by Lillian Baker Wolff

The football season is about over with the matchup of the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburg Steelers in the grand finale–the Super Bowl.  What an exciting time.  Every team started out with hopes and aspirations of being there, but it is now narrowed down to two and who will be the winner?

Football was something I rarely watched until my Grandson, Jordan, started to play in High School.  Gradually I developed a liking for it, as I learned more about the game.  I still watch very little of it, unless it is the Kansas City Chiefs, who are playing.  Of course, a grandmother should go to the games to watch her special grandson!!   Football used to cause me a bit of apprehension (not worry, of course) when he was playing .  It was great to hear his name called out over the microphone that he had run with the ball and perhaps even made a touch down.  But when he lay on the ground with a heap of others on top of him, it didn’t make his mother or I too happy.  Thankfully, he made it through, inspite of several injuries, and now can you imagine, much to our concern, he is a Kansas City police officer!  These kids like excitement, which is a bit too much for old grandmothers.

Getting back to football.  There is a lot to be learned from the game.  First of all, I learned that there were goals to be made.  It is called a touchdown.  Those are minor goals before the big one of winning the actual game.  Without the minor goals, there would be no winning.  The more accomplish, the better the game.  That is if it is your side that is making them.  I think God has a lot of goals for us to reach.  The main goal is heaven, but there are a lot of smaller goals along the way.  We could call them Hallelujah Touchdowns for the Lord.

When playing the game it is possible to get hurt.  It is a rough game and only the tough keep on going.  Many don’t actually go to the sideline when they are hurt, but they just keep on playing.  Have you ever been hurt and you just kept on playing?  I am sure that we all have.  Who wants to sit on the bench?  A really on-fire, active Christian detests being just a bench sitter or pew sitter only.  It is easy to get hurt when being tackled and when a dozen big, heavy-duty players fall on top of the downed player.  But it all goes with the game.  And you know, if we are going to make our goal heaven, we are going to get tackled along the way.  Unkind folks are going to try to pin us down and keep us from moving forward.  Sometimes we will get the breath knocked out of us, even by other seeming Christians.  But it is no time to give up; the game has not been won yet.  My new friend, Mary, reminded me that to be a player takes a lot of discipline.  It takes practice time and effort.

Football is a team game; it is not a one-man show.  The eleven players must have one goal in mind.  The Coach calls the plays and I am not for certain, but I think they get into a big huddle and plan out their strategy, as the coach instructed.  As much as possible they need to follow the game plan.  When a player doesn’t follow the plan, he throws everything out of kilter.  One thing for certain, you don’t want the devil intercepting your passes or knocking you off your feet.  And Christians, this game of life is about being a good team player.  Gang up on the devil.  Have you ever seen a pouting Christian, who wants to play the game their way?  I have seen a few in my life, who would penalize God and the church if things didn’t go their way!!  Beside that, they don’t like what the Big Heavenly Coach tells them to do.

One day the clock will stop and the game will be over.  At that time we must stand before the Owner and Manager, himself–God our heavenly Father and give an account as to just how we played the game.  Were we fair or did we cheat?  Did we walk the walk and talk the real talk?  It will be a time of great accountability.  It will not matter, on that day, whether we won a few and lost a few.  What will matter is if we played the game according to His plan and did we give it our all!!  We win in the end as the major goal is heaven.  Now some of you have probably gotten a big laugh at an old lady’s take on football.

“WINNING DOES NOT ALWAYS MEAN COMING IN FIRST…

REAL VICTORY IS IN ARRIVING AT THE FINISH LINE WITH NO REGRETS

BECAUSE YOU KNOW YOU’VE GONE ALL OUT!”