hockey

Go Preds: Why I Love the Underdogs

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

I think I’d root for the Nashville Predators right now even if I weren’t living in Nashville. There’s just something about the underdog that makes me want to pull for them, even if the odds against them seem insurmountable.

I believe that God has a special place in His heart for underdogs. You really see it when you look at the birth narrative. The ones chosen to be first to witness the incarnate God in the flesh, Jesus, weren’t the high-ranking religious leaders or the well-to-do in-crowd-ers.

It was some smelly shepherds keeping watch over their flocks in the dead of night whom God appointed to be the first witnesses of Immanuel. They were the first evangelists who immediately took the news of Jesus and speed it everywhere they went.

I’d love to see the Preds win the Stanley Cup. Regardless of what happens from here, I think they’ve served the city of Nashville and their fans proud by the way they’ve persevered and overcome so much already.

I’m thankful that God still loves the outcasts and unwanted and underdogs of the world. There’s no one that God cannot love, that God cannot rescue, that God cannot save to the uttermost. I know because I was one of them. Maybe you were, too.

So I say, “Go Preds!” and “Go God!”

 

 

Nothing Shall Be Impossible

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I can hardly believe it. The Nashville Predators are headed to the Stanley Cup Finals.

This is like a movie script for one of those inspirational films like Rudy or Remember the Titans. I don’t think you could make up something as unlikely and improbable as this.

I confess. Halfway through the NHL regular season, I had given up on these Preds. I wasn’t sure they’d make the playoffs, much less do anything when they got there.

When I found out their first round opponent was the Chicago Blackhawks, I said we’d be lucky to win one game at the most.

Never have I been happier in all my life to eat my own words. I’m thrilled that I was not only wrong, but way off.

I’m still dreaming of the Press bringing the Stanley Cup back to Music City. That would be awesome for the city of Nashville as well as for professional hockey and the NHL. It might not be realistic, but then again, them being in the finals wasn’t either.

Maybe this is a God-wink for some of you to never stop believing in the impossible. Truly with God all things are possible. Or, like one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite pastors, with God, what seems impossible to us is not even remotely difficult for Him. Not even close.

Keep believing. Keep pursuing that dream. Keep praying for that loved one. Keep pulling yourself up out of bed every morning and making each day a new start.

Above all, keep trusting that God’s promises are truer than your circumstances or your feelings or your gut instinct or anything else or anyone else who tells you differently.

The old saying goes something like this: if it is to be, it is up to me.

I like this version a lot better: if it is to be, He is up to it!

 

 

Life Lessons from Round 1 of the NHL Playoffs

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I confess. I had little to no faith in my Nashville Predators to be able to beat those mighty Chicago Blackhawks in the first round of the NHL playoffs.

I boldly predicted that Chicago would take the series in five games (and I thought I was being generous to Nashville by giving them that one game). The regular season series between these two teams hadn’t gone well for the Preds. They managed to win that first game, but after that it got ugly.

I was wrong. Boy, was I wrong.

My Nashville Predators not only won the series but they swept those mighty Blackhawks. For the record, no 1 seed has ever been swept out of the first round in the 100-year history of the NHL. Nada.

I wonder how many of us have given up on a dream because we’ve already decided before we begin that it’s a lost cause. We’ve convinced ourselves not to even bother trying because it can only end in abject failure.

With God all things are possible.

Do you really believe that?

Do you believe it not as an abstract generality but as a specific reality meant for you?

I know that God’s not a celestial genie giving me whatever I want whenever I want it. Some of God’s best answers to prayer are no because that means a bigger and better yes is following, something I would never have dared to dream.

I also know that God is able. I’ve said it before (and credit again goes to Pete Wilson for this one) that what seems impossible to us isn’t even remotely difficult for God.

I’m hoping my Preds keep winning. It’d be awesome to see Nashville bring home the Stanley Cup (although that’s still a long shot). That kind of hope is along the lines of I hope I win the lottery.

I’m hoping God will keep His promises toward me and always do what’s best for me. That kind of hope is certain and secure, as sure as Jesus who made them is alive and sitting at the right hand of the Father.

Next time I might have a little more faith in the home team.