The Super Bowl is this weekend. Americans will gather around televisions to eat, cheer, and eat some more. Apparently, we’ll eat more than a billion chicken wings on Sunday. And then there is the Meat Weave/Bacon Explosion/Meat Missile that is making the rounds…
Heart-attack inducing foods aside, this weekend’s football game will probably feature a comeback or two. At the least, there will be the threat of a comeback. That will, in a trite way, make a meaningless football game a lot like life.
When we look back, isn’t life just a series of comebacks. I can think of about a thousand different comebacks I’ve been a part of in the last few years. In relationships, there are comebacks (and make-ups). In school, there are comebacks (and miracles on final exams). In careers, there are comebacks (and promotions). In ministry, there are comebacks (and movements of the Holy Spirit).
Sometimes, the greatest moments in life are the ones when the comebacks didn’t take. There are break-ups, failures, lay-offs, and closed doors. Still, each obstacle is an opportunity for innovation. And, in hindsight, there are lessons in all of life’s steps and missteps.
So on Sunday evening, when Kurt Warner starts to bring the Arizona Cardinals back from the jaws of defeat, take a moment to appreciate the comeback in a little bit deeper way.
I’ll be watching the game with my wife, who once was angry and staged a comeback to be the sweetest woman on earth. My sister-in-law will be there, a former approval junkie who has come back as a God-honoring servant. My cousin will be there, a disaster that God has reclaimed as a vessel of grace and beauty.
I’ll be there too. I was once a womanizing, drunk, self-concerned, self-destructive train-wreck in a nicely managed exterior. God intervened. There was a comeback. Surrounded by the blessings of a wife I don’t deserve and a daughter that I cannot begin to comprehend, I will smile. God loves an underdog. I love a good comeback.
What is your comeback story?
