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    is there life beyond the super bowl?
katie brazelton and cheryl buskirk
When a waiter named David unknowingly sat Ben Roesthlisberger, the 2006 Super Bowl quarterback for the Pittsburg Steelers at his table, his fellow wait staff teased him about his ignorance of the football Great! After all, we Americans pride ourselves on being sports-savvy individuals. How could David be so unaware?
Who cannot remember watching Nadia Comaneci’s jaw-dropping, first-ever, “perfect 10” performance on the uneven bars in the 1976 Olympics? Or younger fans may remember Mary Lou Retton flip-flopping her way into our hearts with her muscular physique and radiant smile...or maybe you recall Michelle Kwan, two-time Olympic Medalist Figure Skater, and her stellar performances? For others, it may be watching Michael Jordan literally “fly” through the air to make history as one of the greatest basketball players ever to dribble that little orange ball.
Many of these individuals have succeeded against all odds. They have taught us the secular meaning of self-discipline; they have inspired us; and they have allowed us to enjoy one of the merits of sports, which is fun, wholesome entertainment. They also give us less-able-bodied beings a chance to live vicariously through them. We can escape from the drudgery of day-to-day life with its depressing news events, and instead, envision ourselves pulling off that Magic Johnson move, bounding through the air and hearing the crowd honor us with deafening applause.
And it’s also true that sports can offer our kids a chance at a healthy lifestyle. Gone are the days when you packed a lunch, hopped on a bike with a friend, and left for the day’s adventures as you heard the faint reminder from your mother admonishing you to return at sundown. Now parents must enlist their kids onto sports’ teams to keep them safe outside their own homes in an organized activity, to disconnect them from their computer, or to simply keep them from being a Couch Potato! And for some extraordinarily gifted athletic kids, sports is their ticket out of poverty to a better lifestyle.
But…(there is a big question coming at you here!) When do sports become an obsession? Could it be when a husband threatens to miss the birth of his child if the tike dares to enter the world before half-time of the royal Super Bowl? Are we obsessed when we allow our children to participate in a sport, even after several severe concussions? Is it insanity when we pay sports’ heroes more annual salary than a school yard of teachers will make in a lifetime? Maybe it’s when someone scouts out high school football stadiums in every town he visits, just in case he is transferred to the area!
You know that it’s been rumored that some people are paying thousands of dollars for basketball camps, just for the chance to play on the same court with Michael Jordan. So…it’s always a good exercise at this time of the year to ask ourselves: Has watching these incredible athletes perform feats that seem to be impossible for mere mortals, like us, made us treat them like mini-gods…gods to be idolized—gods that cannot do much for us personally, but gods none-the-less? If yes, this would obviously grieve God who has said, "You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them….” (Exodus 20:3-5 NIV)
Perhaps we should ask ourselves the question a co-worker asked David, the waiter. The question was, “Well, if not Roesthlisberger, who has impacted your life the most?”
David immediately responded, “My wife Tammy.” He went on to explain that he had been an addict and “could not have made it without her.”
So, is there life beyond the Super Bowl? Ya…there really is! Should we be ribbing the waiter, then, for not honoring the football hero at his table or instead telling him about the incredible great-grandmother, mom, dad, husband or wife, brother, sister, or friend, that we admire at our table? Are they not the ones who deserve to be honored? After all, when we enter the final quarter of our lives, game clock counting down to those inevitable final moments, who will consume our thoughts? Joe Namath? Nadia? Or a loved one who always made time for us, affirmed us, and breathed courage into us?
One final note…when David, the waiter, tried to identify which of his table guests was the player he should have recognized, he asked them outright: “Who is it at this table that I should be impressed by?” To his credit, Ben Roesthlisberger directed a glance to the other side of the table and declared, “That would be my dad.”
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About Katie Brazelton and Cheryl Buskirk
Katie Brazelton, Ph.D., M.Div., M.A., is the author of the runaway-selling, Pathway to Purpose for Women series, with her recent, best-selling anchor book being translated into ten languages. She is the founder of Life Purpose Coaching Centers, International™, which trains Christian men and women internationally to become Life Purpose Telephone Coaches® and intensive, two-day, Life Plan Facilitators. Visit www.pathwaytopurposeministry.com. For years prior to Katie’s book series’ launch in 2005, she was a licensed minister at Saddleback Church. Now, she has begun the process of fulfilling her 1995 God-given dream of opening 200 Life Purpose Coaching Centers. Cheryl Buskirk is a Life Purpose Coach®, Life Purpose Facilitator; and speaker. She is a pastor’s wife in Tulsa, OK where she and her husband planted a church. She is also a mother and discipler of three young children. Katie and Cheryl can both be reached at WomensInfo@LifePurposeCoachingCenters.com, if you reference the name of this article.
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http://www.simplyyouthministry.com/community-articles-from-the-field.html
katie brazelton and cheryl buskirk
When a waiter named David unknowingly sat Ben Roesthlisberger, the 2006 Super Bowl quarterback for the Pittsburg Steelers at his table, his fellow wait staff teased him about his ignorance of the football Great! After all, we Americans pride ourselves on being sports-savvy individuals. How could David be so unaware?
Who cannot remember watching Nadia Comaneci’s jaw-dropping, first-ever, “perfect 10” performance on the uneven bars in the 1976 Olympics? Or younger fans may remember Mary Lou Retton flip-flopping her way into our hearts with her muscular physique and radiant smile...or maybe you recall Michelle Kwan, two-time Olympic Medalist Figure Skater, and her stellar performances? For others, it may be watching Michael Jordan literally “fly” through the air to make history as one of the greatest basketball players ever to dribble that little orange ball.
Many of these individuals have succeeded against all odds. They have taught us the secular meaning of self-discipline; they have inspired us; and they have allowed us to enjoy one of the merits of sports, which is fun, wholesome entertainment. They also give us less-able-bodied beings a chance to live vicariously through them. We can escape from the drudgery of day-to-day life with its depressing news events, and instead, envision ourselves pulling off that Magic Johnson move, bounding through the air and hearing the crowd honor us with deafening applause.
And it’s also true that sports can offer our kids a chance at a healthy lifestyle. Gone are the days when you packed a lunch, hopped on a bike with a friend, and left for the day’s adventures as you heard the faint reminder from your mother admonishing you to return at sundown. Now parents must enlist their kids onto sports’ teams to keep them safe outside their own homes in an organized activity, to disconnect them from their computer, or to simply keep them from being a Couch Potato! And for some extraordinarily gifted athletic kids, sports is their ticket out of poverty to a better lifestyle.
But…(there is a big question coming at you here!) When do sports become an obsession? Could it be when a husband threatens to miss the birth of his child if the tike dares to enter the world before half-time of the royal Super Bowl? Are we obsessed when we allow our children to participate in a sport, even after several severe concussions? Is it insanity when we pay sports’ heroes more annual salary than a school yard of teachers will make in a lifetime? Maybe it’s when someone scouts out high school football stadiums in every town he visits, just in case he is transferred to the area!
You know that it’s been rumored that some people are paying thousands of dollars for basketball camps, just for the chance to play on the same court with Michael Jordan. So…it’s always a good exercise at this time of the year to ask ourselves: Has watching these incredible athletes perform feats that seem to be impossible for mere mortals, like us, made us treat them like mini-gods…gods to be idolized—gods that cannot do much for us personally, but gods none-the-less? If yes, this would obviously grieve God who has said, "You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them….” (Exodus 20:3-5 NIV)
Perhaps we should ask ourselves the question a co-worker asked David, the waiter. The question was, “Well, if not Roesthlisberger, who has impacted your life the most?”
David immediately responded, “My wife Tammy.” He went on to explain that he had been an addict and “could not have made it without her.”
So, is there life beyond the Super Bowl? Ya…there really is! Should we be ribbing the waiter, then, for not honoring the football hero at his table or instead telling him about the incredible great-grandmother, mom, dad, husband or wife, brother, sister, or friend, that we admire at our table? Are they not the ones who deserve to be honored? After all, when we enter the final quarter of our lives, game clock counting down to those inevitable final moments, who will consume our thoughts? Joe Namath? Nadia? Or a loved one who always made time for us, affirmed us, and breathed courage into us?
One final note…when David, the waiter, tried to identify which of his table guests was the player he should have recognized, he asked them outright: “Who is it at this table that I should be impressed by?” To his credit, Ben Roesthlisberger directed a glance to the other side of the table and declared, “That would be my dad.”
...
About Katie Brazelton and Cheryl Buskirk
Katie Brazelton, Ph.D., M.Div., M.A., is the author of the runaway-selling, Pathway to Purpose for Women series, with her recent, best-selling anchor book being translated into ten languages. She is the founder of Life Purpose Coaching Centers, International™, which trains Christian men and women internationally to become Life Purpose Telephone Coaches® and intensive, two-day, Life Plan Facilitators. Visit www.pathwaytopurposeministry.com. For years prior to Katie’s book series’ launch in 2005, she was a licensed minister at Saddleback Church. Now, she has begun the process of fulfilling her 1995 God-given dream of opening 200 Life Purpose Coaching Centers. Cheryl Buskirk is a Life Purpose Coach®, Life Purpose Facilitator; and speaker. She is a pastor’s wife in Tulsa, OK where she and her husband planted a church. She is also a mother and discipler of three young children. Katie and Cheryl can both be reached at WomensInfo@LifePurposeCoachingCenters.com, if you reference the name of this article.
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