Coach Dave Daubenmire
“Any way the wind blows doesn’t really matter to me.” —Bohemian Rhapsody
Sometimes I feel like I live in a bubble. It seems as if nearly every waking moment my mind is racing as I struggle to figure out what we can do to stop the onslaught of evil that is enveloping this land.
It is not the evil that troubles my sleep. It is the apathy. It reminds me of the old saw about the high school social studies teacher who asked his students what was the most pressing need facing the nation. To his despair, the most common response was, “I don’t know and I don’t care.”
Any way the wind blows….
But my frustration doesn’t come from a gaggle of high school students who couldn’t tell the difference between a paper dollar and a solid Gold Eagle coin, but from the frumpy, sports focused men who attend the regular men’s “prayer breakfast” at your average evanjellyfish assembly.
This really hit home last Monday night as a watched a stadium full of grown men paint their faces and jump up and down in hopes of cheering the LSU Tigers to victory in the National Championship game in The Big Easy.
It was appropriate, I guess, that the game would be played in New Orleans where nothing about the struggle on the field was easy. Heck, life isn’t easy, and whether we understand it or not it is about to get a lot more difficult for a whole bunch of Americans in the days that lie ahead.
Don’t get me wrong, I watched the game and I rooted hard all season for the Ohio State Buckeyes, but that is only after I spent most of my day fighting for the things that actually matter. I watch the Bucks for enjoyment not for worship.
Why is it that most American men, Christ lovers included, care so little about how this nation is being ravaged by the forces of darkness? What will it take to get them out of the pews and into the game? Why do they seem to care so little about what matters the most? The future lives of their children and grand children.
Christian values are under assault in this nation and it is next to impossible to find a strong Christian man who will lift a finger to do anything about it. If their favorite team played as disinterested as God’s team, they wouldn’t take the time to turn on the TV.
Or go to church. Perhaps it is the ambivalence in the church that makes them so passive. Their very progeny are being robbed and the sacrifice that their own father’s made to secure liberty is being trampled under, much like the plastic beer cups left in the aisle after Monday’s game. There is nothing so sad as to have lived for nothing. The sissified church has taken the fight right out of the men. The American church is in need of some serious climate change.
I write often and I do a daily podcast at www.CoachDaveLive.com . Perhaps it is my emersion in the things that really matter that causes my frustration level to be so high. But it is like watching your favorite football team lose to a team that is clearly overmatched.
“What’s wrong with you guys?!” I heard a friend scream the night that Ohio State lost to Clemson. “We’re better than this! You guys act like you don’t even care. Put some heart and soul into what you are doing.”
Could that be the problem with the American church? Most men aren’t playing with any heart. In fact, they haven’t ever been taught that Christianity is a participation sport. Sunday service is a production, a performance by those who have been specifically trained to make sure that no flags are thrown and no penalties called during the “time of worship.”
But what are the men worshiping and why aren’t they doing it with the same passion and zeal that they display as they sit in front of the 54 inch big screen in their man cave? Could it be that they don’t see church as a training ground for an army of Christian soldiers? Could it be that they are never challenged to get out of their comfort zones and engage the enemy? Do they have any idea there IS an enemy?
Any way the wind blows…does it matter to most Christian men?
What drives a man to act like such a fool at football games? Why do these same men slip into the pew and become so passive? Is it because they are looking to be on a team? A real team? A team full of men who are dedicated to conquering a common foe and spend their blood, sweat, and toil TOGETHER in defense of their cause?
Does that describe a men’s prayer breakfast or a Monday night football game. What compels a man to paint his face and scream for the Tigers? What makes that same man so passive about defending the Truth, and his family, from dark forces?
My sweet wife hugged me last week after one particular fiery morning show. “You put everything you have into it every day. I don’t know what it will take to wake the men up. But don’t give up. Many care. They just don’t know what to do about it.”
I noticed after the game on Monday that it was LSU quarterback Joe Burrow who was holding the trophy over his head. He earned it. It mattered to him. It mattered to his team mates. Joe Burrowed grabbed the flag and said “follow me boys.” Men follow courage.
What about you? What matters to you? America is crumbling because too many men are gone with the wind.
The enemies of the cross are winning the war with nothing but hot air. Our silence in the face of this moral tornado says it all. It is time for Christian men to rise up. Can we do it? Can we change the direction of this nation? It is time for us to get out of the bleachers and into the game.
“Nothing really matters. Everyone can see. Nothing really matters to me.” Freddy Mercury.
Enough already of the hot air. It is time to change the forecast. Awaken the Spirit within you. It is time for Christians to be the wind.
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E-Mail Dave Daubenmire: ptsalt@gmail.com
