A guy named Bob received a free ticket to the Superbowl from his company. About halfway through the first quarter, Bob noticed a better seat 10 rows off the field right on the 50 yard line. He decided to take a chance and made his way through the stadium and around the security guards to the empty seat.

As he sat down, he asked the gentleman sitting next to him, “Excuse me, is anyone sitting here?” The man replied, “No.”

Now, very excited to be in such a great seat for the game, Bob again inquired of the man next to him, “This is incredible! Who in their right mind would have a seat like this at the Superbowl and not use it?” The man replied, “Well, actually, the seat belongs to me. I was supposed to come with my wife, but she passed away. This is the first Superbowl we haven’t been to together since we got married in 1967.”

“Well, that’s really sad,” said Bob, “but still, couldn’t you find someone to take the seat? A relative or a close friend?”

“No,” the man replied, “they’re all at the funeral.”

I talked with a young man this week who told me the reason he didn’t go to church was because someone sent him an unsigned note from his old church saying that he should better control his children. So he quit going, blaming the church for being judgmental. I asked him how he was going to help change that situation from outside. We sometimes get our priorities backwards.

Tags: church, judgmental, priorities, sports, Superbowl