Seeking Time Survival Guide Tip #6: Pick a Side

Yes, it’s Superbowl Sunday, SUNDAY, SUNDAY!!! Super Bowl 45 is here…who are you picking?

I don’t have a dog in this fight, as the two teams I consider “MY” teams (Falcons and Seahawks) got taken out in the divisional playoffs. Even though my teams didn’t make it, I still think it’s important to pick a team when I watch the BIG GAME. I can’t stand it when someone says, “I don’t really care who wins. I just want to see a good game.” I can’t watch football unless I care who wins. I need to have someone to pull for or it’s not interesting to me.

I don’t know how you pick your teams. You might look at player stats, where players went to college, or coaches. You might pick your team based on the current line-up of players. Or maybe you pick the team most likely to win. As for me, I tend to look at the history and personality of a team over time. You know… it’s the personal story of a team I’m interested in. Where did they come from? What kind of a team are they? Who are they really?

The Green Bay Packers have been around since 1921 and have won three Superbowls, including the first two Superbowl games ever played. The Packers are famous for their grit, playing weekly on a real grass field called The Frozen Tundra in an open air stadium in Wisconsin. They stand apart from every other team in the NFL for two reasons. The first is that they are the only non-profit, community owned sports franchise in any professional American sport, resulting in a truly unique partnership between the fans and the players. No other team in the NFL has that same feeling of “family”. The other reason? I’ve got two words for you: Vince Lombardi, one of the most renowned coaches in history who led the Packers during their glory years in the 1960′s. It must be pretty inspiring for the players when the Superbowl trophy is named after their team’s most famous coach!

The Pittsburgh Steelers got their start in 1933 and have won a remarkable 6 Superbowls, 8 AFC Championships, and played in 15 conference championships. Football legends like “Mean” Joe Green, Lynn Swann and Terry Bradshaw all wore Steelers black and gold. Steelers have a reputation for being hardcore, mean, and a little dirty. Fans from near and far count themselves to be a part of the “Steeler Nation,” a rough and rowdy group of followers who are famed for their bad behavior. Fan behavior may be a little unpolished, but they are loyal; the Steelers have sold out every home game since 1972 to their towel waving supporters.

That being said, I’m going with the Packers. When I think of the Packers, I think of real football the way football used to be – tough, disciplined, no excuses, no whining, hard work and character.

So, what does all this have to do with Seeking Time? It’s just this… we have to pick sides every day. Right about now, your soul is trying to bargain with your spirit about the things you have been committing to the Lord. Your soul wants you to pick the easy route. It’s easier to stay undisciplined. It’s easier to avoid relationships. It’s easier to ignore the things in you that have kept you right where you are for years. Your soul tries to convince you that you can make it just the way you are; that you don’t need to change. It’s a trap, you see… if you choose to side with the soul, you won’t stay the same; you’ll go backwards. Once you’ve made a decision to seek God, you’ve made a decision to change. Change will come one way or another. You will either be transformed into the image of Christ as you seek Him through prayer, fasting, worship, and meditation of the Word, OR you will become more undisciplined, more detached and more disconnected as your soul conforms to the image of the world.

It’s time for you to pick a side….

“If you decide that it’s a bad thing to worship God, then choose a god you’d rather serve—and do it today. Choose one of the gods your ancestors worshiped from the country beyond The River, or one of the gods of the Amorites, on whose land you’re now living. As for me and my family, we’ll worship God.” ~Joshua 24:15 The Message Bible

Dropping the Ball

When I was in college at UGA, I played a season of basketball in the girls’ intramural league. Our team wasn’t polished, but we were scrappy. We had all played in high school and, even though we were rough around the edges, we were still pretty good. We won every game we played, landing us in the play-offs and then the semi-finals.

Feeling pretty confident by this round, we didn’t think much when we saw that we were paired up against the UGA Lady Bulldogs Volleyball team for the semi-final match. Well, maybe my team members had enough sense to think twice about that, but I sure didn’t. After all, we had stomped every team we had come up against. The only problem was that the teams we had played against had all consisted of sorority girls who were not quite as tough as we were (or at least that’s my memory of it).

I’ll never forget walking into the gym for the play-offs and looking UP at those ladies on the opposing team. I’m 6 feet tall, and every one of them was several inches taller than me and MUCH bigger. I barely made it off the floor during opening tip-off before the other team took control of that ball and scored.

I don’t remember too much more about that game except for the final few minutes when I snagged a rebound from the top of the key at our goal. I was in MY spot… the spot I could always score from, no matter what. Even though the 6’4″ volleyball player guarding me was a little intimidating, I still took my shot…. and I MISSED. Not only did I miss, but the ball rebounded straight back to me.

“Okay,” I thought, “I can do this! I’m still in my sweet spot! I’ve got it now!” Up I went, up went the ball, and…. it hit the rim and came straight back to me AGAIN. Not only was my guard still intimidating, but now she was laughing at me. I wanted to pass that ball off to someone else, but third time’s a charm, right? I mean, this was my best shot and I surely couldn’t miss it three times in a row, Bulldog Women or not. I took a deep breath, dribbled once, and shot… and as God is my witness, that ball hit the rim and came right back to me AGAIN. Only this time, I was so embarrassed and frustrated that I didn’t even reach out to grab the ball. Instead, the girl guarding me snatched it.

What she did then marked me forever. Even though she was laughing pretty hard because I had missed that danged shot so many times, she looked at me, handed me the ball, stepped up next to me, patted me on the back, and said, “You got it this time!” Everyone on the floor froze. The audience went from laughing at me to cheering for me. I totally didn’t want to take that shot again. As a matter of fact, I would have walked off that floor if I could have, but I didn’t. I took that ball, dribbled a few times, set my feet, and shot again… SWISH! I got cheers from the crowd, cheers from my team, and every girl on that opposing team clapped for me and patted me on the back. You would have thought I had done something miraculous instead of just FINALLY making a stupid easy shot from the top of the key.

The UGA Lady Bulldogs Volleyball team went on to beat us in that game… of course. But we ended up having a great camaraderie with them, and we were the loudest ones cheering for them as they ended up winning the Intramural championship.

When you drop the ball or miss a shot in front of people,  you have to deal with your pride. If you do it once, you can probably find some kind of excuse to get you out of it. Do it again, and you might just get mad enough at yourself to try it over. Do it one more time and you’re more likely to pass the ball to someone else and run right off the court and vow never to try it again. But, hey… it’s only a ball, right?

So… I dropped the ball this last year where the Celebration blog is concerned. I had a goal, and I didn’t make it. I started towards something and didn’t finish. I got tired and I quit… for a while. But, rather than walking off the scene and pretending it never happened, I decided to get back in the game, pick up the ball, and try it again.

So, here we go…

~Linda