"Where's The End Zone?"

The last few weeks the poor high school football players have been training here in unusually hot 108 degree weather. [Truly, it is beyond my comprehension why any sane person would ever want to put on so much padding then run around sweating profusely while trying to avoid being pounced upon by men weighing in upwards of 200 pounds! If it were me out there, I'd probably just give them the ball, jog around the field a few times, then meet for an ice cream social later. However, growing up in a household full of girls, I'm probably too testosterone-challenged to understand the value of the game anyways. I digress....]

Anyways... [back to the blog].... for the football lovers out there.... we had an awesome family devotion the other day that we seem to keep referring back to. So I thought I'd share....

In his book, "Practical Happiness", author Bob Schultz tells the story of a lineman named Clyde who, in his excitement of recovering a fumbled ball, did the most embarrassing thing a lineman could do. ....

"...both teams began diving, sliding, and grabbing for the loose football like the greased pig at the state fair. Unexpectedly the ball bounced off a helmet and into the hands of Clyde Simmons. As a defensive lineman, he had never held a football in a game before. Adrenaline shot through his body. He began running with all his might for the goal.

Unfortunately, Clyde had spun around during the fumble. Instead of running twenty yards to his goal, he began running eighty yards towards the Southerland [the other team's] goal.

When the Southerland fans saw Clyde recover the football, they groaned in dismay. However, when he ran the wrong way, they roared with delight!

The Southerland players almost tackled Clyde before they realized he ran for their goal. Instead of tackling, they formed a wall of blockers escorting him to their end zone.

Clyde Simmons never ran so fast. It was a dream come true, a cheering crowd, an approaching goal line, and a football under his arm.

His teammates were shocked! The linebacker, who had caused the fumble,
attempted to tackle Clyde. Southerland blockers kept him from reaching the
runaway lineman.

Followed by five Southerland blockers, Clyde entered their end zone. What ecstasy! He dropped the ball and began a victory dance, basking in the roar of the crowd. The alert Southerland players jumped on the football. The officials raised their hands. TOUCHDOWN SOUTHERLAND SALAMANDERS!

Clyde continued to think the crowd cheered for his fabulous fumble recovery, his remarkable run and his tremendous touchdown. Only when the Southerland team began thanking him did Clyde begin to realize his mistake. Can you imagine the sick feeling that overcame him as his imaginary glory faded away? The fans weren't cheering for him; they jeered at him. Instead of
the school hero, he was the school fool! Clyde wished for a place to hide. There was none. He stood in the full view of everyone - a lone Bullet in the Southerland end zone.

Many men will come to this same experience when they reach the end of their lives. Thinking they have lived a glorious life, they'll awake to the realization that they had run with all their might to the wrong end of the field. What a devastating realization that will be."

"In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke of many who will run the wrong way. 'Lord, Lord,' they will say, 'have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works?' And Jesus will say to them, 'I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.' These folks were sure they had reached the goal, but instead found themselves standing at the wrong end of the field."

Isn't that just like the Christian life.... We just all seem to start out with good intentions and are trying to play on the "right team", then Satan sends in someone to cause a fumble in our plans... we try and recover it, but somewhere in that big mass of players grabbing and diving for the ball... we get turned around. Then off we go running with all our might, thinking the whole time we are headed for the goal..... Oh, the deceiver sends in plenty of lineman to create a wall around us so that it's much easier for us to head for the wrong goal and the crowd seems to truly be cheering us on until we are dancing in the end zone.... yet at the end of the run we look around to finally get our bearings and we are shocked into the reality of the situation....

.... Our only hope is that some holy warrior from the right team tackles us to the ground before we reach the wrong destination! Oh, at first how mad we will be at them... until we realize they did it for our good.

Bob Schultz [the author] goes on to explain that if these people who had done so much could be deceived and run to the wrong goal in life, how are we to live.

Then he explains that God gives us some pretty clear and simple road maps... so simple that many times they are just flat out ignored. "The goal in life is to delight in God.... God asks us to love him will all our heart, soul and strength." Schultz even talks about how many turn away from God because of negative experiences with religion.

"They begin looking elsewhere for something to satisfy their intense, God-given desire for pleasure. Since they have rejected God, they are like Clyde running away from what they really long for. If Clyde had known where he was going, he would have turned around and risked getting tackled rather than continue to run for the wrong end."

Schultz continues explaining that many well-meaning people live to preach the gospel, seek to be missionaries, give money to the poor and be good businessmen.

"All these things are good, but not the goal. You can do them all and be at odds with God at the same time. On the contrary, the man who delights in God cannot help telling the good news. He will give to the poor, but his delight and affection will be to his God; everything else is a sideline...... The man who delights in God will be a living example of a Christian in business, but his joy will be found in knowing the Creator, not in trying to act like Him."

"There is a fine line, but a major difference, between putting on Christian character and letting the the happiness of knowing God change your heart. Both may seem the same to someone looking on, but one is a put on , the other is the real thing."

"We can run all our lives seeking pleasure in toys, travel, adrenalin rushes, fame fortune, and relationships [or popularity and acceptance], only to miss the true end zone of life, the pleasure of delighting in the One who made us."

"The grandstands are full of witnesses watching us run...."

Are we willing to stop and look around to get our bearings and see what our real motivations [goals] are? Are we willing to turn around and get tackled (if necessary) for doing the right thing? Do we just keep running because of the cheering approval of our supposed 'fans'? Or will we look towards and run to the true prize in life, delighting in the Lord Jesus - author and finisher of our faith, and patiently run the race [in the right direction]?

Hebrews 12:1-2

Praying for you all to have a heart to know God, the soul to be on His team and a mind to head in the right direction!

[Hey! Knowing there can be a spiritual lesson to be learned through football, I might even learn to watch it on occassion! Bring on the peanuts and popcorn! Go team!!!]