I'm a sports fan. Nut. Addict. Take your pick.
And so it embarrasses me, when things like this happen.
The Brisbane Lions is our cities Australian Football League team. They are a respectable bunch of guys; if you ignore the fact that they're predominantly an arrogant, muscular, womanizing group of young men, just like any football team in the world.
*After all, when you don't have to actually work for a living, and when you have muscles the size of Ayers Rock, and in places that don't even exist on a standard male, it's very difficult to walk into a bar that has just offered you free drinks and say, 'No thanks, I'm just a normal guy...'
However, in the main, they seem to be trying hard to be nice guys and do their subsequent community work and smile for the camera etc. The one thing missing from this team over the last few years though is the only thing that seems to count in our secular society; a premiership ring. They got close this year - but everyone knew deep down inside that they weren't going to get the bikkies. They'll get close next year...
And then they go and sign the President of the Drunk and Disorderly Club; Brendan Fevola.
Like any red-blooded fan, my intial reaction was *GASP SHOCK* on the outside and *YEAH BABY* on the inside. Now, we can win the premiership. We have the two best goalscorers in the country, playing on the same team. If they stay fit, we win.
And so I start to justify my thoughts.
Surely he deserves a second chance, I think.
Surely he can't be all that bad, I think.
The media has made a mountain out of a mole hill, I think.
And slowly, but surely I begin to feel better about myself, and about Fev.
But like any self-respecting Bible-reading, Church-attending Christian I have my doubts and the guilt starts to kick in.
And so I start to unjustify my thoughts.
He's a disgrace, I think.
He's a terrible role-model, I think.
We've sacrificed integrity for a premiership, I think.
And so I turn to that one place anyone might turn when faced with a dilemma as to whether or not I should accept the controversial signing of a big name football player as ugly as a muppet and as foolish as a jester; the Bible.
For all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God, I read.
We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us turned to his own way, I read.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him, shall not die but have eternal life, I read.
And so I think.
Brendan Fevola is a sinner like me. I am a sinner like he. The difference is, (if you go by the actions of the football champ), I believe in Jesus, and have eternal life. He doesn't, and so therefore, he doesn't.
So the solution.
Dear God - please transform the life of Brendan Fevola. Make him see that his actions are inappropriate, but more importantly, make him see that without you there is no life. Amen.
And so we can still cheer for the Lions.
And if they win or lose, we should keep praying for Fev.
Right?
