Like many, I watched the Tennessee-Ole Miss matchup last weekend. As I watched the water bottles and golf balls and random things like mustard rain from the stands... thrown from the fans that weren't happy about a call... many thoughts ran through my mind. I first thought about the time coach Bear Bryant wore a helmet as he exited the field... November 14, 1964 after the Bama-GA Tech feud that began with a punt return gone wrong three years earlier (which btw is referenced in the UA fight song... "send those yellow jackets to a watery grave"). I thought about the time I was in college (1994) and the Crimson Tide played the University of Georgia in Tuscaloosa for the first time in a long time... at night... in a nail-biter of a game. The end of the game resulted in people throwing whatever they were holding in celebration because we squeaked out a victory over the Bulldogs in the last few seconds of the game. I even think about times when fans of my alma mater threw things on the field at coaches they didn't like or plays they didn't feel were fair. But more than bottles or golf balls or bourbon-filled stadium cups that were snuck into the game, wanna know what I really think about?
The things we throw when we don't get our way.
Sometimes we throw tantrums... we stomp our feet and shake our fists when we feel we've been done wrong. And here's the thing about tantrums... they aren't team specific. They don't discriminate. Any one on any team at any time might be heard booing the official who had to make the call that turns out not to be in their team's favor. We all hold garbage in our hearts and in our hands and when life doesn't go our way, any one of us may lose our cool and toss our trash all over whomever may be standing near us. Our verbal vomit may be aimed at someone or something specific but the problem is... it has the potential to be felt... and seen... and heard by people all around the world these days. I know my example for today came from a game of football, but the truth is, we all play a game of thrones when it comes to what takes first place in our hearts and the truth is...
We are all subject to put things on the throne that don't belong.
For some, the throne is football. For some, the throne is the financial market. For some... it's family, or fun, or framing our world with us in the center. We all have a throne and what we put there will determine the actions we take. For me personally, I can't take any chances when it comes to who sits on that throne. I have occupied that seat before and I know I am not the one who needs to be in control of my life. When I take myself off the sidelines and put my heart on the throne... I call plays that don't get the results I need. Turnovers... fumbles... mishandling of balls that set me back. I know who I am when I put myself on the throne and I know that's not who I want to be. It's not who He desires for me to be. He knows the things I am tempted to throw when I try to reign on the throne of my life.
I may wear an Auburn cap at times now (which makes some people shake their head in shame), but I wear my A Club ring most everywhere I go. And here's why... I love my ring because it's a reminder of the joy and work and time spent in Tuscaloosa... when I was becoming who I was going to be as an adult. I wear my Auburn cap because part of my heart is on the plains now and I love my people more than I love playing a game. Any game. That includes the game of thrones that struggles over control of my heart.
"Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him
And He shall bring it to pass.
He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light,
And your justice as the noonday.
Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;
Do not fret - it only causes harm."
-Psalm 37:5-8
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