CHARGER NATION GAME #2

CHARGER NATION,

       Game #2 is here!  We just started practice four weeks ago and we have already played a scrimmage and about to play our second game.  The season flies by.  Tonight we play Jonesboro.  Jonesboro is an AAAAAA about twenty minutes away in Clayton County.  Last year they were our toughest opponent and we squeaked by 8-2.  They have very good skill players on offense and on defense they are very good.  It will be another battle.  They are not happy they lost to us last year.  We will need to be play great football if we are to win.
      This week we had the great eclipse.  I didn’t pay too much attention to exactly what was supposed to happen.  In my small mind I figured if the moon covers up the sun it will get dark.  I’m sitting there waiting for it to get dark and it really never does.  The moon was blocking something like 98 percent of the sun and it felt like a partly cloudy day.
       To me it was a great example of how sin (darkness) cannot overcome Jesus Christ (light).  I have always thought the sun metaphorically is like Christ.  Without the sun none of us exist.  I’m sure some science teacher will email and correct me on all of this but I think we rotate around the sun and the gravitational pull of the sun holds everything in place.  I could be wrong in all of that---but the point is this: We have life because of God and He is the center of all things and we all should be orbiting around him.  He is light and exposes the darkness.  He causes growth.  Without him there is death.  (**No I don’t worship the sun and in no way think the sun is God.  Everything that God has created points back to him.)
       I looked at the Eclipse and thought this is a great example of the world we live in.  Adam and Eve were lucky enough to live in the midst of the full glory of God.  God shined forth in his full brightness.  Then Adam and Eve sinned and God’s brightness was covered by sin.  Hours before the eclipse the sun is shining forth in its full power with not a cloud in the sky and then suddenly the moon dims the sun.  To me this was sin: When sin came into the world it blocked us from seeing and experience the full majesty and radiance of God.  God didn’t go anywhere but sin separated man from experiencing the full glory and power of God.  We now live in a world that is dim: A world stained by sin.
       When I talk about a world stained by sin I mean the world we see when we turn the news on: Evil.  People hate each other for no reason.  People hate, lie, cheat, steal, etc.  Evil resides in us and then it pours out.  Apart from Christ, people are darkness.  We can see this clearly when we watch the news.  A whole bunch of people residing in darkness makes for a hostile world!
BUT this is what I noticed during the eclipse:  The moon was blocking almost all of the sun and you had to try and notice that it had gotten darker outside.  Everyone is disappointed because they thought the moon was going to fully block the sun and it was going to be dark.  It never got dark which was the huge let down.  2% of the sun is shining and there was very little darkness.  The sun is powerful!  And this to me was the world we now live in.  We live in a world 99 % covered in sin and evil.  But God remains and his 1% shining exposes the darkness.  The Light defeats the darkness.  Just a little bit of God shining forth destroys the darkness!  The darkness tries and covers the light but it cannot.  Satan and evil cannot stop God.  The moon covered up 98% of the sun and if no one would have told us an eclipse was going on we wouldn’t have thought twice about it.  2% of God can destroy 100% of evil. (I’m not saying you only need 2% of Jesus.)
        As a Christian, I live in a sin stained world.  I live in a world in which God’s full radiance and power cannot be experienced in this physical body.  But we still see by his great mercy!  Evil came into the world but it does not prevail.  I long for the day when we can see God in his full power and glory.  The day when we can live in a world not corrupted by sin.  The day when I can live in a body that is not wretched and prone to wonder.
         But until that day, Jesus Christ has come that we may live in the light.  In this world, our physical bodies will never experience the totality of the glory of God, but our hearts and our inner being can.  We can never experience it apart from the sinful flesh, but Christ has come that He may live in our inner being and experience the fullness of God.  If we do not have Christ in our hearts then we are in udder darkness.  We are traveling in this world with the moon covering 100 percent of the sun.  We may be moving in a direction but we do not have a clue where we are going and we are blinded to the swamp we might be walking in and the alligators that will soon eat us.  We even take our families into the swamp with us.  But with Christ living in us, the light prevails and we can now see where we are going and experience the fullness of joy in Christ.  We can navigate through the swampy waters because we can see by the Light that resides in us (Christ).
         The eclipse was a reminder:  Do not live in darkness.  Live in Christ.  Expose every area of your life and have no secrets.  If you are struggling in an area tell a Christian brother and sister and have them hold you accountable.  Surround yourself with like-minded people and do not lie about the sin that dwells in you.  Push each other and challenge each other to live a life worthy of Jesus Christ.  Challenge one another to live life in the Spirit so that darkness will not prevail.  Strive everyday to live more and more in the Spirit.  Expose the darkness that dwells within you through the power of Jesus Christ living in you.  For “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

“The horse is made ready for the day of battle but victory belongs to the Lord.”  (Proverbs 21:31)

BEAT JONESBORO!


Wholly for Christ,

Coach Gess