simple joy
The last few weeks I have been finding joy in the most unusual place. On the internet! What, I know, it is hard to believe. But I have been scrolling the videos of people from other nations who are in the US for the World Cup. (For those of you who don’t know what that is, it is worldwide tournament of soccer teams that happens every four years and crowns the world champions for both a men’s team and a women’s team.) This competition is a really big deal. My joy has come from the impressions that people from foreign countries have of our country. Video after video talks about how nice Americans have been to their foreign guests. They seem to be amazed at things that we don’t even think about. Some of the funny ones are free refills on drinks and crushed ice. They can’t believe that we don’t pay every time we fill up our cups! Another funny thing was our variety of cereals. Apparently, they don’t eat much cereal in other countries and they think we have far too many choices. Boston was so overrun with people from Scotland that they actually ran out of beer in the entire city! Can you believe it? They also have a silly tradition of putting orange cones on the heads of all the statues that they come into contact with. One of the craziest videos was the Danish crowd all pretending together that they were rowing a Viking ship in the streets. And the most heart warming story that I read was about Lawrence Kansas that played host to the Algerian team and fans from all across the US came to see their heroes. The city didn’t just host a team, they prepared their entire city to welcome the Algerians by setting up camps to teach people about soccer and the rules. They flew Algerian flags and all the restaurants learned how to make halal. When the team arrived, they drove a parade route filled with people welcoming them to the city and wearing Algerian t-shirts.
A lot of the guests to our country have said that all that they ever hear about Americans is how awful and lazy we are. But now they know that this not true. Americans have done a wonderful job teaching all of these people from around the world that we are kind and warm people with determination and grit. They are falling in love with our country when they get to experience it first hand instead of through the lens of the media and politicians. For Americans, it has reminded us that people who are very different in lots of ways, can love each other and find joy in life together. We needed to be reminded that the media and our politicians are not the heart beat of our country. We, the people, are resilient and good and capable of incredible hospitality to the stranger. That is Biblical. That is the way of Jesus. This message has been lost in the rhetoric of hate that has dominated the news. As we approach the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of our independence, the World Cup has been an incredible reminder of just what a great country we can be when we set our minds to it. I never thought that I would encourage you to scroll the internet but I am. See for yourself the incredible stories of acceptance and love and joy that have infiltrated so many American cities in this season of football (soccer)!
God loves you and I love you,
