Lessons from the Game

This photo is not mine...I just found it online, but it is a good representation of my thoughts and I love it!!!  This little boy just melts my heart!  He has his football in his lap, he is sitting there watching quietly and intently...

Tonight, we went to a high school football game and had fun, but all the while, wondering...where are we at?  What is going on?  We knew our location, even if we didn't know a single soul in the stands or on the field.  We knew that two high school teams were playing football on a beautifully, chilly Fall Friday night.

However, from the moment we sat down at the football game tonight, until the time we left, those things kept running through my mind... Where are we at?  What is going on?  

There were kids of ALL ages running around. - They were not watching the game.

There were parents who were talking to each other and watching the game. - They were not watching their children.  

They were stepping on other people's coats, yelling obnoxiously, invading other people's personal space. - They were not thinking of others.

What is going on?  

When I went to football games as a child, I did not run around, I was there to watch the game.  My parents were there to watch the game and to watch me.

Society is teaching entitlement.

Entitlement - the belief that one is inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment.  

"It's all about me."

Is it really any wonder why society as a whole is in the predicament it is today?

Is it really any wonder why bullying has become such an epidemic; to the point of suicide?

Is it really any wonder why we have to build more jails because the number of people committing crimes against one another continues to grow?

Theologically and practically...

Proverbs 22:6 - Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Are we training our children or are we just letting them go? 

Apparently the parents of the little boy in the picture above are training him; he had been to twenty (20) football games by time he was 2-years old.  (I admit that it's not theological training; it's more practical, but I believe they go hand in hand.)  

My parents trained me; and I am grateful!

They taught me to be respectful.  They taught me to think of others.  

Do I fall short?  Often.  But I am grateful to have conviction of the the Holy Spirit to help me.

Lord, help me to train in YOUR ways!