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?

With Great Anticipation

December started off busy and exciting in our home, my children woke up the day after Thanksgiving looking forward to the Christmas season. We started the month by planning all the festivities, parties and celebrations that would occur this month- all leading up to the great event of the year, Christmas day! As the month flew by, our days were filled with making decorations, eating yummy treats and thinking and talking about the great Savior that came to set us free from sin. We talked about how the angels sang praises in the fields, about the star that shown so brightly leading shepherds and wise men to come and see and worship the baby Savior and King. We read from the Old Testament of how Emmanuel would come to the earth, about the virgin birth and His lowly entrance into this fallen world that He came to save. All of creation up to this point had waited and watched for this moment in history to come to pass.

About a week prior to Christmas, my daughter came to me and sat in my lap. "Mommy, I don't want Christmas to come....." She whispered to me. "But why not?" I asked in surprise. "Because, then it will all be over...." Such anticipation for one day of excitement. I began to think about that sentiment. I wonder if Mary and Joseph had a moment of let down after the shepherds headed back out to pasture and they were left alone with a baby and no real plan. The Jewish nation waited for so long to see the coming of the Messiah, and although many missed it, those who caught glimpse of the promised one, what did they long for after they saw the Savior??

My life has been marked by waiting for the next big thing, that somehow attaining something new, would make all that had been,worth the time and energy it took to live through it. Perhaps you can relate. Life will be better when.....fill in the blank. I get that other job, we move out of this house, we have a baby, our kids are older, our car is better, my family is closer or farther away..... Why is it that we live out our life never being content with where we are, but always longing for some future event? Could it be, perhaps, that we are created this way, but that our longings are misplaced?

Since the fall of mankind in the garden of Eden, man has longed for a better future.

January 1st comes with great expectations, all around me I see people thinking and planning new years resolutions, promises that are made to be broken it seems, as January 3rd brings to reality the ineffectiveness of our will power. What are you longing for? Perhaps next year brings with it the anticipation of new and glorious adventures! Or perhaps the new year marks the passing of yet another year of struggles, pain and loneliness. Perhaps you have resolutions to get out of debt, or lose that extra weight, or buy that new thing, or stop that bad habit. Making goals is a great thing, but what is it that motivates your goal making. Do you think life will really be happier in a size 6, in a new house, or with a new man? Or maybe underneath all that stuff you really have a longing for something greater, a longing to be a part of something that matters, or to be witness to something spectacular.

Paul and the apostles were anticipating the return of Jesus Christ, and the kingdom of Heaven. They lived their life with one resolution: to welcome their Savior, and to invite as many as they could to the great feast that awaits them. This year, I have no resolutions apart from one:  to walk where God leads me, regardless of where He leads me. I have a great longing to be a part of something great,  I want to be apart of God's redemptive story.

Can I encourage you today? Can I challenge the reasons behind what you long for? If you, like me, find yourself striving towards the future and dreaming of better days ahead, maybe it's a warning sign to stop and think about what your heart truly longs for. Maybe you long for comfort, less bills to pay, or a better lifestyle. Could is be that you really long for the great Comforter? God has promised to give us His supernatural comfort in the midst of worldly discomfort. Maybe you long for better friendships or better marriages, could it be that you long truly for the intimacy of having a friend who knows you better then anyone else? God longs to woo you into a relationship that is so fulfilling that it surpasses anything this worlds friendships have to offer! Perhaps you long to be better, do better, break that bad habit or stop messing up that one thing. Could it be, perhaps, that you truly long for forgiveness and that you desperately desire to shed the guilt and shame you hold on to and that controls the way you live your life. I have hope for you by friend, and his name is Jesus.

I write these things to you because I know them so well. I understand the pain of regret and guilt, I know the pressure of striving to be good enough and the devastation that happens when once again you can't uphold your own promises. That's  the beauty of Jesus, he doesn't desire perfection, or will power, good financial standing or great personal relationship skills. He is the savior, he came to save us....from ourselves.

As you look forward to 2014 with great anticipation, I pray that you find your longings satisfied, and that the great God who sent his son to earth on that glorious day 2000 years ago to save us, would be your greatest desire for the new year.

Blessings my Friends.
Erin