Dear
Son,
I’ve
heard people say that life is a game and sometimes it seems like they’re
right. Sometimes it seems like they’re
winning and you’re losing and nothing can turn the momentum for anything. You practice and work and train and you just
can’t seem to change the outcome. The
score still says you’re beat.
I
don’t think life is a game. Seems to me
that word puts too trivial a meaning on a journey that could never be summed up
in a highlight reel.
Still, you’re a ten-year-old boy. You’ve had some sort of ball in your hand just
about every day for a decade now. You’ve
watched endless hours of sports on television with your dad. You’ve played baseball, lacrosse, and
basketball on local park teams. You’ve
played soccer, tennis, football, and golf in the backyard. You know what it’s like to win a game, and to
lose one. And so, I’m hoping this will
mean something to you, my son, because that’s what I’m trying to do, after
all. I’m trying to make sure something .
. . the right thing . . . means
something to you.
Indulge
me for just a moment, and let’s imagine that life is a game, and you’re playing
it. How will you make sure the outcome
of the game is the one you want it to be?
Let’s
start with the uniform. Is it important?
Ask any boy who remembers the
first time he put on a little league shirt with the name of his team sprawled
boldly across the front – the pants with the coordinating pin stripe down the
side, the matching socks, belt and hat.
Ask him what it feels like to stand in front of a mirror and know you
belong.
Yes. The uniform is important. It lets the crowd know what team you’ve
pledged your membership to – for whom you have chosen to play. It announces to anyone watching that you have
aligned your goals with the will of a greater group. Put on a uniform and you become united with
others – your hearts and minds joined for a common purpose.
What
about the coach? Does the coach have
much of an impact on the outcome of a game when he’s not an active participant
in the game? He is responsible for
choosing the players on his team, after all, or at least accepting those who
willingly join it. He evaluates their
strengths and weaknesses, placing them as often as possible in positions that
capitalize on their greatest gifts. He
teaches new skills and improves old ones, ridding players of bad habits
detrimental to the collective cause. He encourages
patience, hard work, determination, good sportsmanship, loyalty. He develops strategies, plans, and plays he
believes will ensure victory, despite the fact that winning is never a
guarantee.
Yes. The coach matters. The coach is the leader of his team, and a
leader always has influence.
How
about the playbook - where does it fit in?
It certainly holds important information. Much thought goes into its creation, and it
is highly regarded as a tool for success.
The playbook is the culmination of hours, days, and weeks of principle, practice,
preparation, and the plotting of ideas.
It is a design, a tactical map intended to lead a team to ultimate
triumph. Lose your playbook and you’ve
lost a critical component for making decisions.
Yes. The playbook is a key piece of the
puzzle. It is a guide that encourages
the best paths to take.
So
maybe life is a lot like a game. We are
often on the quest for a goal, aren’t we?
We are always angling for position, striving for status, trying to reach
the finish line. We are always shooting for something.
Son,
one day you will have the opportunity to play this game of life on your own,
without parents standing guard to steer your every decision. You can play it any way you want – it is your game, YOUR life – and I can assure you there will be choices too numerous
to name. There are uniforms of every
color and style. There are thousands of teams
with thousands of goals. There are coaches
galore and playbooks with proposals of all kinds. You
can pick any of them at any time, and every choice you make will have its own
set of consequences.
My
prayer, sweet Charlie, is that when it comes time for you to pick your uniform,
you choose the only one that offers complete protection, because you will need
it. There is simply no way around the
fact that you will be sacked in this game of life. You will be pushed back and pushed down and
pushed around. You will fall and fail
and flail, and You. Will. Be. Defeated. Life
is never a steady stream of successes. Life is a journey filled with smiles and
strikeouts, homeruns and hopelessness, goals and grief, touchdowns and
tragedy. Yes, there will be
accomplishments. Sometimes, you will
win. But there will also be setbacks and
suffering and soul-splitting experiences that will make you feel as though you
haven’t just lost the game . . . you’ve lost everything.
There
is only one uniform that will protect you from the realities of life and its
games, and that is the full armor of God. Oh what a beautiful uniform it is – the belt
of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of
salvation, the sword of the Spirit. You
would look magnificent in that uniform, my son.
And when you wear it, IF you choose to wear it, everyone will know whose team you’re on. Everyone will know you have chosen Jesus as
your coach and the Bible as your playbook and the joy of victory FOREVER.
You
see, you will never lose the game when you choose the right uniform and the
right team and the right coach and the right playbook. You will always win . . . because God always
wins.
If
you choose to spend your life playing for God, my son, your life will always be
worthy of a highlight reel. And your
prize . . . your prize will be so much better than a medal or a trophy or a
title.
Your prize will be eternity.
