Dead Man's Crawl -- Hope Chronicles 17

I am not a football fan. I’ve watched exactly one Super Bowl in my life. I don’t understand the rules. I can’t imagine who would come up with a game where the object seems to be to clobber the guy with the ball. (If the guy is already down, it seems that everyone dog piles on him for good measure.) If I played, I think I’d treat that ball like a hot potato and pass if off as quickly as I got it. (Of course, that is assuming that I had enough skill to catch the thing!)

I made it to one game when I was in high school. I can’t recall what possessed me to go. But, I’ll admit, I got caught up in the school euphoria when we beat the reigning champs and in a show of solidarity, I bought a “We beat Moeller” T-shirt. (I think I passed on the “We beat Moeller again!” shirts the following year.)

I have watched a couple of football movies. In these, it seems it is enough to know from the reaction of the fans, coaches, and players, who won or lost. I can usually follow that. One movie that I watched for the first time a year ago and the second time last month is Facing the Giants.

Here’s the gist in a sentence: True story of losing high school team that takes on the state champions – aptly named “The Giants.” Of course, the real story is about how they get to the state championship.

One scene strikes me. The coach is talking to the players and one of the “leaders” is being rather cocky. The coach calls him out and challenges him to be a leader. He asks him how far he thinks he can do the “Dead Man” crawl. (Hands and feet carrying another player on his back.) The player announces he can go to the 30-yard line. The coach, of course, wants to see him do it but then decides to have him do it blind folded.

So, off they go. The coach cheering him on – “Give me all you’ve got!” The player eventually starts saying, “How far? Am I there yet? I can’t go any further.” The coach just keeps at him. “Don’t you stop on me. Give me all you’ve got!” When the coach finally lets him stop, he takes off the blind fold to discover that he is in the end zone and has done the Dead Man’s crawl down the entire field.

It’s a great picture of going – pushing – beyond our limits. Too often, we make a goal and say that we will give it all we’ve got. Maybe we make it to that goal, but what God knows it that we haven’t given it our all yet – there’s still more in us. He wants every last drop put into our relationship with him. He will not settle for half our efforts, half our hearts. He is a jealous God who wants our whole hearts.

Hope is letting go of what we think we can do in favor of doing what God knows we can do. If that isn’t enough, it is bringing others along with us. When they can’t walk anymore, we pick them up. When we can’t walk anymore, we do the dead man’s crawl all the way to the end zone. Hope is in the fact that Jesus – the ultimate coach – is with us every step, every excruciating inch, of the way.