Go Panthers!

As many of you know, I am a DIE-HARD NFL fan, & a forever Carolina Panther fan! We lived in Charlotte when that team was formed, and only lived about 8 minutes MAX, from the stadium. You want to hear a funny story? Story of my life, huh? Funny...!

Anyway, at one point in our crazy lives, Dean & I owned an icecream and deli shop in Charlotte, NC. We expanded to have one inside of the newest YMCA in the Charlotte University area. It was definitely a learning experience in our lives, but BELIEVE ME...that's a whole 'nother blog!!!!!

Let me continue...
We had a coke machine that was "ours" beside of our counter at the YMCA. With Coke, you have a choice to pay them when they fill the machine, and you empty out all the change, etc. from the machine yourself, OR...they control the change AND fill it up
w/Coke, which cost a little bit more in maintenance fees. Well...before we decided to collect the change ourselves (meaning, when Coke was collecting the change AND filling the machine), Coke had a contest.

Are you with me?

The Coke guy came in to fill it and had to tell me about the contest, BECAUSE, the contest was for tickets to...guess where?!!! THE PANTHER STADIUM for a home game!!!! I was determined to have those tickets!!! Being the ethical person I am, I pulled out a hand full of quarters from my cash register, and as soon as Mr. Coke man locked the machine back up, I was inserting the quarters! He just howled!!! I had to "buy" about 6 or 8 Cokes from MYSELF to finally get the can that had the tickets on it!!!! I about peed my pants!!!!

Of course, Dean laughed and wasn't that moved by my big win.

"You know they're gonna be in the nose-bleed section, Carmen" he says.

"Who CARES?!!!" I say, "It's THE PANTHERS!!!!".

So we went to the game, and sat 2 rows down from the very top. Dean laughed the whole time, and kept telling me that he needed an oxygen mask, we were up so high. So what...?... if the bathrooms were 15 rows down and 1/2 mile around the stadium?! It was THE PANTHERS!!!! We did have so much fun!!!! It is definitely something I won't forget.

The Panthers have been rotten over the years. But I have fresh hope every year! They just MIGHT have a great year this year. If not...somebody will likely be looking for a job.

Winning is the key.
No matter how you play the game,
what happens in the end is what counts...right?

One of my all time favorite NFL players is Brett Favre. As you know, he ended a long career with Green Bay this year, after changing his mind about retiring. I was ticked about that, considering all the years he's given them the best he's got. And that's A LOT! He had a good opening day with his new team, the New York Jets. After the game, a reporter asked him if he felt weird playing in that stadium, with that team, and what he thought of the game in general. He responded with a shrug and a comment about the performance of the team, but what he said last is what caught my attention. He said, "We won. It wasn't pretty playin', but we won. And whatever happens in the end is what's important".

Love ya, Brett, but you're off base about that!

The world may try to convince us that whatever happens in the end is what really matters. And in a way, I agree. Thank God that He doesn't hold our mistakes against us!!! We can still finish this life with His blessing, even though we mess up at various times throughout our walk. But God is definitely interested in how we live our lives.

He's interested in how we "play the game" of life!

God created us to bring glory to Him by sharing His truth with others. By serving others. By being a blessing to others. "The End" leaves no opportunity for such things. You've got to exercise sharing His glory while you're still in the game. Otherwise, you'll be like the person we read about in Sunday School this morning..."useless and unfruitful". And we owe too much to our Creator to spend a life only serving ourselves.

Yes, I know that in order to make it to the play-offs and the Super-Bowl, you've got to win games. But at what cost? Illegally filming the other teams private signals and motions? Look where that took Mr. Bill last football season. He may only have been fined a small amount, and only received a "slap on the hand", but he lost in a big way in the end. He sure didn't come out a champion. Probably one of the biggest upsets in NFL history.

So I say that the details of your life and how you play the game of life...matter.

And here's a little diddy about my team:

You can't get to heaven in a little red canoe (for YOU, Mark!),
'cause God's favorite color is Carolina blue!!!

And I KNOW He enjoyed their game today!!!! Every detail counted...right up through the last 2 seconds of the game...