Chances

            This is the time for tournaments.  Next week, the high school football playoffs will start, and we found out today that both the Sully Buttes Chargers and the Potter County Battlers qualified for them.  High school volleyball tournaments start not long after that.  And in professional sports, the baseball playoffs are going on, which will soon lead to the World Series.

            It’s an exciting time for a sports fan.  One of the things that makes it so exciting is that in a tournament, you basically get one chance.  If you win, you advance.  If you lose, you’re done.  Period.  If you mess up, there are no second chances.  It doesn’t matter which team was better during the regular season.  You have to be the best now.  If you’re not, you’re out.

            That makes it really exciting, but it’s also kind of unfair.  A really good team can have a bad night.  A bad team can have a really good night.  And sometimes, it’s not that you played better or worse, it’s just that all the breaks went one way.  If they went your way, you’re thrilled, but if they didn’t, you’re disappointed.  You didn’t even get beaten, really, you just had bad luck the one time you needed good luck.

            Tournaments are exciting in sports, but it’s wonderful that God doesn’t work that way.  God doesn’t just give us one chance.  If we mess up, God gives us a second chance.  And if we mess up that one, God will give us a third chance, and a fourth chance, and a fifth chance.  God understands how flawed and imperfect we humans are.  God understands that we’re going to mess up a lot.  So God keeps giving us another chance to get it right.

            So if you’ve messed up some things in your life, ask God for forgiveness.  When we do, God will give us another chance.  Take advantage of that chance.  God will keep working with us until we get it right.