Tough Questions

Anybody who knows me knows what a huge sports nut I am. This past week I couldn’t help but see the effect choices have on our lives. No matter what station you put on they are all covering the same thing, Michael Vick. Once considered the most dangerous quarterback (that’s the guy who throws the ball) in the NFL is now left dealing with the fall out of his choices. How could someone with so much talent, money & power turn so quickly from what is right to what is now? Immediate satisfaction of his love for dog fighting has now left him fighting for the freedom in his own life. How? Choices. Choices in the friends that Vick had have now left him with a lot of questions.

The Bible says that a friend sticks closer than a brother…yet all of Vick’s “friends” took a plea bargain against Vick to serve less time. I’m reminded that you don’t truly know who your friends are. They can appear to be loyal and faithful and yet at the same time have their own agenda. For Vick’s “friends’ it was the lure of power and money that drew them close to Vick. We are told that everything happens for a reason and yet many times that reason goes unanswered. It is just a spot on a wall that cannot be answered how it got there and better yet how it will be removed.

Jesus had those who were close to Him, those that He poured His life into, and yet they, even those who walked and talked with Him, turned their backs on Him for what? Power, money and perhaps titles. Jesus in the midst of the pain of losing friends close to him remains faithful and focused and in the end all things worked out. Maybe the key is for us to be more patient and not expect things to be rectified immediately, but over time through faithfulness and staying focused, we too can experience what it means to finish strong.

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer never has made much sense to me. Our typical reaction is to shun our enemies in fear of being hurt…what happens when it is our friends that hurt us as well? The key is to do what the Bible says and “guard our hearts”. Protect our hearts, not to the point of never having friends, but guard our hearts in knowing that at the end, pain can and sometimes will occur. But through seeing Jesus, friends and my own life as an example…I would rather put myself out there and be hurt by a few, than to never put myself out there and miss out on the love and prayers and friendship of so many.

I challenge you to think about whom you associate yourself with and whom do you call your “friends”. Remember, one bad choice can change a legacy of a lifetime. To steal an old sports cliché, it’s not always how you start but how you finish that matters. Stay focused on your relationship with God and in turn your friendship with God and others will grow.