People Are Leaving the Stands

            Organized football played an important role in my life. I love to play it. The first real live football game I saw was the one I played in junior high. My first day of practice, the coaches put me head up on the best lineman on the team. I asked the coach what he wanted me to do. He said, “Tackle the man with the ball.” That sounded simple enough. I took my 125-pound, seventh-grade frame and gallantly attacked that massive all-state junior offensive tackle. When the dust settled, I was under a pile of massive humanity. I loved every moment, even though my body hurt.

            Momma tried to get me to quit every day. Our family had one automobile, which my daddy drove to work. We lived seven miles from the school. That was enough distance to walk out the soreness after practice. I would never tell her I hurt, but she could see it.

            Most mothers would have forced their sons to quit. Other mothers would have given up trying to persuade their sons to stop playing. Momma was consistent. When I entered my senior year, she was still begging me to quit. She kept saying that those big boys were going to hurt me. I could not convince her that I was one of the big boys.

            Every young boy should play some kind of team sport. I learned so many valuable lessons. The teamwork, camaraderie, and discipline are wonderful growing experience that one can relate to all through life.

            One of my greatest life-changing events took place during the first game of my senior season. We thought we had a decent team and had high expectations. The visiting team had beaten us two years in a row. This was their third year to have a football team, and the scores were very close. The seniors really wanted this game.

            The stands were always full for our football games. Even the year we won only one game the stands were full. We were never beaten badly, and the people attended in anticipation of a win.

            We kicked off to our opponents and the crowd went wild. Very early in the game the people in the stands were quiet. With 1:20 left in the second quarter, our opponents led 28–0. I remember the time, because my teammates and I looked up to see people leaving the game. We looked at the clock and saw the time. One of my teammates yelled, “People are leaving the stands.” We did score before halftime and made it a 28–7 game.

            I've never liked halftime. I never got liquids or candy, but got more than I needed of chewing out from the coach. It was that way the whole time I played football. Admonishment was never favorable, seldom encouraging, and always discouraging. I always played my best, so I learned to tune the destructive criticism out of my mind.

            In the second half, our running back ran sixty-five yards for a touchdown. Our defense held our opponents, and we had another sixty-two-yard run. Suddenly we realized—after we had had three runs of over sixty yards—that our opponents were tired. They were no contest on the line of scrimmage. They scored once, and we scored three times. They were tired, and we were energized!

            Our defense stopped them on a touchdown drive. We made a big stop on third down. Instead of passing on third and long, they ran the triple option. We stopped them for no gain. Our last score made it 34–33. We decided to go for two points. We did not pass very much, and the boy who caught the two-point conversion never caught another pass all year. The game ended with us winning 34–35.

            The next day people all over the county could not believe the score. Many who had given up on us missed one of the best games in the history of Jemison High School. When I tried out for a football scholarship, many of the boys from all over the state of Alabama had heard of that comeback. I learned never to give up—even when it appears that it is over.

For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.” From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:64–69, NIV)

 

But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (I Corinthians 15:57, KJV)

 

For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. (I John 5:4, KJV)

 

Are there times you want to quit? Why?

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List some of your frustrations, and then give them to the Lord.

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What words would you desire to hear during some of life’s half-time talks?

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Prayer: Father, the Christian life can be so frustrating, especially when we seem to be losing the battle. Help us realize that the victory belongs to You. Help us to run the race of life with our confidence in You. Forgive us when we see people leaving the stands of life, worship, and ministry. Grant us the words we need to encourage others. Help us say, as did the Apostle Paul to the church at Philippi, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

This one of the devotions from my book: I Will Speak Using Stories: A Thirty-one Day Devotional published by Author House.