By John Kubicek
So, what does a college football bowl game have to do with Christian ministry? Or, maybe we should ask that question from a different perspective. Perhaps we could ask what Christian ministry has to do with a college football bowl game? From either perspective, I hope I'll be able to answer those questions.
If this blog post had to do with politics and religion, I wouldn't expect a large audience. Except for a person I know - a Longhorn fan - that went to sleep after the first half of the Texas vs Ohio State game, being that the score at that point was 6-3, in the favor of the Buckeyes, I would suspect that all of the Buckeye and Longhorn fans had the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl game on Fox tuned in last night. I did, but I did it the right way. I slept during the first half, and watched the second half. That was the way to do it.
It was an amazing game. That second half was something you don't get to see all that often. A come-back by the Longhorns, and just when you thought that they would put the game away, another comeback - this time by the Buckeyes. With a little over two minutes left in the game, the Longhorns marched 79 yards down the field for a touchdown - another pass from Colt McCoy to Quan Cosby - and went ahead by a score of 24 to 21.
I was very happy about the outcome, as Ohio State is part of the Big Ten, and were the last hope for a Big Ten win in the college football bowl games - other than the Iowa Hawkeyes. That is one of the reasons, admittedly, that I was cheering on the Longhorns. But now, I have another good reason. It was during the post-game show that I saw something wonderful that the ACLU hasn't yet found a way to eliminate from our lives. There was an exposure of the Christian culture, a display of the willingness to display what many Christians are all about. Commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, in a national venue, in the view of millions of people.
I remember back when Kurt Warner (a Cedar Rapids, IA native) took the St. Louis Rams to the Super Bowl, and won, and in his post game remarks, happened to mention how much Jesus meant in his life. And I've seen him continuously doing the same thing at every opportunity. How great! And how awesome it is to see the public display and words straight from a Christian mouth, coming from a superstar - and not get bleeped. No, the most bleeping I've seen in a while on network television would be the garbage coming from the mouth of a misfit, Kathy Griffin. This gives me hope!
The fact that Christian testimonies are able to still be aired in the sports venues should give all of us hope! It might also explain why I've loved the Chicago Cubs games that are aired on a couple great networks. There have been many testimonies I've seen from the likes of Carlos Zambrano and others, all aired without censorship from those networks. And there is where we have hope: Sports networks that have allowed the message of knowing the Lord in our lives to be aired.
So, I guess I should now allow you to see the things I saw following the game last night. That explains the first video. The second one is a video that came up in related videos after uploading mine.
So, what does a college football bowl game have to do with Christian ministry? Or, maybe we should ask that question from a different perspective. Perhaps we could ask what Christian ministry has to do with a college football bowl game? From either perspective, I hope I'll be able to answer those questions.
If this blog post had to do with politics and religion, I wouldn't expect a large audience. Except for a person I know - a Longhorn fan - that went to sleep after the first half of the Texas vs Ohio State game, being that the score at that point was 6-3, in the favor of the Buckeyes, I would suspect that all of the Buckeye and Longhorn fans had the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl game on Fox tuned in last night. I did, but I did it the right way. I slept during the first half, and watched the second half. That was the way to do it.
It was an amazing game. That second half was something you don't get to see all that often. A come-back by the Longhorns, and just when you thought that they would put the game away, another comeback - this time by the Buckeyes. With a little over two minutes left in the game, the Longhorns marched 79 yards down the field for a touchdown - another pass from Colt McCoy to Quan Cosby - and went ahead by a score of 24 to 21.
I was very happy about the outcome, as Ohio State is part of the Big Ten, and were the last hope for a Big Ten win in the college football bowl games - other than the Iowa Hawkeyes. That is one of the reasons, admittedly, that I was cheering on the Longhorns. But now, I have another good reason. It was during the post-game show that I saw something wonderful that the ACLU hasn't yet found a way to eliminate from our lives. There was an exposure of the Christian culture, a display of the willingness to display what many Christians are all about. Commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, in a national venue, in the view of millions of people.
I remember back when Kurt Warner (a Cedar Rapids, IA native) took the St. Louis Rams to the Super Bowl, and won, and in his post game remarks, happened to mention how much Jesus meant in his life. And I've seen him continuously doing the same thing at every opportunity. How great! And how awesome it is to see the public display and words straight from a Christian mouth, coming from a superstar - and not get bleeped. No, the most bleeping I've seen in a while on network television would be the garbage coming from the mouth of a misfit, Kathy Griffin. This gives me hope!
The fact that Christian testimonies are able to still be aired in the sports venues should give all of us hope! It might also explain why I've loved the Chicago Cubs games that are aired on a couple great networks. There have been many testimonies I've seen from the likes of Carlos Zambrano and others, all aired without censorship from those networks. And there is where we have hope: Sports networks that have allowed the message of knowing the Lord in our lives to be aired.
So, I guess I should now allow you to see the things I saw following the game last night. That explains the first video. The second one is a video that came up in related videos after uploading mine.
A Tribute to the Texas Longhorns from Iowa (Hawkeye Land)
Seniors Praying - James Laurinaitis, Malcolm Jenkins, Colt McCoy, and Marcus Freeman say a prayer after the 2009 Fiesta Bowl
If I ever decided to move from Iowa, which would obviously be in an attempt to escape Iowa winters, I'd probably move to Texas. I would always be a Hawkeye, but if I was living down there in the Republic, I wouldn't have to be a closet Longhorn fan! Hook 'em Horns!
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1 comment:
Thanks for putting this together John. I enjoyed seeing it again.
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