You think I'm crazy, but the deal with winning is, during the season, there's always another game next week, until you reach the championship, but then even that victory doesn't last forever.
Losing is the toughest part of the entire process. I'm not a good loser at all. You prepare,sports-wise, for a period of time to defeat the next opponent. When that opponent bests you, you're supposed to let it go. Sometimes it's hard to swallow, but the season rolls on.
Even when you break football down to a play, there's victory and loss in a play that is hard to overcome.
The great thing is, through a sport like football, you learn how to handle adversity. I tell my athletes all the time how much they're being prepared by this sport for their lives.
When I was their age, I didn't understand what my coach told me either. However, now looking back, my participation in this amazing sport prepared me for the ups and downs of life.
In life, as in football, you don't have time to let the losses get you down. You get the opportunity to bounce up really quickly. Life goes on, and the season goes on. With the exception of the end of your season, or your life, there's always a chance to make up for what you failed at earlier!
That is the beauty of the grace of God! I know that even in my weakness, He is strong! Paul said it in 1 Corinthians 1, the weakness of God is still stronger than any man!
The only difference in the "game" we play as followers of Christ is we have the same opponent every time. In HS football, you have ten different opponents to prepare for.
In the Christian life, we have one opponent, Satan, and we know his trick plays and audibles and schemes.
Football coaches jump at the chance to know how the opponent will react to certain things. We watch for tendencies and scout teams to know exactly what they do and when they do. It's truly an amazing sight, when a group of coaches discovers what other teams do and can tell when they're going to!
The great thing is, Satan has been scouted and we know what's going on. We've got the game plan, he essentially has given up his own plan because he is so extremely obvious. Usually anything that is good for Christ-followers, or anything that affects them, is what he's shooting for.
The beautiful thing is, even though he may win a battle here or there, he loses the war! You're going to stumble and you're going to fall, but you've got to get back up!
The same goes for football. No team is completely perfect. There's not a football team out there that has never lost a game in their history. There are perfect seasons, but never a perfect history.
I'm not trying to be "gloom and doom," because here is the main point I'm trying to make: even at your weakest and worst, if you're life is in Christ, you're stronger than you've ever been.
Christian Hip Hop artist, Trip Lee, has penned a great song on this very subject. Long story short, he suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome. Trip is in his mid-20s and at some points, his pain is so much that he has to be bedridden. In his song, "Sweet Victory," Trip chronicles his disease and how he perserveers through it!
Believe me, it is difficult to see the victory in the struggle. Sometimes it's so dark in whatever you're in, that it is hard to see the light. I promise you though, the light is there! God is there! All you've got to do is call His name!
So, all this to say, even when all the hope is out of it, we will still experience victory if we have given our lives over to Christ! That's the beauty of the Christian life, at my weakest, God is strong!
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