Is it the end?

There are football seasons that, as a coach's wife, I am so ready for them to end.  I want my husband back to talk to, my kids to get to bed on time, my husband to help with the laundry....  This was not one of those years.


After our quarterfinal bow to Alvarado, I was at a loss.  It wasn't even bittersweet.  Just sad.  Winning all but 2 games of the 13 was awesome, but it was more than that.  It was one of those years, my first, that I invested 100% of my emotion and heart into the players and their moms.  


I know I'm not the only one.  My friend, who is also a coach's wife but doesn't really get into football too much, was devastated.  We had been praying.  We had seen God work.  We were convinced we'd see it through to the end.  


As the rain and the snow 
   come down from heaven, 
and do not return to it 
   without watering the earth 
and making it bud and flourish, 
   so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 
¹¹ so is my word that goes out from my mouth: 
   It will not return to me empty, 
but will accomplish what I desire 
   and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. 


This passage in Isaiah is one of my favorite, and I'm claiming it for this 2011 football season.  God showed Himself mightily through the spiritual leadership of several of the players.  He blessed Seminole with the grace of winning.  He led a few through painful coals of emotional suffering.  Several of the players wrote Habakkuk 3:17-19 on their eyeblack and their calves and forearms.



¹⁷ Though the fig tree does not bud
   and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
   and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
   and no cattle in the stalls,
¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
   I will be joyful in God my Savior.
 ¹⁹ The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
   he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
   he enables me to tread on the heights.


That's pretty heavy for seventeen year old boys.  I think several of them understand, "Yet I will rejoice in the Lord" despite battling 3 years of injuries, or family upheaval, or personal disappointment.


I know that this season instilled a lot of God's truth and Scripture in many of the players, coaches, and parents.  God has promised that a playoff loss won't end the work of His Truth.  It will accomplish God's purpose.