So Close to Special.... God in the Super Bowl
For 23 years, the super bowl didn't really mean much. It meant a Sunday night when I could pretty much count on the fact that nothing could drag my father out of his chair in the den, or, as I got older, a Sunday night when I had a fun party to go to where I would ask Dad which team to route for and then pretend to be interested because it seemed most of the girls that boys liked WERE interested.
In recent years, however, I've taken more of a vested interest for various reasons, two of which being my newly found love for watching football and my very thin so strongly felt connection for the Manning brothers just because a friend of mine is cousins through marriage with Peyton. (I know. It really does not mean anything for me, but it makes me feel special. Thanks Mary Willson)!
Anyway, this year the Super Bowl really hit home with me for a different reason. Who to cheer for??? The Giants?? I DO live in NYC now, and Eli Manning DOES play on that team. But, what about the Patriots?? I lived in Boston! I have so many wonderful Pats fans friends, and they were UNDEFEATED SO FAR! Well, I ended up going with my heart and pulling for the Giants because I really like Eli as a player and a person (or at least the person I see him as according to the News reports) more than Tom. Nonetheless, I can't help but notice how the Patriots' crushing loss really reflects a deeper issue in the world.
I mean, look at what they accomplished this season- undefeated, highest scoring offense in NFL HISTORY! That is HUGE; yet, they didn't WIN the super bowl. The Pats' defensive lineman, Richard Seymour, said "We're second class. It's disappointing we came so close to being special." And isn't that a perfectly accurate picture of what life in this world without Jesus Christ is like. I am making no statements about Seymour. I know next to nothing about him; my statements are about nonChristians...and Christians actually...in general.
Life without the hope of glory, the hope of eternal life with Jesus, is like that, a race, a fight, a battle to be SPECIAL. More than that, it's a risky battle in which there are no promises, no absolutes, and very few comforts. You can give all your strength, work with all your might, sacrifice everything you have, all to be 'special,' but you really have no control over it. And, it can crumble in your hands at any given moment. You can be Tom Brady with a record of dating the most beautiful actresses and super models in the WORLD and still be left so 'incomplete' feeling. He stood and watched as, so says the NYTimes at least, his 'season and history were buried under the red and blue confetti that rained down on the Giants.' All that work, gone? So close to being special...so are they not special any longer? And what about the players on the Giants, what about Eli? If this is his glory....how long will it last? I doubt he'll be the winning quarterback every year, and if he were, wouldn't people get tired of it? Eventually, no one would be cheering for him or his team. They'd want someone else to be 'special.' The bottom line is, it all fades. It's all unfulfilling. It's all a house built on the sand, and some people really do live lives in which they stake everything upon it. Can you imagine if you had to build a foundation for your life on quicksand? I mean, it's an old analogy, but think about it afresh today. How defeating would that be. It's like life lived constantly in the war zone.
Bellicheck left the field before even the last run was completed. A defensive coordinator probably feeling the weight of a season of work and numberless sacrifices down the drain. I guess it's as Coughlin said, 'every team is beatable.'
And that's the truth. Every team IS beatable. Every victory in this world IS temporary and fading. Nothing in this wold can TRULY define us, unless, that is, we wanted to be defined as fleeting and momentary and 'so close to special.' There's gotta be more to life though- more to life than the temporary high- more to life than fame which one way or another we have to work for. We must be grounded in more than any of the things in this world which bring us joy and happiness. We must be grounded in more than our work or our family or our talents or our image or our appearance or our church or even what we 'believe.' We must be grounded in the UNCHANGING, the UNFALTERING, and the truth that we CANNOT FATHOM the depth of it.. the depth of HIM.
I think what God seems to be pressing home in my life and so many of the lives of my dear friends is this simple fact. "REGARDLESS OF WHAT IS GOING ON AROUND YOU, REGARDLESS OF WHAT YOU SEE, REGARDLESS OF HOW YOU FEEL, ARE YOU ARE GOING TO BELIEVE WHAT I HAVE SAID TO BE TRUE OF MYSELF? THAT I AM GOOD? THAT I AM MERCIFUL? THAT I AM YOUR SAVIOR? THAT I DO WHAT IS RIGHT?" I think most of my time alone with God is spent confessing that I constantly want Him to justify His character and His actions and His motives to me. How can He be so good, I sinfully wonder, when the fleeting things of this world that make me feel and appear 'special' are just that, so FLEETING!?! How God...
and I hear Elihu's answer in the book of Job. More than that, I hear God's answer in the book of Job. More than that, I hear Psalm 139 and Jeremiah 29 and Proverbs 3 and Romans 7 and 8, and Psalm 37 and...and I realize, and I confess, and I repent, and I momentarily get it.
Brothers and sisters, seek HIM. HE is where you are found. HE is your definition. This world will every day, one day, eventually, ALWAYS, leave you only 'so close to special.' This year you will be like Manning and Tyree, completing what was among the greatest plays in Super Bowl history, a leaping 32 yard reception with 59 seconds left in the game....
.... but what about next year? ...........and what about the year after that?
"So close to special..." Praise God that is what I will never be....and praise Him even more if I can remember that when the confetti is praising me AND when it seems as if it's burying the world's idea of my entire existence.
In recent years, however, I've taken more of a vested interest for various reasons, two of which being my newly found love for watching football and my very thin so strongly felt connection for the Manning brothers just because a friend of mine is cousins through marriage with Peyton. (I know. It really does not mean anything for me, but it makes me feel special. Thanks Mary Willson)!
Anyway, this year the Super Bowl really hit home with me for a different reason. Who to cheer for??? The Giants?? I DO live in NYC now, and Eli Manning DOES play on that team. But, what about the Patriots?? I lived in Boston! I have so many wonderful Pats fans friends, and they were UNDEFEATED SO FAR! Well, I ended up going with my heart and pulling for the Giants because I really like Eli as a player and a person (or at least the person I see him as according to the News reports) more than Tom. Nonetheless, I can't help but notice how the Patriots' crushing loss really reflects a deeper issue in the world.
I mean, look at what they accomplished this season- undefeated, highest scoring offense in NFL HISTORY! That is HUGE; yet, they didn't WIN the super bowl. The Pats' defensive lineman, Richard Seymour, said "We're second class. It's disappointing we came so close to being special." And isn't that a perfectly accurate picture of what life in this world without Jesus Christ is like. I am making no statements about Seymour. I know next to nothing about him; my statements are about nonChristians...and Christians actually...in general.
Life without the hope of glory, the hope of eternal life with Jesus, is like that, a race, a fight, a battle to be SPECIAL. More than that, it's a risky battle in which there are no promises, no absolutes, and very few comforts. You can give all your strength, work with all your might, sacrifice everything you have, all to be 'special,' but you really have no control over it. And, it can crumble in your hands at any given moment. You can be Tom Brady with a record of dating the most beautiful actresses and super models in the WORLD and still be left so 'incomplete' feeling. He stood and watched as, so says the NYTimes at least, his 'season and history were buried under the red and blue confetti that rained down on the Giants.' All that work, gone? So close to being special...so are they not special any longer? And what about the players on the Giants, what about Eli? If this is his glory....how long will it last? I doubt he'll be the winning quarterback every year, and if he were, wouldn't people get tired of it? Eventually, no one would be cheering for him or his team. They'd want someone else to be 'special.' The bottom line is, it all fades. It's all unfulfilling. It's all a house built on the sand, and some people really do live lives in which they stake everything upon it. Can you imagine if you had to build a foundation for your life on quicksand? I mean, it's an old analogy, but think about it afresh today. How defeating would that be. It's like life lived constantly in the war zone.
Bellicheck left the field before even the last run was completed. A defensive coordinator probably feeling the weight of a season of work and numberless sacrifices down the drain. I guess it's as Coughlin said, 'every team is beatable.'
And that's the truth. Every team IS beatable. Every victory in this world IS temporary and fading. Nothing in this wold can TRULY define us, unless, that is, we wanted to be defined as fleeting and momentary and 'so close to special.' There's gotta be more to life though- more to life than the temporary high- more to life than fame which one way or another we have to work for. We must be grounded in more than any of the things in this world which bring us joy and happiness. We must be grounded in more than our work or our family or our talents or our image or our appearance or our church or even what we 'believe.' We must be grounded in the UNCHANGING, the UNFALTERING, and the truth that we CANNOT FATHOM the depth of it.. the depth of HIM.
I think what God seems to be pressing home in my life and so many of the lives of my dear friends is this simple fact. "REGARDLESS OF WHAT IS GOING ON AROUND YOU, REGARDLESS OF WHAT YOU SEE, REGARDLESS OF HOW YOU FEEL, ARE YOU ARE GOING TO BELIEVE WHAT I HAVE SAID TO BE TRUE OF MYSELF? THAT I AM GOOD? THAT I AM MERCIFUL? THAT I AM YOUR SAVIOR? THAT I DO WHAT IS RIGHT?" I think most of my time alone with God is spent confessing that I constantly want Him to justify His character and His actions and His motives to me. How can He be so good, I sinfully wonder, when the fleeting things of this world that make me feel and appear 'special' are just that, so FLEETING!?! How God...
and I hear Elihu's answer in the book of Job. More than that, I hear God's answer in the book of Job. More than that, I hear Psalm 139 and Jeremiah 29 and Proverbs 3 and Romans 7 and 8, and Psalm 37 and...and I realize, and I confess, and I repent, and I momentarily get it.
Brothers and sisters, seek HIM. HE is where you are found. HE is your definition. This world will every day, one day, eventually, ALWAYS, leave you only 'so close to special.' This year you will be like Manning and Tyree, completing what was among the greatest plays in Super Bowl history, a leaping 32 yard reception with 59 seconds left in the game....
.... but what about next year? ...........and what about the year after that?
"So close to special..." Praise God that is what I will never be....and praise Him even more if I can remember that when the confetti is praising me AND when it seems as if it's burying the world's idea of my entire existence.
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