Little League Football and Pain
Most of you know I am coaching my boys in football. Ryan is playing his third year of flag and Harrison has just started his first year in pads. This past Saturday, Harrison’s team had their first game-like scrimmage. The purpose of this scrimmage is to simulate what a real game is like to help the kids prepare for it. As I am coaching these kids, I am being reminded how much football parallels our spiritual lives. This scrimmage was the first time these kids have been hit…I mean…really hit. My boys would come back to the huddle after a great run and a big hit on them and they were hurting. Now, they were not injured…just hurting from the contact. Needless to say, I saw a lot of tears. And I heard a lot of kids tell me they wanted out of the game. Now, as a coach, I want my players to know I understand their pain. But I have to challenge them to play through it and overcome it. And overcoming it is not easy.
Just like in life. There is a battle, a war, if you will for our hearts. John Eldredge says it like this: “The Enemy is hell-bent on disabling or deadening our hearts. If he can do that, then he can effectively foil the plan of God which is to create a world where love reigns. By taking out your heart, the Enemy can take you out.” The Enemy assaults us with pain. You lose your job; your parents split up; your doctor gives you a grim prognosis. And we are tempted to lose heart, give up and check out of the game and sit it out. If we give in, we can’t have love, we can’t have life and we can’t have God. We got to learn to play through it.
