I didn't take my camera last night.

I'm not sure why.

I looked at it several times sitting on my kitchen table, but I decided it would be nice to just watch a game for a change and not be hidden behind a camera lens.

I've taken so many soccer pictures this year, and after a while they all start to look a like.  One girl kicking the ball and then another.

But who knew that last night the regional play-off game was going to go into double overtime and end with penalty kicks?!?!?

Honestly, I don't think a camera could have captured the intensity of the night.

And I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to focus on taking pictures as we screamed and clapped and cheered our girls on in the most exciting game I've been to in a long time!

At the end of the night, our girls won!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4 to 1!!!!!!!!!!

Looking back on the game, I think the suspense is what made the night so amazingly fun!

Sometimes games can become so predictable when the score is 7 to 1 at halftime.

People end up visiting with the person in the next lawn chair about recipes or what happened at work that day.

But not last night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone was on their feet.

The focus was totally on the field.

If you turned to a neighbor, it was to high-five or hug or scream.

Oh, if we could gain this kind of attitude about our spiritual life.

WE ARE IN A SUSPENSEFUL GAME!!!!!!!!!!

I think it's easy to think "God already won the victory," so we get side-tracked and off focus.

While this is true in the "end of the world sense," it is not true in the day-to-day sense.

The devil is still at battle for individual souls.

He is still winning small skirmishes all along the way.

People are believing his lies.

People are working for the enemy.

And we cannot afford to sit in lawn chairs and turn to our neighbors and only talk about meaningless stuff like our day at work.

It's time to be on our feet.

We are in a spiritual war.

Our kids are in a spiritual war.

If there was one thing I could say that matters more to me than anything, it is this:

THE ETERNITY OF MY CHILDREN

As a mom, I have got to be on my feet or on my knees, cheering or praying.

As a friend, I need to be doing the same thing for my friends and for their children.

Today, I challenge all of you to remember that God has placed us in a suspense-filled story.

Don't get too comfortable.

Stand up or kneel down today and remember, God will win in the end but we have battle to fight all along the way.

I am thankful for a suspense-loving Author of life.

I wouldn't want to spend a lifetime in a lawn chair.

Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.  

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Therefore put on the full armor of God,so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Eph. 6:11-13