Devotionals

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RUNNING DOWN THE CLOCK

The phrase running-down-the-clock is most often associated with sports. Football and basketball in particular. It is a strategy in which Team A has an advantage in score and tries to keep the clock running down while keeping Team B from gaining possession of the ball---and thereby possibly having a chance to comeback, score and win. North Carolina University's famous Four Corners Offense accomplished this objective. As well as frustrating opposing teams. In basketball, the strategy is usually called 'stalling.' In football, running-down-the-clock is the usual terminology.

I may have originated the phrase. Hehehe. We played 6-man football rather than 11-man football, due to small rural schools in small rural towns like Eliot, Maine. Once in awhile our 8th grade team got to play a scrimmage game at practice against the 9th, 10th (JV's) team. We were smaller. But we were good, considering the player size differential. On this occasion, we scored a touchdown late in the game to take the lead. Two minutes left. Could we hold back our bigger, physically dominant foe? After the extra-point play, we would have to kick off, giving them a chance to score.

NOT-A-CHANCE!

Playing quarterback, I took the snap from the center. Instead of trying to score the extra-point, which would have been meaningless, I grabbed the football and ran toward the other end of the field. Sprinting, jogging, skipping, hopping, zig-zagging, wig-wagging, laughing, shouting "Come and get me!" They were hollering at me, "What are you doing?" I was all over the other end of the field. Apparently, the strategy 'dawned' on them. Because here they came, all 6 of them. Since they were spread out, it made my job easier. I would sprint away from one of them. Pivot, and change directions, avoiding another irritated opponent. No way would they catch me in two minutes. However, if they did, we would just have to kick off to them, with surely less than one minute to go. Right there, that improved our chances for a 'glorious' win.

All of a sudden I heard the coach laughing, hilariously. He, too, was onto my game plan. He was jogging up the sideline, howling as he came. Then he hollers, "OK, two minutes over! 8th grade team wins..." The closer he got the more he laughed. He was having trouble walking straight. I guessed he had never seen that strategy play before...

Coach, not being able to contain himself with laughter, took me aside and whispered in my ear, "The clock doesn't run on extra-point plays." I turned RED from head to toe. "But," he howled, "It sure was worth a good laugh. Very clever thinking! You deserved that underdog victory... Enjoy yourselves."

Can anyone forgive a young, ignorant quarterback?

SOMETIMES GOD "RUNS DOWN THE CLOCK"

"My Spirit will not contend with man forever,
for he is mortal;
his days will be a hundred and twenty years."
Gen 6:3.

And then... "---and that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights... Every living thing that moved on the earth perished--- birds, livestock, wild animals, all creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind." Gen 7:11b,12; 7:21.

"The two men (angels) said to Lot, "Do you
have anyone else here---sons-in-law, sons
or daughters, or anyone else in the city
who belongs to you?
Get them out of here, because we are
going to destroy this place. The outcry to the
Lord against its people is so great he has sent
us to destroy it."
Gen 19: 12,13.

And then... "By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah---from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus He overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities---and also the vegetation in the land." Gen 19:23-25. THAT CLOCK RAN DOWN IN ~12 HOURS!

"As Pharaoh (Oh Pharaoh, the clock is running down) approached, the Israelites
looked up, and there were the Egyptians,
marching after them.
They were terrified and cried out to the Lord."
(and bickered to Moses)
Ex 14:10.

And then... "The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen---the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left." Ex 14:28, 29. ANOTHER CLOCK THAT RAN DOWN.

"Then the Philistine said, 'This day I
defy the ranks of Israel!
Give me a man and let us fight each other.'
On hearing the Philistine's words, Saul and all
the Israelites were dismayed and terrified."
1 Sam 17:10,11.

"David RAN QUICKLY toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground."
1 Sam 17:48b, 49. I'D CALL THAT A FIRST ROUND KNOCKOUT! A QUICK-RUNNING DOWN OF THE CLOCK...

"...He (Christ) will crush your (Satan's) head (fatal blow)
and you (Satan) will strike His heel (at Calvary--- a temporary blow by Satan)." Gen 3:15b.

"We are witnesses of everything He did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed Him by hanging Him on a tree, but God RAISED HIM on the third day and caused Him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen--- by us who ate and drank with Him after He ROSE from the dead." Acts 10:39-41. SATAN LOST THE 3-DAY RUNNING DOWN CLOCK..

"By the same word the present heavens
and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men." "That day will bring about the destruction
of the heavens by fire, and the elements
will melt in the heat. But in keeping with the
PROMISE we are looking forward to a new
heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness."
2 Peter 3:7, 12b, 13.

"The Lord is not SLOW in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but every one to come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9. ARE ANY CLOCKS RUNNING DOWN ON YOU, YOUR RELATIVES, OR FRIENDS?

Consider the Lord Jesus Christ, Who can save a soul from hell and grant eternal life simultaneously...

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