“All I know most surely about morality and obligation I owe to football”,
Abraham
Hebrews 11:8-11
The writer highlights three experiences in Abraham's life, that became turning points in his faith journey, to paint a picture of what it means to live by faith.
Abraham:
1 Left his homeland at God's command, not knowing where he was going.
2 Settled in a foreign land believing that God would make it his land.
3 Believed God that Sarah would bear him a son when all human reason told him it could not happen.
It is unlikely that any of us will be called by God to take such radical steps but the principle is the same. As we play/coach/administer or minister in sport, we are called to do it by faith. At times God will lead into situations that surprise us and which are against human logic. How do we react? By faith
The journey I have been on for the past 3 years is not one I would have chosen. How have I survived - by faith (most of the time!)
Whitney Kuniholm says that we are prone to see "living by faith is some kind of Star Trek adventure where we 'boldly go where no man has gone before'." It is rather following a God who has gone before and who knows where he wants us to go and who will go there with us.
The former Leeds United chaplain, John Jackson, used to say, “I don't go to the football club to take God in. He is already there. I just go in case he needs an errand boy!"