The Power of Second Chances
CBN.com - The battered, seemingly beaten gridiron warrior crunched through the new fallen snow to meet his apparent fate. He had battled mightily, but as he approached the front line he stared distantly into what appeared to be an unsettling conclusion to such a surprising season. Snow swirled and fluttered around him, settling innocently on his helmet. Was this the end? Apparently so.
He ferociously barked signals to his men as the vapor of exhaustion hung heavily in the air. Blue 57, blue 57, hut one, hut two, hut, hut. The staccatoed order of the cadence suddenly exploded into a cascade of chaos. The opposing front lines collided into a pile of mass confusion. Our gridiron warrior plodded backward through the snow looking for someone, anyone wearing a blue jersey to throw to. Finally spotting his last hope standing forlornly twenty yards upfield, he cocked his arm to deliver his desperation prayer. But rather than rifling the frozen pigskin downfield as he had hundreds of times before during the regular season, he instead sensed the need to stop. As he began to bring his arm down from its cocked position, another arm, that of the enemy, swooped in and raked the ball from his grasp. Before our gridiron warrior knew what had happened, the enemy pounced on the frozen pigskin and proclaimed victory.
Not so fast. A crimson flag was laying on the ground signaling the potential of impropriety. Seconds seemed like minutes, minutes became hours as the two squads waited impatiently for the results of the flagged inquiry. Finally, the moment of truth had come. With his microphoned voice crackling due to the enormity of the moment, or just the plain old fact his batteries were wearing out, the head official announced that our gridiron warrior had indeed been trying to heave the ball to victory. He did not drop it as his silver and black opposition had hoped. Thus, our gridiron warrior had a second chance. He had been given new life.
To use a cliché, the rest was history. Our gridiron warrior, New England quarterback Tom Brady, marched the Patriots down the field to set up a game tying field goal pushing this AFC play-off game into overtime. In the extra session, teammate Adam Vinatieri kicked a 23-yard field goal to insure a 16-13 victory over the Oakland Raiders. A second chance had given the Patriots new life.
The previous 394 words were not designed to serve as an audition for the "frozen tundra" of NFL Films but to illustrate a point. It seems the situation Tom Brady found himself in Saturday night serves as a good metaphor for what many Christians face in daily living. Just as the Patriots signal caller thought his teams on-field situation was hopeless, he was given new life in the form of an overturned call.
In our own lives we often feel as if we are staring into the darkened abyss of failure. We believe we have battled mightily to achieve our place in life but when we take a moment for self-examination, we wonder where it all went wrong. We wonder if God really cares. We have worked hard, fought valiantly for what we believe in, but it all seems for naught.
God wants us to experience victory in our lives through living life abundantly. We may feel vulnerable and frightened at times but we must realize the presence of God is with us no matter what the circumstance. What we need to remember is that it is in these lonely, sometimes terrorizing moments He is with us the most.
The brief New Testament book of Jude offers some valuable insight into getting that second chance even when we feel as if we are flailing in our faith. Verses 24 and 25 proclaim, "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy; To God our savior who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen."
God will protect us in every situation, shelter us from harm, and help us to see the proverbial silver lining in every situation. Just because we are staring at seemingly negative surroundings does not mean we cant experience victory through Jesus Christ. That is the essence of the power we receive when we are living for Him.
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