fans: not the cooling off sort

it continually amazes me what i write on this site. there are times when i look back thinking - what the heck did i just write? or man i sound so stupid.

but o well. this blog isn't me - its simply a website. that being said. here's another post...

watched ut lose yesterday. it was my junior year that i chose to stop caring so much about sports after we lost (for the third time in a row) to ou in the red river shootout. i was furious for some reason. not that i played. i just didn't want to lose to the stinkin' sooners. but - why does it matter? why should it ruin my day that i watched other people lose a football game? exactly. it shouldn't. so when ut lost last night, probably crushing its national championship hopes - it didn't bother me at all.

earlier in the morning, mel and i met charles and suzanne and their little one liesl at the pub to watch the english premier league. though it is some good soccer, i don't really know how involved i can be because i simply don't want to get wrapped up in something that i have absolutely no power to change or even effect. but somehow this is all remarkably fun...

fans filled the parking lots days prior to the football game this saturday for tailgating. what a phenomenon. yes, it is an excuse to drink copious amounts of beer, but man - if you lose - is that not a horribly wasted 72-96 hours of your life. and that doesn't even count how upset you are at losing. okay - maybe you don't get as upset at losing as someone else, but man - your hardcoreness is maintained as superfan #99 over here.

silly i suppose. my thoughts, others' obsessions. we're all just fans. its fun to be a fan of a team, a band, a university...

the language of fan v. followers came into conversation several weeks ago. a follower seems to imply some sort of ethos versus simple fan-atic-ship. i know a lot of people who seem to be fans of jesus. the like the bumper stickers and shirts that transform a cross into a cartoon or icon. and books and bible studies and church friends who are all into the same "team" they are. and if you're not, you must simply be a fan of the "other team" and in need of conversion. but followers... seems much more difficult to be a real follower. someone who follows the "team" to the end. who literally lives and dies by the order of the one followed. following is serious business. following looks past personal thoughts and feelings and stares directly into the eyes and heart of the one followed.

following requires denial of oneself. fan-ship requires simple loyalty.

sports fans are not bad. that isn't even the real point. i just wish the people calling themselves christians would follow jesus with even half the effort devoted to their team loyalties.

followers of jesus lose themselves in him.
fans of jesus lose the world... and keep looking back.