Sunday night I watched one of the greatest sports
comebacks ever. I am not a fan of the Patriots, or Tom Brady in particular, but
the “come-from-behind” mentality that this team didn’t need in the past two games
of their playoffs was something that took a while to get kicked into gear, but
once it did…whoa! Baby!
I felt most sorry for the owner of the Falcons. There
were a couple of shots of this guy when the Patriots were going in for that
winning touchdown, and he looked stunned. He had come down from his luxury box
to be with his team when they won. He saw it as a forgone conclusion when his
team was up by 25 points with just over a quarter to go. He stood there shaking
hands with his team and his wife was all smiles and laughing. But just before
that final play? She was looking at him like he was a 25 megaton bomb about to
go off. She didn’t look like she knew whether to run or hang on for dear life.
But life is like that sometimes, isn’t it? Sometimes we’re
the Patriots. We’re down and out, no way to win and we feel like the end is
inevitable. But somewhere deep down within us we decide we’re not going to let
losing be our destiny…we’re going to win! We are going to out-do, out-shine and
in all other ways out-perform our competition. And it happens, and we’re elated
and we think, “Did that really just
happen?”
Other times, we’re the Falcons. We’re sitting on top of
the world, knowing that there is nothing that can beat us. And then, all of a
sudden, there we are, standing on the sideline watching the end come like deer
in the headlights. We can’t move, we can speak, and we can’t even breathe. It’s
like we’ve been punched in the guts so hard that if we even tried to utter a
word or even take a breath our bodies would protest so vehemently that it would
just shut down, and we’d die.
For all of the people who have been on both sides of
that coin, let me offer you some perspective. When you rise up to overcome the obstacles
in front of you…remember Who it is that lifts you up. Remember that when you
succeed, it isn’t you that does it, but God
at work in you. Give credit where credit is due and remember that if it had
not been for God giving you your ability, your talent, or even your strength
(or even putting you in the opportunity to begin with), you wouldn’t be able to
do what you do.
For all of the people who have had the rug of victory
pulled out from beneath their feet only to begin the free-fall of doubt,
second-guessing and worry, remember that there is One Who is ready to stand up
with you, hold you and catch you! He will never leave you or forsake you. He is
with you today as He was with you yesterday and as He will be with you
tomorrow. Don’t look back, except to remember and not duplicate your mistakes.
But look ahead, knowing that when you get to the destination, God will be there
by your side…and every step in between!
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