2012 - Are You Ready?

Are you ready for 2012?  It doesn't really matter, because it's coming whether we're ready or not.  What will 2012 bring?  I think it is safe to say, that for all of us, it will bring some highs and some lows.  How high and how low, we don't know.  The year 1987 was a year that brought me to both extremes.  In July, my mom died from leukemia and in October my second child Eric, was born.  There was a lot of "stuff" going on in 1987, but those two events were certainly the lowest and highest points.

As I write, we are in the midst of college football bowl games.  I am reminded of the BCS National Championship game that was played on January 7, 2010.  Texas was playing Alabama.  Colt McCoy was the quarterback for Texas and had a Heisman-like career there.  Now he was at the culmination of all he had worked for and played for since he was young.

However, a mere five plays into the game, the 'Bama defense took McCoy down, injuring his throwing arm and knocking him out of the game - the most important game of his life.  However, at the end of the game, Colt stood in front of the a national TV audience in a post game interview and told the nation, "God's in control of my life and, if nothing else, I'm standing on the Rock."  Wow.  Great perspective from a 22 year old who just missed the most important game of his life.  None of us can imagine playing in front of a live crowd like that let alone a national TV audience of millions.

Up in the stands, a disappointed father, Brad McCoy was dealing with an exploding cell phone full of texts and voicemails all offering praise for his son's witness.  Later that night, when father and son finally hooked up, Colt said he wasn't even prepared for the speech.  "It was all just a blur."  To say that he didn't prepare to give it, may be true.  To say he wasn't prepared to give it was not.  His years of walking with the lord, of growing in spiritual wisdom and understanding, and relying on Christ to guide and direct his life had been the preparation.

Brad McCoy said of his son; "Colt's a believer.  He reads his Bible every night, and he studies, so he was definitely prepared.  It was just the timing and the situation.  It was probably the most profound message that could have been delivered at the time.  He could have won the national championship and been MVP and he never would have had an impact on the millions of people who watched that take place after a loss."

Colt's comments were; "Through all of this, God has shown me that, if the worst thing that has happened to me is getting hurt in the national championship game, then, while that may be huge to me, in the grand scheme of things, it's minor.  God has shown me that football is not who I am; it's what I do.  And if all of these things wouldn't have happened, I wouldn't have such a full, complete trust in Him.  I'm proud to have learned to trust God in a deeper way."  (Italics mine.)

So, I refer back to the post on December 28th.  Make 2012 a year in which we're soaked in God's word so that we're prepared for both the ups and the downs.  Let our ups and downs teach us to "trust God in a deeper way."