The Greatest of These is Love.

With March Madness, the opening of baseball season, the explosion of people caring about Prop 8, and working offshore, it's pretty easy to forget that Easter is this coming Sunday. During the winter holidays, families gather, you exchange gifts, eat grand meals, etc. and it's easy to remember how important these things are to you.

There is one main thing that I see that encompasses March Madness, Baseball, the Prop 8 debates, and Easter. That one thing is love. People love their basketball team and those basketball players love the game (Rock Chalk and Go Shockers!!). Then you have baseball. As Billy Beane says in Moneyball, "How can you not be romantic about baseball?" There is a love of the game that any true baseball player/fan cannot forget. Look at all of us that have suffered as Royals fans for so long just to see a BEAUTIFUL Spring Training by our team. You can't stay a fan of teams like the Royals, Pirates, Astros, etc if you don't have a love for your team and the game. Losing streaks are hard to bear, especially when your season is 162 games. Finally, you have the Prop 8 debates. Either side you see love for something. On one side, you see people with such a strong love for their religion and beliefs that they do not want to risk it becoming compromised. On the other side, you see such a strong love for all humans. You see a love for equality. You see people that love their friends, that support their friends that love each other. People that support LOVE.

So as my favorite holiday approaches, and many people forget the true meaning of Easter. Please remember that it's because Jesus died for our sins because he LOVED us then was raised on the third day. Please keep love in your heart. Express your feelings of love towards your family and friends. As 1 Corinthians 13 says: 

If I speak in human and angelic tongues - but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. For we know partially and we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully as I am fully known. So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

I usually try to avoid talking about politics and religion. I do not like being attacked for my beliefs or the possibility of somebody thinking that I am attacking them for theirs. So as we prepare to celebrate Easter, I am not asking anyone to change their views on gay marriage, March Madness (although Kansas will win it all), or baseball. I am just asking you to love. Please recognize that love is what should be surrounding you all day every day. Please look for and embrace the things you love. I believe that love is far too often overlooked in the world today. I ask you to not overlook love. Look for love that others may be missing. Express your love. Share your love!

Love,

Krystal