July 12, 2021 – Click here to listen
My twin granddaughters watched the movie Greater on Netflix with my wife and me the other night. If you have not watched it, I would advise you to do so. It is about a youngster who wanted to play football for the Arkansas Razorbacks.
His father abandoned the family when he was at a very young age and his mother worked three jobs to support him and his four siblings. He was overweight and kids made fun of him, but he was one of those kids who tried to do everything right. He loved his family, and he loved his mama and most of all he loved God.
He was not endowed with natural athleticism and many on his team made fun of him, and he had to work doubly hard to get any playing time. But he was resilient and worked extremely hard in high school and enjoyed some moderate success, but was rejected by the Razorbacks for a scholarship, but walked on anyway. It is a heart-warming story of how his coaches took him under their wing and coached and encouraged him, but he had to make the team strictly through hard work and being the first on the field and last to leave.
He earned a scholarship his second year and excelled. His faith in God was infectious and soon almost the entire team who had made fun of him most of the year ended up being involved with a Bible study he began. He not only made the team as a starter but became the team leader and nearly took them to a national championship and made All-American in the process. He was drafted by the Baltimore Colts and was told he would be a starter his first year.
Tragically he was instantly killed in a car accident on the way to his signing. His older brother had a very difficult time with his death and blamed God. He struggled with it, but in the end accepted it and his faith was restored. It is a very moving story and again I encourage you to watch it particularly if you have lost a loved one and cannot seem to get over it.
Renowned author Paulo Coelho wrote, “You drown not by falling into a river, but by staying submerged in it.”
Are you submerged and sinking because of what you don’t understand? I’ve said many times in this column that asking the ‘why’ question is pointless. This was driven home to me yesterday during my Bible study of Psalm 131. “ . . . Neither do I concern myself with great matters, nor with things too profound for me. Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul.”
There are things we will never understand about God and why He allows bad things to occur. Don’t feel bad, no one since the dawn of time has understood it, be they genius, theologian, or philosophical giant. We were created lower than God and we are not privy as to why He does things or allows things to happen, nor can anyone understand. It is pointless to try. We must accept our lot in life through faith and look to Jesus for our redemption.
The driving theme of the movie Greater was to trust in God. The departed and those left behind cannot begin to imagine the plan God has for us, not just in this little sliver of time we spend here, but for all of eternity. Our fear and agony really are derived from what we don’t understand but the moment we realize things beyond our knowledge are not harmful, the fear disappears. God loves us and though this life is but a blink of an eye, eternity looms ahead and all of creation anticipates the end of sin and death.
Focus on Jesus and trust Him. We cannot escape falling in the river on occasion, but no one need drown if they simply trust Him and refuse to be submerged. Trusting in something might not be easy, but God’s love for you can be felt every day.
2 Corinthians 5:7
“We live by faith and not by sight.”