TGIF
I have been thinking about a number of interesting prayer events recently. The first one that caught my attention was the cardiac moment that a professional football player Damar Hamlin had on the field during an NFL game. The game was a late season game with important playoff implications for the two teams playing so a large audience was expected for the Monday Night Football game. Early in the game, Damar suffered cardiac arrest after a seemingly normal tackle. He received CPR on the field for about 10 minutes before being taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition. It was of much interest to me to see the reaction on the field and on TV during these 10 minutes. Most (all ?) of the players from both teams came together near where Damar was being treated, knelt, and prayed together for him to pull through. Even an ESPN announcer a few days after the incident gave an on-the-air prayer for Damar, that to me was so unexpected from this network, but the prayer was so real and from the heart. If you would like to hear it, you can access it at:
The good news is that Damar seems to have fully recovered from that event and even attended the Super Bowl in person.
Then that brings us to this year’s Super Bowl. One of the big media stories leading up to the Super Bowl was that there would be two multi-million dollar religious ads airing during the big game. It turns out that those ads led to a lot of discussion leading up to and also following the Super Bowl. I also saw that those ads were ranked 8th and 15th of the 51 ads that played during the game, so those ads were pretty well received by the Super Bowl crowd. In addition, both starting Super Bowl QBs are devout Christians and wear their belief proudly. See the following examples for each starting Super Bowl QB if you would like at:
https://faithonthefieldshow.com/jalen-hurts-credits-his-direction-in-life-to-god-and-his-dad/.
Note that this faith is not limited to just a few college and professional athletes, it is not uncommon to hear athletes give all the glory to God when they have a successful game. I believe that the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) plays a major role in our society in introducing young athletes to God at a time where young people would otherwise have no opportunity to hear God’s Word. These young athletes are likely to maintain their belief into adulthood if they continue to surround themselves with other believers and have coaches that are also believers. The few examples I have illustrated above make this point quite clearly. It is also a reason why I am so glad that our church supports our local FCA ministry to bring young athletes closer to God and help them at this critical time of their life regarding the type of person they will be for the rest of their life. We are also blessed by the great leadership that our Pastor Don provided FCA during its formative years in our community. We need to continue to be thankful for this continuing leadership of FCA in bringing young athletes into God’s presence. There is always hope for a resurgence of Christianity in our country and world if we believe, pray, and demonstrate in our lives our love for and belief in God.
Psalm 16:11 – You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Finally, I want to mention the Asbury revival, an event that began at Asbury College after a routine church service on February 8 and has continued since then with an overflow of people ascending on their community and chapel from all over the country to experience the Godly feeling present there. The revival has also spread to other college campuses across the country. It is still unclear how this will continue or end and what the future holds, but this is another extraordinary event that is happening that suggests God is alive and with us always. Hopefully, all these happenings that I have mentioned here are an indication that a real revival for God and His Presence in our lives is under way.
Exodus 33:14 – And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”