by David Melton
I’m from Boston. I know something about rivals.
This will be a surprise to just about no one. We cheer for anything, anybody, any team from Boston. We boo, hiss, deride (or worse) anything New York. We can love an athlete with an unyielding devotion — but just let him change shirts (particularly if he wears one with pinstripes) and we will name the garbage truck after him! He has become a rival.
As we begin a new college year I have thought a lot about rivals. Not sports rivals — decision rivals. It sure seems like we are pulled more vigorously than ever. Rivalries are really about choosing between two options — acknowledging the differences between two paths — aligning our hearts and our energies and our hours for one “team” or the other.
We almost all make “rival” choices every day. Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts (I can help you with this call if you need it!) Going on to lunch? Where will you choose to go? Coke or Pepsi? In Boston, two incredible pastry shops, Mike’s Pastries and Modern Pastries are barely a block apart in the North End. The stuff they make is so good it can bring you to tears. But if you have any chance of becoming a “local” you have to choose which of the two is the best! I really don’t think you’re allowed to admit that you like both. They are rivals. Choose.
For our students these days, the “rivalry” is not so frivolous. The draw to our culture, to its value system and pleasures, creates a rivalry that grows fiercer by the day. Following Jesus, and even more, getting an education to equip you to lead our churches, doesn’t have the financial attraction of rival options. In recruiting new students, in keeping them all the way to graduation, and in all the work in between, I think our work at Boston Baptist College is to stoke the rivalry, to equip for the encounter, to deck out our team ready to “leave it all on the field.”
That kind of rivalry is serious work. I see it in our students. Matt McGrath spent his summer doing mission work in Africa. Clearly, he has chosen his team. Devon and Brent worked at their home church in Ohio for Pastor Randy Moore. Those guys have put on the right jersey! I had two guys at our church, Drake and David, who were indispensable to us this summer. They, too, have the rivalry thing down.
It’s a part of our lives every day. I think that’s a good reminder of what is spiritually at stake every day. Rivalry. It’s what our college is all about — grooming young men and women for “the Team.” Remember that the next time you boo the Yankees … or the Mets … or the Jets … or the Knicks … or ….