A Note From Tom: September 28th, 2012
Hey, everyone!
Hope you're having an awesome day! But, hey! All things being equal, maybe a lot of that is up to you! God loves you! He's promised tons of stuff! If you not having any disasters going on…if you're world isn't presently coming apart…maybe you just need to loosen up a little!
Did you know that in any given major league baseball regular season, all the teams together use 157,950 baseballs?! That's 65 per game! One writer estimates that they use closer to 196,800! I don't think this even includes the balls they hit in the bleachers for warm ups. One of the reasons is that they're super generous with 'em! If a player hits a line drive foul, the ball boy or girl picks the ball up and throws it in the stands. If an outfielder catches a fly in center, he'll toss it to a lucky fan! It's just a ball! But it's a lifelong memory!
One sport writer guy noticed that the National Football League is super stingy with footballs. They use an average of 12,046 per season. But it's not like they let 'em fly into the stands! They put up a net on extra points and field goals to catch 'em! "We can't just be letting fans think they can catch one and take it home!"
Why not!?
Loosen up!
Let 'em fly!
Give a fan a smile!
Give a kid a memory!
Sure they cost a little more than baseballs ($56 to $12), but Major League Baseball sends almost a quarter million smiles home per year!
So, I say to anyone in the NFL that might read this…Why not take down those end zone nets!
Take down the nets!
Take down the nets!
TAKE DOWN THE NETS!
TAKE DOWN THE NETS!
(C'mon! All together!)
TAKE DOWN THE NETS!!
TAKE DOWN THE NETS!!
Opps.
Sorry. Got a little carried away…
Uh…as I was saying…(What WAS I saying?…Oh, yeah…)
Sometimes, it's good to just loosen up. Don't make a big deal over things that don't really matter! Laugh more. Criticize less. Does the thing that really bugs you, really matter?
Really?
I remember when I was a kid, there were lots of rules for the table. I never understood most of them. With our kids, we didn't have them. Rules like…
"Don't put your elbows on the table."
"No singing at the table."
"You have to at least try everything."
I remember a lot of crying and some gagging when I was a kid, but not much singing.
Then I read John 13.25 where John "leaned back against Jesus' breast". Scholars say this is because they ate on couches, leaning to one side. If their elbows weren't on the table, they almost were! And they sure weren't "sitting up straight"!
In Mark 14.26 at that table, they "sang a hymn". Gasp! Jesus called them, "My children" (John 13:33) and He let His kids sing at the table!
And as far as having to eat everything, Paul says, "The one who eats everything must not look down on him who does not...for God has accepted him… I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean…. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit!" (Romans 14)
If your kids don't like stuff, it's OK! If you don't stress about things that really don't matter, you may find that the Kingdom of God, with all it's joy and laughter, might just break out at your dinner table!
And remember…
TAKE DOWN THE NETS!