It was recently the anniversary of one of my favorite historical events, the Miracle on Ice. In the 1980 Olympics the Soviet Union was the overwhelming favorite to win the gold, while even a top five finish was considered a stretch for the US. Calling that fateful semi-final game for ABC was Al Michaels, who had called only one hockey in his career heading into the Olympics. Michaels would become world famous for his call at the end of the game, exclaiming: “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!” as the final seconds ticked off the clock. Because of the absolute perfection of that line I’ve always wondered if Michaels had prepared it in advance, just in case the US pulled off the upset. Then I watched an interview where Michaels described the end of the game. Once the US took the lead he made the decision to not engage in any speculation, or to even imagine a possible US victory, but to fully engage himself with the action of the game. He gave his best to every moment, dutifully calling every pass, every check, every shot. Then, with five seconds left, the puck slid out into no man’s land, allowing Michaels the freedom to say something not related to the action. Michaels then seized the moment, extemporaneously coming up with perhaps the most famous call in sports history.
Many of us spend our lives waiting for big moments. We wait for a big promotion, a big break, an opportunity to go on a mission trip, or the opportunity to share our faith with a room full of people. We think that as long as we’re ready when the big moments come in life that’s enough. And, if the big moment never comes, well then that’s someone else’s fault. But what about the rest of life? You know, the other 99.9% of the time you spend on Earth. The Apostle Paul puts it like this:
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Romans 12:1-2
We need to live our entire life as if we are on the grandest stage for God, because guess what friends, we are! Every day of our lives brings the opportunity to impact the world around us. It’s an opportunity to love our spouse, to encourage our children, to build-up a co-worker, to make a cashier smile, and to do an unsolicited good deed for someone in need. It’s a chance to live out our faith and to shine Christ’s light to a world covered in darkness. Like Al Michaels we need to be giving our best in each and every moment of our lives, not just sitting back and reserving our best for what we perceive to be big moments. Because, lets face it, that little moment where you offer encouragement and love to someone else may be an absolute miracle to them.
