“SPONSORED BLOG!” – Dec 4

“Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, Rejoice.” Philippians 4:4

There are some bloggers that get really good stuff.  I have read runner’s blogs who have been sent free shoes to review.  I have read bloggers who write reviews of the free books that they have been sent.  I have read triathlete blogs reviewing a variety of free stuff that they have been sent to try.

I like free stuff and I have a lot of opinions so I have always thought it would be fun to receive something to review.

Therefore, you probably can imagine my surprise and anticipation upon receiving an email entitled “Blog Sponsorship – We Want You!”.  My mind raced through the possibilities.  I had recently written a blog about my new Cervelo tri-bike.  Maybe, it was Cervelo wanting to sponsor some bike gear.  Maybe, it was Mizuno.  I had blogged about getting my running shoes.  I had recently emailed Tim Challies at Challies.com, a big-time blogger, maybe he had hooked me up.

I opened the email with great expectations.  The sender of the email was very complimentary of this blog, always encouraging, and thought that the voice and energy of this blog were perfectly in line with the kind of people they’re looking to attract to their brand.

It was their brand that caused me some confusion – bowling.

Full disclosure: I am not a bowler.  I have never blogged about bowling.  I take my kids bowling once or twice a year.  I don’t own any bowling equipment.  I have never owned bowling equipment.  I don’t even know how to keep score.  I let the bowling machine do that.

I am not the ideal person to review bowling equipment.

I explained this to the good people at BowlingShoes.com.  They understood and were still willing to send me some shoes.  My wife was not as understanding when she asked, “Are you going to sell out for bowling shoes”.  I was hurt.  I looked at her, arms extended with palms to the sky, and with a slight shrug, asked her if she even knew me.  If she knew me, she would know that I absolutely will sell out for free bowling shoes.

I am cheap; they are free.  What more is there to consider?

I got my brand new Dexter Jack bowling shoes from BowlingShoes.com a couple weeks ago.  My experience with bowling shoes has been the clown shoes you rent at the bowling alley.  What I received are not those kinds of shoes – they did not have a strange chemical / sweat odor and I had no apprehension about putting my feet into them.  These shoes are actually comfortable.  I wore them around the house, sliding across the kitchen floor, to the general annoyance of my household.  The shoe has really good arch support, a nice stable base and rather stylish (another disclosure: I am an engineer by profession and my wife dresses me).

However, a bowling shoe is not about looking stylish at home.  It should be good for bowling.  So, my kids and I took my new shoes bowling over the weekend.  Unfortunately, the shoes made no improvement on my game.  I was satisfied with breaking triple digits in all of our games, the same as usual.  However, the shoes were so comfortable that I did not think about them.  They did not even feel like they needed breaking in.  I was freed to focus on all the other aspects of my bowling technique that were leaving so many pins unadulterated.

These shoes are a quantum leap above what you can rent.  Even as person who doesn’t know much about bowling shoes, I can tell that they are good shoes.  So, I now have good shoes dedicated for an activity that I rarely do.

It does not make much sense to let dust accumulate on them.  So, I am going to wear them despite my wife’s objections.  People wear basketball shoes and running shoes to the grocery store.  Why can’t I wear my bowling shoes?  It might be fun to go sliding through the aisles of Wal-Mart.  I realize that the bowlers of the world might be aghast at using my bowling shoes for casual wear.  I realize that I will probably ruin the soles for bowling but I don’t bowl.

These shoes are shoes that can be used for bowling but that doesn’t mean they can’t be used for anything else.  I might get some strange looks at the grocery store.  There might be some folks that question what I am doing.  I got a free gift from the nice people at BowlingShoes.com.  I think the best way I can show my appreciation is to actually use their product in whatever manner I can.  I am going to take my Dexter’s out on a regular basis.

I think a lot of people view their spiritual lives like bowling shoes.  They have a misconception that there is a separation between the spiritual and secular lives.  They confine their appreciation of what Christ has given them to the activities of their Church and designated worship times.

We should not have to put our worship on to go to Church and take it off to go to work.  Our worship is the continual garment of who we are.  It is a product of a grateful heart.

There will be folks who won’t get your worshipful attitude.  They may look at you like you’re wearing bowling shoes in a grocery store but your attitude is not for them.  Our worship is in the Lord and Him alone.  He does not change.  He is with us always, so our rejoicing should not change based on what we are doing.

Don’t be afraid to wear your worship everywhere you go – even if it feels like wearing bowling shoes.

PRAYER: O Lord, break down all notions that I have created as excuses not to worship you.  Forgive me for forgetting the grace that you have shown me.  Forgive me for getting so preoccupied with the monotony of my daily life.  Lord, I want to live in constant worship.  I want to be the same person throughout the business day as I am on Sunday morning.  I want to be the same person living with my family as I am in my quiet times with you.  Father, help be to be consistently aware of your Spirit with my eyes focused on you.  I pray this in the precious name of your Son,  Jesus Christ.   Amen.