Between all the college bowl games, basketball games and the SuperBowl coming up, sports have been a big topic at our house. This brings me to one of our family's most cherished traditions (much to my chagrin.) Several years ago, I thought, "wouldn't it be fun to make a chart of several college bowl games and predict who will win?" I bought a big, blue plastic bowl for 99 cents, used green fabric paint and printed "Hildebrand Family Bowl Games Championship Bowl" on it and filled it with snack foods. The winner of the coveted bowl each year gets the goodies and their name engraved on the side with permanent marker. (I'm all about quality, cheap entertainment). Well, I seriously underestimated how intensely competitive the rest of my family is. (With State 2A finalists and champions in cross country, basketball, scholars' bowl, music and track , I don't know what I was thinking--) Actually, I was thinking "fun", but these people are cut throat: consulting win/loss records, refining the rules in case of ties, making other stipulations about choosing teams,etc. I just choose the school/mascot I like best. (It infuriates the rest of my family that my haphazard method has earned the bowl 2 times in 8 years and I was runner-up this year!) This brings me to my point(finally). We were watching the national championship game between Alabama and the University of Texas. If you watched, you saw Texas's quarterback Colt McCoy get injured toward the first of the game. It was a crushing blow to this young man and his team. Texas did lose, and after the game they interviewed Colt, asking "How did it feel to be injured and not play in your last college game?" On national television, with thousands watching, the first words out of his mouth were to praise God . He said how disappointed he was to not play and help his team, but that he gives glory to God whatever happens. What a testimony to his character! Tim Tebow, the quareterback for the University of Florida Gators, is another very outspoken Christian . I noticed several other college players had Bible verse references written on their arms or in their eye blacking. They put their faith out there for everyone to see, and so much for the argument that religion is only for the weak!
If you have older elementary up through high school kids, you can have some good discussions about sports. People may expect winning athletes to praise God, but I pondered the impact Colt McCoy's words would have, that while keenly disappointed, he still praised God.
We are fortunate to have many athletes who are truly "good sports", using their fame to bring glory to God and to help others. Tony Dungy, the former coach of the Indianapolis Colts has written a great book, "Quiet Strength". Kurt Warner, the quarterbackof the Arizona Cardinals is an amazing story of perserverence and faith. He and his wife Brenda have a foundation to help others. My kids had a "shoe ministry" in their high school sports, writing Philipians 4:13 ("I can do all things through Christ who strenghtens me") on their shoes. We all need a reminder that whatever our endeavors, we can call on God to help us perservere and do our best.
If you live with some sports fanatics like I do, don't even try to beat them, but join them in talking about the good in sports and the people who rely on their faith in God to help them be truly good sports.
(By the way--the Super Bowl is coming right up, and then the Olympics!)
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