Symbolism

My mission when I set out to do this blog was to take aspects of our popular culture and use them to relate those who haven't yet accepted Christ as their personal savior, and use some of the things we normally use to kill time and look at for deeper meaning or at least use it for a good purpose.

No I didn't make it to Twilight last night, not because I'm going to condemn it, but because I'm a straight, thirty year old man, therefore I have no need or desire to see it. To all my Christian people who did go see it, it's okay to post about it on Face book, I've already seen several post, but instead of just talking entertainment, find some redeemable value to talk about with it.

Instead of just calling people out I'm going to try put my money where my mouth is and bring some spirituality to something as foolish as a baseball cap. 1 Corinthians 1:21b says "It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." To me this says things that may be trivial or foolish can be used to save others, which leads me to this.





What do you think of when you see that?

My dad would tell you Mickey Mantle, his dad would have told you Lou Gehrig or Babe Ruth, they understood about "train up a child". When I was ten I would have said Don Mattingly, at twenty I would have said Derek Jeter, what I would say now I'll hold of on for a second.

Haters would have an entire different feeling when they see that logo than Yankees fan do. While on a mission trip in Jamaica last week I took some good hearted (I think) kidding, mostly from disgruntle fans of Atlanta, about all the Yankee gear I was wearing, that's when it dawned on me, the interlocking N.Y. means different things to different people and at this point in my life it has to do with friends I have been fortunate enough to meet over the years.

When you go on missions trips you give stuff away, that's just the way it goes. It's a Christian principal and it makes you feel good and it makes them feel good, and in time that memory fades. Back in 2007 while at Grant's Basic School in Flankers Jamaica I met a kid named Jay, and before I left I gave him my Yankees cap. Not really a big deal, as this hats are common in the US and easy to come by, but before I returned home I did a thing called a video shout out.

In the greater Montego Bay area of Jamaica there is a twenty four hour Christian televising channel, channel 93, called Friends Forever TV. The unique thing about this channel is it doesn't just show out dated Christian TV, it shows the people of Montego Bay interacting with international friends from the US on missions trips, so in a sense even when you leave and go home you are still there. Check out some of what is shown on channel 93 here http://www.youtube.com/user/friendsforevertv.

So as I was recording this shout some how the Holy Spirit got me to tell Jay that every time I saw the New York logo I would pray for him. I hate to say it but I haven't prayed every time I've seen that logo, but I often do. So several times a day I pray for my friend because the news paper, or Sports Center, or a random person on the street wearing the cap will pass me by and it will remind me of my friend.

So when I returned to Jamaica I brought more caps, and I gave one to a friend I met once again at Grant's Basic School, Antwain Stevenson (Stephenson is my Grandmother's maiden name, coincidence?) and I began to start praying for him daily. Then I gave one to a young man named Demar Irving and his named enterted into my prayer life. Just this year I made friends with Omar Warren, and Marlene Morgan.

So now every time I watch a game a prayer goes out. Not just a prayer that the Lord would help A-Rod not to chock in the ninth inning but I pray for my friends, I give thanks for them and I remember them.

When I saw Omar for this last time this year last Monday he ran up and hugged me saying "Me a Yankee, Me a Yankee", with this huge smile on his face that I will never forget. So now I also say "Me a Yankee", to some that may mean I'm a fan of the greatest franchise in the history of sports, to others it may mean I pull for a team who can only "buy championships", but to me it means I'm a person of mission, and that mission is to shine God's light, and show his love in the parts of Jamaica that American ignore because they don't know about it, or because it's reality is just to much for some to take.