Ministries Winning … the only thing?
|
It came down to the final play of the football game. The team with the ball was trailing by six points and they had one last chance to tie and then win the game. The team ran their play … and scored! The players went crazy, but then their coach came running out on the field, not to congratulate the players, but to talk to the coach of the opposing team. It seems his players hadn’t run their play quite correctly and, therefore, legally. The coach was honest enough to tell the other coach about it. What an amazing example of honesty—one that could cost his players the game—an honesty which is rare in sports. Instead of taking the win for his team, however, the coach of the opposing team told the honest coach just to let it go and to proceed with running his play to try to score the extra point and win. Didn’t he realize that he was putting his team in jeopardy of losing the game when he could take the win for his team? Yes, but he wanted to proceed anyway. The coach who had demonstrated such honesty lined up his team for the extra point. His quarterback dropped back to throw the ball to one of the receivers in the end zone … and intentionally threw the ball into the ground. Game over. The two teams had tied. Families on the sidelines were stunned. What had happened? What happened was players learned important life lessons that will remain with them much longer than had one team won and the other lost. They learned about honesty, grace, sacrifice and considering the needs of others. This event happened this past Saturday at one of our Upward flag football games. Players and families saw that our relationship with Jesus should make a difference in our lives, sometimes even a stunning difference that doesn’t make any sense to the outside world. Are we teaching our children to live in ways in which Jesus makes a noticeable difference? That begins by letting them see Jesus making a noticeable difference in our lives. Terry Al
|
