Ministry and Rocky Balboa

I've been feeling kind of down and so I thought I'd rent something off iTunes. Something that kind of fit my mood. So I ended up watching Rocky Balboa. It's a movie that I've seen several times and own the DVD back home. It's a movie that is one of my favorites. At where I'm at in my life right now, the story resonated.

I think the scene that really stuck out with me was the one with Rocky and his son. His son confronted him after he found out about the fight with Mason Dixon and talked about all the struggles he's having to go through being under the shadow of his father and being considered a joke. Rocky then reminds him about watching him grow up and telling about how he would be great and that he'd be his own man. But in that he lost being who he was and instead starting blaming others.

The key point is how Rocky talks about how life hits and how it hits hard. The key lines are these: "It ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward."

I would say the past two weeks I've been taking some real hard shots. The kind that are like ones right to the face. If anyone has ever been hit in the face, especially in the nose, you know how it messes you up. You get dazed, you stagger around a bit and you lose your balance a little. You pretty much can't keep from being really affected by it. It hurts. I think that would pretty much sum up the past two weeks.

That's the way following Jesus is. Sometimes there will be times when you get hit and get hit hard. It will hurt and it'll hurt bad. That's the life we're called to. Throughout the Bible, it talks about how those who followed Jesus had to deal with rough times but they kept going because 1) they knew that following Jesus was worth more than not and 2) they had the presence of the Holy Spirit to comfort them in those times.

It's like Rock said, you have to take the hits and keep moving forward. It may take a little time to shake off the hurt but you keep moving forward. That's what a follower of Jesus is called to.

Reflections on Sports Video Edition #1

Reflecting on Steve McNair

I was on the phone with my dad (10:30pm local time in Krakow) when he told me about the death of Steve McNair. My first reaction was shock. Complete and utter shock. It's one of those things you don't expect to hear. As more information has come out, it has been more tragic in nature.

I thought as I reflected on this I'd look at both the negative and positive. The negative being that it looks more and more like a murder-suicide also involving a 20 year old girl. This girl also was arrested earlier in the week for DUI in a Escalade co-owned by Steve and her. It's sad to hear given the fact that Steve is married and has four kids and for all intents and purposes in apperance was happily married. If there was cheating involved, it is tragic. It reflects how a bad decision can have bad consequences, and in this case really tragic ones.

On the positive side, he will be remembered as a tough quarterback. When the team came to Tennessee in 1997, he was the starting quarterback. For the "hometown" team, he was the QB. He was the epitome of perseverence and toughness and no matter what injury he had and how much practice he missed, you expected to see him out on the field on Sunday. I remember last year blogging right after his retirement about memories I have of his playing days with the Titans. It was a sad day when he retired, it's a sadder day that he passed away.

My thoughts and prayers go out to his family. I hope that Steve followed Jesus and I hope that his family does and that they can turn to Him for comfort in this time of hurt. Steve, you will be missed.