On Sunday morning I preached what turned to be a prophetic sermon. I used the Super Bowl as a "hook" for my sermon and took a sharply pro-Saints stance. Yet I wasn't at all confident they could win the big game. The Colts are just so cold, clinical, and seemingly unstoppable! And for the first half of the game it did seem like the Colts were in control. Remember that the New Orleans Saints are known for having one of the worst franchine records in the NFL. They are famously futile in their efforts to win.
But all that is the past now after a glorious come-back from a 10 point deficit. What a game! The Saints knew that they would have to take some risks, so risk they did. Even though they didn't all payoff (remember that 4th and short at the Colt's goal line?), when it mattered they came up big. How about that Offside kick to start the second half? Or the interception on Payton Manning that all but sealed the game? Amazing.
I must say, I was a little nervous when I smoked my yearly Super Bowl Halftime Cigar on the back deck--but after the game I almost had another!
Yet the best moment, for me, was after the game when Drew Brees (The Saints' Quarterback) held his 1 year-old son Braylen in his arms. Drew was crying and whispering to his son, who wears earphone at games to protect his hearing. I could totally imagine how Drew felt. How proud he was to hold his son in his arms and share that triumph.
Yes, winning would have meant something to Payton Manning, but for Drew Brees, a Quarterback that was passed over in his career, it meant redemption. It meant that the commitment that he and his coach had made to New Orleans had worth it. What joy. What beauty!
-t
No comments:
Post a Comment