The Dreaded NFL Preseason

NFL preseason. How can one short statement hold so much emotion? It’s a love-hate relationship in this house, which I have to come to grips with every August.

By August, I am always ready for some football in my life. It is my husband’s job, so I better be ready for it. I am not the football fanatic who watches Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, but I do love to watch my hubby! Every time he runs out of that tunnel and the cannon fires, I get chills. And there is nothing better than to see my man in a uniform; that is just an added bonus (sorry men).

But preseason is intense in our household. For players like Corey, who are not guaranteed a position on the fifty-three-man roster, preseason can make you or break you. Every play is watched and every mistake is recorded. And if there happens to be an injury, then you can forget it. It can all come down to a single play that might secure a man’s position on a NFL roster.

For wives, who have to sit at home and watch, this is nail biting and dreadful.

In the past, I have had to watch Corey receive “the phone call.” You know, the call that every player dreads. You don’t have to pick up the call to know what is going to happen next. It is the call that makes you sick to your stomach.

As a wife, it is hard to watch a husband lose his job. No woman wants to watch that. In the big scheme of things, I know without a shadow of doubt the Lord is sovereign and “this too shall pass.”

‘ “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” ’ Jeremiah 29:11

But it is the little trivial moments we face which remind us of the harshness of reality and teach us necessary lessons. In this case, it was the humility.

Another player’s wife, who had become a mentor told me, “Cissie others will be watching you. They will watch to see how “the Christian” handles herself.” And she was right.

As a couple we had to make a choice. We could have handled the disappointing news in a way that was displeasing to the Lord; or we could honor the Lord with the situation he gave us. And people were watching us. Later, a few coaches told Corey, they have never seen a player’s wife posess such grace. When Corey told me that, I cried. Grace? I didn’t have grace. I was angry. I was hurt. But I allowed the Lord to fill me with his supernatural strength. They saw His grace not mine.

As Christians, people are waiting for us to fall from grace. They are sitting on the edge of their seats to see us make a mistake. The world is always watching us. They watch your attitude, they watch your words and they watch your actions. So remember, wherever you are, you are on a mission field and representing Jesus Christ.

For six months out of the year I witness the Lord’s work being done around the world. But the other six months the NFL is my mission field.

Your mission field is where you are today.

What is your mission field?