By our own amazing Groom photographer, Seth Ritter.
You've probably heard us yelling all the way from Groom at our football games! The Groom Tigers are the Cinderella story. They already had a great team, but their former coach moved to another school about 2 weeks before football practice started. As you can imagine, there were no coaches to be found. The Groom assistant coach, Larry Roskens, and the girls basketball coach, Tony Dodson, stepped up to coach this team. They are class-act coaches and they've done an amazing job. These boys are a great group of guys-- humble, full of character, polite, and respectful--and many are involved in the youth activities of our church. And they play great football---as a TEAM! It's so fun to watch them play together. I'd never seen 6-man football until I came here. It's much faster-paced and a game can be over at half-time if one team outdistances another team by 45 points....which has happened numerous times. This team could have faltered this year--but coaches and parents have encouraged and challenged them. So instead, they're headed to the State play-offs at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. As you can imagine, the adrenaline is raging and our little town is going CrAzY with excitement!!
And then there's the flu. Groom has been hit hard the last couple of weeks with the flu--kids and adults alike. Classrooms have had one-third to half of their kids out sick. People are being extremely cautious and going to the doctor early to try to kick this stuff. People are graciously staying home if they feel the least bit sick. Parents have stayed home as the flu has quickly passed from one child to the other. We've had to cancel our children's activities this Wednesday night because of it....just too many sick and we want to stop this stuff! Parents are using essential oils and poking vitamins down their kids hoping it will prevent them from getting sick. We don't want our team and coaches sick with the flu--we want them playing their hearts out this Saturday!!
As I thought about it this morning, I started thinking about our spiritual welfare. It's so important to be just as diligent about our life strategy and our spiritual check-ups. Are we loving God with our heart, soul, mind & strength? Are we loving our neighbor as ourselves? Are we imitating Jesus Christ? Are we being holy as He is holy? Are we living set-apart lives? Do people see a difference between us and the world? Are we giving off the aroma of Christ? Is our light shining? Is our relationship with Jesus enticing others to Him? Are we more focused on Jesus than the world? Are we listening to God--spending time with Him? Are we concerned with our testimony?
I'm praying that with both our physical & spiritual check-ups we'll all succeed---in football and in life! I want to finish well with both. How exciting would it be if we won State? And how much more exciting would it be to hear, "Well done, my good and faithful servant?" I don't think we can even imagine what it would be like to have the praise of our Father. But I'm thinking the Groom Tigers are getting a small, earthly taste of what it's like.
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