Can I just say that I detest summer?

Friday, 06. June 2008 by Dan Ryan

Can I just say that I detest summer?
Today marks the last day of our 2007-08 school year…and the beginning of my withdrawal symptoms. I love what I get to do, and now they tell me I don’t get to do it for another 2.5 arduous months. Hold your tears—I’m not done yet.
On top of that, summer is the Sahara Desert of the sports calendar year. If you don’t like baseball (which I do) or NASCAR (which I don’t), then you’re out of luck. And if my White Sox (first place right now, woo-hoo!) fall out of contention, then I quickly abandon the sports world altogether and largely hibernate until…
College football season. I love college football. In fact, I will count down the days until its late-August kickoff by surfing the net to keep abreast of the latest recruiting news. Bear with me now, because here’s where it gets interesting.

Lately I’ve been reading more and more about these hot-shot high school standouts who have committed to a college, and yet they really haven’t committed to anything (Illini fans know all about this after the Eric Gordon soap opera of the past 2 years).
It’s annoying.
Let me share with you the latest quote I came across this weekend on espn.com, because this baffles me. These words came from a player who committed to the University of Miami a while back (now that Aly is getting ready to head down to Miami for college, it seemed time to take a friendly shot at her Hurricanes).
“I’m still committed to UM but I still got a lot of schools talking to me and I want to take my official visits. I want to enjoy the process.”
Isn’t that annoying?! Doesn’t sound like he’s committed to anything, if you ask me. He’s got this commitment to Miami he can always fall back on, just in case he can’t find anything better out there. And in the meantime, he intends to look for just that. I wonder how Miami would react if Aly did the same with her full ride (academic, not football, fyi) to the U.
That’s about the time Jesus tapped me on the shoulder and handed me a mirror. No national website interviewed me about my commitment, but if they had, I’m sure I would be quoted something like this.

“I’m still committed to God and everything, but I still have a lot of things I want to do for myself, honestly, and I want to live it up this life. I want to enjoy the process.”

Come to think of it, that must be why they call them verbal commitments in college football parlance. I’m definitely committed in word.
But if I look at my time, my money, my heart…am I committed? When you take an honest look at how Jesus addressed the church of His day, it’s rather suggestive. In one exchange, He pointed to some notes Isaiah took when listening to God one day:

“These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.” —Mark 7:6

Verbal commitments, and Jesus revealing them for what they are. Think about it.