For the Love of the Game

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 "In some respects, life is like a soccer game. It seems like you play hard during the entire game and never really score any goals. But no else does either, so you don't feel too bad. You get kicked and bruised and knocked down, and you quickly get back up and into the game and avoid getting penalties as best you can with the exception of the normal kinds of mistakes that are part of the game and then the entire game is over and it's ultimately decided by the flick of a hand in the goal. A mere deflection - one defining moment, and everybody says, "That's the game." And you've played so hard for so long, and it came down to one defining moment in your life. Throughout the game, if you were like me, your emotions were rocketed from one extreme to another, from disappointment to exhilaration, from anger at what you thought was unfair and maybe unsportsmans-like conduct on the part of the other team, and then admiration of another play that was well executed. From total fatigue to the discovery of energy that you've found you dredged up from somewhere you didn't know where. And it seems like that's the way life is, isn't it? It's a lot of effort over a long period of time, and it ends up being decided by one or two defining moments along the way. And all of us know that we are the product of the ups and downs of life."
 
-Pastor David Jeremiah

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