Stepping Up

My beloved Steelers took the field tonight for Opening Night of the NFL season this evening. The Terrible Towels were waving, the Primanti sandwiches were sizzling on the grill and the Iron (pronounced "Arn") City Beer was flowing there at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers into the Ohio. I always get a little homesick when I see the ‘Burgh on TV…but then I look up at the mountains and the blue skies and remember that I can watch the Steelers from my couch and not have to put up with the perpetual cloud of doom-type weather that settles into western PA from November to April.

Tonight’s game was a big question mark because Big Ben, the Steeler quarterback, was out of the opener recovering from an emergency appendectomy. All the pre-game hype (which sometimes seems like it’s longer than the game) was about the need for the players to "step up" in the absence of their leader.

That’s a phrase that has always interested me. Is it that the other players don’t really do anything until there’s some adversity requiring extra effort, or is it the idea that adversity brings out the better nature of some people? Surely it’s the latter.

I’ve been working on some biblical commentary for The United Methodist Publishing House’s Daily Bible Study Series for the fall of 2007 and my assignment is focused on the story of Joseph in Genesis 37-50. Here’s a guy whose whole life could have been destroyed by sibling rivalry, being sold into slavery, being falsely accused of adultery, languishing in prison, and more kinds of adversity. Having finished an installment of that today, I realized that it is those who "step up" and forge ahead despite the adversity that become successful. It’s not even about talent–it’s about faithfulness and confidence in God.

I don’t know if Charlie Batch, Big Ben’s replacement, was thinking about Joseph tonight. But he did step up. It wasn’t perfect, but he got the job done after being thrust into the spotlight. In coach-speak, "Big players make big plays in big games." That’s true in football and in our spiritual lives.

Oh, by the way…Steelers 28, Dolphins 17.

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