Sports Superstitions

I love football, and on gameday I usually wear a shirt to show support for my favorite college team. You probably do the same thing for your team. However, some athletes think they will actually play better by following certain rituals. 

Baseball legend Babe Ruth stepped on home plate with his right foot at precisely 3:15 pm before every home game. He never allowed anyone to clean his cap, believing all his home run power lived in the dirt and sweat stains. NBA star LeBron James throws powder in the air before each basketball game. Golf star Tiger Woods wears a red shirt on the final day of major tournaments believing the red color helps him perform at this best. 

Many sports fans also do certain rituals, hoping it will help their team to win. If their team is losing, they’ll turn their caps around backwards, thinking it will turn the score around. I know a football fan who believes if he watches his favorite team play on TV, they will start losing. But if he will quit watching the game, his team will start winning. Of course, not watching the game has nothing to do with his team winning. Its just a superstition.

A superstition is a false belief that doing certain rituals, or not doing them, can control outcomes and bring good or bad luck. A survey of 2,400 sports fans revealed that two-thirds are superstitious when it comes to game day: 50% wear a specific jersey every time their team plays, 44% won’t wash it until the end of the season, 42% will sit in a specific spot, and 62% blamed themselves for the team’s loss because they weren’t wearing the right shirt, or moved from their spot on the couch during the game. There’s nothing wrong with wearing a jersey, but believing that not washing it helps your team win? Really?  

First Timothy 4:7 says, “Have nothing to do with godless myths.” Not just sports superstitions, not just pagan superstitions (Isa. 2:6), but also religious superstitions such as putting statues of Jesus or angels around their house for protection or blessing. That’s putting their faith in an inanimate object, which is idolatry (1 John 5:21). 

So have fun watching your team, and it’s okay to wear that jersey with your hat on backwards. Just don’t think it has anything to do with winning or losing. www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com  www.makinglifecount.net

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The Hardest Part in Learning to Swim

When I was a kid, I took swimming lessons at the local neighborhood pool. The easy part was when I grabbed on to the side of the pool while someone held me up as I learned how to kick. I passed with flying colors! Then came the hardest part of swimming—learning how to float. The instructor told me the water would hold me up if I would just relax.

Many people say, “I haven’t learned how to swim,” but what they really mean is “I haven’t learned how to float.” Once you figure out how to do that, swimming becomes easy.

I had thrown rocks and other objects into a lake and all of them sank to the bottom. It was hard for me to believe the water would hold me up because I was much heavier than the rocks I threw. My instructor told me to lay flat as he held me up by the stomach. Then, he let go. Just as I expected, I immediately sank! I went home that day embarrassed and frustrated.

The next time I went to the neighborhood pool, I tried again to float, but my feet would immediately drop down so I could stand up. I didn’t fool anyone when I did that awkward “half swim” where I walked along the bottom of the pool while moving my arms like I was swimming.

Then one day, I quit trying to float. Instead, I held my breath, put my face in the water and just went limp. For the first time in my life, I floated. The crazy thing was—the key to floating is not trying to float. When I totally surrendered to the water and quit struggling, the water held me up.

That’s how we learn to trust God. Inwardly we go limp. We quit trying in our own strength and submit to His power to hold us up. We say, “Lord, I’m completely depending on you to come through for me.” David continually put his trust in God. He said, “When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You ... In God I will put my trust; I shall not be afraid” (Ps. 56:3, 4).

Just like I learned to float by trusting the water to hold me up, David learned to trust God by putting his confidence in the Lord to hold him up. And we must do the same. www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com  www.makinglifecount.net

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What Did the Surgeon Find in His Heart?

A little boy with heart problems was scheduled to have open heart surgery. The surgeon explained to him what was about to happen. “Tomorrow I will open up your heart…” The boy interrupted him and said, “You’ll find Jesus in there.” 

The doctor started over. “Tomorrow I’ll open your heart to see how much damage has been done…” The boy interrupted again. “When you open my heart, you’ll find Jesus in there. The Bible says He lives in my heart.” 

 

The surgeon, annoyed by the boy’s interruptions, turned to his parents, who sat quietly by their son. He explained to them about the possible damage and what might be done to correct it. Then he told the boy, “I’ll look in your heart too see what I can find…”  Again, the boy said, “And you’ll find Jesus in there.” 

 

The next day, the operation revealed the boy had a damaged aorta, a damaged pulmonary vein, and widespread muscle degeneration. There was no hope for a cure or a transplant. The boy wouldn’t live much longer. 

 

The surgeon went back to his office and quietly wept. Another doctor, who knew he had performed surgery on a child, stopped by and asked, “What did you find when you looked in his heart?” With tears dripping down his face, the surgeon looked up and said, “I found Jesus in there.” (source unknown) 

People find Jesus at different times and in different ways. The Lord wants everyone to find Him, but first we must open our hearts to Him. Some find Jesus when they learn about Him at church as a child. Others open their hearts to the Lord after a tragedy occurs. Some people find Jesus when they receive a shocking medical report. God says, “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:13). 

When we find Jesus, He literally comes to live in our hearts, just as the little boy said. Paul wrote, “I pray that Christ will live in your hearts through faith” (Eph. 3:17). You can’t see Him, but He truly does live inside every believer. www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com 

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It All Went Up in Smoke

After spending months writing his book The French Revolution, Thomas Carlyle took his manuscript to his friend John Stuart Mill for his comments. Mill passed the manuscript on to a lady named Mrs. Chapman, who read it by the fireplace on the evening of March 5, 1834. Before she went to bed she laid the manuscript on the mantel.

The next day, the maid came to clean the room and start the fire in the fireplace. Mistaking it as trash, she used the manuscript as fuel to start the fire and burned up the book! Carlyle had to start over and rewrite the entire manuscript.

The same thing happened to the prophet Jeremiah. God told him to write on a scroll everything He had spoken concerning Israel, Judah, and all the nations (Jer. 36:2). That covered 22 years, and it would soon be burned in a fireplace.

Jeremiah spent about a year dictating the words to Baruch the scribe, who wrote them down. Because the message called for everyone to turn from their evil ways, it was never going to be a New York Times bestseller. The scroll was taken to evil King Jehoiakim to be read.

The king was in his house with a fire burning in the fireplace. When Jehudi had read three or four columns, the king grabbed it, cut it with a knife, and threw it into the fire, destroying the entire scroll (36:2-23). The king tried to seize Jeremiah and Baruch, but the Lord hid them (36:26).

It had to be devastating for Jeremiah to see all his work go up in smoke. Then God told him to start over and write it again! He took another scroll and rewrote all the words on the scroll that Jehoiakim had burned, plus more information (36:28-32). 

Maybe you need to start over because everything you had before went up in smoke. You’ve lost your job. You’ve lost your reputation. Your house burned down. You got divorced. You’ve lost a loved one. Like a burned-up manuscript, all you have left are a pile of ashes.

However, the Lord still has a good plan for the rest of your life. He will give you “beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and the garment of praise instead of the spirit of despair” (Isa. 61:3). God will help you start over. Don’t say that you can’t. You can and you will!  www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com 

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We Act on What We Believe to be True

In the days before cell phones, a woman received a phone call while her husband was out delivering packages for UPS. The caller said, “Mrs. Williamson, this is Dr. Chandler. I’m sorry to inform you that your husband is in the hospital with a life-threatening disease and may die. We need a hair sample from you immediately to run some tests because we believe you may have also contracted this disease.”

 The wife was shaken when she heard the shocking news. The doctor instructed her to cut off all her hair at the roots and bring them in. She clipped off all her hair until she was bald and asked what to do next. The man replied, “Wait for your husband to come home. I made up this entire story. Goodbye.”

We don’t necessarily act on what is true, but on what we believe to be true. The woman acted on what she believed to be true, and not what was actually true. But she wasn’t alone. The news reported that six other women had fallen for the same prank.

Joseph’s brothers did something similar when they deceived their father, Jacob. They dipped Joseph’s tunic in blood and made Jacob believe Joseph was killed by a wild beast, even though it wasn’t true. He reacted to the lie as if it were true and declared he would mourn until his dying day (Gen. 37:31-35). He continued to believe the lie until many years later, when the brothers told him the truth (45:25-28).

Jesus said Satan is a liar (John 8:44) and is able to deceive the whole world (Rev. 12:9), so it’s not surprising that many people live their entire lives believing things that aren’t true. A deceived person doesn’t know he’s being deceived. We’re all susceptible to being deceived, but God’s Word and the Holy Spirit can reveal the truth to keep us from being misled.

Don’t be so quick to believe everything you hear. Do your homework, check out all the facts, and ask God to show you the truth. “By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:6). www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com 

Why Did He Jump Overboard?

Cameron Robbins, a recent 2023 high school graduate, was on a trip to the Bahamas with students from several local high schools. Just four hours after their arrival, Robbins and his friends went on a sunset party cruise. The boat, named Blackbeard’s Revenge, was designed to resemble a pirate ship. Around 9:40 p.m. someone dared Robbins to jump off the boat into the shark-infested waters. Taking up the challenge, he voluntarily “walked the plank” and jumped overboard.

 

A video taken moments after the jump shows Robbins ignoring onlookers’ pleas for him to grab a life ring that had been thrown in the water. A silvery reflection stirred in the dark waters near the boat’s hull, which may have been a shark. Robbins swam away from whatever it was in the water. The last scene of the video shows him splashing a few feet from the boat, before disappearing under water. The teen’s body was never recovered.

How could anyone be foolish enough to jump off a ship at night where tiger sharks were known to be? Someone dared him to do it. Maybe he was afraid to say no in front of his friends. Maybe it was to prove he was brave. Perhaps he thought the video would go viral on social media and he would become famous (which it did). Whatever the reason, I’m sure he regretted his decision not long after he hit the water, but then it was too late.

Cameron Robbins represents many people who are partying on the wrong ship, listening to the wrong voices, and jumping to the wrong conclusions. They make hasty decisions that will ruin their lives without thinking about the consequences. It might not be jumping overboard, but something just as dangerous and fatal in the long run.

Proverbs 14:16 says, “A wise person suspects danger and cautiously avoids evil, but the fool is arrogant and careless.” That means we have the courage to say no when people dare us to do very stupid things. We choose to be with friends who follow God and avoid those who want us to do wrong. Solomon said, “He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm” (Prov. 13:20).   www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com  

She Wasn't Expecting This to Happen

My daughter Hannah practiced for several weeks for the high school varsity cheerleader tryouts. She had been a junior varsity cheerleader, and only 3 varsity spots were open in a school of 2,000 students. Her best friend, Melissa, who was already a varsity cheerleader, practiced with Hannah every day to help her win one of the vacant spots. They kept talking about how fun it would be to cheer together. Melissa taught her the proper way to jump and how to always keep a smile on her face. She kept telling her, “You can do it, Hannah! I know you can!”

Over 100 girls showed up to compete for the 3 spots. The results would be posted at 9:45 pm. At 10:00 pm, Hannah came home, sobbing uncontrollably. My wife and I rushed over to comfort her. I told her, “It’s okay that you didn’t make varsity. We’re glad that you tried.”

Hannah continued to cry. She finally settled down and said, “I did make the varsity, but the judges demoted Melissa from varsity to junior varsity and gave me her place on varsity. I hurt so badly for her. She’s devastated!”

We were stunned. In a weird twist of fate, Hannah took Melissa’s position on varsity, and Melissa took Hannah’s position on J.V. “I don’t want to be a varsity cheerleader now,” Hannah said. “I’m going to ask for my junior varsity position back so Melissa can stay on varsity.” I told her, “I don’t think the judges would allow that.”

Hannah got up and drove over to Melissa’s house, where they cried together. She didn’t want to leave her alone, so that night she slept on the floor next to her friend.

I always enjoyed watching Hannah lead cheers at football games, but my fondest memory was when she demonstrated the love of Jesus and slept on the floor next to a hurting friend. Jesus said, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 22:39), and we’ll never be able to do this until we first feel the pain that they feel.   www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com  www.makinglifecount.net