That's What Matters

That's What Matters by Dr. Jim Denison

The NFL playoffs are making headlines today, but an event outside of a game a week ago took on a meaning that transcended what happened in the stadium.

A Las Vegas Raiders fan named Ed Fernandes came to Cincinnati to watch his team play the hometown Bengals. Near the stadium gate, he stumbled and fell. Bengals fan Jerry Mills, an intensive care nurse, started CPR, keeping Fernandes alive until emergency personnel took over. Even though he and his patient were rooting for different teams, he said later, “It doesn’t matter who you are, you deserve to live. That’s what matters.”

In other football news, a high school coach in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, had to cancel workouts last Monday due to severe weather in the area. So he told his team, “Find an elderly or disabled neighbor and shovel their driveway. Don’t accept any money—that’s our Monday workout.” An elderly resident said later, “They did a fine job, and I’ll never forget it. They were a bright spot on a stormy morning.”

Why did I click instantly on these stories? For the same reason I assume you enjoyed reading them on a Monday morning: we all need hope. In these days of pandemic headlines, winter storms, political animosity, and moral decay, we need to know that things are not as bad as they seem and that they can get better.

Aristotle called hope a “waking dream.” Today, let’s discover God’s dream for our broken world.