Being Obedient to the Rule Book for Our Faith Life

This past weekend I found myself sitting at my desk, working on Catholic Sports Radio at 4:30 on a Saturday afternoon. The next time I glanced down into the corner of my laptop, the time showed FIVE thirty. Again, on a Saturday afternoon. And in that moment I realized that while lots of other people clearly were doing lots more recreational things at that time, I wasn't looking for a medal, or a chest to pin it on. I was simply being obedient. We see flags thrown in football. We hear a whistle blow and see play get stopped in basketball and in hockey. A call is being made by an official because one of the participants committed a foul, a penalty...some sort of violation. Leagues and/or teams announce fines and/or suspensions because, again, an athlete wasn't being obedient. There are rule books in every sport setting the guidelines that all the participants must follow. And similarly, in the New Testament, we see in Ephesians that almost the first one-third of chapter 6 -- specifically, verses 1-9 -- talk all about obedience, starting with, "Children, obey your parents," and continuing on to also speak specifically to fathers, slaves, and masters... on those last two, by the way, referring to "slaves of Christ" and to "a Master in heaven." Friends, for the scores of us who aren't athletes, officials, or coaches and don't need to memorize the rule book, let's instead challenge ourselves to plunge deeper into the Word and study how we can be more obedient to our Heavenly Father.