There's no crying in football!

There are some things in life that are ridiculous.  The price of cereal, the verification necessary to get a library card, the calories in triple chocolate fudge cake, and maybe even people who cry watching football. 

Today marks the third home husky football game that I have had to miss in the past 12 years.  As I sat in my dorm room, watching the game stream through my computer, listening to the fans cheer, getting text messages from my parents who were at the game, I began to cry.  I’m not sure if I have ever felt so ridiculous in my life.  Who cries over football?!  Apparently I do. 

All of a sudden I remembered being 5 years old, on my dad’s shoulders, walking through a stadium filled with excitement and purple.  I remembered how it feels when the crowd goes crazy when the Huskies hold the opponents on 4th and short.  I remembered walking through campus with my dad, talking pregame strategy.  I remembered waking up early on Sunday mornings to read all the articles about the previous days’ victory.  I remembered six-hour car rides from our house in Corvallis to the games in Seattle. 

I remembered spending time with my dad.  I remembered bonding with my dad. 

The reason I cried was because I knew what I was missing.  I was missing that time with my dad that I have grown to love.  I hated knowing my dad was there in our seats and I was hours away. 

Like the time I spend with my dad in Husky Stadium, my time with God helps me bond with my other Father.   God waits for us everyday.  He longs for us to meet him.  But I have never cried over the times I have neglected to spend time with God.  I never thought about what I was missing.  I never thought of my Father waiting for me. 

Today I realized that I took each one of those football games for granted.  How blessed am I to have the opportunity to go to each of those games?  How blessed am I that those games and the car rides to them have equated to hours upon hours of time spent with my dad? 

I take time with God for granted.  He is always there to meet with me, but I seem to find every excuse not to meet with him.  I’ll drive four hours from Salem to see a football game, but I can’t seem to find the time in a day to meet with my Father.  The thought of my selfishness makes me cry.   

He is waiting. 

“Evening, morning, and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice” (Psalm 55:17).

4544 means baby bok choy

I look at things differently than the average person. Or I guess I should say I look at produce items differently than the average person. I don’t see spaghetti squash, I see 4776. I don’t see asparagus, I see 4080. I don’t see nectarines, I see 4378. I don’t see white onions, I see 4663. My life has been turned into a game of numbers. I cannot go a meal without running the numbers through my head (tonight I had 4076, 3151, 3121 and 4163… to you, that means I ate a salad). I cannot watch tv without saying all the numbers as they illuminate my screen. Basically, when I see produce, I think about the codes. Or if I happen to see a number that signifies a code (house numbers, phone numbers, etc), I think about the vegetable it means in my produce-laden world. It is something I cannot help, it just happens.

The reason I think in produce codes is because it is how I spend my days. 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. If I am not putting produce out onto the shelves all day, I am ringing it through the check stand. After spending a good 40 hours each week with these codes, they become a part of me. For the three months of the year I spend in the grocery store, the codes and I are one. Upon arriving back at school and leaving my glamorous grocery life behind, the codes slowly begin to fade away. I probably won’t remember that 4544 means baby bok choy come next February. It is doubtful that I will know 4629 means leeks in the panic of finals week.

The bottom line: when I am no longer spending everyday with these codes and have distractions on every side, I quickly forget.

When I am faithful about spending time with God and taking time to get to know Him, He becomes part of who I am (just like the codes are a part of who I am for the months of May, June, and July). But just like the codes that begin to vanish the moment I leave the grocery store, the relationship I have with Christ can just as easily fall away if I neglect spending time with Him. I cannot remember produce codes if I only work an hour each week. Likewise, I cannot build a relationship with Christ if I meet with him irregularly.

The great thing is, when I return to my grocery glory after spending 9 months away, the codes find their way back to the forefront of my mind within the first few days. After being afraid I would never recall the hundreds of PLU codes I spent last summer memorizing, I was shocked to find I remembered 4520 meant long stemmed artichoke on my first day back. When we fall away from Christ, we can rest assured that He will take us back. We don’t have to “start over” because He has been there with us all along. The codes never left my memory; Christ never leaves our hearts. He is always there waiting for us to pursue the relationship. Spend time with Him and he will be part of you.