Take Me Out to the Ball Game and why I think Jesus must be a Cubbie

I watch a lot of TV over the summer. I am not ashamed to admit it. Tonights menu included Adventures of an Incurable Optimist on TLC. Michael J Fox is the host. He is one of my idols, and since I have been called optimistic to the point of annoying, I knew this show would be right up my alley. Add in a bit about baseball, and I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

Little known fact- My list of dream jobs has included sportscaster, sports photographer, and for a fleeting moment before I realized I had the athletic talent of a thimble, pro athlete. Actually, I still want to be a sportscaster or sports photographer. But reality is knocking.

One of the segments on the show was about the optimism of the Chicago Cubs. Being a Marlins fan, I endure endless ridicule for my loyalties. Daily heartache. Crushing defeats. But night after blown-in-the-ninth-inning-loss night, I go to sleep and thank God (in my optimistic way) that He did NOT make me a Cubs fan. As of today, the Cubs are in a four way tie for 16th place in the MLB with an average of .511. Respectable, but it would take a miracle for them to reach the Big Kahuna. And when October fatefully rolls its fatefull self around and the Cubs are left again empty handed, it will have been a grand total of 101 years since they held glory in their cursed hands.

If I wanted you to get bored reading this, I would include a paragraph or two on the poor cursed Cubbies. But it is not my intention. Of you really care, here is a link you shall find interesting (Alexis- you should read it, remember how fascinated you were with all the superstition surrounding baseball?)

http://www.cubbiesbaseball.com/goats.htm

If there is one thing I am not, it is a fairweather fan. The definition of a fairweather fan is someone who gets interested when a team is winning and drops relations once they begin to stink worse than the Beaty Towers garbage chute. Although my sweet lovings with the Marlins quite accidently began in 2003, which happened to be the second and last time they won the World Series, I have since cheered my way through five and a half seasons which ranged from almost decent to absolutely abysmal. And yet I hold my head high, wave my Billy the Marlin flag, wear my Cabrera jersey (although he has becomg a dirty rotten Detroit stinking Tiger traitor since my obsession with him commenced) and root root root for the home team.

But I do not think I could ever be a Cubs fan. Defeat and dissapointment year after year after year. I would hope that I would have the spirit to withstand over a century of besmirched records, curses, scandals, and heartbreak. If you read the article or are a die-hard Marlins, Cubs, or ESPN fan, you will know of the 2003 scandal. It was game 6 of the NL championship playoffs, Cubs vs. my very own Fish. It was the Cubs year. Magic filled the Windy City and the whole nation seemed to rally around the Cubs. The great Sammy Sosa and his boys were working every field like they were meant to be there. The Cubs were winning the series 3-2 and were a mere 5 outs away from their first trip to the world series in almost 6 decades when Luis Castillo hit a foul ball into left field, totally reachable by Mosies Alou, which would have resulted in a much needed out, when a fan, poor Steve Bartman, reached out and caught the ball. One thing led to another, and a few weeks later I spent my first ever high school homecoming dance in the courtyard with my friend Kristen (with whom I credit my obsession), listening to a radio (oh yes, I am that nerdy) with pure joy as the Marlins beat the NY Yankees in the World Series in 6 games

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Bartman_incident

Ouch. It got me to thinking, how can millions of people endure such bitter, painful, dissapointment day after day, year after year? Then I realized there is someone who endures a lot more heartache than even the most seasoned Cubs fan.

Segway to God.

If Jesus was a baseball fan, I am pretty sure he would be okay with being a Cubs fan, because really, we are all like the Cubs. Follow me here. We constantly screw absolutely everything up. But Jesus doesn't care. He still loves us just the same. He is the ultimate fan, the fan who ACTUALLY died for his team. Not just metaphorically. God is an optimist. He relishes in every single victory we get. It doesnt matter if that victory is the World Series trophy. That victory could be winning a game or as simple as getting a strike on the batter you are up against. And when we blunder, whether it is missing a catch or losing the most important game of the season, He says "It's okay. I still love you. Here is another chance" Time and time again. A real fan would never say to their team "you better make it up to me in the next inning/tomorrow/next season." You love the team. As Christians we should do the same. Relish EVERY single victory, no matter how minor. And for every mistake we make or others make, let it be a chance for forgiveness. Loyalty, my friends, should never lie with the highest bidder. Loyalty is derived from the one who sacrifices the most. And no greater sacrifice will ever be made than the one that has already been made by the Maker Himself. You want to shock people?. Be quick to praise, but even quicker to forgive. People will notice. And people will wonder. And in the end, hearts will be changed. What greater victory is there than that?

"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends"
John 15: 12-13

United We Stand

Reader be warned, this may be long.

First of all, the time on this post is correct. It is 5:34 AM right now. In order to get rid of a nasty migraine that has plagued me for two days now, I inadvertantly took migraine medicine with a large amount of caffeine in it.

Fourth of July recap- went over to Jessi's. Ate FAR too much grilled food. Watched National Treasure 2, which we deemed the most patriotic movie in her cabinet. Drove to the intracoastal. Saw AMAZING fireworks. Waited 40 minutes for the trolley to take us back to the parking lot, which was two miles away. Went back to Jessi's. Ate a lot of watermelon. Watched Beetlejuice (not exactly patriotic, but fun nonetheless).

So I just had another one of those God moments. Where out of nowhere, the random thoughts coursing through my brain are brought together by the very least expected things. The book I am reading with Sharon (The Unexpected Adventure by Mark Mittelberg and Lee Strobel -read it) has got me thinking a lot about our "mission." The Great Commission and all that jazz. Since today (I guess yesterday now) was Fourth of July, there were a lot of patriotic things on TV and in the newspaper. Including things about 9/11, which made me think of the slogan United We Stand. I got to thinking about things in the past that people have become "united" on and how much of an effect we can have when we unite. LiveStrong. the Red campaign. The relief efforts from the 2004 tsunami. Hurricane relief efforts (which my own family benefitted from- free ice after Wilma). But I couldn't really tie my thoughts together.

So thats what has been on my mind all day.

I have been in bed since 1230 trying to fall asleep. I tried everything. TV. Reading. A cup of hot tea. So I went back to TV. It is VERY rare that I have the TV on at 5 am. Actually I don't know if I ever have, unless I was waking up uber early for something. Slim pickings. Many many informercials. If it isn't an infomercial, it is most likely boring or disturbing. I will never EVER put Spike on in the middle of the night again. I was just hoping for CSI.

I settled on ESPN, SportsCenter is always entertaining. But after 25 minutes on coverage of Steve McNairs death (my prayers go out to his family, but the coverage was speculative and spotty), I flipped to Disney Channel. Lilo and Stitch was on (the TV show, not the movie) If you haven't seen the show, the premise is that the other experiments end up on Earth and Lilo and pals have to corral them and find good jobs for them before the bad guys use them for bad things. If you haven't seen the movie, we are no longer friends.

I missed the first 20+ min of the episode, but from what I gathered, the alien featured in this one made clones of any other alien it touched. So the bad guys used him to make armies. But it was all in Lilo's plans for him to make huge armies, because the more copies were made, the less powerful they were.

Lo and behold, Lilo and Stitch triumph. Lilo's closing line you ask? "United we stand. Divided? We are nothing but a whole bunch of weaklings"

NO LIE.

I almost died. I was like Whoa God. I gotcha.

You see, that is more perfect than any other saying out there. I tend to think United We Stand, Divided We Fall. But we can never truly fall if we have Jesus in our heart. We can get up and continue the fight alone. But when we are alone, we reveal our weaknesses. We all struggle. No one struggle is worse or better than another. We are all unique in our own weakness. But together we can be unstoppable. We compensate for each others weaknesses. Can you imagine if for one day every single Christian did NOTHING but Evangelize? What could we accomplish?

Okay. It is now 6:23. The sun has risen, and I think the coffeepot just started kickin. I am going to try and sleep.

Fame! and other analogies

Okay so at the movies I saw a preview for the remake of Fame and I am so incredible excited. I realized the other day that I talk about dance so much that most people probably think I lived at my studio. And while I can proudly call myself a studio brat, it was not my life. I spent so many years trying to make it my life, but in all honesty, school was my life. My parents made sure of that. But boy I saw that pursuit- a common dream. FAME. I had it in me, but not the way other girls did. I sorta just teetered on the lines. Professional dancers have been known to do everything from crash diet and binging and purging to repeatedly dislocating joints or intentionally breaking bones in their feet in order to gain more flexibility.
Sick nasty.

I never went that far. And thankfully, nobody I knew flirted with breaking bones or anything that serious. I never even saw any eating disorders that went unrecognized for too long. But there was still that drive. The drive to be the best. In the dance world, all respect is earned. You can only get by so far with connections. True, some people are just born talented, but things like musicality, stage presence, the ability to improvise, and the drive to do your best in the face of certain failure are not innate. If you don't make the cut you don't rise. You EARN every single thing you get.

How UNLIKE Jesus. You can't EARN anything from God. You can't EARN his love or his grace or his mercy. You ALREADY have it. So stop trying. That was my message in church this morning.

When we try and earn something from God, we automatically set ourselves up for failure. Earning something is so complicated nowadays that we are sure to fail along the way. We work so hard at everything around us determined to earn trophies. Something to show for our hard work. I am guilty. I guard my dance ribbons, medals, plaques, and trophies as some of my most valued possessions. But they mean NOTHING. This is my favorite quote from this morning.

"We spend our entire lives building a throne. Our accomplishments make it bigger and bigger, higher and higher. The problem is, the higher we sit on our throne, the further away we are from the place we need most to be- the feet of Jesus."

So. Don't build your throne. Break it down.

"Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little."
Luke 7:44-47

Martha, Martha

You know how sometimes you see something random over and over and over again until you understand that it is God trying to point something out to you? Well, I have heard the names Martha & Mary about four times since MONDAY. I read it in Captivating, saw a book called Being a Mary in a Martha World, read it in another book, and it was the main topic of CRU last night.



Good golly.



The more I hear about it, the more I realize how much of a Martha I am. The more I try to be Mary, the more Martha I become.

It is kinda comical how much "Martha" sounds like "Marcia." As in Marcia Brady. Marcia Marcia Marcia, its all about Marcia.

Its all about Martha too. Or at least she wants it to be.

Luke 10:38-42
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"
"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

It is really hard not to be Martha. Sometimes I get so caught up in trying to be LIKE Jesus that I forget who He really IS. Jesus tells us to love. Jesus IS love. The two greatest commandments are to love God and love people. But sometimes I mix up the order of the two. We get so focused on loving each other that our spiritual lives suffer. I know my biggest problem is that I hate dissapointing people, saying no to people, etc. Loyalty is and always has been my biggest issue. Its a big thing in the dance world. You get places by being skinny and loyal. Sad, but true. I am so loyal to people. Although they are God's children, sometimes I think I am more loyal to THEM than I am to HIM. I try so hard to make sure that my friends know that I love them that I let that get in the way of what God is really calling me to do. I get caught up in the importance of what I am trying to do that I forget WHO I am doing it for. I have too much on my plate because I never want to dissapoint anyone. I need to just sit at the feet of Jesus and rest. HE is the most important, because without him, I am nothing.

"Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
John 14:6

independence

So tonight I am all alone in the house (Gainesville house, not home house)
It is so weird! I have become so accustomed to being constantly surrounded by people, and being utterly dependent upon them. That has never been me. God is crazy like that. I spend my whole life trying to fool the world into thinking that I am independent and have it all together and I come to college and become a Christian and suddenly find myself saying "I need you" several times a day. I am a big girl, being alone for a night in the house doesn't scare me. I am not a horror flik fanatic, but I have seen enough to get freaked out if I let myself. But its all good in the hood. But I can't imagine being alone for much longer than that. In life, not living quarters.

I know some independence is good, and I feel like I have become much more independent than I was. Quite honestly I was not prepared for college in the least, but I have learned a lot since then. I feel like if I was forced to enter the "real world" tomorrow, I would be materialistically okay. I can shop for groceries, get my oil changed, do my laundry, and pay my bills on time. But I desperately need these next two years to continue to learn how to be a person. How to be a friend, a sister, a daughter, and overall a woman who glorifies God with everything she does. I scare myself everytime I think about the person I am now compared to who I was.

Two years and one week ago I walked across the stage at the Palm Beach County Convention Center, proudly wearing my NHS stoll and my Math and Spanish Honor Society cords and accepted my diploma. I knew the names of Henry VIII's wives but not what it means to be a Godly wife (don't get me wrong, I am still clueless. But maybe a little less so). I could write you a well planned essay (FCAT or AP style- your choice) but I couldn't hold a meaningful conversation (again, still working on that.) I could debate an issue into the ground but feared conflict and controversy. I could make you a complicated piece of jewlelry involving a casting machine, soldering, and stone settings, but I knew nothing of true beauty. I could spend hours in deep concentration, perfectly dissecting a shark or pig, but knew nothing of patiently waiting on the Lord.

High school made me a person. College is making me a human. I hope.

And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Colossians 1:10-14