I don’t even know when it happened.  Sometime in my youth, I decided to cheer for the University of Michigan.  I didn’t know anyone that attended there when I was young.  I had never set foot on the campus, and yet I went all in with my support.  The years piled up, and the ups and downs of football seasons and basketball seasons formed a bond.  I have said, “Go BLUE!” more than a few times.  I love maize and blue and wear it often (‘even as I type this I’m wearing a sweatshirt with a gold block M in the center).

But it’s just sport.  My identity and allegiances run shallow when it comes to sports.  If we are talking football, I will talk smack with my Notre Dame and Ohio State friends.  But if we are talking faith, I don’t care who you cheer for!  When we have Christ in common, all else is trivial.  Some wear green, some wear blue, and some wear red.  But when the Spirit is in your heart, I am your brother.

So how do I shift my allegiances now that the head coach of Michigan has been fired and charged with at least one felony?  Well, I will choose to leave football as football, faith as faith, and felons as felons.  I enjoy watching football.  I just do.  I enjoy the seasons:  The gameday nachos my wife makes most Saturdays, the ups and downs of seasons, the stunning catches, the surprise blitzes, interceptions, and . . .  And . . . And.

But I have also enjoyed the opportunity for character to rise up.  For the good coaches who can motivate, inspire, and draw grit and drive out of young men being forged in the struggle of the sport.  I am not at all shocked when character is absent anymore.  When our chambers of Congress, our governors’ mansions, and our White House are occupied by men and women who lack basic integrity, why should I be surprised when a football coach is sleeping around?  I see it as sinful and wrong.  More than a mere felony, Sherrone Moore’s behavior is an affront to his Creator.  And yet our culture, which has systematically forsaken our Creator, acts like they can blush over behavior that is glamorized in movies, music, and social media.

I am disappointed with Sherrone Moore.  And I have prayed for him.  But I am not surprised when a person of the world acts worldly.  I still pray for America to regain some sense of decency, some return to valuing character, and to an increase in civility in social discourse.  But my hope for this is found in my hope that Jesus Christ would be proclaimed and received as the Savior and King.  His rule over my life has been defining.  His rescue of my life has been restorative.

I still will watch football.  I still will cheer for Michigan.  I will pray for Moore.  And I will proclaim Christ as the solution to our brokenness.

My loyalty to Christ is over my loyalty to Michigan football.  And my loyalty to Michigan football is over my commitment to a coach that proves himself to be an adulterous felon.  His felony was not about football, his felony is about his own heart and his need for rescue from Himself.  I needed to be rescued from myself too.  And so do YOU!  Ask Jesus to rescue you, ask him to forgive you of your moral failings, and ask him to be your King, and he will save you and set your feet on a better path.