“It’s the most wonderful time of the year!”

Game Four of the World Series was last night in St. Louis. Game Five is tonight, and, if necessary, the series will shift back to Detroit for the final two games.

The game formerly known as the world’s largest cocktail party (The University of Georgia vs. The University of Florida) will kick off tomorrow afternoon.

Rivalry weekends are just around the corner. Georgia vs. Georgia Tech. USC vs. UCLA. Ohio State vs. Michigan. And, after that, big games like the SEC championship. After all that, we have Bowl Games leading right up to the national championship game.

I’m showing my prejudice for college sports here. We’ve also got some big rivalries in the NFL. And, of course, the playoffs leading to the Super Bowl in February.

After the Super Bowl (back to college) it’s March Madness and the Final Four.

Here’s the thing: I don’t make much money by suburban American standards. I certainly don’t have a lot of “disposable income” sitting around. And if I did have that kind of financial margin, I’m not sure I’d spend it on a huge sporting event. Do you have any idea how much money it takes to go to something like the Super Bowl or The BCS Championship Game?

I’ve never attended what you would call a large sporting event. But every once in a while I wonder what it would be like to go to the World Cup or The Rose Bowl or The Kentucky Derby — to sit in the stands with 100,000 of your closest friends and scream until your hoarse — to go out a few days before and stay someplace nice and take in all the pageantry and atmosphere of an event like that.

So, that leads me to today’s question: If you could attend any single sporting event — get decent seats, stay in a nice hotel and really do it up right — which would it be and why?

This world runs at a frantic pace. We have more time-saving devices and less time (if that’s not upside down, I don’t know what is!). We wear our busyness as a badge of honor — as if being busy equals being important. As a result, many of us are frazzled and hurried and worried about all kinds of things.

But life in God’s Kingdom is void of things like fear, stress and anxiety. Life in the Kingdom of God is characterized by peace and rest and security. There is work, but there is a rhythm of work and rest.

This world says there is simply not enough time in the day to get things done.

But the truth is that we all have the same amount of time, and it is enough. My friend Ken Boa says it this way: “Each of us has been given enough time to accomplish God’s purposes for us on this planet” (Conformed to His Image, p. 245).

Think about that sentence.

“Each of us has been given enough time to accomplish God’s purposes for us on this planet.”

There’s a part of me that affirms that. Rationally, it makes sense. I understand the orthodox doctrine contained in that sentence.

And yet….

My lifestyle does not always reflect a real trust in God’s ability to provide. When I find myself running like a crazy pagan after things, it is because I do not really trust my heavenly Father to provide.

Often, this kind of trust does not come about by being convinced intellectually. It comes only as a result of obedience first. What would happen if I just decided to stop? What if I just hopped off the treadmill and said, “No more chasing — no more rushing — no more hectic living”?

I bet I would find out that God really can be trusted.

Perhaps the most rightside up thing a person who wants to follow Jesus can say is not: “God, give me more time” but “God, help me do less“.

If we could wrestle our anxiety to the floor long enough to do some serious pruning on our calendars, I imagine we might find that time is, indeed, on our side.

George Malcolm Stratton (1865-1957) devised an interesting experiment. He had a set of goggles that he could wear which made everything appear upside down. Imagine that for a moment (but not while you’re reading this because that might make you sick). In 1896, he wore the goggles for three consecutive days, and he learned that you can get used to living like that.

The experiment has been repeated many times by many people with the same results: you eventually just get used to seeing things upside down. You adjust and go on with life. One guy wore the upside down goggles for eight days and figured out he could do things like pour a cup of tea, fence and ride a bike.

It’s amazing what you can get used to.

Jesus entered a world where people had lived with upside down goggles for so long they had forgotten what rightside up was. So, a lot of what he told them didn’t make much sense:

“Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:35).

“Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all” (Mark 10:43-44).

“All those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Luke 18:14).

The way up is down. The way down is up. Financial security is not found in hoarding but in giving. The foolish things of God are wisdom in this world’s economy and vice versa. Strength is perfected in weakness.

God’s kingdom looks upside down compared to this world. But who is really upside down, and who is really rightside up?

One of the most devastating ways this upside-downness has hindered our ability to live rightside up lives is in how we think we must hurry and rush and push and drive ourselves to the breaking point in order to get ahead. We worry and we fret and we focus and concentrate on how to get one step, one car length, one dollar closer to some imaginary goal that always seems to be just out of reach.

And Jesus comes and says, “Go ahead and work, but don’t run at breakneck speed after things like food, clothing and shelter. People who don’t believe in God live like that. Stop. Rest. Trust in your Heavenly Father. He knows what you need, and he’ll provide” (see Matthew 6:25-34).

As upside down as it sounds, it turns out that the way to get ahead is by following Jesus. And if you’re going to follow someone you cannot go any faster than the person you’re supposed to be following. Jesus was frequently busy, but he rarely hurried. He continues to lead all those who will allow themselves to slow down and go at his pace.

Life in God’s kingdom looks upside down for many of us. But the invitation is extended to all: Take off the goggles this world has forced upon you. Begin living as though things have been turned rightside up.

And the promise of God is that one day, God will usher in the fullness of his kingdom. In that day, everything that has been broken by the sin of this world will get fixed. Everything that’s wrong gets made right again. Everything that’s currently upside down gets turned rightside up once and for all.

Most of the folks who read this blog on a consistent basis are Christians. As Christians we’re called to trust Jesus not only with our eternity but with our here and now as well. For lots of us, myself included, that last bit is the hardest part. I’m fine trusting Jesus to take care of me after I die, but all too often I want to handle things from now until then.

Jesus comes into our world and announces the availability of a whole new way of living. The life we’ve always dreamed of but never thought possible before is now available for absolutely every one of us. A life of freedom and security, a life of no regret, no shame, no anxiety, a life of rest and productivity in the things that matter most — that life is freely available to each and every one of us.

The question is: how badly do you want it?

Jesus says this invitation to a new kind of life is kind of like a guy who was walking through a field and found a treasure chest buried in it. The treasure chest has more gold, silver and jewels than he had ever seen before. So, he does the shrewd thing. He goes and sells everything he has, takes all that money and buys the field. He knows that whatever he has to give up in order to attain this treasure, it will be well worth it. He’ll get back anything he sacrifices and then some.

In other words, Jesus says that if you really understood what life in God’s kingdom looks like, you’d be willing to make any sacrifice necessary to get it. Whatever is standing in your way will be jettisoned without a second thought because this gift is that valuable.

And I think I’m coming to understand what he means. I think about all the things God has secured for me and given me access to. He has given me a fantastic family. I didn’t earn that. It’s a gift. Three beautiful and healthy daughters. An intelligent and beautiful wife. A nice home. Meaningful work. Gifts. He has given me a mind that works and a body that works most of the time (or is it the other way around?). He’s given me spiritual gifts, and he allows me to use them and partner with him in his work in this world. More gifts. He put me in a group of people who love and accept me. And, by giving me his Spirit, his Word and his Church, he enables me to grow in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, humility and generosity. If all of that’s still not enough, he says that after my life here on this earth is over, I get to be with him forever in a place of unending joy and purpose and fulfillment and contentment.

Gift upon gift upon gift.

That’s what I have access to. But there are often things that stand between me and experiencing the joy that comes with living life in God’s kingdom. Sometimes it’s anger. My anger is a force, and I use it to my advantage. I use it to bully others into getting my way, but my anger doesn’t achieve the righteousness of God. It gets in the way of me experiencing the life I really want.

Sometimes it’s my pride. By thinking that I must be the most important person in the room — regardless of what room I’m in — I shut myself off from the availability of living this radically liberated and secure life that God has for me.

Sometimes it’s greed. Because my perspective doesn’t always match up with God’s perspective, I sometimes think that the way up is up. Jesus says that’s backwards. The way up is down. The way to really receive is to give. The way we really find security is not through accumulation but through generosity. My greed makes me cling to the things this world finds valuable, but with my fists tightly clutching the wealth of this world, I cannot take hold of the things that matter most.

But there is an enemy that makes all the others pale in comparison. There is something that hinders me more than all others combined. It sounds so simple, so innocuous, so harmless, and yet it keeps me from really following Jesus the way I know I should.

As far as I’m concerned (and I do not believe I am alone in this), the one thing that keeps me from living the life I’ve always wanted, the life God has prepared for me, is this: I’m too busy.

One day we will all enter eternity and have a conversation with God. He’s likely to ask, “Why didn’t you do more to grow and become more like Jesus? Why didn’t you devote yourself to serving others and spreading the message? Why didn’t you spend more of your life growing in intimacy with me?”

I cannot imagine telling God, “Yeah, I was going to get around to doing all that stuff, but, you see, I was just so busy.”

The New York Yankees will not be in the World Series this year. The Dallas Cowboys will most likely not be in the Super Bowl. The Miami Hurricanes will not be playing in a BCS bowl game.

It’s a pretty good year for sports as far as I’m concerned.

I have a love/hate relationship with the Yankees. I love all the history and tradition. I like Joe Torre. I like the pinstripes and all that. But they’re bad for baseball because they spend too much money and make small-market teams unable to field competitive teams. I think it’s good for baseball to have someone like the Detroit Tigers in the World Series this year, but I don’t root against the Yankees like some do.

The Dallas Cowboys, however, I root against. I’m not exactly sure why I started disliking “America’s Team”, but I can honestly say I have never pulled for them to win a game.

The Miami Hurricanes? I would be happy if they never won another game — especially after that debacle last weekend against Florida International. Maybe if the Dallas Cowboys ever played “The U”… I’d end up hoping for a 0-0 tie.

How about you? Which teams do you like to root against and why?

Maybe it would be helpful to stop asking where our treasure really lies (“here and now” or “there and then”) and start asking ourselves what our treasure really is. In other words, are we doing what we do just to get a fat paycheck at the end of time?

Here’s something fascinating that Dallas Willard wrote:

What I “treasure” in heaven is not just the little that I have caused to be there. It is what I love there and what I place my security and happiness in there. It is God who “is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble” (Ps. 46:1). And as the apostle Paul has taught us from his own experience, “My God shall supply every need you have in terms of his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19). This is the constant witness of the biblical record to The Kingdom Among Us (Divine Conspiracy, p. 208).

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus makes one of his most well-known statements about money. He says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

I have, for some time now, thought that our concept of heaven is sorely deficient. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus uses the word “heaven” or the phrase “the kingdom of heaven” quite often. But he doesn’t seem to be talking about some faraway place we go to when we die.

For example, when he says, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matthew 4:17), he doesn’t seem to be saying, “Stop sinning so you can go to heaven when you die.” Likewise, when he says, “Our Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:9), he doesn’t mean that God is in some distant place that we will only have access to when we die. On the contrary, God is as close as the air we breathe. The kingdom of heaven is so near to us, we could reach out and touch it. Anyone can enter into the kingdom of heaven right now.

Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed…like yeast…like a treasure hidden in a field…like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish” (Matthew 13:31, 33, 44, 47). It’s hard to think of our traditional notions of heaven in those ways. What Jesus is talking about means something more than the pearly gates and streets of gold where we’ll live forever and ever. It means something much more urgent, something that seems to want to break into our world right now.

So, what does this do to the idea of storing up treasures in heaven? What does that mean?

According to surveys, most Americans agree that greed is bad. There was a time — maybe back in the 80s — when people thought greed was good, but that time is over. It’s nearly universal. Just about everyone agrees. Greed is bad. It’s a sin. It’s not something they want to be associated with.

And yet….

The same people who say that greed is bad say that they want a lot more money than they currently have. Is it me, or is there some serious disconnect going on there? People are saying, “I don’t like greed. I don’t consider myself a greedy person. But I would like to have a lot of money.”

So, what do you do with Jesus’ statements about money and wealthy people?

“Woe to you who are rich.”

“You cannot serve both God and money.”

“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.”

“Take heed and beware of all covetousness.”

Those are some pretty serious statements for our society to hear.

For some of us, we hear Jesus’ words and think, “Yeah! You rich people better watch out. Jesus is coming to get you! Thank you, God, that I’m not like those rich people.”

But when exactly does it occur to you that you’re the rich person Jesus is talking to?

A billion people will go to bed hungry tonight. Somewhere between 30,000 and 40,000 people died of starvation today. People don’t have clean water or basic sanitation. People can’t read.

I ate more food than I needed today.

I live in a house that’s nice. It’s not huge by our standards. In fact, it’s pretty modest by today’s standards. But it’s larger than most houses have been for most of world history.

I make money. Sometimes I make a lot of money. Other times (like now) I don’t make much. But no one in my family has ever gone hungry. We’ve not been thrown out of our home. We’ve paid our bills on time, had a roof over head, food on the table, shoes on our feet.

There are millions of people who cannot say that tonight.

I think greed is bad. It’s not something I want to be associated with. To look at me, you wouldn’t think greed is something I struggle with. Many days, I might even agree with you. In fact, I’d probably tell you, “I’m not greedy; I just want more.”

I have been asked by a couple of people recently what they can do to help me personally and Faith 2.0. I have a few thoughts and ideas that you could all do if you’d like to be a part of the ministry that is changing people’s lives by helping them re-examine what they really believe.

First, you can donate to the ministry. Faith 2.0 is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, so you’re donations are tax deductible. Any donation above $100 will get you a signed copy of my new book and a subscription to all the .mp3 files on the website.

Second, you can buy a copy of the new book, Hearts and Minds: Raising Your Child with a Christian View of the World, from our online store. By purchasing from us, rather than your local bookstore, the money goes directly to Faith 2.0. With Christmas coming up, several people have already purchased copies to give as presents.

Third, you can bring me in to speak at your church — perhaps to conduct a parenting seminar based on the material in the parenting book. A few years ago I made the decision to do no travel between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I do not regret that choice one bit. It does, however, make it a little difficult to pay all the bills on time! The more bookings I can get scheduled for the new year, the easier it will be to honor my commitment to my family during the holidays.

Finally, you can help create a positive buzz about the new book by doing simple things. For example, you could visit a website like Amazon.com and write a review of the book. You can ask your local Christian bookstore if they have the book in stock. You could talk to other parents about using the book in a small group study.

It would be inconsiderate of me to fail to thank those of you who have already made contributions. It is because of your generosity and support that I am able to do what I do. I can provide for my family, meet my financial obligations and help people better understand how to live the life God has called them to live. Without your help, none of this would be possible.

I have readers from all over the place who come to this blog. But, as far as I can tell, I don’t have very many from New York, St. Louis, Oakland or Detroit.

Still, many of us will continue to watch the baseball playoffs and the World Series — even though the Braves, Rangers, Astros, Dodgers, etc. have been eliminated. And we’ll find ourselves rooting for someone.

Albert Pujols is the best hitter in Major League Baseball. It would be a shame for his name to be associated with the likes of Ernie Banks or Ted Williams or some of the other greats who never won the big one. I’d like to see him get a ring.

But the Mets have the ageless wonder Julio Franco. He’s 48 years old, for crying out loud! His rookie year was 1982. Albert Pujols was still in diapers. I’d love to see Julio get a ring.

But Jim Leyland came out of retirement, knowing very little about his team, or the American League for that matter. He is proof that old guys can still get it done and that managers are valuable. I’d love to see him win it to disprove the idea that you’re obsolete after you hit 60.

But the Oakland A’s have one of the lowest payrolls in MLB (they were at about $62 million on opening day this season — that’s 21st in a league of 30 teams — contrast them with the Yankees’ payroll of over $200 million). Teams like Oakland (and Detroit) are good for baseball.

So, what about you: Who are you hoping will go all the way to the World Series championship this year? And why?