Last night, I attended my first football game EVER.
Yes, at age 27, I have never been to a live football game, nor done more than halfway glance at one my uncles or Dad had on TV.
But my sister is in marching band, so what can you do? She plays at halftime, so I went at halftime, bought a ticket, and took a seat for the sole purpose of watching the marching band.
I've never understood why people like watching sports. It never made much sense to me, what glued grown men to a TV screen where other grown men throw, catch, kick and dribble a little ball around.
At least five people asked me last night, why have I never been to a football game before?
My question was, why would I go?
I don't even like watching volleyball, which is a sport I understand. I played in junior high so I actually understand the rules and know when I have just seen a good play.
My knowledge of football (before last night) could be summed up in this:
Guys throw a ball across a long field and try to get to the end without getting knocked over. It's really just an excuse for guys to knock each other around, albeit with a lot of weird rules.
So imagine my surprise when, after the band left the field and the players came back on, I found the whole thing mildly entertaining. Especially when five guys mob the one player with the ball, and they all wind up in a huge pile on the ground. I was giggling so hard I nearly spilled my nachos, it was that funny.
Have you ever seen a two teenagers in football pads and helmets waltz across the grass? That was what a few of the tackle attempts looked like to me.
Of course, half of the entertainment wasn't on the field, it was in the stands. Everyone there seemed to have advice for the coach. They sit up high in the bleachers and shout instructions at the players, but you know nobody on the field can hear a word they say. Watching grown men jump up and down, bounce on the edge of their seats and hang their heads in their hands all because of a few kids and a lemon-shaped ball. There's nothing quite like it.
It's infectious. I think I cheered at one point. Me. Cheered. Because a kid caught a ball and then got a face full of grass.
Ah, the weird ways of the world.
I actually stayed for the end of the game.
We lost. :(
But it was fun. Football. Fun.
In my wildest dreams, I never would have imagined that.
October 15, 2011
October 11, 2011
Tall Tales
Have you ever noticed how unrealistic so many movies are? I'm not just talking about fantasy movies, with magic and wizards and such, or sci-fi with spaceships and aliens. These stories acknodlege that they aren't realistic, even though they are as relevant to the real world as any general fiction or non-fiction. Yet even a lot of the stories that seem more 'plausible' and don't have many fantasy elements are very unrealistic.
We like to tell stories about big events, about things that are earth-shattering and require heroes to save the future for us. There is something in big stories, in tall tales, that speaks to our humanity and grabs our attention. We know our lives are small and have little significance in the grand scheme of things. Few of us get an opportinuty to shape the world. Yet the stories we tell are often about the big events that few of us have real contact with rather than the every-day reality of our lives. The blockbuster movies are not about the neighborhood but about the nation or the planet.
Doesn't it make sense, then, that God should speak to us through tall tales? There is much debate about the actual historicty of events such as the Exodus. Did they take place exactly as described in the Bible? Does it matter?
What matters is the story. Big stories get our attention and help us see beyond the small reality of every-day life that we live in. Tall tales ignite our minds and fuel our imaginations and inspire us to reach further than we could without them. Stories that wrap us up into something bigger than we can see make us want to be better than we are.
How often to children play out the events of a story they just heard? When I was in junior high, my friends and I divided the playground into the map of our favotire fantasy series, and replayed stories from the books or created our own. We learn through stories, through playing and participating in the landscape and characters.
God gave us a story and has invited us to come play in it like children (let the little children come to me). We don't need to analyze the story, we need to participate in it. We don't need to pick it apart to figure out what it means, we need to find our place in it.
How often did you want to open a story book and be able to dive straight into the pages, leave this world behind and stand beside your favorite characters in the flesh? We can do that, because the Bible story is playing out all around us every day. We just need to jump in and live the tall tale.
We like to tell stories about big events, about things that are earth-shattering and require heroes to save the future for us. There is something in big stories, in tall tales, that speaks to our humanity and grabs our attention. We know our lives are small and have little significance in the grand scheme of things. Few of us get an opportinuty to shape the world. Yet the stories we tell are often about the big events that few of us have real contact with rather than the every-day reality of our lives. The blockbuster movies are not about the neighborhood but about the nation or the planet.
Doesn't it make sense, then, that God should speak to us through tall tales? There is much debate about the actual historicty of events such as the Exodus. Did they take place exactly as described in the Bible? Does it matter?
What matters is the story. Big stories get our attention and help us see beyond the small reality of every-day life that we live in. Tall tales ignite our minds and fuel our imaginations and inspire us to reach further than we could without them. Stories that wrap us up into something bigger than we can see make us want to be better than we are.
How often to children play out the events of a story they just heard? When I was in junior high, my friends and I divided the playground into the map of our favotire fantasy series, and replayed stories from the books or created our own. We learn through stories, through playing and participating in the landscape and characters.
God gave us a story and has invited us to come play in it like children (let the little children come to me). We don't need to analyze the story, we need to participate in it. We don't need to pick it apart to figure out what it means, we need to find our place in it.
How often did you want to open a story book and be able to dive straight into the pages, leave this world behind and stand beside your favorite characters in the flesh? We can do that, because the Bible story is playing out all around us every day. We just need to jump in and live the tall tale.
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