This past weekend was jam-packed with soccer games…..the first weekend of the season where both boys had multiple games……in multiple cities……at multiple….oh wait…..no…..they were at the same times. How convenient huh? Luckily all of the families are in a similar situation, and most have multiple children so we eventually get them all to where they need to be. It is very tiring, but it’s fun and I’m glad that both boys have both found something they love to do.
The last game of the weekend I was able to watch was my youngest son’s team. They are pretty good. They hadn’t lost yet so I was expecting a good game. When I got to the field there were a lot of our club families already there from an earlier game, and they briefly told me the stories of the 7 year olds in a previous game taking matters into their own hands, when the ref wasn’t making the calls, that eventually led to a fist fight. I was thinking it couldn’t have been that bad, it’s just little kids soccer.
I’ll preface this by saying I am an avid sports fan. And anytime my team loses, it’s always the referee’s fault….or so we like to think. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t…..but it is way easier to blame them than it is to actually take accountability of how our team performed on that day.
But as the game started…..oh man….this ref was bad. Kids were dragging each other down….pushing….kicking….and no whistles were blown. It was ridiculous. Our boys ended up losing by 1…..after the referee gave the other team 2 penalty kicks that they shouldn’t have had…..not by my own opinion, but by the rules of soccer. Anyways, it’s just 7-year-old soccer….it’s not the end of the world, but this is what I left the field with….”Don’t leave the result of a game in the referee’s hands.”
That holds true in every sport…in every situation. If you lose a game by that slim of a margin….then there is something you could have done better….some way you could have done a little more. So are you leaving your life in the ref’s hands?
As James said, “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror, for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does (James 1:23-25.)” In other words….don’t just talk big…be big. Don’t sit on the couch and wait for something to happen….pray, have faith and take that step into the unknown.
We can always find someone else to blame for our lack of success…our mistakes. It’s the referees fault. He missed the call. If he would have just……But the only person to blame in most situations is ourselves. Life is a race….and how you run the race is what matters. Where is your focus during your struggles, when you are tired and want to quit? Are you looking to the referee for help, or are you looking inside yourself and focusing on Jesus.
Paul told the Corinthians, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified (1 Corinthians 9:24-27.)”
So run your race….be bold, be great, do your best….and don’t leave your results to anyone but yourself and Jesus Christ. Be honorable, don’t cut corners….don’t cheat. We have the rules to life’s race right in front of us…..we have our Bible. There is no greater rule book in the history of the world. Just follow it and run.
Tetelestai 