Not a Fan

They are called bandwagoners.  You know the type.  They are always cheering for the winning team.  You never know what colors they will be wearing or who they'll be yelling for.  I'm typically not a bandwagoner... I just cheer for many teams.  But on Saturday during football season, you'll find me cheering on the Blue and white for UK, and any SEC team that is playing a non-conference team.  I'm particularly partial to Alabama, but not because they've been winning the past few years.  I mean, really, who doesn't want to cheer for a team whose mascot is an elephant, for crying out loud?

And on Sundays, you'll find me in Black and Yellow waving my terrible towel. Except today... because our Steelers didn't make the playoffs... so I'm going to have to pick a team to cheer on.  I don't think it classifies you as a bandwagoner as long as you don't go to the extremes. 

Now if you've read this blog at all you know what a fan I am of sports. I was raised on it... literally.  Basketball and football, mainly, though over the past few years I've grown to love volleyball as well.  I'm a pretty passionate fan.  I'm a pretty vocal fan... sometimes a little too vocal.  I yell at the refs even when I don't know what I'm talking about.  I get upset... way too easily. Sometimes I forget that it's a bunch of high schoolers and that it really doesn't matter, and that I'm supposed to be an adult.  Emphasis on the supposed to be. 

Friday night I got really upset at a game.  There was a boy/girl doubleheader, and I got started off on the wrong foot when the ref gave Landry a technical.  Now Landry can mouth with the best of them, but all I saw him do was roll the ref the ball.  I've seen far worse behavior from kids that didn't get a T thrown at them.  So let's just say I was primed with sour grapes from the get-go.

I would not want to be a ref.  Let me just make that disclaimer.  And our girls struggled the whole game.  Wallace quoted the stats the whole way to Louisville for me... free throws missed, layups missed.  I countered that the refs were never consistent and refused to call it both ways and missed calls and that it was an emotional night with a fight from one of our players that noone would have bet would have ever fought.  Yeah, I acted ugly during that game, and I was still pretty revved up about it.  It made me even madder that he could be so daggone rationale about the whole thing... And I was still convicted Saturday morning.

Could you say I was a follower of JCS girls basketball? Absolutely.  I love those girls.  I'm not just a fan. 

So this morning as I was reading "Not a Fan" by Kyle Idleman I got a big ol' kick in the gut.  The chapter was on how you know you're a follower and not just a fan of Jesus.  "What disappoints you or frustrates you the most?... It may be the loss of a job or something as insignificant as the loss of a ballgame. When we find that those things have the power to determine who we are and what kind of day we have, it very well may be evidence that something is more important than it should be." Wow!  That loss... and the environment and the emotions of the game... totally determined my night. And it goes on to talk about what most excites you.  Have I ever got as excited at church as I have at a ballgame?

I think we all have our own way to worship.  I'm not nearly as loud in worship as I am in a gym, and that's a good thing because the church is a place of order.  However, I often get much more emotional about things of this world than I do Jesus... and He is my all in all.  To say that my eyes have been open...

Oh, Jesus... I want to be a follower of you, not some crazed out bandwagoner fan.  I want to be in it for the long haul. And may I realize that my heart longs for the eternal, and that events down here on earth are just temporary?  I'm a witness for You... help me, Lord.  And could you please forgive me for my behaviors at ballgames?  Can I say it is temporary insanity?  Help me give grace... and get up and walk out when it gets too tough.  Your grace is sufficient.