...i'm a football junkie...
There, i said it. i'm sure if i was actually getting something off my chest, it would feel like it right now. i'm a football junkie, and even though the Olympics are happening right now, in fact USA is playing Canada in hockey at this very moment and the two other tabs i have open on this wonderful browser are related to the NFL Combine. That's right...the event where 20-24 year olds are paraded across a stage and field and they are weighed, measured, probed...with questions you sicko, although it might happen that other way too. they are timed, judged, tested and checked for strength, body-fat, speed, ability and brains. In other circles it's called a beauty pageant, and still other circles something far worse...
...i was listening to sports radio yesterday, i'm not even sure who i was listening to. i believe it was the guy filling in for Jim Rome, mainly because I wouldn't actually listen to Rome if it was Rome. No substance. Anyway, he was interviewing someone who attends the combine and is connected to all the scouts and officials there who are trying to figure out who they are going to target for employment. The guy on the radio talked about how this whole show starts with a guy coming on stage in his undies and maybe socks to be weighed, measured, and examined. No questions...yet...just to be stared at and have people write down things on their little note pads about what they see. And the man being interviewed said, "It's weird, it's awkward, it's ugh, I don't like it. It's just uncomfortable really. It reminds me of...well, you know..." And he left it at that; even the host left it alone.
What does it remind you of, i was saying to the radio, tell me, SAY IT! i kind of wish he would have continued. Because it reminds me of a few things. First, that scene from the movie Taken where rich well dressed men are sitting behind two-way glass bidding on bikini-clad drugged young women that want to 'purchase'. Also reminds me of the pictures in my schools' history books of slaves being brought onto the auction blocks where they are bid on based on their strength and ability to make the master money. Don't get me wrong, the NFL Combine doesn't come close to comparing to those two absolute atrocities of humanity...these dudes are hoping to get a well-paying opportunity to play a game, albeit putting their bodies on the line for our entertainment (Gladiator anyone?). But imagine with me, you are standing in front of 100s of people, note pads flipped open, and all that stands between you and complete vulnerability is the undies you chose to wear that day. Your arms a spread so they can see if you are genetically created and fit to participate in their multi-may i say-billion dollar industry. Sure there is hard work and dedication that sets you a part from those who excel in the industry, but it is very rare to have someone of a certain size and stature (that they are not in control of) excel in the game. So after you have been weighed and measured, you may just be found wanting (Knight's Tale anyone?). What message does that display? What does that teach us about who we are? What if God measured us by those kinds of standards? Who could stand? Who could survive? Not only that, what if we as the church acted like that? what if we as the church chose to only trust those who fit a certain 'stature'? What if the church only accepted those who fit into a certain mold? What if the church only promoted/championed those who had a specific genetic make-up? What if we looked at the outside and not at what God has created and stamped with His image?
...so glad that doesn't happen...
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