Devotion 2.6.17

"This game is over," I said with about three minutes left in the 3rd quarter.  My wife, grading papers, agreed.  We turned it over to the movie "Dave," the spoof on a president who is replaced by his look-alike after a stroke. 

I woke up early and tossed and turned.  The potential devotion ran through my mind.  "Super Bowls rarely live up to the game they are supposed to be," ran through my mind.  Does the devotion even need to be about football? I asked myself.  We are men, and you do write them to be "theme-of-the-day" to apply scriptural truths to every day life, I said to myself.

So, when I awoke this morning, I pulled up the headlines.  Tom Brady named MVP?  I looked at my wife.  "I think the Pats won that game," I said.  She said they did because it was on the tv when she went to work out.  "And we missed it," I said.  I missed Roger Goodell having to hand the Super Bowl trophy to Kraft.  I missed Tom Brady's distant handshake at the end of the game with Goodell, as if Brady knew he had to do it but really could care less about Goodell.  I missed the MVP trophy award.  I missed Kraft's speech that slapped Goodell across the face in a gentlemanly way, as Goodell left the stage.

We missed the single-biggest comeback in Super Bowl history.  25 unanswered points.  Over time.  A catch to end all catches to keep a drive going.  A coach that knows the game better than any current coach in the NFL standing cool on the sideline, not getting deterred regardless of the hopelessness that most people would have.  It was one of the greatest Super Bowls of all time, if not the greatest, and sealed a note in football history for one of the greatest teams in the NFL of all time (sorry, hate them or not, you cannot ignore the stamp on the game the Patriots have made).

In the parable of the 10 virgins, I fell into the group that fell asleep, ignoring the need to be prepared for the return of the master. When I awoke this morning, game over, I looked at the group who had stayed with the game and said, "Share some of the joy you had last night in a game like that," to which they said, "Game over.  Joy is ours.  You should have stayed with it."  In that parable, the five wise virgins were steadfast and stayed prepared."  When the master returned, the five foolish begged the five wise to share in their preparation, to which they said, "Too late."  Christ, at the end of the parable, said, "Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour." (Matthew 25)

Pray we always are alert.  Alert to opportunities to serve.  Alert to sharing the gospel.  Alert to Christ's return. 

Hope Men's Ministry