Draft Day

My 18 year old is mesmerized by football.  Has been since he was 8 or 9.  Seriously, this kid could wow you with the stats he knows.  Want to know who played in any Super Bowl (and where and who won)? Ask him.  He knows.  Also, if you give him enough time, he'll probably be able to tell you the MVP and talk strategy of that game to identify exactly why the other team lost.  [Yes, I know there is this handy thing called "google" these days, but it's so much more fun to see a human do it!]

Therefore, draft day in our house is a national holiday.  We celebrate with it playing on all tvs (sans Mom's office) - and we have football food.  Homework.... ha ha... not on draft day.  We were one of the handful of families that saw the movie DRAFT DAY, and really, really liked it.

This year I've also been following "draft day" (match day) for med school students.  An arduous task where you apply to all the schools you want (in preference order) and then you find out if your top school wants you; ie, did you make a match?

These events have me thinking about a new kind of draft day.

National Draft Day for Friendships.

So, here's the plan.  Everyone, follow along.  Between now and say 5/31/2014 you be thinking of your top 6 friends.  Now, since I'm focusing on "our friends" this year, and I'm setting the rules for this new draft [well, that and my Type A personality which requires that I remain in charge... geez -- this could say a lot about why I NEED a draft day, but I digress], I'm going to base my drafts on "our friends". Who do you and yours want to invest in this year? Who will you call when the basement has flooded?  Or, the cows don't come home at night?  Or, your chickens don't hatch eggs?  [I want a homestead, but again, I'm seriously digressing here.]  Now, certainly you'll have other friends individually or even collectively -- but who are the top 6 family friends that you'll invest in this year (near or far - distance isn't the determining factor). Those are your drafts. For the sake of ease -- you can drop out family.  You'll hang with them --- or not, whichever the case - but they'll be family.  Which friends will you stick closer to than a brother (sister)?

So, here's the deal.  Out of the hundreds (or thousands) or people you know or "friend" on Facebook -- who will you chose? You can only chose 6 and chose carefully because they have to chose you, too.

I mean, it has to be a match, right?  Every drafted NFL player has to say "I'll be happy to play football in the great city of Cleveland, Ohio and bring a championship back to the city" [cough, cough - and a little laugh too].  Or, each matched med student has to say "YES! That's where I want to study".

I need a draft day for friendships.  I want to know the six I chose to invest in as "our people" are really "our people".  Are we a match?  Have we agreed to try to be a match for a season? [Unless you trade us in on a third string quarterback and a second round pick in next year's draft -- or we flunk your first two exams and you kick us out of the school, in which case I'll probably hunt you down and throw cow dung on your house and rotten eggs on your car --- seriously I need some ADD meds today.]

Every draft day is filled with drama and anxiety.  It'll be the same with National Draft Day for Friendships. I'll put down six names and only two or three of those will put my name down [right? certainly we'd match with two or three -- geez, now I'm freaking myself out.]  But, on the other hand, perhaps two or three people will put us down that we didn't list.  Perhaps they've been on the fringes and we just hadn't thought of putting them in our first round.  So, yes, we'll have to do a second round.  Okay - we've all showed our hands, now - trade out your first round picks who didn't pick you and decide who is your second round choices. It'll be a tightrope walk: "of course we REALLY want you, we just didn't know you really wanted us? Please join our team!" Lots of those conversations -- see not that much different than an NFL draft - except without the millions of dollars we have to pay out to our draftees.

Alas, I'm probably a bit too organized, methodical, analytical and practical (insert: TYPE A - or "weird") for the way we earthlings gain and lose friends.  I don't want to slowly make these realizations of who my/our matches are -- I want the quick, pull the band-aid off the wound, or slap me across the face and tell me "hey, let's be friends - you've forgotten about us."

National Draft Day for Friendships.

I like it. I doubt it'll take off, but I'm doing all the detailed analysis work, looking at who my choices for first round would be.  Thinking about whether I'd be theirs.  And, I'm digging deep, searching wide for those second rounders I might have overlooked as "our people".

You can say I'm kooky.... but, you'd also have to say it's a pretty AUDACIOUS idea!

God's Not Dead

God's Not Dead. I believe.

Others glowed at how wonderful the movie was.  But, I was haunted by it; not able to quite put my finger on the source of my heart's nagging.

Until now.

What about the 79 who wrote "GOD IS DEAD"?

Likely 50 of those kids attended church regularly at some time in their life.  They should have believed, and likely believed for many years, that God wasn't dead.  They heard and believed the Easter story.  But, one step away from the comforts of home and confronted with a professor giving them an easy out, they quick to sell their souls for so little.  With one swift pen stroke on a scrap piece of paper, they betrayed the name of Jesus.

What's even more shocking is 15-20 of those college student probably had a deeply-involved faith.  One that included youth groups, mission trips, discipleship groups, parents who taught the word of God and instructed and encouraged based on God's precepts.  These are kids who had it all: a good church, a meaningful relationship, meaningful experiences, and parental and mentor support: a Bible-belt, middle class life with good, Christian parents.  But, still they walked away.

Most cheer for the one who didn't walk away; who stood proud and bold. A modern-day Bibleman come to save the day, and those around him who would listen.

I mourn for the others who right then betrayed the One they'd song about since infancy. The One whom they prayed to eloquently at dinnertime as a child. The One to whom they joyfully pledged "I believe that Jesus is the Christ" during baptism. The One to whom they prayed as they grew into adolescence - their comfort in midst of the storm of youth. The One who inspired the holy word of God they memorized for stickers.

I'm the mother of a millennial kid about to graduate high school.  He's fluffing his independence feathers and showing signs he won't be one of the ones standing strong in the face of challenge.  I see his face in the face of those who wrote "God's dead".  While I try to live an audacious life, his attempts at gaining independence are pulling him further away; he's making choices not based on his relationship with the One, but based on what he wants today.

New International Version (NIV)

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

LUKE 15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

I can't wallow and wonder "what did I do wrong?" I want to.  I failed after all.  But, I can't. I won't. Sadly I'm falsely comforted in knowing this is not just happening in my house, it's happening in many.  How has our society gone from one lost sheep to 79 out of 80 lost?

Surely Jesus mourns with me for the 79 lost.