Champion!

2010 Journey Church Fantasy Football Champion – The Destruct-inators (John Krauser)! Two-time, back-to-back Champion, the Destruct-inators have shown great flexibility, insight and skill in this year’s fantasy league. Dolfan13 (Joe Rivera) battled in the championship game to place 2nd, with Mexcellence (Andy Matus) taking 3rd, and Packer4ever (Jason Rivera) 4th. We will throw confetti and cheer the 2010 Champions at the fantasy parade.

Fantasy football has become the side-kick in watching the NFL for many of us guys. Just to let you non-fantasy football folks into our world, here is what one may typically do during any given week during the football season. On Tuesday you fret, get upset, or celebrate your players accomplishments the days before in either a win or a devastating loss. After you have recovered from your emotional flare-up, you begin to assess your players and those who are free-agents. During the week you will spend countless hours watching ESPN, surfing valuable internet fantasy sports sites, and occasionally read an article out of a newspaper to get the latest news to give you an advantage. By Saturday, with your players active and ready on your team, you cross your arms with a sense of smug accomplishment and pitty the poor guy you’re up against this week. On Sunday, after sending a few smack-talk messages to your opponent you watch a game on your HDTV, LCD 50” TV (my fantasy), and keeping close watch to the stats on your computer. The highs and lows of every touchdown, 100 yards gained or underperformance leaves one drained by the 4th Quarter of Monday Night Football.

As we wrap up the 2010 Fantasy Football season, we also say goodbye to all of the events that have unfolded for us in 2010. Today at this writing, Dec. 31st, it seems natural for us to reflect back upon the past twelve months and make our assessment. Was it a good year, or bad one? Did we accomplish what we had hoped for? Did the victories outscore the defeats? In many ways our evaluation process is similar to our weekly fantasy football routine. We have victories and defeats. We have plans, hopes and dreams, through our hard work and intuition. We go through the times when events unfold that leave us drained and emotionally, physically and spiritually spent.

The apostle Paul shares with the Corinthians another sports metaphor to encourage us in our assessment process.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. – 1 Corinthians 9:24-25

He encourages us to run to win! To live each day like the Champion God has designed us to be. He reminds us that we will get a crown (trophy) that is not a fantasy, but an eternal reality that will last forever. So, in your evaluation of 2010 did you run in such a way as to get the prize, or to be called 2010 Champion?

Candy Canes or Curdled Eggnog?

“To whistle a Christmas carol is like a candy cane to the tongue, to mutter “Bah! Humbug!” is like drinking curdled eggnog.” – Life Proverbs by Tim

One of our classic Christmas stories is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens of Ebenezer Scrooge, the sour, stingy, cold-hearted man. His retort to the merriness around him at Christmas was “Bah! Humbug!” A statement that Christmas was a fraud and full of nonsense. As the classic tale unfolds through the visitations of Marley his deceased business partner, and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future he sees the futility and emptiness of his own life and has a “conversion” to the merriness of Christmas. The final scene is his emphatic embrace of “Merry Christmas!” I think of the wisdom of Solomon when he states:

A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of the heart a spirit is broken. – Proverbs 15:13 NKJV

Other versions state a happy or glad heart makes a cheerful face. We can visibly see the deep emotions one is experiencing by their countenance. Even when we do our best to cover-up or mask what is tumbling inside of us, we still reveal our feelings to those who know us best.

For you this Christmas season, is it a time of “Merry Christmas”, or “Bah! Humbug!”? You may not look or act like Ebenezer Scrooge, but in your current circumstances the burdens, frustrations, anxiety, or disappointment of life may echo a lifeless “Bah! Humbug!” in your heart. If that is you, I would encourage you that Christmas is more than family get-togethers, gifts, shopping, eggnog, Santa, elves, etc., but true merriness comes from Christ alone. The miraculous gift of Christ the child, born unto a virgin, the son of God, called Immanuel – God with us. With Christ as our Savior we can whistle, hum or sing Christmas Carols year round, because it is His true joy in our lives that fills our hearts with merriness through all life’s journeys. Try singing Joy to The World with a sour, stingy, cold-heart – it doesn’t work.

As we offer a blessing of “Merry Christmas” to family, friends, co-workers, or the cashier at Target let them see it with a confidence in our eyes, an encouraging smile and Christ’s joy upon our face. Merry Christmas! (my eyes are twinkling and I am smiling right now)

Crunching On A Carp Head

“It is better to crunch on the rotten head of a carp, than to spend the day fishing on the lake with a puffed-up, know-it-all.” - Life Proverbs by Tim. What do we call those individuals who arrogantly know-it-all, are not teachable, and vehemently opinionated? Okay, stop it! I know I asked for it, but the Bible does have a name for such individuals – fools. The Bible describes such individuals as corrupt, self-deceived, blindly confident, boasters, slanders, liars, angry, contentious and shunning God’s wisdom. (Ps. 14:1, Pr. 12:15, 14:16, 14:8, 20:3, 10:18, 18:6, 28:26, Ec. 10:12, 7:9, 5:1, 10:14) One proverb states the distorted reality of fools.

A fool finds no pleasure in understanding
But delights in airing his own opinions. – Proverbs 18:2

If you have ever found yourself talking to, working with, or spending any amount of time with a fool you know how distasteful it is, like chomping on the rotten head of a carp. It is the putrid taste of conceit, egotism and haughtiness that triggers your gag reflex. We find fools in all walks of life: from the illiterate to the Ivory Towers of academic elitism, from begging on the streets to those flying in private jets, from those sitting in bars to those sitting in pews, and from all ages 5 to 85.

If you add charisma and talent to a fool what do you get? This combination may produce a politician, an actor, a musician, a professor, a professional athlete, or a CEO. I could have added names to the above, but this week’s news does that for me. Obviously not all in those professions are fools, but fools often succeed, gain attention, notoriety, position, influence, and privilege. Maybe high-achieving success breeds foolishness.

What if you added one more dangerous ingredient to this volatile individual, self-righteousness? Jesus didn’t pull any punches when he described self-righteous fools as “blind guides, whitewashed tombstones, dirty cups, snakes, vipers, hypocrites”, Matt. 23. Unfortunately we still see charismatic, talented, self-righteous fools in the church, usually celebrated on TV, radio or mega-churches. But as we (or I) point fingers at the highly-visible, we can also see this same insidious disease within our local churches, families, friendships, and even within ourselves. OUCH! The reason is we all have this base ingredient to being a fool within us, pride. When pride begins to stir within us it spreads as a small amount of yeast throughout the batch. If left to sit in a favorable climate (self-centeredness) pride puffs-up with hot air, leaving us empty, void and on a path of self-destruction.

The remedy is to seek humility, dependency upon God, have a teachable spirit, exhibit mercy, grace and gratitude, and seek to have the Fruits of the Spirit evident in our lives. So, if you ever find yourself in a row boat, fishing with a buddy and his nose and face scrunches up and he begins to gag, maybe he is sending a message that he would rather be chewing on the rotten head of a carp.