Well, what's new since I last posted? The semester has started with a flurry of snow, reading, and chaos; I've taken control of the high score list on our "Michael Jackson: The Experience" game for the Wii; and, oh yeah, my Steelers are headed to Dallas for complete NFL domination.
You knew that was coming, right?
The Steelers in the Super Bowl - who would have thought that at the beginning of the season? Roethlisberger was suspended (for reasons obviously everyone knows and I won't waste my time talking about), and the world thought that they couldn't do anything without him. And really, they had some reasoning behind it. Like him or hate him, Ben is a great athlete. He was most recently described as a "snow plow," because he's so big that it's nearly impossible to tackle him. With the possibility of him being out for 6 games, their season looked bleak.
They had other plans. The team went to a 3-1 start with their backup quarterbacks, and when Ben came back, it was all business. People looked down on them, and said that they weren't good enough. They wouldn't beat the Ravens to get the number one seed. But they did. After their bye week, they couldn't possibly beat the Ravens again to make it to the AFC Championship game. But they did. And after all that, there was no way they could beat fast talking Rex Ryan and his Jets.
You all know the story.
After the game, reporters crowded around Roethlisberger as he hid his head in a championship shirt, taking in the moment. He was overwhelmed at the situation - from the charges and hate and negativity of a few months earlier, to realizing he was on his way to his third Superbowl. The ultimate redemption story.
Except for one.
People were getting pretty shady - sinning all the time, not following God, doing all sorts of bad stuff. Everyone knew it, but they didn't care. They just kept on doing what they were doing. They figured the small amount of things they were doing "right" in their eyes would be enough. It wasn't going well for them, though. God knew that they were going to get in some serious trouble if action wasn't taken. The people weren't going to turn their ways around, and so He sent someone in to bail them out. He sent the only person that was right for the job - His son, Jesus.
Jesus went to Earth and started getting the misfits together - not the people you would expect to help redeem the entire world. But He chose them over others. In the end, Jesus gave His life for us so we would be free from sin - the ultimate redemption.
"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace." - Ephesians 1:7.Here in Ephesians it tells us just that. It doesn't really get any simpler than that.
So here's your NR challenge for this crazy post (and I'm sorry it's so crazy; I'm completely exhausted from drama tonight and Blogger wouldn't let me on for the longest time!). Take the time to acknowledge the redemption given you from Jesus. It's something better than any other thing that could ever be given to you - your very own spiritual Superbowl ring.
Roethlisberger was in awe over something as trivial as a football game. Shouldn't we be in complete wonder over something as incredible as God's grace?
Are you in?
-Kimber.
