The Game's Not Over Until It's Over
Anyone going through
a difficult time needs to remember that the end has not yet come, and that our
Heavenly Father may have all manner of wonderful things in store just around
the bend in the road. USA
TODAY once reported a story which demonstrates this fact very well.
Milwaukee Hamilton
High School had a 22-15 lead against Milwaukee Marshall with just a few seconds
left in a football game one Friday night in September of 1983. It appeared to
be a sure victory. With only four seconds remaining, Hamilton, which was on its 40-yard line,
snapped the ball to Jose Alba. Alba ran back toward his end zone to run
out the clock, then tossed the ball into the air as time expired, thinking the
game was over, and the victory belonged to him and his teammates.
But, remember-in
football, the play is not finished until the ball is downed while in the
possession of a player. So when the ball came down, one of Marshall's players, Floyd Heard, picked it up
on the five and ran it in for a touchdown. Then with time expired, Marshall attempted the
two-point conversion-and made it. They won the game 23-22.
There are many times
in our lives when we're on the losing side of the scoreboard, and time is
running out. If Floyd Heard had believed what the circumstances told him, he
would have walked to the sideline, accepting defeat. Yet that is what we do so
many times in our lives. The game - nor life - is over until it's over. Be
encouraged! Don't give up! Stay the course!
"Then Jesus
told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not
give up." (Luke 18:1 NIV)
"Let us not
become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we
do not give up." (Galatians 6:9 NIV)
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