My Biggest Fan

I have been a devoted, perhaps even fanatical, fan of some people, things and teams in my life. Frederick Buechner. The Florida State Seminoles football team (no wise cracks, please). The Miami Dolphins. The band U2.

Facebook, which has become a fourth dimension of my real/virtual life, allows you to become an online fan of virtually any product, company, movement, band, writer, celebrity or concept out there. When I became a fan of Southwest Airlines a few weeks back, I figured I had gone as high as possible.

Tonight, I became a fan of both God and Jesus. I believe they are connected, but I had to take two separate steps toward fan-dom for each, respectively.

I do not especially believe that by "be-fanning" God--AND Jesus--on Facebook, I will somehow become holier, more spiritual, less likely to dwell in sin or Purgatory or pick my nose, etc. But I just could not turn down the request. After all, what message would I send by not being a fan of God or Jesus? The pressure, already.

But I doubt that God, or Jesus, is keeping track of his fans on Facebook. More importantly, God was and is a fan of mine--long before I clicked the "Become a Fan" button. That is the lovely thing about this relationship; the Lord is cheering for me long before I have the consciousness and behavioral change to cheer for him...and, more importantly, to become like him.

In fact, he is such a fan that he decided to become like me, so he could better relate to me. That is where this Jesus dude comes into play. He came, he saw, he loved, he died, he rose, he lives inside of me. Now, that's pretty fanatical.