Facing the Giants on Super Sunday

I’m getting ready to settle in, like millions of others, and watch this year’s Super Bowl between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers.  I’ll probably have a drink and enjoy a snack or two.  I might even root for one team or the other as they pour their hearts and souls into achieving victory on the field.  After all, football has become our national pastime…hasn’t it?  Nothing surpasses football in the grand scheme of things, other than Troy Polamalu’s hair, right?

Thinking about this big game, and all the games that led up to it this season, my mind wanders off to the antics some players exhibit after a big play, or when they score a touchdown.  Others make no show whatsoever and jog back to the sideline or huddle as if nothing much had happened.  Still others, the ones that catch my attention most, touch their chest and point to the sky, or they kneel in the endzone and offer a word of thanks.  Does God care that they just scored a touchdown?  There are many skeptics who like to argue that, in fact, God doesn’t play favorites.  Funny thing is, I agree with both sides of the argument.

Before I state my case, I’ll offer a quote from Coach Grant Taylor in one of my favorite films, Facing the Giants.  Exhorting his team on in a pregame speech before the state championship game, he says, “I want God to bless this team so much people will talk about what He did. But it means we gotta give Him our best in every area. And if we win, we praise Him. And if we lose, we praise Him. Either way we honor Him with our actions and our attitudes.”  What if many of our college and pro players actually go into their big games with this attitude?  What if they put every last ounce of effort into their training and game prep, and then they promise to praise God in all things?  We see the praise when things go right, when they score the touchdown, make the big tackle or pull down an amazing interception.  We don’t often see the praise when the game goes awry.  But, I suspect we would see it if we followed some of those same players into the locker room after the game, or out into life the next day.

Coach Taylor goes on to say, “Winning football games is too small a thing to live for. And I love football as much as anybody. But even championship trophies will collect dust and one day be forgotten. It's just that so far this has all been about us; how we can look good, how we can get the glory.”  He plugs his team into what they (and we) are really here to do, and that is to praise God.  I love that!  And he finishes his speech with this plum, “So I'm askin' you... What are you living for? I resolve to give God everything I've got, then I'll leave the results up to Him. I want to know if you'll join me.”

So, as I watch the Super Bowl this evening, I’ll be paying attention to the actions and attitudes of the players when things go good and when they don’t.  These actions and attitudes reach right into the psyche of the American public and particularly the youth.  We learn from those we admire, in good ways and bad.  So…give us a good show Pittsburgh Steelers.  Make us proud Green Bay Packers.

It’s getting close and the only thing left to say is, “Are you ready for some football?