TGIF
They’re calling it the “Minnesota Miracle”
If you aren’t a football fan, what happened is this.
The Vikings were trailing the Saints in a playoff game with only ten seconds remaining.
The game was, for all intents and purposes, over.
It was going to be another crushing defeat for a team that has seemed to specialize in crushing defeats over it’s history.
Then what you see in the video happened.
Another defeat became one of the most unexpected victories in NFL history.
Adam Thielen of the Vikings said “that’s a God thing right there”…
Now, I don’t know if God is a Vikings fan (He hasn’t demonstrated such in the past) but Thielen has a point.
It’s a God thing to turn a history of defeat into blessing and victory.
Now, I am a lifelong fan of the Vikings.
Thus, I spent the week before this game accepting the fact that something bad would happen and losing was inevitable.
That’s just the way it goes for us.
Then I realized that that’s how I approach most of life.
The losses have piled up over the years and I have accepted that no matter how hard I try, defeat is inevitable.
The objective now is to deal with defeat with some modicum of dignity.
Then Diggs made this catch…
By the time the next game kicks off, I may believe it happened.
It happened.
It can happen again…not just in sports,but in life.
We serve a God of promises and even though it seems that the promises have failed before, you’re still in the game.
If you’re breathing, you’re still in the game.
It may seem like the clock is running out on a situation you are in, but the games not over.
Remember Abraham and Sarah…the clock had not only run out, it had rusted and stopped.
The promise of God still produced the miracle of Isaac.
There are promises to you, too.
Hang on to the promises and the Promise Maker in faith, not in preparation for defeat.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever…and he’s a lot better quarterback than Keenum.
Make your own application…
a God thing… i was watching the end of the game (didn’t stay with it from kick off all the way through)… as the quarterback threw that pass, i remarked it will take a miracle of God…. that was as far as i got as the next thing i knew i was yelling like a kid as Diggs did that pivot, didn’t go out of bounds and somehow staying on his feet … i sit like a buddha as i watch football these days – very dispassionate, but that was a once in a lifetime experience
“It’s a God thing to turn a history of defeat into blessing and victory.” AMEN worth repeating – we all need to hold that thought through difficult times… and the victory is the Lord’s
and the really big one will happen in the last 10 seconds…
sorry got carried away again 🙂
Michael, speaking of computers can your OS still be upgraded? (read the response to Dr. Duane)
Em,
By all means, feel free to get carried away…I think a lot us us are living lives of resignation instead of hope.
No, I can’t upgrade anymore…I’m stuck on El Capitan.
“You’re still in the game”
I like that.
I’ll make my own application…
Turning 50 recently had me thinking about my mortality and if anything is worth starting up or pursuing. But then I remember Grandma Moses…who painted at 100.
I’m still in the game.
And, by the way Michael, thanks for including Paul Allen’s call…I know he can be a homer, but that call is classic. By comparison (and not to bring up one of the many bad memories), listen to his call on that touchdown during the 2003 season of the Vikings-Cardinals game…the touchdown that knocked the Vikes out of the playoffs…
The Keenum to Diggs call perfectly balances out that call from 2003!
Dan,
I love homers…I’m listening to the game because I’m a fan of the team.
That’s my message for the day…we’re still in the game.
BTW Michael,
Not ripping Paul Allen AT ALL…loved listening to him on KFAN 9 to Noon while I lived in Minneapolis, and loved listening to his game calling too!
I hear you…and that call will be played at my funeral. 🙂
This TD almost gives me as much joy as watching the Cubs get the final out in the 2017 WS. Almost. 🙂
Didn’t take long for the NFL to block that video…
Loved the play… listened on the radio running an errand.
Love that the fans were not bailing out.
Love that there might be a home game for a Super Bowl team.
Love the lesson …
Love that the Vikings are not the Tigers … Then it would have been a cat story.
Hope it goes on…
BD,
“Love that the Vikings are not the Tigers … Then it would have been a cat story.”
LOL! 🙂
E-A-G-L-E-S, EAGLES!
That’s all I’ve got to say. Carry, on. 🙂
Kevin is probably a dog lover too…
#s 11 & 12 made me smile… My daughter the cat lover is rooting for the Eagles…
I refuse to conclude that the winner of that game will show who is the more devout Believer, Michael or Kevin. LOL
The only thing that tips my neutrality is the thought of the Vikings having the home field advantage in the Super Bowl… imagine a stadium full of hostiles thinking that coulda been us…. the world is massively quirky now…. or so it seems to me….
should the rapture occur before the game, remember Lot’s wife. ?
Sorry for the following Pats fans…
Want to see the Patriots in the Super Bowl…because the higher up you are, the greater the fall….
A remarkable game. To attribute miracle status is an insult to God who does real miracles. Remember the fiery furnace episode? The Lazarus incident? Etc. I know, relax right? Conformity to the world system happens by degree. Why, you wonder is the Church so powerless? Maybe there are so many distractions in this world that we seldom set our minds on the things above.
#15
I don’t agree.
Yeah.
Relax.
Nobody’s conflating this play with a heavenly miracle.
There’s one in every room…
Richard,
Pastorally, I learned a long time ago to never diminish anything that brought people joy or hope, no matter how theologically or practically insignificant.
If they believe God did this trifling thing to encourage them, I say “amen”.
It’s a sport of sort for some of the pious among us to do deny such.
There are many here just like me who are desperate for a little hope, a little light, a little joy, in the midst of difficult circumstances.
This play is irrelevant in the scope of redemptive history…but it brought a Godward perspective for me when my back was bowed under so much affliction.
You don’t have to receive it as such…but it takes a cold piety to deny it to others.
#15
Sigh…..
Maybe you have a point Richard. Just think how many people Jesus could’ve converted instead of wasting His time at a wedding and turning water into wine. Maybe he should’ve been more heavenly minded. ?
Richard H, I think you were right about distractions – we live in perilous times… teaching caution and self examination of our priorities is essential, no doubt
that said, IMV, a mature, well taught Believer can balance his life without being double minded and unstable…
Some have no use for games, some reserve their Sundays as Sabbaths with all waking hours edifying their souls in Scriptures (our host here was teaching his parishioners in lieu of game watching)… long ago you wouldn’t dare mow your lawn on Sunday
but our Lord just might enjoy the game, but it would be a stretch to claim He loves one team or their fans dunno
The Book does have some sports analogies… and it isn’t beyond the possible that He’ll answer an occasional frivolous prayer – IMHO – dunno
You have experienced loss but many of us have experienced very good things because of your blog…these last years. Thank You. Go Vikings.
Michael.
Do you think these promises are possible for a lifelong Charger’s fan? One Super Bowl loss in 50 odd years. I feel like a radical Islamist at an orthodox bar mitzvah.
Love this, Michael. He is the master of the unexpected!
“If you aren’t a football fan…” and my eyes glazed over.
But I watched the video and I smiled. Great victory.
Sheck, Go Chargers!!!
Captain Kevin
Born and raised in Oceanside, CA
Richard,
I’m sorry for my snarky reply to you.