Encouragement Letters

Encouragement

Published by Barnabas International • PO Box 11211 • Rockford, IL 61126 • Volume XIV • No. 3 • March 2000

LEE HOTCHKISS, Executive Director <> LAREAU LINDQUIST, Founder

Good Morning Friend,

Like many millions of people, I watched football's largest annual event, the Super Bowl, a few days ago. Each year, the NFL champs and the AFC champs play to determine the world's first place championship. This game continues to be seen by more television viewers than anything else. In fact, in terms of total viewers, the top five most watched TV programs of all time are Super Bowl games. The very largest was SUPER BOWL XXX in 1996 with a television audience of 138,500,000. This year, SUPER BOWL XXXIV, was held in Atlanta, Georgia between the Tennessee Titans and the St. Louis Rams.

The typical pre-game excitement, however, was missing this year. Neither team appeared to be very special. There were no big name players. No overwhelming team histories. No famous coaches. No enormous fan clubs. No obvious favorite to win. Just a lot of ho-hum feelings about the upcoming game. It was hard to find anyone who heavily favored one team over the other. All of this was true until the game took place. Then it became exciting. Real exciting.

The Rams dominated the first half of the game with a 16-0 lead. Often it appeared that they were positioned to score many more touchdowns but they couldn't make them happen. During the second half, the Titans appeared stronger than the Rams. They evened the score to 16-16. It seemed that they had the momentum to ultimately win the game. In fact, they came within one yard of eliminating the Rams. But during the last two minutes of the game, the Rams scored seven points which brought the final score to 23-16. What a game! And what a win for the Rams!

Why did it turn out to be so exciting? And why did USA TODAY print this big headline . . . RAMS WIN SUPER THRILLER? (They also spent most of the next seventeen pages talking about the game.) And why did so many of us find it the most exciting game yet? Let me offer some reasons, admittedly biased from my perspective. (1) The team. It was made up of a lot of very ordinary players . . . none too spectacular on their own. But in this particular game each individual did exceptionally well. They worked together. One year earlier they ended the season in last place. They became the first team in over fifty years to finish one season in the cellar and come back to become the Super Bowl winner the next year. (2) The quarterback. Kurt Warner, the Rams' quarterback, had his best game ever. He broke all Super Bowl records in completing 25 passes for 414 yards. He was named the MVP (Most Valuable Player) of the game. I must remind you that only five years earlier, he was working in a grocery store stocking shelves. Until this season he had only completed four passes for a total of 39 yards in his NFL career. He began this season as a back-up quarterback, not as a starter. But look at what he ultimately became . . . the MVP. (3) The coach. For Dick Vermeil, this was not his first visit to the Super Bowl. He had been there twenty years ago. That time, his team lost the game. Ultimately he quit coaching altogether. For most of the intervening years he pursued other interests. Three years ago he returned to coaching. Now, after all those years . . . after quitting, and after returning . . . he became the winning coach of the winning team.

So often the Bible likens the Christian life to an athletic event. I can see multiple lessons even from this Super Bowl game. To mention but a few . . .

Paul encourages us with these words: ". . . at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up" (Galatians 6:9). So . . . Keep on keeping on!

Be encouraged,

Lareau Lindquist