The whole world has gone mad

It is like a disease, a bio-agent that is spread in the air. Everyone seems to have caught it and been infected by it. Yes there was a full moon last night and yes everyone was partying on our whole block, but those seem to be more symptoms than the causes. It is causing work stoppages all over town, and even the police disappear when they get the virus. Every cafe in town seems to be obsessed with it and it is the core of every conversation I have had in several countries over the last few days. Outside of North America, the entire rest of the world comes to a halt during the World Cup.

America got spanked by the Czech Republic yesterday, but that was due more to the excellent play of the Czech National team, rather than poor play by the Americans. In fact I was encouraged by the sportsmanship of the American players and we had a few chances. The Czechs deserved their win and I don't want to diminish their excellent play in any way. But watching society in the rest of the world (outside of North America) respond to the World Cup every four years is fascinating.

There is nothing, not even the Superbowl that can change the day to day functioning of a country, the way the World Cup affects the rest of the world. It disrupts the normal patterns of life. For this month of time each four years, there are three games a day on each and every TV in the great majority of the world. That is 4.5 hours of soccer every day . . . but it is actually much more all-consuming than just those four and a half hours each day.

I was talking with my landlord and an electrician this morning and both of those conversations started with the struggles of the American team, and how well the Italians and Czechs played yesterday. Enough already for most of you I am sure. But I actually do have a point here.

What kinds of lives would we need to live, what kind of people would we need to be, what kind of Faith would be necessary to capture the attention of the world, in the same way that a round ball does every four years? What does Faith look like, that is so real and genuine and captivating that people would change their very lives in order to observe it; in order to talk about it with everyone they meet? The World Cup is not important, but Faith is . . . a soccer ball is not important, but the Savior is . . . these World Cup conversations are not important, but the people having them are . . . so how do I enter into these great conversations with these important people that the Savior died for? Well I am watching alot of soccer these days to say the least, and I am looking to be a person who lives as passionately for the King and Kingdom, as Europeans are about soccer.