Sport is something I have done for as long as I can remember.
I played football from about the age of 4 and I still have any first pair of football boots in my room! They are honestly so tiny
Since then, I’ve played cricket, rugby, rugby and then each week I still play hockey for a local team.
While growing up, I used to play about 20 hours of sport a week, including matches and training sessions.
And then there’s watching sport.
I’m the sport of person who can turn the TV on and watch literally any sport.
I watch F1, football, rugby, cricket, the Olympics, skiing, cycling and then literally anything else that is on TV.
I have been known to get really into that horse dancing thing(is it called dressage?) and I’ve also watched diving like my life depends on it.
Sport is such a massive part of my life.
I think the reason for this is because I am so competitive. I love competing, I love challenges, I love all things were I get to go against someone else.
Winning is amazing, I love winning!
After a win, I’m so happy, so pumped up!
However, the other side of this is that I hate losing.
I sulk, I get annoyed, I am grumpy for the rest of the day.
Losing is the worst thing in the world.
And after the Euros where we came so close, but then right at the end we lost. It was a massive disappointment. I was gutted.
But then the days afterwards we saw the horrendous racist abuse towards Marcus Rashford, Jaden Sancho and Bukayo Saka after they missed penalties in the final.
We saw what happens were competitive sport becomes nasty after a loss. The brokenness of our country was once again revealed as people were grieving the loss of a football tournament.
There is more to life than a football match or a sport or winning a trophy.
Life is bigger than a single result.
Raheem Sterling said
“[My faith is] massive to me. I always give thanks for my life, always give thanks for my family's life and I'm just really grateful for the position I'm in. Every day you wake up, you just look around and you don't need to look any further than what you see. A lot of scientists, the cleverest people in the world tell you that there has to be a creator. And they need answers, but you just have to sometimes accept that it's bigger than you and you have to leave it at that."
There is something bigger than the result.
Having faith is about trusting that there is more to life than the things that are right in front of us.
Trusting that what is happening right in front of us isn’t how it ends.
This moment will pass
There are bigger things in life that the result of a football match.
Jeremiah 29:11 says, ’For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.’
God has a plan for the future, we can put our faith in a God who knows the future and who will go through it with us.
There is hope for the future.
Sport doesn’t define you.
There is more to life than trophies and medals.
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