Have a most blessed Lunar New Year! I want to wish all my Chinese readers a happy time at family reunions and may the Lord prosper you much more all the year round. I also pray that you have a good rest in the midst of all the festivity.
In the last few days I found some time to read. I managed to get hold of a copy of Paul Scholes’ autobiography at the Borders. Finally, on the fourth attempt! I have been on the look-out for it since its release late last year. It certainly does not disappoint me. It is truly enlightening - not only on his life, but life in general.
Probably you would not have heard of his name without you being an ardent football (soccer) fan. Paul Scholes is my all-time favorite player playing for my all-time favorite football team Manchester United. A low-profile guy and a man of few words, you seldom hear any news about him although he has played for United for some twenty years. He retired from football at the end of last season but came out of retirement recently when his team needed him. Click Here if you want to find out what world-famous footballers have to say about him.
But what Scholes has to say about himself and about his life?
The following words are as defining as any you can get from his book:
The God-given ability to make a football do more or less what I want it to – though not always, obviously! – has given me a standard of living that I could never have dreamed of had I left school to take up any other job accessible to me. What might that have been? I haven’t got the faintest idea because it never entered my head that I would be anything else but a footballer. That said, I didn’t even dwell on a future in the game. The truth is that I didn’t agonise over anything as a kid; I just got on with life and, incredibly fortunately for me, it led me to Manchester United.
This is how a footballer assessed his own life after living it out to the full. Not just any footballer, but the distinguished Paul Scholes, for not every well-paid footballer lives like he does. There are some important truths our young people – no, actually everyone young or old – could learn from these words about life, and about Kingdom living:
We don’t have to worry about life (Matthew 6:25), just as Scholes “didn’t agonise over anything as a kid” - he “just got on with life”. Needs could be legitimate, but to worry about them is not God’s way of getting them met. We also don’t have to worry about tomorrow (Matthew 6:34), just as Scholes “didn’t even dwell on a future in the game”. Our business is to live today, and let God take care of tomorrow.
God has given each of us unique ability. He will lead us to the right place at the right time where and when our ability is needed. A rival manager, Jose Mourinho, said that Manchester United are lucky to have Scholes; Scholes said that he was “incredibly fortunate” to be led to United. This is Grace - it’s all God’s doing.
Any time we look at our circumstances and try to make the best out of them ourselves, we unwittingly steered away from what God is doing for us. Give your entire attention to what God is doing and don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met (Matthew 6:33-34). Scholes said that “it never entered my head that I would be anything else but a footballer” and what he got as a result? “A standard of living that I could never have dreamed of had I left school to take up any other job accessible to me.”
You might think that it is too much to equate playing football with seeking God’s Kingdom. You might think that it’s because I idolize Scholes that I see the parallel in all these. No, certainly not. Mind you, this is Kingdom living at its best - whatever people would have you believe about Matt 6:33.
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