~Thank God for football~

Jon is finally getting his wish...to play real football on a real team with real tackling and helmets and pads and.....For the next 2 1/2 months he will be suiting up 4 times a week for 2 1/2 hour practices and one game. That means much driving to and from the field, rearranging dinner time, missed opportunities for visiting or hospitality and mid-week meetings at church. But I'm not complaining, not by a long shot. I had a feeling that playing football for him is more than just a fun time to spend an evening, but it was confirmed the other night when his coach stopped me to tell me how impressed he was with Jon. Don't worry, I will not make you suffer through a proud mom soliloquoy. I do, however, want to brag on God a little. When Jon was a toddler, he would get so focused on what he was doing or on what he wanted that there was no distracting him. We dealt with daily temper tantrums, sometimes more than one, that would go on for hours (I am not exaggerating) and would leave him and us exhausted and teary. There were times I would despair, wondering what I was doing wrong. And then there were times when by faith I just knew that this personality trait was there because God put it there, and someday it was going to bring God glory. Our job was not to beat it out of him, so to speak, but to mold it and shape it and pray over it and even nurture it to some extent. To know him now, you would never guess the turmoil we went through back then, but he is still a very focused young man. Which brings me back to what the coach said the other night. "He's so focused." Those were the words he used. And this time it is a good thing. Jon stands out in the coaches mind because of the very trait that was so hard to weather 5-6 years ago! "He's a real asset to the team." Isn't God good?
Jon told me after practice last night this is the hardest thing he's ever done. So I asked him, "Do you still like it?" He said, "I love it!" He went on to say that football is not just about fun, but hard work. The biggest thing he's learning from football? In Jon's own words, "self-discipline."

Thank God for football.