No Matter What.

Wednesday, January 05, 2011
No Matter What. I have said many times that you could not pay me enough to be a football coach. It’s a pretty unstable life as it relates to fans. One day everyone loves you, so long as you’re winning. But have a bad season, or even a bad game, and the tide quickly turns. Regardless of how great a coach’s record is with a team, let them have a few bad games and everyone suddenly begins to question their ability. And believe you me, there’s rarely anything taken quite as seriously as this game called football.
This is on my mind after watching last night’s Sugar Bowl game between my Arkansas Razorbacks and the Ohio State Buckeyes. The game started rather sluggishly on our part. At the halftime we were down by 18 points, and we just weren’t playing a real good game. Facebook came alive with everything from, “Whoo pig pewie” and "someone please put some GLUE on their HANDS!" to “who replaced our football team with a bunch of cheerleaders???” People get brutal when the team they showed up to cheer for is down and out.
After halftime, we came out ready to play some football. And we made up most of what we trailed by at halftime – all but 5 points. And it looked as though we would pull of a win as the clock slowly ticked down the last few minutes of the game. Then it happened – an interception. Ryan Mallett through a pass, and from the camera angle we were watching, it almost looked like he through right to the Ohio player who caught the ball. And there went Facebook again, instantly lighting up with fire and brimstone against this guy that 5 minutes prior everyone was touting as college football’s hero quarterback.
“Fair weather fans” is the term we so often use to describe folks that only cheer for their team when they’re winning. Certainly Arkansas is no exception to the rule when it comes to the number of people that fall under that category. When we’re up, we’re all up together. But when we’re down, people start to jump ship. It happens to coaches, and it happens to players. I guess that’s just the way it is with the world of sports. But not with Him.
Seeing things like that makes me so thankful that God isn’t a fair weather fan of mine. Believe me, I give Him plenty of reason to jump ship. I do plenty of stuff that could easily cause Him to say, “Oh…really? Have you forgotten everything I’ve taught you? You just gonna roll over like that, and let the enemy run over you?” I throw TONS of interceptions, and have even more turnovers and fumbles as it relates to my life and ministry. There are many, many times when I don’t bring honor, glory, and pride to the “uniform” I wear as a Christian. Yet there He is, my biggest Fan, cheering all the way.
So just let that sink in today, ok? God is a fan of His children. He’s a beaming Father. He gets pleasure from watching us run our race, even when we fall. He loves us. And I think the greatest part about His love for us is that He loves us too much to let us stay down when we fall. He doesn’t want us to make a habit or a ritual of it. He offers a little discipline when we run astray, out of love, to get us back on track. And loving arms to catch us and make sure the landing isn’t too hard when the fall comes.
God loves me. God loves you. And even more than that – He likes us too. That’s good stuff – no matter what.


That’s just a thought, and I welcome yours.
Until next time,
blake

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