Today would be a great day for old, traditional, American football. It is sunny, icy, and a good hard frost; all that we need is a good snow and we could be right back with Green Bay Packers in the days of the real game. Even though it was never that cold, I always associate today with the Rose Bowl and the USC Trojans.
The game started right with food being delivered to our select viewing position while we watched kids too big to fit into any clothes that I knew existed fight for control of the field. Anyone coming into the game with pretensions or arrogance was dealt with by the realities of size, quickness, strength, determination, and brute willpower. In this game people who had no standing remained that way.
As the years moved on so did much of what made that particular day’s tradition. English premiership football replaced the Rose Bowl, parades are now the life telecast of a half marathon, and life continues. The arrogant are still find life difficult to stand in, and those with no standing often find life difficult to accept.
You and I are on the receiving end of something special from God. He “smashes the pretensions of the arrogant; he stands with those who have no standing.” (Proverbs 15.25) God is powerful yet that it not what he uses to deal with the arrogant. God is all knowing yet that knowledge does not slow he response to the wickedness in your life and mine, in fact it seems to make it even more intense. God selected you and me not because of our strength, wisdom, or beauty; he created us and looks at us as only a parent can do when his special children are need of help.
I cannot imagine facing the Trojans on the field. Their size alone would cause me to run for my life, even though I know they could run farther and faster than I could. Thank God we do not need to face life alone. God is here now; look out!
