There are many of you that watch football of some sort. It may be that you are a huge fan of the NFL and Sunday after church you can be found “resting” in front of the t.v. watching the best players in the world. Others spent good money getting that college education and believe their university should represent well on the gridiron and Saturdays are your thing. The purest, especially in Texas, know what Friday nights are all about. There is nothing better than a great high school game where the entire communities are involved!!

Whatever level you like, there are many similarities. One specifically that I want to discuss is the coach’s call sheet. The call sheet is the piece of paper or papers that contains the game plan. Some coaches have a play ready for every situation imaginable on the call sheet. Some have lots of special notes and reminders to look at during the heat of battle. All coaches, no matter the game, basically used the same procedure to get their “call sheet” ready for the game. There are hours of film study, meetings, scouting, and sleepless nights getting the call sheet perfect for the game. Now that I’ve had time to look back and reflect, I amazed at how many times when we got in the actual game, the opponent did something different than expected or some situation arose and the call sheet became irrelevant. I can remember thinking after some games about all the hours and worries we had put into the call sheet and rarely even looked at it during the game because the circumstances took a turn for the unexpected. The game and situation changed and took a different path and we had to adjust away from what we had spent so much time, energy, and worry to prepare.

How much time, worry, energy, and possibly money do you spend trying to get your “call sheet of life” ready for the game of life. More importantly, how often do you find that all of it was a waste and that your “call sheet of life” is really useless?

This morning our family experienced tremendous joy! 8 months ago Tracy and I began the adoption process of our foster daughter Faith. She has been in our home ever since she was born 6 years ago. Obviously she has been “ours” forever in our hearts, but not legally on paper. Tracy and I spent lots of time and energy developing the “call sheet” and game plan on just how this would go given our new turn in life. We thought we knew just how it would all fit together. Needless to say, we got “off the call sheet” on numerous occasions. It was so frustrating at times. So often we wondered why to process was moving slowly and why the waiting was so hard. It wasn’t until last Friday that we found out that it was happening this week! A total shock and moment of excitement!! After time spent talking, worrying and trying to fit it into our “call sheet”, the Lord took control and called a touchdown play that we didn’t expect.

What I’ve learned……….no matter how hard we work to create OUR “call sheet”, God knows better.  He always has the perfect call at the perfect time.  Just like all those games that were won by getting “off the call sheet”, there are so many times in life that get off our call sheet and on His.  We worry, talk, spend, meet, discuss, and wonder so that life fits us perfectly when we should be totally relying on the game plan of God.  Today’s King Family win came on a play perfectly executed, at the perfect time, by the perfect coach!

Who’s controlling your “call sheet”?