Thanks to a wonderful day job, I often am able to attend major events like the Super Bowl. There are many wonderful people involved with sports like football. Leading up to these events are get-togethers celebrating the superb work that players, coaches and team owners do throughout the year in their communities. There are many people of faith who have an incredibly positive impact across the nation. It’s easy for the media and some of the public to focus on the negative things and cast many of these deeds into political terms, overshadowing the good. My son Christian and I have been fortunate enough to attend many of these events as father and son over the years.
One gathering during Super Bowl week, the NFL House, is attended by many friends, family and current and former football athletes. We’ve been fortunate to meet a lot of interesting people where football, family and faith is shared in an atmosphere where the politics of the outside world are left at the door and we engage as Americans. Super Bowl LVIII was special because it was only the second overtime game. The San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs squared off in a hard-fought see-saw game that came down to the last 12 seconds where the Chiefs scored a walk-off touchdown to win. Win or lose, both teams and fans are euphoric or disappointed, but they hold in common hope for the next season—a lot like life. Summing it up, Chiefs owner Clark Hunt thanked God for the opportunity to have played.
We all filed out of the stadium in peace, filled with the experience. Christian and I are fortunate to take the Friends and Family bus to and from the game. It’s always difficult to find the bus after the game. This time, before leaving on the bus, a person gave out lanyards with the color yellow on them, saying it would be a no-brainer to find the bus after the game. She said there would be people dressed in yellow with yellow signs directing us out of the stadium. She promised there would be no difficulties catching the bus back to the hotel. We left the stadium at the designated gate. The people in yellow pointed the way. Turns out they were security workers pointing everybody in the same direction. We once asked a pair of them which way to the Family and Friends bus and they confidently pointed in opposite directions.
Outside the stadium area, police had shut off access to the apron around the stadium, including the parking lot where the bus was. We walked probably a mile around the stadium and the officers would not allow us near the lot. Traffic was so bad we couldn’t get a cab or an uber. Instead of riding back to the hotel to have a relaxing meal and recollect our favorite moments, we walked over five miles to the hotel. Kind of took the air out of the evening. James 1:2 says, “My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into diverse trials.” Admittedly, this became one of those trials. At first, we were pretty put out. But nothing like a long walk to think it over, and we found ourselves laughing about it and basking in yet another memory of a wonderful time between father and son.
