Football, Prayer, and Gratitude

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Sometimes finding a photo to illustrate a blog post is bit of a challenge. You might find this illustration a bit surprising.

Football statue at the Green Bay Packer Hall of Fame, Green Bay, Wisconsin. Photo by John Margolies. Courtesy John Margolies Roadside America photograph archive (1972-2008), Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

I’m thankful that John Margolies published this photo in 1992 and that many of his photos wound up in the photo archives of the Library of Congress. Margolies was born in 1940 in New Canaan, Connecticut. As a child, Margolies began noticing roadside attractions in the backseat of his parents’ car. In the mid-1970s, he began to take long road trips across the United States. Usually traveling in rented cars and staying in motels, he took his trips in the spring or after Labor Day, so that he could avoid the busy tourist season. Margolies worried that America was losing its quirky tourist-oriented architecture, such as the Teapot Dome gas station photo he took in Zillah, Washington in 1987 . . .

Photo by John Margolies. Courtesy John Margolies Roadside America photograph archive (1972-2008), Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

. . . and the Townley’s milk bottle photo he took in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1987.

Photo by John Margolies. Courtesy John Margolies Roadside America photograph archive (1972-2008), Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

Margolies worked to capture photos of these quirky places before they vanished. He took most of his photos early in the morning. In his book, Roadside America, he said, “I love the light at that time of day; it’s like golden syrup. Everything is fresh and no one is there to bother you.” His statement made me think of some early morning “roadside America” photos we took in 2013 at the quirky Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, Arizona.

Well . . . that’s a long introduction to the story I really wanted to share with you today. Now, back to the Green Bay Packers . . .

On Friday night, Ray and I hosted a church gathering at our house. During the evening, our friend Cindy related a beautiful story. You may have all heard this story in the news already, but I had not heard it until Friday night. I knew about the scary incident when Damar Hamlin experienced cardiac arrest during a Buffalo Bills pro football game. However, I had not heard about the faithful response of ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky and his colleagues the next day. Cindy was so excited as she told us what happened. I later watched it online myself. Orlovsky and two colleagues were doing a live broadcast on ESPN. Orlovsky said that all day he had been hearing about “thoughts and prayers” for Hamlin. He then said that he was going to bow his head, close his eyes, and pray right then. And he did. He bowed his head, closed his eyes, and prayed aloud for Hamlin then and there on television. When he finished, his two colleagues said Amen. Wow!

Football injuries are personal for Cindy. Her son Scott is retired from professional football. Scott first played for the Green Bay Packers (thus my first illustration). He was part of the team when they won Super Bowl XLV in 2011. He later played for the St. Louis Rams. Though Scott never had an injury as serious as Hamlin, Cindy talked about how it feels to be a mama either at home or in the stands when your son gets injured during a football game, and Cindy trusts in our God Who listens to our pleas.

Today I am simply grateful—grateful that God loves us, grateful that He listens to us, grateful for the improvements in Damar Hamlin, and grateful that Dan Orlovsky had the courage to pray on ESPN.

As David proclaimed in Psalm 65:

You who hear prayer,
To You all mankind comes.
Psalm 65:2

 

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