CU Later - My 11th Blog

These are the blogs of my last month in youth ministry and some lessons and things God has taught me:

CU LATER

I am one of the biggest Clemson football fans there is. I mean I knew who Sammy Watkins was before his mama knew who he was. And I don’t just follow the games during the season. After it’s all over I’m keeping up with what is going on for bowl prep and then I’m following the recruiting and when national signing day comes I get hardly any work done that day because I want to see who is going to be a Tiger and then it’s Spring practice and the Spring game and then summer workouts which leads us to the greatest day of each year and that is opening day for College football so we can start it all over! See for most people it’s 13 or 14 Saturdays a year that we get to watch the Tigers play. For me I’m in love with the games but also anything and everything else associated with Clemson football.

But God really kicked my butt this season after a game one weekend and really convicted me hard about my addiction to Clemson football. See it had become what consumed me. I would read more articles and message boards about Clemson football than I would my Bible. On game days I would tune into ESPN in the morning just to see if Clemson was mentioned, listen to the pregame on the radio, watch the game or go to the game, afterwards listen to the postgame show, then go online and watch all the player interviews and then read every article on Tiger Illustrated, Tigernet, Orange and White, CU Tigers, and The Clemson Insider that I could find!! No kidding. It was like an Orange and Purple disease that just infected every part of me. If there was a night game I would stay up until 2 or 3 o’clock knowing that I had to be at church in the morning and to teach a class but I had to fuel my addiction and absorb everything I could about the game that day.

One Saturday night after Lana and Jennifer went to bed was when God really brought this problem to my attention. I was sitting in the living room all alone and it hit me. I’ve spent all day with Clemson football. I hadn’t read my Bible or prayed or spent any time with God. And I hadn’t spent any quality time with Jennifer or with Lana. It was all Clemson and it was all about the football. I felt like crap. And I’m telling you if God has ever convicted you of something then 9 times out of 10 if it is true conviction that is how you are going to feel.

What on Earth has Clemson football ever done for me? I mean in reality as a lifelong fan it has caused me more pain than joy!! It took some adjusting because when you’re addicted to something it is hard to just stop. But I can honestly say that I no longer frequent those websites like I had and on game day I usually just watch or go to the game and that is about it. I mean I’m excited that Clemson is going to a BCS game and Jennifer actually asked me if I wanted to go to the Orange Bowl and she said we would if I did…but I said no thanks. Dude that is huge for me because earlier in the year I would have jumped all over that opportunity!! I’ll watch the game with family and friends tonight but win or lose I will still love Clemson in the morning, but more importantly than that God will still love me.

Lesson learned: Jesus needs to be the object of my affection because on the cross He proved that I was His.

On a side note there are about 8-10 friends that I’ll text back and forth during the games. During the Georgia Tech game when Clemson lost people were actually concerned that something was wrong with me because I wasn’t ready to hurt somebody or upset because we lost our perfect season.

Some people just take things too seriously :)