Fly

I want to share this passage from 2nd Corinthians 12, which gives us perspective on God's strength; here's a verse that was meaningful to a certain pro football player who was considering giving up:
9 And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

The next verse states:
10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

When we are facing disappointment, perhaps overwhelmed by the circumstances of life, we have Someone who walks with us, who will strengthen us when we are feeling weak.  He wants to express His life and His giftedness through us; He wants to demonstrate His mighty power and character through those who call upon His name.  When we are lacking strength, or trusting in ourselves too greatly, He is calling us to surrender, to humble ourselves, so that Christ might be seen in and through us.

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In the power of the Holy Spirit, we can discover the strength we need to face each day, and we can fulfill the higher purpose He has for us.  And, I thought of the Scripture verse Isaiah 40:31, which I realized actually has a tie-in to last night's Super Bowl.  From Isaiah 40:
29 He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall,
31 But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

For the first time in 52 Super Bowls, that's LII in Roman numerals, the Philadelphia Eagles are Super Bowl champions.

This is a team that I have been tracking fairly regularly since mid-season, when there was a picture posted online of the baptism of wide receiver Marcus Johnson in a hotel pool in Charlotte.  Watching the event that day, according to CBSSports.com, were some players whose names were called out last night: of course, the unlikely quarterback duo, Carson Wentz and Nick Foles.  There was Trey Burton, who took the the pitch and threw the pass last night in what will go down as one of the memorable plays in Super Bowl history, the play that ended with Foles, the games MVP, catching the ball.  Zach Ertz was there, as well - he was by no means silent in last night's game, either.  Ertz, by the way, was baptized last March, the day before his wedding, according to CBNNews.com, which also reported 5 other Eagles had been baptized in the team's recovery pool last year.

Listen to how that CBS story closed:

Philadelphia is no stranger to impromptu baptisms. Tales of spiritual awakening in the team's own practice facility surfaced in 2016, when several players also donned Easter-themed cleats during the NFL's My Cleats, My Cause campaign.

Let's go back to a CBS story toward the beginning of the 2017 season.  It reported: "...an already-hefty contingent of players grounded in their Christian beliefs -- Wentz chief among them -- has expanded in 2017 to the point that it's virtually become linked to the team's core."  The story continues:

That's not to say any member of that contingent has directly credited the Eagles' success either in the win column or the locker room to the faith they value, nor is it to say Christian beliefs are the only thing motivating a diverse lineup.

But to deny that Wentz, what with his inescapable motto of playing for God, or an "Audience of One," has influenced the Eagles as much with his tantalizing talent in the pocket as his presence on the spiritual playing field would be to overlook perhaps the most common story of Philadelphia's coming together under Pederson.

Days before he was named the NFL Players Association's Community MVP for donating $120,000 to fund service dogs, a contribution through his mission to "demonstrate the love of God" via his own Audience of One foundation, Wentz came through on a promise to give his game check to teammate Jake Elliott, who lifted the Eagles over the New York Giants in Week 3 with a franchise-record 61-yard field goal. (The two agreed to support a charity of Elliott's choice with the money.) And all of that came just weeks after Wentz appeared in two separate devotional video series created for YouVersion's Bible app, the second of which featured fellow Eagles Nick Foles, Trey Burton, Zach Ertz and Chris Maragos.

It was in that YouVersion devotional series that then-backup quarterback Nick Foles shared about his own personal struggles.  I talked about it this past Saturday in my devotional at Upward Basketball at Frazer.  I referred to comments Nick had made for YouVersion, according to a piece on SportsSpectrum.com: “...After my time with a certain NFL team, I wanted to retire,” and he said, “This was a year ago. I wanted to retire from the NFL, and I really struggled. I couldn’t pick up a football for about eight months. I had no love for the game, and it was tough.”

Nick said that God was shaping him, and Nick sensed the Lord saying to him, “‘Hey, just take a step of faith. You’re either going to stop playing the game of football and you’re going to go onto a different area of your life and I’m going to be with you, I’m going to be the most important thing in your life, or you’re going to step back into football and you’re going to continue to play and I’m going to be with you every step of the way and you’re going to play to glorify me.”

Foles shared the Scripture verse 2nd Corinthians 12:9, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.'”

Nick Foles was last night's MVP, and CBNNews.com reported on some of his comments earlier in the week:

"I want to be a pastor in a high school," Foles said the Thursday before the Super Bowl. "It's on my heart. I took a leap of faith last year and signed up to take classes at seminary. I wanted to continue to learn and challenge my faith. It's a challenge because you are writing papers that are biblically correct. You want to impact people's hearts."

And, Carson Wentz, who was sidelined by injury, was certainly not sulking on the sidelines.  He was totally supportive of his brother in the Lord.  Two tweets for you - here is one:

My bro is gonna shine bright tonight! So excited to see him & this team go out and compete tonight. Been through it all this year as a team, & yet, here we are! WE ALL WE GOT. WE ALL WE NEED. God’s writing an unbelievable story and he’s getting all the glory! #AO1 #flyeaglesfly

And, after the game, he tweeted out:

God is so good!!!! World Champions!!!! So proud of this team!!!! Told y’all my boy @NFoles_9 was gonna shine tonight! Well deserved my bro! #AO1 #flyeaglesfly

If you devote your life to Christ, God will extract from you the giftedness that He has placed in your life.  In an athletic contest, God is not necessarily interested in who wins or loses, but how well you use what He has entrusted to you.  When you consider that Wentz, Foles, backup QB Nate Sudfeld, and their offensive coordinator Frank Reich gather for prayer regularly, according to a story on the Philadelphia Inquirer website, I believe that does make a difference on the field, because supernatural strength is being activated.

I also think that this collection of stories illustrates the importance of community; of like-minded people expressing their faith in Christ in order to bring Him glory.  Wentz and Foles obviously have developed a strong bond, and so have a number of fellow believers on the team.  And, the faith of these gentlemen has become infectious in the locker room.

And, the Nick Foles story reminds us not to give up.  As I said in my Upward devotional on Saturday:

In our darkest times, when we face trials, we can come to know someone who will give us strength - Jesus will give hope when it seems there is none, and provide comfort when we are hurting. He wants everyone to know that He is there to provide healing and restoration through a walk with Him.