A Football Game

I learned a lot today. As most southerners know (and a few northerners), football is big stuff down here. It's an all-Saturday event, as it was today. Also when you pack a small city of 30,000 people with around 100,000 in one day, all those people just make you excited.

The first thing I learned is that although there are 7 refs, they just don't see everything. Just like most other respectable groups (including all of the bowls), the ACC should adopt instant replay challenging. I also learned that, even when mistakes are made, Clemson is pretty good about not making penalties.

The second thing I learned is that the "woo-hoo" may have a better purpose than we all think. As loud as Death Valley becomes, it may help cue people as to when to start with "C" (especially those who can't hear as well as the good number of "inebriated" folks.

The third thing I learned is that, even though we stress it and may say we are, we do have our bad moments with sportsmanship. Making a good play is awesome. Continuing to cheer while a 20-year-old college kid is hurt on the field is not. Regardless of which team the hurt player is from, don't cheer that they're hurt, and applaud when they get up to go off. Football may be a contact sport, but people getting injured is still nothing to celebrate. Despite our cheers at an injury, I think "He showed us" says it best.

Before I point out the fourth thing, I'll say a bit about myself so you'll understand my fourth point. This is my 21st season of Clemson Football. I was there 21 years ago (almost), and I'm still here today, and I've never stopped pulling for the tigers since. (to further clarify, I turn 21 next month) I'm a pretty big Clemson Football fan, and I don't like missing their games. There are few I've missed as a student, and only because I was 300 or more miles away (one time gazing on the Pacific... while watching the game on tv and cheering so much many strange looks were aimed at me). Yes, I was there last year for Georgia Tech. Yes, I was there last week for Miami. And yes I was there today for BC.

There are a lot of very depressing moments I've experienced in Tiger Football. One of the worst was my freshman year road trip where three of us drove to Orlando for the Tangerine Bowl. (I'm not sure we played in that game... but our team was there, at least physically) There have been games where I've been ripped between a desire to cry or just fall to the ground and lie there for a very long time.

This brings me to point four, which I say with all 21 (almost) years of maturity I have. Football is awesome, but it's just a game. Yes. I said it. This may be the first time.

Last week I could no longer say 2-0, but I could say 1-1 against top-20 teams. This week, all I was left with is, "It could be worse." This has brought me to a revelation: it could be much, much worse. God could have never bestowed the wisdom on someone to create football. Then where would we be?

I can't base my attitude on whether or not Clemson has a winning season. Sure, it'd be nice. It would be absolutely incredible for us to bring the national championship back home again. But either way, my life still goes on, as does yours, and all 80,000 people who packed Memorial Stadium today. Sure, I'll scream my heart out (and wake up every Sunday morning after a game without a voice, or a hoarse one at that), but in the end, my joy isn't determined by a game. My joy comes from the simple knowledge that life is so much more than 11 days during the fall (and hopefully one more around Christmas) each year. I've got 353 more days every year to live life to the most that I can, and it'd be a shame if someone went their whole life without the same thought.

Just some thoughts. And yes, I'll be up in Winston-Salem next week, and I'll probably lose my voice again, but there's not a day this week I'll live without making the most of it.

There's so much more to life. Live it, and never look back.

Living life,
chris

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Continuing the Conversation

This is a most interesting story. I've recently learned a lot about a musical artist not from hearing, but rather from reading. Over the past few weeks, Kanye West has been featured in several magazines I subscribe to (notably TIME and Relevant). Both dubbed him as the leading force in today's rap industry, most specifically in its future. I was a little disheartened. From the little I have heard of his music, I was very turned-off, particularly with the overuse of vulgar terms that really weren't adding to the music itself. This changed as I read about his hit, Jesus Walks. For the "leading force in the future of rap" to get the word "Jesus" on mainstream radio and still be heard of today is, well, impressive. I had a little bit different view of him from that point on. He went from being a rapper to a rapper who knew at least a little of Jesus.

About a week ago, I was going through my living room and about to turn the tv off, but stopped after seeing him on tv. So I watched as he spoke. Obviously veering from the script, he went on to condemn our President as someone who, "doesn't care about black people." Now I'll be honest here... I got a huge lump in my throat right about there. I support Bush. I think he's a good guy really trying to do good (dispite all the declarations of "hidden agendas" he has). Never before have I seen, heard, or known of an instance where he didn't care about black people (or African Americans to be a little more politically correct). I've honestly never heard any words from his mouth that would suggest he didn't care about any single person in the world (even Saddam Hussein). Now unless Kanye had a conversation with him where he specifically said that, I'm not sure what justified his remarks. Regardless of this, he said them on live national prime-time television, and it's rather hard to take them back after that.

My issue here isn't necessarily in what Kanye said, but rather what others have said about it. Others have said that he's a horrible person. They've said we couldn't learn anything from his music and none of us should listen to it.

Just because I thought one of his songs was good, I haven't become a huge fan or started listening to many of the others, but to no extent do I believe his comments should lead to the notion that there is nothing to learn from him. My stance is this: we're all in a conversation. About who we are. About what we believe in. About what faith is and how God works into all of this. Pardon my bluntness, but it was the same people who said "he's wrong, I'm right, and I know everything for fact" that crucified the same guy Kanye talks about in his song.

This has led me to thinking that maybe I don't know everything. Maybe, just maybe, I'm not supposed to. Maybe I'm supposed to be left in wonder about some things. Maybe there's an almighty and awesome God in charge of this whole thing and I shouldn't worry myself with most of these things. That's why I believe we're in a conversation.

Ending the conversation is to say, "Oop, Kanye screwed up. He criticized a leader in front of a bunch of other people. He's worthless. Let's move on." I don't think that's helping anyone, except those who want to continue to mislead themselves by thinking they know it all. My question is, "I wonder why he said that?" It is only through asking these questions that we might truly discover what other people are all about and, in some way, share with them the same love Jesus has shared with us. That's what continuing the conversation is all about. And may that conversation never stop...

Striving to stay in wonderous amazement,
chris

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Reflections from a Brother

It was about this time of day four years ago that I came home from school, made a turkey sandwich with provolone cheese, sat down on my couch, turned on the tv, and stared in absolute shock.

That turkey sandwich was never eaten… my appetite seemed to drift away very quickly.

I try to remember what I felt at that moment. The biggest question in my mind was not, “Who?” or “Why?”, but rather “What?” What was going on?

Then was the other question as "what" became answered: how? How are we going to respond to this as a nation? How will the world respond? How will I respond?

My life changed on that day, despite the fact I was hundreds of miles away from anywhere directly affected. As a senior in high school, my shell was broken. The world, quite instantly, became a much smaller place.

Reflections on my life since senior year really started while I was in the Bahamas this summer. I began widening my view of things and evolving into the person I am today. The one thing I will never forget is being stopped by an elderly man, probably in his late 60’s, who had Alzheimer’s. Mr. Mackenzie stopped me and another guy to tell us how, “We must learn to live with one another and love one another as God’s children.” He proceeded to tell us this many times, and I imagine he forgot he had already told us. But the thought stuck with me. Maybe it was good he kept repeating himself, as it’s the most important thing I learned while down there.

Four years ago today, thousands of people lost their lives, and the world was changed. Since then, there have been other tragedies across the globe. Wars have broken out. Peace, while spreading in popularity, doesn’t seem to be much of an option.

Also in the past four years, we’ve seen great tragedies that have not been the result of hate or war. Children starving. Entire villages, towns, and cities being wiped off the map from powerful winds and raging seas.

New Orleans and Sumatra aren’t much different. They may speak different languages, they may have different foods (although both like their coffee strong), but they’re both home to struggling people. They’re both home to people. Our brothers and sisters.

America and Iraq aren’t much different either. Both are struggling people. We’re struggling to see past black and white. They’re struggling to see past what church building they walk into. We’ve found the best way to get our word out is to stage dramatic demonstrations. They’ve found the best way to get their word out is to rebel. Both are home to people struggling with their differences. They’re both home to people. We’re both brothers and sisters.

How can we learn to all live in this world together as God’s children? Mr. Mackenzie, even though he’s from a very poor village and may not have all of his teeth or a formal education, hit the nail smack on the head. God gave us this big huge earth, and with it getting smaller every day, we’ve got to learn to live with one another and love one another. If we don’t, we may not have a world to live together on.

Whether you’re Christian or Muslim or Jew, whether you’re black or white or yellow, whether you’re rich or poor or somewhere in between, you are my brother or sister. I am yours. Now let’s start living like it.

Some thoughts and reflections from a brother seeking truth,
gcm

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Mud

I, along with most of our country, have watched streaming images of New Orleans for the past week. Towns gone. Cities looking like Atlantis. Bridges simply disappeared. People in horrible conditions. The best -- and worst -- coming out in people.

Every morning I eat breakfast while watching CNN. Then I read the newspaper with a cup of coffee. Finally I make my way upstairs to my computer where I read the e-mail version of the NY Times before really beginning my day. Today, that put things over the top.

There are thousands of tons of mud sloshed around Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana (not to mention the puddles still remaining through the Ohio River Valley). Now, instead of cleaning it up, the newest fad is to pick it up and toss it at someone else. Because, as we all know, that makes everything better. (please note the sarcasm)

Let me point some things out. One -- this was everyone's worst nightmare. The MOST that New Orleans was ever prepared to take was a moderate Category 3 storm. Katrina was 4 and just a smidgeon from being a 5. For you local folk: think Hugo, with Charleston being below sea-level. Two -- this is being compared to 9/11. This is not 9/11. 9/11 was concentrated within three places (several sq. blocks in NYC, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania). This disaster, aside from simply being natural in cause, is not comparable to 9/11. It covers more than three states and has left a city of 1.3 million people underwater.

I'll make this clear: I am not diminishing 9/11. However, 9/11 was a terrorist attack. This is not. This is a natural disaster that has left hudreds of thousands homeless and now we have over a million refugees from the region.

This is not a "black and white issue". Some people have said that nobody cares about the "blacks left in the city." Images of the Superdome, at least by my own estimation, show that my guess was correct. The people left inside represent the population distribution of New Orelans for the most part. According to the 2000 census, over 2/3 of New Orleans residents are African American. So the reason you see a lot of African Americans still left is, well, there were a lot to begin with.

There is a massive effort to get these people out of New Orleans. It is not a ho-hum kind of thing. They're trying as hard as they can to act as quickly as possible. However, when the folks on the ground act in uncivilized ways such as crowding helicopter landing pads, shooting guns at people trying to rescue them, and cause riots by not remembering their kindergarten lesson of "not cutting in line", it makes things difficult. Add to that most bridges going into and out of town are flooded, not to mention every road leading to the major shelters.

We can toss mud around all we'd like, but all we're going to end up with is some very dirty people. If we focused all of our "blaming" on trying to get these people out of the city and, even more, helping the over 2 million displaced residents, something good may come out of this after all.

When we moved to Baton Rouge in 1993, we were welcomed with open arms and discovered that southern hospitality really spans that far (and continued to for the two and a half years we were there). Of the over two dozen times I've visited New Orleans, I've never really encountered an unfriendly person... to add to that, they give you free jazz up and down the streets and offer you a taste of those incredible pralines.

My focus over the next year is going to be to return that same gesture of hospitality we were shown ten years ago. I'm going to do as much as I can to help out whoever I can. It doesn't matter to me who's to blame or what politics lie behind it all. These people are without houses, food, clothes, and so much more. So, we help build them houses, give them clothes, cook them food (red beans and rice with some spicy sausage mixed in sounds like a plan), and we give them a hug and say, "We love you."

Taking the words from a five-year-old, "It was a hurricane." There's nobody to blame. No one asked the hurricane to hit. That's all in the past. Let's focus on the present, so maybe, just maybe we can brighten the future of those people devastated by such a tragedy.

That's my take on things. It's time to help. And if all you want to do is talk or throw mud, then sit down, shut up, and let real people get the work done. It's just that simple.

Praying that the good in everyone will emerge,
chris

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