I’m so thankful to be a human being. I thank God that we can compete in games. I noticed, while playing a volleyball game one time, that all my cares were by the wayside as I crouched and anticipated a serve. I wasn’t thinking about any troubles, I was just trying to win. I so appreciate that about sports.
And I love that losing is a part of competition. If it wasn’t for losing — or the ability to lose — the thrill of competition would be gone (or lessened at best). It makes winner all the better knowing you could lose. I think this risk is what makes life itself so exciting. There was a time where I felt the wind of attitude that somehow conveyed the thought that all things were pre-ordained and everything works out just as God hopes it will. Now, I don’t believe God is surprised by anything. I believe He sits outside of time. Just as I can see the “0” and “12” marks on the ruler on my desk, so can the infinite God somehow view time outside of it. I think His will is for all to become saved, but He also knows that not all will become saved. He very clearly spells out, via the words of His Son Jesus on the earth and in the other Holy Spirit-inspired words in the Scriptures, that there is a place of destruction (and broad is its road). I think the risk of making the right vs. wrong decision and choice is a very real situation that occurs for us in real time.
I believe that we have incredible potential as people. Non-Christians and Christians alike. God placed immeasurable talent and creativity in each and every human being on this planet. I think a non-believing man or woman can do some amazing things. And I think that each man or woman could be a Christian waiting to happen. I happen to believe that they have a choice in the matter (like “choose this day Whom you will serve”), but some biblical scholars whom I admire very much actually have a very good argument that God chooses those He saves and He forces them to believe in Him with His irresistible grace. I don’t buy that argument, but I do think that every man or woman is a potential Christian.
I think it pleases God very much when he or she chooses to love God. This risk in real time (of rejection vs. acceptance) is an exciting thing that has its ups and downs. Just as we have the potential to do great good, we can also fail. We actually have the ability to make someone’s heart harden to the Gospel. We can give someone an excuse to hate or mistrust God. That is a big responsibility.
If I’m wrong, then great. But that wouldn’t give us an excuse to act unbecomingly or rude. That’s just dumb. If I’m right, we should watch ourselves and just be aware of what we’re doing and careful. We shouldn’t have to walk on egg shells around here, but taking care how we live and speak is a good thing.
Now, I watched the BCS National Championship last night. We had a houseful of friends over. There was some neat moments where we all rose from our seats and shouted and roared with excitement. High fives were shared around when it looked like freshman quarterback Garret Gilbert was going to lead the Texas Longhorns in another improbable Rose Bowl National title comeback victory. It got close.
I was very disappointed that “we” lost. I love watching football and, for big games, I love to watch the post game interviews and recaps. I have to process what happened. The disappointment in losing (even as a fan) is big sometimes. Watching how it unfolded again and again somehow comforts me in my disappointment.
I was not disappointed in the drama that unfolded after the game, though, when a reporter interviewed Colt McCoy on the field. He was knocked out of the game in the first series and could not feel his arm. This is not a good thing for a quarterback. Like he said in another post game interview, if he was playing safety on defense, he could’ve gone back into the game and done some hitting. It probably would have presented a challenge if he had to make a pick, but…
Anyway, during this interview, the reporter asked an open-ended question about how he felt (Open-ended questions are the way to go for interviewers, by the way). He stammered. He paused. He started. He paused again. It was like this:
“I…”
“I…”
“He was at a loss for words. The drama was huge. People were watching and listening. He tried to say something and just couldn’t. After a second misfire, he straightened up, looked up and away, gathered his thoughts and answered in a bundle of words that came gushing out. He was articulate and heartfelt. I knew he would do this, because the kid’s consistent, but he spoke about God. He gave God glory. He acknowledged that he didn’t know why it happened. He expressed his disappointment in the timing of the injury and yet he reinforced his confidence that he knew he could trust in God. “I’m standing on the Rock,” he said.
What a humbling yet triumphant moment. Talk about being real. And talk about having your head on straight (even though it must’ve been spinning at the time…maybe saying “his heart is on straight” is a more accurate term).
I remember an interview I did with probably my favorite preacher of all time (I like a lot of them, from famous ones like James Robison, Chuck Smith and Billy Graham, to lesser-known ones like Allen Rigg, who consistently speaks so well), whose name is Dudley Hall. I asked him how he came to get such a good grip on the subject he teaches so well on — grace.
He said, “I was a football player in college. (I want to say it was at TCU, but I can’t remember. I think he was a halfback. Let me just stop and pull out the interview from Heaven’s Metal Magazine, Issue #28, the February/March issue of 1990).
“I went to college on a football scholarship. My mentality of serving God was: you need to pay God back for saving you; and when He blesses you, you really need to pay Him back. So, I prayed a lot in order to become a good football player, like, ‘If You help me be a good football player then I’ll give You all the glory,’ and that kind of bargaining. I did real good at first. I started as a freshman and had a promising career ahead. I was injured, broke my hip, and went to the hospital. I couldn’t play football anymore, so it was a real devastating deal. In the midst of that devastation, and me re-evaluating what it was all about, I really felt like I disappointed God. All the promises I made I couldn’t keep, because I was going to use athletics as a platform from which to tell about Jesus. It wasn’t going to work. I wasn’t going to be an athlete, so I felt like a real failure.
“It was in that experience, of crying out and feeling worthless that the revelation that Jesus loves me, just me — without any performance — broke into my life. I can’t give credit to anybody, except just the grace of God. It wasn’t like I was studying for it and asking for it. In the midst of that I became aware that Jesus loved me if I never did anything. If I stayed in the hosptial, or if I lived in a wheelchair, that I was worth Jesus to God the Father. That got inside me and, starting then, I began to have a hunger for people not to see religion and divisions and doctrine, but life; because I had experienced something more than what I call ‘propositional Christinity,’ where you just believe a proposition and work the rest of your life based on that proposition. I experienced love. I mean unconditional live. I mean, I felt wonderful. I felt chosen. I felt special, even though I could do nothing. I was no more an athlete. Nobody knew my name. I had nothing to recommend me to the world or for God, except I had this incredible sense inside of me that I was really important, and it was strictly my relation with Jesus.”
Wow. I love that story. It’s neat that it talks about failure. When I brought up failure earlier, I was not planning on hitting on the subject again. One crazy thing about this life is we don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. And our failures, as bad as they can be, can become building blocks for redemption. Those people we turned off to the Gospel — we can perhaps win them back. Maybe it’ll be someone else speaking words that cut through their disbelief, and maybe it’ll be our prayers that really influence God to act on that person’s behalf. Maybe God has something completely different for us in mind. But failure need never be final. Not with God.
I sure love music. I love sports. I really love football. I’m glad I was able to talk about all this and talk about God at the same time. Did anyone notice the Switchfoot music playing at several fade-away segues as the game went to a commercial?
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