Connected

Being connected.  It's a strange thing, really.

Everyone seeks to be connected to something, someone, bigger then themselves.  We all do it.  It's our human nature.

It doesn't take long to figure out that I am a sports geek.  I love the Tigers more than anything else in the sports world.  I like the Bears, Spartans, and Blackhawks too.  (I can explain my bi-partisan fanhood later)  This past MLB postseason I joined millions in hoping the Tigers would repeat what they did back in '84 (Thank you Kirk Gibson).  Besides watching the games, wearing my jersey and Tigers hat, I had nothing to do with the Tigers' success this season, nor had anything to do with their demise against the Rangers.  Yet, I still feel somewhat responsible.  As if something I did or didn't do played some sort of magical role in how they performed.  Maybe I should have worn the same underwear as Jim Leyland did during the 12-game win streak.

This feeling could partly be due to the amount we all invested in the Tigers this season.  Giving up hours of sleep in hopes that someone, yes even Andy Dirks, someone! would hit a clutch home run.  But it didn't happen.  The Tigers fell.  For a few days there was an empty feeling in my belly.  Maybe it was because I was hungry, but maybe, just maybe it was because I felt so connected to this year's team I was hurt.

Others connect themselves to their job, to money, to politics, to...  I believe God created us to be connected.  I'm not saying we always choose to connect ourselves with the right things or the right people, but we stay connected.  I got to thinking recently what if I was as connected to God/church/religion/faith as I was the Tigers.  I know I'm not.  I should be, but I'm not.  I should be, nay, want to be connected in such a way when I see injustice in the world, or read how a friend has to suffer with cancer while his wife and son, friends and family worry and pray for him everyday.  I need to feel just as hurt by that as I did when the Tigers lost, or when the Bears drop a game to the Lions.

Sports are sports.  They'll always be there (well, maybe not the NBA).  I will not.  I need to begin being connected with things that matter.  God is so much bigger than a silly World Series title, or a Superbowl.  Being connected to God through faith is something no one can take away.  There won't be labor talks or holdouts, just me, my faith, and prayer.  That's something I want to be connected to.

1 Corinthians 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.