On Saturday Laura and I attended the South Carolina spring game.  The spring football game is the culmination of about four weeks of spring practice.  The purpose of the game is to try and get an idea of which players are improving and could make a difference for the team in the fall.  It is interesting to see how some players you know perform and formulate your expectations about the new players that are coming onto the team.

It is a practice game.  When you are playing against yourself, it is hard to tell exactly how you are doing.  If the offensive back makes a great run, you wonder of the defense is doing poorly.  If the defense makes a great play, you start to thing that you are weak on offense.  In a practice game, when you are playing against yourself, you really can’t win and you really can’t lose.

There are no practice games in life.  Every day is the real thing and if we lose opportunities, we often never have another chance.

Paul tells us in Romans 12 that we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice.  In other words, we are to give our all in this game called life in order that we might please Him.  There are several things we need to remember.

• We should take advantage of every opportunity God gives to us.
• We should seek to do the best we can in every case.
• The stakes are real.  What we do and how we live will make a difference in your life and the lives of those around you.

Saturday was a practice game for the gamecocks.  They wanted to get some experience and hope that no one gets hurt.  Your life is the real thing every single day and God expects you to do something with it.