At The Football Game

For the first time in years I attended a high school football game this past Friday night. Actually I only attended through the halftime show. Anyone who knows me knows that I claim to be a great indoorsman. The idea of going to the football game in this tropical Gulf Coast heat we've been having was not appealing. Sitting on a hard bench, paying way too much for a Pepsi, surrounded by people I do not know doing something I do not understand ... well ... it just wasn't my scene man ... but there I was. During the first 20 minutes I almost got excited. You could tell that everyone was excited at this first game of the season against a rival team. The players were energized. The coaches were doing that thing where they run around from person to person with a clipboard and point a lot. In the stands there were people around me who knew the players. They did not come (like me) as a casual observer, but as passionate supporters. They were ready to discuss strategy (why doesn't he pass more?), ability (even I could be a better coach than that guy), and of course the temperature. The sweaty sea of people could not deny ... it's hot out here. The refs actually called a couple of "official heat time outs", according to the announcer. The woman I was most interested in watching was a mother of two of our team's players. I knew this because it was in big red letters on the back of her white t-shirt. She was not bored in the least. She was intense. She spoke from her place in the stadium with conviction, energy, and (I hope) the knowledge that no one on the field could actually hear her. But even her high-powered enthusiasm didn't catch on with me. But the cheerleaders ... now there's someone I can identify with. I know, that's not too manly. I just felt sorry for them down there on the sidelines. Jumping, shouting, woo-hooing their way through the game. And when they would get to the end of most of the cheers they would jump up and down and wave their arms frantically. In the stands five people stood up and applauded. Why don't cheerleaders just give up? No one is paying attention to them (except maybe parents and boyfriends, and wannabe boyfriends). What Christian leader hasn't felt like a cheerleader sometimes? We just try to give that extra encouragement ... a pat on the back ... a boost to self confidence ... a word of direction ... and mostly we get blank stares back. But there are those five people who just keep on going no matter what. And those are the people who keep us going. I'm going to gather with my spiritual family in a few hours. I'm going to cheer them on in their Christian journey. I'm going to look for someone with whom this is connecting ... and I'm going to know that there are lots of games in the season, if it looks like this isn't our night. There was more at the Football game...but I'll save some of it for another time.