by Joanie Butman
Superbowl Sunday screams for a sports analogy because even if you’re not a sports fan, you can’t avoid the hype surrounding tonight’s game. You don’t have to like football to enjoy the food, the half-time show and even the commercials. I’ve no vested interest in the game this year, but there are worse things than eating wings and watching Jimmy G for a couple of hours!!
Years ago, following the Superbowl, I saw an interview with Russell Wilson (Quarterback Seattle Seahawks) where he was discussing GAP (Game Altering Plays) plays – good and bad. We’ve all witnessed them where a fumble, interception, sack or Hail Mary pass changes the momentum and trajectory of a game. Maybe we are left shaking our heads wondering what the coach was thinking calling a play we think is ludicrous.
I chuckled to myself, recognizing that you don’t need to be an athlete to experience a GAP play. We’ve all had our share – an unexpected diagnosis, losses of all kinds, fumbles, sacks, injuries that relegate us to the sidelines – life offers a smorgasbord of possibilities. I’ve made my share of horrendous plays, and who doesn’t question God’s calls at times? A cancer diagnosis? A rejection? A crushing blow emotionally, spiritually, financially? “Really, God, that’s Your call?” It’s especially at those times we have to trust our Divine coach and run the play to the best of our ability. It won’t always lead to a victory as the world sees it, but it makes us all winners in the end because we know that His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts higher than our thoughts.
We’ve all been in situations where our game plan becomes obsolete in a nanosecond. In football that’s when the quarterback calls an audible – changing the play at the last minute to adjust for how he sees the defense lining up. Spiritually, the only audible we need to know is “JESUS, HELP!” When our own plans are in the wind, leaving us feeling vulnerable and unprotected, we need to shift our focus off our opponent and onto God. That’s usually when He does His best work. Eleventh-hour intervention typifies many of the GAP plays in the Bible. God specializes in last-minute miracles and nail-biting suspense as He calls for us to trust Him with the ultimate outcome for our lives.
That kind of trust is the result of years of practice and training, which often comes in the form of hardships. In much the same way that you can’t get to the Superbowl without hard work and perseverance, spiritual training requires the same kind of diligence and effort. My spiritual journey has often felt like two steps forward and three steps back, struggling for yardage. I’d hardly consider it worthy of the Spiritual Hall of Fame. However, over the years I’ve realized the training is in the struggle. It’s how God strengthens our faith and spiritual muscle, preparing us one play at a time. If you never get knocked down, you’ll never learn how to get up. As one football great wisely stated, “The measure of a man is not in how he falls down, but in how he pulls himself off the ground.” (Vince Lombardi)
Athletes are always in training, careful to keep their bodies at peak performance. We need to approach our spiritual life with the same level of commitment because there’s more at stake than a Superbowl title. Life doesn’t afford us an off season. No wonder St. Paul instructs us to be “prepared in season and out of season,” and to “run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” More than any one play or moment, it is who or what you choose to focus on that will make you a winner in life. I get lazy all too often and lose focus, taking my eyes off the prize. That’s when I am most likely to be blindsided, bringing me back to where I should have been all along – on my knees.
As I said, I’ve got no skin in the game tonight. However, on the gridiron of life, we’ve all got a vested interest in helping each other reach the goal line. Knowing I am part of God’s team gives me the courage to stay in the game regardless of how daunting the odds seem, to follow His plans rather than my own, to trust that He is my defender, and to know with confidence that regardless of what I’m facing, choosing to keep my focus on Christ is always the winning strategy. My spiritual efforts often feel as clumsy and challenged as my athletic abilities, but in His eyes we’re all MVPs. Most of us will never earn a Superbowl ring, but “there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:8).
