Kingdom Hearts

Monday night I was watching the 2009 ESPN Cash Cow, errrrr. I mean the 2009 Homerun Derby.  And something struck me.  I am not sure how much of the Homerun Derby most people have watched over the years but I have always enjoyed it… that is with the exception of the last few years.  It bugs me that ESPN has turned this event into a circus that seems to serve the main purpose now of giving them publicity (and making them money).  Now, don’t get me wrong.  I love ESPN.  You know I do.  But every one has their faults.  And I just happen to be blogging about a fault that really irks the snot out of me.

This event is way too long.  It has become boring.  And I suppose there are a lot of ways they can make it better, but if I listed them, I would digress.  Such isn’t really the point of this post.  I just mentioned it in order to make this point.  The homerun derby is supposed to be about the best power hitters in the game being able to display their power.  Or at least that is what it was about in the past.  Now it has turned into something else.  This is completely my opinion here, but it seems to me after watching the homerun derby these last few years that ESPN has made this event about themselves.

Then this got me to thinking.  How often have we done this ourselves?  I know I have…more often than I care to admit, really.  The temptation exists often, to take something that has nothing to do with us and turn it into something that is all about us.  Sometimes it is in the form of simply trying to always be the center of attention.  Other times it is in the form of taking things personal when we should not.  The latter is the category I fall under a lot.

Jesus seems to have understood this concept.  When He was mistreated, He did not take things personal.  I am sure He was tempted (Hebrews 4:15) as anyone would be.  At least not personal to the point where He forgot about where the issues really lied.  For example, what did He say when hanging on the cross in pain and agony while listening to others mock and further humiliate Him?  He said “Father, forgive them.  For they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).  I don’t want to judge anyone, but I would suspect the majority of us tend to take much less persecution personally.  But Jesus knew His mistreatment was more about them and their issues, and not Him.  And consequently, He prayed for them.  What a tremendous example of how to deal with others in trying times.

I think a lot of what allowed Jesus to love and pray for His “enemy” was understanding that their mistreatment of Him was not about Him, but them.  Even when the Scribes, Pharisees, and Lawyers of His day questioned Him along with His actions and motives, He always managed to put the focus where it was supposed to be—-back on them and on their motives.  Yes life is about Jesus but the people’s mistreatment of Him was about their own issues, not that of Jesus. 

I wonder how much better we would be able to handle ourselves if we could just remember that.  It’s not always about us.  Perhaps this would help us in our efforts to have kingdom hearts—-to love even those who persecute us (Matthew 5:43-48) and demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22ff) toward all man.  I am going to try to remember this for sure.  I need all the help I can get.

It’s not always about us.

Bracketology! This is always a fun time of year for me. I know nothing about College Basketball but every year about this time, me and some friends fill out our brackets and participate together in a NCAA Tournament challenge here. One of the nice things about it all, is that most of the friends that I play with don’t know much about college basketball either, although they won’t admit it. So we are all on at least somewhat of an even playing field. So, this is about the only time of year, while filling out my brackets, that I actually watch SportsCenter on ESPN to find who is going to beat who in college basketball.

But something dawned on me last night as I was watching it and then again this morning while listening to the radio in my truck. There is always something to argue about with sports, isn’t there? If we have half an interest in a particular sport, that automatically qualifies us to argue in favor of what we want or think. And then I started thinking how this phenomenon even transcends sports. We argue over politics, sports, whether or not we should homeschool, how to raise children, who should stay or go on American Idol, what our favorite TV programs are, where the best places to eat are, and even religion, along with everything else under the sun.

This seems to indicate a couple of things: (1) most people are passionate about the things they enjoy in life, which is great. And (2) God made us to be different. Can you imagine a world where everyone thought exactly alike? It is not feasible and it would completely take away the whole Biblical concept of free moral agency. I can’t even fathom how boring life would be if the people I am closest with, including my wife even, thought exactly as I do or I like them. That is not how God made us. And I think this is especially important to remember for us as Christians.

The fact that God calls us to strive for peace and unity, as opposed to confusion demonstrates the fact that He knows how differences are part of what characterizes our human nature. I am not convinced that Jesus’ prayer for unity (John 17) and Paul’s and James’ charge for peace and unity (1 Corinthians 1:10; James 3:18; 4:1-12) are so much a command for everyone “to agree on everything” as much as it is to “learn how to get along despite the fact that you have your differences.” Now certainly, we all want to strive to abide by what God’s word says and that is undoubtedly the Biblical way to stand on common ground. But it seems that the commands to think alike are actually telling us to remember that we are united through Christ and that we must understand ultimately, it is God that serves as the Judge. This is a role we cannot fill. At least I believe Paul is clearly teaching this principle throughout Romans 14 (i.e., vv.4, 10, 12-13, 17, etc.).

Well, I say all of this in order to say this; thank God He has given us His word so that we have a means by which we can stand united! God is not the author of confusion but instead calls us to peace (1 Corinthians 14:34). God tells us in His word that it is through the bond of His Son Jesus Christ that we are all one. In fact, it is this particular bond into which we are all baptized (1 Corinthians 12:12-13; Galatians 3:27) that unites us. It is Jesus that reconciles us to God (2 Corinthians 5:20-21) and therefore to each other also (1 John 1:7). Seek Jesus first (Matthew 6:33) and we find unity (1 Corinthians 1:10).

Because God made us different, Jesus must be our one common denominator. It is enough to drive us insane when we try to change or control one another. It is not possible. I have spent almost 12 years trying to change my wife and am just now starting to accept that it is not happening. That is not what love is. We have to step back and allow Jesus and His standard to be what unites us. Jesus’ standard is our one and only common denominator. We have to trust this!

Have a good day!

A friend of mine just showed this to me. I had to post it. Thanks Patrick!

 [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8×5D5NWIoAY[/youtube]

Colin Cowhered has it right. By the way, I love Colin. He has a great radio show on ESPN. Often I feel that it is too bad I am so busy, because I would love to take 3 hours every morning to listen to him. He is smart, he is funny, sarcastic (now you know why he appeals to me), and usually on target with his opinions. His insight over various issues going on in the sports world, in my opinion, are usually dead on. Many don’t like him because he calls it like it is. And as much as I hate to admit it, he has been correct in his analyses of my beloved Cowboys for the past year. He has been callling it all year that this was a train wreck waiting to happen. It happened about the 4th game of the season and has now come to it’s full fruition. What a frustrating team to be so in love with. It hurts, man. They have way too many problems to try and dissect, so I am not even going to go there. I just can’t. I know the players are supposed to play their game and they are ultimately responsible. But how does a coach let a group of prima donnas not show up like what we saw yesterday? How does a “leader” of a team wih that much talent allow his team to come out lethargic and with no urgency in the last game of the season, with everything on the line? How does a “leader” allow players under him to get by with acting like crybabies when they don’t get the ball enough? How does a “leader” allow his team to become a soap opera by focusing on everything BUT football throughout the football season? I just don’t get it. And apparently the owner doesn’t either. How do you not change anything after this debacle?

Well, with this said, I want to thank the Cowboys. September was great, but the rest of the season was miserable, watching these guys underperform. But now that they have taken me out of my misery, I can now watch the playoffs with no expectations of this team that I have grown to hate to love. It should be great! Thank you Dallas Cowboys. Now I can move on and get my focus back on things that I should be more concerned about anyway….you know, like life?

Well, at least until September of 2009…

Well, we had a good Christmas. It is always good to be around family. We went to Gladewater for a couple of days to be with Cody’s family and had a great time. Her dad was home for the first time in a couple of years after having been in Iraq. Her brother was home for Christmas for the first time in a couple of years also. We had a lot of fun.

Oh yeah, speaking of sports. This is a really cool story, written by Rick Reilly, of ESPN.com. What a great reminder to all of us about what should be most important in life!

I have recently become acquainted with someone that I already consider a friend. He has a great blogsite. I encourage you to check it out, here; he has some great thoughts and he has a unique way of challenging me to be a better Christian while at the same time, making me laugh. Here is something I found from his website. This is hilarious! I think I enjoyed it so much because it probably fits my counseling style in more ways than I would like to admit.

Speaking of counseling, I think this is very therapeutic. Perhaps this is what I need to listen to after the Cowboys lose. If this can’t make you laugh, what can? Check it out:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P6UU6m3cqk[/youtube]

I hope all are enjoying their holidays.