We crave attention and approval. It’s how we are wired. We want to be loved by our parents. We want the approval of our bosses. We want to be accepted. But, even in this text that is over 2000 years old, Jesus lets us know that this is not always going to be popular with others around us and we should not let that detour us. When addressing the religious leaders of the day (man, they didn’t even know what they were up against), he says:

33 For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.” Luke 7:33-35 ESV

I love this! What he is saying is, “Luke is totally pure and virtuous and you call him a demon. I hang out with people you don’t like and you call me a drunk. You are like a bunch of name calling kids.” Don’t we all face that everyday. Who cares what they think! We should be listening to what Jesus is saying to us. Not ever easy, but the way to go.

On to Luke 8, Jesus’ mother and brothers come to see him. His response:

19 Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. 20 And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.” 21 But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.” Luke 8:19-21 ESV

Ouch! That one is rough. Being a mentor in student ministries, this one hits hard. For teenagers, despite all that is going on in with them, they crave acceptance. But, this is so great because the ultimate example of what we do should come from Jesus and those that are doing the Word of God. We need to do what is right, even if it something that parents aren’t into. Harsh? Yes. True? Absolutely! Parents not into your walk with Christ? Try to get them on board, but don’t let them detour you. Keep it up!

There is saying that says something to the effect that nothing comes easy and the things that are of worth to us come from hard work. How true that is of our walk with Christ. It is probably one of the most difficult things that we will do, but the kingdom awaits. I pray that you can keep on it and hope that you will do the same for me. I mean, it’s defying our human nature! We need all the help we can get.

So I mentioned that I have mentioned that I have worked for the Cardinals. For those of you who might happen upon this site that don’t know me (and even those that do), one of my jobs is engineering radio broadcasts for sports teams. What this means is I go to the arena three hours early, set up the audio equipment, connect a special phone line to the radio station and control the volume during the broadcast. Most of the time I work with the visiting hockey and basketball teams who hires me to work for them in Arizona, but there have been a few times that I have had the privilege to work with the Cardinals, home and away. I could write for days about my experiences with the Cardinals and the other teams that I have worked with, but that is not the point here.

You might ask, what is the point here? Isn’t this listed in the Church category? Bear with me. I have waited a long time for the Cardinals to win and Moses waited over 400 years to get his people to the promised land. You can keep reading for a few more paragraphs to get to the point! This is something we like to call in the broadcasting business as a “scene setter”.

It was December 31, 2006 and I went with the Cardinals to Indianapolis for a game on New Year’s Day. It is rare that this happens, but there I was on New Year’s Day working on a Sunday. I have spent most of my adult life working on New Year’s Eve, so this was not much different. What happened the next day I will never forget.

At this time, the Indianapolis Colts played in the old RCA Dome. It was old and antiquated. Yet, they sold out their games and it was a sea of blue in the stands. It was a circus! Two hour pre-game shows on TV, people everywhere. The Colts were on their way to the playoffs and the only thing on the line this day was for the Colts to secure a home playoff run. The Cardinals weren’t bad and they were playing for pride, to go .500 and the fans of this town wanted to make sure that didn’t happen. It was electric.

I was working with the Spanish broadcast team and we were positioned in the stands near the fans. It was off to the side, but still within the seats. I don’t know why I remember this, but I was with Gabriel Trujillo and Luis Zendejas of the spanish broadcast team and Luis looked out and said, “Can you imagine when we are in the new stadium and seeing a sea of red like we are seeing blue today?” This was the last game of the season that Cardinals has played at ASU Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe and the team was getting ready to move into University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale. The new stadium is state of the art and comfortable. While Sun Devil Stadium is great for college football at night, it was a little uncomfortable during the day at the end of an Arizona summer on Sundays. Plus, they weren’t a great football team. All that added up, the new stadium was going to help this team and our community. It has been all that and more, win or lose.

Now, on to the point of this point in the Church category. Like my friend Luis imagined on that New Year’s Day in Indy, I dream of the day when 60,000+ people can gather in a stadium and just worship God. If there can be that many that wear the team colors and worship a bunch of big, sweaty guys who try to kill each other, why can’t there be a day when we come together and just worship what really matters? That would be AWESOME! I think it could happen because:

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7 ESV

We will rejoice and come together like this. Just like a football or other sporting event, I know we will see the day when this kind of worship will happen. That will be cool. Don’t think it can happen? If the Cardinals can make it to the NFC Championship game, anything is possible!

Read more about Kurt Warner’s faith by clicking here.

Another champion, Tim Tebow’s faith is outlined here. Thanks to Dave Ferguson for the link on this one.

Alright, enough about the NFL. Get to church!

15 But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. 16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. Luke 5:15-16 ESV

None of us are healing people and having concert sized crowds looking for us, but don’t we all have things that are demanding our attention? For me, even though many times I am alone, there are things that are clamoring for my attention. My laptop is the biggest culprit. The mobile phone is a close second. Beyond that I have work, my kids, my wife, my house (which is cleaner than ever, by the way), church and the list goes on.

Tonight it was this blog. I was going through code and it was frustrating me. If you use a computer at work, feel for the IT guys. It is part of what I do. There are hundreds of lines of code and we need to find the problem. It consumed me and I got frustrated. I finally put it aside and read.

There is the solution. Get away. No computer, no kids, no mobile phone, no nothing. Just me and God. I need to get away. Not far, just away from the things that are calling for my attention. God, thanks for giving me this Book to let me know what is up. Amen.