When a baby is born in the state of Alabama, after all the necessary information is taken, the next question asked is this:  Is he/she an Alabama fan or an Auburn fan? There might even be a place on the birth certificate for the answer to that question. (There isn’t.) The fact is that college football is taken seriously in the state of Alabama.

Growing up, it was quickly made known to me that I was an Auburn fan. My dad had graduated from Auburn and I was constantly dressed in orange and blue. Things were almost different though. My dad’s dad was an Alabama graduate and my dad was a Bama fan growing up. He wanted to attend Alabama, but decided on a whim to visit Auburn with a friend one weekend while deciding where to go to college.

He said he would never forget the man’s name that came walking up as soon as he opened the car door in Auburn. “Hi, my name is Cal Friddle. Welcome to Auburn, can I help you?” Cal wasn’t a representative of Auburn. He wasn’t the tour guide. He was just a student who loved Auburn. And my dad quickly loved it as well. Changing the course of his life and most likely mine as well.

Tonight, the Auburn Tigers play in the BCS National Championship game. It’s a day that most Auburn fans weren’t sure would come.  Something always seems to happen when Auburn goes undefeated. Whether it’s probation or being the odd man out when 3 teams go undefeated – something has always kept this day from happening.  This season was no different, but Auburn is in the game.

Fans can aruge (and will) all day long about who is better and it can get ugly, but in the end it doesn’t really matter. I think it’s important that we keep that in mind, but there is something special about a father and son connecting over a sport. Some of my favorite memories are from watching Auburn games with my dad. We would jump up and down and scream at the TV.

I remember that I got mad at my dad one day during a game and declared my loyalty to Alabama. Auburn scored a touchdown on the next play.  My first Alabama/Auburn game was with my dad and Auburn won in the closings seconds. When I was in college I got the opportunity to work for Auburn football and got the chance to share more Auburn games with my family.  I rang in the New Year in 2008 with my dad in the car driving back from surprising him with tickets to an Auburn bowl game.  Great memories.

I will never forget those times.

So tonight, I am asking Auburn to win it for my dad.  He’s loved Auburn for a long time and I want nothing more than for him to see Auburn win it all.  It would be one more memory that I would cherish.

War Eagle.

This past weekend I traveled to Auburn, AL for my bachelor party.  It wasn’t your typical bachelor party as it didn’t include some of the more common shenanigans, but it worked just fine for me.  It was great to be with friends and play some golf and go to a football game.  The game was unbelievable.  Auburn fell behind 17 points and then furiously rallied to win 27-24 in overtime.

The crowd was going crazy when the game ended, but the mood was quite different at halftime.  At halftime there as anger.  I can’t quote a single thing I heard on here as that would probably set off the accountability software on my computer, but let’s just say it wasn’t nice.  If what I heard actually happened, coaches would have been fired on the spot and their moms and families would have suffered some terrible terrible things.

There as such an intense passion from these fans.  It felt like their life was at stake. Like a need wasn’t being met. I knew exactly what they were feeling.  I’ve been there many many times.  I remember one year after a loss, I found myself depressed and laying in bed the next day.  I didn’t know why then, but I remember asking myself why I was letting a football game effect my life so much?

My good friend and mentor, Pete Wilson, said this one time when talking about idols:

My fear for you isn’t that you will chase after the ridiculously evil, but what is deceptively good.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with following a football team, especially an institution that you spent a lot of money getting an education from.  But a lot of times we fall into the trap of letting that experience define who we are.  The outcomes of games that we have no part in preparing for or playing in sets our mood, attitude and also the way we treat other people.  That’s why I found myself depressed.  I was letting the result of an idol in my life define who I was.

I’ve written about this before, but I can’t help but revisit it after this weekend and especially after reading the book, Radical. (which I do NOT recommend unless you are absolutely serious about following Christ.)

What are we chasing after?  What happens when what you are chasing after actually happens?  You get the girl, you get the job, your team wins it all.  What then? When an idol in your life is realized it will always result in emptiness.

In the book of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon writes that everything in life that we chase after is meaningless.  This is coming from a king.  The richest man in the world.  He had it all.  And it was all meaningless apart from a relationship with God.

Once again, it is an everyday decision.  One check that I do is continually ask myself, “Would I be willing to sin in order to get it?”

Would I sin so Auburn could win?  Would I sin to get that job?  Would I sin to make that girl like me?  If so, it’s an idol and it will always end in emptiness.

I love underdogs.  Who doesn’t? Cheering for the underdog is a national pastime. One of my favorite movies is Rudy, which could possibly be the greatest underdog story ever.

Recently I read a story about Maurice Clarett attempting a comeback into professional football.  If you aren’t familiar with Maurice, here is a refresher:

Clarett, a former Mr. Football in Ohio, started for the Buckeyes as a freshman and quickly asserted himself as one of the premier running backs in the country. He rushed for 1,237 yards in 2002, helping Ohio State to its first national championship in 34 years.

But he was ruled ineligible the following year for taking special benefits worth thousands of dollars. He sued to enter the NFL draft early, before he was out of high school for three years, but lost in court.

After he was eventually drafted by the Broncos, he was cut before the season started. Then, in September 2006, he pleaded guilty to having a hidden gun in his sport utility vehicle and holding up two people outside a bar.

Maurice did his time in prison and then did 4 1/2 months in a transition house.  Now he wants a shot at his passion again.  He wants to play football.  He’s stayed in shape and if he can prove he has his head on straight, there is a team in the United Football League that wants to give him a tryout.

I hope he makes it.  I even hope he makes it back to the NFL and is successful.  Call me crazy, but I love the underdog.  He paid the price for his mistakes and deserves another shot.

Why is it so easy for us to cheer for sports underdogs, but not ministry underdogs?

A close friend and mentor of mine, Justin Davis, was exactly that. He was a successful pastor in a church he started and then had an affair.

Let me guess.  Your heart didn’t flutter with excitement at the thought of him pastoring again did it?  Justin’s comeback journey was painful and his marriage went through the most intense refinement possible… and it worked.

The underdog, who most weren’t cheering for, is now a campus pastor and on the teaching team at Cross Point Community Church.  The journey isn’t over though.  He wants others to learn from his experience and has started Refine Our Marriage.

I know most of my readers aren’t in that season of life, but one day you will be.  We can still take away a lot from their story.  I know that I have.  The main thing that keeps sticking out to me is this:  I have 54 days before I will be married and I am 100% sure that Justin loved Trisha just as much as I love Amy 54 days before their wedding.

I am not above anything.  This isn’t a “this can’t happen to me” scenario.  I am so thankful for the wisdom that their story has spoken into my life and you will be too.