I watched two major sporting events on TV this past weekend that
were really great as far as the entertainment factor. However, both of them left me with a sour taste in my mouth.
In the afternoon, I watched the final
few holes of the TPC Sawgrass Golf Tournament in Phoenix. I was rooting for
young Tony Finau to win and it looked like he had it all locked up. He was in
first place on the leaderboard most of the day, all the way up to the 18th
hole. Unfortunately, his competitor,
Webb Simpson, who fell behind for a while, never gave up. Webb made a birdie on
the 18th hole to tie, and then went on to win in a surprising come
from behind playoff victory.
The evening belonged to the biggest sporting event in America, the
Super Bowl. I lived in San Francisco when I was young and going to college, so
I was definitely rooting for the San Francisco 49ers to get the win. Plus I felt
like their superstar quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo was really coming into his
own. Thankfully, by the start of the 4th quarter, they had a solid
lead and were playing with confidence. But then something happened. They failed
to convert an easy 3rd down and turned the ball over to the Kansas
City Chiefs. The Chiefs took the ball and ran with it. I remember saying to my
friends when the 49ers failed to convert, that the Chiefs fall behind in games all
year only to pull out a win in the end. Unfortunately, that was a prophetic
statement and once again I was swallowing the sour taste of defeat.
And that got me thinking… Falling behind
is a just a normal part of life. It might be due to illness, bad luck, a bad
boss, or some other bad break. But whatever it is, we can always count on life to
throw us a wounded duck that is just out of reach, falling to the ground,
stealing our joy. But so what! If we didn’t drop the ball once in a while, and
get drop kicked in the gut at least once a month, the victories that we finally
do achieve wouldn’t taste half as sweet!
 |
| Jimmy Garoppolo still smiling (kind of) after the Super Bowl |
Some
of God’s greatest gifts
are unanswered prayers.
~ Garth Brooks
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