If you have read any of my tweets over the last month the title may come as a surprise, but it is the truth.  I love the 2 picture of joy that these men have after scoring the game winning goal for there respective sides.  I’ve loved the competition over the last month and I am truly sad that it will end until 2014, but that is it.  To be completely honest it has taken me years to get to this point and I do not expect you to be here but I would ask that you consider joining me [especially if you are a Christ follower].  In this final a new [and first time] champion will be crowned at the World Cup on Sunday, when Spain meets the Netherlands in a final which has the potential to be a classic. Well-organized and experienced Spain that has the players to outplay most club teams around the world against a Dutch side that has strikers, wingers and midfielders capable of slicing through any defense (point and case Brazil). The first World Cup final to be staged on the African continent should be a memorable one if both teams bring their best game to Soccer City Stadium.  So with all of this build-up why (you ask) are you going to be missing the game?

1.  I have to work.  Ultimately, my allegiance is not to a sport (looking at you every American sport) but to my God who has asked me to serve my family.  Will I watch the score? Yes, why not?  I will not let it affect my interaction with my guest and utilizing the chance to speak the Gospel into there lives.  I did not ask off, and I could have, and

2.  It’s just a game.  We forget this in America everyday (Lebron free agency 2010), it is rather sickening when you think about it. I am not pointing the finger solely at you but myself also.  We find ourselves better able to recite the stats of a person who plays a game while in the same breath our pastors and leaders that I do not have time to read my Bible, or study/ memorize it.  The way we treat sports in the U.S. shows everyone else that this is much more important that God.  I am not saying that you should become a monk and hide from the rest of the world but make Him more important than everything else.  Furthermore, I used to be a person, when my team won or lost, let that game affect my emotional disposition for the rest of the day [week] depending on the game.  Listen, I love futbol as much as the next person.  i truly think that it is the every-mans game, but it is NOT God and can not serve at a sufficient one.  It is just a game.

3.  The game will be replayed on ESPN later.  When I come home that night from working a 13 hour day, I will sit down, when everyone else is asleep and enjoy the match.  Will I know the outcome? Probably?  Will I care? Nope.  Is it because I’m not rooting for anyone? Nope, I want Holland to win but I think Spain is the better side.  I just enjoy the game for the games sake.  I could watch it on my phone but I don’t want to take away from my guest experience where I work, so I’ll just watch it later.  My guest pay good money to come and watch a great show.  Additionally they, being mostly American, don’t care about the final and so I will not have the opportunity to discuss it with them and lastly, see point 2 (it’s just a game).

Like I said earlier I by no means am coming from a high and mighty position but I do want to offer something for you to think about.  As a Christ follower I am constantly given the chance to remind myself that He is ultimate and these other things (food, money, sports, relationships, education, sex, music, pets, [add yours here]) make poor gods that always leave me not only unfulfilled but abandoned in the end.  This is not just about the World Cup.  What is it for you?

“You are the whitest black person I’ve ever met” or “I’m more black than you are”

Invariably either one or both of these comments are made in almost every environment I end up in.  Usually by (but not limited to) my Caucasian associates who feel comfortable enough with me to inform me on what they think about the way I choose to act on a daily basis.  I’ve heard it in church; work, from fellow pastors, classmates, even those that I thought that their knowledge of me was extensive enough not to make such an ignorant statement.  So here is my question to those statements:  What is Black?

So what is being black enough?  Is it based upon complexion?  Is it a question of heredity and genealogy, or culture and experience?   My children may be mistaken for being Hispanic, Hawaiian, biracial (which they are), and will be told that they looked like an Middle Eastern, so I suspect that one’s physical characteristics alone do not make someone black enough.  Moreover, in many respects, it makes me realize how ethnic classifications based on colors are misguided anyway.   Black America, in particular, not only consists of people with many variants of complexions, black culture consists of people whose racial heritage is a product and blend of the realities of sexual impropriety.

Honestly, I’ve become comfortable enough in my skin to say that I am sick and tired of these (and many more) examples being the standard for what the definition of being Black is. So, again, what is “black enough?”  My skin is brown, and this makes me subject to the same racism that any other person in America has faced.  There are areas where I can’t walk without being stopped by the police.  Likewise, what is “acting white?”  There is not a manual that says all black people are supposed to have the same tastes when it comes to clothes, food, music, or anything else.  Am I not black because I can appreciate Vivaldi or Mozart as well as James Brown or Public Enemy?  Does my respect for education, learning and  knowledge mean that I am “acting white?” Notwithstanding my personal likes and dislikes, I am still black!  Though I can appreciate things about American culture that appear to be characteristically white, I also appreciate my black culture, history and heritage.  All in all, “blackness” is undoubtedly in the mind of the beholder.  The next time that you are questioning whether or not someone is “black enough,” consider that they may be asking the same about you.

This is purely hypothetical, but perhaps Malcolm X asked whether Martin Luther King was “black enough” when King was preaching nonviolence.  Maybe W.E.B. Dubois questioned the “blackness” of Booker T. Washington when Washington gave his address at the Atlanta Exposition.  Though these men may have had philosophical differences on how to empower blacks, one thing that they all had in common was appreciation for their heritage, the desire to take part in the ongoing struggle for freedom, respect for hard work and education, and a strong desire to unify and edify the black community’s social and economic status in an unequal America. Their lives epitomize the fact that individuals can succeed at using different methods to help blacks in their struggle for equality, and this truth really makes the question of whether or not someone is “black enough” meaningless.

Ultimately, what defines me is not the color of my skin, or the content of character but the God I serve.  But we will tackle this in the next part of my confession.  Tell me what you think below

**You should also read “Confession Part 1: My Story” and “Confession Part II: My Calling” **