The Road to the Promised Land
This weekend, the Super Bowl, the biggest American sporting event (and most-watched U.S. telecast year in and year out), will be played. If the Patriots win, countless article will be written about Tom Brady and Bill Belichick's enhanced legacies and record 6 Super Bowl victories. If the Eagles win, countless articles will be written about Nick Foles, a guy who kind of looks like Napoleon Dynamite and Shaggy, admirably filling in for the injured Carson Wentz and leading the Eagles to their first Super Bowl win. Either way, it will be about so much more than winning the Super Bowl. It's about the road and the path taken to get there. A road and path that goes far beyond football.
Whether you're 5-time champion Tom Brady or just a proverbial Average Joe, getting to the top requires facing -- and overcoming -- obstacles. Life has a way of throwing the worst obstacles at us. Some of these obstacles seem darn near impossible and lost causes. Other obstacles involve facing a familiar foe or perceived nemesis. And some obstacles involve overcoming a personal problem that we've always had but have never addressed or been able to solve. Whatever the case may be, the obstacles thrown are way often ends up being the last one we'd ever want to face. And yet, it's the only way to the top, to where we want to go.
To get to the Promised Land, Joshua and the Israelites had to go through Jericho, a task that appeared impossible. Through their obedience to God, they conquered Jericho and did get to that Promised Land. To even just get to Jericho, the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years. David had the tall task of facing Goliath -- figuratively and literally! However, David emerged victorious and later became king. These types of stories aren't just limited to the Bible, either. To defeat the Empire, Luke Skywalker had to face Darth Vader a second time. In the Disney classic The Lion King, Simba's path to becoming king meant facing his troubled past that he had spent years running from and battling his Uncle Scar. To win his first Super Bowl, Peyton Manning had to first defeat the Patriots led by that same Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, Manning's longtime rival. Just to get the to Gold Medal game at the 1980 Winter Olympics, the U.S. Hockey team had to defeat the Soviet Union, the defending gold medal champion and an all-around juggernaut. Al Michaels believes in miracles -- and so should we!
The obstacles we face in our lives may not be cities, giants, famous movie villains, or famous sports teams figures, but they still seem insurmountable nonetheless. They take the form of challenging classes, financial troubles, depression and belief that we're not good enough, injuries, tough situations, and so forth. A sense of helplessness, that it's all out of our control can kick in. We may try to run away from these troubles like Simba did and keep singing "Hakuna Matata" without truly believing that there are no worries. Quite frankly, we just don't want to face them. But to get to the promises of tomorrow, we must first go through the realities of today. It's not always easy. But then again, "cupcakes," both figuratively and literally, wouldn't be as sweet if those were all we ever feasted on. We couldn't fully enjoy joyfulness if we didn't know what pain was, and we can't fully enjoy success and achievement if we don't know what obstacles, pain, and (sometimes) failure are.
Over the course of our lives, we face all kinds of obstacles, and they often change as we get older. The obstacles I faced in middle school were different from the ones I faced in high school, which were different from the ones I faced in college, which are different from the ones I face today. Thankfully, obstacles like the SAT and AP European History are...well, history. Still, we always will face obstacles, no matter where we are in our lives. The important thing to remember is to identify them and face them head-on. It's the only way we ever will get to where we want to go. And we'll be better off because we did.
To close, I'm going to talk about another Super Bowl-winning quarterback: Drew Brees. Drew Brees is a quarterback that's had to overcome his share of obstacles in his life. A little over 12 years ago, Brees suffered a really bad shoulder injury, putting his career and football future in doubt. In his memoir Coming Back Stronger, Brees details the rehab process and what that looked like. And there's one line in there that's stayed with me for all these years later, one line that I once cited in a Youth Sunday sermon, and something that I say to myself today when I go through tough times and obstacles: "If God leads you to it, He will lead you through it". Following that injury, Brees went on to sign with the New Orleans Saints, a team whose city had recently been devastated by Hurricane Katrina at the time. Since joining the Saints, Brees has won a Super Bowl and set various passing records. God leads us to all sorts of obstacles in our lives. However, God also leads us through all sorts of obstacles in our lives. And when He does, we are better off because of it. The road to the "Promised Lands" in our lives may go through plenty of "Jerichos," but the final destination when we finally do get there is better than we ever could have imagined.
The obstacles we face in our lives may not be cities, giants, famous movie villains, or famous sports teams figures, but they still seem insurmountable nonetheless. They take the form of challenging classes, financial troubles, depression and belief that we're not good enough, injuries, tough situations, and so forth. A sense of helplessness, that it's all out of our control can kick in. We may try to run away from these troubles like Simba did and keep singing "Hakuna Matata" without truly believing that there are no worries. Quite frankly, we just don't want to face them. But to get to the promises of tomorrow, we must first go through the realities of today. It's not always easy. But then again, "cupcakes," both figuratively and literally, wouldn't be as sweet if those were all we ever feasted on. We couldn't fully enjoy joyfulness if we didn't know what pain was, and we can't fully enjoy success and achievement if we don't know what obstacles, pain, and (sometimes) failure are.
Over the course of our lives, we face all kinds of obstacles, and they often change as we get older. The obstacles I faced in middle school were different from the ones I faced in high school, which were different from the ones I faced in college, which are different from the ones I face today. Thankfully, obstacles like the SAT and AP European History are...well, history. Still, we always will face obstacles, no matter where we are in our lives. The important thing to remember is to identify them and face them head-on. It's the only way we ever will get to where we want to go. And we'll be better off because we did.
To close, I'm going to talk about another Super Bowl-winning quarterback: Drew Brees. Drew Brees is a quarterback that's had to overcome his share of obstacles in his life. A little over 12 years ago, Brees suffered a really bad shoulder injury, putting his career and football future in doubt. In his memoir Coming Back Stronger, Brees details the rehab process and what that looked like. And there's one line in there that's stayed with me for all these years later, one line that I once cited in a Youth Sunday sermon, and something that I say to myself today when I go through tough times and obstacles: "If God leads you to it, He will lead you through it". Following that injury, Brees went on to sign with the New Orleans Saints, a team whose city had recently been devastated by Hurricane Katrina at the time. Since joining the Saints, Brees has won a Super Bowl and set various passing records. God leads us to all sorts of obstacles in our lives. However, God also leads us through all sorts of obstacles in our lives. And when He does, we are better off because of it. The road to the "Promised Lands" in our lives may go through plenty of "Jerichos," but the final destination when we finally do get there is better than we ever could have imagined.
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