The Unwilling Super Bowl Fan
My grandson asked last week if they could come watch the super bowl at our house and I told him we have never watched the Super Bowl and had no plan on starting. He called and texted me while still in church meetings today and I finally called him back at 4:20 (10 min before the game was to start) and said they had no place to watch it. I said they could come if it was ok with Grandma. He said she already said they could and they were on their way to our house! Guess I did not have much choice in the matter.
You have to understand that my grandson is the avid NFL fan and that I am not. Give me a good college game and you're not going to get me away from it. But I have never have been an NFL fan. So I watched my first Super Bowl game today. In the previous 50 years I may have watched two or three minutes of the game.
When the Falcons got up 28 to 3 my grandson was ready to go home he did not want to watch anymore and he was trash talking the Falcons. I tried to convince him that if he was a true Patriots fan that he needed to support his team even when they were losing. He didn't want to have anything to do with that. He was ready to give up and there was no way they were going to come back. The biggest comeback in Super Bowl history was a 10 point deficit and the Patriots were down by 25.
My daughter said they needed to stay and watch the end of the game. The second half was totally different. The Patriots could do no wrong and the Falcons could get nothing going. By the time there was only two minutes left, the Patriots only needed one more touchdown and a two point conversion to tie it up. My grandson was a fan again and he was excited and screaming and yelling as was my daughter and everybody else. In the end the Patriots won in overtime, the first overtime in Super Bowl history.
I guess if you're going to start watching the Super Bowl this was a good one to start with. While I'm still not a fan of the NFL I am a fan of my family and will do most anything for them even watch football on Super Bowl Sunday.
If I was going to put a gospel spin on this lesson it would be to never lose faith in something you believe in especially when times are tough and everybody else is doubting or saying negative things, or making fun of your beliefs.
Those of us who believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ know that we are on a winning team. And even though we may be in the fourth quarter towards the end of the game and losing, the Lord's team will in the end be victorious. Even though it looks like our foes are going to be victorious in the end they will lose, they will be destroyed, and there will be no victory celebration for them.
The Prophet Joseph Smith speaking to the Saints in 1842 in Nauvoo said: "brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren, and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad." (D&C 128:22)
May we never lose hope or faith in our captain, The Lord Jesus Christ and in the one who is calling the plays, our Heavenly Father. We are on the winning team and will prevail in the end.
Your comments and questions are welcome.
