So Close

I admit I didn’t have a dog in the fight, proverbially speaking. I was sorta kinda hoping that the 49ers could pull off a Super Bowl win, but I wasn’t going to cry myself to sleep if the Chiefs won. I respect and admire both coaches and both teams. Both quarterbacks seem to have a solid faith in God and Jesus.

It turned out to be a Super Bowl for the ages. If you’re a Chiefs fan. I mean how many Super Bowl games go into overtime? Only two that I’m aware of. And it was a battle royale of back and forth to the very end.

My heart goes out to those 49ers. They came so close, so very close. Literally it was a matter of inches. If that extra point is a few inches higher, it doesn’t get blocked and the game possibly has a different outcome. If that player falls on the muffed punt instead of trying to pick it up and run with it, the game might have taken a different trajectory.

Instead, those 49er fans are left with what ifs and what could have beens. As a Titan fan I can relate. I think about that 2000 Super Bowl where Kevin Dyson ended up one yard short of the end zone in their loss to the St. Louis Rams.

I know people will say that in time, it won’t hurt as much. If I want to find out the Super Bowl winners from more than a few years ago, I usually gave to google them. Life goes on and a new day dawns and all that.

But for now, it still stinks. At least for the 49ers team and fans.

True Faith

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Well, my team lost again. I was rooting for the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl and they got oh-so-very-close, but still lost. Thus continues my streak of rooting for the losing team. But I’ll keep rooting for my teams, even if they keep losing.

Some will tell you that faith means that if you believe hard enough, everything will go your way and you will always get what you want and all your dreams will come true. I think that’s partially true. Sometimes, you believe and you receive what you want. But not always.

I think true faith is shown when you see no sign of your prayer getting answered, but you still keep believing the impossible. Your faith deepens and grows when you don’t get what you asked for and when the silence of heaven seems to be your only answer.

I’ve said it a lot lately, but I believe it more than ever before– God is the absolute best at making the impossible possible. He’s the only one who can speak life out of nothing, who can bring a whole universe into being by speaking it.

A church were I attended for a few months has a saying, “Everyone’s welcome. Nobody’s perfect. Anything’s possible.” As of right now, I officially made that my motto. I think it serves as a good model for Christianity.

Jesus will never turn away anyone who comes to him in faith. Nobody gets it right all the time and every one of us has royally screwed up at least once. And no matter how bad your situation is or how far away your dreams seem, it’s never too late and you’re never too far gone to see God show up, for with him all things are possible.

So you’ll probably hear me wailing and gnashing my teeth again after next year’s Super Bowl. But I’m not giving up hope that my team will win one day. And I’m especially not giving up hope on my God. He’s all I really have, anyway.