In 1999 the St. Louis Rams won the Super Bowl against the Tennessee Titans. Being from Missouri it was a big deal. All of the sudden football fans, specifically Rams fans came from every direction. In all honesty I can say this, I am not a Rams fan. Truthfully I could care less about watching them for the exception if they are playing a team that I without a doubt do not like. What happened in our area and probably in other areas that this happens is that out of no where everyone was a Rams fan all of the sudden. So basically because all of a sudden they were winners everyone was backing them up. What I liked was the quarter back Kurt Warner. His story is amazing and if you ever need a little inspiration then I would strongly encourage you to look it up. He is an honorable man and I followed his career until her retired in January of 2010.
My grandparents were from Kansas City and so it was easy to cheer for the Chiefs. When I was late teens I really got into football and my loyalty was always with them. Over the past twenty plus years I have seen multiple coaches, players and all the ups and downs of this team. Many years being made fun of for keeping my loyalty there. In 1993 Joe Montana was traded to the Chiefs. If you do not know football then I know you know that name. He is a legend and one of the best players of all time if you ask me. He pulled a lot of new fans to Kansas City, however when he left I did not lose that loyalty to the Chiefs. There were many years lets face it the Chiefs were terrible, but I still loved them no matter their success or failures. Loyal fans of teams or players stick by them, they support them and they love them no matter their mistakes. Fair Weather fans on the other hand only do that if they are always doing everything perfectly. Their support wavers, their love comes and goes.
Okay let me stop boring you with my love of football and convert this to other loyalty issues. I work in sales so loyalty means a lot to me. When I started I actually thought I would have loyalty to more people in my area. Very naive I am sure at first, but did not take long to see that was not going to always happen. In fact over this time I have lost some respect for people along the way. I've had people give me every excuse in the book, but come to find out they have done business out of town. Let me clarify something since I am in sales, I am okay with a no and whatever reason they may have, but not okay with a lie. In return my loyalty has changed with people I have supported most of my life. Losing respect is costly. On the other hand I have people that I have met over the past year or so that believe in me to the fullest. They are straight forward, honest and value what I do and stand for. Many are people that I have grown to respect and care about. Some people have been a work in progress, I have had to keep up with them and their lives, break out my great personality and show them my loyalty and over time I have earned their trust. That is rewarding, even if it is baby steps, I enjoy that. I feel like I have accomplished something along the way.
Years ago when my marriage ended it revealed a lot for me. I had kept a lot in over my years of marriage, but some of my closest of friends knew about certain things. I can say this, I did a lot of things wrong and made my fair share of mistakes. I do not write this to put my ex down in anyway and lift myself up. When it came to the end the people I had as much loyalty as my ex turned on me. We at one time had belonged to a church, but had left after many years of being there. Our core group was there. My ex always pointed out to me the many times people took me for granted or quick to take advantage of me. I stood by my loyalty with them for a long time and did not distance myself from some of them. These were people who were deeply rooted in their church, supposedly deeply rooted to God. Their ways were not christian like to me at all. I did not pretend to be the victim, I did not ask for pity. I struggled a lot with this, people I trusted that turned their back on me. I realized something monumental in that process. Their lives and mine at one time were about going through the motions. I was loyal to the wrong thing. I was loyal to trying to be the good friend and be everything everyone else wanted me to be. I was loyal to the idea of keeping up the appearances. I was loyal to all the wrong things and people. My attitude towards the church or that church mostly stems from that time period and realizing I had my priorities wrong. Like I said going through the motions, which is a song that I love to listen to frequently. It reminds me to not get caught up with people and have my loyalty in the wrong things of life. To this day I keep many at a distance. I use to be way overly involved with church and had to be doing twelve things. Now, while I love my current church deeply and have a love and loyalty there, I keep many walls up. I love the people in my church, I love their vision and I love so many wonderful people there. The most important thing though is that my loyalty is to God and His purpose. I cannot say that about myself all those years ago I filled up every second with doing a dozen things in church. My heart is serving people in other ways. God is part of my daily life and I share that with people even if that is by a simple prayer or taking food to a stranger. I love serving people in that way, but it wasn't until I got all the wrong stuff out of the way and I understood what it meant to have loyalty with God I understood that.
Fair weather God fans....well we all know what I mean by that. Why is it people only turn to God when things are wrong? We actually are all guilty of it at one time or another. Or what about those that have no use for God when they feel nothing goes their way. Here is the thing, so many things have not gone my way over many years. There has been a lot of pain, a lot of sadness and way to many struggles. Seriously there were times I just wanted to throw up my hands and give up. That might have been the easier road to take, but not the rewarding one. However, we were never promised life would be easy or bad would never happen. We were promised eternal life by simply having our heart and loyalty to our Lord and Savior. We must put ourselves aside and not be fair weather fans to our Lord. Even when we fail which we all do God still is there. We should have the same loyalty....after all eternal life is well worth it.
Mark 8:34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Matthew 28:20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
No comments:
Post a Comment