It's what I do.
We have soccer practice five nights a week. Most weekends, we have at least four games. Some weekends, we have 8 games. I love soccer. It's the "Beautiful Game." I love watching my boys learn from their mistakes, and grow in strength, agility and in their leadership skills on the pitch. My battle cry as a soccer mom comes from Luke 2:52, "And Jesus grew in wisdom, and stature, and in favor with God and men."
Tate was on the losing team last year. I'm telling you, his team won TWO GAMES...the ENTIRE YEAR last year. First win? A consolation game at a tournament. I'm pretty sure they beat a rec team. The second win? It was a shootout to determine the winner of the game because their tournament game was rained out. Two wins out of, say, 45 games? Ouch. But, you know what? We learned how to lose. You might snicker at that, but that lesson is BEYOND valuable. Losing is HARD. It keeps you humble. It forces humble pie down your throat. It's like swallowing a sock. Fortunately, Tate never lost heart. He loves the game, and he is a gracious winner because he KNOWS what losing game after game is like. If he starts to get a little pompous, I remind him of that year of nothing but loss.
This year, Tate's team is a winning team. I think we've lost a total of about six or seven games. Our regular season play went undefeated last fall. Today, Tate's team played in a tournament and got creamed. I hate losing. Winning every game after ALL...THOSE...LOSSES...felt REALLY GOOD, friends! It's beautiful to watch soccer...but it's GLORIOUS to watch when you're winning! Tate's team didn't really "show up to play" today. The ref in our first game was HORRIBLE. I'm not sure the sideline judge knows what "Offsides" IS. It was so bad that after he missed THREE offsides calls, he FINALLY called it on number four, and our sideline all started cheering for the JUDGE. We lost both games today. It's hard to lose after you're only used to winning. It's humbling. It's teeth gritting, gut wrenching, eyebrow furling, fury building disappointment...the kind where you want a scapegoat.
We write 2 Timothy 4:7 on our soccer water jugs~
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."
So, our soccer "battle cry" is:
FIGHT THE FIGHT!
WIN THE GAME!
KEEP THE FAITH!
If our faith is supposed to trickle down into our very lives, then our faith should act out on the soccer field as well. Our coaches should know we are followers of Jesus because we show up and get the job done with a positive attitude and hard work ethic! Our teammates should know we are followers of Jesus because we give 100% to the VERY end of the game without giving up and without exception. Our God did NOT quit on the Cross. If He HAD, it would not have been finished. But, as Jesus gave up his spirit, he called out, "It is finished" ~John 19: 30. When the final whistle blows at the end of the game, my sons need to come off of the field being able to say, "It is finished," meaning that the work that was done on the field is ALL they have to offer.
Faith works itself out on the soccer field...AND...in life. We have to fight the fight in our daily battles. We fight them in confidence that our Lord is with us and for us. We fight humbly. We finish the race. We can't give up in the middle of the task that the Lord has set us to complete. We have to fight to the very end. The final and most important? To keep the faith. If we can fight the fight and finish the race WHILE keeping the faith? Victory.
So, while we may have lost the games today, we claim victory because we fought a good fight, we finished the games, and we kept the faith.
Grace and Peace~
Kelly
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