“The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety. He is my refuge, my savior, the one who saves me from violence. I called on the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and he saved me from my enemies.” — 2 Samuel 22:2-4 (NLT)
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For the past several months I’ve been scrambling. Well, let’s be honest, more like frantically running, like I was being chased. Running from what, you ask? From the sneaky little things that serve as distractions in my life. Recently I’ve been able, by the grace of God, to see and acknowledge that there was a massive disconnect in my writing and that I was using multiple distractions as an excuse not to write.
Furthermore, I felt like I had lost my motivation to write, therefore distancing myself further from my calling and purpose. Now that I am aware of these truths, I am trying to run from those distractions, sneaky and inconspicuous as they may be, because I now realize the truth that they pull me from fulfilling my true purpose — to love and serve God and others fully.
Having been raised in a football family in a small, rural town in Missouri, I knew the positions, play calls, formations and so on. Yet I didn’t play the same position my dad and older brother had played during their high school years: quarterback (also known as the “field general”). During my three years of high school football, I often lined up the farthest possible spot from where the action began — at the line of scrimmage. As a wide receiver, I was more or less on an island without protection. Oftentimes I thought the other players had forgotten about me, and quite frankly, maybe they had. A quarterback has many options to choose from on any given play. But they’re the ones who need the protection. As we so often hear from analysts on television speaking about the type of quarterback a player is, a question typically asked is, “Can he withstand the pressure in the pocket?”
Maybe that question defines what keeps following me in life. Am I able to withstand the pressure, the temptations, the responsibilities that this life presents? Answer: I feel I’ve gotten better, but looking at my past record, my stats show I played a sloppy first half. So where does the inspiring message come into play? From within. God has equipped us as believers with everything we need to withstand the daily blitzes, the different coverages the devil will attempt to use to fluster our production, and the “delay of game” penalties when we allow those interruptions to distract us from our true calling of loving and serving Him and others.
Ask any quarterback who or what his most valuable asset is on the field, and more times than not he’ll credit his offensive line — the ones in the trenches that offer dependable protection to their MVP. Why would we think God wouldn’t offer His own children His own dependable protection on a daily basis?
Keep your eyes on Him, plant your feet, throw off distractions, and release your purpose for all the world to see. He will always have your back. How do I know this? It’s written in the playbook of life: the Bible.
Dear Great Protector, we thank You for Your uninterrupted dependable protection. When we get pressured or even sacked, it’s often because we’ve momentarily taken our eyes off of You and have tried to scramble our way of our own accord. Equip us with the appropriate play calling so that we may continue our good works here on earth. And when we’re in doubt, give us that much-needed “pep talk” to encourage us not to waver in our faith. We ask these things in Your Son’s name, amen.
— Bryce Morrow
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