WPS!!!

"Arkansas Fires Petrino as Coach." That is what the headlines read this morning in the Natural State.  Now, let the armchair quarterbacking begin!  I have friends on both sides of this issue who vehemently defend their stance.

"His personal life should be separate from his professional life!" "Jeff Long made the correct decision. 'No single individual is bigger than the team.' AMEN!!" "But it's ARKANSAS FOOTBALL, He'll keep his job. They HAVE to keep him! (this before Tuesday's announcement)"

Nothing is more sacred to Arkansans than their beloved Hogs.  The only thing that even comes close to the level of love and devotion is how Texans refer to their homeland.  I do believe there is a line at which you say, "we'll go this far and no further." That is, at least in reference to the Hogs...Texas, I'm not sure about.  I would venture that if Satan himself came and claimed Texas as his own...since he's familiar with hot, dry uninhabitable places, that the Texans would shoo him away with their 10 gallon hats or just shoot him with one of their thousands of firearms. "Granny! Get your gun! that red devil is back in our yard again!"

Personally, my props go to the U of A and the AD Jeff Long, no man IS greater than the team. In the university setting the faculty and staff are a team.  They work together to achieve a goal, educated, well rounded students.  They lean on the talents of each other.  Arkansas has a good football team BUT that ISN'T the whole college.  They also have this thing called...academics.  Although many view these two as a "church and state" or "Lord's supper and the offering" issue, you cannot keep academics and sports "separate and apart."  They are a PART of the WHOLE.

In the church we do the same thing.  The younger generation wants to sing all the new songs and worship radically, while the older generation thinks everything will be fine if we go back to the way church was in the 50's.  Neither are correct in and of themselves.  There is a yin and yang to this thing we call the church.  And until we look at each other as FAMILY the church will continue to be filled with the Hatfields and McCoys. 

No individual is greater than the team should be a call for the church.  We are in this thing together...we are in it to win...there will be some who see the church as a political or personal stage and that isn't the issue.  Sometimes we may have to cut someone NOT because we don't like them but because he/she has become "too big for their britches."

In those raw cases it needs to be remembered that those people are still family.  They any actions done need to be done in love and affection for the person NOT as a vindictive "AHA!"

"By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you love one another. (and if you call the Hogs)" John 13:35 (Hezikiah 3:5)