First Touchdown

In case you are on some remote Island in the South Pacific without electricity, you probably know this is FOOTBALL SEASON. Here in the U.P. the order of life is God, Family, Football and Fishing (Hunting.) We watched with
anxiety and trepidation as our son Jeff sauntered out onto the gridiron for the first time a few weeks ago to practice football with boys, coaches, he had never met. As is typical of Jeffy, he accommodated, he adapted, he made friends and found his way to his favorite position, Wide Reciever. He practiced hard and I bought him his new pair of wide receiver gloves. He caught a few passes in practice and scrimidges. He was noted to be particularly good at catching the short pass and breaking thru the hole to the end zone. He has, as the coaches say, “soft hands”. Thus, we breathed a sigh of relief and went into the daily grind of our new life here---work, pick up football players, make sure they have 14,000 calorie dinners waiting for them when they get home. Life goes on.

Finally, first game day game. All the parents were very anxious because we were going to play, for our FIRST game, the number one team that won the championship last year. Yikes, would my kid get hurt? How bad is the spread in the score going to be? These boys haven’t played together very long, they are a new young team. Tonight, the first play came. We got the ball first, the entire stadium in Cedarville, Michigan was silent---it was amazing, with hundreds of people there, you could hear the quarterbacks every word: #23, 47, hutt, hutt!” Then came the snap, with the 8 minutes of the quarter on the clock. I watched number 82 (my son Jeffy) break right and evade his defensive end and then pull left at a few yards past the line of scrimidge. Robert, our Q-B saw that he was open and punched his usually very accurate pass into Jeffy’s arms. Then, there was a sea of orange and black players chasing my son in green and gold. I thought for sure he was going down---but no, he evaded the first tackle, jumped up, ran back over the scrimidge line and then broke left 20 yards into the end zone---TOUCHDOWN JEFFY BOMBER!!!! His sister looked at the clock---7:46, she said, “wow, that only took 14 seconds”.

Yes the entire event took about 14 seconds. In 14 seconds my son, in a new town, with a new coach and friends, playing a new team, one the FIRST PLAY, in 14 seconds, scored the first touchdown. Do you feel the BEAM??? Are you catching a few rays of the BEAMING FATHER right now???? Can you believe this, my son, new to the town, the team, the school, etc., going out for his FIRST game pass and catching it and getting the first points on the board!!!! WOOWWWOWWWWW!!!!!

Well, it went on and on, he caught more passes, he was awesome. AND, the final score, Engadine 30, Rudyard ZERO!!!! Yes, our defense was awesome too. I never played football, I never did half the things that my beautiful daughters and incredible son have done. Frankly, I’m humbled by them. Patients and friends and family have told me many times that I am smart, talented, a great person. I tell you that is blessing to hear such things---but the fact is, I don’t hold a candle up to my children. They were blessed with the nominal good brains I have, but mostly their mothers. Jeffy also got his grandfather’s athletic prowess---certainly not mine. I can get the kayak in the water---but I have never achieved a touchdown. Tonight my son achieved THE FIRST TOUCH DOWN on the field and with his new friends, the crowd, his family, etc. watching!!! He was very happy. However, he doesn’t know that his greatest touchdown is right here in his father’s heart tonight. He has no idea that with millions of people in the world, and billions of stars in the universe, nothing shines brighter than me right now. I am lit up, glowing in the amazing feats of my children, thier
many great and FIRST TOUCHDOWNS!!!!