU. Gosh it hurts my heart so bad! We were supposed to win and take over the #1 or #2 spot in the rankings, and go on to whoop some UT booty next week in Austin. We were supposed to be the brilliant, unstoppable Mizzou offense and dominate like we always do. It was supposed to be a night of victory, of celebration, of exhilaration. Instead we fell apart, Chase Daniel threw 3, THREE!, interceptions, and absolutely nothing went our way the whole game. Instead our offense was held to 23 points, had multiple 3-and-outs, and could not sustain a lead for more than minutes. Instead it was a night of pain, heartbreak, and very high blood pressure.
Today we are ranked #11. We are still a respectable team, and if we do win next week at #1 Texas by some miracle, we will be back in the top 5 hunting for that national championship. But it just wasn't supposed to be this way. I can't stop replaying all the "what ifs" in my head, over and over. I can't stop thinking that Chase Daniel's Heisman hopes are pretty much history. I can't stop hating the state of Oklahoma and their stupid orange cowboys. I told my mom I was sorry for telling that obnoxious OSU fan to shut up, but I'm not really all that sorry. (Let's face it, I'm not a lady). Every home MU game, I so look forward to the absolute joy and transcendence that comes from college football victory. There's just nothing like it. It makes you feel so fabulously alive when you're on top of the world...and it crushes your spirit when you get disappointed. It makes you bleed...black and gold blood for this girl. My loyalty to the Tigers is unshakable. It's like (1) Jesus, (2) birth, (3) MU football. I guess God just knew I needed a reminder that football is only the 3rd most important thing in the world... ;)
(2)Church today -- and lately in general -- has been pretty darn sweet. As Dave said at the beginning of his message today, "The prayer room is now the crying room." I love that The Crossing makes me feel that it is OK to cry about football. Anways, the series we've been going through is based loosely on the new book, "unChristian." This book (which is on my list with 500 others of those I need to read) presents the sobering research findings concerning how a new generation (those aged 18-41) perceives Christians. There are six troubling associations many people have with Christians (and honestly, who can blame them?): (1) judgmental, (2) hypocritical, (3) sold out politically, (4) sheltered/naive, (5) treat others as projects to "get saved," and (6) anti-homosexual.
Last week Keith gave an INCREDIBLE talk regarding the culture's perception (and unfortunately, the reality) that Christians are anti-homosexual. This has also been a personal issue for me -- I have two very close family members who are gay. I can't even explain how much it gets under my skin when I hear people, **especially Christians,** say, "Oh my God, that's so gay." It always makes me want to reply "Oh my God, that's so gluttony." "Oh my God, that's so coveting your neighbor's sheep." It makes me so incredibly ANGRY, not to mention embarassed, when I hear about Fred Phelps wielding his horrific signs that say "God hates fags" and other horrendous phrases. It makes me want to jump up and scream, "Those words and actions do NOT represent Christ!!!" It's sick, it's sick, it's sick. These hateful people claim to love JESUS. Jesus! The Friend of Sinners! HELLO?!?! Here is the thing, as Keith said so well -- we get angry with people who sin DIFFERENTLY than we do! No one attacks people who are greedy, no one tries to keep their children away from "those greedy people over there" -- because we consider greed to be some kind of "respectable sin" because everyone deals with it, when in fact the Bible says money is the root of evil! Homosexuality is a sin, yes. I'm not disputing that, and if you'd like to, we can talk about it sometime. But the point is that we (Christians at large) compromise the gospel when we focus on one sin to the exclusion of others. I think Billy Graham said it wonderfully: "Why do we focus on homosexuality as if it's the greatest sin? IDOLATRY is the greatest sin!" Guess who's coming to dinner? The poor, the sick, the blind, the lame. And the gays and the lesbians -- gasp. "And such were some of you." (1 Cor 6:11). Please don't say "gay" when you mean "stupid" in front of me...particularly if you consider yourself to be a sinner saved only by grace.
In church today, Dave preached about "getting people saved." About all the outreach, all the Bible tracks, all the surveys, all the talk about the 4 spiritual laws, and all the other superficial crap that makes me want to throw up in my mouth. Here's what the research from Barna Group shows in "unChristian" -- for every one person that responds positively to such evangelism efforts (and God bless them, I don't know how they find Jesus like that, but praise God regardless), but for every one such person, 3 to 10 others respond negatively and become MORE HOSTILE to the gospel message. Doesn't that make you sick to your stomach? It does for me. All that time, all that money...for essentially 1 step forward and 10 steps backwards. The take-home message of Dave's talk today was simple, something Young Life taught me well in high school -- sharing God's love with others has to be RELATIONAL and DEEP and motivated by a GENUINE LOVE for the other person. An agenda to "get someone saved" is perhaps the most unChristian concept I could ever imagine and it grieves me so deeply that people are being PUSHED AWAY FROM JESUS because of such superficial tactics. If you are a Christian reading this, I'll bet anything you would say your coming to Christ was not because of a radio ad or a track from a stranger, but because of a PERSON who KNEW and LOVED you.
(3) In other news, I am making a donation...
to locks of love!!!! 11 inches off!!!!