Romans 13:11

“And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than we first believed.” Romans 13:11

There has been more bad news recently such as the Brexit, or shootings by the police, but I want to share something hopeful this time. Euro 2016 is a European international soccer tournament that is going on at the moment. I haven’t had the time to watch the games, but I was able to follow some of the news. One of the most exciting news during this event was Iceland.

Iceland has only a population of 330,000 people. That’s a size of a small city in a big country. The country is cold and the grass can’t grow as well for soccer fields. They only have 100 professional soccer players. They have never passed the qualifying stage in the past. But you know what happened this year? This small country managed to join the Euro 2016 by winning in the qualifying stage. Not only that, in the Euro 2016, they won games in the group stage, advancing to the round of 16. From there, they beat England (one of the best teams in the world) and then advanced to the quarterfinals. Their journey ended there by losing to France. They call it a miracle.

How did this happen? I was listening to a commentator on the radio. He said that Iceland started preparing 15 years ago. They started investing in their infrastructure, investing in leaders and players, building indoor soccer arenas so that they can practice. Of course this infrastructure is still small compared to bigger countries that have strong teams. Yet Iceland was determined. They were determined to win and advance. Hence the whole world had witnessed this miracle.

This shows certain spiritual implications for us. We must be prepared. Our growth cannot happen all of a sudden. It takes time and commitment. But we must be prepared for that moment. We must be determined. We call it faith. Unlike Iceland, Jesus has done all the important work. We have to have faith in Jesus that we can win.