God, Signs and Football

The last couple of days have been shown some pretty funny-interesting moments. I was reading a user-created list of 'The Worst Movie Twists of All Time' or something to that degree. One of the movie endings the writer didn't like was the ending to Signs. The author thought the idea ridiculous that God would go through so much 'trouble' to re-establish the faith of a former priest. The author suggested that simply making it rain would have produced the same level of gratitude from the priest. This argument is almost too ridiculous to give a response, except I just can't resist. God is an all-powerful being, and the writer is commenting on God going through too much trouble...as if a series of seemingly random events would be very complicated for God to pull off...and complaining about the efficiency of God's efforts to reach out to the spiritually scarred priest.

To carry things further, I then read an article in ESPN the magazine titled "Does God Care if John Kitna Wins?" This article was written regarding the faith of the Detroit Lions quarterback and the impact he has had on the football team. Kitna's faith in Christ has played a major role in bringing back team unity and several other areas that were sorely lacking among the players on Lions football team. The article is a great read and highly recommended, but ended with the following discussion question: "Does God care about the outcome of a football game?"

The thing that astounds me about these two experiences is how these two individuals view God. I understand that an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-just, and all-loving being is a tid bit difficult to relate to, but come on, the least we could assume is that He isn't limited by the same things humans are limited by? What does God care about efficiency? To conserve resources? He has unlimited resources. To save time? He invented time. He's not bound by time. Does God care about the outcome of a football game? The outcome isn't the point...the process is the point. Men who follow Christ don't pray just so God will help them win. They ask God to help them concentrate, to guide them, to protect them, to give them wisdom, focus, integrity, to make conform them to Christ, or in the case of sports, to help them play for His glory. The outcome of the game, for those who are focused on Christ is quickly diminished.

This is a reminder to me of how easy it is to confine God to our limitations instead of appreciating the unlimited and unfathomable power at His finger tips.

Isaiah 50:8“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,neither are your ways my ways,”declares the Lord.