Another Football Post...

...but this one's different.

Alright, so I enjoy college football. I'm an Ole Miss fan, and that is completely 100% miserable, but I've been thinking about some things lately. Donald Miller's new book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, has really weighed on my heart and I'd dare say even convicted me in a way a book besides the Bible has never done.

I mean, I look at what I did today, and really how much of a waste it was. The things that are truly important happened before and after the game anyway, and that is in reference to the time spent with friends and family. And then look at the other stuff - we actually tell other fans to "go to hell" and don't think twice. Seriously? That's ridiculous. I mean I know it's "just a saying" but just the thought of that is absurd. Then I think about the ridiculous arguments (and near fights) I've gotten in over football. Sports in general. I mean, I get in arguments with people about a GAME going on that I have NO CONTROL WHATSOEVER over.

Don't get me wrong. I love Ole Miss, and I enjoy football. Hopefully I always will. But I remember 5 years ago (give or take a year or two) when I literally hung on every move the football team made.

But my question comes down to this. What eternal significance does a football game have? There are a lot of things I do with my life that don't have eternal significance, but rarely does one event dominate an entire weekend the way football does. This isn't "oh, well, I don't want to do my homework so I'll just say it's not eternal so I don't have to do something I don't want to do" but it's "oh, I like doing this and I enjoy doing this but I'm having some serious questions as to what good this does for anything."

What does it do? It brings out the worst in me. I mean, I'm competitive for sure, so obviously a competitive event is going to bring out that side of me. But when it's an event that I have no control over, so that brings out the worst in me. I just don't know what good it does.

I guess I said all this just to get to this point. I was thinking about it tonight and I told God if He wanted me to give up college football, I'm ready. I've let it get in the way of so many things in my life and I don't think I want that to happen anymore.

Oh, and I completely forgot that I referenced Donald Miller's book. Basically, just like the rest of his books have an underlying theme that ties it all together, the theme for the newest book is storytelling. We all tell stories in our lives, and I'm not sure if I want a recurring story in my life to be sitting/standing in a football stadium every Saturday for my whole live.

I have no idea what any of this means, but God really put it on my heart a few weeks ago (I've talked to a few people about this so it's not like I randomly had some spiritual revelation after the Alabama game today) but it's something I've been thinking about and am beginning to pray about. I'm willing to walk away from it if God calls me to do so.

We'll see what happens.