Praising God for my wife- Not the New York Jets victory

 Millions of men and women love sports. In fact, many are obsessed with their favorite sports teams. I understand this because I am the same way. I am obsessed with my favorite sports team (the New York Yankees and New York Jets). Unfortunately, many times in our love of our sports teams, we forget the importance of loving God. So I write this blog as a reminder to focus first on loving God, before we love our sports team.


Proverbs 18:22

            He who finds a wife, finds what is good

            and receives favor from the Lord (NIV)

A wife is truly a gift from God. There was a time back when I was dating my wife back when she could first be considered a “serious girlfriend”.  She knew me well enough to know that I was a huge New York Yankee and New York Jet fan. But she did not know I was living persona of a fanatic fan. Although, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York I have lived most of my adult life in Pennsylvania. The problem with that is there is never a guarantee I would be able to watch a New York Jet game on Sunday. (This was years before the NFL packages and I probably could not have afforded it in those days anyway.) So I often resigned myself to listening to games on the radio. For one particular game against the Washington Redskins I was having a problem with reception. My wonderful girlfriend suggested we take a ride up the turnpike and get off at the first exit in New Jersey and find a place showing the game. I knew right then and there I was going to marry this woman. We found some dive bar that had the game on. I was just in time to watch the end of the game and see a painstaking final drive by the Redskins, in which Ray Mickens was called for numerous pass interference calls. Anyone who had ever seen me watch a New York Jet game would not have been surprised by my reaction. Unfortunately, this was the first time for my girlfriend. With each agonizing play I screamed and yelled repeatedly at the television screen (which I was standing directly in front off). I yelled at Mickens and called him all sorts of names. I yelled at the Jet’s defense. I screamed for them to blitz. I screamed at the top of my lungs. I then looked at my girlfriend and she looked horrified. She also looked utterly embarrassed. The car ride back was very quiet. I was quiet because the New York Jets lost. She was quiet because she realized the man she loved was insane. Praise Jesus she did not leave me. She has come to expect and be amused by my crazed enthusiasm for my teams. To be totally honest I have found “what is good”. However, there have been far too many times that I have basically ignored her because my teams were playing. I have looked annoyed when she has tried to talk to me during their games. That is unacceptable. God has given me a gift I should cherish. She is a gift far more important than any sports team. She is a wife that should never feel like she is second to Derek Jeter (although deep down I think she likes him too). So whether it is your wife or your kids, they should always come before sports. The best way to remember that is to remember the God that gave them to you.

The New York Yankees just took two out of three from the Oakland A’s.  There was a time when this late in the season they would not have needed to take two out of three from the A’s (think ‘90’s). These however, are not those New York Yankees, so I will take the time out to say “Good Job” This A’s team swept the New York Yankees earlier this year and I was not sure they wouldn’t do it again. But they won the series, and Giradi finally put Ichiro in the two hole and moved Swisher down in the order. So “Good Job” to him as well. Just a note don’t be surprised to see Joba Chamberland become the 8^th inning set up man in the playoffs. David Robertson is struggling down the stretch. It happened to Phil Hughes in the playoffs the year before he won 17 games. Joba may not be what he was back in when we had the “Joba rules”. But he has the heart of a closer.

The New York Jets won today. It was a game they should have won. It was a game they should have won easily. But the New York Jets never easily beat the Miami Dolphins.  What is most important is, this is a game the New York Jets would normally lose. I remember feeling that way a lot since Rex Ryan took over.  It has never been pretty with Rex, but his teams seem to win. Last year of course they choked at the end of the year, but even before that, they won games they would have previously lost. I still wish they had run the ball more. The truth is, previously if Mark Sanchez throws the ball over forty times we lose. If the opposing team runs the ball over 40 times, not only do we lose, but I spend the entire night wishing we had run it forty times. Just a note, the defense played very well, but Mike Francesa of sports radio 66WFAN has a point; “ Great defenses can make a stop when they need to”. After the New York Jets went up 20-17 with 3:01 to go the defense let the rookie quarterback march up the field. make completions on third down and tie the game.  That too is something I have seen a lot since Rex Ryan took off.

Now that I got that off my chest it is time for a devotional and prayer before bed.

Praying for the New York Yankees and Jets

Millions of men and women love sports. In fact, many are obsessed with their favorite sports teams. I understand this because I am the same way. I am obsessed with my favorite sports team (the New York Yankees and New York Jets). Unfortunately, many times in our love of our sports teams, we forget the importance of loving God. So I write this blog as a reminder to focus first on loving God, before we love our sports team.

 "And Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind , be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints
                                                                -Ephesians 6:18 NIV

I wonder how many other Christians have actually prayed to God for their teams to win? Unfortunately, I have said heart felt prayers to the Lord for the New York Yankees and New York Jets to win games. It is really kind of funny in some ways. How ridiculous for me to believe that God would favor one sporting team over another. Of course being a Yankee fan doesn’t help because most of the times my prayers appeared to be answered, as the Yankees usually win. However, I could always count on my Jets to bring me back to reality. Whether it was Blair Thomas getting stopped four times on the goal line, Vinnie Testerverde throwing a pick six or Doug Brien missing a field goal in the playoffs, the New York Jets made sure I remembered God’s work is not about games. Prayer time should be spent on the important things in life. Prayer works. God does answer prayers, but it is important to remember to “pray in the Spirit” meaning to pray for things in God’s will and things that will glorify Him. Those are the prayers that God answers and those are the prayers that bless you and the people around you. If you need some examples, pray that God will show you how to help someone in need. Pray that God will show you how to forgive someone who has been mean to you. Pray for wisdom and direction for what God wants for your life. Simply pray to thank God for all he has done for you. Trust me- you will be blessed, and also the people around you. That is my testimony.

The return of Andy Pettitte to the N.Y Yankee rotation has been postponed one day due to rain. Andy’s serves as a source of hope for most Yankee fans. Only Yankee fans feel like they need hope when they are already in first place. I guess that is because Andy Pettitte’s Yankee teams have been championship teams. Teams that are often at least 30 games over .500 and usually much more than .5 games in first place. Teams, that looks much better than this current team. I hope Andy Pettitte pitches well. I pray his leg is totally healed (I think that is OK for prayer J).  If he pitches well and C.C Sabathia can somehow return to form (he has had only had one ace type performance since coming off the DL), and Hiroki Kuroda continues to do what he has done all year and Ivan Nova and Phil Hughes replicate their last starts. The Yankees will win another World Series. That is a lot of ifs and if it doesn’t work out, some Yankee fans will have to be reminded to not pray for the return of Andy Pettitte’s former teams.

A look at Rich Cimini’s ESPN Jets blog revealed a breakdown of defensive plays in the loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers and as I said before too much Mike Devito (40 plays) and Sione Pouha (36 plays).  Head Coach Rex Ryan lamented about how the defense could not get off the field on 3^rd down. Well, I think Rex might want to put his young dominant lineman in the game a little longer. Kenrick Ellis who had a great pre-season and first game against the Buffalo Bills played only 20 snaps. First Round draft pick Quinton Coples played only 16 snaps, even back up Marcus Dixon played more than that  (19). Come on Rex, play your best defensive players and while your at it check the tape on Bart Scott. 

Now that I got that off my chest it is time for a devotional and prayer before bed.

First Post!!!

The Bible says: “ For you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous is a jealous God” – Exodus 34:14 NKJV

Which pretty much means we should only worship God and no one or nothing else. Obviously that is not always the case. In many instances people worship money and will do anything to get it. In some circumstances people worship drugs/alcohol and will do anything to get them, or die trying.  However, those situations are obvious.  A much less obvious situation of worship, although much more accepted, happens every Sunday.  I am not talking about church on Sunday.  I am talking about Sundays during football season, and almost daily during baseball season. We WORSHIP our sporting teams and many times the players who play on our teams. We sin regularly. I consider myself a strong Christian who loves the Lord. I am also probably the worst offender of this sin I know. I am not the first person to recognize this fact or to write about it. But the fact remains: I LOVE THE N.Y YANKEES. I scream praise and worship to them when they win. The same goes for the NY JETS.  I get in terrible moods when either team loses and I am no fun to be around. I am sure I am not alone. There are plenty of men and some women who have the same problem. I do not plan on ceasing to root for my team or plan to care for them any less. But I write this blog to openly admit my sin and repent, to talk about the teams I love and then to remind myself and others like me about what is really important. His name is JESUS.

The New York Jets should have won the game yesterday against the Steelers. Some people will look at the stats that show Mark Sanchez threw 11 straight incompletions and basically had a horrible game after the first two drives. Some will look at the defense's inability to get off the field on third down. Those factors certainly contributed. However, when Shonn Greene got his bell rung, the game changed. His back up, Bilal Powell (a wasted 4^th round pick) should actually be the teams’ 3^rd or 4^th running back. When he got in the game it was clear the drop off in talent was huge. This game reminded me of the AFC Championship game against the Colts. Greene ran all over the Colt defense and the Jets were winning the game. Greene got hurt left the game, and the Jets rushing game was non-existent. The rest of the teams play followed suit. Of course, Greene returned to this game but he clearly was affected by the blow and was not the same. Jets lose.  On more thing about the defenses failure to stop the Steelers; where was Kenrick Ellis and Quinton Couples? Last week these guys played big minutes. Today I saw a little too much of Mike Devito and Sione Pouha. I love Pouha and Devito. But Ellis and Couples have the ability to make game changing plays- and that is something the defense clearly needed today.

The Yankees won again. This time they played a complete game offensively meaning they hit home runs (Russell Martin three run homer) and played small ball with bunts and stolen bases. If only Girardi had pushed for this all year. His quote today, “ It brings an element that you can create runs, and that’s really important for a club.” You don’t say. If this team had tried to play small ball while hitting so many home runs, they’d probably be leading the division by a lot more than one game. Let’s hope this trend continues for the rest of the season and throughout the post season, if not Girardi is going to be stuck with that number on his back for another year.

Now that I got that off my chest it is time for a devotional and prayer before bed.