Play the game like you were dying

I was listening to an old Tim McGraw song called "Live Like You Were Dying" on the radio and it gave me pause to consider how appropriate this song was to many aspects of life and especially football. The chorus of the song goes:

He said

"I went skydiving I went Rocky Mountain climbing I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fumanchu And I loved deeper And I spoke sweeter And I gave forgiveness I'd been denying" And he said "Someday I hope you get the chance To live like you were dying"

The song reminds us of how short our time is on this earth and how we don't know when God will call us home. It encourages us to get out of our comfort zones, embrace the life God has called us to live and to interact with others through love and grace.

Football is one of the few sports you are not able to participate in once you have left. Older men don't find football pads and suit up for one more game. Very few football players are ever afforded the opportunity to play past the age of 18 and even fewer past college.

It is also a sport which has no equal in my estimation. I have played competitively football, basketball, baseball, golf, rugby, tennis, swimming, cricket and field hockey and can say without question none can provide the warrior like elements found in football.

I would be lying if I said I don't miss it and all of my fondest competitive moments were formed on a football field.

As my oldest son and our other seniors prepare for their senior football season, they have no idea if this will be their last season. For most, it will be. My advice to them and all other players is to play the sport as though today is your last day.

There are a host of reasons you might never get another opportunity so embrace each practice and game as though it is your last. Realize football is a season in life and a very short one.

King Solomon wrote

"For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven," Ecclesiastes 3:1.

God uses the seasons in our lives to shape us, help us deal, and create us into who He intended us to be. He uses seasons to show us that He is good and can “make everything beautiful for its own time” (verse 11). Seasons (be they good or bad) are ways for God to capture our hearts and our faith.

Listening to how the song ends:

Like tomorrow was a gift

And you've got eternity

To think about

What you'd do with it

What could you do with it

What did I do with it?

What would I do with it?

Don't let the opportunities in life pass you by. Live like you are dying, play like you are dying, pray like you are dying, and love like you are dying.