Saturday night the Whittier Tech football team played in the Massachusetts Division 3 Superbowl against the Medfield Warriors. Whittier surpassed everyone’s expectations on their way to a 12-0 record. Working with these young men was an incredible experience, I am so proud of how hard they worked, how much heart and soul they have. These Wildcats are truly young warriors.
With less than two minutes left on a blustery cold night, Medfield pulled ahead 28-22. Whittier got the ball back and drove down the field. With a first and 10 at Medfield’s 20 (ish), and less than 30 seconds left, I was on my knees, praying with everything I had. Four downs later, and 15 seconds left, Medfield began celebrating, and our Wildcats were defeated. As everyone on the team hugged and cried, again, I knew I was in the presence of real men.
These boys poured everything they had into that game, and they were beaten. There was no guaranteed victory, but the effort was worth the risk of losing. I have missed this all or nothing experience for a long time. Surrounded by men who are afraid of pain, afraid of losing, afraid of sacrifice, afraid of life.
Every team has them. Some guys love to play football, and some love to be football players. I realized this in college, when I went to a party and saw one of my teammates pretending to be the big man on campus, flirting with the girls and acting tough. This same teammate of mine was always skipping practice for some ailment or another. When he did suit up for practice he was afraid of hitting, had a bad attitude, and hid at the back of the line for drills. But he was first in line at the keg, wearing his team colors with pride and talking loud.
I make this distinction in our churches also. I think there are some guys who are trying to follow Christ, and others who like being a christian.
In my experience, being a good christian guy can be an effective approach toward ‘getting laid’. I remember the slick guys at Liberty (I was never slick, or a ‘good christian’, but I did want to get laid), in their nice suits, fancy hair, singing at worship, and knowing what they were doing with the girls later.
There are also the guys who never had functional adrenaline glands. These guys with no evidence of testosterone, who sit on our committees, who direct the money in church, who never take a risk. These nice guys that were attracted to christianity because they were afraid of everything else. These are the guys that argue politics (christians/republicans, same thing right?) and are worried at the direction of american culture. They are also offended when their traditional church is questioned. These guys love tradition and order. These guys also love their couch, their TV, their computer, their comfort. They argue over music, and feel good that they don’t complain about drums in church. These guys complain about the youth (while ignoring them) and don’t notice the empty seats in church. These guys make fun of the oppressed, the poor, criticize Hollywood for the morals in movies. These guys complain when the service goes to long, the music is too loud…. it hurts to sacrifice one hour a week.
AAAAHHHHH….. I don’t want to be critical, because I need to remove the plank from my own eye. We try to look like christians and conform to the group, the whole time missing Jesus greatest commands: to love God with everything we have, to love our neighbor, and what is love? Jesus said it is laying down your life. We don’t do this. We even call it being a good steward. I have heard over and over that we are called to be good stewards, that is why we can’t do missions, or take the time to reach out….
We love the feeling of self righteousness when we are part of a church, like the football player who likes the attention of wearing his varsity jacket. But so many of us hide when it comes time to risk ourselves on the front lines, like the football player who cowers during the hitting drills.
