Football and need

Friends in Christ,

  I grew up in Cincinnati, which means that grew up cheering for the Cincinnati Bengals, that team that plays in the National Football League.  (I hesitate to call them a professional football team.  Anybody who has followed the Bengals for several decades knows that 'professional' isn't the most appropriate moniker for them.)  Cheering for the Bengals is not an easy task--it's a bit like cheering for the antelope in a National Geographic special.  Every once in a while the antelope will make a sharp turn or a dash for safety and you think it's going to get free... and those specials always end with the lion gnawing on antelope remains.

  A few years back, the Bengals decided they needed a new stadium.  They threatened to move to California if they didn't get one, so the city buckled and handed them a gold-plated deal, one that has financially backfired on the city.  Their budget is now severely affected by the promises they made to keep up the stadium, and the lion's share of the profits find their way into the owner's pockets, rather than the city's pockets.

  Now, when the city was being sold on this deal, two things were mentioned over and over.  One was the emotional impact of the team leaving.  (Hard to imagine this was a winning argument!)  The other was the economic impact of the team leaving.  The team does have a positive effect on the city--affecting everything from hotels to bars and restaurants to merchandise to jobs held within the stadium.  There are tax revenue and parking fees and many other channels through which money flows back to the city and to other businesses.  I'm not going to deny this.

  But I wonder if anyone talked about the economic impact of what might happen if the city's money was poured into the local schools, particularly the poorer schools.  How might those children have benefited from funds that were given to a football team?  Who knows what impact those dollars could have had ten, twenty years down the road?  Perhaps some children would have received an invigorating education that was otherwise missed, and in their rising above poverty, they might have lifted countless others with them.  Who knows what might have happened?  It might have transformed a city--and Cincinnati would have been the city that said no to football and yes to children.  I imagine that the billionaires who run the NFL would have found a way to get by.

  Whenever we spend money, there is an opportunity cost.  There is always something else that money could go toward.  This cost will always exist, whether it's the money we spend on rent or on a milkshake at Steak & Shake.  We can guilt ourselves crazy if we like, or we can see the opportunity to examine how we spend our money & ensure that we are being faithful stewards.  May we be sure that we are giving generously, freely, working to fight poverty and hunger.  There is nothing in the Bible that says we can't spend money on ourselves--but faithful stewardship demands that if we have money to spend, we must be willing to give some to others in need.  We need to leave some behind so that others might glean from it.

  It's a delicate balance, and the best thing we can do is make sure our priorities are correct.  If our hearts are focused first on Christ Jesus as Lord of all of life, then that mindset will guide us when it comes to spending money.  We'll know when we need to save and we'll know when we need to invest in the lives of others.  It's not always an easy decision, but the more thought we give to our money will help us be more faithful in our use of it.

  May we consider the cost and give generously, following the example of the Lord, who has given us more than we deserve.

In Christ,
Keith