Quiet the Crowd

(The following is a blog post from one of my good buddies, Christopher Snodgress. He is a student ministry director at Foundation Church and is an avid sports fan. Christopher recently started a website where he will share his thoughts on sports and faith and how they often come together in unique ways that turn our hearts and thoughts toward Christ. With March Madness quickly approaching, we thought his initial blog would be a perfect  installment for this week's NBFamilies Guest Blogger Saturday. May we all find ourselves prepared for the big moments ahead… Enjoy!   - Matt Fowler)

The moment rises from the depths of circumstance. Amidst the deafening roar of life, you find yourself upon an instance of magnitude. The pressure builds. Time evaporates. The noise grows louder. You stand alone on the precipice as the world bears down on you.

There is an occasion in sports that presents an opportunity unlike any other. The game is close. Your opponent has momentum. You’re in their house, on their court. The crowd is behind them. With each passing second the sound of the crowd gets louder and the pressure grows. Suddenly the ball is in your hands. You know the moment is significant, decisive even. The outcome rests on this moment. The crowd is set to erupt. They are there to watch you fall short and they begin to anticipate your failure. You stand poised to silence them. One shot, at this critical point, would turn the hysteria into a hush.

Sports are not short on such opportunities. Neither is life. As followers of Christ, we live our daily lives in the opponent’s arena. Every day is a road game. It is a hostile environment. And we are not just any opponent. We are the hated rival. Jesus made no qualms about that – we will be hated by all because of His name1. He warns us that trials will come in this world. There will be times that the world has us down for the count, but He also reassures us that He has overcome the world2. The war is won. The pivotal moments that win or lose the daily battles, however, are still immense.

A unique atmosphere is reserved for rivals. There is an energy in the arena. The crowd reaches unparalleled volumes. Bedlam. Duke-North Carolina. Ohio State-Michigan. USC-Notre Dame. These are intense matchups regardless of the standings. The players and the fans bring a different attitude to these games. Duke played North Carolina at home last week. Students began camping out for the game in January. A few months ago, I stood with 60,000 others in ankle deep snow with wind chills near zero to watch a Bedlam football game. Rivalries are crazy. When Jesus describes the tension between His kingdom and the world, it brings to mind these rivals. The world is never louder than when it squares off against Christ and His followers. The world brings its A-game. It is a rivalry. And like any rivalry, every game is won or lost in a moment.

We all want to win that moment – to emerge victorious as a stunned silence settles over the crowd. Given the choice, we may prefer to sit on the bench and avoid the stress. To sit back and be ridiculed, screamed at, and have things thrown at us by the opposing crowd while we hope and pray that someone else shuts them up. The problem is that we are called to be on the floor. We are called to battle, to be in the world but not of it3. And if on the floor, if in the moment of decisive action, of course we want to win.

If only the moment was just that. These moments, though, are never won or lost in that instant alone. They are won or lost in the hours of preparation. They are won or lost in the blood, sweat, and tears that are poured into training. A crowd is silenced not by a single shot, but by shot after shot, day after day, taken in an empty gym with no one watching.

The pressure is the same. The noise is the same. The opponent is the same. The difference between owning such a moment and succumbing to it is found in the preparation. Sure, every team practices. But the players who own the moment, who silence the crowd, are those who prepare day in and day out. Those who know the moment is coming long before the game even begins. Those who realize that one day, one game, that moment will arise.

It is hardly a question of if we will be faced with such moments, but rather of when. The answer to that question is not ours to know. All the same, the moment will be won or lost in how we choose to prepare for it. God has given us everything that we need to live a life of godliness, to win the moment4. It is not a matter of ability, for in Christ we are abundantly so. It is a matter of will. Not the will to take the shot or even the will to make it, but the will to prepare for it.

Common are they who casually throw a ball around. Rare are they who tirelessly prepare for those decisive moments by envisioning their opponent and the atmosphere of the game and taking shot after shot in order to train their body and mind to respond when the moment is real. It is their deposits of preparation that afford them the resolve to call upon when the moment requires it.

We can choose to ride the pine – to sit the bench and hope and pray that those around us rise up to win the day. We can choose to be common and casually engage in the training of our hearts and minds. Or we can choose to be different. We can choose to take advantage of all that God has given us to prepare for the moments that are racing toward us with alarming speed.

Common are Christians who read the Bible. Rare are they who do so with the purpose of preparation and not simply the purpose of completion. Common are those who pray. Rare are those who pray for those moments in advance instead of praying for help with the ramifications of having come upon the moment unprepared. Common are those who attend church. Rare are those who see the body of Christ as an opportunity to prepare themselves and to help prepare others instead of just a place to keep up appearances.

We are all running a race. Paul coaches us to run in such a way as to win the race5. You know who wins races? Not the guy sitting on his couch eating cheese fries6 every day who just shows up at the track. (Disclaimer: cheese fries are amazing.) Don’t sit the bench. Don’t show up to the game unprepared. Don’t sit in the corner with your eyes closed and your fingers in your ears pretending it’s not real. Know that those moments are coming. Know that you are equipped to succeed. Know that there will be times when the world has you down on the mat. To get up and continue the fight, to finish the race and to keep the faith7, is not decided in that instant but in the preparation for it. Prepare for the opportunity to take the shot. Win the moment. Quiet the crowd.

1Matthew 10:22
2John 16:33
3John 17:14-19
42 Peter 1:3
51 Corinthians 9:24
6Not even Joe’s cheese fries
72 Timothy 4:7

Visit quietthecrowd.com for more from Christopher.