First Tailgate
Out of sensitivity and respect for some of my readers that are Georgia Tech fans, I will not even mention this weekend’s game.
But I will mention my experience of driving to a college town on the day of a rival game and tailgating. I had never been to Athens on the day of a game before. As we pulled into town, it felt like we had gotten off the cruise ship and had driven to the island’s main market area. There were tents, chairs, food and things for sale everywhere — all proudly displaying the national colors of red, black, white and gray.
We parked the suburban in a spot that had a good bit of unparkable real estate next to it and began to set up camp. We tried to use rabbit ears to get a signal of the Florida/Florida State game on a TV powered by a boat battery but it didn’t work. (I think I prefer radio anyways.) I fired up the grill and cooked some lovely Bubba burgers to go with all the snack food and color-coordinated Coca-Cola. After lunch we just sat, listened to the game, and talked about whatever came to mind while enjoying a fine cigar out in the beautiful weather of the day.
On the way to the stadium we passed the Baptist Student Center. As we approached, there were signs posted all around the perimeter of the property stating, ”NO alcohol, NO smoking, and NO profanity permitted!” Out in front of the building there were some people at tables. Were they sharing the good news of salvation from sin through Christ? Were they accepting people as they were to share the love of Christ? Were they offering friendship to the lonely? Were they offering water to the thirsty crowd passing by? No, they were selling over-priced merchandise. (Way to fit the stereotype of Christianity being about rules and money/power. Real nice.)
There is so much more to write about but I think the whole day can be summed up in the McDonald’s slogan, “Good food, folks, and fun.”
P.S. Lesson learned: Never trust a GPS device for finding a destination/restaurant that you are not sure exists. Call ahead first.
November 27th, 2006 at 4:59 pm
Thanks Dave for not mentioning the outcome of the game. It was a great time even though my heart was broken again. I also got to see a part of the country that I had never seen before while on our search for the elusive Taco Mac.
I would be interested in you giving a compare and contrast of what we saw at the Baptist Center with what we saw outside the stadium gates in terms of Christ being represented to “the world.”
November 27th, 2006 at 11:14 pm
Checkin’ da email!
Dear Mr. Will-yams … yams … yams … (pause) … yams.
Thank you for your interest in my opinion. For those that were not there, allow me to set the scene. As we approached the stadium we saw a group of shouting folks (megaphone included) with picket signs to our left. One I remember read, “Do not be drunk! Lev.10:9″ If I recall correctly, the others were mostly “the wages of sin is death” with no mention of salvation.
It seems this group was also very rules oriented and just generally seemed angry. While I give this group points for actually having part of the Gospel message, both halfs of the Gospel are dangerous by themselves. It came across as, “Stop having fun and be angry like us.” Maybe they mentioned God’s grace and Jesus’ death and resurrection as the way to salvation when you talked to them but I completely missed it and definitely wasn’t picking up any love vibes.
Maybe Mr. Hosner will pipe in with the full account of the dude that looked him in the eye and said, “God will not allow your sin to mock Him.”
P.S. I hope you find your Taco Mac. I hear they like dark damp places.
November 27th, 2006 at 11:17 pm
It was a blast, Dave! One of many to come, God willing. Welcome to the Dawg Nation. You got a great dose of Georgia football in your first experience.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go finish wiping the dead yellow jackets off of the bottom of my sneakers….
November 28th, 2006 at 10:57 am
I will ignore Dawgy’s insensitive reply and focus on the question at hand.
It seems that both groups were definitely missing the opportunity to show the “love” part of being a follower of Christ. While they may have been accurate on the biblical facts, the absence of love in their messages hurt their opportunity to truly reach their audiences.
I don’t think Christ screamed out “there are no fags in heaven!” when he walked amoung the pagans.
November 29th, 2006 at 4:26 pm
“Share the Truth in love.” Jesus was the perfect reflection of that. The same God who forgave prostitutes turned over tables in the temple.
Truth without love= Bible thumping, often insensitive, intolerant, and judgemental people.
Love without truth= “Accepting”, warm-fuzzy, wishy-washy, fearful of saying anything that could hurt someone, so often never gets around to truth.
It seems that what we saw the other day was more of the all truth/no love variety. The street preacher who yelled at each person who walked by him that they were going to hell and that their sins (and mine) would be held accountable leading to damnation to each of us is a prime example. Giving him the benefit of the doubt that his motivation was honorable, he missed out on communicating the heart of the gospel. That this incredible loving God-man Jesus bore the wrath that we all deserve so that unredeemed sinners like you and me could have the opportunity to be reconciled to this holy God through the shed blood of Christ. And indeed be made righteous before Him by the righteousness of Christ.
That though it seems almost unfathomable, the truth is that the one and only God, the omnipotent, holy and matchless King, had made the way for wretched, filthy and undeserving sinners like me to know and to love Him, all to the praise of His glorious grace. That we have been saved by grace through faith in Christ and that the door is open to all who repent and believe. Praise the Lord for His everlasting grace!
Too often that message is missed in the midst of shouting and insulting people about their vile sinfulness (though I know of at least 6 that stood near the man who had been cleansed by the blood of the lamb) without ever getting around to how our sins can be forgiven.
When I stopped and asked him why his message did not include the gospel, he said people need to know that they are sinful and vile. I agreed, but suggested that recognizing one’s sinfulness is important, it must be accompanied with a repentance and a trust in this love ing and great God Jesus who bore our sins. His response was simply “Can’t I tell people whatever I want?” I said no he could not, if his desire was to present the gospel message. He must communicate what the Bible says, regardless of whether we “want” to or not.
On the positive side, I appreciate his boldness and willingness to share. I pray that God would give me and us more boldness as well as the wisdom and discernment to share the truth in love.
November 29th, 2006 at 4:46 pm
Thx for your input Mr. Hosner.
I’m thinking we need a Grace Fellowship
Tailgating Ministry. I volunteer to head this up. I’ll need a budget for tickets to all the home games next year. Thx!
Talk to Mr. Will-yams to see if he can head up the GT Tailgating Ministry as I do not feel called to do so at this time.