I'm glad we lost.... What?!

First, it gives me great pain to write this blog. That being said, I have loved uk football this year. It was great to finally get excited about something that I was apart of. College football is one of the greatest things to watch on television, but when you're college is in the mix of things, it is so much better. The problem is, we are no longer a factor. Our team thought the season was a sprint, not a marathon and we paid for it dearly. Yes, you read the title right, I'm glad, in a weird way, that we ended up losing down the stretch. Now, before you tar and feather me, I was one of the most committed UK football fans this season. I went to every home game except the florida atlantic game because family was in town. However, even in that game I was constantly texting my friends who were at the game to get updates. Those were back in the good ol' days when Andre' Woodson was the frontrunner in the heisman race. Not only was I a committed home fan, but hobbs, tolliver, and I drove down to south carolina for the big thursday night game on espn. We were still undefeated up until that point. Though we lost that game, along with a lot of money and pride, we were still committed. That was a crazy trip by the way, you should ask me about it sometime. I loved the wildcats. I was out on the field hitting Andre's shoulder pads when they beat Satan's team, Louisville that is not to be confused with Tennessee. I rushed the field when we beat LSU. I even have some grass from the field in a bag to prove it. What a great start to the season. We were 6-1, and as high as 7th in the nation with Woodson leading the way as a Heisman candidate. After beating Lsu, college gameday and the florida gators came to town. I was stoked out of my mind. Once again, myself and a few of my crazy friends proved our fanhood by camping out in front of Willy T. I was one of the first people in line and got front row Gameday. I recorded it on tv and replayed it to see that I got on espn all day. We headed over to Commonwealth only to see us barely loose to the hated Gators. If you remember correctly we were an onside kick away from winning that game. Things were good. We were 6-2 and headed into what was supposed to be an easier part of our schedule. As you all know we finished our season an abysmal 1-4 making our overall record 7-5. Oh by the way, the once 7th ranked wildcats ended up with the same record as last year and are headed back the Music City Bowl.
All that to say that I am glad that all this happened. The degree of failure might have been a little much, but with the crazy way that things turned out in the bsc this year, uk could easily be in a bsc game. Anyway, after the season took a dramatic turn for the worse, I found an empty feeling inside of me that took the place of the joy that was once there. You see I was living for Saturdays. I would think about the upcoming game all week. Pouring over stats, news articles, anything I could find about UK football or about the team that they were playing next. My priorities had gotten way out of wack. It had become my vine, my source of life. John 15:5 says, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." When I woke up in the mornings I was thinking about uk football. In my conversations throughout the day I was talking about uk football. If you would have asked me I would have automatically answered, "oh yea, Christ is my vine." If you looked at my thoughts and actions though, you could clearly see that I was trying to get my source of life from elsewhere. You see, every person is MADE for a purpose. Every person has a specific and a general purpose. I can't tell you what your specific purpose is, but I do know that your general purpose is to glorify God and to get your source of life from Him. When we try to replace that #1 spot in our lives with something, or someone, else, we don't function properly. We aren't going to be satisfied because we are not getting life where we are supposed to be getting it from. For example, I love coca- cola, also known as sweet nectar from the gods. However, my body is designed in such a way that it demands water in order to function properly. If all I did was drink coke and no water, I would be in the hospital fast. Is it okay to drink coke? Well, yea, as long as I'm getting my physical source of life from water. Is it okay to enjoy and participate in fill in the blank (for me it was uk football)? Well, yea, as long as I am getting my true source of life from Christ. Abide in Christ and bear much fruit. This is the way you were designed to function. That is, you were designed to thrive on a personal relationship with the eternal creator of the universe.