The Tigers, The Tide & Clemson For Christmas!

It was one of the best football games I've ever seen.  

I told someone after the game it reminded me of Rocky and Apollo Creed pounding each other relentlessly.  

In the end Bama came away with their 16th national championship and "roll tide" rang throughout the stadium in Phoenix.  

However, something hit me like a brick in the third quarter of the game, something so heavy that the weight of it caused me to have to sit down for a minute.  

For me this was simply a football game that I cared about because of the people I was connected with who were involved in playing and coaching.

However, to thousands of others...it was an act of worship, and possibly the closest experience to heaven that some people may have.  

I'm not faulting college football, heck, I love it.  But the fact that thousands of people invested their entire emotional well being into a football game, and were either crushed by overwhelming defeat or lifted to new heights because of victory, is proof that all human beings want to worship (give their time, money, thoughts and attention) to something. 

However, it is a dangerous thing to allow something completely beyond our control to dictate our attitude and emotions.  

Let me pause for a second here and say it's a funny thing when we try to do something at NewSpring such as start a campus or do a missions project - and how people often ask "is that the best way to spend the money" or "how many homeless people can be helped?"

(Let me point out that when Mary broke open the jar of perfume in John 12 and poured it on Jesus' feet - it was Judas who said the money should have been given to the poor.  Accusations like this are fueled by the spirit of Judas, not Jesus!) 

However, I would be willing to bet that hardly anyone in the world watched the National Championship and thought "wow, what else could they have done with the money that went into that game?" 

Honestly - I have NO IDEA how much money was involved in the National Championship game.  However, I am sure we can all agree that millions upon millions of dollars were spent for one game.  

Once again, I am not attacking college football - what I am saying is that I believe with all my heart that the 3.1 million dollars that was given to Clemson for Christmas is going to matter in 100 years...the National Championship will not.  

I am so excited about our Clemson campus - and all we are going to see Christ do in Clemson!  

The potential for life change and global impact are unlimited!  

And to everyone who gave to that offering, thank you so much - I can promise you that you will see a return when the stories of changed lives begin pouring out of that campus.  

Clemson may not have won a national championship - but because of your generosity we are going to see an eternal difference.