With the kick-off of the new NFL season, we wanted to launch our own season: a “Season of Inspiration.” Since we’re in Texas, where football is such a mighty part of the fall landscape, we thought it’d be fun to reflect on God from the gridiron. So each weekend over the course of the season we will feature an Inspiration piece sparked by football, however tangentially. Could be a game, a player, a memory, a news account, an athlete’s testimony, a sports movie, even a Scripture-quoting mascot. We leave that to the Stream writers who’ve joined the team and the Lord’s inspiration.

We hope this series is a blessing.

My skinny fingers barely stretched across the laces of that junior sized pigskin. But I was determined to send it sailing through the air with a proper spiral — just as Dad showed me. Sometimes he helped gather kids and their dads in our front yard for a neighborhood match. With tube socks tucked in our back pockets, we ran barefoot plays, dodged trees, and hopped over fire ant mounds.

Flag football was one of the first sports I played with my dad. But it was hardly the only. 

From flag football with tube socks, tournaments with .22 rifles to the basketball state championship we crushingly lost my senior year, Dad was there.

Teaching Me About Sports, He Reflected God’s Love

Whether he wanted me to play quarterback against the neighbors or attempt a fade-away shot in the driveway, my dad pushed me beyond my comfort zone. So does God. Yes, he accepts us where we are. But he never expects us to stay there. With loving grace, he calls us to follow his lead — often to unfamiliar places and tasks we think we can’t handle.

After a game or even a front-yard scrimmage, my dad didn’t shy away from pointing out my mistakes. After all, how could help my team if I kept making bad passes? How could I score if I kept running straight into the opponent’s traps? God does the same. He exposes our sin. He points out our weaknesses. And through the Holy Spirit, he gives us power to overcome.

The author, second from left, plays flag football with family.

Dad knew that if I ever quit, it would harm me down the road. If I gave up every time I made a mistake or couldn’t get a play right, I’d always be a quitter. That’s why during basketball years, he pushed me to keep shooting free throws long after the thud of June bugs flying into our porch light accompanied the thud of my ball bouncing off the rim yet again. 

Walking the straight and narrow can be a lot like playing sports. It’s fun while you’re overcoming. But soon you’ll encounter a new obstacle. A technique you have to practice over and over till your whole body aches. In those moments, it seems like the game — the faith — was never worth it.

But like Dad, God knows that throwing in the towel when it gets hard will only harm us. That’s why he commands us to stay the course, even when temptation to give up seems overwhelming.

Not Defined By Mistakes on the Field

The greatest thing about Dad’s involvement in my sports activities? I never doubted that he loved me and was proud of me. 

Players often define themselves by their mistakes. The missed shots. The bad passes. The ugly fouls. But a good dad won’t let his kid obsess over those mistakes. He’ll acknowledge the sloppy passes. He’ll even discipline his kid for moments of poor sportsmanship. But he’ll remind his child of his potential — the potential only a dad can see. And with love and encouragement, he’ll help his child achieve it.

That’s how God is. We’re not defined by our mistakes, but by what he sees in us: Namely, the blood of his son Jesus Christ. Blood sacrificed so we don’t have to be defined by our sin.  

My dad helped inspire a love of sports in me, and flag football in the yard was just one way he did that. Through that love of sports, he gave me so much more. He showed me what an excellent father God is to us. 

And God will be that father to anyone who asks.