What an awesome Superbowl this last one turned out to be! But there was something odd about it. Call it a human dynamic, however, what is it about fans that causes them to abandon their team whenever the going gets tough.
Or even just the slightest bit rough?
Maybe it was the Kurt Warner factor. Maybe it was something else. Whatever it was, when we asked for a show of hands as to who was for the Cardinals and who was for the Steelers, 90 percent of that room was for the little red birds.
That is until about 20 to 7.
As in Pittsburgh 20 and Arizona 7.
At that point my son and I were still cheering for the Cardinals but we felt like a couple of performing fleas at the Westminster Dog Show.
What happened to all the love? What happen to the Cardinal fans?
Gone.
Now, I’m being a little facetious. There actually were Cardinal fans in the room well into the third quarter. And it seemed like nothing but Cardinal fans again into the fourth quarter when they regained the lead. But I had to get my kids home before the real fun started. I wonder what happened in the last 35 seconds when the Steelers regained that lead yet again.
Did the building foundation tilt to one side? The black and yellow side?
Who knows?
My Q.T. the other day was about fair weather friends. I was in Psalm 64:1–10. Take a look:
1 Hear me, O God, as I voice my complaint;
protect my life from the threat of the enemy.2 Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked,
from that noisy crowd of evildoers.3 They sharpen their tongues like swords
and aim their words like deadly arrows.4 They shoot from ambush at the innocent man;
they shoot at him suddenly, without fear.5 They encourage each other in evil plans,
they talk about hiding their snares;
they say, “Who will see them ?”6 They plot injustice and say,
“We have devised a perfect plan!”
Surely the mind and heart of man are cunning.7 But God will shoot them with arrows;
suddenly they will be struck down.8 He will turn their own tongues against them
and bring them to ruin;
all who see them will shake their heads in scorn.9 All mankind will fear;
they will proclaim the works of God
and ponder what he has done.10 Let the righteous rejoice in the LORD
and take refuge in him;
let all the upright in heart praise him!
At first glance it just reads like another psalm of David against enemies of Israel. However, these weren’t wicked people form another nation. They were former friends and confidants of King David! One was a trusted aide to David for years who went over to the side of Absalom in the rebellion against David.
And who was Absalom?
David’s son. For a while there, it looked like that would be the winning side. Only it wasn’t.
For a while that looked like the side of righteousness. Only it wasn’t.
For a while it looked like David couldn’t win. Only he did.
My son was frustrated with the Cardinals and really took it hard when they lost. He wanted to hear Kurt Warner give all the glory to Jesus as he’d done so often in the past.
That night he learned there is glory of a different kind when you are a gracious loser. And I know at least one young man that learned a powerful lesson from a heart breaking loss. And I doubt he will ever be a fair weather friend to anyone.