The Goal Line
The world of sports is filled with lines. Just think of the many ways lines guide a game. Fouls are called, goals are made, players are restricted, and referees have authority — according to the lines.
Decades ago, during our high school days, Steve played football and I cheered. Knee injuries kept him from many games, but still he loved the finesse of teamwork and the guidance of a good coach. I cheered players on from the sidelines. Never has there been a more serious cheerleader. At the end of each game, I was drenched in sweat and quite convinced my cheering made a difference. :) We laugh now as we reminisce over our memories of Friday night games on cold autumn nights in Georgia.
Believe it or not, I learned so much cheering those high school football games. Steve did as well whether he was playing on the field or on crutches. The life lessons that can be extrapolated from a mere game of football are endless. But for purposes of this writing we’ll focus mostly on the white line where padded players face each other.
Life is so much like that line.
We work to do good, to “move the ball” down the field — but opposition comes. It can seem that one good move is met with a flurry of opposing moves. One step forward, two steps back can seem the inevitable result of any work towards accomplishing the good that’s needed in a day. I vividly remember our offensive linemen assuming their position, low, set, listening for the snap of the ball — and they’d push forward trying to open up a gap for the running-back to dart through. I loved watching the strength and determination of our linemen. Over and over again they would hit and be hit…all for the longing to move the line forward and take a few yards on the field.
There are eleven players on the offense. Those eleven are divided into two main groups; five will be on the white line (they’re the hit and be hit guys). The linemen’s job is to block opponents and protect the quarterback. The other six players hang back behind the linemen. Their job is to move the ball down the field either by running with it or passing it to a runner.
The quarterback is in this group. This group’s job is to invade the opponents space…and take yardage from them.
It’s a different sort of line than the boundary Nehemiah worked to build around Jerusalem, and yet, there are so many correlating elements between the boundary wall and the goal line.
It can help us remember our role, our job, our position, and our value. And it can help us persevere to “not grow weary in doing good” even when the hits come over and over again. We’ll remind ourselves and each other that “in due time we will reap that harvest (make that goal) if we do not give up.” Opposition won’t stop us…we won’t give up.
We have a goal line to cross.
I remember so well when our strong linemen would place their fingers beside the white chalk line. They’d lower their center of gravity and wait. The runners never knelt at the line. Their heads were up and eyes alert. Linemen were set and focused. Runners were aware and reacting. Linemen did the same thing play after play. Runners never did the same thing twice in a row. In life, in Kingdom work, we are so very much like that team of 11 players at the line. Some of us are set, positioned, knowing we will be opposed, knowing a “hit” is coming…but we’re also delivering hits…cause we want to take a yard or two from the enemy’s side.
Some of us are runners. We keep our heads up, watching every nuance of what’s in front of us, ready to respond and skirt around the enemy’s reach. We’re not in the “game” to hit, we’re in the game to move-the-line-forward. Getting hit just slows us down. We’ve gotta carry the ball further than it’s been able to go.
I remember one runner on our high school team who was unbelievably fast. If he got the ball, he was gone. No one could catch him. But once the defensive line of the opposing team figured out how fast he was, they would change up their strategy. They knew they had to stop him or the game would be a wash. So not only would they work to tackle him, they’d do so with such force, they’d try and break him. They wanted him injured and off the field. It was intimidating to watch…but not to him. He knew they were coming for him, so he’d work to outsmart them. Speed wasn’t his only skill. He was smart too.
Where are you on the offensive line?
You’re there… but have you allowed yourself to see yourself in it?
Are you getting hit over and over again in life, in ministry, in loving others, in serving? Well, have you realized you’re a lineman? Are you hitting back with a determination and courageous strength that conveys I’m not going down! I’m taking this ground!! And it is for the Lord, it is Kingdom work.
Are you a runner? Are you jack-rabbit fast or are you tired? Your age doesn’t matter here. In truth, maturity and age can be used to make you stronger and faster. You’ve just got to realize… “Good golly, I’m carrying the ball, I’m carrying the LIGHT, I’m carrying the thing that matters MOST and I better be smart and quick and move faster than those trying to stop me!!” You see if you don’t really realize your value, you’ll move slow and they’ll take you down over and over again…and they’ll work to injure you too. They’ll pound you until your discouraged and weary. They hope you’ll fumble the ball. Or better yet, they hope they can wound you enough that you’ll give up.
Or… have you left the field? Sitting on the bench? (It’s easier on the bench) Or have you turned in your jersey, traded cleats for sneakers, and headed to the concession stand? (It’s easier at the concession stand). Oh but when the final buzzer sounds and the games over — it’s the players that gave it all, ran the ball, delivered the hardest hits, and crossed the goal lines that will know in their hearts — they did all they could to hold the line, protect the line, and move the line forward. They followed the coach, supported their teammates, did the hard work, and accomplished the goal.
Even if you’ve never stepped onto a football field, you are still on the field of life where the line marks the colliding point of Kingdom work and satan’s work. You are at that game my friend. The enemy of our Father works to distract in a zillion different ways to keep us from remembering — there is a line and you have intensely valuable work to do at that line. Block for the runners or run — carry the LIGHT into the darkness. Football players carry the ball. We carry the light and truth…we carry the Good News. Oh but if the enemy team can distract us, we’ll miss the snap and be thinking on lesser things when the moment comes that we—could—have—made—the—goal.
My grandfather was one of the first people in history to have open heart surgery. He was also a preacher. He moved at a snail’s pace in his later years. I never once heard him raise his voice; I never saw him run. But that man prayed…gracious how he prayed. The last time I got to talk with him, we all knew his move to Heaven was near. I went to his room and sat on the side of his bed. He told me that he had prayed for me every day of his life since the night I was born.
He said...
“I’m soon to go home to Heaven, but you need to know that for all your remaining days, the prayers I’ve said for you are still wrapped around you. Because prayers spoken by a mortal man rise up to a Holy God, and because God is eternal, prayers given to Him become eternal in His care. God holds those prayers lovingly and answers them again and again. So live like you're covered and held… you are.”
That day he poured holy iron into my soul.
Was my old, heart-weary, preacher grandfather on the bench as he lay in his nearing deathbed? On the line, only watching others on the field? Or was he running the ball?
HE WAS RUNNING THE BALL.
Make the goal line my dear friend. If you’re a lineman, be steady and strong and open up the gap so the runners can get through. If you’re a runner, be focused and fast. You were created to carry the Light all the way to the goal line. Make the goal.
Hebrews 12:1-3
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
