Have you ever watched the
quarterback at a football game and thought that looks so easy, I could do
that? Anyone who has ever watched a
football game has seen the quarterback make a poor throw. Hence, the classic quarterback insult: “My grandmother can throw better than
that!” Yet, if you have ever played a
sport and have had to make a split-second decision, you know that it is not as
easy as it looks. Many things in life
are harder than they appear. As a teenager
I underestimated many things, especially concerning living life as an adult. I did not see all of the preparation or
training that gave my parents the tools to face life as an adult.
I
remember when I finally got my permit. I
asked several times to drive the family car.
Driving a car didn’t seem that hard.
I had driven a go-kart before, so it couldn’t be that much more
difficult, I thought. I remember the
first time I drove, I almost ran over some bushes planted by the side of the
road. My mother was sitting in the
passenger’s seat, she yelled and reached over to correct the steering
wheel. I was not as prepared to drive as
I first thought. It was another week or
two before I drove the car again, during this time I paid close attention to
how my parents drove. I watched how they
turned, and how they straightened the wheel after completing a turn. I paid attention to how quickly they
accelerated, and how far away they were from a red light when they started
braking. I became a student who was willing
to receive instruction. The second time
that I drove, I was much more cautious. I
took each turn slowly, and gave myself plenty of room to slow down. I do not remember much of my second drive
other than the fact that I was careful, and my mother told me that I did a good
job.
There
are many things in life that require a lot of preparation. As a teenager, we do not see the preparation
that goes into the many aspects of adult life.
We think our parents are holding us back from doing what we want to
do. How hard is it to pay bills and tell
people what to do anyway? What we do not
realize is that we are not yet prepared for many of the things that an adult
will face. Our parents have been given
the job of training and preparing us for life.
They teach us how to cut the grass and take out the trash, or how to
cook a meal and clean the dishes. There
are many things that they must teach us to prepare us for life. Just like the quarterback who prepares many
hours for each game. The quarterback
will watch their opponent’s defense, and try to figure out the best way to
score. They will run drills with their
receivers to make sure that the routes are matched to the quarterback’s throw. They will run and condition their bodies to
make sure that they are in top physical condition. Many hours will be spent in preparation for a
game that will last a couple hours. How
prepared are you to face life as an adult?
When someone tries to teach you something do you answer with “I know
that already”? Unfortunately, many
teenagers are not teachable until they almost “run over the bushes.”
Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should
go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Our parents have been commanded by God to
prepare us for life. Are we allowing our
parents to train us for the biggest game on earth, the game of life?
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