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As an English teacher, I instruct my students to look for symbols in literature. As a basketball coach, I often use symbols from literature to teach my players, such as in Genesis 3:11 where God asks Adam and Eve if they have eaten the forbidden fruit. Instead of telling the truth and asking for forgiveness, Adam blamed both God and Eve. When God asked Eve the same question, she blamed the snake. Since then, mankind has been pointing fingers and playing the blame game.
A few days ago I went to the funeral of a huge sports fan whose love for life was evident to all. His name was Mike. His father had worked for FCA for several years and was responsible for getting FCA started in the SEC schools in the 60s and 70s. Mike’s life was full of joy, but it ended tragically with a sudden heart attack. He left this life way too early in my opinion, but his legacy will live on. His life was based on hope in Christ.
As March Madness winds down, we can clearly see the parity that exists at the highest level of college basketball. It’s been excited to watch the thrilling overtime victories and the games that have been decided by three points or less. Teams have matched up toe-to-toe, scraped, hustled and competed to extend their seasons for one more game. At the end of every game, one team has been left celebrating while the other has left empty-handed, perhaps stunned, that the game got away in the final ticks of the clock.
Does the word “wait” cause the hair on the back of your neck to rise like it does mine? As an endurance athlete, a lot of my training can last for several hours. An example would be during one of my former marathon trainings. One week I had a 20-mile run scheduled. Before the first mile was completed I was already thinking, “Wouldn’t it be great if this was mile 19 and I only had one mile to go?” I was wishing that I could fast-forward through my run and just see the end results.
King Saul and his son Jonathan faced a life-threatening crisis with the Philistines, but they handled the dilemma in very different ways. Jonathan responded in faith by trusting God in spite of the odds (1 Sm 14:1–14). God came to Jonathan’s aid by sending great confusion into the Philistine camp, and the Israelites were thus enabled to defeat the more powerful Philistine army without a casualty (1 Sm. 14:15–23).
At twenty-seven inches tall and dressed in his sleek-fitting evening attire, the adeli penguin looks like a million bucks. A good day for a penguin is a day of “non-event.” It is a day where he has eaten a few fish, slid around on his belly to conserve resources, and has not been eaten himself! A good day for a penguin is one where he is able to wipe his brow at the end of it and proclaim, “I made it.”
I became a baseball fan during the magical season of 1961. I lived for the trek to the mailbox for the morning paper. Turning to the sports section, I would devour the scores, especially those of the New York Yankees, where the nation focused on the home run race between Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. These two players fascinated me. Though Maris won the home run race that year, Mickey Mantle was my hero. He moved with grace and hit with power, and his statistics were incredibly impressive.
As I grew older, however, I learned of many poor choices made by Mantle. His decadent lifestyle and forty-year abuse of alcohol had shortened his career, prevented him from reaching his full potential, and clouded his mind.
Is it possible that one man could have changed Mike Tyson’s problem-filled boxing career? Tyson believes his former trainer, mentor, and legal guardian Cus D’Amato, who died before he won the title in 1986, would have changed things. Tyson said, “It would have been totally different. Cus once told me, ‘You’re the kind of person who has to get hurt to learn.’ I didn’t understand he was talking about life…in the fight of life I am a pug, a palooka [a second-rate prize fighter].”
Lo-debar was a frontier town east of Jordan that controlled a crucial plateau. Although a remote place, Lo-debar was an important route to the interior of the Bashan-Giliad area. Lo-debar was strategically located but not a desirable place to live. It was a town belonging to the tribe of Gad, a tribe that was committed to aiding the king of Israel whenever he needed help. Lo-debar was the town where the Philistines killed King Saul and his son Jonathan, and it became a Philistine stronghold. Later it became the headquarters of King David during the rebellion of his son Absalom. All things considered, it was not the most desirable place to live.
Fans hold their breath and sit on the edge of their seats. Then, it happens—that unexpected play that no one saw coming. In every sporting event, at any time, the element of surprise can alter a game’s momentum. One tick of the clock can take a coach through numerous emotions. In these defining moments we can learn great lessons about following Christ.
As we play the game, we never know what ups or downs might occur. Christ never promised His followers that life would be easy. But we have hope in the midst of the unknown. God has won the victory for us through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. So anything we face can be overcome when we follow God’s game plan.
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