Team God

It's that time of year. Time to get out the old softball cleats, dust off your glove and warm up for the new season. It's exciting. I could go many ways with a post talking about slow pitch softball...such as the many hilarious happenings of each game, the fact that many injuries could come from a body going from rest to a dead sprint, or so much more. But I have to address the "Team God".

Today we played Team God. They were set apart. Just as the bible says they should be. Their shirts had big crosses on them, I think I remember something about the Gospel written in their shirts, and they took it one step further...they disclosed the church they went to. Big mistake.

I would like to tell you why I believe these are 3 very perilous steps. Now, let me start off by saying this is my opinion. I won't use any references to scripture saying that there is a clear example that Jesus taught not to play slow-pitch softball with his name representing the team. Maybe I'm wrong and everyone should do this. Hopefully by the end I will figure that out!

Reason # 1: Why you should not make a Team God. To start off, if you even look at someone wrong, they think..."what is this?! Team God is looking at me angerly and I don't like it. Aren't they supposed to love everyone? Some Team God."

Reason #2: If you say something like, "Wow, it was a long night last night!" Nobody knows what you are talking about. Nobody knows that you were leading people to a relationship with Christ and then the baptizing took longer than expected. It's going to be assumed that you were drinking the night before the big Team God game. Not ok.

Reason #3: If you miss an opportune chance to get an out, tag someone, or make a killer dive and you get a little upset....once again, Team God is not allowed to have an ill tempered demeanor. Everyone knows that God people are not to be upset by anything! Aren't they perfect?

Reason #4: The evangelistic God Team. It is the responsibility of every Christian to invite Non-Christians to all the events they are a part of...so Team God seams like the best choice. But it's not. Don't be deceived. What if you invite someone who curses and flat out yells at some of the other players. Or what if they even play in an unsportsmanlike conduct. The opposing team thinks that they are on Team God, but their actions aren't lining up to the Team God Creed. To fix this one...you have to be an exclusive team, but then you can't invite. What's the balance there?

Reason #5: You are representing God. What if you lose? You are playing for God and you lose...what kind of testimony is that?! I guess you could have a good attitude afterwards, but nobody REALLY wants the sportsmanship award. It's kind of just given out to make the lowest scoring team feel some sense of accomplishment. I'm pretty sure God doesn't want a pity trophy. I know I don't!

So, these are just 5 reasons why I believe Team God is a bad, bad idea. You can always play on a God team, but please, for the sake of representing, call it something else! I'm sure they will see that you are acting in a loving way and that you are set apart. With out the title.