Play Like A Saint

Well, Luke Emerson Perry was born Jan 19th. 5lbs 13oz. I now have a four year old, 1 year old, and newborn baby boy! Couldn't be happier. Haven't had much time to blog, however!

So I feel I have some catching up to do! What a year 2010 has been so far! I'm going to attempt to combine the two biggest events of my life for the new year (having my third son and the Saints winning the Superbowl) into some type of coherent and meaningful thought (because these days I have to multi-task!). So here goes.

Little Luke was a few weeks "early," but he was born at just the right time. Upon his birth we quickly learned that he had a low blood count. Babies normally have a blood count in the 50's; his was 18. Two blood transfusions later he was doing fine, and we were thanking God that he was born when he was. It was good for both him and mom.

Anyone who has ever witnessed a birth knows it is a powerful reminder of the gift life really is and how fragile it can be. Luke's entry to this world reminded me of how God had been at work in my own life at birth. I was born with a heart condition known as transposition of the great vessels. The long and short of it is that blood only flowed through one side of my heart, meaning that the blood wasn't being properly oxygenated before recirculating through my body. This, of course, can cause all kinds of problems (like death for example!) and the only thing that kept me alive was a small murmur that allowed just enough "good" blood to spill over to the other side of my heart. What followed was a series of miracles...the murmur, a young doctor who was able to quickly and correctly diagnose my condition, an opening--literally in the nick of time--at the only hospital where I could have emergency surgery to keep the murmur open until I was old enough to have open-heart surgery, an open-heart surgery one year later that was procedurally very new and successful, and a normal healthy life despite the doctor's concerns that I may have suffered brain damage or would have physical impairments.

I'm happy to say that I've always been a top student, played baseball and basketball in junior high and high school, and have never had any negative side effects. I know that my life is a miracle and gift from God. Your birth may not have been as dramatic, but the fact that you are breathing means you have purpose, and that God has entrusted you with this thing called "life." Now, what are going to do with it?

Forgive the awkward transition here, but this is where I attempt to tie all this to the Superbowl.
There are always two ways to play:
1. Play not to lose
2. Play to win

Playing not to lose means you play very cautiously and conservatively. You play the odds. You do what's safe. You do everything possible to avoid making a mistake. This is how the Colts played.

The Saints had a very different game plan. They came to win and they played to win. Playing to win means you hold nothing back and leave everything on the field. You take calculated risks. Rather than worrying about mistakes you're more concerned about a missed opportunity. You go for it on fourth down. You blitz Peyton Manning. You open the second half with an onside kick! Anyone watching had to appreciate the aggressive style of play by the Saints. They didn't go to Miami to play not to lose. They played to win their first ever Superbowl. And they did it. They shocked the sports world and all their nay-sayers.

So what if no one else believed? Never mind that they were playing the legendary Peyton Manning and only one team had ever come back from a 10-0 deficit in Superbowl history. The Saints saw their opportunity and they seized it. No other team had ever lost the last three games of the season and gone on to win the big one either. No other team had ever kicked three 40 yard plus field goals in the Superbowl. No other team had ever attempted an onside kick that early in the Superbowl. No other Saints team had ever made it this far.

It would have been so easy for the Saints to play not to lose. They had every reason to play not to lose. But they played to win because, after all, that's why you go to the Superbowl! Can you see where I'm going with this?

All of us have the same choice in life. We can play not to lose or play to win. We can live our lives cautiously, hoping to never make a mistake, or aggressively to seize opportunities and win. Often the difference comes when we glimpse how precious life is. People who have near-death experiences vow to play to win. Their eyes have been opened to the gift of life. They see the opportunity of a second chance, and they don't want to live with regret or be left wondering "what if."

My prayer is that we never take a single day for granted, and that it won't take a near-death experience to awaken us to the fact that life is short. It is precious. It is a gift and a sacred trust from God. May we never resign ourselves to a fear-driven, complacent, mediocre, play-not-to-lose mentality, but aggressively live every moment so that at the end of the game there are no regrets.

Let's play to win. Let's play like a Saint!

Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.
1 Corinth 9: 24-27