Quarterback Jack

PRIDE INVITES DESTRUCTION; HUMILITY LEADS TO WISDOM.

Bible Reading of the Day: Read Proverbs 11:2; 16:18-19.

Verse of the Day: “Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18).

“Come on, Coach!” Jack screamed from his seat on the bench. “Put me in! I’m a better quarterback than Glenn!”

The coach didn’t seem to hear Jack’s words, but the other players did.

“Give it up, Jack,” said Jason. “Coach isn’t gonna put you in, all right?”

“But I’m better than Glenn,” Jack insisted. “He just won’t give me a chance!”

Even Glenn, the team’s starting quarterback, heard Jack from the sidelines. He threw an incomplete pass at third down and jogged off the field as the rest of the team stayed to punt the ball to the other team.

“You think you can do a better job?” Glenn asked Jack.

“Yeah, I do,” Jack answered, jutting his chin out proudly.

A few moments later, Jack looked up from his seat on the bench and was surprised to see Coach standing in front of him.

“You want a chance?” he asked Jack. “Put your helmet on and warm up.”

Jack jumped up from the bench and slid his helmet on over his head. He picked up a ball and asked Jason to toss with him. Jason shook his head. Jack asked several other guys on the bench to help him warm up, but they all said no.

Finally, the coach called his name and Jack raced onto the field. On his first play, rather than handing the ball to his running back, Jack tried to run it himself and was tackled without gaining a yard. On the next play, he tried to pass, but the ball fell to the ground before it reached the receiver. At third down, Jack threw the ball again. This time it was caught—by a member of the other team, who ran the ball past Jack across the goal line for a touchdown.

Jack stomped back to the sidelines after his unsuccessful stint as the quarterback. His coach came over after he dropped his helmet on the ground and sat on the bench.

“You made only one mistake out there, Jack,” Coach said.

Jack looked at the man in disbelief. “Only one? I made a bunch of mistakes!”

“I know,” Coach said. “But they were all related to your one mistake.”

“Which was …?” Jack asked.

“Thinking too much of yourself, and not enough of your teammates,” Coach said. “A proud young man like you is a disaster just waiting to happen, Son. I hope the next time you get a chance, you’ll remember that.”

As Coach walked away, Jack sighed. “I will,” he said seriously.

TO DISCUSS: What was Jack’s big mistake? Coach said, “A proud [person] … is a disaster just waiting to happen.” Do you think that’s true? If so, why?

TO PRAY: “Help us. Lord, to beware any tendencies we have to be full of sinful pride.”