Christian Living

---

Larry Lilly's Letter Wednesday August 18, 2010

In the Christian walk we are often called upon for service above and beyond the call of duty. In other words we are to do something that calls for motivation that goes deeper than just a sense of duty; although in our time it would be nice to get most folks to something for any reason.

Preachers including this one seem to envy the power of coaches to motivate their players to higher levels of commitment. Wayne Smith tells the following story about former NFL referee Tommy Bell:

"Tommy Bell played football for Henry Clay High School in Lexington, KY and during one game Tommy came out of the game. The coach asked, "Tommy, why did you come out of the game?" Tommy said, "I think I broke my leg." The coach responded, "Well, get back in the game until you're sure."

I played for such a coach. You never, ever forget one like that and you love them. I don't coach football, but I do try to get folks to believe God and to believe that the claims of Christ on their time, talent and treasure are of utmost importance; but I can't seem to keep them in the game on Sunday if they sniffle on Friday. Lombardi used to joke, (I think) that football was not a matter of life and death. It is far more important than that.

An old line has it, "You can determine the greatness of a man by what it takes to stop him."

I admit that I like that definition as it helps me to keep on even when all empirical evidence suggests giving up. Over and again over many years I have reached the point of despair, but somehow kept on going and the Son breaks through and drives away the clouds and I could then see why I had such intense internal opposition. It makes common sense that if I am obeying the Lord, opposition will surely come, but then, in time, so will the smile of God, even if that smile does not come until we meet to the face.

Many times we give in to despair, only to realize later, when the opportunity for outstanding achievement has passed, that we really should have stayed on the game a little longer and we would have found that our leg was in pain, but not broken. In our day for the most part we quit too soon.

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2010 Use with credit.

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE