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With fall upon us, many of us spend hours watching teams compete on the gridiron as players compete to move a ball past the goal line. On television or in person, we watch our favorite professional, college, high school, junior varsity, Pop Warner, or Pee-Wee teams competing. With my two oldest grandsons playing high school football, I join those masses. We sit and watch our favorite team compete, cheering when things go well and groaning when they do not.
Balls are dropped, fumbles occur, interceptions happen, flags are thrown, even in the professional competition among those who are incredibly talented. According to several resources I am using, the person who had the most fumbles in professional football was Brett Favre (The Football Database). That is an interesting statistic, yet he continued to play in spite of those mistakes.
Usually when mistakes are made in football, at best, the ball is placed where it was. Often yards are lost, resulting in the ball being placed farther from the goal line. Not only did Brett Favre have the most fumbles, as a quarterback, he had the most passes intercepted at his retirement. These certainly produced a large number of groans by those watching.
Perhaps I can relate a little bit. I assume, like myself, many of us relive again and again certain moments in our lives. One of those for me comes from a high school gym class in which we were playing football. My team decided that I should be the receiver for a play. I took my position with a lot of butterflies in my stomach. The ball was hiked; I made my way a short distance across the line of scrimmage and turned. I was completely in the open. Our quarterback did everything right. I watched the ball leave his hands. I focused on that spinning leather sphere coming perfectly at me. My hands were outstretched to receive the pass. It hit my hands but instantly fell to the ground. A very, very humiliated Max returned to the huddle as the team made plans for the next play. I was shocked when they decided to run the same play. I begged; I pleaded not to be the designated receiver, but to no avail. It was a virtual repeat on that beautiful October day. The ball was hiked, the quarterback looked at me, I was clearly open, and he threw the ball. I will not tell you how it ended. The point is this: the team decided to give me a second chance. Mistakes do not define our future.
Perhaps the same can be said for Brett Favre. In spite of many mistakes, his record speaks for itself. He holds the record in most career pass completions, most consecutive seasons of 300 plus yard completions, and most career passing yards, all a result of another chance.
Thankfully, through God's grace, God grants us second chances in our spiritual journey. The Bible assures us of God's grace and that mistakes do not shape our future. In Lamentations, we read, "The Lord's lovingkindnesses never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning" (3:22-23 NASB). Paul in Romans writes, "The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more" (5:20). Certainly, these are words of encouragement. God's grace allows for a second chance to be successful in our journey, not to the goal line, but to heaven. We can rise from our mistakes with outstretched hands and receive God's grace and continue towards doing His will.
Max Furman, pastor of Antes Fort-Oriole Global Methodist Churches, 1409 Gap Road, Allenwood