While hanging out at one of my usual places (Panera Bread
at Cosner’s Corners), the volume of traffic coming through the eatery suddenly increased dramatically. There was a soccer tournament today, and a whole bunch
of young ladies were preparing for the big games later that morning and afternoon.
There was one bold lady who came up to my little table
with a couple of her teammates and asked, “What do you pray for?”
I told her that I pray for all kinds of different things,
but in this case we would pray for them in the game that they were about to
play. So we prayed that Jesus would be with them in the victory, but also if
they were to lose, that Jesus would also be with them in their defeat. One can
learn all kinds of things both in success and in disappointment.
Some may think that these ladies obtained an unfair
advantage over their competitors. Such is not the case. What these ladies
really did, was step out in faith. God only knows how the games are going to
turn out. God also knows how He is going to use this one little simple prayer and the game that goes with it to begin to affect the lives of a few or many soccer players today and into the
future.
So go out and engage in competitive sports as coaches,
spectators, or players, that you may learn from that practice, engage the
world, help your family, and help your neighbor in both body and spirit.
