Lessons from Football

It's Super Bowl Weekend in America - the whole country (well, almost) will watch the game between the Los Angeles Rams and the New England Patriots on Sunday afternoon at 6:30 p.m. EST (3:30 PST).

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

1)  What is your favorite National Football League team?  ...

In our house, Super Bowl Sunday isn't much different than many other Sunday. My husband and I will be watching the game, but each of us will likely be doing other stuff (like genealogy) while watching.

I started writing for this topic yesterday, saying that the Kansas City Chiefs were my favorite team. However, I realized that even though they are my favorite team, I don't have answers for most of these questions. So I decided to not write on this topic.

Then I went to church today and got inspiration: teamwork and legacy.


In our local church, the children's sermon was about teamwork. Carla did a great job of demonstrating to the children how being part of a larger team can help one carry a burden. [Video available here -- but audio is not good, so turn volume down and just watch.]

Prior to going to church this  morning, I was watching the service at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection online. They have been doing a sermon series, "Lessons from Football for the Game of Life." I've really enjoyed this series as they've intertwined different aspects of football into how our faith is practiced. Today's sermon is on the concept of 'Victory'. [Today's sermon isn't archived yet.]

Instead of talking about all of the fame and glory that society associates with Victory, the sermon focused on ways the influence of different players is impacting children living in poverty. Highlighted during the sermon were two different programs founded by members of the Kansas City Chiefs.

The first is the '3rd and Long Foundation' founded by Derek Thomas, Neil Smith and Otis Taylor. The goal of this foundation is to help battle illiteracy among urban youth.

The second is 'Team Smile' founded by Dr. Bill Busch and Dustin Colquitt. The purpose of this foundation is to provide free dental care to children living in poverty.

One of the points of the sermon was that we can define victory by how much we give of ourselves.

So, how can I apply this to my genealogy life?

Even though I live in a small rural community, I can still be part of the 'genealogy' team.

• Participate in various genealogy groups on Facebook
• Share other genealogy bloggers posts via Twitter and Facebook
• Join a local genealogical society -- even when I don't have ancestors in the area -- and participate in their programs
• Join a genealogical society where my ancestors lived -- even though I can't participate in their programs

Leaving a legacy is easy for most genealogists! We leave our life's work. 

• My life's work may have errors, but I'm still going to share it.
• My life's work isn't 'done', but I'm still going to share it.

Join me in applying these lessons from football 

to our life as a genealogist.