There was a time when the arrival of that big envelope with the pretty, glossy tickets inside caused my heart to flutter a bit as the anticipation of a new and exciting college football season welled up inside me.
Like the first robin of spring, the tickets are a sign of hope for the future. Each bar-coded and embossed one of them is a potential victory waiting to be celebrated.
This year, however, I just don't feel the same enthusiasm.
It could be because I reached a significant aging milestone this year. I certainly have spent less time reading up on my team during the off-season, which could explain it. More likely, though, is that other things have become more important. My perspective has changed.
Don't get me wrong. I still love the games, and I scream and holler with the best (or worst?) of the other fans in the stadium.
I really want my team to win. Especially since the "win" column hasn't exactly been bursting with W's the last few years.
Since last season I spent my first days and nights sitting with dying congregation members and their loved ones and conducted my first funeral. I received and gave hugs to extended families I barely knew as they wept.
I sat with couples grappling with issues that threatened to end their marriages and prayed with people despondent over their emotional distresses.
A drug addict cried in my office over his inability to break a habit that tormented him.
I baptized babies and children, welcoming them into God's kingdom through the miracle of grace found in God's word attached to simple water.
I taught little ones about Jesus.
And I had the great privilege to announce God's forgiveness to his gathered congregation nearly every Sunday, and to share the assurance of his forgiveness through Christ's body and blood in the Lord's Supper.
Since last season I have had the honor of preaching words of life to everyone who hears and believes the Gospel of Jesus.
"We were buried with Christ by baptism into death, in order that, just as he was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." (Romans 6:4)
The place to find real hope is in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
No ticket to any game on earth can come close to that. Not even my beloved Cyclones.
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