Me: This is a great game!
Prodigal: I am enjoying it.
This is from the book The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart by Charles Swindoll
True sports fans have an amazing ability to remember details, statistics, a little technicality of a rule….you know, stuff nobody really cares to hear about except another sports fan. Another characteristic of a fan is an indomitable sense of commitment or determination. Against incredible odds, sound logic, and even medical advice, sports fans will persevere to the dying end!
I’ve often wondered what would happen if people were as intense and committed and determined about church as they are about sports–or a number of other pastimes. This was reinforced some years back in a Moody Monthly piece which illustrated twelve excuses a fella might use for “quitting sports.” The analogy isn’t hard to figure out.
Every time I went, they asked me for money.
The people with whom I had to sit didn’t seem very friendly.
The seats were too hard and uncomfortable.
The coach never came to see me.
The referee made a decision with which I could not agree.
I was sitting with some hypocrites–they only came to see what others were wearing.
Some games went into overtime, and I was late getting home.
The band played numbers I had never heard before.
The games are scheduled when I want to do other things.
My parents took me to too many games when I was growing up.
Since I read a book on sports, I feel that I know more than the coaches any how.
I don’t want to take my children, because I want them to choose for themselves what sport they like best.
O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Psalm 8:9 (KJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
