After watching the Saints/Vikings game and falling in love with the final play, I'm going to use it in a post. I just have to. It sums up, so expertly, life as a Christian. You know how there are days when it seems like the devil not only has your number, but so does everybody else. Like 'you can't win for losin'. Everybody who has endured, or is enduring, depression has had at least one of those days. The Vikings have been an organization that just seemed to find ways to lose year in and year out. And, when the Saints got their final points, it sure seemed like it happened yet again.
Photo credit: Hannah Foslien/Getty Images
When you're presented with yet another situation where you've fallen short so many times previously, it's so easy to simply slink into a position of 'defeat' thinking, 'Here we go again.' But that's right where you must remember God's promises, lower your head to pray, and allow God to bring you to a new place: VICTORY. When there were 25 seconds on the game clock and the Saints went up by 1 point, the Vikings had only one opportunity to get points. The first play? They didn’t even get one off! Movement on the offensive line. Illegal procedure penalty on the offensive line. They have to back up five yards meaning the Vikings now have to go an additional 5 yards to get into field goal range. Yet another setback. Literally. That right there could have been the thing that took the last gust of wind out of their sails. But something happened. They decided things weren't going to end that way.
The next play? A 19 yard pass to Diggs that got them to the 39 yard line — where history would be made. What if you started believing your life is where history is going to be made? What if you dared to dream again and believe that God has made you for a purpose and that purpose contains greatness that generations yet to come need to feed off? Until this point in history, few people truly knew who Stefon Diggs and Case Keenum really were. Are you with me? Maybe you're at that point in your life. Maybe you have discounted yourself to the point where you have failed to understand your importance and how your life will impact the lives of others. Remember, God has plans for you!
After an incomplete pass, the Saints took a timeout. The Saints! I wondered to myself, 'why would they take a timeout when the Vikings would certainly benefit from the extra time to reconsider how they might attack?' An interesting thing happened here: the Saints came out of that timeout with two defenders near the sidelines to try and prevent a Vikings receiver from getting out of bounds. The next play? Incomplete pass. The next play? 3rd and 10 with 10 seconds left and, when the Vikings come out of the huddle, the Saints were in the same defensive coverage. I wondered why they would do that when they already showed that scheme. Regardless, the Vikings ran "Seven Heaven" and the seven receiver was thrown the ball. The rest is history. The Saints safety ducked low and the Vikings receiver went high. The result? Pure heaven for the Vikings. You can't change your history, but your future isn't affected by it, either. Think about it. What bearing does your past have on your life going forward? Sure, there are repercussions because the Bible reminds us that we reap what we sow, but look at it like this: you can start over any time, any day, you want. It’s your move.
The Vikings didn't win the game because of their past. They won because they refused to remain bound by it.
Prayer
Dear Father God, thank you for giving me the option to restart my life any time I want. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to grow and not remain stuck in my past. Thank you for allowing me the privilege to know You. I ask that You would help me see my life as it is and not as I have. I’m sick of living like a victim of circumstances and as a victim of my past. I confess that today is the day of salvation and I dedicate the rest of my life to You. Please guide me into all truth by Your Holy Spirit and lead me beside still waters so I can have peace in the trials. Help me start over. Help me do better. Help me be more and more like You every single day. In Jesus’ glorious name, amen.