But...it does get people in the door. In this way I've found it to be valuable and just a good time.
Tonight, however, I found it to be spiritually helpful.
Our team got whooped...and I mean whooped bad. Games are timed to last 45 minutes. We lost 7 games and there was still 24 minutes on the clock. Lost 7 games and won 2 in a little over 20 minutes. I'll accept that the other team was probably more athletic, threw harder and maybe a little more organized than ours...so I wasn't upset about losing, I was upset at one of the other players.
Sports brings out the best and the worst in humanity. Lately it seems that the worst, however, has been glorified as competitive, gamesmanship, call it what you will. Tonight, I needed the holy spirit and got it.
Another player on the opposing team may have been just goofing off, but got a lot of our players really upset when he would point his finger at our players and taunt them or yell or whatever else he would do, and I'll admit that the pastor, me, was infuriated with this young man. I lost control of rational thinking. Typically I would have made excuses for him, but I just wanted to pelt him with a dodgeball to make him be quiet and leave the game, but something strange happened.
As I retrieved a dodgeball from the back wall and went up to throw I felt compelled to not throw at this young man, but to throw at one of the other players, so I did. What's strange about that is that I wasn't in danger of being hit by them or they weren't available targets to hit...I simply felt like I couldn't throw in anger. The holy spirit disciplined me.
The word discipline is not like you hear in the principles office. It is not a punishment. It is withholding action that is detrimental so that one's life will be lived more righteously. When we talk about the spiritual disciplines of fasting, praying, giving money and others we are typically describing behaviors that involve going out of the way of what we WANT to do, in order to do things we NEED to do for the health of our spirit. When we abstain from food, Facebook or cell phones we are showing that God is really all we need. We we pray, we are setting aside valuable time and showing trust in the God who listens and responds.
Had I thrown the dodgeball out of anger I believe I would have been sinning. I would have lost control of myself and played sports to defeat my opponent and shame him at the same time.
Sports is not about defeating your opponent. Sports is about accomplishment, doing it right, having fun and playing the game correctly. Victory in dodgeball or any other sport requires discipline, knowing how to play the right way as to not detriment yourself or your team.
Had I lost control and thrown the ball out of anger I would have given in to selfishness, pride, anger and other attributes that turn a fun game/life into a disaster in the making.
As it happened...we won that game, and I got the other guy out on that throw. Turns out my own agendas aren't quite as important as the team's after all. I wonder if our lives with God are the same way?
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