Monday Ministerial Musings
By Rev. Mark William Ennis
2023 Blog #43
October 30, 2023
Prayerful Playing
Several weeks ago, I was invited to attend a high school football game in the nearby town of Dumont. I was invited by a church family whose oldest son, Tyler, is a senior player and the seniors were to be honored before the game that evening.
To say that Tyler’s family has been a part of this congregation is an understatement. He and his brother are part of the church as are his parents. His late grandparents were part of the church as were his two great grandparents. He has a long legacy in our congregation.
Most of our family met with Tyler’s family for the game. It was my oldest Grandson’s first live football game. My daughter, wife, and I had not been to a high school football game since we were in high school. Not much has changed since I last saw such a game in the 1970’s.
Adolescents were acting silly like we all did at that age. Parents ran two snack booths to raise money for various causes. The band played loudly, and the cheer leaders were doing chants and flips on the sidelines. Pictures of all the senior class players lined the fence surrounding the field. Of course, Tyler’s family and my family posed in front of Tyler’s pictures. At last, we settled down in our seats and the teams came out onto the field.
“Watch Tyler,” his mother said.
I looked up in time to see Tyler, who wore number 77, walk away from his teammates, and go by himself to an isolated part of the field. I was not sure what he was doing and why he had left his team mates to be by himself, but his motive became clear in a few minutes. By himself, he knelt to pray. I couldn’t have been prouder when I saw Tyler.
Here was a young man praying before playing. I wonder how many other players or people in the stands noticed this and were influenced by Tyler. Besides the obvious example that Tyler showed I appreciate his desire to pray before any important endeavor. Are we, the grown-ups, who are supposed to set an example, as faithful in showing an example to others.
Are we as ready to pray before we do something important? Do we pray before doing something important or is prayer something we acknowledge in theory but not in practice. Do we do our work without inquiring what God wishes us to do? Without such prayer are we really doing God’s work or perhaps our own work as we pretend, we are doing God’s work?
If we set out to do important work for God, I suggest we, do it prayerfully. How else will we know what God wants of us? Let us follow the example of Tyler, my friend from the church and Dumont High School.
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