In the Game

This morning I listened to John Ortberg talk about playing the game.  This was his message from this past weekend as the entire country was gearing up to watch the Super Bowl.  This message was directly linked to serving the Kingdom (playing the game) during the entire week.  He related the church to a locker room where they go over the playbook, make adjustments in strategy, and where an inspirational speech is made.  He talked about how much the locker room is needed but we don't meet in the locker room for the locker room's sake.  We meet in the locker room so that we can go play the game.

We meet at church every Sunday to review the playbook (the Bible), make adjustments to our strategy for reaching the world, and find an inspirational thought or message to get us going.  One thing he said really caught my attention.  He talked about a child never dreams about becoming the best spectator to ever watch the game.  Children have a dream and a passion to become the best player to ever play the game.

When I was a kid, our favorite game to play in the backyard was tackle football.  I remember the players who we used to be.  I was always Deion Sanders.  My neighbor Nathan was always Barry Sanders and his brother Shane was usually Randall Cunningham or Derrick Thomas.  My brother was Christian Okoye because he always ran us over.  We never pretended to be fans or spectators.  We always dreamed of playing in the game.

Is it possible that God gives his children the passion and desire to want to play in the game?  The Kingdom of God is better when everyone who is a child of the King serves and when the spectating is left up to the world not to the church.  Then, when we all play the game from the same playbook, the world will watch in amazement and be stirred into a desire to "Get in the Game" themselves.

Thanks John Ortberg for inspiring me to stay in the game!