It’s Bowl Season in America.
No, no, no. I’m not talking about red crystal dishes filled with lemon drops and candied almonds.
I’m talking football.
The college football bowl season kicks off today, and a whole slew of bowl games is scheduled over the upcoming weeks.
People tend to either like football or not like it. Not many people are neutral. My husband is one of the few who is kind of neutral. He watches it because I like to watch it, and he knows it makes me happy when he watches it with me.
Boise State will be playing in a bowl game tomorrow night. #happydance
I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this before, but my family and I moved to Idaho in 2001, and we moved from there to Virginia in 2009. We were only in Idaho for eight years, but we loved Idaho. Loved. It. Don’t get me wrong – we love Virginia, too. Idaho was special, though. I was living in Idaho when my daughter was born. We were living in Idaho when each of my children accepted Christ. My son was baptized in Idaho. It was in Idaho that I first met people who taught me and invested in me and loved me to growth in Christ. That’s where I lived when I started to learn what it means to die to self and live for Christ. Idaho is full of beautiful and spectacular memories for me. Just thinking of it gives me warm fuzzies.
Idaho is also where I lived when I fell in love with football. I was around thirty (give or take) when I discovered the game, and Boise State was my team. I have an NFL team, too, but Boise State is my college team. More than once I’ve seen them be in the worst possible position with a guaranteed loss in front of them, only for them to rally and do something phenomenal and completely shocking to turn the game around and come out with a win.
There’s something about that come-from-behind victory that speaks to my heart. In some ways, I think that we’re all coming from behind. We live in a world where people are more eager to point out our failings than they are to point out our successes, where people want to tear each other down rather than build each other up.
That’s one of the reasons I enjoy writing romance. By virtue of being romance, the characters have to see the good in each other. By virtue of being Christian romance, the characters have to see God at work in whatever situation they find themselves. They have to understand that their victory is in Christ and isn’t dependent on what other people say to them.
Writing romance allows me to celebrate the victories of my characters. It serves as a constant reminder to me that our victories are not grounded in this world but rather in our Savior. Writing romance also allows me focus on the joy in the midst of the chaos. Because, let’s face it. Life is full of chaos, especially at this time of year. It’s also full of enormous joy, though.
So, in the spirit of building people up (rather than tearing them down), I thought I’d take a quick minute to tell you that I think you’re fabulous. No matter what brought you to it, I love that you enjoy Christian romance. It tells me that we have something in common, that we both like to see the good in people. Even though I may not know you personally, and even though you may have zero interest in the college football bowl season, we are family. We’re united in our love of romance, of course, but we’re also united in Christ. And honestly – isn’t that the most important thing? I’m glad you’re in my family, and I want you to know that, regardless of what’s going on in your life right at this moment, I’m cheering you toward victory.
I hope you’ll join me and cheer for each other.
Love in Christ,
Heather
Heather Gray loves coffee, God, her family, and laughter – not necessarily in that order! She writes approachable characters who, through the highs and lows of life, find a way to love God, embrace each day, and laugh out loud right along with her. And, yeah, her books almost always have someone who's a coffee addict. Some things just can't be helped. Despite their different lives and situations, Heather’s characters have something in common. They're all flawed...but loved anyway.
I think we can all identify with an underdog.
Lol, as a massive football fan, I knew exactly what you were talking about Bowl Season!! Woohoo!! I absolutely love football, very big passion of mine, no one gets between me and my GA Bulldogs, lol!!
Hi Heather! This avid reader’s main genre is Christian Fiction. I also enjoy reading Cozy Mysteries. As a German, football is not my game. My grandkids play soccer. Having lived in Chicago for 10 years, we cheer for the Cubs (baseball) or since they are closer the South Bend Cubs. Merry Christmas and best wishes.
I love everything about this post! So upbeat and positive, thank you! One of my sons was a football player from the age of 8 all the way through college! Hubby and I never missed a game, whether that year he was a team superstar or barely made it out on the field. It was so much fun to watch and form friendships with the other players and their families.
So I have to ask, who is your favorite NFL team? Our family is divided between NY Giants, Indy Colts and Miami Dolphins.
Merry Christmas!
Thank you for sharing. Merry Christmas 🎄🎁
Merry Christmas to you and your family, and the whole Inspy Family!! I don’t care for football, but I do like baseball!!! I can even watch a little basketball, but that’s it for sports!
Heather, I loved your post because I’m a huge football fan, as is my hubby. We record games and watch them later, so everyone knows not to tell us scores ahead of time. We’ll spend a Saturday afternoon and evening watching college football. We also watch NFL games, but our favorite is definitely college. Hubby is a huge Notre Dame fan. We both cheer for the U of A (University of Arizona), Washington State, Texas Tech, and Wake Forest because we have connections to all of those colleges. We’ve lived in numerous cities, so we have quite a few NFL teams we cheer for, but most of our teams are losers with a big L. Chicago Bears, Atlanta Falcons, Jacksonville Jaguars, Cincinnati Bengals. Unfortunately the two winning teams on our list have fallen out of favor because of stuff. Dallas Cowboys and NE Patriots.