Right Next to the Ball
11/4/13
Ever wonder how come some people never see the light when
a subject or issue is being presented to them?
I have found many ways to deny the truth in my life and I know how
foolish I have felt when that light actually has turned on. But what I forget is how people have tried
their best to present me with the facts and I still refused to believe what
they were saying to be the truth, so I denied myself what I was looking for in
the first place due to my own closed heart.
How many times have we done this when God is being presented to our
lives and have refused to listen to what He was telling us for our lives? It is probably more common than one realizes.
It is almost the end of football season here in Colorado
and some of the popular rivalry games are beginning to come around and of
course our family, mainly myself if I am being honest, was involved in another
one of those games that we really had no connection with, but wanted to witness
anyway. As one knows there are two sides
to most stadiums and usually the visiting team has a section in which they are
“welcome” to sit. And for this game one
of the teams was a local team and the visiting team was from out of the area,
so the setting was just as one would suppose it to be. However, our family being a little bit different
decided to sit on the visitor’s side due to the fact that it was easier to park
in proximity to the stadium than if we parked on the home side; thus is the
justification of our seating arrangements for this particular game.
The visiting team was behind for most of the game and the
situation for this team was the same when the events that I am about to speak
of occurred. By all accounts the home
team should have been far ahead due to the fact that they were a higher class
in population but in this case the lower populated school actually had the
better record, so one could understand that their fans were a tad upset with
what was transpiring before their eyes.
At this point of the game the visiting team made a string of errors, or
penalties that gave the home team a couple of automatic first downs. These penalties really got the visiting
team’s supporters in an upheaval state and began to yell at their players.
At this moment the home team had the ball and the
visitors were on the defensive side of the ball. The play was called and the teams lined up to
face to face with each other and at this time both teams were on their
respective sides of the imaginary line that separated them. As the quarterback approached his position he
began to bark out numbers and reinforcing the play that had been called to his
players. Everything was going according
to plan and everyone on both sides of the ball was anxiously awaited for the
center to snap the ball. The defensive
line had four players that were lined up across the imaginary line from the
offensive line players. One of the
defensive line players had taken his place almost immediately in front of the
center that had control of the snapping duties.
This defensive player was the closest player to the ball on the
defensive side and had the perfect view of the ball.
The quarterback then gave one designed loud command and
the offensive line stood still without motion.
However, when this command was given the defensive person almost directly
over the ball jumped and broke the plane of the imaginary line which
immediately demanded that action take place from the officials. The yellow flag flew high up into the air and
the play was stopped even before it had begun.
The penalty was called and the yardage assessed and the two teams were
about ready to begin again. There was no
question about what had just occurred and even though there was more than one
player that jumped over the imaginary line when the quarterback gave the loud
shout, the frustration from the crowd was mainly directed towards only one
player.
The player that the crowd was the angriest at was the one
who was almost directly over the ball.
They were not angry at the quarterback for he had done his job in
tricking the defensive line to jump off sides and they were not even too upset
at the other players away from the ball that crossed the line either. A gentleman that was sitting directly behind
me stood up and began to yell at this player and asked him about his level of
discipline of the guilty player. What I
found most interesting was that the gentleman who began this rant asked the
player, or yelled towards the player, “how could you do something like that you
were right next to the ball?” “Can’t you
see what the ball is doing?” These two
questions proved very intriguing to me and they both caught my attention as all
of my family continued to sit in silence watching the penalty yardage be marked
off. The visiting crowd continued their
displeasure of the call and the questions about their level of play murmured
until it was time for the next play.
At this point God decided to take control of the
situation and present a concept to me about His people. Yes, God is even with people at a football
game in Grand Junction, Colorado and will give a person something to write
about in order to advance His Kingdom and shed light on His and our enemy. Within a few seconds of the gentleman’s
statement God dropped a thought into my head concerning the evidence of God’s
existence and His relationship with us.
It is a simple thought but it has a huge question attached to it.
The objective for each team is to advance the ball down
the field and then to score points against the opposing team and then not allow
the opposing team to score against us.
Let me try and put this into Kingdom terms so that the point of the
article can be reached. As we know there
are only two kingdoms represented and it is each other’s responsibility to
advance against the other kingdom. Our
enemy has his players and God has His players and whether we know it or not
every human being ever to walk on this earth is a player and will represent the
advancing or retreating kingdom.
My focus here is not on the side of the ball but the
players themselves, or if I wish to be more specific each player represents you
and I. The above example that I used
occurred when the defense player jumped offsides but if all is to be
understood, the offensive player could have performed the same infraction and
cost the offensive team a penalty as well.
My point is how our individual actions can quell a potential huge
advancement for the Kingdom of God and provide the enemy with an advantage
against our lives.
Of course the players represent human beings and that is
really not hard to understand. There are
players all around and at any time can enter the game and participate in all of
the activities that are required. The
rules of the game are known and have been studied for a few years if not a
couple of decades yet due to the anxiousness of making a positive play and
thriving upon the emotions and adrenaline of the game, plus having the human
portion about us an obvious error is committee and one becomes the goat for a
few minutes. There is nothing wrong with
being ambitious and wanting to be a part of the upcoming play but when one
makes an error it throws us off and forces us to play cautious once again. Being human does not stop others from letting
us know about the faults that we commit, which this process can prove to be
more brutal than the error itself. We
must keep our eyes and ears focused upon what our coach has placed into our
heads about the opposing team and then execute the appropriate play when
needed.
We can reference the specific play as what occurs in our
lives each day as we deal with the deeds of the day which have been set into
motion by our Creator. The day has been
drawn out according to Hi perfect plan and if we listen to His instructions and
execute His ways as we have been taught everything should work out for the good
of our side. Still, we continue to take
matters into our own hands and try to go about things on our own terms which
most of the time there is no major fallout of our actions but once we “get
away” with doing things on our own it is like a conveyed freedom that we use in
order to satisfy our willingness to excel and to get noticed. Eventually, we do get noticed by bringing the
humanness out and doing something wrong so the coach must sit us down and talk
to us and teach us a lesson according to the true guidelines.
How many times have we jumped the gun with our over
anxious desires and actually harmed a potential play that will push back the
darkness? I understand that it is easy
for us to try and do things on our own, but we need to remember that God has
the timing all wrapped up within the perfect setting and if we do not wait for
His timing, we stand a large chance of messing things up for His Kingdom. Kingdom advancement is all about timing and
how to be in the right place at the right time.
Where is that you ask? The time
is now and the place is everywhere that you occupy a step, or a chair, or a
room. It does not matter if you are
right close to the action or on the sidelines, you have a part in each play and
the timing of your actions will result in a forward or reverse movement of either
side.
If we keep silent about our Lord and not be a witness for
Him, then we are creating an advantage, or penalty that gives the enemy’s
kingdom an upper hand against the world.
It has been stated that even tough friends that are close and have known
each other all of their lives can be the worst enemies when they are playing
against each other. The same philosophy
is true here, our enemy and our King were once friends but now are eternal
enemies and it is the desire for our enemy to destroy everything that we know
as life and we really do not need to help him out any if at all possible.
Who is the crowd and what do they represent in this
example? They represent all of the other
people who have their eyes trained upon us and what we are doing at each
moment. It is very important that we
understand that while we are trying our best to make a play on the field there
are those that are accomplishing the exact same feat who are watching from the
sidelines. We need to remember that our
actions will be scrutinized if we make a mistake or do harm for our cause, for
this is the job of our enemy as well to cheer as we allow our opponent take
advantage of us in any way. There is no
way that we cannot ever make a mistake for we are human, but we can limit our
jumping offsides by understanding and listening to our coach for personal
instructions for each play.
It is hard to believe that God has only us to use to
advance His kingdom. When you look at
this group called humans we are nothing but a bunch of clowns trying to get a
job done. But when we spend time with
our coach and learn the ways that He wants us to play then we come together as
a team and understand the overall goal of His plan. We cannot function as individuals on the
field we must be a one team and so should it be when we are walking with God
against this world. We cannot afford to
do any harm for God’s Kingdom by our selfish ambitions we must act together. And as I strive to better my life and to
advance His Kingdom and then you do the exact same thing, then our Coach will
bring us together and we will see that our understanding of our opponent will
increase and our mistakes will eventually grow fewer.
Our enemy will do his best to try and trick us to create
a penalty for God’s Kingdom. For
centuries he has done a pretty good job in creating animosity in the world by
abuses of all kinds. It is time for us to
get back into God’s playbook and to understand every meaning He has for our
lives. His playbook is about people and
how they lived their lives and if a book is written about people that means
that as long as humans walk this planet we can learn from them. God wants us to win and win strong over our
opponent but it is your choice. You want
to understand the game and everything that is happening on and off the field
read God’s playbook and understand His plan for our opponent and you will
surely win.
DLB
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