By Kelly Carr

Considering faithfulness, a vivid example that springs to mind is a sports fans. If you are a die-hard fan of a particular team, or perhaps you are the friend of one, you know what I mean. True fans show absolute faithfulness, through thick or thin, when the team is on a devastating losing streak or has just won the playoffs.

I love the comedy routine Jerry Seinfeld used to do, poking fun at such faithfulness. He’d say, “Loyalty to any one sports team is pretty hard to justify. Because the players are always changing; the team could move to another city. You’re actually rooting for the clothes, when you get right down to it. You’re standing and cheering and yelling for your clothes to beat the clothes from another city.”

I can relate, as my family raised me in the heart of Lexington, Kentucky, to become a lifelong UK Wildcat basketball fan. GO BIG BLUE! Yes, the players change, but I’ll keep cheering for the clothes.

True, faithfulness to a sports team can seem silly to some, but it teaches me some lessons: persevere, build camaraderie, and cheer your hardest.

I’m thankful that the same family who handed down to me a faithfulness to a sports team also modeled from generation to generation a faithfulness in other areas of their lives. My grandparents and parents demonstrated faithfulness to their families, to their communities, to their churches, and to their God. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without their faithfulness.

I’ve watched them persevere through debilitating obstacles. I’ve watched them build camaraderie with loved ones and strangers as they spread the gospel with their words and actions. And I’ve watched them cheer their hardest in praise of their family and in worship to the Lord.

So I wear both my Kentucky blue shirts and my love for God and family with pride. To these I will be faithful till death do us part.