Boomer Sooner

This past week while Sandy and I were vacationing in Boca Raton, my cell phone rang just as we were getting ready to head to the first tee. The caller on the other line didn’t know I was on vacation and wanted to talk to me about how Mount Pleasant could be involved in the local arrangements for next year’s North American Christian Convention when it returns to Indianapolis. He did know that I have always been a big Oklahoma Sooner fan so he asked me if I was ready for another season of college football. I wasn’t quite sure how to answer.

As a boy growing up in Oklahoma, I loved sports—all sports. I have a brother who is seventeen months older than I am, and he was a natural athlete who was always bigger and faster and stronger than everyone else. I was not. So for many years, I lived in the shadow of his touchdowns, his rebounds, his homeruns, etc. But I had one thing my older brother didn’t have and that was desire. Since everything came easy to him, he really never worked at it. He just showed up. It wasn’t that way for me. But by the time I was a sophomore in high school, things had changed. He was still a football star who had opportunities to play in college, but I wasn’t in his shadow any longer. In fact, when it was all said and done, I achieved more success than he did even though my family forced me to move from Oklahoma to Texas, and I didn’t play any sports as a senior. NOTE: Just so you know I’m talking about achieving a small measure of success in a 2A school with about five hundred students—not really that big a deal when you look at the big picture.

I spent a lot of my growing up days playing, practicing, and loving sports. I passed that on to my own son who played both basketball and baseball as a boy and settled on baseball in high school. I have a lot of great memories that revolve around sports. But to be completely honest with you, for the first time in my life, I feel a genuine sense of disinterest in sports. See, I believe that sports have gotten out of control in America. And I’m talking about every level, from youth sports to professional sports. When my son played t-ball for the first time back in the spring of 1990, the baseball league we played in had rules concerning the number of practices you could have in a week and how long they could last. By the time he was playing what we called “competitive” ball in Oklahoma, there were teams that played well over a hundred games a year. I’m talking about teams of nine-year old and ten-year old boys. And it just kept getting worse the older they got. When my son played American Legion ball the summer before his sophomore year in high school, I remember being at a game where some of the parents began to talk about how their boys had decided not to go to church camps and church mission trips so they wouldn’t miss any games and jeopardize their place on the team. That same summer Andrew went to a Christ In Youth Conference in Colorado and missed two games. Now all the boys on that team were good baseball players, but by the time they were seniors, there were only two of them who were on the varsity and only one of them ended up playing college baseball at a Division III school, but it was so important that it took precedent over church and church activities.

And what about professional sports? When I moved to Indianapolis, I decided to become a Colts fan. But I’ve got to tell you that it’s really disappointing to me when some people can’t make it to a Saturday night or Sunday morning church service because the Colts have a home game.

So, am I looking forward to another season of college football? The answer, honestly, is I don’t really care. I’ll still pull for the Sooners, and they’ll still be my favorite team, but, honestly, I don’t really care. Even the team that I have loved since I was a boy represents in one way or another everything that’s gone wrong with sports today.

On a more positive note, I do care about the sports and recreation ministry we have at Mount Pleasant because it’s built on and around Christ. And I love the fact that we give families in our community the opportunity to participate in sports without it taking over their lives. I understand that recreational sports simply don’t meet the needs of every child or family and that there needs to be a place for higher levels of competition and achievement. I wouldn’t have been satisfied with recreational sports when I was young. But here’s my question. At what cost? In America we have a history of being a people who dive headlong into opportunity without taking the time to examine the cost—without asking any questions about the long term results (Anyone remember subprime mortgages?).

In Ephesians 5:15-17, Paul writes, Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. (NIV) Just what is the Lord’s will for you and your family when it comes to sports? That’s a great question. Your answer or conclusion might not be the same as mine and that’s okay (I’m not writing this to offend anyone.). But what’s really important is that you at least take the time to ask the question. What is the Lord’s will for you and your family when it comes to sports?

No doubt we’ve all heard the story of Eric Liddell (Remember the movie Chariots of Fire.) who refused to run in the 100-meter race at the 1924 summer Olympic games in Paris because it was scheduled on Sunday. Instead he ran in the 400-meter race where he not only won a gold medal but also broke the world record. Just before the race, an American masseur slipped a note into Liddell’s hand with a portion of I Samuel 2:30, Those who honor me, I will honor. Following the Olympics, Liddell became a missionary to China where he died in 1945 as a prisoner in a Chinese Internment camp. In 2008 in a poll taken by The Scotsman newspaper, Eric Liddell was voted the most popular athlete Scotland has ever produced. And that, friends, is a big deal when you look at the big picture.

Jesus cares,

Pastor Chris

Being A Parent

I’m writing this blog entry while my son and daughter-in-law are in town. That means I’ve got both of my children at home at the same time. That’s something that just doesn’t happen very often. In addition, my younger sister is here with her three children that I’m very close to. The whole experience has got me thinking about the great joy and the great responsibility that comes with being a parent.

I’ve never known any parent who didn’t want the best for their children. I’ve heard and read stories about neglectful parents and absentee parents but I’ve never known any personally. The parents I know love and nurture their children. And that’s where parenting can sometimes get difficult. I write that because in our efforts to give our children the life they (we) always wanted it’s sometimes hard to recognize the things that are best for them.

That point was driven home to me in an on-line article I read in Leadership journal. It was written by John Ortberg, one of my favorite authors. He wrote: Psychologist Jonathon Haidt had a hypothetical exercise: Imagine that you have a child, and for five minutes you're given a script of what will be that child's life. You get an eraser. You can edit it. You can take out whatever you want.

You read that your child will have a learning disability in grade school. Reading, which comes easily for some kids, will be laborious for yours.
In high school, your kid will make a great circle of friends; then one of them will die of cancer.
After high school this child will actually get into the college they wanted to attend. While there, there will be a car crash, and your child will lose a leg and go through a difficult depression.
A few years later, your child will get a great job—then lose that job in an economic downturn.
Your child will get married, but then go through the grief of separation.
You get this script for your child's life and have five minutes to edit it.
What would you erase?
Wouldn't you want to take out all the stuff that would cause them pain?

I am part of a generation of adults called "helicopter parents," because we're constantly trying to swoop into our kid's educational life, relational life, sports life, etc., to make sure no one is mistreating them, no one is disappointing them. We want them to experience one unobstructed success after another.

What should be the goal of our parenting…to give our children happy lives free from anything difficult or unpleasant; or to do our best to see that our children grow up to be the men and women that God wants them to be knowing that God uses difficulty and adversity to shape and mold? Is it better for our children to never learn the meaning of sacrifice or the benefit of doing something that they, at least initially, don’t want to do? Or is it in their best interest to experience what life is really like by learning that life is not perfect, no one gets their way all the time, and children don’t always know what’s best for them?

Sometimes I fear that in our efforts to give our children everything they/we want we fail to give them what they need. One of the most troubling statistics that I have read in recent years is the high percentage of young people who drop out of the church between the ages of 18-22. Thom Rainer writes a lot about this in his book Essential Church. He writes that more than two-thirds of church going young adults between the ages of 18-22 drop out of church. He then gives a “Top Ten Reasons” list for the dropout.

1. Simply wanted a break from church.
2. Church members seemed judgmental or hypocritical.
3. Moved to college and stopped attending church.
4. Work responsibilities prevented me from attending.
5. Moved too far away from the church to continue attending.
6. Became too busy though still wanted to attend.
7. Didn’t feel connected to the people in my church.
8. Disagreed with the church’s stance on political or social issues.
9. Chose to spend more time with friends outside the church.
10. Was only going to please others.

I’m a big fan of Thom Rainer and I’m sure that he did a lot of research in compiling his “top ten” list. I wonder though, if there’s not something missing. If it were me, I would add one more thing. We’ll just call it number 11.

11. Never really taught the importance.

Proverbs 3:1-6 says, My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity. Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. (NIV)

Jesus cares,

Pastor Chris