Sometimes, there is silliness in coaching girls! This is from February 17, 2014. To have this make sense, it would help if you ever coached a team of middle school girls or if you ever were a middle school girl. It also helps if you have a passing knowledge of fairly current pop music sung by females. A little background. My basketball team carpools to games and I can haul three players in my Honda Fit. For every away game the past two years, Sydney and Lizeth, who are now seventh graders, have ridden with me. This season, our five eighth graders took turns in traveling with us. One of the big things is control of the radio. In years past, it has been a little bit of an issue- my rule is if I hear anything suggestive or profane, we listen to my station the rest of the way which is always sports talk or oldies. Not this year- the most excited Lizeth and Sydney were this season was when the stations started playing Christmas songs. My mother would have loved these girls!
The silliness started last season. We- probably me- substituted Jenna's name into a Taylor Swift song which now had to be sung:
I knew you were Jenna when you walked in-
Jenna! Jenna! Jenna!
(It was sung at the Athletic Banquet last May! Jenna was not amused so we sang it again during basketball camp in June.)
This season, the downward spiral contnued when I decided I disliked a Katy Perry song because if you have to tell somebody you have the eye of the tiger for them to know, you don't have the eye of the tiger. So, if I ever started singing Roar!, they could all hit me. (I sang it several times for their amusement!) The latest song caper came when radio stations began playing Royals, a catchy tune by a sixteen year old girl from New Zealand, incessantly. The new rule is that anytime I sing it- and it was always the hookline and we'll never be royyyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllsssssssssssss- all the girls on the team can hit Jenna. So, of course, I give in to every request. It's a team joke that I will sing it this year at the Athletic Banquet when all of them are lined up on stage. Jenna does not share that hope!
I think Royals is an interesting song. From what I can glean from the lyrics, it tells the story of kids who aren't rich but who witness that opulent life style in the movies and other entertainment. It seems a little whiny but she doesn't seem to begrudge the rich in her words; it just states the fact that she and her pals are content in their social class. I think it is interesting that the Christian faith commends us to a humble, even modest lifestyle, but makes the point that we are elevated to royalty by our relation to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 1 Peter 2:9 puts it like this:
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession,
That sounds pretty royal to me! I've always loved the hymn, Children Of The Heavenly King. If I'm the child of the King, I must be royalty! I'm not related to any earthly kings or queens as far as I know. Dad always told us that we were distantly related to Winston Churchill, legendary Prime Minister of England. Churchill's mom, Jennie Jerome, was an American, born in Brooklyn just like me! But who cares if the Churchill connection was just wishful thinking by my father? Churchill was a commoner, just like me. That's not my real genealogy, anyway. Believers will receive their reward in the courts of heaven, according to James chapter 1, and verse 12:
Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
Sometimes, I wish I could disregard three of the words in that verse; you know, perseveres, trial, test. But that makes sense as this royalty offered by the Father is not the kind that comes with birth- it comes with rebirth. And being born again is not limited by any social class or distinction. It is purchased by the blood of the one Nathanael called the king of Israel as soon as they met in John 1. So, what are we waiting for? Our kingdom awaits!
Applicable quote of the day:
"There is one thing higher than Royalty: and that is religion, which causes us to leave the world, and seek God."
God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com
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