Friends,

Here is Common Christianity #1024 (6-30-26), “Getting a Kick out of Christ.” I’m loving all these global World Cup soccer fans recently discovering the spirit of America – up close. What a country! See the column below, or at our blog CommonChristianity.blogspot.com, or on social media. God bless America … it’s our 250^th birthday this Saturday.

Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #1024

June 30, 2026

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Getting a Kick out of Christ

By Bob Walters

“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.” – Ezekiel 36:26

I know almost nothing about soccer, and have even less desire to watch it.

However, I have gotten a maximum kick out of this global World Cup futbol fan visitation upon America of late, and hearing/seeing their joyous and surprised reactions to just about everything American.  From Big Gulps to ranch dressing to Buc-ee’s, and from bar-b-que to grocery stores to gun ranges to the Americans themselves.

Americans are friendly. Americans are helpful and honest. We love a good houseguest. Our nation has wide open spaces, big pick-up trucks, and accommodating, endless streets, roads, and highways that go almost everywhere. Our air conditioning cools entire houses and whole passengers in cars. Our stadiums are mind-blowing.

All these folks never knew this stuff, and approached America with trepidation.

Here’s what they learned: to hate America, watch the media and surf the internet. To love America, visit it, drive it, experience it. How fun.  The world is loving us.

What a great gift for the ol’ USA on our 250^th birthday.

The Spirit of America, ostensibly, of course is a profound but still secular vibe of liberty of the human person. Not every visitor, and certainly not even every American, understands the Christian underpinnings of the freedom we enjoy and the patriotic fellowship we share.  Global visitors enjoying their American adventures and expressing their unexpected grasp of the zeitgeist of our uniquely American culture? Just fabulous.

We have all these great things going for this nation and I’m hoping these happy visitors continue to focus on soccer and the general abundance and fun of America. Not everyone understood when, nine years ago, President Trump signed off on hosting the World Cup in the USA – who watches soccer? – but this is the best possible way to celebrate this particular, momentous July 4; we get to share No. 250 with the world.

Contemporary U.S. politics being what they are – an ugly mess of conflicting priorities, a President who is both revered and reviled, and a dangerous cancer of Socialist activism permeating our largest cities – I hope our guests ignore the news.

As a Christian, would I like to see these visitors take a piece of Jesus home with them and let it blossom into a saving faith in their homelands? Oh yeah; I pray for that.

But while religion is a blood sport in many countries and completely ignored in many others, let’s hope all these American freedoms – especially freedom in Christ and our freedom in worship – linger in their memories of America.  It is good soil here.

I mentioned Jesus earlier and here’s why. I see a similarity in what these soccer fans are learning about America and what I learned later in life about faith. Mixed as the metaphor may be, I had a fairly informed idea about Christ but, until I was older, no experience being with Him. These soccer fans (who like many sports fans, worship their game perhaps too much but that’s another topic) have heard about America their whole lives but never experienced being in America … with actual Americans.

When I truly met Christ – not the watered-down, brokered church proxy Jesus of my youth but the thundering, loving, wise, holy, and righteous Son of God who leapt out of the Bible and into my adult heart, mind, and soul – I wanted to share the experience with others. To learn more, love more, live more, and pray more with this new Spirit.

Have fun at the World Cup, everyone. We’re getting a real kick out of it. Take some of the best parts of America home in your hearts. And thanks for helping us see things we too often miss.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) quotes Russ Blowers: “God loves to see His kids play!”