Reasons Why People Do Not Like Sports

September 30, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

[from Francis J. Kong's PhilStar Column dated Sept24, 2011]

I was working out in a gym one time, and standing beside me was a tall guy who was smiling at me. Apparently he recognized me. I smiled back and said, “You’re so tall you must be a basketball player.” He replied, “Oh yes. I do play once in a while.”

The gym attendant looked at me with amazement. He couldn’t understand what had just happened. When the tall guy walked away, the attendant asked me, “Sir, you don’t follow basketball do you?”

“Unfortunately not,” I said, “Why?”

And the attendant replied, “That gentleman is a professional basketball player in the country! He’s a superstar – and you don’t know him?! Tsk, tsk, tsk…”

The funny thing is, I used to play basketball for my high school varsity team, until one day I realized that basketball is not for midgets like me. I’m 5’7” and a half.

I remember somebody saying that he doesn’t like sports. “I’ve had it! I quit that business once and for all,” he ranted. “You won’t be able to get me near one of those places ever again!” Here are some reasons why people won’t go to sports games:

Every time I watch a game, people ask me for money!

The people with whom I had to sit didn’t seem very friendly!

The seats are too hard and not at all comfortable!

I went to many games, but the coach never came to call on me!

The referee made a decision I didn’t agree with!

Some games go into overtime, and I get late going home!

The band played some numbers that I’ve never heard before!

It seems that games are scheduled when I want to do other things.

I was taken to too many games by my parents when I was growing up.

I don’t want to take my children to any games because I want

them to choose for themselves what sport they like best.

I suspected that I was sitting with some hypocrites – they really came to see their friends and what they’re wearing rather than to see the game.

[By now you must be smiling. These are the same ridiculous reasons why people don't go to church. You can read the whole thing HERE.]

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Why Our Churches Matter

June 3, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

Bill Hybels, in his book Courageous Leadership, eloquently states the unique position of the church in our society:

What I discovered [in Washington D. C.] was not how powerful [our elected officials] are, but how limited their power really is. All they can actually do is rearrange the yard markers on the playing field of life. They can’t change a human heart. They can’t heal a wounded soul. They can’t turn a hatred into love. They can’t bring about repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation, peace. They can’t get to the core problem of the kid I saw in the airport and millions of others like him.

I scrolled through every other option I could think of, considering what they have to offer. Businessmen can provide sorely needed jobs. Wise educators can teach useful knowledge of the world. Self-help programs can offer effective methods of behavior modification. Advanced psychological techniques can aid self-understanding. And all of this is good. But can any of it truly transform the human heart?

I believe that only one power exists on this sorry planet that can do that. It’s the power of the love of Jesus Christ, the love that conquers sin and wipes out shame and heals wounds and reconciles enemies and patches broken dreams and ultimately changes the world, one life at a time. And what grips my heart every day is the knowledge that the radical message of that transforming love has been given to the church.

That means that in a very real way the future of the world rests in the hands of local congregations like yours and mine. It’s the church or it’s lights out. Without churches so filled with the power of God that they can’t help but spill goodness and peace and love and joy into the world, depravity will win the day; evil will flood the world. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Strong, growing communities of faith can turn the tide of history. They can! Don’t bother looking elsewhere. The church is it.

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We Are Not Sitting Ducks

June 3, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

Could it be that I’ve been reading Matthew 16: 18 wrong all these years? The full verse says:

“And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”

I’ve always thought that this means that the church will be in the defensive, that hell and the entire force of darkness will try and attack the church to destroy it.

Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger in their book Simple Church is saying the exact opposite. They say that the church is the one doing the offensive and the gates of hell will be run over because it is too weak to stand against the onslaught of the church.

The idea here is that:

1) No one ever wins by playing defense. It’s the offensive that does the most damage.

2.) It’s hell that has prisoners that need freedom. In order to free those prisoners, the church must do the attacking.

3.) The verse says “the gates” of hell will not prevail. Gates don’t attack, they just stand where they’re at.

4.) Nowhere in the Bible do you find a verse that indicates we are sitting ducks.

If Rainer and Geiger is right, then I just realized something very powerful tonight. This actually changes a lot of things in my perspective.

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