In 1975 Alabama played football against Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl in Miami. Alabama had a perfect record of 11 wins and was expecting to win the national championship. Notre Dane was 10-2. The …
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In 1975 Alabama played football against Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl in Miami. Alabama had a perfect record of 11 wins and was expecting to win the national championship. Notre Dane was 10-2. The 1975 game was won by Notre Dame by a score of 13-11 crushing the national championship hopes for Alabama.
My son, Billy, a young teenager at the time, was at that game. He was brokenhearted that Alabama lost. (I think his only allegiance was his “Southern roots.”) He saw the Alabama coach, Bear Bryant, at a book signing the next day in a Miami mall. Billy went up to the coach, and almost tearfully, he said, “Coach, I’m so sorry you lost the game last night.” Bear Bryant looked at him and in his low, gravelly voice, said, “Son, it was just another ball game.”
Coach Bryant had been denied a national championship the previous year by a loss to Notre Dame. Alabama came in to the 1975 bowl game undefeated with eleven wins. Notre Dame had two losses. Alabama was expected to win. But once again, Coach Bryant and his team were denied a championship by the same team.
The next day he could say “It was just another ball game.”
That is having your priorities in order. It is having an understanding that there are important things and there are really important things.
I am not saying those football games had no importance. They were, in fact, important to many people at the time.
Some things may be important at the time. Really important things have lasting importance!
I don’t care who any celebrity is dating. Or going to marry. Or whether they are having a boy or girl. I do care when a friend or family member is diagnosed terminally ill. Or when a loved dies. Or when a terrible accident disables or impairs someone for life.
I want to always distinguish between something that may be momentarily important and something that is really important.
www.firstagcc.org
Write the Pastor at PastorBill@firstagcc.org