Being "that" Fan

One of my favorite things is sports. If you know me, you probably know this little tidbit of information already. If not and you are reading this just because, well I like sports. Football and basketball take the top two spots for me, but really I like others as well. And I like them at just about all levels (no matter how painful they may be to watch at times). But there is one thing about sports, and especially going to a sporting event in a small gym or football field that is hard to deal with: The obnoxious fan.
You know the one I'm sure. It's the person that sits in the stands and yells (wanting to be heard of course) at the refs, at the coaches, and the kids. It's the kind of thing that I am afraid of doing myself when my kids are actually old enough to participate in games that aren't as painful to watch. It's part of the reason that I am not sure about ever coaching my kids in pee-wee sports. I'm afraid that I would make myself look bad. Granted I have done this before and been reprimanded for it. I sit there at games now and can hear this type of fan yelling and I think the same thing that a couple next to me voiced: "This isn't Little Dribblers anymore. Nobody wants to listen to that now."

The thing that gets me though is when the person isn't just yelling indiscriminately, but instead is yelling very specifically, usually at their own kid. I can understand having a passion for the sport (or just sports in general) and even the desire to see your team and your kid do well. But is it really called for to yell at or to your child things that aren't exactly encouraging? My parents were great when it came to my sports. They were there and they were supportive, but thankfully they didn't yell at me about what I was supposed to do (in part that may be because they didn't really know any different). I remember a friend's dad who would come down and stand on the track behind us at Junior High football games and yell stuff at his son. Look let me put it like this, you're not coming off great to the folks around you. People that I've been around aren't generally supportive (or always appreciative) of this kind of thing. I know you're trying to help, to get a call, to get your kid to realize what's going on. I'm just saying that it may not be the best way to go about it.

I think in a lot of ways, people take that same view of Christians. Here we are on the outside, not in the heat of doing life with these people, and yet we are voicing (loudly usually) instructions about how they should be doing stuff. We are pacing on the track yelling out at those who are actully playing. What good does that do? Honestly, even if they hear us, do we think they are going to suddenly just listen to us? I think this is one of the reasons that Christians are often times seen as being that obnoxious sports fan. We think we know everything and we will loudly voice it for all those around us to hear, and yet what we doing to really help make a change?

In Acts 2:42-47 it talks about the early church. If you are a part of our youth ministry then you know that what we call it is 2Forty2. This refers to Acts 2:42, which talks about what the early believers did as far as worship, and prayer and fellowship and breaking bread together. But when we read further we also see that they shared what they had, not just amongst themselves but with others as there was need. They saw a problem and they found a way to deal with it, they didn't simply shout solutions. Then in verse 47b we reach the real kicker: "They enjoyed the good will of all the people. And God added to their number daily those who were being saved." They were not the obnoxious sports fan. This is what our call is. To live out our faith in such a way that people are drawn to us, not repelled by us. And that is hard to do, just like it is sometimes hard to not be that obnoxious fan in the stands. Peace and Love y'all.