The Greatness of the Game

I've never been much into sports, although I grew up in a family that regularly reminded me that "Football is Life." My father actually had a t-shirt that sported this sentiment. But this year, things have started to change for me. I've kept score, I've followed stats. I've regularly watched the last quarter of many games my home team has played this year. And last night I did something I haven't done in 8 years.... I excitedly watched a NFC Football game and I think I was the loudest one there. Although my Dad might have rivaled me in volume. My heart was in the game! Today, the thrill of a victorious team is still heavy in my mind. Paul often compares the Christian walk to running a race, and I think it's applicable to say that our walk in this Christian life often feels a bit like a fantastic football game. At the first quarter of your walk you feel as though you have all the time in the world, you may fail and goof, but it's early you have plenty of time to recover. But as you mature in your faith, it's becomes the little things that make or break your testimony and your witness. When I get to the end of my life I want to say with courage and conviction that I left it all on the field. But the game of my life, will be filled with a strong and daunting adversary.

 I read a wonderful blog from a dear friend, she talks about David and Goliath. And how the giant taunted the Israelite army for 40 days and how David in the midst of all that was able to stand with supernatural courage in the face of the taunting giant. When my faith was little and my walk not yet matured, my giants didn't have to do much to shake me. I have found that as I grow in faith, my adversary pulls out the big guns, runs the tough plays and shoots daggers that find their place straight to my heart. And often the hit knocks me to the ground and leaves me shaken and dazed. "what just happened?"

So how do you walk out your life in the hard hitting 3rd quarter? Not all of us will be asked to slay giants and lead armies. But if you are a Christian, then you do have a job to be done and as you catch the pass and run the field you better believe you will face a onslaught on opposition running full force at you trying to knock you off your feet.

Although I tried desperately to ignore all the football talk around the table in my home growing up, some things were said enough to penetrate through my girlie exterior. Play smart. How do you play smart in your Christian walk? Know your team. A team without this is doomed to fail. How can you work together if you don't know how the other players work, how they run, how they throw, how the catch. How do you stand up to your opponent if your unsure of the God you run with? There is only one way to know God's playbook. Read it. There's only one way to anticipate how God will move. Experience it. Practice it.

Football season growing up was exhausting, and I didn't even play, but I went to every practice and every game. Some days all we did was practice football, two a day practices and barely any rest. There is no way a team can make it through a game without intensive practice and dedication. Eating, sleeping and breathing the game. And yet, when it comes to our Christian walk we stumble on the field and run fast, but play stupid. We have yet to spend the time we need to cultivate a relationship with our team, and without a team you can't play the game. Like my friend mentions in her blog about David, the reason David could stand in the face of his giant is because he had already experienced a God who rescued him from a bear and a lion, and well when you've walk through all that.... what's a giant going to do to you that a lion wouldn't have done.

I used to run from opposition. After all what do I know? I would never begin to ask God to give me the practice I need to stand up to giants, or linebackers. But what if I can begin to see my opposition as a blessing? What if instead of running off the sideline and stopping the game I trusted my team and ran a Hail Mary to the endzone? Because I know and believe what I have read in the play book: If God is for me who can be against me?