Football

A sport where the players
actually enjoy getting hit in the head by a ball.
~Soccer advertisement, published for the MetroStars Major League Soccer team, 1997

Who would have thought that I would be the one in the house to create a frenzy about the World Cup? Amazing.... yes....me!!!And just to prove it I have my football calendar with the scores all marked up and I scream the loudest when the occasion calls for it. The best part is that I have 4 teams I can rally for:



Spain, Germany, Brazil & England

--- And 4 chances of winning!


There have been some great matches and some really slow, waste of time matches! Now the excitement mounts with the rounds of 16 and narrowing down the "to be" winners. The tension and thrill just seems to mount as we close in on those final games.



I can understand that some see it as just a game, 22 men (plus referee) running around after a white ball on a stretch of very well cared green grass! But on closer inspection, one has to admit that there is ALOT more to the world cup than meets the eye.

It´s a question of national pride .. a cultural experience that unites as many as would join together in one cause, one vision, one goal... (ha! no pun intended!!!!). When a team wins.... it isn´t just winning for its´team players, manager/coach or the mere game in itself... it´s winning for the country, defending it against other countries, standing for the nation to which you were born: the very essence of who you are.

For that very reason, something very deep inside of every spectator rises to the surface when a match that involves their country, even if they usually are not at all interested in football.

The roots of our Soccer Tribe lie deep in our primeval past. ~Desmond Morris

It isn´t so much that sport of soccer is at the heart of the issue, but rather what happens inside of us that makes it so earth shattering. Yes, that sleeping lion, is awakened when our competitive spirit is challenged, making us stand together as one to fight and to conquer. Having one common goal (there it is again) that touches a unique fiber, all too close to every human....that of "belonging." The world cup touches our sense of belonging and makes out of the least inspired football fan.... a warrior who defends his country as the knights of old!
It also makes out of men: beings capable of expressing such unbounded emotion that even they are caught by surprize at letting their hair down.... (hey, this kind of emotional outburst is generally considered "acceptable" among our male counterparts) reminding us that there must be a God and that there is hope of an emotional connection between Mars and Venus after all.......

“I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team,

I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because the team,

not the individual, is the ultimate champion.”

Just to close:

Passage Philippians 3:14:
¹⁴I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Our price is not just a trophy but eternal relationship with God and we have NOW the joy of BELONGING to Christ!!