A Moment of Silence

I enjoy going to a few Friday night Hanna high school football games each season. It's always funny to go back and see how some things have not changed since I was in high school. That woman who was cheering down the row from me --- she may be 25 years older now but she's still cheering just like she was when we were students. Amazing.

One thing that has changed is that there's no public prayer before the game. Right after the Hanna band played the national anthem (great job guys!), we stood for "a moment of silence." Does anybody really have any clue what the "moment of silence" is? All I could see that happened was that everyone looked down and got quiet. I'm not sure if people were checking out their shoes or the back of the person's head in front of them or counting how many peanut shells the guy beside them had dropped. As far as I could tell, the "moment of silence" had no purpose other than creating silence. The announcer thanked us for our silence (maybe he had a headache and it was for him?) and then we all sat down.

I missed the public prayer last night! I remember as a student hearing some local pastor pray for safety and a great time for the players and coaches. And when he finished, he announced that his prayer was in Jesus' name and everyone cheered! I missed that last night!

So I've decided to do what I did last night --- and I'm challenging you to do the same. Don't let the "moment of silence" be silent whenever you are at a public event. I'm not saying to shout and pray loudly and make a big scene (Jesus advised against that). But when that moment of silence at the next football game comes, ask God to be present and protect the players and fans and make the evening one that brings glory to Him. And when you finish, ask it all in Jesus' name. I can promise you that He wants to hear our voices rather than a moment of silence.

As I close, let's have a moment of silence for my alma mater's great loss (pause).......and to celebrate Westside's great win (pause).......43-13. Ouch!