“Cleveland!!!!! This is for you!”
Lebron James
Cleveland, I am so proud!
This is not bandwagon jumping, it is more like crawling out from under a rock and feeling the sunshine on your face. Cleveland sports fans have waited a long, long, long, long, long,….you get the drift.….time for a champion. I am sure if you are not from Cleveland you are sick of hearing about it; if you are from Cleveland, born and raised in Cleveland, you probably think this NBA Finals win is a practical joke.
“Did Kyrie really hit that three?”
“Did Lebron finally quit whining about the ref’s call, and start playing the way we know he can play?”
“Did they really beat the ‘Splash Brothers?'”
The answer is yes, yes, yes! Cleveland fans, you can stop holding your breath, you can stop crossing your fingers, and you can stop letting people make fun of the flaming Cuyahoga River. The wait is over, the chase is completed, you finally are somebody.
So what does it mean to be somebody? What do we win?
Hmmmm, great question? Well, you win what every winner wins – bragging rights. You now get to stand in your kitchen, while your kielbasa and sauerkraut is sizzling on the stove, open the back screen-door, and shout loudly to the world, “We Won!! We are the best!”
Then what? For a week you can raise your “Rolling Rock” long-necked bottle of beer and cheer on the Cavs. Then what? You can call your snarky cousin from California and rub the win into his nose. O.K., I will give you that. But I have to ask it one more time, “And then what….?”
You know what is next: Talk about next year. Speculate about next year. Next year, next year, next year. When will chasing the dream ever stop? Never!
“C’mon man. You are ruining the win. Stop throwing cold water on my hot heart of a Champion. Don’t you care? Cleveland finally won! Don’t you understand how unreal and unbelievable and unfathomable this is? Have you no heart for the horrid years of drought the sorry Cleveland fan had to endure?”
Cleveland fan? I was a Cleveland fan when Greg Pruitt was carrying the pigskin with his signature tear-away jersey. I was a Cleveland fan when Julio Franco was playing shortstop for Chief Wahoo and his tribe. I was a Cleveland fan when the Michael Stanley Band was being played non-stop on WMMS radio. I actually had Brian Sipe’s poster in my room!
But tell me, what now? What does the Cleveland fan do now?
Sports is great fun…but that is about it. It took me until about the age of 27 to grow up and realize this, but when I finally did, I saw how being a sports junkie is like playing a game of chasing shadows. Once you catch it, it slips from your fingers. If you are a die-hard Lebron fan, do you realize he doesn’t even know who you are? Don’t get me wrong, I actually liked Lebron for a few short minutes – – but this win isn’t about Cleveland as much it is about him. His pride, his ego, his pocket-book.
After a few weeks, all you are left with is your Rolling Rock and string of Kielbasa.
Do you realize, while you are chasing more sports fame and glory, Glory himself has been chasing you? Ever since you have been born, God has been stalking you, wanting you. But far too often most of us have been glued to the TV. That emptiness you will feel in a few days is God trying to tell you there is more than basketball and the Browns. Life has meaning, is has a purpose, and it is more than bouncing a ball. It took me a long time to realize it, but while I was chasing empty dreams, God caught me on Highway 44 in Mentor, Ohio and showed me the more there is.
I don’t quite know how to explain it, but He impressed upon my heart how human beings are designed to bring honor and praise to his name. He designed us to be grown-ups and mature beings of dignity. And not couch sitting, beer-swilling lumps of clay.
Church leaders over the centuries have always asked this question: “What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”
How do we do that? Watch more basketball? There is nothing wrong with watching sports, the problem is thinking this is life. Life is Jesus Christ – – and until you find him your heart will be like a constant sink-hole of hopes and dreams impossible to satisfy. Have you ever tried to fill a sinkhole? For a day or two, the dirt you put in will seem to fill it, but once again it will be washed into the empty void. Sports is like that.
But when Jesus takes over, life begins to stick. The hole gets filled, you become more of who God created you to become.
Right now as I write this blog, people are outside my office preparing for a funeral service. Their 71-year-old mom died. Now they want me, a Cleveland sports fan, to perform the service and bring hope to a dreadful situation. As I meditated on my message I found the perfect thing to say to this broken, hurting family. Here it is, “My dear brothers and sisters. Fret not. I know that your loved one has just passed, I know you have watched her health fail the last few years. I know you have cried, wept and wondered why? I know your pain, I too have watched the Browns, Cavs and Indians ruin my hopes and dreams every year. I know your hurt. But please listen…Lebron just won the NBA championship and all is well. Let’s pray!”
Well, the family is calling me out, I must get my tie on, and put on my blue jacket for the funeral service. I don’t have time to revise my message – – so wish me luck! I think they will love it!
Go Cleveland!
