Sportscenter
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
-Matthew 5:4
I have this really bad habit. I will turn the television on and start watching a baseball game or Sportscenter, and then walk out of the room and leave my wife having to listen to Stuart Scott screaming on the TV. Let’s just say that it kind of gets on my wife’s nerves a little bit. I really do not do it on purpose, even though she sometimes questions my intent.
Well, it is amazing how God works sometimes. The other night, I am sitting there in my chair watching Sportscenter, disgusted at another Astros loss. So I decide I am going to go check my email to get my mind off of the unfortunate season that the Astros are having us all endure this year. And as you can guess, I leave the TV on for my “sports-crazed” wife to watch.
As I am sitting at the computer I hear my wife call from the other room, and I immediately think, “Oh crap, here it comes. I left it on Sportscenter…again.” But instead she hollers out a question that kind of throws me off guard. “What kind of cancer did that pitcher from Boston have?” I obviously wonder, “Who are you and what have you done with my wife?” I say, “I don’t know but I will definitely find out,” so I immediately started searching all of my frequently visited sports websites for the answer. I would have called the Boston Red Sox clubhouse if it meant having my wife interested in anything dealing with baseball. So of course, my master skills in navigating the World Wide Web produced the answer to her question. Then she asked, “Can you email that article to my work email?” I know what you are thinking, heaven to my ears. “Absolutely,” I quickly responded. Then she explained where this temporary personality switch was coming from. She was going to email the triumphant story to a friend who needed to hear about it.
My wife has a dear friend who is currently battling this demon that we call cancer. And the friend was struggling with the news that Tammy Faye Messner had finally lost her battle with the disease. There wasn’t a TV station that you could turn to that did not have images of the finality of Tammy Faye’s courageous battle, and you can understand why. What a battle it was. So rather than gripe about my leaving her least favorite TV show blaring from the television again, she discovered a way to help lift up a friend. Here is the deal, sometimes God can talk to us from places that we least expect, even Sportscenter. When you choose to become a follower, and you choose to walk through people’s struggles with them, and you choose to carry the light of Jesus through the darkest places, you have to keep your ears open. If my wife was not authentically invested in her friend and the struggles her friend has to live with, that story about the Boston Red Sox pitcher who had made a dramatic return to the big leagues would have sounded like any other baseball story. But when you truly invest in someone with the love that Christ calls us to, you are constantly searching for ways to bring comfort to them in their time of need. All I can hope for is that we may be the instruments of comfort for those who need it.
So now I have a reply to my wife when she asks me why I am watching Sportscenter for the third time in a row, I can just tell her that I just want to make sure that I did not miss something I was suppose to hear. Nah, that wouldn’t work.
-Matthew 5:4
I have this really bad habit. I will turn the television on and start watching a baseball game or Sportscenter, and then walk out of the room and leave my wife having to listen to Stuart Scott screaming on the TV. Let’s just say that it kind of gets on my wife’s nerves a little bit. I really do not do it on purpose, even though she sometimes questions my intent.
Well, it is amazing how God works sometimes. The other night, I am sitting there in my chair watching Sportscenter, disgusted at another Astros loss. So I decide I am going to go check my email to get my mind off of the unfortunate season that the Astros are having us all endure this year. And as you can guess, I leave the TV on for my “sports-crazed” wife to watch.
As I am sitting at the computer I hear my wife call from the other room, and I immediately think, “Oh crap, here it comes. I left it on Sportscenter…again.” But instead she hollers out a question that kind of throws me off guard. “What kind of cancer did that pitcher from Boston have?” I obviously wonder, “Who are you and what have you done with my wife?” I say, “I don’t know but I will definitely find out,” so I immediately started searching all of my frequently visited sports websites for the answer. I would have called the Boston Red Sox clubhouse if it meant having my wife interested in anything dealing with baseball. So of course, my master skills in navigating the World Wide Web produced the answer to her question. Then she asked, “Can you email that article to my work email?” I know what you are thinking, heaven to my ears. “Absolutely,” I quickly responded. Then she explained where this temporary personality switch was coming from. She was going to email the triumphant story to a friend who needed to hear about it.
My wife has a dear friend who is currently battling this demon that we call cancer. And the friend was struggling with the news that Tammy Faye Messner had finally lost her battle with the disease. There wasn’t a TV station that you could turn to that did not have images of the finality of Tammy Faye’s courageous battle, and you can understand why. What a battle it was. So rather than gripe about my leaving her least favorite TV show blaring from the television again, she discovered a way to help lift up a friend. Here is the deal, sometimes God can talk to us from places that we least expect, even Sportscenter. When you choose to become a follower, and you choose to walk through people’s struggles with them, and you choose to carry the light of Jesus through the darkest places, you have to keep your ears open. If my wife was not authentically invested in her friend and the struggles her friend has to live with, that story about the Boston Red Sox pitcher who had made a dramatic return to the big leagues would have sounded like any other baseball story. But when you truly invest in someone with the love that Christ calls us to, you are constantly searching for ways to bring comfort to them in their time of need. All I can hope for is that we may be the instruments of comfort for those who need it.
So now I have a reply to my wife when she asks me why I am watching Sportscenter for the third time in a row, I can just tell her that I just want to make sure that I did not miss something I was suppose to hear. Nah, that wouldn’t work.
posted by Jeff at 11:29 AM
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