A Year's Difference

What a difference a year makes.

I'm talking about this college season football year. After starting with two prime time losses the Beloved Dawgs of Georgia have won eight straight ... albeit some were of the ugliest win variety I've ever witnessed. Then last week, everything about this football team came together and we beat Auburn 45-7. No one was more stunned than the 97,000 people at the game.

The crowd would cheer over a play and then lapsed back into stunned silence.

It was great!

Afterwards I celebrated with all of my kids in the restaurant at the Holiday Inn in Athens. We lingered enjoying a season that has turned completly around. Today should the Beloved Dawgs of Georgia win it's ninth in a row over the Philistines of Kentucy ... then we play for the SEC Championship which is akin to reaching the Promised Land.

If everything goes right, as the major Prophet Larry Munson once said, "They tore our hearts out and threw in on the foot. They ran all over it. We picked it up and put it back in. Touchtown! Georgia wins!"

I've always loved that call of the game against Georgia Tech. Jeremy and Chelsea and I were there. Tech had just scored to take the lead with a minute left to play. The Beloved Dawgs of Georgia were led by God all of the way down the field scoring on an incredible towndown catch. My daughter, son and I danced like heathens in the end zone.

Last year's football season saw the Beloved Dawgs of Georgia back wandering in the wilderness. Pagans from Alamaba and Lousiana had made an unholy alliance to create an evil empire in the Southeastern Conference. At the same time, I wasn't in the best of shape. I don't even remember last year's games though I was here for all of them.

Today I'm full of excitment and surrounded by love and happiness. Last night we went to the Holy Shrine of the Varsity to break bread together ... and eat chili cheeses dogs, several naked dogs and onion rings and fries together. Then we settled in the room to try to unwind and prepare for today. Anticipation and excitment abounded. Everyone knows ... something special is happening.

In just a little while, I'll be surrounded by one-hundred-thousand of my cloest friends. We will all be styling wearing red and black. We'll sing the familiar Hymns ... "Glory, Glory to Old Georgia" and "Hunker Down Hairy Dog." We'll offer prayers throughout the day, "Please God let him tackle that SOB" and "Thank you Lord for that incredible catch in the corner of the end zone."

After the game we will all make our way to the Chapel ... to ring the victory bell throughout the night.

Like the Beloved Dawgs of Georgia, I've had my fair share of wandering in the wilderness alone and foresaken. Today I am part of this community of believers and we love and support one another as we build new lives. We take to time to celebrate and to laugh. We are quick to share our love.

And God looked down and said ... "It is good."