Sunday, October 17, 2010

Great illustration of last post

Last night I went to a Texas Rangers game with my dad. It was fantastic, because the Rangers have never gone so far in the playoffs and I got to watch as my home team spanked the New York Yankees, 7-2. It was a great, down-home, old-time whoopin'.

There was a triumphal procession during and after the game, but not everyone enjoyed it. In the seventh inning it was already 7-2 and the Yanks weren't putting up much of a fight anymore. One woman with a Yankees jersey led her boyfriend down the aisle to leave. A Rangers fan yelled out, "Yankees fan, don't leave early!" in a mock-begging tone. She turned around and promptly flipped him the bird for everyone to see. Offended by this crass slight, three whole sections began to shout as one: "Yankees suck! Yankees suck!" This was the soundtrack of her shameful exit.

All down the ramp as we left, defiant and exultant cheers of "Let's go Rangers!", "Yankees suck!", and just raucous cheering escorted us out of the stadium. It was a wonder how 50,000 people could do the same thing at the same time, like one organism all together. I thought as we left...if we are this excited about a stupid game whose fame will last for a few years and be forgotten, why aren't we so excited about the victory of Christ, whose fame will last forever? Why am I so worried about what others will think of me, when I have such good news to share? Sure, they may take it as the smell of death, but my job isn't to make people like Jesus. My job is to faithfully live and proclaim His good news everywhere I go.

How can I be Jesus-smell today?

No comments:

Post a Comment