No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
I've been an Alabama football fan for my entire life. This season, I watched the least college football I've ever watched in a season by a long shot, but I still watched most of Alabama's games. Despite the fact that I generally find that my interest in football is waning, there was no way I was going to miss them battling Clemson for the national championship last night.
To say that it was a hard fought game would be an understatement. The Crimson Tide emerged with its 16th national championship in program history 45-40, but they had to battle for all 60 minutes to secure it. To be perfectly honest, at the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter, I thought that it was going to slip away. I had never seen Alabama lose a game that could win a national championship, and things appeared to be heading that way.
Yet, somehow, the game didn't go that way. Alabama came up with key plays when they needed them, and they staved off an attempt by Clemson to rally in the waning minutes. The final bits of doubt weren't erased until Bama recovered an onside kick attempt by the Tigers with 12 seconds left. From that point, a knee killed the clock and brought the confetti down as the Tide celebrated.
The ironic thing about the whole game is that even though, as I said, I didn't watch much football this year, I think I enjoyed this championship more than any of the others I've seen. My apologies if your favorite team is mentioned ahead, because I'm simply trying to make a point. I watched the 1992 team rout the heavily favored Miami Hurricanes 34-13. I watched the 2009 team hook the Texas Longhorns 37-24. I watched the 2011 team get revenge against the LSU Tigers 21-0, and I watched the 2012 team throttle the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 42-12. What then, made this one so special?
I'm not far removed from the game at all, but I think I've already figured it out. While the 2009 team got a little bit of a scare in the championship, none of those teams were challenged in the title game like the 2015 team was. If they wanted to win, they were going to have to fight for it, and that's exactly what they did. The more I think about it, the more it reminds me of life. I'm sure I don't have to tell you this, but life is tough. As the text verse above shows, life is a battle. Every day, we're met with new and difficult challenges. To be a success, we have to fight them.
Just like last night's game, there will be times that we feel like we're up against the ropes. There will be times that we feel like failures, and truth be told, we're going to fail at times. When that happens, the question we have to ask ourselves is, how will we respond? Do we simply throw in the towel and assume we've lost, or do we fight on, and try to regain the ground we gave up? Those slipups are one of the things that we're not supposed to be entangled in.
Nowhere in the Bible do we find sinless perfection. God expects us to give our best to stay away from sin, but the Bible makes it clear that we will fall sometimes. Some of the greatest men in the Bible met with some of the greatest failures found in its pages. Men like Abraham, David, Noah, and Samson come to mind immediately. Yet, despite their faults, we don't think of them primarily in regards to their shortcomings, but for the incredible faith they displayed. When they fell, they picked up the sword and continued to fight.
The next time you fall, what will you do? Will you stay down and let your mistakes get the best of you, or will you get up and continue to fight for a championship? The game isn't over until God calls you home. Keep fighting until the clock hits zero, and the Lord will reward you with something much better than a gold trophy. You're going to see plenty about the Alabama football team in the upcoming days. Let them inspire you to continue to work for the Lord.
2 Timothy 2:4
I've been an Alabama football fan for my entire life. This season, I watched the least college football I've ever watched in a season by a long shot, but I still watched most of Alabama's games. Despite the fact that I generally find that my interest in football is waning, there was no way I was going to miss them battling Clemson for the national championship last night.
To say that it was a hard fought game would be an understatement. The Crimson Tide emerged with its 16th national championship in program history 45-40, but they had to battle for all 60 minutes to secure it. To be perfectly honest, at the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter, I thought that it was going to slip away. I had never seen Alabama lose a game that could win a national championship, and things appeared to be heading that way.
Yet, somehow, the game didn't go that way. Alabama came up with key plays when they needed them, and they staved off an attempt by Clemson to rally in the waning minutes. The final bits of doubt weren't erased until Bama recovered an onside kick attempt by the Tigers with 12 seconds left. From that point, a knee killed the clock and brought the confetti down as the Tide celebrated.
The ironic thing about the whole game is that even though, as I said, I didn't watch much football this year, I think I enjoyed this championship more than any of the others I've seen. My apologies if your favorite team is mentioned ahead, because I'm simply trying to make a point. I watched the 1992 team rout the heavily favored Miami Hurricanes 34-13. I watched the 2009 team hook the Texas Longhorns 37-24. I watched the 2011 team get revenge against the LSU Tigers 21-0, and I watched the 2012 team throttle the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 42-12. What then, made this one so special?
I'm not far removed from the game at all, but I think I've already figured it out. While the 2009 team got a little bit of a scare in the championship, none of those teams were challenged in the title game like the 2015 team was. If they wanted to win, they were going to have to fight for it, and that's exactly what they did. The more I think about it, the more it reminds me of life. I'm sure I don't have to tell you this, but life is tough. As the text verse above shows, life is a battle. Every day, we're met with new and difficult challenges. To be a success, we have to fight them.
Just like last night's game, there will be times that we feel like we're up against the ropes. There will be times that we feel like failures, and truth be told, we're going to fail at times. When that happens, the question we have to ask ourselves is, how will we respond? Do we simply throw in the towel and assume we've lost, or do we fight on, and try to regain the ground we gave up? Those slipups are one of the things that we're not supposed to be entangled in.
Nowhere in the Bible do we find sinless perfection. God expects us to give our best to stay away from sin, but the Bible makes it clear that we will fall sometimes. Some of the greatest men in the Bible met with some of the greatest failures found in its pages. Men like Abraham, David, Noah, and Samson come to mind immediately. Yet, despite their faults, we don't think of them primarily in regards to their shortcomings, but for the incredible faith they displayed. When they fell, they picked up the sword and continued to fight.
The next time you fall, what will you do? Will you stay down and let your mistakes get the best of you, or will you get up and continue to fight for a championship? The game isn't over until God calls you home. Keep fighting until the clock hits zero, and the Lord will reward you with something much better than a gold trophy. You're going to see plenty about the Alabama football team in the upcoming days. Let them inspire you to continue to work for the Lord.
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