Football and Faith

Sometimes I can be in an unusually great mood and all is good in the world and then do something without much thought that maybe I shouldn’t have done in retrospect. Something that I assumed would be good with the best intentions but ends up making me look foolish or becomes embarrassing unexpectedly. I seem to be overly gifted with this ability to go off half cocked sometimes and it frustrates me to no end. I did this again today. What I did was unimportant but only to myself. I doubt it hurt anyone but maybe my own pride. The rest of the day went on smoothly enough and happy enough but still inside I felt like what I had done was a mistake and just simply an embarrassment. I kept this on my mind throughout the rest of the afternoon and it began to grow inside me to the point that I was not embarrassed anymore but angry with myself and causing me to question myself about why I do the things I do. I wonder why I place myself into situations like that. I wonder if it is a weakness or just spontaneous decisions that are not thought over properly. It makes me question how bright I am sometimes. Anyway, later in the evening I started feeling down about it. Really, it was nothing to even worry over other than self pride. I still allowed it to flow through my mind as I finally begun to wind down and let the excitement of watching my favorite college football team which was about to start. The Auburn Tigers were going to play the Clemson Tigers which for whatever reason I have always liked since I was a child. It was a big game in which I had been concerned about since the start of the season. Auburn was favored by 7.5 points. That bothered me also because I felt it was a sucker bet by Las Vegas to make some cash off of the Auburn Tiger’s loss to Clemson. Last week I had told a friend we would lose to Clemson by a touchdown and I believed I picked the score to be 28 to 21. I just didn’t think Auburn could handle their passing game. Immediately as the game started I continued to feel down and my team just looked horrible. Clemson smashed through Auburn’s defense like a pro football club would against an average high school team. My mood did not improve. It is a fact that the state where I reside college football is more passionate and some say more important than religion. Don’t believe it? Take a trip down south and see for yourself. Alabama Crimson Tide had already destroyed the Duke Blue Devil’s a few hours earlier by the score of 62 to 13 so the whole state gathered to watch the Auburn game on ESPN to either pull for Auburn or pull against them by proxy of Clemson. I said all that to illustrate how a football game can either improve your mood or cause you to become very angry. It is sort of like drinking whiskey, it is either good whiskey or bad and you will either be a happy drunk or a fighting drunk after drinking it. Well I felt down already and I became angry with the pathetic showing of my Auburn Tigers who in all actuality, in terms of playing football did not show up. I continued thinking of what was on my mind that day and Auburn was laying down like an old whore to Clemson. Before I realized it Clemson scored yet another touchdown making it a 17 to 0 deficit just before the half. This was going to be a blow out. At right about that time I began to question myself about what in the world I was getting so upset over. Why am I always beating myself up over such inconsequential things which occur in my life whether they are my own fault or not? My attitude began to change. I was feeling sick at myself for allowing myself to feel so angry about circumstances. I assured myself no one else had me in mind so deeply. Nobody else seemed to notice my self embarrassing moments in life at the level of interest and condemnation as I did. I started feeling better immediately. I started feeling my mood change. My son was laying on the couch playing with our cat and I decided to engage in some conversation with him as Auburn began driving down the field. I said to him “Auburn is going to get their butts kicked aren’t they?” Now granted that kids possess a whole lot more faith than life weary adults do but I was still surprised when my son answered “No Dad, Auburn is going to win!” as he turned to look me in the face. I know I had an incredulous look on my own face and he just looked away and mumbled something about having a little faith in Auburn, or maybe he mumbled something about his dad acting like he looked on edge to the point of throwing the television through the living room window, but I’m sure he said something positive. Well it wasn’t long after that and Auburn, unable to continue their final drive of the half lined up to kick a field goal. The score was now Clemson 17 and finally, Auburn 3. I sent my daughter who lives on the East Coast a text to inform her of Auburn’s brush with good luck fortunate enough to get on the score board. I also checked face book to read the constant chatter there of Auburn’s demise by the Tide fans. It sure didn’t look good. I looked at the score on the screen and started thinking absurd thoughts that Auburn was only down by 14 points as they interviewed the coaches, and that it could be possible for Auburn to get back into this game. Well the chatter on face book was not agreeable but the hope began to build inside me for my team to end the embarrassment. I started thinking about some of the great comebacks the Auburn Tiger’s had achieved in all the years I’ve followed them. I also started thinking that it might not be such a bad idea to work towards a comeback from an otherwise not so great day. Why not? Everyone is healthy as they should be and things really aren’t going so bad in my life. I wondered again why I allow myself to get so down over minor and unpleasant things. I am really getting tired of it and want to beat these feelings inside me that make me look forward to disappointments when I should be looking forward to a great life full of life itself. I began to feel ashamed of myself for feeling so weak and ungrateful. After an unexpected visit from some neighbor’s down the street that are very nice, the halftime break was coming to an end and the game resumed. I read a message on face book from a former teacher of my youngest daughter who was quite displeased with the performance of Auburn and I typed a response to her reminding her that this wasn’t Auburn’s first rodeo and how Auburn had come back from 4 touchdowns down against LSU once to win the game. It was a short message of hope and I was risking ridicule from the Bamer’s on face book at the time enjoying Clemson’s dismantling of Auburn, but it also felt good to put a little hope and confidence out there. I thought of how the young Auburn kid’s must be feeling at the moment, how whipped and embarrassed they felt as this underdog team from South Carolina came into their own house and pushed them around. It is real easy when your feeling low from stumbling and throwing interceptions and collecting penalties from mistakes and nothing seems to work or go right, real easy indeed to just give up. The Auburn kid’s chose the opposite despite taken some of the hardest hits in college football and having so many points to catch up just to get back in the game. These young men looked inside themselves and asked themselves if this was the best that they could do. They answered no to that question and dug deep inside themselves just to see how much metal they had in them as sportsmen and later it became obvious to them that they had plenty. Auburn stormed back onto the field and continued to have a few set backs but charged back to score 24 unanswered points against these Tigers from Clemson. The game became even more physical with numerous injuries to players on each team from brutal hard hitting play. The camera zoomed in once to the Clemson Quarterback who was injured earlier and was literally holding on to another fellow player to continue standing on his own feet. The game ended regulation play tied at the score of 24 to 24. Sudden Death overtime rules were in effect and Clemson won the toss to choose offense or defense and field position. Clemson chose to defend. Auburn sputtered once again unable to penetrate the Clemson defense but kicked a field goal to take the lead at 27 to 24. Clemson drove the ball within striking distance of scoring a touchdown when the Quarterback threw to the end zone and the ball struck the receiver in the hands and the ball fell to the turf inches within being a perfect catch. Clemson lined up and kicked a perfect field goal to tie the game in overtime but flags were thrown on the field of play. A penalty against Auburn would almost surely guarantee a Clemson win but Clemson’s center had lifted the ball and placed it back to the ground drawing a penalty that required them to back up and kick again. When the ball was kicked it faded away just left of the goal post clinching a win for Auburn when all looked bleak and un-winnable just moments before. Auburn ended the game in victory when all hope seemed impossible. The Auburn Tigers were favored to win this game but Clemson had other plans and played their hearts out for a big upset to end a thirteen game losing streak against Auburn and they played in outstanding fashion. The Auburn Tigers had to look deep inside their hearts while they were down by 17 points embarrassed in their own stadium and choose to change their attitudes and instead of allowing defeat to swallow them they chose to be victors. During this game I also looked inside myself and saw something I did not like and chose to change it because I was capable of choosing how I felt. I have the choice to allow other people or circumstances to bring me down or to overlook other’s actions and my own self ridicule and move on to be the best I can be myself and allow for mistakes and foul ups without losing hope in myself. I may also be victorious if I choose faith. 

Sometimes Things Just Don't Go Our Way

 Sometimes things just don't go our way and we are tempted to give up hope. Life can really seem difficult at these times and during them all we seem to be able to recall is our own misfortunes, failures or simply bad luck. It's at these times when we fail to see the good all around us and fail to be grateful for all the things that are going right. At these times of despair we fail to be thankful for all the blessings we have. I think I am the worst at this. When things don't go my way or changes that come along that seem to put a kink in things I instantly forget all that is good and dwell on what I see as my bad fortune. It takes me a while to let go of anger long enough to realize I am still alive and okay. I may not like the new situation but I am able to deal with it when I get my attitude on track. I always take things personal and look for the insult or betrayal when others do things I do not like. It seems that at these times, deep inside me I know things will get better or that some things are just not meant to be. Maybe at that unexpected or undesired fork in the road I will choose the right path after I sit down and have my own pity party fit. I like to know what is going on. I like to know what is going to happen even if there is no one to tell me or no way to know. I still want to know. I can easily become frustrated at times such as these instead of showing a little patience and realizing I have been in tougher situations and lived through them and can handle what is before me now. I try to have faith but sometimes I get so frustrated that I don't even believe in faith. I struggle to move on until my attitude is cleared away and I am able to think more clear and positive. What is to come? I don't know, but what I do know is that I can face what happens. Are there better days to come? I can only say yes if I examine where I have been and where I am now. Things do get better if I will only allow them to.

I’ll Hang On To Hope

This past week has been trying and exhausting. It has been most uninspiring and seemingly stuck in a rut. Like a man waiting for his ship to finally come in but realizing that he is a lone Captain of that ship sailing in rough sea’s without a rudder and having no navigation for the dark clouds. All news is bad and the light on the horizon always seems to be false hope. I am ever confident that the storms will pass only to hear more thunder and be pelted by the rain. Things could always be worse because I am still afloat. For that I am Grateful anyway. I sail on. I feel at the very least fate will place me on dry land once again. Is it fate or faith? Sometimes you have to wonder. But for now I’ll hang on to hope again. It could be that I could find a way to repair the rudder and the clouds will clear enough to steer myself in the right direction and land somewhere peaceful and calm. 

What if American’s Voted With Their Spiritual Conscience?

In my last post I tried to explain what history has taught us about leaders of nations who twist their religion or belief system to fit their own political agenda or personal power trip in order to enslave the people under the guise of religious belief. I also outlined the dangers therein of the need of separation of church and state, and how the new America cast off the shackles of state sponsored or mandated religion, and sought to allow the individual to worship God as their conscience or spirit self led them without threat of persecution from their government.

Over the last several decades we have had the notion that politics and religion must be kept separate beat against our brow so much that we missed the point and deliberate meaning of the phrase, when in fact nothing could be further from the truth. The meaning of the phrase only meant that the government could not require its citizen’s to believe and worship in a religion that the government chose for the citizen’s to follow and require them to practice it under threat.

If you have ever visited Washington, D.C., our nation’s capital, you would be hard pressed not to see so many references to the God of Christianity, scriptures from the Bible, and quotations of bold faith from founding fathers in which have been written in historical documents, carved beautifully in stone of Statues and the walls of magnificent buildings of historical purpose. It is absolutely everywhere enshrined in the fabulous and timeless architecture of our past.

The ludicrous notion that our country was not founded on the bedrock of Christian principles just will not hold water. There is no doubt of it even if you ignored the tremendous amount of recorded memoirs and journals of those who established this nation.

The thought has caused me to wonder what would happen if American’s voted according to their personal religious beliefs? Would their votes on the issue’s stand contrary to what their own personal faith would require? Would their votes on the issues be in line with the scriptures of their belief? Would American’s even cast a vote to elect a politician that does not believe the way they do?

Why?

I always hear people who are suppose to be Christians try to make the flimsy excuse of separation of church and state when they try to defend being in favor as such issues as abortion, homosexuality, etc. etc. etc. It seems to me that a person’s moral and spiritual guidance would lead him to oppose supporting such legislative proposals when it comes in conflict with their own personal belief system.

It also seems to me that people pick and choose what they will support and quickly brush aside or compromise their very own beliefs in order to progress a candidate or issue.

What would this country be like today if people backed up their belief in God, the teachings of the Bible, the teachings of Christ?

Would our children be able to learn about creation in their class rooms? Would they be able to pray to the one and only real God? If God had not been kicked out of schools would there be as much violence and death in them today?  Would our prisons be as overcrowded? Would our streets be any safer? Would families be any stronger?

Should people continue to keep God out of our decisions while choosing which side of a moral issue we are on and which candidate we should support?