Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Stevie Johnson: A man just like you and me

Recently, NFL wide-receiver Stevie Johnson ran a deep post corner route and dropped what would have been a game-winning touchdown pass thrown by his quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. It was the kind of catch that Johnson could make in his sleep, but this time around he didn't make the catch despite the fact that he was wide awake, not to mention wide open. The nearest defender was five feet away (and in the NFL if a defender is five feet away on a deep ball, he might as well be a mile away). He caught the ball for a brief second and then all of a sudden the ball seemed to just squirt away from him.

Johnson sat dejected in the end-zone. I can't imagine what was going on in his head as he sat there thinking whatever he was thinking. Actually, that's a lie, I know exactly what he was thinking. Johnson let the whole world (or at least those of us on Twitter) know exactly what he was thinking while he sat there. After the game, Johnson "tweeted" this: "I PRAISE YOU 24/7!!!!!! AND THIS HOW YOU DO ME!!!!! YOU EXPECT ME TO LEARN FROM THIS??? HOW???!!! ILL NEVER FORGET THIS!! EVER!!! THX THO..."

As you can imagine, and as you've probably already heard, many Christians and non-Christians alike are all over this guy for his Twitter to God. Now, some people see a huge problem with his tweet and I'm sure somebody out there has even said something like, "He's an idiot, You can think that kind of thing but you should never say it, let alone put it on Twitter, Facebook or MySpace (does anyone still use MySpace?). But I would like to put some things into perspective for you...

First of all, this guy is just being honest and transparent with God (to a fault). This is something more Christians should do. Most of us just stuff these things deep or drop the Christian F-Word and act like everything is okay. The Christian F-Word, by the way, is: Fine.

"I'm fine. How are you?"
"That's good. I fine."

No you're not! Come on! How many times have you said "I'm fine" when you weren't "fine" by any stretch of the imagination. Life sucks sometimes...why can't we be honest and say, "Hey, things are awful right now and I'm doing...well, I suck too"?

Johnson did something that would be healthy for all of us to do. Yeah sure, his heart was postured poorly toward God, but so is yours every once is a while...but are you ever honest about it? Johnson had a very bad moment and he had a very open conversation with God about it. Was it wise to have that via Twitter? No. Because now his thoughts will be out there for all to see until the internet is no more. But it could be worse...

Think about it for a second. Eventually, all the Tweets and Facebook Status Updates will be forgotten and they will end up as dust or ash in eternity. But the Word of the Lord is forever (1 Peter 1:25). I have no doubt that His written Word (the Bible) is apart of that package deal. So this could mean, that while Stevie Johnson's Tweet of Anger will last a long time, the questions and statements of other men (who have their moments of frustration with God quoted in the Bible) will be around long after Johnson's disappear along with Twitter and Facebook.

Jeremiah, for example, is quoted for all of eternity as he tells God that God has seduced him into serving God. Jeremiah would do exactly what God told him to do and almost always catch a beat down for it from the audience. That's way worse than dropping at catch when you play for the Buffalo Bills but his words will be immortalized!

Think about Job and the things that he said! Think about all of his idiot friends that "advised" him during is suffering. Their words live on thousands of years later for all of us to see how ridiculous they were! God even showed up in the middle of their conversation to clarify how dumb their words were.

David, the schizophrenic shepherd-warrior-king-poet can't seem to make up his mind! One minute he's talking to God as if they were sharing a gourmet parfait in the botanical gardens and the next he's crying out, "Where are you? God you've abandoned me! Whyyyyyyyy?!"

And in the New Testament we see that even the disciples, the guys who walked with Jesus Christ (i.e. God in the Flesh), are also pretty lame at times. James and John had their mom asked Jesus embarrassing questions, Peter constantly sticks his foot in his mouth, and three clowns are "The Inner Three" for goodness sake!

The point is, we've all blamed God for things or been wrongfully angry toward Him. We've all blasphemed and said stupid things to God or about God. Stevie Johnson just happened to do it on Twitter and get all over the media air waves for it too. When all is said and done, it could be worse. The bright side is that Johnson's outburst could have been captured in the Word rather than in the media and on the internet. Get off of the man's case...you're just like him, and if you're honest, you'll admit it.

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