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Didier Drogba, faith, God, and destiny.
A friend has started doing Five Minute Friday blogs – you write for five minutes to see what comes out. I haven’t posted here for a while so here’s my offering for the week.
GO
In the immediate aftermath of Chelsea’s victory over Bayern Munich in the Champions League final last week, iconic striker Didier Drogba said this to an ITV interviewer:
I believe a lot in destiny. I pray a lot. It was written a long time ago. God is wonderful. This team is amazing. I want to dedicate this Cup to all our managers and players before. It [the goal] changed the game mentally. I’m very happy. Life is fantastic.
You will remember that Chelsea did not win the cup by dominating or playing the best football. They were 3-1 down against Napoli at the end of the first leg of the quarter final. They then stifled Barcelona in the semis, defending heroically but never getting their own rhythm or pattern going. And in the final they were second best on possession, chances created and entertainment. But somehow more stoic defending, closing down, hassling, and a little bit of luck, took them through extra time to penalties where they won – Drogba scoring the winning goal.
Given that extraordinay turnaround since the 3-1 first leg defeat to Napoli, and overcoming two excellent teams in the semis and final, it is unsurprising that people started to say ‘your name is on the cup’ or ‘it must have been destiny’. There was a lot of dodgy theology in the aftermath to that match.
But Drogba’s quote, made in the midst of euphoria, does not stack up to the God that I believe in. I can forgive him, as he is a footballer not a theologian and he is expressing his thanks and praise to God for what is the pinnacle of his career. Nevertheless, the quote indicates that you pray, and God grants. That your future is already mapped out or ‘written in the stars’. That we do not have much to do with what happens – it is all preordained. He is not a God of destiny.
I don’t believe in a God like that. I believe in a God that is sovereign (in charge) and omnipotent (all-powerful) and omniscience (all-knowing) but does not push us down paths that we don’t want to go. Success and failure, health and suffering seem somewhat arbitrary. Look at Job. What I believe is that God guides us in particular directions, and knows what we are going to choose, but does not force in any particular way. A God who responds to prayer requests with ‘no’ and ‘wait’ as well as ‘yes’. He is a God that in the suffering, failure, despair can be just as present, if not more so, than at times of success. This God is more full of grace, as he doesn’t rely on a meritocracy and doesn’t need to be bribed with prayers before acting. He is present and available whatever the situation.
I’m happy for Drogba, although it has taken me a few weeks to get to this point as I’m really not a fan of Chelsea. And I hope that he can articulate faith in his God when things are going as badly as well as at times like this.
STOP. Oh dear, that took 13 minutes. Must try harder.
A picture of love.
I have written a guest blog in Rob Wylie’s 12-month project, A Picture of Love. Go and check it out on his blog!
Phil Scolari Sacked at Chelsea
Chelsea have sensationally sacked manager Luiz Felipe Scolari.
The club’s website revealed the dramatic move had been made “to maintain a challenge for the trophies we are still competing for”.
World Cup winner Scolari had only been in the job since June 2008, when he became Chelsea’s third boss in a year.
Chelsea are fourth in the Premier League but remain in the Champions League and FA Cup – with Ray Wilkins in charge until a successor is appointed.
2011 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 9,600 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
I just can’t find it in me to be glad one more person is dead…
From the New York Times, a survivor from the twin towers gives his thoughts on Osama Bin Laden’s death earlier today.
“If this means there is one less death in the future, then I’m glad for that,” said Mr. Waizer, who was in an elevator riding to work in the north tower when the plane struck the building. He made it down the stairs, but suffered third-degree burns.
“But I just can’t find it in me to be glad one more person is dead, even if it is Osama Bin Laden.”
Asked whether he felt any closure, Mr. Waizer said, “I’ve said for years I didn’t think there would be, but I’ll probably need to think about that more, now that it actually happened.”
“You know, the dead are still dead,” he added. “So in that sense, there is no such thing as closure.”
He expected the reaction from surviving families to be varied. ”Many of them will be grateful he has finally been brought to justice,” Mr. Waizer said. “But many of them will feel that whatever the justice of this, it won’t bring back the people they lost.”
I can’t imagine how you could have closure (whatever that means) after something like that. But hopefully there is space for healing.
So you want to know what the Bible is about?
Just ask a child. I cam across these withing two days of each other, from different sources. First, the overarching story of God’s dealings with his creation,
then how Jesus is the beginning, middle, and end of that story
You’ve got to admire their knowledge and confidence to stand in front of a congregation at such a young age – I certainly couldn’t have done it. I hope that this remains a knowledge that they can base the rest of their lives on.
2010 in review
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.
Crunchy numbers
A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 6,100 times in 2010. That’s about 15 full 747s.
In 2010, there were 38 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 337 posts. There were 10 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 3mb. That’s about a picture per month.
The busiest day of the year was February 23rd with 87 views. The most popular post that day was Fight for your love..
Where did they come from?
The top referring sites in 2010 were networkedblogs.com, en.wordpress.com, twitter.com, facebook.com, and cookiesdays.blogspot.com.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for caramel shortbread, cheryl cole wedding, cheryl cole wedding pictures, chocolate caramel shortbread, and heaven movie.
Attractions in 2010
These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
Fight for your love. October 2009
1 comment
Heaven (Tom Tykwer) – movie review. April 2008
Henry Scott Holland: “Death is nothing at all” June 2010
2 comments
Lucio and Kaka show their faith May 2010
The poor in the gospel of Luke (iv) April 2008
1 comment
John Wesley and three states of man
This morning I read a great sermon of John Wesley – sermon 9 from his 144 sermons about the spirit of bondage and of adoption (based on Rom 8:15).
He says that there are actually three states of man . The first is the natural state where there is no inclination towards God and also no feeling of condemnation. Life just ticks along, trying to be good, accumulating knowledge, friends and wealth, without any thought of a greater purpose or any worry of sin.
I.5. From the same ignorance of himself and God, there may sometimes arise, in the natural man, a kind of joy, in congratulating himself upon his own wisdom and goodness: And what the world calls joy, he may often possess. He may have pleasure in various kinds; either in gratifying the desires of the flesh, or the desire of the eye, or the pride of life; particularly if he has large possessions; if he enjoy an affluent fortune; then he may “clothe” himself “in purple and fine linen, and fare sumptuously every day.” And so long as he thus doeth well unto himself, men will doubtless speak good of him. They will say, “He is a happy man.” For, indeed, this is the sum of worldly happiness; to dress, and visit, and talk, and eat, and drink, and rise up to play.
6. It in not surprising, if one in such circumstances as these, dosed with the opiates of flattery and sin, should imagine, among his other waking dreams, that he walks in great liberty. How easily may he persuade himself, that he is at liberty from all vulgar errors, and from the prejudice of education; judging exactly right, and keeping clear of all extremes. “I am free,” may he say, “from all the enthusiasm of weak and narrow souls; from superstition, the disease of fools and cowards, always righteous over much; and from bigotry, continually incident to those who have not a free and generous way of thinking.” And too sure it is, that he is altogether free from the “wisdom which cometh from above,” from holiness, from the religion of the heart, from the whole mind which was in Christ.
The second state is the legal state where the person has become aware of sin within them and has the desire to change, but can’t actually do anything about it. This, Wesley says, is the person who is described in Romans 7
II.9. I now see both the spiritual nature of the law; and my own carnal, devilish heart “sold under sin,” totally enslaved: (Like slave bought with money, who were absolutely at their master’s disposal:) “For that which I do, I allow not; for what I would, I do not, but what I hate, that I do:” (Verse 15) Such is the bondage under which I groan; such the tyranny of my hard master. “To will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would, I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do:” (Verses 18, 19) “I find a law,” an inward constraining power, “that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in” or consent to “the law of God, after the inward man:” (Verses 21, 22)
And the third Wesley describes as evangelical, although I guess adopted would also be apt. Recgnising the humble need for the mercy and saving grace of God, the person is adopted into God’s family, free from fear of God and from the condemnation which comes in the legal state, and awakened to yearn for the wonderful fulfillment of creation and the transforming of God’s Spirit.
III.4. Here end both the guilt and power of sin. He can now say, “I am crucified with Christ: Nevertheless I live; yet not I but Christ liveth in me: And the life which I now live in the flesh,” (even in this mortal body,) “I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Here end remorse, and sorrow of heart, and the anguish of a wounded spirit. “God turneth his heaviness into joy.” He made sore, and now his hands bind up. Here ends also that bondage unto fear; for “his heart standeth fast, believing in the Lord.” He cannot fear any longer the wrath of God; for he knows it is now turned away from him, and looks upon Him no more as an angry Judge, but as a loving Father. He cannot fear the devil, knowing he has “no power, except it be given him from above.” He fears not hell; being an heir of the kingdom of heaven: Consequently, he has no fear of death; by reason whereof he was in time past, for so many years, “subject to bondage.” Rather, knowing that “if the earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, he hath a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens; he groaneth earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon with that house which is from heaven.” He groans to shake off this house of earth, that “mortality” may be “swallowed up of life;” knowing that God “hath wrought him for the self-same thing; who hath also given him the earnest of his Spirit.”
The whole thing is worth reading.
