There is not much we can do when a coke machine with legs is two feet away at full speed, exept maybe call your our mom.
In football there are so many different ways to get the ball from one end to the other. That is the main task. With different coaches come different plays. All leading to the end zone. The coaches have played the game and are working with the team to help them learn from his mistakes to get them to state.
Now picture yourself as a running back. We have 5 lineman and a tight end to defend us from the oncoming defence of line. We have the quarter back and another running back with us. As well as two wide receivers. The coach calls the play, the ball will be pitched to us. He calls it to run up the middle next to the left guard and the center.
As the ball is hiked we look at the defense and think that it would be so much easier to just run a sweep down the sideline. That way we can just get away from that coke machine with legs linebacker.
The ball is pitched to us and we change our play to fit what we think is best for us. As we take off for the sideline, the defense catches us. our blockers aren't there because we aren't running the play the coach has set up for us. But we know we can do it on our own, we have been playing ball all our life.
We hit the sideline and take off toward the endzone, no one ahead of us and we think we have it set. But little do we know that sneaky little safety caught us and blind sides us. he pushes us out of bounds. That little safety who is like 5 foot nothin knocks us out of bounds. Now the whole game is stopped and the paramedics are called in.
The next play the coach calls us to run down the hole he asked us to before. Some of us choose to experience not listening to him to understand that he does know what he is talking about. we we decide to see if he is right. The ball is pitched to us, our blockers get the hole open and we are off. We have the other running back ahead of us to take out the linebacker, the receivers cross in and knock out the safety and another linebacker. Now the field is open...ish.
That coke machine with legs gets up and comes at us. Because we ran down the middle of the field, we have enough room all around us to stiff-arm, spin, stumble, jump, or whatever. As that coke machine hits us, we have put enough room between us and the boundary line to make some mistakes. We stumble a bit but our blockers are right there to take him out and allow us to continue to run down to the end zone.
TOUCH DOWN!!!
In the Book of Mormon, Lehi talks about the Iron Rod and the "straight and narrow path" which leads to eternal life or Heaven. Some say that it is to narrow to follow, some find it easy to follow. Next time you have a chance, watch a football game. Count how many times someone steps over the line. The field is 50 yards wide. That is not narrow at all. And yet people still constantly try to push their limit and run down the sideline.
As we try to run down the sideline of the Iron Rod, we will get pushed by something as small as the little safety or maybe attending something we know we shouldn't justify ourselves in doing it. Our coach (Jesus Christ) has called the play, the commandments. He has provided us with our team mates and blockers (our family and church family). They know the plays and know what each one of us is to do.
Some of the plays we may not agree with or understand, but it is the trust that we put in our Coach and team mates that will get us through it. The Coach has called the plays, our blockers are set, now its up to us to follow it and be guarded. Or run outside and take the risk of getting taken out
