So, I love sports - maybe too much sometimes. A couple of weeks ago I had a great couple of days in regard to running into athletes, whom I have built into quasi-gods.
First, Dan Issel (Issel the Missile), who both played for and coached the Nuggets was in front of me in line at the Castle Rock post office ( I was there to pick up a sweet new authentic Antonio Cromartie jersey, just to brag). I stalked him towards the door for a second and then said "Dan Issel!" He gave me a warm smile and shook my hand and said, "Glad to meet you." That was sweet.
A few days later, the real prize sighting occurred though. Josie and I had to return something to Target, and we were in Highlands Ranch so we went for it. We were walking around when there, right in front of me was Carmelo Anthony and his lady, the chick that used to be on MTV. I almost fell over. I wanted to call everyone I knew and tell them, I wanted to go up and try to be his best friend, I wanted to hug him and thank him for saving my favorite team from being crappy.
But there was a problem: he didn't want to do any of those things. At all. In fact, as I walked my third loop around him, he pulled his hood over his head and looked down, seemingly looking for an escape route. And who can blame the guy? He was just buying some video game action and probably went to the specific ghetto Target instead of the nice one a few miles away to avoid being followed by 30 year-old men in throwback jerseys.
The problem with hero worship is that we think we know people because we watch their movies or listen to their music or follow their careers. But we don't at all. We know a distortion of them - sometimes better and sometimes worse than who they actually are. In admiring them from a distance and locking in on the positive attributes that make us feel a certain way, we see them as something they are not.
And it's been bothering me since then that maybe I do this with God a lot. We all do. We are so sure of who God is by the limited interaction that we've had with Him, and we keep him at a safe distance. Maybe we want everything to be static and clean and easy, or maybe we just don't know how to let an invisible God closer to our heart than we do. But God is not a distant celebrity that can only be reported on in part.He is up close and personal and has already laid his heart and love and plan out bare to us when Jesus suffered a slow, painful, and necessary death for us. Giving him access to my deepest thoughts and desires isn't a religious act - it's an absolute necessity to live.
