I heard Plymouth Argyle move into fourth place in the League Chamionship in England on BBC Radio Devon. They beat Sunderland by one goal to nil and to hear the commentator you’d have thought that they had repelled the Germans from the beaches of Normandy rather than won a soccer game.
In England there is a national depression because England failed to qualify for the European Championships by losing to the Croatians last week. Although I was embarassed by the failure of the English squad to perform I was not wearing black or calling for the manager’s head on a platter.
My attentions are focused on a sick old man who broke his hip. He used to be my team’s most loyal fan as I wheeled him to our games in a wheelchair each week. Now he is in rehabilitation and his cerebral palsey is preventing him from making progress toward recovery. We have a meeting on Tuesday which will decide his future. Do we put him in a home? My father-in-law has been our responsibility for a couple of years, and we have enjoyed sharing a house with him and his wife. The question of his health seems to put sport into perspective. Will the Bears qualify for the playoffs? Will Argyle get promoted into the Premiership? Will my father-in-law ever be free of pain?
What do we value? What are we thinking about? What grabs our emotions and occupies our time?
Plymothian 
People pour emotion, effort, money, and time into that which does not really matter which is kind of sad….. makes you wonder doesn’t it.
Salt and Light
Silver
This is from Pascal’s Pensees. He sums up why, in my opinion, most people get so wrapped up in sports, tv, movies, fiction, etc. There are many things (not the least of which is death and suffering) that we would rather avoid…
“The only thing that consoles us for our miseries is diversion, and yet this is the greatest of our miseries. For it is mainly what prevents us from thinking about ourselves, leading us imperceptibly to our ruin. Without it we would be bored, and this boredom would drive us to seek a more solid means of escape. But diversion amuses us and guides us imperceptibly to death.”
I’ve heard the saying, “actions speak louder than words” before but your comments seem to put that in context for me. I was thinking how much time I spend watching sports and playing video games and surfing the internet, compared to things that matter. These things in the long run of life don’t matter at all. Why am I wasting my time thinking and doing things that don’t have any long term benefits? Time is something of value and I feel like I am taking it too lightly. I am only 20 years old and I can already see time slipping away. Do I really value video games? If I don’t why am I wasting my time with them.
Life is valuable. . . .life- some would consider to be a gift while others would consider it to be a curse. . .but how we value our life will reflect how we will treat others…with care or without. . .i was always taught people over play. . . .America has twisted its foundation to be centered around entertainment and “fun”…games, sports, clothes. . .but really its the people inside America that are not able to stand because of no strong foundation. I don’t think it is wrong to go and whatch a game or to maybe spen time with your buddies while watchign a game. . .but placing it over another persons life is wrong.
“The show must go on”……yes, if it must it must..but we have a choice to whatch it- i probably took that quote way out of context. . . .
I remember when Moody’s president was going through a very hard, painful time with his back last year. He was in so much pain, that he had to take time off. When he came back he said that question that he asked himself over and over was, how do do ministry with so much pain? He did not ask why but how. I thought this was a very good thing.ALEX GOREHAM