P. pilgrim
The story is told of Roy Riegels who played American college football many years ago. It was the Rose bowl game, one of college football’s most notable events. Roy Riegels, was captain-elect of California’s football team, and he had caught a fumble from Georgia Tech. Picking up the loose ball he lost his direction and ran from his own 20-yard line sixty-five yards towards the wrong goal line. All he could think was that touchdown lay ahead, but a nagging voice kept shouting at him above the roar of the crowd: “Stop, stop! You’re running the wrong way!” The voice belonged to Riegels’ teammate, Benny Lom, who had been desperately chasing his score-happy captain for more than 40 yards. At the 10-yard line, Lom managed to grab him, but Riegels shook him off. “Get away from me,” he shouted. “This is my touchdown.” At the three-yard line Lom grabbed him again and this time held on. Riegels finally realized that something was wrong and turned around. But a wave of Georgia Tech men rolled over him and scored, leaving him stranded and gasping on his own one-yard line. He had run 62 yards in the wrong direction, chased by Lom and an incredulous Georgia Tech team, to produce what was probably the zaniest play in football history.
The strange play all happened in the first half of the game and at half time the players filed off the field and into the dressing room. As others sat down on the benches and the floor, Riegels sat down in a corner and put his face in his hands. A football coach usually has a great deal to say to his team during halftime, words of encouragement and strategy. That day coach Price was quiet. No doubt he was trying to decide what to do with Riegels. When the timekeeper came in and announced that there were three minutes before playing time, coach Price looked at the team and said, ‘men, the same team that played the first half will start the second’. The players got up and started out, all but Riegels.
He didn’t budge. The coach looked back and called to him. Riegels didn’t move. ‘Roy, didn’t you hear me? The same team that played the first half will start the second.’ Riegles looked up, his cheeks wet with tears. ‘Coach,’ he said, I can’t do it. I’ve ruined you. I’ve ruined the university’s reputation. I’ve ruined myself. I can’t face that crowd out there’. Coach Price reached out, put his hand on Riegels’s shoulder, and said, ‘Roy, get up and go back on. The game is only half over’.
Riegels finally did get up, he went onto the field and the fans saw him play hard and play well. All of us have run a long way in the wrong direction. Christ Jesus clearly tells us that the only way to God the father is by him. ‘Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.’, in the gospel of John chapter 14 verse 6. To know peace with God we have to go through Jesus Christ. We have to turn from our wicked ways, then God will hear and forgive us our sins. Thus, we have to stop and turn around. Scripture exhorts us that ‘Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts,’ We have to listen to the voice that is saying Stop, you’re running the wrong way! Because like Roy the game of life for us is only half over and we have time to live well and for the Lord in the second half of life’s journey.
