Roger, Go In!

In view of the fact that the University of Alabama just won the NCAA College Football Championship with a second string, mostly untested, quarterback after falling behind 13-0 at halftime, you might enjoy this true story about another quarterback who did the same thing for the Dallas Cowboys.
 
Motivational speaker Billy Zeoli once spoke of the importance of being ready in life.  He defined being ready as “the right person in the right place at the right time with the right thing to do and say, and then doing it and saying it.”  He was once on the sidelines with the Dallas Cowboys for a playoff game.  The Cowboys were trailing by 15 points going into the last two minutes.  Coach Tom Landry turned to a young untested quarterback by the name of Roger Staubach and said, “Roger, go in!”  Roger said, ’I’m ready.”  And he was.  In the next fifty-seven seconds he led Dallas to two touchdowns and a field goal.  Dallas won the playoff game because this young man, fresh out of the Navy, was ready.
 
We often speak of “windows” in life; that is, a short time of opportunity during which a given action will be successful and after which any action is useless.  The older I get, the more I see this principle in my relationship with the Lord.  Why is it so many people seem to accomplish so much while others do practically nothing in life?  I am convinced that God has no favorites.  He only uses those who are ready.  I am not necessarily talking great world-shaking accomplishments here, but everyday words and acts that influence people.
 
Most of us are not ready because we are too wrapped up in ourselves to notice the needs of others.  God attempts to draw us out of ourselves so that we can prepare for that time when we are called to go to the aid of another.  For Christians, the biggest tragedy of life is in having our hands too full of our own concerns so often that the people God sends to us come back without being touched.  Ministry is everywhere and its broad boundaries necessitate the involvement of everyone.  How sad it is that so few of us are ready when God says, “Roger, go in!”  Hope to see you this Sunday as our church family prepares for ministry.