To suggest that my wife has never been a football fan would be an understatement. Lynn never has liked football. Her father and brothers watched football all the time, and she decided she would never marry a football fan. God really does have a sense of humor, doesn’t He! Perhaps the greatest declaration of Lynn’s love and devotion to me was agreeing that we would watch together the second half of Arkansas play Oklahoma in the 1978 Orange Bowl… while we were on our honeymoon! Arkansas won in a 31-6 rout, and she seemed to enjoy the game… or she enjoyed me enjoying the game. With that one exception, I don’t think Lynn has ever really enjoyed football.Until Sunday night. She thoroughly enjoyed watching the Hall of Fame preseason NFL game between the Eagles and Raiders. We watched the whole game. Even when she dozed a bit near the end, she didn’t want to miss anything and had me wake her up when the Raiders got the ball. Why? Torrence “Tank” Daniels is a rookie free-agent linebacker for the Eagles. He was a four year star at Harding University, and he is married to Tressa’s best friend Courtney. Lynn still doesn’t really care about football, but she cares about Courtney and Tank and their kids. She wasn’t really pulling for the Eagles, but we were both cheering for Tank. Oh, yeah, Tank had a great game—at least three solo tackles for losses and forced a fumble and recovered it. (The fumble was reversed by instant replay, but it was worth it to watch them replay Tank smacking the guy over and over in slow motion and then hearing John Madden ranking about how “in the old days, that’s fumble!”)
When you care about someone, then you care about what they care about. And what God cares about is His family. The church is at times is a motley crew of very different people with very different backgrounds, expectations, needs and interests. And yet we have been brought into relationship by the greatest unifying force—the blood of Jesus Christ. The wall of partition has come down, and the differences that once kept us apart no longer make a difference. We become important to one another because we are all so very important to our Father.
If Lynn can get excited about a football game, then it is a simple thing to get excited about our relationship in Christ and live together as a committed family.
3 comments:
Tank was interviewed on the philadelphiaeagles.com. You can watch and listen at http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/multimedia/mediaCenter.jsp?id=52955
Good one Dad!!!
Tank doesn't get to a computer often these days so I am writing for him. Everyone's encouragement has been such a blessing to our family and to Tank's morale. He has worked from 8:00 am to 9:00 pm with practice and meeting every Sunday for almost a month so he is literally starving for Christian companions which makes everyone's prayers and encouragement mean so much. He also thanks Tuck and Lynn for allowing his wife (myself) and children to stay at their house. He is greatly indebted to Tressa and Angelynn for taking care of myself and our kids while he has been away. They have been not only wonderful friends but they have been truly essential to my day. It can get pretty lonely being a single parent and not having any family around. Tressa and Angelynn have kept my spirits up by coming over for supper and watching our children if I need to get out (even if it is only to go to Wal-Mart). Having people who are willing to help when you need them, support your husband and pray for your family are just a few of the joys of being a Christian. God has abundantly poured blessings into our lives and we thank Him. We also thank everyone for their encouraging words and prayers.
Tank and Courtney Daniels
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