Grace is Grace Regardless!

Day 8 Doxology: Please allow me a disclaimer from the very start of this doxology...I am an alumni of the University of Alabama, and I bleed crimson!  Really, I am partial and unapologetic during football season, and I am working through basketball, track, crew, volleyball, and baseball.  In short, I'm a fan which is short for fanatic!  However, I'm humbled and love my brothers and sisters from the other college in the state!  If that is all you hang your hat on, then you are missing the point if this doxology!

Tonight, I received a message / billboard from God...I call it conviction!  A feeling of remorse for an action for or against.  In short, I felt guilty!

Our church host an incredible Upward Basketball Ministry.  I can't tell you how proud I am of all that is accomplished throughout this Upward program.  Additionally, we are the last of the few churches in our area that host Upward for the high-school age group.  The reason we continue this ministry is because there is a need!

To be clear ..."Upward Basketball is an evangelist sports ministry designed to promote community outreach, develop volunteer leadership, and share the love of Christ with children and their families, using something as simply as basketball."

So today's doxology...I'm watching Alabama play basketball in the SEC tournament, and I can't help but to question their aggressiveness (Remember, I wrestled in high school)!  While I watch them as a fan (fanatic), I felt the urge to jump and scream then in a split second... I thought well it's not like this is Upward Basketball!  Bamm!  Shouldn't it all be a ministry?

During the season, I asked that we reevaluate the vision of Upward.  Were we sticking to the strict conviction upon which Upward was established?  In short, Upward, had become like the world that we saw on T.V. -aggressive, argumentative, and fanatical

Tonight, during an altercation of an Ole Miss Rebel and an Alabama Crimson Tide player, I had a separation of ministry from the world.  In that moment, I felt that God intended that the things He taught us were: be in the world and not of the world.  I taught our team and even led devotions that as much as we would like to confine them to Sunday, we can't.   This evening, I had become as guilty as those that I had brought attention too... simply because I was in the safe and security of my home!

Here is the deal...Grace is grace, and it doesn't matter where it is, or if it is for your team...I apologize to the coaches, parents, and athletes for ever acting otherwise!  Humbly...I share, a hardy Roll Tide!