Background
For the beginning of this article permit me to ramble a little bit. I have always been a football fan and during my childhood days was I not only a fan but a player. I remember in my Junior High School (JHS) days at Holy Child Preparatory School, I owned a football team where I both coached and played for my team especially when the going got tough. On one particular of such incident was when my team was playing against a friend and a classmate by name Jeff Boateng’s team at a grounds I had personally prepared to make it playable. We were losing and seeing my team suffer I made a substitution involving me, to enable me effect on the game. I ended up committing more pain and injury to my team thereby losing the game to my dear friend and his team from “Tony Roland” (Precious is what it’s affectionately called). It was not because I was that bad but rather a “bad day” for my team.
Perhaps if you are wondering whether I was a good soccer player or not in my playing days, I would simply take you back to my JHS days again, as that was the peak of my playing days. I was part of the school team and played in major competitions like the Inter-Schools (for Private schools) games and the Inter-zonal (also for private schools). The reason I played for my football team sometimes and Jeff hardly did was because I was an active and integral member of our school team and he was not. I ended my playing days effectively after JHS due to circumstances beyond my control. Even at the Senior High School level I would rather engage in athletics than football, but worrying to say that even my athletics days was only during my first year’s Inter-houses competitions.
Fast forward, I have graduated college with an BSc. Statistics and Actuarial Science, and a masters in Divinity. An interesting combination to have pursued both Science and Theology alone my educational roadmap, which I think gives me the balance I need to excel in life. I have always loved the football game and continue to do so. I must clarify that I am not talking about the American football (hahaha) but the ‘real’ football which is popularly referred to as “soccer” by my American friends. During my Theological studies, which effectively ended on March 2017, and till today I wake up at dawn or late in the night to watch the Spanish (Real Madrid), English (which is my favourite though, Chelsea and most recently Manchester United), the Champions leagues and most recently because of Manchester and Jose Mourihno, the UEfA Europa Leagues.
Since I have a first-hand experience about the game, I am also a strong critique of tactics, playing style and even sometimes, the posture of the players on field while watching from the screens.
My First football in many years
My recent visit to Singapore has proved to me that talk is cheap! I have always relied on my brilliance in the past and would confidently say, almost any time, that I am a good football player. My analysis of the game may suggest that I have a good understanding of the game but the same cannot be said to my playing skills. I might still possess some intelligence to the “game”, hence my detailed analysis of it, but the same cannot be said about my ability to play. As I stood on that artificial turf (of the Bukit Panjang Government High School, Singapore), I had some unusual “memory-down-the-lane” recollection (especially of my Junior High playing days).
On the pitch, I sort to replicate the form of old but to no avail and like Sampson, I shock myself up, only to realise that the strength was gone. I was almost always caught ball watching and ended up giving away a penalty kick. Fortunately for me the penalty-taker missed that golden opportunity to put his team ahead. I had realised that my passes were not decisive enough, my tackles were overly aggressive for a friendly match, and I wasn’t match fit for the game, although I had had some few touches on the ball and a little stretch/workout before the game. I was “hauled off” (literally, for my abysmal performance) the field just a little over thirty minutes (30min.) of play. Off the field, I could see a lot better about the dynamics of the game which I couldn’t see while playing. I was more critical of those playing and their missed chances or blunders.
After recess, I felt I had gotten a better understanding of the game and was more willing to re-introduce myself to the game and thereby making a better impact. After watching on for about thirty minutes (30min.), I called the left back to have a rest, allowing me to find my feet in the game once again, this time very successful.
There are several lessons I have gleaned from this experience and would like to share with you just one that I deem very important. But before that, let me interject with this important observation.
Jesus understands it better
It is clear and objectively speaking that we see things better from the outside. The people who advise us or try to give supporting comments or ideas from the side-lines do so with a better view of what is going on. But notwithstanding, it is always hard to accept their comments and criticisms. Perhaps, their thoughts and comments would have been readily accepted if they had had a first-hand experience of what we went through. Off the field of play I could clearly see the mistakes I committed and how others were making the same. But during the second half when I reintroduced myself into the game, things got better for me and for the team and that is why I present to you, JESUS. He has seen it all, and lived it all! Hebrews 4:15 tells us that, “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are yet without sin.” He became a man and therefore understands what we feel and go through better. I hope to revisit this point at the concluding stages of this article.
Waiting
First of all, life demands some preparation and planning, and this is done while waiting. We are to wait for our time and not rush into things. If we rush into fulfilling our visions and plans, we might fail big time. There is always a time for waiting. Waiting is not an empty space of time, neither is it a time for doing nothing but rather it is a time for preparation and planning. Waiting is never easy, and this is because we all want to feel part of the game, we want to be seen as a contributor and not a liability.
From a general point of view, waiting demands that you put your acts together before your time arrives. It also means that for example if you are applying for a job, you undertake some research into knowing what the company is about and what you would be required to do if your services are engaged. From a spiritual point of view waiting will require you spending time in prayer and if possible fasting, in anticipation of what God is about doing in your life. It will also require some sort of engagement with others who have been where you seek to be. It is never a free time.
Haven missed playing for a long time, it would have been appropriate for me to have waited for my time rather than asking to be put into the mix from the start. One advantage we gain for waiting is that we acquire a better understanding of things and circumstances. We become aware of what it will take to get the job done. I have always been an advocate of moving from “Understanding to Significance, to Relevance” in that chronological order. By “throwing” myself into the game from the onset, I sort to be relevant to the team even though this was the first time playing soccer for a very long time. To start from the onset also means that one has acquired the needed skill and know-how to effect or become a game changer, else we will only end up miserable losers.
The Biblical text in Isaiah 40:31 which reads, “Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary” brings to a focal point what I have been trying to say. Although the word “wait” in the text could also mean “hope”, the import of the message is rather undisputed. If we have had a period of waiting, we come with new strength and vitality to finish the task and not just to be a part of it. Today, we are proud to receive certificates that honour participation and not necessarily completion. I want to be remembered for completion and not just a participant.
When I was coming back in the second half of the game, I felt I had more to contribute to the game and did so purposefully. To this end I say, having a vision or plan or even a good intention to do something is not enough. Instead of rushing into implementing our goals and vision, I advocate a period of waiting; a period of gaining more understanding of what we are getting ourselves into. It is also a period of renewed strength.
Throwing ourselves into the mix from the onset, to gain that experience needed is in itself not a bad thing, the saddest is that the struggles, failures, mistakes and regrets will be charged to an “expensive experience”. I could have easily impacted the game and subsequently felt more significant if I had waited for my time in the second half. But Like many of us, the struggle was that if I had wait longer I might not had gotten the opportunity to prove myself.
In our moment of waiting I employ you to focus on Jesus, because He understands better what we are going through. He doesn’t come with cheap talk but practical insight as one what has been there before. In Christian circles, we mostly wait on the Lord but in the event you are waiting for an opportune time to express yourself or even do something, I beseech you to put God first. He will guide you through your anxieties and frustrations. Waiting is never easy like I have already said; we all want to feel important and never want to be on the side-line of things.
The price we pay for waiting is having to let go of our pride and gaining the confidence to succeed and the understanding of what it takes to succeed.