Faithful Fans

My hubby and I had a date night this weekend.  After a looooong week of sickness, the girls were finally feeling better on Saturday.  We had tickets to our university's football game (Go Pack!!!!), so the girls were able to stay with the grandparents and we were able to make it to our game.  It was his department's alumni bar-b-q.  We planned to eat and then settle in our seats for a late kick-off.  We were expecting a great game!  

The first time we upset this nationally ranked team was my freshman year in college.  We hadn't played this team since the 1960s.  It was predicted to be a blow-out.  But the Pack shocked everyone when we pulled out the win.  It was one of the most exciting games I had ever seen...until Saturday.  That game started a string of some of the best games ever against these two teams!

The year I was pregnant with my oldest daughter we went to this rivalry game.  We were losing in the final quarter so we left early.  We had lost faith in our team.  It was another late game, and I was tired and pregnant.  A lot of fans left that night.  As we neared our car we heard loud cheers and then more a minute later.  What was going on; what were we missing?  We rushed to turn on our radio only to find out our team had done the unthinkable.  They had won.  We should have known to stay from past experiences.  We had walked out on our team and we regretted it!

We knew going in that this would be a crazy game.  It never fails that this team and our team seems to go down to the wire when we play them at home.  Last year they beat the smithereens out of us when we played them on their turf - 34 to a big fat 0.  But our last home game (which my husband went to but I had stayed home) had come down to the final minutes with us getting the big Victory.

At half time this game seemed to be over.  We were down 16 to nothing.  The fans were getting frustrated, and we were just hoping to score and not have a repeat of last year.  We had promised going into the game that we would stay no matter what.  If there was any chance at us winning, we were not going to miss it this time!  I cannot even tell you all the excitement that came in the second half.  There were quarterback sacks, a blocked punt, and several 4th downs that our team went for and got.  We scored to tie in the last minute.  It was amazing.  We were so happy.  We were screaming and jumping  up and down.  It was so exciting!!!!!   With 16 seconds left we were tied 16 to 16.  Our kicker came through with the extra point and our defense held them and kept the opponent from scoring in the last few seconds.  We won and we were proud Pack fans!  We were fans that had not lost faith!

It is so easy to be faithful fans of God when everything is going great.  Life is running smoothly and we are so thankful He is our heavenly Father.  But what about when we are down and out.  There looks like there is no chance of winning.  Do we walk out on God and think there is no way He is going to pull through for us?  Do we think we can just do better by ourselves?  We have faith and excitement in the easy wins of life, but when it looks like we might lose we just walk away from Him.

Today's Verses
Isaiah 26:3-4  "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength:"

God might allow us to lose the game.  He might grant us a win in the final seconds.  But no matter what the outcome of any given game or situation, we have to continue to follow Him.  His plan is best; His ways are right.  We must trust in Him...no trust equals no faith.  He is our everlasting strength, but we have to stay with Him and not walk away from Him in order to obtain that strength.

I am thankful we stayed for the game, even if it was 1:00 am before we got home.  It was worth the sleepy eyes the next day.  I am also thankful I am still walking with God.  There were times I wanted to walk away.  There are times I thought I could just figure the game out on my own.  But He has always pulled through; He always called me back to Him and He remained by my side no matter what.  God always provided me the strength I needed in the last seconds of the game.  I haven't always won every game, but my faith in my Coach kept me in the game.  I know His play by play is best.  I have to keep the faith and never walk out of Him.  He certainly has never walked out on me!!!!