Champions!

I played high school football and I have been trying to encourage high school football players for years.
I have seen good teams that did not play well and bad teams that played well.  My own Sr. year in high school we went 5-0, was ranked 5th in the state and knew we had it.  Then we went down into the valley of the Trojans.  The Trojans  had a  sorry school, a bad atmosphere, and they were mad about it.  None of them are in the free world today.  All they had was football and they were good at that.  It was rainy, cold, and they were popping!  We wanted to get back on the bus.  Hands were cold, people were hurting, they were running by us...They beat us 30-0.  Even worse- they popped our star running back several times.  Let me let you in on a secret- if you got a scrawny guy who runs real fast with great moves and he keeps getting by you- catch him at an angle and knock the soup out of him.  Get him before he gets going in the backfield and wrap him up and go down with him.  When they weigh 135, they won't want the ball no one.  They may say it is a cramp, or they are winded, or their hand hurts...whatever?  They scared.  If they ever get the fear, running from side to side instead of up and down the field, they are done.  If they are good enough, your team is done as well.  We were.  We went 1-4 in division play and missed the playoffs. The dream team went down really that night in Trojan stadium...with the cramps.
Well, my friend, if you are Christian, that is not going to happen to our team.  The war ends in victory.  Make no mistake, the victory has already been won, but it will be consummated and proclaimed in the end. Revelation 19:11 puts it this way:  I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. ¹² His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself.  He is clothed in a robe dipped in^[d] blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.  The one who rode a colt on his approach to the cross, will ride the victorious general's horse (white) in the end. He sees all (fire). He is King of kings and Lord of lords (diadems).  His name is YHWH, which they refused to say (removed the vowels to make sure). He shed His blood for us but this is, more so, the blood from the winepress of God's wrath.  Either way, blood shed in victory.  He is the Word of God (John 1).  Because of Christ we are victorious!  Whether it is a good season in life or rather you feel the wind, the rains, and the pains of Trojan valley, either way, WE WIN!  Don't wait to celebrate that!  Celebrate it today and live it out! We win in Christ.  Inform your face, brighten your world, and have a great day.