Football and Opportunities

Image by scotthelsinger via Flickr

Today is the first College Football Saturday of the year. Let me say that I am pumped. Watching young men go out and punish each other is a treat. Helmets bashing and cleats click-clacking.

The coolest thing to me is the preparation and the pay-off. The players have worked hard. Most of them have waited for this moment since they were small children. All summer long they have busted their butts. Breaking themselves down in the weight room and building each other up in the locker room. They pulled themselves together and toughed it out through 100 degrees practice. And on this day, it all pays off. They will battle another team, who has prepared just the same, and attempt to catapult themselves to victory.

That is passion.

Do you have passion? What pushes you? Is it football? Is it your job, and that big promotion? I pray that for those players, it is not the game. I pray that it is the opportunity. I pray that they take it as an opportunity to glorify Christ in the game.

Everyday you live in a game. You prepare, you plan, and you play. But, who do you play for? I know this is cliche, but men do not play for themselves. Real men do not even play for the game. But, they play for the one who created the game and the one who gives us the opportunity to play

1 Colossians 3:17


"And^(AT) whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,^(AU) giving thanks to God the Father through him."


What do you do? Do it for Christ. What pushes you? What motivates you? For men, it is to be Christ. Period. If it is not, you are not a man. You are stuck in the 7th grade. Grow up, and put your big boy pants on. 


Whatever it is, do it in the name of Jesus. When you lose your job, Jesus is there. When you realize you won't make it as a pro, he will be there. Do you put your hope in things that won't?


Take everyday as an opportunity. An opportunity to make an impact. Players seek to make big plays. Make the great throw, run then great run, or completely demolish someone with a devastating hit. Make an impact, but not in the name of Seth. Not in the name of Bob, Bill, or Dan. Not for the Glory of Susan, Lucy, or Ashley. But, in the name of Jesus. Thats the only way it will count. In the end, with the points tallied, the scores that will count are those that were scored in Jesus' name. Make an impact today and tell someone the Gospel. Be a gamebreaker and love someone unconditionally. Uncomfortable? Maybe. Worth it? Yes!


Believe Jesus. Love Jesus. Live Jesus.