It's JUST a game

Not many comments would spark more instant anger or resent when I was a kid then when my mom told me, "It's just a game." Whether I was playing in a basketball game, or was watching my favorite team on TV- my mom's comment would always sky rocket my blood pressure and make me mad. I MEAN it's not JUST a game. It's everything to me RIGHT now! I focus in on every second, every play, every bounce of the ball. The end result is SOOO important to me. It was either the team I was on OR the team that I had spent ALL season watching. IT WASN'T JUST A GAME MOM!

Well, let me share another story with you. It's 2011. Becca is 8 months pregnant with Isaiah, so I'm 1 month away from becoming a dad for the first time. The Packers are in the....SUPER BOWL! My favorite team is in the biggest game. If they win- WE are the champs. Throughout the game, I act irrationally as usual. I throw pillows, I yell....I get mad. At one point I even walk away from the TV because I don't think I can handle it if they lose. I come back for the 4th quarter and they are ahead, but only by 6. Their defense makes a big play and they win. THEY WON THE SUPER BOWL. We have done it! I remember being excited, elated, happy, and then disappointed. The team I had been watching all season and all my life, had won- Mission Accomplished Right? Well, why then was I disappointed????

In that moment I realized something for the 1st time...my mom may have been right. It may just a game. Because I began thinking what was next for the Packers? There would be next season and they probably couldn't win it two years in a row. I knew that my happiest memories with that team were now in the past. They were behind me. It was history...

This was of course was driven home even further the next month when Isaiah was born. After a flawless pregnancy, Isaiah gave us one CRAZY scare of a birth. One minute there were 9 nurses in the room b/c Becca's and Isaiah's heart rate had dropped to almost nothing; the baby was in distress and had to come out NOW! They rushed her back for a C-section surgery. The medicine they had given her hadn't even took effect, so they had to give her ANOTHER medicine which meant I couldn't go back with her. Instead, I was now alone in a hospital room not knowing if my wife and baby would be OK. I couldn't be there for my wife when she needed me the most. I have never felt closer to God than in that moment. While tears streamed down my face, I texted everyone I knew to pray. I prayed myself between texts just hoping everything would be alright.

Well since most of you know me, you know the story has a happy ending. Isaiah is 5 now and is one of the biggest goof balls I know and he and Becca were both OK.

Yep, Isaiah was one CUTE baby!

However, from that moment on, I realized without a doubt- sports are JUST sports. A game is just a game. My mom was right.

Now I realize this week locally we have high school football playoffs AND volleyball playoffs and you might not agree with my blog or want to hear it today. But here's the deal- don't wait until some crazy traumatic life moment makes you put sports in perspective. It's a game NOT a god. The Bible speaks of this in a number of different places. We can't serve God and something else also. Matthew 6:24- ²⁴ “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Luke 4:8- ⁸And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”

So this week enjoy the games. Play to have fun. Appreciate your teammates. Do your best to win. But remember, when the clock hits zero, God has some big plans for your life that have nothing to do with a field or a court. God will be right there waiting to share in your excitement or disappointment and LOVE you for WHO you are- not because you won or lost. Jesus already won the most important battle over sin and Jesus did that for YOU! There won't be a greater victory ANYWHERE than that.