My favorite football team, the New Orleans Saints have started out the season strong and now have the best record in football at 7-0. They beat all the best teams and are THE team to beat in the NFC. There is this impulse in me to brag about them and hold it over peoples heads that my football team is better then theirs.
What people don’t realize is that I grew up during a time in which the Saints were the cellar dwellers of the NFL. Well actually it is worse then that because while they weren’t the absolute worst team, they were in a division with the absolute best team. The Saints of the 1990′s once went 12-4 and made the playoffs only by the wild-card. The wild-card! That was because the 14-2 49ers won the division. This was the plight of many Saints fans for a long long time. As good as we did we could never overcome the evil 49ers or Dallas Cowboys. I grew up in the heart of the Central Valley and so all through out grade school, jr. high, and high school I heard a lot of trash talking from 49er fans. Year after year they would just pour it on about how good their team was and how bad my team stunk. (For a boy in his teens this can be quite damaging.)
So here we are about 15 years later and MY MY how the tables have turned. My team looks to be the dominate while the 49ers are the new cellar dwellers.
So a few days ago a friend of mine tells me to remain humble during these times. For some reason that statement really hit home. It reminded me of a line in Victor Frankl’s book about “Man in Search of Meaning”. I wish I had the book in front of me but it is in storage somewhere so please forgive me for misquotes. But the book is about his experiences in Jewish concentration camps and the Psychology he developed from his experiences. It is a fabulous book but the one story that I always remember is when he talked about a man who had been freed from the camp. This man then happened to cross paths with one of the guards who once held him captive. The former prisoner then beat the guard and began to treat him as he used to be treated. What was surprising to me was that you would think that this former prisoner would have learned the cruelty in treating people that way but he hadn’t. As soon as he was released from the camp he then went on to treat others badly as some sort of revenge. There is something in the human impulse that aches for revenge. But revenge doesn’t feel good. Revenge doesn’t satisfy, especially if you are the one heaping on the revenge. Romans 12:19
says “Do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath: for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay” says the Lord.
So the moral of this blog is that staying humble is really important. Now that the Saints are on this hot streak I should simply enjoy it not because it gives me bragging rights but because they are a fun team to watch. Sure there is room to brag perhaps after they win the Super Bowl. Then I can celebrate and be proud of my team for all their hard work. But if I celebrate now there will be no celebration left for the big day! Let’s hope there is a big day. The Saints have been known to surprise you. Nobody saw them winning this much and now nobody sees them losing in the future but if they remain humble and don’t get ahead of themselves then anything is possible.
