When I was at school, for years our school’s soccer team had been on a losing streak, losing every home game and every away game. A couple of years before I made the team, that streak was broken and we began to win some games.
I made the team when I was 13 years old and I remember playing a match against another school in the area. The school’s name was Joscar’s School for Boys and we had always nicknamed their team ‘Joscar’s Giants’ because they had been unbeatable. Well, in this match against Joscar’s Giants, I was selected to play in center midfield; a busy role that has defensive duties as well as progressing the ball forward, passing it around, and feeding it to the strikers for an attempt on goal.
It was the 89th minute of the game and neither team had scored. It was pouring with rain and it was a cold December and we were all miserable. I had the ball and I was running with it in to the goal area when a Joscar’s player slid under my feet, and took me down. The referee blew his whistle and awarded me a penalty.
I remember looking at Mr. Elwood and asking if I could take the kick, and he said yes, so I placed the ball on the penalty spot, my heart beating hard and the adrenaline pumping, knowing that all I had to do was score from this penalty and we had won the game.
I paced back from the ball and began my run. My right foot made contact with the ball, just as my left foot was disappearing from underneath me. I slipped in the mud, fell backwards, and sent the ball high over the crossbar. The game finished tied at nil-nil and we all went home miserable. That was the last time I was allowed to take a penalty.
For days after that, I kept thinking “I wish I could take that penalty again.” I remember saying to my friends “I could kick myself for missing that penalty” and one of them remarked back, “You’d better let me kick you instead; you’d probably miss!”
At the time, I was mad and upset with myself for performing so badly at a crucial moment, and wished more than anything that I could go back and do it again, have another try, have a second chance.
Isn’t that a bit how life is? Haven’t we all made mistakes in the past that we wished we could go back and do things differently and make things better? Life doesn’t let us do that, but the good news for us is that God’s grace isn’t like that at all!
When you get a moment, check out Luke 15:21-31; the story of The Prodigal Son. You’ll read that in the end, the father explained to his jealous son that even though his brother had been foolish and squandered his wealth, he still loved them both equally, and now it was time to celebrate because he had returned. He was given a second chance.
God’s grace allows second chances. That is what God does for us. When we stumble, when we struggle, when we are disobedient and unfaithful, God is always there to welcome us back with open arms.
DC Talk wrote a song a number of years ago that asked, “What if I stumble? What if I fall? What if I lose my step and I make fools of us all? Will the love continue when my walk becomes a crawl?” The answer is YES! By God’s grace, the love WILL continue!
The Apostle Paul is a great example of this. Before he knew Christ, he was a devout Jew. He hated the name of Jesus. He had purposed in his heart to do everything he could to stop the spread of Jesus’ name. He went from church to church ravaging them, dragging the believers out and having them thrown in prison.
Through God’s grace, Paul’s heart changed. He became the great man who wrote almost half of our New Testament. He confessed, “I once was a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man.” Paul knew grace; he understood grace because he had experienced grace. This grace changed Paul’s life forever. God’s grace gave him a second chance. And God’s grace is what changes our lives forever, it’s what gives us a second chance. And I LOVE that we worship a God of second chances. Without his grace, we’d be fighting a losing battle. We need those second, third, and fourth chances every day.
October 31st, 2006 by 
James 
No Comments »