Men of Faith

I've prayed for them all season. Not for wins, necessarily, but for safe travel, for protection from injuries, and for overall good health. So when I found out that UT would be playing in the Big 12 Championship in the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, I bought into the "for everything else there's MasterCard" campaign and got tickets near the 50-yard line. I couldn't not be there. I knew I had to see Colt McCoy and Jordan Shipley play live once before they graduate. And this was my best chance.

McCoy (#12) on the bench getting info

Shipley (#8) back to receive a punt

The game wasn't the runaway that I'd hope it would be. It was a struggle from the get-go. Colt was intercepted. Multiple times. He was sacked. Multiple times. And it looked grim. But there were other things going on right there on the field that the cameras often didn't catch or that weren't mentioned by those who were calling the game.

Take for instance that I saw Colt go over by himself, take a knee, and bow his head to pray before the second half started. The camera caught him doing a similar thing during the last seconds of the game, but an article said that he was "shielding his eyes" and failed to mention that he was praying. His lips were clearly moving. And out on the field, Jordan Shipley was quoting Jeremiah 17:7 (go to 42:10 in the video link) to Hunter Lawrence to encourage him before he made the game-winning 46-yard kick with 0:01 on the clock.

But it's not just Colt and Jordan. There was a news article earlier this week on center Chris Hall, who hopes to return to a college campus and lead students in the Word after pursuing a master's degree possibly in Israel. Sam Acho said in the postgame press conference that the team had put its trust in God and that he had no doubt that the field goal would go in. Sergio Kindle said he knew God had seen the time clock and that he hoped the officials would follow their morals and put the time back on the clock. It's been time, not prayer, that has been lacking for this UT football team.

Just a little over a year ago, the Longhorns endured their only loss of the season at the hands of the Texas Tech Red Raiders. With one second left to play, Tech's Crabtree scored, bringing the score to 39-33 and leaving the Longhorns with no time to come back. That second haunted the Longhorns.

But life often boils down to "seconds." For a lot of people, that can mean second thoughts on how life was lived. For others, it means second chances. The chance to redeem a loss and to change an outcome. For the positive. In that 0:01 of the game last night, that's exactly what occurred. No second thoughts. Just lots of prayers for a second chance. God didn't have to grant those prayers, but He did. And I can't think of another group of faithful men who are more deserving of a second chance.