Ben Milstead

About four years ago I was in a church small group setting and we played a game.  The game was to write down the first thing that comes to mind about each person in the room.  When I started reading the comments about me from the eleven other people, I was a little surprised.  I had: 1 “funny”, 1 “muffins” (long story), 2 “father/dad”, 1 “friend”, and 6 “Clemson/football/Sports”.  That’s right.  More than half of my friends in the room listed Clemson first.

Funny, friend, father, football…. all things to be proud of, right?  Not when you consider what’s left out.  “Christian” missed the cut.  Not when you realize that more people related me to Clemson more than they did my wife, my kids, and especially my God.  What a sad commentary on what I had made a priority in my life.

This exercise made me examine some things.  Although I love sports and Clemson (as does my wife), I don’t want that to be the first thing that comes to someone’s mind when thinking about me.  It’s no wonder it was that way.  I even wore a tiger paw on a neck chain at that time.  I replaced it that week with a cross made of nails. What if I had promoted Christ the way I had promoted the Tigers?  How many times had I invited people to the game but not the church?  How many times had I talked about the big play I had seen rather than the big things God had done in my life?

I’m still a fan.  There is nothing at all wrong with that.  But now it’s what I do, not who I am.

What about you?  How would your closest friends describe you?  How would you describe yourself?