We Won in the Penalty Shoot Out!

It feels like we are in a nation wide penalty shoot out at the end of a soccer match to see who wins! Have you ever been in the stands for one of these?

My brother doesn’t particularly enjoy soccer like he does football and baseball and most Alabamians would say Amen! to that or they might actually say >>> Roll Tide! He thinks it’s boring because of being such a low scoring game. But let me tell you, PK Shoot outs are exciting!! My husband, Kevin, our boys and me are those rare Alabamians who are soccer people. Futbol not football. We like both and our son was a kicker for a bit as are many soccer players when the football coach recruits them from the soccer team. I might add Garrison never missed a field goal. Soccer mum brag on my kicker! lol That sounded a little like 2020. Are we talking about soccer or football?

Just for a second….may I digress just a tad bit further for fun before we get back to the real point of this blog? Gavin had such finesse with the soccer ball and all but danced down the field with poise and control. He would dribble through five players and you would think how in the world did he get through them? It was beautiful to watch. Garrison “saw the field” like few players. His passes and placement of the ball would wow you the way Gavin’s dribbling did. Ok Sorry, oh how this soccer mom misses all that! If you are in those stands or crisscrossing your state or region chasing that little black and white ball, enjoy it while it lasts! Those were some of the best days of our lives as a family for sure.

So there we would be sitting after freezing for a couple hours already in the dead of winter in northern Alabama or Tennessee or sweating like a stuck pig in southern Florida or Mississippi. And we found ourselves in a tie. The fate of the game, our record, the chance for State Playoffs was now in the hands of 5 boys in a Penalty Shoot Out after two five minute over times with still a gridlock on the scoreboard.

That’s sort of what it feels like right now. Never in my life time has there been a Presidential election like this one but of course! It’s 2020!! So I think we all expected this. Debating on who “really” won and all the fraud and all the dead people voting WHAT?!?! and all the hullabaloo on both sides on social media. It’s kinda like most soccer games in Alabama. The refs all too often make bad calls that cost the game. You wonder if that prep school team paid them off. It was that blatant of a stupid call. Parents are convinced it’s rigged or like WHAT IS HAPPENING?

And the suspense of the outcome of those five PK’s at the end of the game seems to take forever. So many times when SURELY NOT I – well maybe a few times – when parents would lose their cool over a WRONG call, fear of losing the game, fear of your child being devastated by this, fear of another Orthopeidic bill because the refs don’t call enough and the boys get too nasty and try to break legs, oh yea that happened and concussions and yada yada….all part of it I suppose. Soooo when all this would happen and especially during those PKs at the end to determine the game as your son is sitting over on the bench hurt and out of the game or on the line taking the shots, patience for the final outcome is sooooo hard. You want to go over and check on your injured son like you would have when they were 5 but no way can you do that when they are in high school. He would want to hurt you for embarrassing him like that if you did. lol I remember times each of them were on the line to shoot as one of the five and remember the games going both ways. And I remember we lived through it as much as we wondered at the time if we would.

Okay okay, I know. I know. This is not a silly soccer match. This is the most important election ever. Got it. But guys, God is still going to be on His throne. His will will be done. Pray and pray and keep praying that justice will be served. That truth will prevail. That freedom will ring. Pray for Mr. Biden. Pray for President Trump. Be prepared to support whoever is put into office. We cheered the whole game. We voted and posted on social media and pulled for our choice. Now it is up to those in Authority. Just like in that PK shoot out, oh I wished I could just go done on that field and make that goal but guess what as easy as they made it look and as much as I could envision myself just winning the game for us, I couldn’t. I had done my part to nourish and hydrate my son and cheer him on, pray for him, drive him to whatever back woods soccer field we were on or massive stadium we were in. We have done our part and thank God for the freedom we have had to vote. Let’s pray and pray and keep praying. Let’s trust in the Lord and lean not on our own understanding. Let’s in allllll our ways acknowledge Him and know that He will direct our paths no matter who gets in office. And let’s stand firm in our prayers for who we believe it should be. And let’s be kind to those who are going to be so worried and upset if it goes one way or the other.

I have good news!! Whatever happens, we win!!! Because guess what this isn’t the last game. There are more games to come and there is so much more you and I are NEEDED to do. Plays we are called to run. This is not the time for you to be on the sidelines or in the stands shouting what you think and your opinion, spreading hate and judgment about how Pastors should….. or how they oughta….or how blah blah blah. Shut your mouth and put on your cleats and get in the game and scrap with us!!! My husband has said for years….the days are coming when nominal Christianity will become extinct and the only way to survive will be to know how to hear from God and obey Him and serve Him fully. Get right or get left!!! And oh how I wish I had meant for that to be punny. Honest I didn’t but I’m so serious. Get right with God TODAY! We are at the end of the end and things are only getting messier from here. Sin is abounding and grace is that much more abounding. It’s getting darker and darker in the world but it is time for churches to be packed out with people who are filled with faith for healing spirit, soul, and body….rippin and raring to take this good news to a sick and dying world. What are you waiting for???!!!! Get in the game & let’s run to win!!!

What do I mean by all this? Be allllll in in your local church. The local church is the hope of the world. The local church changed my family tree. Our local church is saving marriages, feeding the hungry, building orphanages, Bible Schools and churches all over India. Our local church is getting people saved in the streets of Hollywood, in Mexico City. Our local church is providing health care for underprivileged in Mobile. Our local church is disciplining drug addicts and seeing them return to Christ and to a life filled with purpose and abundance. Our local church is helping people discover their destiny and change their world! Our local church is experiencing Jesus in real tangible ways each week in His presence and connecting people to Christ and each other. I personally prayed with three children who gave their lives to the Lord for the first time yesterday at church. Are you committed and faithful and loyal to your local church? Your local church is faithful and loyal and committed to you. We need to play as a team in this game of life like never before! I hope to se ya on the field and also on that grand and glorious day…in the real final countdown, I hope to see you there!

Happy Monday!