Spiritual Korea

      One of the grating arguments I hear far too often from CINO’s (Christians-In-Name-Only), a population which far outnumbers the real thing, is the famous “pray-it-once” theory, which in purely technical terms is completely accurate. 

Read Romans 10, verse 9:

 

          “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

          That is absolutely true, as far as it goes.

         However…there’s a problem if that’s as far as you go. Let’s use a physical analogy to understand what it is:

 

†

 

          Picture the boundary between “saved” and “unsaved” like a physical boundary between countries. The most tangible border I can think of to use as an example is the one between North and South Korea, who have been at war for six, almost seven decades and counting. 

In reality, that border is comically militarized – the DMZ is probably two miles wide, with guards and fences and booby traps and every form of prideful nationalistic posturing one can come up with. Erase that from the picture, because there IS no such border between salvation and the life of a recalcitrant sinner. 

Instead, imagine a small river – maybe even a creek, something small enough to wade across, without guards or fences. When you’re saved by the grace of God, He brings you bodily across that creek, and sets you on the “safe” side, the side of salvation, and you are indeed “saved”. And if that was the end of the story, and “you lived happily ever after”, that would indeed be all there is to it.

But you continue to live. And while you live in this fallen world, the devil will try to bring you back to “his side” of the creek. Now, if you’re a student of the “pray-it-once” school of thought, you’re essentially going to stand right where you were dropped off, a few feet from the creek’s edge, continually within dragging distance of being drawn back across the water into a sinful lifestyle that will prove your salvation was never truly accepted. 

And sooner or later, almost inevitably, it will happen. A temptation of some kind or another will lure you back across the creek: a love affair, the lure of money or possessions, an illicit thrill from drugs or alcohol or illicit sexual behavior, or a numbness to the needs of your fellow man, or simply the attraction of lethargy and sloth, which keep you from church and the Word and eventually God Himself.

HOWEVER, if you don’t just stay alongside the creek, but rather move “inland”, away from the creek and its temptations, you make the chances of a defection back to the land of sin slimmer and slimmer with every step!

How do you do that? What’s the spiritual equivalent of “walking inland”, away from sinfulness and towards Godliness?

Grow in His Grace. 

Study the Bible and become a part of your church congregation; don’t just flip the pages and show up for church when there’s not a game on the television.

The deeper you devote yourself to God, the less likely you’ll have a demon strike you down and drag you back across the border! The farther from Temptation Creek you get, the harder it’ll be to leave. And as with most countries, the scenery is more beautiful the farther inward you go! 

†

Here’s another analogy to consider when it comes to the “pray-it-once” thought process…

Suppose we think of living a sinner’s life as a disease, perhaps a tumor that God excises when you are saved by His Grace. “Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, (and) you will be CURED.” Like a doctor dealing with a cancerous tumor, the Holy Spirit comes in and does miraculously precise surgery on your spiritual heart and removes the sinful nature tumor from it, leaving you one hundred percent tumor free, healthy as the day Adam was created, as sin free in God’s Eyes as Christ Himself.

Again, if that was the end of the story? No worries! You’re heaven bound.

But if you still have a life to live? And you don’t start living it for Christ and the Father? You’ll end up in environments like you lived in before, if you haven’t changed the way you live. If you lead a life that has carcinogenic causes in it, you’re probably going to get cancer. Even if that cancer was cured, if you go back to the same carcinogenic life, you’re going to get MORE cancer, right? Moron!

 

“Doctor, it hurts when I do this.”

“Well,” says the doctor, “don’t DO that!”

It’s just like that with sin. If you lead a life that has sinful activities in it, you’re probably going to sin. Even if you’re saved by God’s mercy and your sins are forgiven, that doesn’t mean you can create MORE sinful tumors and expect to survive! Moron! He cured you once – and yes, he can cure you again, and again, and again…but after a while, the odds start piling up against you. That sinful life will kill you one of these times, when you’ve surrendered your salvation once more to go play in the carcinogens again. Whoops. Bad timing?  No, it’s always going to be bad timing, because the devil’s trying to tempt you with stronger and stronger stuff…and eventually, something’s going to get you.

On the other hand, if you live your life for Christ and the Father after the Holy Spirit does his surgery on you? The odds of you spontaneously developing another “sin tumor” are remarkably low. Not zero, mind you – the devil will NEVER stop trying to drag you back across the river, to reinfect you with your original sinful nature. But the fewer opportunities you give him, the more opportunities you give yourself to succeed as a Christian. 

And not be a CINO.

 

†

 

          So, can you simply pray-it-once and become a Christian for the rest of your life (and beyond)? Realistically, no – because when you truly become a Christian, your very nature changes. There are too many ways that following the Lord requires your very thought process and behavior to alter; allowing the Holy Spirit to embed within you to do that changes you from an earthly human with an inbred sin nature into a Child of God who thinks of Heaven first, before he addresses earthly concerns. 

          Take me, for instance. I wasn’t saved until I was in my late forties, by which point I’d already taught high school and junior high band for twenty-eight years. At the risk of being immodest, I led a fairly Christian life even before that, and I refer to myself in my prior life as being a “semi-Christian” – a CINO, if you will. I followed most of what I knew of God’s commands, and common sense led to some of the rest. It might have been tough for someone who wasn’t saved to tell that I wasn’t saved, either.

          But the day after I was born again, I called my best friend and asked him to start me on a path of Scripture study, so I could understand just what it was the Lord had called me to. Had I simply said, ‘OK, well then, wow, I’m saved’, and just kept living as I had before, I doubt anyone would have noticed a difference in me. But over the years since that fateful day, I have continuously grown in my faith, and as I have, my actions have changed to match. They HAVE to change. And NOW, when you compare who I am today with who I was the day before my salvation? NOW you could see a very definite difference in my demeanor. When what’s important to you changes, so does your behavior and your priorities.

          Here’s the key, folks: Who you ARE shows in what you DO. You can SAY you’re honest and punctual, but if you always lie and show up late, “your actions speak louder than words”, as they say. If you change on the INSIDE, it can’t help but show on the OUTSIDE. If you “pray the words” and don’t follow up on what you’ve promised Him – and maybe you haven’t realized that little detail yet: you are PROMISING the Lord that you will OBEY Him! – then your INSIDES don’t change, and neither do your OUTSIDES. Who you ARE hasn’t changed. You have to mean what you pray, or else you’re still stuck in the downhill lane.

           Romans 10:9 is the beginning of your story. Not the end. 

Every Tom, Dick, and Harry... A short story.

     Where am I?
     Ah, Thomas! You're awake! Welcome to your new home!
     Thomas rubs his eyes and looks around at the sumptuous surroundings. He seems to be in something like a five-star hotel suite, where the decor all matches or coordinates with the silver suit worn by the suave gentleman speaking to him now. 
     New home?
     Yes! Your new Home. I'll be at your beck and call for the rest of your time here. You may call me The Master.
     The "Master"? The "rest of my time here"? Where IS this place? It doesn't seem like any "home" I've ever seen before - in fact, it doesn't look like ANYWHERE I've seen before! 
     Where AM I?
     Where do you think you are, Thomas? 
     Am I...dead?
     The smile on The Master's face indicated accuracy.
     This is, well, your eternal reward for your well-lived life, Thomas. Congratulations, and Welcome, from All of Us. 
     Then, You're.... 
     Yes,
     Wow! I'll be honest, um, 'Master', I wasn't sure I was going to get to Heaven when I died. I mean, I really wasn't much of a Bible reader or a church goer, you know? Yeah, of course you know! You wrote the thing, right?
     Yes. But hey, I'm not that strict on rules like that. Sure, you were supposed to be reading that book, but it's not really important, you know?
     Yeah....So, like wow, man, I can't believe I'm here. 
     Indeed, Thomas, you are here. Say, would you excuse me? I just need to turn the thermostat back up a few degrees. It seems a bit chilly in here to me.
     It does? Oh, Master, I don't think so. It's already plenty warm in here, don't you think?
     Oh, not to me, Thomas. Not for us...
     Realization dawns on Thomas, and he screams.

☀

     Where - huh? Where am I?
     Richard! I'm glad you woke up while I was here! Welcome to your new home!
     New home? I was sleeping just now - how could I have a new home? 
     Make yourself comfortable, Richard. Look around and enjoy! You may call me... The Master.
     The Master? The Master of what?
     Of here, Richard! The house of many rooms!
     And now, Richard's memory of his Bible study came back to him. "In My Father's House are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?" John 14:2.
     I'm dead? 
     That you are, child. That you are. Heart attack in your sleep, dead as a doornail. All that over-eating, smoking, and other abuse to your body took its toll on you, child. Fortunately, that stuff isn't that important to Me.
     But, so, you must be...
     I must be, yes.
     And this is the....
     House with many rooms? The same. Welcome. Take a look at your new eternal home, Richard.
     It was utterly beautiful. The lush reds and browns worked together immaculately, and the entire place looked like a penthouse suite at the Ritz Carlton. Richard rushed around to find a window to look out of, assuming it was a penthouse, but there were none to be found.
     "Master"? Why are there no windows, only fireplaces? If this is Heaven,....
     ....then what would be out there that would be better than what you have in here? The view would just be of more of the same house, to be frank.
     And why all the fireplaces? It's plenty warm already, and none of the fireplaces are even lit!
     Oh, they're lit. Watch this. The Master snaps his fingers, and all six of them snap to life. And now, our home can start to warm up to its, ah, more appropriate temperature. Right?
     What? Why? Isn't this Heaven? 
     And now a smile crept across the Master's face, one that didn't match the joviality he'd shown before. 
     Heaven? Whatever gave you the idea that you deserved Heaven, Richard? Just because you open a Bible once in a while doesn't mean you followed what it told you to do, does it?
     Oh, my G....And I found I couldn't utter His Name now. Proof that I must really be in...
     HHHEEELLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!..........

☀

     This is a really weird dream. Usually I can tell when I'm dreaming, but here... Pinching doesn't seem to change anything. Maybe I'm really here? Wherever "here" is....
     Ah, Harry! Welcome back to the land of the living! Ah, so to speak! Here's hoping you're comfortable so far, yes?
     What are you talking about? Where are we? And who are you?
     Mmmmm, you don't remember what happened to you? The car accident?
     What car accident? I was sleeping,... I thought....
     Ah, well, yes, you were sleeping, but you were also driving at the time. Does any of that ring a bell?
     Oh...Oh my g... yes, yes, now I remember. So - what happened? Am I dead? Is this Heaven?
     And you may call me The Master. Yes, Harry, you are indeed dead. But to ease your conscience, no, you didn't kill anyone else when you crashed. Your criminal record is clear. 
     Oh, that's a relief! Thank go - goodness! I always wondered if I'd make it to Heaven or not. You see, L... 
     Call me Master, please.
     As you wish,... Master. I worried that my drinking would be a problem with God. I went to church faithfully, I always put my twenty in the pot every Sunday, I read along with the pastor every week. I thought I was a good Christian. But my wife kept harping at me about my drinking, that it was a sin in the eyes of the ...
     Well, as you can clearly see, you're here. Proverbs 23:20 just says, "Be not among drunkards," and that wasn't you at all, was it, Harry?
     No! No... I, ah, I usually drank alone. Down at the end of the bar, night after night. I didn't see the problem! But she just kept harping on it whenever I came home late. And I was damned if I was going to listen to it tonight! Er... whatever night it was...
    "Tonight" is fine, Harry. Go on.
     Well, it was half past eleven, and I was going to make it home tonight, y'know? But - aw, I don't know what happened, Master. You must be right - I must've fallen asleep.
     Fallen is such an appropriate word, Harry...  Do you know the ending of Proverbs 23?  Verses 29 through 35?
     Wh-? No. No, I don't. I mean, I tried to read more, but I...
Who has woe? Who has sorrow?, the Master begins.
Who has strife? Who has complaining?
Who has wounds without cause?Who has redness of eyes?

Those who tarry long over wine;those who go to try mixed wine.
Do not look at wine when it is red,when it sparkles in the cupand goes down smoothly.
In the end it bites like a serpent (suddenly, the Master hisses like a serpent, and transformsssss...)
and stings like an adder.
Your eyes will see strange things,
and your heart utter perverse things. (What is going ON, Master? I thought this was...)
You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, 
like one who lies on the top of a mast.
“They struck me,” you will say,ⁱ “but I was not hurt;they beat me, but I did not feel it.When shall I awake?  (I am dreaming...I must be...)

I must have another drink.” 

Another drink - yes! - I must have - another - dra...AAAAAAAAAGGH!!!!!!!

☀

     What IS this place? It looks like - Ah mean, it looks laike the farm Ah grew up on, but it cain't be that!
     Why not, Tommy?
     What?! Who!? Who are you, 'n where are you?
     I am the Master of this ... place.
     "This place" looks like the farm ah grew up on, Master, sir. You'ze the Master of this here farm? 
     I am, yes.
     Beggin' yer pardon, then, Mr. Master, sir, but, ah... why am ah here?
     You, my friend, are dead, and this is where you've come now that you're dead. Do you remember dying? 
     Do ah remember dyin'? Shoot, if ah'd died. ah think ah'd remember that, right? 
     One would think, yes. But you'd be surprised by what we don't know... What DO you remember, Tommy?
     Well, lessee. Ah remember haing'n out back o' the shed with MaryLou...an' Tina...
     I see. And these women were whom? Your sisters, perhaps?
     Sisters? Aw, heck no! They're jus' two pieces o' tail I wuz hitt'n on while Jenny was off at work.
     Ah. "Two pieces of tail". So, they were animals, then?
    Animals? What kinda person are you, "Master"? Naw, they'ze two hot babes I met at the bar that night. I don't do it with no animals! Whadda I look like, man?
     Indeed. So, you were fraternizing with these two women while your - wife? Girlfriend? Sister? - was at work.
     What is it wit' you and sisters, man? Jenny's mah wife, o' course! Works at the bar on th' other side-ah town night shifts. That's why ah come down to the bar down on the north side o' town to mess around, so she don't ketch me mess'n 'round. 
     Say...this is the farm ah grew up on. There's the milk'n shed, and this must be th' pig sty. Ain't no pigs in it, 'course...don't see no animals anywhere, now that ah think of it.
     Tommy, do you know where you are and what's happened to you?
     Well, far as ah can reckon, Ah'm dead, lak you says I am, and this is Heaven.
     And what makes you conclude this?
     Wail, Master, sir, it seems you done re-created mah entire childhood here - the farm, the barn, the fields, everythin' down to the blades of grass 'cept for the animals, ah reck'n.
     Oh, the animals are accounted for.
     So, am ah right? Am ah dead? Is this Heaven?
     Let's assume for the moment, Tommy, that you are dead, that Jenny did catch you behind the shed in back of the north-end bar you hung out at, and she did shoot you with her father's shotgun. Both barrels.
     Wha...?
     Then the question would remain, why do you believe you'd be going to Heaven when you died?
     She done shot me? Shot me dead?
     Answer my question, Tommy. Why would you go to Heaven? 
     Wail, why wouldn't ah? Ah was a good person! An' good people go to Heaven when they die!
     No, Tommy, they don't. Forgiven people go to Heaven. NO person is truly good, not one, and you are hardly a "good" person by anyone's standards, Tommy, let alone His.
     Whaddya mean? I'm a great person by G... by Guh... whah cain't ah say His Na....
     You're not in Heaven, Tommy. Take a good look around. 
     It's the farm, I know it! And there's Papa's ol' farmhand! Comin' this way with all the carvin' gear! Wait, but there ain't no pigs in here...what's he gonna...
     And then he saw himself reflected in the puddle, and knew the butcher was coming for him. 
     And if this really is Hell, he'd have to relive that swine butcher's work over...and over...and over...

☀

     Wake up, Dick. Dick? Dick, wake up!

     Mmmm, that's what I keep askin' it, but it doesn't seem to respond to me. And you're not nearly female enough to get it to wake up for you, Mister.

     That's Master, please.

     Mister, Master, whatever I can muster, Mister Master. Hey, if I mess'd-her up, can I keep her? 

     Enough with the crude vulgarity, please.

     What? If I can't be crude and vulgar, what am I going to do with my life?

     Well, it's too later for that, Dick, because now your life has ended.

     Hey, it's never too late for this dick, Dick, Master. Whatever. (Pause.) Wait a minute. You're serious. You're saying - I'm really dead?

     Yes. You are really dead.

     Aaaah, Hail Mah....maaaaaare... aw,. whatever. Said it enough over the years.

     Said what, Dick?

     Repented for my foul mouth, of course! I can't go around swearing and making dirty jokes all the time without asking forgiveness, now, can I?

     I don't know. Can you?

     Laughter from the deceased. Well, 'course, I can't, "Master" - don't "bait" me, Master! Heh-heh... No, that's how I get away with all my foul mouthed ways, you see? I'm constantly repenting of my speech and jokes and the like. Hey, being in this joint's living proof that it works, so don't be telling me what I should and shouldn't be doing!
     I wouldn't call it "living" proof, but I see where you're going with this conversation. The fact that there's a luxurious bedroom here, plush carpets, mirror on the ceiling, hot tub in the corner, all of that tells you that you're, what, in Heaven?
     Well, yeah! What else should it tell me, "Master"? Apparently, even Heaven wants the D! Hey, bring on them angel babes, G... Gah... G.... hey, that's weird. 
     What is, Dick?
     Well, I'm not sayin' it's necessary, but I don't seem to be able to say the Name of G....Gah,... yeah, you know Who I mean. Hey! "Master!" Are you really Hi... Hi.. you know?
     Am I God? Is that what you dare to ask? No - no, I'm afraid that ship has sailed, young man. I'm just a lowly outcast, welcoming guests who come my direction as best I can. Make them comfortable, give them a new home, something to occupy their time. And given your predilection for double entendres and dirty jokes, Dick, I think this might be a great accommodation for a man of your discerning tastes.
     Whuh... uh, what do you mean, Mister Master sir?
     Oh, simply that  "the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell." James 3:6, you know. Your tongue is what brought you here, Dicky old boy!
     But...but I apologized! Every blasted time! 
     Yes. but that's not repenting. Repenting means changing your ways. Grace is no "get out of jail free" card, Dicky. It's a cushion when you fall. But If you keep climbing back into the burning building expecting the firemen to catch you every time you jump, eventually, the firemen tire of saving you. Even God gives up after a while if you refuse to change. And guess what?
     H...h...
     Gave up, because you never tried. Welcome to Hell, Dicky-boy. Bring in the "angel-babes", please...
     Holy S...those ain't no angels...and they sure ain't no babes. Dicky boy, you've met your match...it's your turn in the barrel this time.

☀

       Howard, you old scamp, where have you found yourself now? Did you sweet talk your way into the penthouse suite while doing lines or something? This place is awesome!

      Ah, Harold. Welcome home. 

      Harold? I thought I was going by "Howard" since the last move. I mean, Harold's my real name, and I can't be using that one very often, know what I mean?

      Um, yes? To whom are you speaking, good sir?

      Come, Harold Varney. No reason to act around us, now, is there? After all, Harold - you're dead.

      I'm what?  

      Dead, sir. Dead.

      Dead? 
      Yes, sir. Now, given all the aliases you had while you were living...
      Hey, now! "Alias" is such a harsh word. I simply had different, eh, personalities depending on whom I was dealing with! I always treated them fairly - nobody ever got hurt, now, did they? 
      You had very little control over who got hurt, Harold. You only had control of your lies. Your many, many, many lies.
      Oh, come on, mister, eh....
      Call me The Master, please.
     "The Master"...and you criticize my aliases! All right, Master, go ahead, since obviously I'm in Heaven here, how many lies did I tell? A few dozen, perhaps? A hundred?
     Even a few dozen would be too many were you not saved, which you were. But as you claimed to be a Christian...
     Baptized at birth, baby! My get-out-of-jail-free card! God forgives a sinner!
     Perhaps a sinner who makes an attempt to stop sinning. You, however, took it as a license to ill. To sin, to lie incessantly in order to win the favor of whomever you were with at the time. 
     So, sue me. I'll tie you up in court so long...
     There are no courts here. There is only God. And He has already convicted you. And, by the way, that list of lies is longer than one hundred. Would you like to know how many there were?
     Er, ah, sure. How many?
     Let's find out, Harold. Through that door, please.
     What's through that door? What's this "Master's" angle, anyway? 
     Just, what, open the door?
     Open the door, please, Harold, and step inside.
     Okay... Hey! There's nothing IN here!
     (The door slams behind Harold. Soon, the voices start: all the voices of Harold - nee Howard - nee Hiram - nee Hubert - and several other names he's used over his seventy years of life. All his voice, repeating all his lies. All 613, 247 of them, on a continuous loop, playing in the dark, forever... forever...)     

☀

     Tom? Dick? Harry? WAKE UP!!!!

     The world slowly stopped spinning, and the man sat up in his bed, slowly parsing his waking reality from the apparently-a-dream he was emerging from.

     Are you all right, honey?

     Darling? Where's the pool table I was just at?

     Pool table? Honey, you've been asleep since we came to bed. You were screaming in your sleep! Are you alright?
     In my....in my sleep? It was a dream?
     Guess it was a bad one, too. Are you alright?
     I am now. 
     (Wow. It was just a dream. More than a dream, even. It was a warning to fix my life while I still have time... Thank you, God. Or Satan. Or - well, whomever.)

☀

     Hey there, Gabriel - how are you? What've you been up to, dressed up like that?

     Oh, just doing the Lord's work, Raphael. Saving souls that needed saving.

     Oh, yes? Dressed like that? What are you doing, hosting a game show? 

     I suppose you could say that. "This is your life!" or something like that. Now, if you'll excuse me, friend, I need to get the smell of brimstone off my clothing....

My footy pet peeve

Here’s my current pet peeve.

Every week, I listen to the same announcers tell me the same thing about the same half-dozen or so teams: “This is a must-win game for the Hawks-Swans-Pies-Blues-Dockers-Kangaroos! If they don’t win this one tonight, they’re all but out of the running for the eight!” And then they lose, and next week the same announcers say the exact same thing about the exact same team!

This weekend, for example, “The Hawks won to keep their finals chances alive!” at 5-8. However, “With that loss, the Magpies are definitely out of contention” … also at 5-8, with a higher percentage! What?

A similar situation happens within the games themselves: “If the leading team scores the next goal, it’s over for the losing team!” Except, then they do score the next goal, and then it becomes “If the trailing team is to have any flicker of hope, they have to score the next goal.” What? But you just said it was over! I – but! – Ptp! – hunh?

But it’s games like we saw this weekend that prove the rule that you’re never out of a game OR out of a season until it becomes mathematically impossible to succeed. Even the Leigh Matthews rule is obsolete, as Sydney proved: you can win a game when you’re more goals behind than you have minutes remaining in the game, even when the opponent doesn’t consciously let down their guard.

What a round of football! We should’ve known we were in for something amazing when the fifty-point favorites went down decisively on Thursday.

But that’s the kind of season it’s been. We’ve talked about it on this site incessantly over the last month as it’s become more and more apparent that there wasn’t going to be a 21-1 season coming from the Giants or anyone else, and that even North, Carlton, and Brisbane can beat any other team on a given day. I teased last week about this being the year that a dozen teams end at 11-11 and percentage determines the difference between a double chance and staying home in September.

It’s not a joke anymore.

And it's not your imagination, either: games really are closer this year; teams really are more competitive this year. Here are some point spread tallies to back that up: the center column shows the average number of games with a final margin within X number of goals from 2012 to 2016 (which are the five previous seasons with 18 teams and 198 games per season). The right hand column shows the projected number for the 2017 season, with the actual number through 13 games in parentheses, both for that particular slot and overall up to and including that slot.

Goal margin            2012-2016     2017

1 goal or less            19.8 games     33.8 projected games (20 actual so far)

2 goals or less           43.0               45.6 (7 more, 27 in all)

3 goals or less           59.6               72.7 (16 more, 43 in all)

4 goals or less           77.6               94.7 (13 more, 56 in all)

6 goals or less          113.4              126.8 (19, 75)

8 goals or less          141.5              153.9 (16, 91)

10 goals or less        158.9              170.8 (10, 101)

14 goals or less        179.6              187.7 (10, 111)

18 goals or less        190.8              198.0 (6, 117)

22 goals or less        196.5              same (0, 117)

26 goals or less        197.7              same (0, 117)

32 goals or less        198.0              same (0, 117)

So, on average, there were about 20 games in each of the last five seasons which ended with a final margin of six points or less (including draws, of course). The highest was 22, in 2013. There have already been 20 such games in 2017, with nine rounds still to be played! The numbers in previous years are fairly similar but because there were fewer teams that started with the letter "G", there weren't the same number of games to compare. There are a couple different manifestations of the "closer than ever" 2017 season we're experiencing that show up here, that one being the most obvious to a casual glance.

But those seem to come almost entirely from the "two-goal" games - we've only had seven games this year that ended with a final difference between 7-12 points, so the projected number of "fairly close games" - two goals or less - is within a reasonable margin for error. 

Take a close look at those three and four goal games, the games that you'd think usually occur between two relatively equal teams when one team wins without any nail-biting. A typical recent year averages about 34 games that end with the teams between two and four goals apart, but in 2017, there have already been 29 of those, and that projects out to almost 49 such games over the season!

So, close games have become very close, and "normal" games will more likely be competitive, which matches what the ladder has been telling us. The teams are simply more balanced this year.

Even the tail end of the chart echoes that sentiment: While there have been 36 games over the last five seasons with a final losing margin of more than 84 points, or 14 goals, there have been zero so far this season (despite Hawthorn's best efforts). Brisbane's young team, expected to be trounced all season long and yet to be favored in a game this season, has not lost a single game by more than ten goals yet, despite their 2-11 record. (This weekend's 60-point loss to GWS was their worse defeat thus far, and even it displayed their budding moxie with a fourth-quarter comeback of sorts.)

Another example: the median winning margin for games played during the home and away seasons of 2012 through 2016 was 32 points. In 2017, as of Round 14, half the games have ended at a 25 point margin or lower. Even the average for the last five years of finals is higher than that, at just over 28 points a game. And you would think that the top eight teams would be more closely grouped than the whole bag of 18, wouldn't you? By definition? Well, it was true over the last five years, and that implies we can expect even closer finals this season!

The moral of the story? Expect more of the same the rest of 2017. Expect Geelong to pull victory from the jaws of defeat at least once more; expect Richmond to have more chances to either continue or break their depressing streak of last minute losses, and don't expect very many century margins (if any) the rest of the year.

And if your team hits the 12-win mark? Congratulations: that may be all they need to be a contender this season!

One last Wandering for today from the meta-findings of the Spreadsheet of Death: I've compiled the results from every Mid-Season All-Australian team I could find (fourteen in all this year), assigned point totals based on where it came from (Uncle Murray's scrabbled-out list is worth less than a major publication's version, for ex.), and here's the result: the 2017 Meta-Brownlow Meta-Mid-Season Meta-All-Australian top 22 and more. (I never Meta-prefix I didn't like...)

Forwards: Jeremy Cameron (GW) - 85 points, Eddie Betts (AD) - 81, Toby Greene (GW) - 70, Lance Franklin (SY) - 68, Josh Kennedy (WC) - 67.

Ruck: Sam Jacobs (AD) - 53 points.

Midfielders: Patrick Dangerfield (GE) and Dustin Martin (RI) - 84 points each, Rory Sloane (AD) and Josh Kelly (GW) - 76 each, Joel Selwood (GE) - 74, Gary Ablett Jr (GC) - 52.

Defensemen: Elliot Yeo (WC) - 83 points, Rory Laird (AD) and Alex Rance (RI) - 81, Sam Docherty (CA) - 78, Michael Hurley (ES) - 64, Jeremy Howe (CO) - 60.

Interchange: Joe Daniher (ES) - 52 points, Robbie Tarrant (NM) - 50, Scott Pendlebury (CO) - 48, Robbie Gray (PA) - 47.

AFLX-perimental team: Dylan Roberton (SK) - 46 points, Zach Merrett (ES) - 42, Marcus Bontempelli (WB) - 41, Brodie Grundy (CO) - 40, Zach Tuohy (GE) - 39, Zac Williams (GW) - 36, Dayne Zorko (BL) - 32, Tom Mitchell (HA) - 31, Charlie Dixon (PA) - 30, Seb Ross (SK) - 29, and Jeff Garlett (ME) - 28.