Monday Night Prayer: Part I

Brett Favre sets up for the greatest play I've ever seen

This IS a true story.

     I have been a fan of football since I was born. My dad and I would watch football together every week. Growing up in Indianapolis, I grew up watching and rooting for the Colts. However, when I was probably five years old, my favorite color was green and I started rooting for the green team. Ever since then, I have been a fan of the Green Bay Packers. Football has always been very important to me. Sometimes it has been too important, but this story tells how a simple Monday night football game started my journey to learning the truth about praying to God.

     Monday night was football night. Well, at least on this particular night it was for me. We did not have ESPN at our house, but my grandparents did. The Packers were playing the Broncos, and whenever the Packers were playing I wanted to watch. My mom drove me, my brother, and my baby sister to my grandparents’ house so I could watch the game, and what a game it was.

     The game came down to the wire in the fourth quarter. I sat in front of the old, gray TV as the kicker for the Broncos came onto the field to kick a last second field goal that would tie the game. “Please miss it,” I said under my breath. The play was set and the center snapped the ball. I held my breath as the kicker swung his leg, and I watched the ball go right down the middle of the goal posts. The score was 13-13. “Well,” I thought to myself, “I guess we are going into overtime.”

     I sat there thinking about the game. I felt helpless. I was a fan, a big fan, and all I could do was watch. Then it came to me, “I can do more than watch.”

     I muted the TV and turned around to my mom talking to Grandma on the couch, while Grandpa sat in his chair next to the couch.

     “We should pray,” I said.

     “Well, you can pray if you want,” my mom replied.

     I bowed my head and closed my eyes. The room was silent. “Dear Heavenly Father,” I prayed, “please help the Packers win this game. Help us get a touchdown and win. In Jesus’ name, amen.” I sat up and unmuted the TV.

     As the coin toss occurred, I prayed in my head, harder than I think I had ever prayed before. The Packers won the toss and we were getting the ball. This was back in the days of “sudden death” overtime, so if the Packers were to even kick a field goal, we would win.

     The Packers got the ball to their own 18 yard line and out came my sports hero, Packers’ quarterback, Brett Favre. It was first down, and I kept praying.

     On the first play of overtime, Brett Favre faked the handoff to the running back and he looked back to pass. One of the greatest things about Brett Favre was that he was a gunslinger. That is, he always loved throwing it deep. When I saw him cock his arm back, I knew that he was going to throw a bullet, and this was going to be a deep bullet as the ball flew like Superman had just taken off. The camera panned over to wide receiver, Greg Jennings, who was running a straight down the sidelines. I watched as the ball fell from the sky right into the arms of Jennings. Not only did he have the football in Bronco territory, but he also had the defender beat. I jumped up from where I was and cheered as I watched Greg Jennings run into the end zone. The game was over.

     “Yes!” I yelled at the top of my lungs, jumping up and down around my grandparents’ living room. At that time and that moment I realized how powerful prayer was, but that is not the end of the story.