Praying for the New York Yankees and Jets

Millions of men and women love sports. In fact, many are obsessed with their favorite sports teams. I understand this because I am the same way. I am obsessed with my favorite sports team (the New York Yankees and New York Jets). Unfortunately, many times in our love of our sports teams, we forget the importance of loving God. So I write this blog as a reminder to focus first on loving God, before we love our sports team.

 "And Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind , be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints
                                                                -Ephesians 6:18 NIV

I wonder how many other Christians have actually prayed to God for their teams to win? Unfortunately, I have said heart felt prayers to the Lord for the New York Yankees and New York Jets to win games. It is really kind of funny in some ways. How ridiculous for me to believe that God would favor one sporting team over another. Of course being a Yankee fan doesn’t help because most of the times my prayers appeared to be answered, as the Yankees usually win. However, I could always count on my Jets to bring me back to reality. Whether it was Blair Thomas getting stopped four times on the goal line, Vinnie Testerverde throwing a pick six or Doug Brien missing a field goal in the playoffs, the New York Jets made sure I remembered God’s work is not about games. Prayer time should be spent on the important things in life. Prayer works. God does answer prayers, but it is important to remember to “pray in the Spirit” meaning to pray for things in God’s will and things that will glorify Him. Those are the prayers that God answers and those are the prayers that bless you and the people around you. If you need some examples, pray that God will show you how to help someone in need. Pray that God will show you how to forgive someone who has been mean to you. Pray for wisdom and direction for what God wants for your life. Simply pray to thank God for all he has done for you. Trust me- you will be blessed, and also the people around you. That is my testimony.

The return of Andy Pettitte to the N.Y Yankee rotation has been postponed one day due to rain. Andy’s serves as a source of hope for most Yankee fans. Only Yankee fans feel like they need hope when they are already in first place. I guess that is because Andy Pettitte’s Yankee teams have been championship teams. Teams that are often at least 30 games over .500 and usually much more than .5 games in first place. Teams, that looks much better than this current team. I hope Andy Pettitte pitches well. I pray his leg is totally healed (I think that is OK for prayer J).  If he pitches well and C.C Sabathia can somehow return to form (he has had only had one ace type performance since coming off the DL), and Hiroki Kuroda continues to do what he has done all year and Ivan Nova and Phil Hughes replicate their last starts. The Yankees will win another World Series. That is a lot of ifs and if it doesn’t work out, some Yankee fans will have to be reminded to not pray for the return of Andy Pettitte’s former teams.

A look at Rich Cimini’s ESPN Jets blog revealed a breakdown of defensive plays in the loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers and as I said before too much Mike Devito (40 plays) and Sione Pouha (36 plays).  Head Coach Rex Ryan lamented about how the defense could not get off the field on 3^rd down. Well, I think Rex might want to put his young dominant lineman in the game a little longer. Kenrick Ellis who had a great pre-season and first game against the Buffalo Bills played only 20 snaps. First Round draft pick Quinton Coples played only 16 snaps, even back up Marcus Dixon played more than that  (19). Come on Rex, play your best defensive players and while your at it check the tape on Bart Scott. 

Now that I got that off my chest it is time for a devotional and prayer before bed.