sacred journeys

My family and I were watching the Michigan — USC game yesterday (which USC won by the way, 32-18 ). I had the gall to actually say that maybe we should root for Michigan (being from the Midwest & all) — but after Caleb skewered me for that one, I settled on cheering for USC. I am such a great L.A. fan — aren’t I ?

Anyway, as I was watching the game — it struck me how passionate Pete Carroll is on the sidelines. I have noticed that before, but this time — it really struck me. The difference between the two coaches was amazing. Carroll on one sideline, oozing energy…

and Lloyd Carr on the other sideline, oozing well, — pensiveness.

I read this LA Times article, this morning & it caused me to simply smile. Here is a quote from the artilce from Carroll — regarding yesterdays game — “”Wasn’t this fun?” Carroll exclaimed, again and again. “I mean, wasn’t this a blast?”

– I thought, wow — what a way to coach the game — like you are actually loving it!

I say all of this, because I have been thinking of how I would like 2007 to be. This year, I would like my passion for the life God has called me to, and my love for the people that God has put into my life (family, church, people I am meeting in LA) — to actually be consistently noticeable. Imagine that??!!

There is a quote that relates to all of this by a man named Erwin McManus. He is a pastor at a church, that I highly respect out here in Los Angeles called Mosaic. He was asked in an interview how to reach out to all of these really creative, young people out here and his answer struck a chord in me. What I thought was that McManus is following Christ, kind of like Carroll coaches football. That people are watching you, and observing how you are experiencing life. This is what he said:

“One of the great challenges is that people don’t really care what I know or believe or have been trained to teach. It’s very intuitive. They decide whether you’ve actually met God, even when they don’t believe. They are people who end up going, “I think this person is in an experience living in a dimension that I’m interested in. I’m unsure if it exists but I’m willing to stay long enough to find out.”

That is my prayer for myself, and my prayer for you this year.