My kids do sports. All of them are dancing, tumbling, running, karate-chopping or kicking. All the time. And, it feels, all at the same time and in different directions (a blog for another time).

My eldest just started high school sports. He’s on the varsity team, and, like all the other athletes, has to be at games and practices. This is all standard operating procedure. Except things have changed since I was a kid. When I was a kid I went to school. After school we would practice, or we got on a bus to play another team. Those games and practices happened Monday through Friday. On the rare occasion there would be a big tournament on a Saturday. And it would be that one tournament, “The” tournament. 

Oh, man, I seriously just wrote a “back in my day line.” Stay with me, this is going somewhere, and I promise I won’t ask anyone to get off my lawn.

These days practice, for just the eldest, can be at seemingly any time. 6am on Monday, 3pm on a Wednesday, all fair game. And the tournaments aren’t just once a year. Oh, and to get there the kids have to be at the school at, no joke, 3am. 

Now I can handle all the driving and picking up. By that what I mean is: my wife seems to be able to handle all the driving and picking up. But the rubber hits the road when all these tournaments and practices happen at the same time as faith formation events at Church. I’m not talking about worship on a Sunday. I’m talking about how it's a given that the athlete is expected to give up their Sunday, or not go to Church events because there is a tournament. Sports assume that the kids have nothing else, other than sports, in their lives. What's more, if there is a conflict, sports wins. Because if you don’t practice you don’t play. If you miss a game you won’t be started. If you miss a tournament you might be off the team. And not for nothing, missing means the team is at a detriment. 

The struggle is real. How can I show my kids that Christ is the most important thing in the world, ever, but when push comes to shove Jesus gets dumped for an amateur sporting event? How can I ask my kids to put their faith first and miss a sporting event, knowing full well that that might mean they not only won’t play in that tournament but may also be punished in future games?

I know this isn’t the Colosseum. No one's dying. But it sure feels like the end times in the moment. 

For what it's worth my kids don’t miss out. They get their faith filled. I want them to have the best life. Better than the one I had coming up. And I want them to have that kind of life in such abundance that it cares to stay with them well after I’m dead and gone. I believe Christ offers that best life. That means my kids may get benched. I don’t expect them to understand what that means now, but they will when they rise.