The Airport

A few weeks ago a friend and I arrived back at the Miami airport after a week of service in Costa Rica. (More on that week later) We were tired and a little worried that we wouldn't make our flight to St. Louis which was two short hours from the time we landed.
Once the plane landed we sped off to customs, trying to pass as many people as possible. This was no easy task as they had the same idea we did. It was speed walking foot race down a long hallway to...a huge line of people. Having never been to Miami airport or their Customs department more panic started to rise.
One staff member was trying to direct hundreds of tired, impatient travels. I thought maybe Customs was just around the corner but I had no idea how long we would have to wait in the hallway. A few of the travelers were saying they had waited an hour and a half. We would never make our flight.
More panic started to rise.
After less than ten minutes they let us turn the corner...to another huge line. With Customs no where in sight, people really started to push and shove. I had raced ahead of my friend because I had the checked bag in my name with our coffee and honey. The line looked long but it moved fast but we still were not told how long before we got to Customs. While waiting in line I looked up later flights for St. Louis.
As it turns out Customs wasn't that far away and the lines moved very quickly. In fact, from the time we landed to the time we arrived at our gate only an hour and thirty minutes passed. We had thirty minutes to spare.
Once on the plane, I reflected on the past two hours. I thought about how scared we were that we would miss our flight. I thought about how spending a week of absolutely no rushing being forced to into the craziness that is the US Customs. I thought about the rush of excitement as we raced through the airport. I thought about if the staff just told us how long we had to wait we wouldn't have been so scared.
I thought about how this is the same in the spiritual life as well. I don't know about you, but God has never told me how long I have to wait for the things I want or the things He's calling me to. We often get angry when we don't have all the answers. It comes from feeling panicked, which comes from not being in control. But maybe it's a good thing we don't know what's coming We can get complacent. I know I can. Not knowing is apart of the adventure. It was exciting to race through the airport- we felt like we were on the Amazing Race.
God is calling us to be open to the adventure. He is calling us to trust in Him; to stay focused on the task at hand. Sometimes on the adventure we're called to relax one minute and jump into a crazy stressful situation the next. We never know what's going to happen, but that's just apart of the adventure. We need to know that God will take care of us.

It's Tebow Time at Awkward Catholic

J.M.J.A.T.K.G

I'm going to try something new and comment on an actual current news story NOW instead of procrastinating waiting until everything has blown over.

Today Yahoo News came out with a story about how Pat Robertson is offended over the SNL Skit about Tim Tebow.
First Yahoo got the headline wrong. Pat Robertson does NOT represent the Christian voice. I'm a Christian and I wasn't offended by the skit- I think it makes a great point about faith.
Here's the skit in it's entirety:

Now what probably got Pat mad was the portrayal of Jesus. (I'm not even going to touch his ignorant comment about Muslims) Here, SNL-Jesus has a good sense of humor and kinda makes fun of himself. In reading the Gospels I think Jesus had a great sense of humor- Just read Fr.James Martin's new book "Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor and Laughter is at the Heart of the Spiritual Life".
SNL-Jesus makes a great point in that only certain types of celebrities thank him publicly. Maybe that's why he "decides" those contests because they actually let him in and talk publicly about him.

I realize another point of this skit was to make Tebow look stupid and foolish over meeting Jesus. The other guys kept their cool when Jesus walked in but not Tebow. He loses his stuff and acts like an idiot.

I want to act just like Tebow when I meet Jesus. I loved how Tebow was in Jesus' face and didn't leave "room for the Holy Spirit". I loved the stupid look on Tebow's face. I want to lose my cool and freak out and act like an idiot. I think it'll show that Jesus was pretty much the whole point of me breathing and being nice to people. Like, SNL-Jesus to Tebow I think he'll have to calm me down so I'll actually listen to him. So there's another good point the skit has- we have calm down and LISTEN to Jesus.

In types of skits like these it's interesting to see how the writer views religion and the role of Jesus in our lives. We can pick apart this skit and ask questions like What role does God play in sports? Is Tebow really all that good or is God making the plays? Where is free will in all of this? Does God really care about the score?

I think Tebow has a great view on sports and God. He goes out there every Sunday and tries his best so he can glorify God. God gave him the ability to run and the determination to learn how to throw the football. (Because that boy can't throw a football worth a damn- but he can certainly run)

When we use the talents God gave us- God wins. And sometimes by doing this we lose the game. It's all a mystery as to why this happens but we can always say we tried our best. And in some way that's a win for us as well.

This skit has a lot of spiritual "goodies" that can teach us valueable lessons. Yes, sometimes it takes unreligious secular means to learn something about God.