Commitment

Commitment.

It's a word that has become lost on our world. In s many ways, we don't know what it means. We hesitate to make commitments. When we do, we don't keep them.

Take for example that great holiday which comes the first Wednesday in February - National Signing Day. Tomorrow thousands of young people around the country will sign letters on intent, and thus college football teams will fill their rosters.

But leading up to that, these kids have been making verbal commitments.

Now it's one thing to change your mind; that can happen to anyone. Although I would argue that if there's even a chance of that, you should not announce a "commitment" - because it isn't one yet. But what gets me is when we hear quotes like, "I'm still 100% committed to Mississippi State, but I'll decide whether I'll stick to after my visit to Tennessee this weekend."

Huh? Huh?

What does the word mean? It reminds me of this classic scene from Seinfeld:



Take that entire conversation and substitute in the word commitment. Voila! The world of college football recruiting.

But it's not just these kids. It's so easy to point our fingers. But truth be told, all of us break our word from time to time. We rationalize it. We think we have good reasons. But when it comes down to it, we just mess up.

That's why Jesus said, while discussing oaths and promises, "Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes' and your 'No, 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one."

Imagine a world where you could count on everyone's word. What a marvelous thing that would be!

Now...back to the world of recruiting. Here's hoping that recruit with the tattoo keeps his word (you know who I mean). At least his latest one.

How much is it worth?

Today I got this email from Apple:

I got it because I indeed was the owner of an iPhone 4. If you haven't heard, there was a class action lawsuit because of some problems with the model's antenna. It was recently settled, and as a result, I could easily get $15. But...

But if you read the email a little closer, I have to do something to get my settlement. Look closer:

Yeah, you have to send in a form, and one of the things you have to say on the form is that you "experienced antenna or reception issues" with the iPhone 4.
__________

How many chances do we have to cheat the system a little bit?

Nobody's looking. Nobody can prove whether I had issues or not. So we grab. They're a big company and they'll never miss that money. They've probably cheated me at some point anyway. And so on.

But that's exactly what character is. It's what you do when nobody's looking. When nobody will ever find out. When nobody can prove anything.

I'm sure alot of people did have trouble with the iPhone 4. And they should send in their form. Not feel guilty about it. But if they didn't....well, they will learn a little something about themselves.

I don't know what integrity is worth. I think it's priceless. But for dang sure it's worth more than $15.