Funny how feelings can change so much with just simple things. Life has been hard for me of late, and actually still is. In fact, all information from my previous post..."I don't know what to do" is still the same. And it stands to reason that when things are tough, your feelings would follow and also be down in the dumps. Just going about the everyday business of life is hard. But the last couple of days I have felt much better.
It all happened Tuesday evening at my son's high school football playoff game. I'd love to say they won (but they lost 31-20) and that they would be playing in the championship game this Sunday. But there was a turning point in the game that was exhilarating. Playing an undefeated team and being underdog doesn't relieve the pain of getting slaughtered in any sporting event. Well midway into the 3rd quarter my son and his high school team were losing 28-0 and it looked like it would only get worse. Then something happened. My son who is only a freshman and gets limited playing time was put into the game to return a kick. This was a big surprise since the coach had a policy of not putting freshmen in to return kicks (no matter how good or fast they are) because of previous examples of good freshmen fumbling kicks in the past, one in particular who made a crucial fumble in a playoff game.
But my son who had been lobbying furiously (he can be quite a pest) to the coaches to put him in got his wish when it was clear the normal returner had been having difficulty with a wrist injury and now with the score 28-0 how could things really get worse. That's when electricity happened. A kickoff to the 20 yard line went straight into Josh's hands. Seeing the line of traffic he found a crease (opening, in normal non football jargon) and burst straight into the open field cutting past a couple of defenders and going all 80 yards into the endzone. I can't tell you how exciting it was to see, just about 10 seconds of absolute thrill.
But what happened next was the real excitement. The run not only put our underdog Quakers on the scoreboard but also woke up the whole team from a slumber. A team that had been inept at best for over a half of football, had that deer in the headlights type of look (I have no idea what to do expression) suddenly came alive and showed great purpose. And sure enough it looked like the teams changed uniforms over the next quarter and a half. I would love to say that the story had a Hollywood ending but it didn't. Overcoming 28 points is a tall order for highschool kids. After getting the game back to 28-20, the Quakers missed a critical 4th down with 6 minutes to go and allowed the Tigers to move the ball from the 50 to the 7 yard line with 3 minutes to go. The defense did make a great stop on 3rd down making the Tigers have to kick a 24 yard field goal (no guarantee in high school football. A miss would have given our squad one last chance to launch one last drive to score and get the 2 point conversion and send the game into overtime. But it wasn't meant to be, the field goal was good and hence a 31-20 defeat.
I hate to talk about moral victories but this really was one. A team with only 3 seniors with a 5-4 record trading punches with a 9-0 team packed with loads of seniors. I left the game proud of my son obviously and looking forward to next year. More importantly it lifted my spirits knowing that things really can change even when you don't see how. I remember turning to another parent when the score was 28-0 and how we dreaded having to sit through what looked like what was about to turn into a nightmare (fumbles, penalties, interceptions, total disaster), suddenly turn around instantly because an improbable occurrence (my son getting into the game returning kicks which he told me would never happen) actually took place. These things happen in life and much more often than we realize. The God who loves us will do all kinds of wonderful things to help us through those times when "we just don't know what to do." And even those simple things like a high school football game can teach us that.
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2 comments:
Life is so hard sometimes. I know what you mean about small encouragements that turn out to be not so insignificant. Thanks for sharing.
That word sometimes is so important. Difficulties bring out that all or nothing thinking. Like when you are having a bad day and you spill something on the floor, you might say, "I always spill things." This perhaps because you have done it before and cleaning it up wasn't pleasant. But really you only do these things sometime. So when life is hard we need to resist the urge to say life is always hard and remember it is hard sometimes. Other times it is pleasant and sometimes it can even be a blast.
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