- Where - end of year (2006/07 season) football team social bash / quiz night
- Aim - to get guys to consider more seriously the questions of life and meaning and the reality of Jesus claims.
Mourinho has a point!
Well, it's end of the season which means post-mortem time. The best and the worst, Highest scorer, the most fouls fewest tackles.
Football 365.com do the alternative awards. See if you can work out who these are.
1. Air Kick of the Season –
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Runner-up – Andrey Shevchenko in the FA cup semi-final. He pulled a muscle in the process and missed the next 2 games
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Winner – Paul Robinson for England against Croatia – the “wonder bobble”!
2. Injury of the season –
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Runner-up – Everton’s Tim Cahill who suffered knee and ligament damage after being inadvertently fouled by Lee Carsley – his team mate whilst playing Aston Villa.
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Winner – Preston winger Simon Whaley who got up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet whilst on a mid-season training camp in Spain, bumped into the table in his hotel room knocking off the marble table top onto his foot, thus breaking his toe and ruling him out for the rest of the season.
3. Anti-climax of the Season – (no surprises here!)
- Runner up – The league meeting - Chelsea & Man Utd at Stamford bridge
- Winner – The FA Cup final - Chelsea & Man Utd at the new Wembley
The first shot on goal was after 31 minutes (Frank Lampard), the first goal was on 116mins and the first time I woke up (literally) – 54 mins. No wonder Mark Lawrenson called it a “great advert for the coming Cricket season.”
But the thing is – Chelsea won! For the next few seasons they will be remembered for winning the most boring cup-final of recent times – but then after that they will just be remembered as the team who won the ’06-’07 cup final. Their names will be on the cup!
After the match Jose Mourinho was interviewed by the football correspondent from the Independent. He said - "On Tuesday, I asked the players 'Do you want to enjoy the game or do you want to enjoy yourselves after the game?'" Mourinho said. "The players said they wanted to enjoy after the game. So we played a tight, tactical and disciplined game" Their emotions were controlled and the match won.
And ultimately, that is what counts. Jesus once said this "Don't hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it's safe from moth and rust and burglars. It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.” (Matthew 6:19-21 NLT) It’s all about thinking long term and not missing out on the best. When it comes to life, do you want to enjoy the 'game', or enjoy 'after the game'? Do you want to store up temporary treasure now - which will corrode and rust, or do you want to life for a life that will last forever with God in heaven. Because what we do with our lives now - more specifically, what we do with the claims of Jesus in our lives now will dictat what happens after the game.
To invest in the future means a recognition of who we are, and what we are like. Being confronted with the truth of what life could be like with God forever means being confronted with the truth of what God is like, and what we are like. We have lived lives rebelling against God - making ourselves God's of our own lives. But at the cross of Jesus, God offers forgiveness and life - forever if only we will live for the after the game. Consider the claims of Jesus seriously. Investigate them and listen to him. What happens after the game depends on it.