fantasy vs. loyalty

I was pondering on my way into seminary this morning about how pumped I was about Iowa going to the Orange Bowl to play Georgia Tech on the 5th of January. I love the Iowa Hawkeyes. I have been a fan since I could understand Jim Zobel saying "I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT!" on the radio. I wear Hawkeye t-shirts, sweatshirts, have the fight song ring tone, and stickers on my car. It is great to be a fan, to be inspired for the thrill of a football game. However....

What is it about fantasy that drives us crazy? What is about fantasizing that makes our imagination go wild? Ideas become great insight, absurd remarks are acceptable, and we act as if we are more attached than we are in real life. How is it that the potential and possibility of things unreal give us thoughts and feelings of ecstasy without ever having to come into contact with the real? I get very excited about college football, I take ownership of a team in which I know no one on a personal level; I reach my highest highs and lowest lows on the performance of this same group of people. Where is my motivation outside of fantasy land? Why is it not the same or maybe more sobering, why can I not become lost in anticipation and excitement with my faith versus my fandom?

As I ponder more, the biblical narrative tells very much like a fantasy. I have to believe in faith all of the extraordinary instances of God’s provision and intervention, yet I become more engrossed in a 3 hour game…a game versus the foundational story I claim to build my life on. How is it that priorities have gotten turned backwards? Or better yet, why is this “foundational story” not evident in people as much as their loyalty to their sports? These are just a few of my developing convictions….