I guess I’m odd. When I can’t watch the big game live, I tape it, but I watch the end first! Especially if the big game involves one of my beloved teams. I’m a major fan of the Chicago Bulls. Back when Michael Jordan was leading them to six NBA titles, I taped one of the championship games between the Bulls and the Phoenix Suns. First, I watched the end. The Bulls won! Then I rewound the tape and watched the entire game. When the Bulls were behind by 17 points, I never panicked. I never threw bricks at the TV. Normally I would have left the room if they were behind by that much. I would have told my son to call me only if the Bulls tied the game. I couldn’t take watching them struggle. But not this time. I knew the end of the story. So I could handle the ups and downs of the game, knowing the grand result.
Whether or not you agree with my sports-watching philosophy, you can see the benefits we gain from knowing the end of God’s story—the end of our story. These truths not only guide our own lives, we also use them to enlighten and empower our spiritual friends when they crash their souls on life’s pothole-filled highways. We engage them in spiritual conversations encouraging them to ponder: “Why give up when you lose one battle, since you know we have won the war?” “Why sweat the small stuff?.” “Why choose mere survival, when we are more than conquerors?” “Why choose cheap thrills when in the end we rule the universe forever?”
(Robert Kelleman, Soul Physicians, p. 32).
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