A Fantasy Bond

You know, I was looking at my first couple of posts the other day and realized I wasn't really being very random as my blog's name implies so I bring a little something different today. The impact of a simple fantasy baseball and football league on a group of sports fans in a church in south Georgia.

This whole thing came out of a crazy idea I had when I was in college to start a fantasy football league with some of the people in the church I was going to at the time. I was volunteering on a weekly basis with the youth group and so it seemed appropriate to mix young and old in the league. With this crazy idea in mind, Pittman Park United Methodist Church Fantasy Enterprises was born. That original football league, the PPUMCFFL (yes we have an acronym for our league) included our head pastor (Mike), the orientation coordinator at Georgia Southern (David), a newspaper writer friend who I met at GSU (Luke), myself, and six members of the youth group at the church. All of us had one thing in common at the time, we went to the same church.

Now, we are spread out a little more. I am in Kentucky, David is in Indiana, most of the youth group members are gone to college (a few at GSU, but also Georgia, Georgia Tech, and College of Charleston), Mike is still the pastor, and Luke is writing sports for the paper in Statesboro, where GSU is located.

Yet, we still return to the league each season to renew our rivalry with one another. When we started, we saw each other every Sunday at church. Now, we rarely ever see one another. We started with everybody in one room drafting together. We all probably haven't been in the same place since. But, we still play!

We fellowship together over the message board. We joke around. We compete. We agonize over who to pick during the draft, and we find ourselves rooting for teams simply because we need our players from that team to perform to bring us victory in the fantasy arena.

This goes out to all the fantasy gamers out there. We understand you. Also, I would be remissed though if I didn't send this out to all the members of the PPUMC Fantasy Football and Baseball Leagues. Thanks for playing fellas. From your fellow fantasy league member, The Commish.

Happy Resurrection Day!

Or as we know it, Happy Easter!

Christ is Risen!
Christ is Risen Indeed!
Glory to God in the Highest!

I can't help but look back to the story of Mary, Mary Magdalene, and Salome journeying to the tomb where Jesus had been laid to anoint His body this Sunday morning so many years ago only to find the stone rolled away and an angel sitting on top of it. The words that the angel spoke to them declaring the fate of Jesus bring such great joy.

"Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go tell His disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him, just as he told you.'"
(Mark 16:6-7 NIV)

"He is NOT here! He has RISEN!" With those words, it was proclaimed. The great miracle of God was revealed. Jesus had defeated death and risen from the grave. He had conquered death for us that by believing in Him we could have true life. He went before the disciples into Galilee just as he goes before us wherever we go. Praise be to God for the great things he has done! Amen!

Good Friday

Today is a day that haunts me. The events of this day nearly two thousand years ago linger in my mind. No matter how much I try to get them out, the thoughts keep coming. I am lost and confused. I rarely remember a day where I had no idea what to do. That is the case for me today. I feel like I can imagine the disciples did on this day.

My heart is heavy. My soul weeps. I am sad. Today is the day an innocent man was condemned. He did nothing wrong, but yet he was sentenced to die. He was beaten, spit on, and publically humiliated for what? Speaking the Word of God? Healing the sick? Forgiving those in need of forgiveness?

Yet, the man who was innocent bore the pain of beatings, public humiliation, and death on a cross, so he could, with the giving up of his life, take the sins of all people and wash them away. The innocent man paid the debt of all the guilty, so that they might be forgiven before God and know the TRUE Life and ETERNAL Life that comes only through the forgiveness of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and an innocent man who was willing to pay it all so we could truly live.

The free gift of Jesus Christ on this day nearly two thousand years ago of forgiveness to all people who believe in Him parallels to no other gift ever given in time. I think an old hymn sums it up best on this day.

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

When I survey the wondrous cross
on which the Prince of Glory died;
my richest gain I count but loss,
and pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
save in the death of Christ, my God;
all the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to his blood.

See, from his head, his hands, his feet,
sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
or thorns compose so rich a crown.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
that were an offering far too small;
love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all. 

Amen.

Eye Opener

Back in February during a chapel service here at Asbury, Bishop David Thagana from Kenya was the guest speaker. His message that day was about the call of God in our lives, but he made a statement during his sermon that caught me off guard. He said something that I had never seriously considered before. He told our seminary community that,

"I think it would be so difficult to be a Christian in America. I don't know how I could learn the lesson of faith if the car is there all the time for me to just turn on and go, the food is there in the house in the fridge all the time ... I don't know the price of faith, where is the price of faith? ... Everything that you need is available."

When this statement was spoken, I was taken back. He was so right. Where is the price of faith in America today for the Christian? Do we have a true faith in God in America? We can get anything and everything we want or need on our own. Where does our faith in God kick in? I have been pondering this every since that day.

As I think back and even look at myself now, I can see a lack of faith in God. I can see how I have been prone to drift to the quick easy ways of the world as opposed to seeking God and waiting on him. I have become accustom to the conviences America has to offer. What would I do without tv, sports, internet, credit, etc? Can I really trust God with all I have at my disposal? It would be easy to stray away. It would also be easy to take the satisfactory outcome the world can offer to me and be happy with it. I do a great deal of the time. I know this.

Then, I remember. God's ways are above and greater than the ways we know in this world. God goes bigger than this world. He can and will go bigger if we seek Him and are patient with Him to act in His time. God can provide things much greater out of His work than this world can provide for us. God can orovide for us in such a greater way than this world ever could. The Bible provides numerous examples of the way God can provide in the Old Testament and New. He divided the sea so the Israelites could pass through and be saved. He then gave them the land he promised them. Both of these because they were willing to follow (even though they weren't so much at a few points along the way, they still did in the end). He brought healing to people through Jesus where their faith healed them. He provided food for the large crowds following him out of enough to feed maybe a single family. We must simply seek Him. God is ready to work and provide for us. We must simply seek Him and have faith that He indeed can and will do what He has said. Will we choose the road of the world with temporary small satisfaction? Or, will we choose the road of seeking and faith in God with unimaginable and eternal provisions? The choice is ours.