Go Long: Looking Beyond What Is And Hoping For What Is To Come

I’m sure the thought of his daughter marrying a Louisville fan was the last thing he could have imagined.  We bled blue in our house, no two ways about it.  Kentucky athletics were quite literally a part of our family.  Commonwealth Stadium was as natural a part of September through November as bonfires and pumpkin-spiced lattes.  We even had family photos taken dressed in blue. 

As it turns out, the answer to my parent’s prayers for a spouse for their only daughter would eventually come packaged in red, not blue.

Since marrying the unimaginable Cardinal fan, I have learned that in order to be deemed a true fan of either team you have to hate the other with perfect hatred.  I am not a true fan.  My husband, brothers, and dad?  True to the core.  Needless to say, we don’t watch games together.   

  

In 1982, the year my twin brother and I were born, the Cats went 0-10 for the season in football.  ’83 and ’84 were marked with winning seasons and promptly followed by losing seasons for the next ten out of eleven years.  Undeterred, my dad took my brothers and me to what felt like every single game.   

Over that decade, the record shows we managed to wrangle some W’s, but it’s hard to remember any.  What I remember is shivering to the bitter end of the game only to add another loss to our record.  I’m sure I exasperated my dad with my incessant questions during those frigid football games.

“Why are the defensive players so fat if they are Division I athletes?  How can they survive practice?”

“They eat a lot of calories, honey.  They have to stay big so they can be good blockers,” my dad answered weakly, his eyes glued to the field.  

“Why does the clock keep running if they aren’t playing; it doesn’t do that in basketball?”  

“I don’t know, it just does,” came my dad’s quick reply.

“And why do they call it ‘Hail Mary’?  Who’s Mary anyway?”

“Here’s some money, sweetie, why don’t you go get some food?  Bring me a hot dog and a bag of popcorn.”

God bless him.  No fair-weathered fan could have survived those bleak years or his daughter’s inquisitive disposition.  Only the die-hards kept showing up.  Thirty seven years later my dad is still showing up.  In fact, he lovingly texted this picture to me this past Saturday after the UK vs. UL football game.

What I didn’t know as a young child, was that every time our heads hung low in defeat, God was fashioning my outlook on life.  Long before I ever really sought Him, God was drawing me and preparing me to receive Him and His ways.  My dad was just bringing me along to something he loved.  But God was at work in my heart.  

God and UK football have something in common; in either case, those who are blessed are those with the ability to “go long”—to look beyond what is, and hold out hope for what is to come.  No one would have imagined UK's victory last Saturday against UL back in 1982.  All hope surely felt lost that year.  

As we await Christmas Day, the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Savior of the world, it is easy to feel like He is never coming back.  Many living during Jesus' day 2,000 years ago thought their Messiah would never come, either.  That must have been why so many missed Him.  Let's not miss the hope we have in Christ this Christmas.  Not only did He come, but He is coming again!

Regardless of your record in life and no matter the state of your current relationships, you can look to God for brighter days ahead. Every single person would be lost without the perfect sacrifice and forgiveness offered by God through Jesus Christ.  

Psalm 130:3-4 says, "If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord who could stand?  But with you there is forgiveness, therefore you are feared."

Your impact is far-reaching.  If you have failed someone in your life, apologize and seek their forgiveness.  Maybe they receive your apology, maybe not.  Continue on and enjoy the peace of living in the light with God because you tried.  If appropriate, invite them to be with you in whatever it is you love.  God is not far from each one of us—that includes you.  He is waiting to forgive you and set you on a new course for His glory and your good.

"This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:5-9

May God be your very sure help as you navigate relationships this Christmas season.  And may you dwell inspired as Christ dwells in you. 

Hugs,

Melissa