God of all days, abandon not this dear reader in their needs today; guide, bless and protect in Your way. In Christ Jesus' Name, amen.
Mr. Paul Boesch, Chief Wahoo McDaniel, Professor Malenko, Gino Hernandez, Gary Hart (not the Senator, but the same "nickname," Tony Atlas, the Von Ericks, on and on go the names. Having moved to Houston, Texas, at the age of 13, Wrestlemania was going full force and having a tv that caught Channel 39, I was hooked, as was my Dad and younger brothers to watching Mr. Paul Boesch (tv spelling I believe was Bosch) as the announcer of all the wrestling matches in Houston. Our Uncle Manuel Ortegon, in those days, lived across from the arena where wrestling was held and on more than one night, we'd park at Uncle Manuel's house and dart across the busy streets to get to the arena and saw in person, and in color, those terrific fights. I was of the age and opinion where no one could convince me the matches were fake or rigged. It was a simple case of good versus evil. I knew the good guys and I disliked the bad ones. Chief Wahoo was always a good guy.
I say this as we prepare for a new sermon series starting this Sunday called Wrestling with God: Summer Slam '09. It will be a quick study of the Book of Genesis. Our first sermon is Wrestling with Obedience. I won't go into much detail as I know some who will say, "I already 'heard' Sunday's sermon, why go in person?" Let me explain. Television was still black and white and most screens were still oval. On top of your television set, if not your roof, sat the antennae. I remember the big deal made about getting the little loop antennae to be able to "catch" 39. They gave them away free for a time and I believe that's how we got ours. So, on Friday nights, we could gather around the set and scream with delight as Chief Wahoo beat up on the evil Professor Malenko. There would be chairs hit on each wrestler, groans of agony would come out of their mouths, blood would spill, and in the end, finally, thankfully, Chief Wahoo would pin Malenko for the required three counts, and the match was over. One of the brothers would yell, "I told you!" We'd laugh, jump around, and celebrate that good had triumphed over evil. All was right with the world. Yet, on those nights when you could actually pay the admission, walk into the arena, everything changed. You were not in the privacy of your own home. You were present for the actual encounter between good and evil; and shock of shocks not everyone in the arena was a fan of good! (Sounds like a church already, doesn't it? LOL!). The announcer was come out, everyone would get quiet to hear the great, califlowered-eared Paul Bosch; he himself, was a Houston institution and so as he spoke, everyone listened. Except when he would say the name of those on the bill that night. He could not say the name of one of the good guys without most of the fans screaming in a loudness that was awesome. At my age now, I'd need earplugs. To our surpise, when he said the name of one of the villians, some actually cheered! I remember looking at my brothers, who looked at me and we shrugged, wondering, "What's wrong with these people?"
The undercard matches would begin and those were fun. Lesser known "names" battled against each other, and given the size of the arena, one could hear and experience, in living color as it were, the matches we had only seen in black and white. What a difference and what a night. I can't do justice to what experiencing a wrestling match was like in person. Going back and watching it at home was never the same. What did help was the memory that we had been there and one day we would return.
The wrestling we do is with God and what we know God would have us do and be. The screaming and yelling is not actually present except inside our conscience as we struggle with doing what our "flesh" wants versus what we know is "spritually" right. Even deciding to go to church for some, if not all, is a wrestling match. We think of many "good" reasons for staying home, while we know each reason can be matched with Truth.
Here's a clue: Wrestling with Life is made easier by going in person to God's House. What you receive there will prepare you for the daily battles that await us.
See you in worship!
PRAYER: God of Good, forgive me for the times that I've let what I believed to be "good" reasons keep me from worshiping You and being in Your house. Allow me to see the real needs in my life that can be best met while being in the fellowship and company of believers. Bless my church and all its members. Be with the sick and the hurting, and let me and all who would, be a part of the comfort, counsel, and cure that You offer through us. I pray this in Jesus' Name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
Please be in prayer for those who are being commissioned and ordained today here in Corpus Christi, for service in the Soutwest Texas Conference of The United Methodist Church. Pray for those who yesterday went from active status into retired status. May God watch over them and us.
