“For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.'”
(Luke 14:28-30)
Purgatory does exist. It is called “Being a Cleveland, Ohio sports fan.” Sorrow stacked upon sorrow, despair is your constant companion, and hope is nothing more than an evil phantom whispering to your broken heart, “maybe next year…maybe next year…maybe next year?”
If there ever was a poster boy for Cleveland sports it has to be Super Joe Charboneau. Never heard of him? That is because you are not a true Cleveland blue-blood. Or more accurately, you are not familiar with the raw and industrial worldview of a Cleveland blue-collar man. I remember him well because his heyday hit when I was just a young freshman in High School. From my perspective, he was the perfect Cleveland Honyak. Let me tell you about him…
– in 1976 he was drafted to play minor league baseball for a number of big league farm clubs – – but at first, it didn’t go well because he was born to fight,. Not only did he get caught up in a few barroom brawls after bad games, but he also fought with his own team management. So instead of “serving the man”, he decided to play beer league softball in Belvidere, Illinois, his very own small Midwestern home-town.
– In 1979 the Cleveland Indians negotiated for his rights and sent him to Chattanooga where he hit .352 catching the eyes of the Cleveland front office. His big break came quick, Andre “Thunder” Thornton (another Cleveland icon) got hurt and Joe was moved up to the big leagues: Number 34, outfield. He probably inspired John Fogerty’s song Centerfield, “Put me in coach, I’m ready to play!”
– His reputation as a brawler continued to follow him, once during spring training in Mexico for an exhibition game, a crazed fan stuck Charboneau with a penknife. The knife penetrated four inches and hit a rib, but Charboneau played his first regular-season game just over a month later. The Cleveland Press and your average sports fan ate this up, “Joe was just like us!”
– Strange but true stories started coming out about Joe: he could open up beer bottles with his eye socket, he loved to show how he could drink beer through a straw up his nose, he permed and dyed his hair different colors. He even did his own dental work, and it is rumored he fixed a broken nose with a pair of pliers and few shots of Jack Daniels to chase it down. This guy was 100% Cleveland! My buddies would buy beer in the bottle just to see if they could open it with their eye-socket too. In fact, one idiot friend lacerated his skin just underneath his eyebrow and had to get stitches. No matter, being like Joe was Cool!
– His first season with the Indians was amazing: His. batting average was a slick .289, he powered out 23 home runs and had 87 RBI’s. Eventually, he even was awarded the American League Rookie of the Year.
All summer long my friends and I were caught up in the Super Joe mania. My dad took me to a couple games and the stands were rocking every time he went up to bat — cheering was non-stop as it echoed out in the old cavernous Cleveland Municipal Stadium. They even had written a song about him, “Go, Joe Charboneau,” it was almost as famous as “Strike Up the Band” by The Micheal Stanley Band (Another Cleveland only). After the year was over Cleveland fans couldn’t wait for his return.
But it was short lived – – in spring training he injured his backsliding head-first. It ruined him completely. He tried to rehab in minor league ball, but he couldn’t bounce back. His decline got so bad so fast that he couldn’t contain the brawler inside of him. One lonely baseball night in Buffalo a fan was jeering him and he couldn’t stop himself from flipping-off the crowd. After giving the bird and he was sent packing.
A METAPHOR
Super Joe lives on in Cleveland lore, but that’s about it. No championships won, no long term records broken, he was just a comet blazing for a short time across the Cleveland sky with the Terminal Tower silhouetted in the background. Sure it was an exciting time, but today Super Joe is nothing more than a novelty for people old enough to remember.
I find this to be true with many Christians these days. They have one or two years of excitement when the Spirit of God knocks on their heart. There is brief excitement, but after a while they just go back to their former ways. I think one of the main reasons for this is our tradition of revivalism. A preacher comes into town, fires up the enthusiasm of the crowd, people make quick decisions for Christ at the moment, and then the preacher leaves…”What now?” The usual answer was silly: join an angry church, wear a tie, listen to organ music, and go out and get people saved. And if you can’t do it yourself, hire another fire-eating preacher and have another revival. This kind of Christian life doesn’t last long – – in fact, I think it has done more harm than good. Modern-day revivalism still exists in our rocking music concerts and healing miracle tours, with little long term effect; the church has become just like Super Joe Charbeneau.
When Jesus came to town to look for followers he, first of all, won them to his mercy. He went deep, revealed their need and satisfied their hunger. And then he said, “drop your nets, and follow me…from now on you will be fishing for men.” In other words, your life will now forever change. The course of life must change. The perspective of life must change. It is not to be a short-lived moment of excitement – – but Jesus calls us to a new lifestyle. We are expected to turn from our American idols and follow Jesus alone. David Platt in his book “Follow Me” writes:
“People in a predominantly ‘Christian’ setting aren’t bowing down before idols or offering sacrifices to false gods. So what does repentance look like in their lives? This question is extremely important…because we don’t consider the American man looking at pornographic pictures online or watching ungodly television shows and movies as bowing down to idols. We don’t think about the American woman incessantly shopping for more possessions or obsessively consumed with the way she looks as bad as following false gods. We don’t take into account men and women in the Western world constantly enamored with money and blindly engulfed in materialism as bad. We hardly even think about our busy efforts to climb the corporate ladder, or incessant worship of sports, our temper when things don’t go our way, our worries that things won’t go our way, our overeating, our excesses and all sorts of worldly indulgences…
We can’t fathom a Christian on the other side of the world believing that a wooden god can save them, but we have no problem believing that religion, money, possessions, food, fame, sex, sports, status, and success can satisfy us. Do we actually think that we have fewer idols to let go of in our repentance?”
So what does it mean to really live a changed life? How do we make sure we are not “a comet blazing across the sky”? I think it begins with hunger. Has Jesus really satisfied your longings, has he really met your needs, or are you still finding satisfaction in things other than Christ? If you are, Jesus will be just an add on, something cool to do on Sunday morning, and your walk with him won’t last.
For me, Jesus has become my life. The world outside of Christ was empty, it failed me. I was hungry and Jesus satisfied my every need. He really did. Until you find him as all you ever wanted, you will be like Super Joe – – a person living on excitement, and that’s it.
