The Winning Team
The food is ready to go and the drinks are chilling. The house is mostly clean – mostly the bathrooms and the TV room. We’ll root for the underdog team because our team wasn’t even close and we like rooting for the underdogs. We’ll watch the commercials and pick a favorite. We’ll talk when the game is boring, sharing our stories, and we’ll watch if there’s real excitement on the field. It’s a typical Super Bowl Sunday. Friends and family gathered to enjoy a game that will never affect our lives once it’s over.
And in the midst of the revelry, the many ways we are tearing ourselves apart will knock insistently on my heart. This is bigger than whose team will win or whether the refs made the right calls or whether the half-time show was entertaining. These are the super issues, the things that will affect our lives and the lives of our children and grandchildren. So today, even as I watch the game, my heart will pray:
- For the thousands of women, girls and boys who are the victims of human trafficking
- For babies stolen from the womb and thrown in the garbage
- For the hungry and the homeless
- For the people with no hope of finding a safe place in the world to call home
- For those with special needs who are laughed at
- For those suffering from mental illness who cannot find help or refuse to accept help
- For the elderly who sit alone and unwanted and abused
- For people who suffer from racism in all its forms
- For politicians more concerned with self than with their constituents
Prayer is a powerful tool. Today I will pray, and tomorrow I will help where I can through donations and actions and raising awareness. And every moment of every day I will work to remember that I am first and foremost on Team Christ. May I live my life with the integrity and compassion to which He calls me.
My dear friend Donna,
I read each of your posts, and every time I say, “Wow, she has such a gift”. I get a lot of comments because I work for a Pro-life clinic. I work in a place that helps lives in a dignified manner.
These are super issues, these are real, everyday issues that I see now everyday at work. I believe I was sent here on purpose. I believe that I was meant to be on Team Christ. Where does this comes from? You Donna. Your words of wisdom, your words of encouragement, turned me back in the correct direction. Thank you for your posts, thank you for who you are- you truly have a gift.
You have always done important work, changing young lives through teaching. God has been holding you in his heart for a very long time. Now it’s your turn to hold fragile hearts through the work you do, helping others find their way back to God’s open arms.
Beautifully written Donna. I will join my prayers to the incredibly important “prayers of your heart”.
Thank you, Ann. Prayer is powerful!