WE HAVE SPIRIT YES WE DO!

Last weekend was the opening for most college football teams around the country. For football fans, there is nothing better than the Fall weather, which signifies it is time for football! And the excitement for football is no greater than in college football stadiums and Universities on game day. My sister-in-law called a couple days before the weekend, saying that their family were given 6 great, 50 yard line seats (if you are a football fan, you know how great a location that is) for Penn State's opening game against Youngstown State. They had 2 left over, so I took my son Caleb (age 9), who is playing flag football this year for the first time. It would be over a 4 hour drive each way, but as Caleb put it: "I don't care if it is a billion miles away, Yes!, let's go!"

A couple notes here. Yes, I am an Iowa Hawkeye fan, but I knew I could set that aside for opening weekend and cheer on Penn State against Youngstown State (yes, I know I live in Ohio and Youngstown is in OH). I also didn't want to get booed, embarrass my relatives, or have beer poured over my head (although I didn't see any beer in the stadium, and the season ticket holder fans we were seated near didn't seem to surly). I also knew this was opening day, which meant Penn State would play a "cupcake" team (meaning a team they should easily beat). I am competitive, so I like competition and the possibility of a team wining or losing; but I decided this was going to be just a nice day to enjoy time with my son and Teresa's sister's family.

I have been at just a couple of college football games, but they can't be beat, in terms of the excitement that the fans, especially the home team's college students bring to that atmosphere.

The pictures I have included show a little of our experience. Caleb was pretty excited, that before the game, he won a Hershey's chocolate bar by throwing a football through a target hole at a booth outside the stadium. I also won one, but Caleb ate that on too since I just started my diet (and I LOVE chocolate!). You also see a picture of some nachos and cheese. I happened to be looking down through my camera when those came by, so I took the picture. I LOVE nachos and cheese, but unbelievably, I once again showed restraint by refraining. When is this diet going to be over? Oh, yeah, I just started it. One of the cool things about the experience was that we arrived a couple hours before the game started and were able to enjoy all the things taking place outside the stadium. We heard both marching bands play, got to through some footballs and just watch all the people getting pumped up for the big game.

Another picture shows the marching band on the field and in the top right hand corner, you can see an "S" which stands for State (Penn State) and made by just the right placement of fans wearing the right colored shirts. The atmosphere inside the stadium was "electric". Lots of music, lots of cheering...Lots of acrobatics and, of course, the mascot, who in one picture, you see him hugging Caleb. Plus, we were there on a day that had great football weather (for you non-football fans, that means it was nice and cool).

One thing that really struck me, was when the Penn State school song was played before the game, with everyone standing, and those who attended Penn State, singing it. I looked at the words on the big screen and they really struck me. They were words that you could have almost sung in church, as a worship song. In fact, that is exactly what I thought: this is a worship song! They were singing about their love and devotion for their school. School loyalty is great, but it also made me sad. I was making the assumption that most of the people that were in that stadium, yelling and screaming for their team, singing from their hearts about their devotion, are not followers of Jesus Christ.

This is the kind of devotion that ought to be giving to Jesus. These are the kinds of songs that ought to come from our hearts, with the energetic emotion that was coming from these football fans. The next day, as I helped lead others in worship, I made sure that I was, first of all, a worshipper, rather than just someone leading others. I gave my heart in singing out to my God. That is where my devotion must lie, and that is where I must strive to lead others.

p.s. Go Hawkeyes!