Fall Forward!

​I wrote this piece in the fall of 2006. I felt it was worth sharing again.
 
I love the fall season because fall means colored leaves, cool evenings and college FOOTBALL! 
 
I think I just heard a collective groan from many of the women reading this. While watching a big game this weekend with my fellow football fanatic son, I was tickled when my daughter in-law asked us when the football season would be over. You can tell where her priorities are!
 
During the game we were obviously glued to, a running back rushed toward a hole opened up by his offensive linemen. Lurking on the other side of the rapidly closing gap was a pair of head-hunting linebackers laying in wait to lay some hurt on the ball carrier. Crashing the line, they put a horrendous hit on the halfback. Stopped dead in his tracks and falling down, the fullback fell forward toward the line of scrimmage. 
 
As he got up, the feisty fullback taunted his tacklers. He pointed forward toward the defenders goal as if to say “Don’t get too excited guys. You hit me, and I fell down. But I am up. Ready to run again. I got the first down by falling forward. So take that and get ready for me to head your way again.”
 
Game officials called timeout. Measurement was taken. And you guessed it; the ruling was first down by a few inches.
 
FALLING DOWN and FALLING FORWARD, the running back secured another opportunity for his team to continue to march down field toward the end zone.
 
A few inches meant the difference from keeping the ball or giving it up to the opponent. Inspired by the forward moving fullback’s effort to gain a first down, the team did indeed move downfield to score and win the game.
 
FALLING FORWARD WHILE FALLING DOWN WAS THE KEY TO VICTORY!.  
 
 The prophet Micah was a fall forward kind of guy. His response to taking a hit in life is inspirational. Micah’s personal resolve to get up, fall forward and stick it in his enemy’s face fires up my faith!
 
“Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy; though I fall I will rise; though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me.”                                                        Micah 7:8
 
 
 
Look what he says to his adversary. Hey enemy, don’t throw a party over me. Though I fall, I will be right back up in your face. You dweller of darkness. Prepare to meet me again. The Lord is a light for me. Even though darkness surrounds me, I will not be kept down. I will rise up, go forward by faith and rejoice over you.
 
Micah could take this faith stand because he was a man of faith who chose to fall forward when he had fallen down.
 
Let’s be honest: nobody likes to fall down in life. But falling is a fact of living in a fallen world. We may fall down from time to time. Micah says “though I fall, I will rise.” He did not deny the fact the he might fall. But he also decided that if he fell, he would rise.
 
Micah would rise up in God’s power to fall forward.
 
Let’s face it. We all take hits in life that can cause us to fall down. Maybe you have fallen down right now and feel like you have failed.
 
How you handle your fall will determine your future.
 
How we handle hits in life, not the hit itself, is the real issue. Will we stay down or rise up? Will we fall backward or fall forward. Will we move forward by faith, gain that important first down, and take another shot at the end zone, or will we have to punt the ball to our opponent? 
 
Winning in the Christian life requires that we fall forward by faith when we take a hit from the enemy.
 
My brother or sister in Christ, if you have fallen down, get up. Lean your faith forward. At all cost, do not fall backward. The devil is back there. Never give up God’s ball to Satan. You are playing on the Lord’s team. He is with you and in front of you clearing the path for you to run your faith race.  
             
Falling forward, not backwards, is the difference in winning and losing in life.
 
As a man or woman of faith, choose to fall forward. Fall forward and walk forward by faith to the victory Jesus Christ has provided for you.
 
The next time you take a fall are you going to fall forward?
 
“In that day I will raise up the fallen booth of David and wall up its breaches; I will also raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old.”                                  Amos 9:11
 
“When the righteous fall, they will not be hurled headlong because the Lord is the One who holds their hand.” Psalm 37:24
 
“But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”                                                                                                                                  Philippians 3:13b-14
A Word For Your Week: Falling forward by faith turns failure into success.