Say Merry Christmas, Now!

I don't know about you but, for the past few years, it seems to me as if the "Merry Christmas" versus "Happy Holidays" war has been at an all-time high.

On one hill are Christians who can't stomach the thought of either Christmas being lumped together with Kwanzaa and Hanukkah or having Jesus' birthday turned into "just another pagan holiday." On the other hill are atheists and pacifists and members of non-Christian faiths who either don't believe in Christ or don't want to risk offending those who don't.

I completely understand most Christians' desire for the right to say or display "Merry Christmas" when and where they want to. I want that too. What I don't completely understand is the pseudo-recent obsession with requiring everyone else on the planet to follow our lead. I say "Merry Christmas" because it is what I believe, not because I think it's what the person I'm talking to believes. My words speak of me, not them. So, when someone greets me during the holidays, I expect to hear what they want to say, not what they think I want to hear.

If we (as Christians) don't want to shop at a store that refuses to recognize Christmas, then we shouldn't. If we want to respond to every "Happy Holiday" greeting we hear with "Merry Christmas" instead, then we should do that. But why in the world should we expect--or demand--that people who have no belief in Jesus use his name?

Forcing the "Merry Christmas" issue is, effectively, asking people to break the third commandment. Taking the Lord's name in "vain" means to use it in a worthless or empty way, devoid of meaning...OR to attach Christ's name to something that isn't from him. Demanding that an agnostic or atheist, Hindu or Jew use the name of Christ is actually doing both. Since none of these beliefs recognize Jesus as their savior, saying "Merry Christmas" is using his name in an empty, meaningless way. Plus, it's attaching Christ to something that isn't of him. Namely, a holiday season that is nothing more (to them) than snow and presents and time off from work.

So, if you're not celebrating the birth of Jesus this year, please don't say "Merry Christmas." That's not what you mean. Say "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings" or "Merry Gift-mas"...but don't pretend that you're stopping down to remember a miraculous birth that you don't believe ever occurred. If December 25th is simply a day to spend with your family and exchange gifts and drink eggnog, then be honest about it. It's fine.

As for the rest of us, we shouldn't be offended by those who opt for a holiday greeting rather than a Christmas one. Their choice of words is simply a reflection of their heart. Matthew 15:18 tells us, "But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart." And, if Christ isn't in someone's heart, why should we expect it to be displayed in his or her language?

It is not your job to change someone's heart. Nor is it mine. Our job is to show people--through our words and our actions--the true Christ of Christmas, and then let him take it from there.

Tim's 10 Most-Fascinating People of 2011

Barbara Walters revealed her "10 Most-Fascinating People of 2011" this week, and the list read like the front page of the National Enquirer. With a few exceptions, each person (or group of people) on the list was simply popular tabloid fodder. And, to me, there's a big difference between popular and fascinating.

Is it really possible that there is nobody on the planet that is more interesting--more intriguing--than the Kardashian sisters, Simon Cowell, and Katy Perry? Or Pippa Middleton, Derek Jeter, Eric Stonestreet, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson?

So, I've come up with my own list. We'll call it "Tim's 10 Most-Fascinating People of 2011." Some are fascinating for good reasons. Some are fascinating for bad reasons. But, unlike Ms. Walters' list, each has a story to tell...and a story that Americans who live in places other than New York and Los Angeles want to hear.

1. Herman Cain* - former Godfather's Pizza CEO who rocketed to the top of the Republican presidential nominee polls before a handful of harassment allegations forced him to drop out of the race.

2. Tim Tebow - Christian quarterback of the Denver Broncos who is now being called the "Mile High Messiah" after a series of miraculous come-from-behind wins.

3. Navy Seal Team 6 - the military team that took out the FBI's #1 Most Wanted man, Usama bin Laden, while he was hiding in a residential area of Pakistan.

4. Reed Hastings  - Netflix CEO who, literally, lost millions of customers with an ill-advised and dramatic price hike for his DVD delivery and download service.

5. The clean-up crew at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor - men and women who have willingly risked their lives to protect their country after the March 11th earthquake and tsunami.

6. Joe Paterno - former head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions who, at 83-years-old, lost both his job and impeccable reputation after a child abuse scandal involving one of his former assistants came to light.

7. Sandra Bullock - A-list actress who went through a very public (and very messy) divorce in the midst of adopting a baby from New Orleans.

8. Paris Jackson - 13-year-old daughter of the late Michael Jackson who has recently said that she wants to, in some ways, follow in her father's footsteps.

9. An Occupy Wall Street protestor - a relatively new group of Americans who converge on major city centers to live in tents, sleep in trees, and willingly get arrested for their beliefs in economic equality.

10. Amy Chua - Yale Law professor and author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother who received significant criticism for her radical, bordering on abusive, views on parenting.

So what do you think? Did I miss anyone? Who would you put on the list instead?


(*Herman Cain was included on Barbara Walters' list as well.)

An Open Letter to Illinois Football Fans

When Ron Zook walked into the WBGL radio studios last Thursday, he was a full hour early for our interview. For the first time in seven years, the former Illinois head football coach was without a schedule. Without someplace to be. Without a game plan to go over or a running back to recruit. When Zook realized his error, he simply said to me, “I’m not used to this.”

Just five days earlier the coach had been fired by University of Illinois Athletic Director Mike Thomas. The move wasn’t unexpected but, to the 57-year old Zook, it was certainly disappointing. Regarding both the present and the future of Illinois football, the former coach takes an opposing view of many fans and members of the media. “I know that the program is in great shape right now. They’ll go on and, hopefully, have the success that everyone wants them to have – me included.”

Though our thirty minutes together was supposed to focus on him, his family, and his future, Coach Zook found it hard to talk about anything other than his former players.  As I thanked him for his service to the university and to the Champaign-Urbana community as a whole, the coach responded, “I wish that the community could get to know our players like I do. They’re good kids and they want to do the right thing. They know the difference between right and wrong. They’re searching just like all young people are…and we’re just trying to help them make the right choice.”

During Ron Zook’s tenure at the U of I, it’s apparent that he helped many players do exactly that. Trulon Henry, a senior set to graduate at the end of the semester, recently said of the coach, “I’d jump off a cliff for him.” Zook recruited the linebacker to Illinois after Henry had served time in prison for armed robbery.  “A lot of coaches wouldn’t have brought me here.”

But, in my mind, Ron Zook isn’t “a lot of coaches.” He’s a hard-nosed guy with a heart of gold…committed to teaching his players how to overcome adversity both on and off the field. Zook understands that there is far more to life than football, and his goal is to adequately (and appropriately) prepare these 18- to 22-year old men for both. Big Ten fans should know better than anyone these days how hard that outlook can be to find.

Partway through our conversation, I watched Coach Zook’s eyes water as he talked about his own life outside of football. He teared up as he mentioned his two daughters, and how he was looking forward to their family’s annual tradition of shopping on Christmas Eve. It was a tender part of the coach that, I would guess, not too many die-hard Illini fans ever had the chance to see. I can’t help but wonder if public sentiment would have been different if they had.

But, of course, college coaching decisions aren’t made on feelings. Nor should they be. Hirings and firings are made on results, and that’s where it seems like Illini nation may have lost its collective long-term memory.

With a bowl berth this year, the Illini program that Ron Zook built is headed to its third post-season game in the last five seasons. This hasn’t happened to Illinois since 1994 and is the exact same 2007-2011 ratio as arch-rival Michigan. In 2008 Illinois appeared in the coveted Rose Bowl for the first time since 1984 and for just the second time since Kennedy was in the White House. With a win over UCLA in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl this year, the Fighting Illini will have won bowl games in consecutive years – something the team has never before accomplished.

After Zook’s two rebuilding years in 2005 and 2006, the Illini finished with a winning record in 2007 and 2010, with the chance to be above .500 again in 2011. Again, that’s three of five. Have we forgotten that, between 1991 and 2004, Illinois finished the season at one game over .500 or worse eleven times? Five times in the 80s, nine times in the 70s, seven times in the 60s, etc.

The 2008 Rose Bowl clearly turned the Illini faithful into the Illini delusional. Fans now expect to win every single game, and be in the Bowl Championship Series hunt every single season. Anything else, it appears, is unacceptable. But it is also unrealistic.

One sniff of the roses does not turn Champaign, Illinois into Happy Valley, Pennsylvania. One BCS bowl does not turn  U of I's Memorial Stadium into OSU's Horseshoe. For the Fighting Illini program, every bowl berth is marked progress...every winning season is a sizable step in the right direction. Any Illinois football fan who assumes that the team is going to miraculously morph into Alabama or USC in the blink of an eye (or, for that matter, in seven years) is kidding themselves.

I want the Fighting Illini to win as much as the next guy, but Ron Zook was a coach, not a magician. As I see it, Illinois fans either need to quickly learn this concept or sincerely hope that our next head football coach's name is David Copperfield.

A Verse That Doesn't Mean What You Think It Means

Despite being one of the best players to ever play college football, Tim Tebow has taken a ton of criticism in his career. Some believe it's because of his faith. Some don't. But, at least for our purposes today, that distinction is irrelevant.

At the University of Florida, Tebow won the National Championship (twice), received the coveted Heisman Trophy, and broke darn-near every record a college quarterback could break. Yet, going in to the NFL draft, it was the consensus opinion (of ESPN and others) that Tebow wouldn't fare well at the elite level. He was too short. He threw sidearm. He wasn't accurate. He couldn't adapt to an NFL offense. He wasn't fast enough. He was "soft."

And guess what? Tim Tebow is winning anyway.

After starting the season 1-4 with a different quarterback, the Denver Broncos inserted Tebow into the lineup and saw an immediate change. As an NFL starter, Tim Tebow is now 6-1 and has won five games in a row. The Broncos are 7-5 and in a tie for first place in the AFC West. Tebow wins...despite any concerns about his height, throwing motion, accuracy, brains, speed, or commitment.

What would have happened, though, if Tim had listened to the critics? What if he had decided that ESPN was right. What if he had packed up his cleats and decided to become a real estate agent or an insurance salesman? Well, first of all, the Denver Broncos wouldn't be in the playoff hunt. And, secondly, you and I would have missed out on an important life lesson.

I don't know which voices in your life are telling you that you can't do what you've been called by God to do, but I do know that critics are out there. I know that you have people who do their best to convince you that you're too weak, young, old, damaged, poor, dumb, or insecure to fulfill the plans that the Lord promises he has for you.

Though you and I aren't in the NFL, there will always be those critical of our hopes and plans and dreams. There will always be voices that tell you to not go to seminary or enroll in nursing school. There will always be friends encouraging you to bail on writing a book or starting a ministry. There will always be family members who push you to give up on the dream of owning your own business or becoming a full-time missionary.

The natural verse to end with, of course, is Philippians 4:13 which says, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." It's important, however, that we not assume that these words imply that God will bless everything that we want to do. Rather, they mean quite the opposite. God will give us the strength to do everything that he wants us to do. Even if it's scary. And even if no one else thinks we should.