Three Rights Make a Left

KEN LEONARD

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES

This week we witnessed a paradigm shift at NFL games all over the country. One that I hope has an effect on sports all the way down to the high school level. We saw NFL players in mass kneel in prayer for Buffalo Bills Safety Damar Hamlin. Some teams even gathered at mid-field with the opposing team to pray for the player who had collapsed during a game on Monday Night Football the previous week. In the last couple of years, we have seen high school coaches fired for praying at football games. I think events that transpired in the NFL have to have some effect on the feigned outrage by those who think prayer has no place in sports.

Often, we see professional sports players as role models. That seems especially true of younger people. If that is true, we have NFL players to thank for showing all of us that prayer is the best way to deal with adversity.

It is clear that all of those prayers have been answered. Damar Hamlin lived, though his heart had stopped, and if medical personnel had not been there on the spot to bring him back, Damar Hamlin would not be with us today. We learned that besides the top-notch medical staff of the team, there were four emergency room doctors who happened to be in attendance who unhesitatingly volunteered their skill in just such a situation to help save Damar Hamlin. It was an inspiring thing to see.

It is my hope that the emphasis on prayer becomes a mainstay, not only in American Sports but in American Society. It is my opinion that Damar Hamlin was a canary in a coal mine. I think God, as only He can, turned the Monday Night Football tragedy into triumph. I think prayer worked.

On a much grander scale, I would like to think that we may be on the verge of a new “Great Awakening”. I offer as an example something that happened at our home congregation last Sunday night.

Covid caused a major disruption in congregations across the country and the world. For the better part of a year, people stayed home and worshiped virtually. In Forney, I know of one congregation that met in their cars in the parking lot. At Creekside Church of Christ in Greenville, TX we went to two services on Sunday morning so members could spread out and maintain some social distance. It was a blessing when we went back to one service and our auditorium was pretty full on Sunday Morning. Attendance dropped off a lot for Sunday evening and Wednesday night.

Then a few weeks ago, the Elders announced that on Sunday evening we were going to break up into small groups after a short devotional. Announcements were made, the change was promoted, and last Sunday night was the first Sunday the change was implemented.

The first thing we noticed was that our auditorium on Sunday night was almost as full as it had been on Sunday Morning. After a devotional, when we broke up into our seven individual groups, we found that we had to bring in a lot of extra chairs to accommodate everyone who was there. When I talked to the deacon charged with taking attendance, I learned that we had over 40 percent more people than we were averaging on Sunday night. The best result was one that I can’t quantify. People were enthusiastic about attending that Sunday night, and I hope that feeling continues. As I said at the beginning, I hope we are on the verge of a new “Great Awakening” that surpasses the one that occurred when our country was young.