The Game of Football

This past Fall, my dare-devil best friend encouraged (dragged) me onto an all women's flag football team for the first time in my life. Basketball had been my sport of choice since the 10th grade, so I wasn't sure of what I was getting myself into and that scared me. Not to mention the fact that I am really shy and never like to leave my comfort zone. However, she persuaded me to give it a shot and if I totally sucked, I could quit. Little did I know it would become one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life.

One of the first things we had to do as new football players was understand our roles on the field. Because of my size and speed (my catching ability came later) the coaches assigned me to the Wide Receiver spot. They helped get me into football shape and showed me how to run my routes and catch the ball properly. When I got comfortable with that, then I was given the plays. I think learning the plays was the hardest part of football for me because I am the kind of person that needs to understand why I am doing something. Football was a completely new sport for me so nothing made sense to me at all and it was really hard for me to follow along. On the other hand, basketball allows a lot of room to improvise. You can deviate from the play if you see an opportunity to undermine the defense and for the most part, you won't get cussed out for it. But I learned quickly in football that one slight deviation from the given play can result in a loss of downs, an interception or even worse, an injury. So eventually, I decided that the best way to approach this game was to stay in my lane and complete my assignment as directed. If the play called for me to stand my ground and block my defender out of the play instead of trying to outrun her for a deep touchdown pass, I had to trust that my coaches knew best. The end result was that things usually turned out for everyone's benefit.

Life is a lot like that. Many times, I find myself deviating from God's plan and trying to undermine the opposition on my own. Usually, that opens the door for Satan to push me off course, block one of the blessings God has for me, and lots of times, it causes me a lot of pain. When we as Christians choose to deviate from God's plan, that's our way of telling God that we know better than He does. We got this. But we're sadly mistaken. Since God allows us to make our own decisions, we often do things without His consent but then we ask for His blessing in the meantime. That's just not going to work - Ever. I keep reminding myself that God has been doing this way longer than I have. Just like a coach on the football field, Jesus played the "game" before. He knows all the right routes and schemes that can fool the opposition in any situation. All I have to do is study the plays (in His Word) and execute. When I do, I can't go wrong and you guessed it -- TOUCHDOWN.

Breaking the Silence...

Truth be told...I created this blog site earlier this year, but it has taken me until now to find something to write about. In my typical overly-analytical way, I over-thought this concept of blogging and lost sight of my purpose for starting a blog in the first place. After a lot of encouragement from friends and after reading another excellent blog site called Walk With Me (Walkwithme365.blogspot.com) I found my inspiration to give this thing an honest try. 

In the more recent years of my life, I have been mostly known for my quiet, shy personality. Many times, I found safety in keeping my mouth shut--not letting anyone into my thoughts about much of anything. I often found myself lost in the crowd as my overwhelming fear of not being accepted began to overcome my ability to speak. The crazy thing is that I haven't always been that way. And to be honest, I'm not like that in "real life" either.  Ask anyone close to me and they will all tell you that it's hard to get me to shut up sometimes. But that's how I am. I usually don't say anything unless I deem it important enough to say. I actually have an opinion about a lot of things, but I allowed my own insecurities, the devil's lies and other people to make me feel like my opinion didn't matter.

It wasn't until my relationship with Jesus Christ began to grow that I finally understood what it means to be free. Captivity starts in the mind -- what we tell ourselves that we can't do. I eventually learned that anything is possible and I want to show that to you through this blog.

Writing Under the Influence (let's call it WUI from now on) is my microphone, my podium, my sounding board and your window into the inner workings of a very complicated mind. WUI exists because of the influence Christ has been in my life. At times, I am going to be unbelievably transparent and tell you things that you may not agree with, but that's the beauty of this new chapter I'm starting in my life. This is my way of showing you how good God is and His outlook on the things we care about. Stay tuned and enjoy this journey with me!