Daily Diary - September 16th, 2016

 BLAME IT ON OREGON! 

In follow up to my Kaepernick story; I want to share a quick blog about how there is Unity in Christ and everything that doesn’t unify is not of Christ.  By their fruit you shall know them.

Matthew 7:19 ¹⁹  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.²⁰ Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

I am going to post a videos and a picture that support the theory of unity in Christ.  They are personal examples.

First of all I am a huge OU football fan and my family has been alumni of the University fore generations.  The last 2 seasons we lost to Clemson in Bowl games.  Last season would have put OU in the National Championship game.  Clemson quickly made my list as a team of “Hatred”.  It joined Texas, LSU and Oregon (still bitter about the end of the game years ago at Oregon).  By the way proven that no TRUTH was in the Ducks victory I had to post this photo.

SOMETIMES THE ENEMIES DECEPTION KEEPS US LOOKING IN THE WRONG PLACE

So my “DISLIKE” of football teams comes from my pride in my own team.  This is similar to race.  Other teams were having more success on given times so I hated them.  I don’t like the word hate at all and don’t choose it, but my heart can get there just like every one else’s does. 

Call it ENVY, PRIDE or JEALOUSY, these works of the flesh were determining my state of mind and I don’t like it at all then this happens.

Galatians 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies , outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

We are in spiritual warfare and the truth is in God’s word!  There is no other reason for me to “HATE” Clemson other than the fact that they beat my team. 

Analogy:   If Clemson represented one race (WHITE) and OU represented another race (BLACK) and one of the races were having more success than the other then the “Works of the Flesh” found in Galatians above would be the root of the issue.  Not the color of Clemson or OU’s uniform.  This makes perfect sense to me and it is what causes people to hate each other over college sports every week.  Think about it…..

Ok, so in reference to unity in Christ, I must share the video from the Clemson Coach’s response to Kaepernicks rebellion of the National Anthem and follow it up with a picture Clemson of a player being baptized in front of his team after practice.  Immediately my heart did a 180 degree turn, simply because the love of GOD HAS POWER.  There is power in the name of Jesus!!

The Clemson coach is a unifier and my heart automatically shifted.  It was not a conscious choice to quit hating Clemson.  The power of God’s love did it instantly.

I find myself carrying bitterness in other areas of life.  Especially for Oregon.  LOL!  I use that as an example.  When the blood of Jesus hasn’t covered an area of our life we have a hard time breaking the chains of bondage from life’s experiences. 

For 10 years or more I have never got over the loss to Oregon.  It simply wasn’t right.  Neither is the past for racial issues.  My heart was bound up in my flesh.  Today’s struggle of Race is often times not about the color of skin anymore but rather the remnants of a past generation and people fail to walk in forgiveness. 

I need to forgive “Oregon”, but it wasn’t even really Oregon that caused the root.  It was the officials that made the bad calls.  Sometimes we blame “RACE” when race wasn’t really responsible.  Think about it…….

The amazing power of God’s unity through Christ has basically eliminated years of potential Clemson hating for me.  They had beaten my Sooners twice and my flesh didn’t like it.  My heart is full of nothing but love for their coach and program simply because JESUS is that big.  The love of God not only overcame at the cross, but overcame every issue of our sin nature including something as silly as sports.  He is a big God!

Please watch the video below.

CLEMSON PLAYER BEING BAPTIZED IN FRONT OF TEAM AFTER PRACTICE