And be sure of this, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Matthew 28:20b
It’s Super Bowl Sunday! By tomorrow morning, when I send my little message off to Casey for this week’s edition, the result will be in. The biggest single event in the world will be over. A new day, a new week, will have begun, and all the hype, the buzz, the tension, and anxiety over a single football game will be over, hovering in the distance of our mental rear-view mirror. And by the time you receive it on Wednesday, talk about “old news!”
What does it take to make a simple football game the phenomenon that it is today? Well, the media does a great deal to contribute, hyping first one player and then another, discussing the merits of the coaching staff, and otherwise engaging in ego-building. They certainly carry a huge ability to influence public opinion. And, of course, advertisers are willing to pay enormous amounts of money to air their commercials and fans will part with many dollars to attend the game and purchase memorabilia. There’s the simple fact that humans have an unusual affinity for watching big guys butt heads with one another, over and over again. Let’s not forget that the Chiefs had tremendous incentive going into the game because they were reaching for a threepeat, as it was coined, a third consecutive Super Bowl win, a feat no other team has accomplished. That’s pretty heady stuff!
I’m not putting the game down, I can get pretty excited when the team I support either scores or is treated “unfairly” by the officials. But I can face reality. It is a game and it’s plagued by countless variables that can affect the final outcome. Weather is a factor when they play on an open field but the domed stadiums have solved that problem in many cases. Injuries are a constant concern and many will occur during the course of the long season as well as the usual trading of players, shaking up the flow of plays. And of course, there are the unpredictable refs, everybody’s favorite scapegoat. Let’s face it, there’s also a lot of luck that accompanies the skill and dedication that are necessary to play the game.
One of the most important components of any game is coaching. Some coaches are born leaders, and others are not so much. In fact, we all need a good coach in our lives, and any athlete would do well to seek a relationship with the best coach, the one you and I have come to know and trust to be by our side every moment of every day.
Quarterbacks will come and go as will coaches, fans will cheer and criticize, and refs will continue to bring either elation or angst to the game. But if we keep our focus on the one true leader, there are no variables, just a trusted and true road to our final reward. OK, maybe a few variables will cross our paths along the journey, but nothing can take us down, not with our Jesus in control……
Well, it’s four hours later and Super Bowl 59 is in the books. The Chiefs Kingdom crumbled under the attack of a flock of very hungry Eagles. The final score doesn’t really tell the story of the game, as often happens. Rough night for the Chiefs, but tomorrow is another day and life will go on. A little rest and they’ll gather again to rebuild. I liked Mahomes’ long touchdown pass to Worthy at the end of the game that said, “We’ll be back!”
The way we respond to these temporal events in our lives determines who we are and shows the world around us whom we serve. I saw evidence that Jesus walks among the players on both teams and some were listening.
I don’t know if you noticed but, in the midst of the game and all the edgy advertising, there was a message about Jesus from the “He Gets Us” campaign. I saw photos of people helping people and heard messages about taking care of one another just like Jesus did. Like I said, Jesus is right here, in our midst, all the time….we just have to watch and listen, to see and hear. Are you watching? Are you listening?
But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve….as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15
