TLTAJ

Halftime Report

Football has often been described as a metaphor for life. A game of inches, won in the trenches, where any given Sunday a team can show up and take a victory. As a former player, I have used that many times.

Growing older, I have also thought of our lifetime in football terms too. Using 80 years as an optimistic game of life, you are playing 20 year quarters. There was peace, solace, and hope in the 2nd quarter of my life that I still had more years ahead than I had lived to date. When I turned 40 last year, I thought of that as halftime. Not as comforting as thinking of having more time left to play than had been played, but equal time left to go – not so bad.

Yesterday, on my 41st, its kind of hit me, I am in the 3rd quarter of my life, and there is a very high likelihood I have less years to live than I have lived….. yea…. let that sink in…heavy…. ugh… what do you even begin to do with that?

The thought of that reality has actually been something I have feared. While I am a Christian, a believer, and someone who has faith and hope of the promise of heaven…. death usually sends me into a panic attack. The whole idea of it being over, life, and the unknowns, and not knowing with certainty what eternity with those I love will be like sends chills all over me. I love my kids, my wife, my family… I do not want to think about not sharing life with them and making memories. There is still so much to do, things I want to do, need to do, and am capable of doing.

The reality though, is that tomorrow is not promised. I have no more guarantee to see 80 than I do 100 or even tomorrow. This is where faith plays a vital role. When we say we want to give it to God and let go, we are usually hanging on… but if we truly trust in God, we have to let go, not to is actually showing our lack of trust and our lack of faith in Him.

My Son, Be Wise
²⁷ Do not boast about tomorrow,
For you do not know what a day may bring forth.
Proverbs 27: 1 NKJV

Do Not Worry
²⁵ “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

²⁸ “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; ²⁹ and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not ^[l]arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

³¹ “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Mathew 6:25 – 34 NKJV

The Righteous Are Bold as a Lion
¹ He who trusts in his own heart is a fool,
But whoever walks wisely will be delivered.

Proverbs 28: 26 NKJV

Guidance for the Young
⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.

Proverbs 3: 5 – 6 NKJV

By Faith We Understand
¹ Now faith is the ^[a]substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 

Hebrews 11: 1 NKJV

3rd Quarter Game Plan

I am by no means cured of doubts, fears, and anxiety; about death and / or a litany of other things. What I am though, is focused on staying more present, fully letting go of things I pray for God to take, and be purposeful with my today’s, so no matter how many tomorrow’s I may have, they all bear fruit.

That is the game plan for the 3rd quarter, and to achieve that, my focus and perception of the field needs to evolve too. If I think about the 1st and 2nd quarters, they were very much focused around scoring touchdowns. Milestone driven… the car, the house, the marriages, the kids, the promotion, the title, the trips, the income, the this and that.

The journey and not the destination isn’t a new concept, shoot one of my blog iterations was even named after the poem “Two Roads”. I recently saw a reel on IG (during the Tik Tok ban lol) and it as a guy talking about the game of football and saying he thought he knew it but realized he didn’t. He went on to elaborate saying he thought he point of the game was to score touchdowns, but he realizes now it is really about achieving or pursuing 1st downs. He then tied the metaphor to life, saying that he is focused on 1st downs, knowing that enough first downs will lead to touchdowns. I really enjoyed that take and hadn’t thought of it in that way before. It’s very much akin to Mathew McConaughey’s Green Lights book and concepts.

This resonates with me and is a perspective I plan on adopting and making a central focus in my game plan for my 3rd quarter. One of may favorite scriptures from Proverbs talks about this in a way. I was clicking over to my Bible app to copy it for here, and it is the verse of the day for the day I am finishing writing this, so felt it was even more special to share here. I even have it inscribed on a necklace I wear:

“A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭16‬:‭9‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

There you have it, keeping it simple, and focusing on one first down to the next, working on and accomplishing goals we are setting for ourselves, for each other and our family. Keeping the belief and faith that is we focus on the work, and do the work, the outcomes we want, wish, hope, and pray for will follow.

Appreciate any of you readers our there, and indulging the ramblings of one man. I hope that something resonates with you and there is something, even if a laugh you can pull from these posts on here. I truly feel the huma experience is one that is meant to be shared, and when we do, we can learn and benefit from each other in great ways.

Stay Encouraged Friends,

The Average Joe