Tuesday, December 5th
Christian Kozma
I take fantasy football very seriously… probably too seriously. To tell you the truth, as I type this, I’m watching Monday Night Football. If you’re not familiar with it, fantasy football is a game where you and a group of people get together before the NFL season starts and draft a team of real NFL players. Each week, you receive points based upon what the players you drafted do (or don’t do) in real life. At the end of the week, those points are tallied up against another person in your league’s team. Just like in regular football, your wins and losses determine your place in the playoffs, and ultimately the championships. One year in my league, the loser had to take the ACT as a punishment. He’s a teacher and had to take it with his students. It was awesome.
Obviously, there’s a lot at stake here. Everybody wants to win, and certainly no one wants to take the ACT. In order to avoid the pain and embarrassment of losing, there are three main places you can go to for fantasy guidance. The first place you can go for help is to the gurus online and on TV. There are dozens, if not hundreds of so-called “experts” that know all about the secret breakout players on the waiver wires. They know who you should start, who you should sit, and whether or not Tom Brady is going to come out of retirement (again). They get paid to do this, so how could they be wrong, right? The second way is to consult others you know for advice. My wife Kathryn, who is playing for the first time this year, unfortunately made the mistake of asking me for help this week. I told her to start a player that ended up sitting on the bench and to bench a player who ended up having the best game of his life. Oops. Let’s just say I don’t expect any more questions from her this week. The third option is to simply trust yourself. Some of us are just smarter than everyone else. It’s not our fault! Whether you do one of these things, or any combination of them, you have to decide who to place your hope in before kickoff on Sunday. You’re smart. You know where this is going. Who do you put your hope in?
I’m serious. In your very real, everyday life, where does your hope lie? Is it in the experts on TV? Is it in your parents, your coworkers, or your spouse? Or do you simply rely on yourself for everything? These things aren’t bad. I’m not saying that at all. It’s good to have knowledge, loved ones, and self-confidence. However, I think GOD calls those who know and love him to go further, putting all their hope in Him. The world will tell you that hope is a wish for something somewhere that you would like to happen someday. I hope mom makes lasagna tonight. I hope I get married by 30. I hope Patrick Mahomes throws a touchdown. These are all fine things to hope for, but what we’re really saying is that we wish those things will happen. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t. Hoping in the Lord is different – there is a confidence there unlike anywhere else. We don’t wish for God to be good; we know he is good. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is in Exodus 34, where God describes himself to Moses as “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin.” He demonstrates that character again and again throughout the scriptures, ultimately so in the life, death, and resurrection of His Son Jesus. I really believe that the more we get to know God and his character, the easier it is for us to put our hope in Him.
I’m not sure where life finds you today, but if you’re reading this, I’d like to think that the Lord is saying, “you can put your hope in Me.” This Advent season let’s choose to be hopeful people in a world of misplaced hope and hopelessness. People who are confident in God’s goodness and abounding love for us, regardless of our circumstances. Confident that just as surely as Jesus came two-thousand years ago, he will come again.
Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31
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