Here are a couple of thoughts on the game and a few spiritual insights gleaned as well:

• What a great game…maybe one of the best ever.
• I was surprised the Cardinals did as well as they did.
• In fact they really dominated the game in many aspects and deserved to win just as much as the Steelers did.
• However, the final score said Steelers 27- Cardinals 23 and that’s what matters most, so congratulations to them and all you Steelers fans.
• Which brings me to my first point…it’s all about the final score.  No matter the methods you use or how much the other team may have seemed to dominate it’s what shows up on the scoreboard in the end that matters most.  It’s the same with churches…in the end it won’t be about how we did it, or how much more “spiritual” others may seem to have been, but rather how many people did we help come into a true, life transforming relationship with Jesus.
• Second lesson learned is that it’s all or nothing…because time is going to run out.  At the end of the first half James Harrison picked off a pass from Kurt Warner and started rumbling towards the end zone.  Time expired and so if he got tackled the half was over.  Instead he determinedly kept going, breaking tackles, giving it his all until he finally just barely fell into the end zone for a touchdown…which as it turned out was greatly needed.  Our lives are the same way…time is running out…we need to give it our all if we want to “score” or as the bible says “produce fruit” with our lives.
• Last lesson is that the games outcome was determined by a matter of inches.  Both Harrison’s touchdown and Santonio Holmes touchdown with less than a minute to go in the game had to be verified by instant replay because they were that were so close to being ruled the other way.  In both cases instant replay confirmed that they had just barely scored.  In other words, the difference between winning the Super Bowl and losing it was literally a combined 2 or 3 inches.  Two months of training camp, 16 regular season games and 4 play-off games later…a champion was crowned because of…inches.  Life is the same way…all of our hard work will come down to just the little things that we do or don’t do…the difference between ordinary and extraordinary someone once said is that little word “extra”.  So how about it for you?  What’s the little extra you need to do to go from a runner-up whom history will forget, to being a champion?