The Running Clock
“God isn’t late with His promise,
as some measure lateness. He is restraining Himself on account of you, holding
back the End because He doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space
and time to change.” 2
Peter 3:9
Duffy Daugherty,
former Michigan State Football Coach, once famously stated, “A tie is like
kissing your sister.” While I have
only had brothers in my lifetime (whom I can’t recall kissing), I get the
analogy as describing the neutral feeling one gets from a non-passionate smooch. Grandmas apply here as well. However, as a
newly indoctrinated U.S.A. World Cup fan, I have to disagree with Duffy’s
approach. A tie in soccer can be
exhilarating. Especially if the U.S.A. falls behind Portugal
and the climb seems greater than Mount Everest
in a blizzard.
Now don’t get me
wrong. To be honest, soccer has been an acquired taste for me just like coffee
was in college. I didn’t like it right away, but over time, you start to
appreciate the nuances. It was far less
about soccer and a lot more about me. Just
scan the world and you’ll realize that it is the most popular event on the
planet. In countries across the globe,
rabid fans fill vacuous stadiums by the droves to catch a glimpse of their
favorite teams. European and South American Soccer Leagues are drawing the
throngs like ants to a picnic potato salad. Even as popular as it is, there are
things about soccer that are counter-intuitive to my athletic pedigree of
typical American sports. Consider a few:
1) The
clock counts up rather than down.
2) The
clock doesn’t stop for time lapses.
3) Minimal
scoring often occurs - while we like big numbers in the 5’s (baseball), 10’s
(football), and 100’s (basketball).
Now most of these
viewpoints came pre-interest. But, oh, it’s a different story now. The light bulb has slowly illuminated and I
see it differently. These players are extremely gifted:
1)
The
endurance, agility and skill set are immense.
2)
While
most American sports are decided in 7 minutes (baseball), 12 minutes
(football), or 48 minutes (basketball), soccer is 90 minutes of non-stop action.
3)
While
I struggled to see the minutia of skills with players, you realize the accuracy
and speed in which they play as in a different stratosphere.
However, one
perplexing delineation of soccer that was really hard to swallow in the recent
Portugal contest was the random adding of time at the end of the game.
Statistics revealed that Portugal had never lost a World Cup match after taking
the lead at the beginning of the game, and the U.S. had never recovered after
going behind early. But recover “we”
did. The U.S.A. made a valiant surge and
tied the game at 1-1 in the second half with another goal catapulting us to the
lead. Pandemonium erupted with the
20,000 or so U.S. fans in the Brazilian Stadium and the millions more around
the world. Now it was just a matter of “running out the clock” because that is
what you do in America sports. When you
get ahead, it is not so much about how many more points you can score, but how you
can keep the other team from scoring and how quickly you can get the seconds to
tick off the clock. But this isn’t your
typical American sport.
Unbeknownst to me, a
referee can arbitrarily add “time to the clock” and I don’t like that one bit (especially
if my team is ahead and we are just trying to get to the 90 minute mark). Can you imagine watching the Super Bowl, 1
minute to play, and your team is up by 6 and the referees decide to add 5 more
minutes to the game? You would pop a
blood vessel. We don’t do that…and I
don’t like it one bit (unless my team is
behind and then I like it a whole lot).
Time is time…and that’s all there is to it. But apparently it is understood by both teams
due to special exceptions of breaks and assessed needs during the game and the
time is added.
You know what
happened. While the U.S. won the
90-minute battle, Portugal tied us with less than 30 seconds left in the
95-minute one. Everyone find your sister…and give her a great big lip-lock
as Duffy would say. But truthfully, it
was a moral victory. We were behind, Portugal missed about 3 goals that could have
gone in, and we still get a shot at Germany on Thursday.
The more I think
about it, the more I feel that soccer is more theologically accurate than most
of the sports I’ve known and played. While I still prefer the clock counting down,
higher scores, and tie-breakers, God is into adding time even though the clock
should have run out a long time ago.
Peter tells us, “God isn’t late with His promise
as some measure lateness. He is restraining Himself on account of you, holding
back the End because He doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space
and time to change.” (2 Peter 3:9)
Translation: He’s added time to the clock so that more
people can get into heaven. While the time should have
run out a long time ago, He has extended it for us to bring more people to
Christ. While I didn’t like the
referees’ decision on Sunday, I like the Great Judge’s decision to “give
everyone space and time to change.” Now
that’s a rule I can get behind!
Terry
Risser
Reflections:
1) What role is God calling you to play in
God’s extension of time?
2) Pray for someone today whom He is calling
to salvation.
Consider reading the Word today:
Copyright
2014- Terry Risser
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