I'm Tired

I’m tired this morning. It is my own fault, I will admit. I have a compulsive need to watch the Green Bay Packers play when I can catch them on TV. The Monday Night game last night started quite late on the East coast (where I live). It ended even later. It was, however, worth staying up to watch.

 

In case you missed it, Denver tied the game as time expired in regulation. Brett Favre (the Green Bay quarterback) then threw a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage in overtime. If you’re not a football fan, that’s good – real good.

 

Earlier this year, Brett Favre set the record for the most touchdown passes thrown in a career. That was pretty impressive. A game or two after achieving that milestone, Favre broke the record for most interceptions thrown in a career - if you’re not a football fan, that’s bad. But, if you watch the Packers, you take the good with the bad.

 

I have to wonder how a quarterback could preserver after making so many mistakes. With 65,000 people in the stadium watching and countless more seeing it on TV, I don’t know how you can bring yourself to go out and play after making such a public and humiliating mistake as throwing an interception. Every football season quarterbacks in Pop Warner Leagues and the NFL do, somehow, persevere.

 

This coming Sunday our church will celebrate All Saints Day. We will remember those who have persevered to the end and are at home with Jesus. We will celebrate our connection to them now and our future hope of heaven. The benefit of All Saints Day for those who aren’t in heaven yet is that it gives us hope to preserver. By God’s grace we persevere through setbacks, mistakes, embarrassment, and tragedy.

 

Sometimes I get tired, not just because I stay up too late. I get tired of unexpected setbacks, my own mistakes, and the pain I see in the world. God in Christ has promised me much more than this world. In the time until I get there, He also promises to be with me each day to guide, protect, and strengthen so that I persevere to the end.