October 14, 2026 One analyst picked the game as his “lock of the week,” the prediction he was most confident was right. I listen to a lot of football commentary on satellite radio – at least couple hours of it most days (I have a long commute). It’s also not uncommon for me to read football news. I didn’t read about or hear one analyst picking the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to defeat the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday Night Football this week. If I had been asked to predict the outcome, I would’ve said Dallas was going to crush Tampa Bay with a score around 31-10. The Buccs hadn’t won a game yet this season, and they were playing in the Cowboys’ home stadium with a rookie quarterback who had exactly one game of professional football experience. I’m not a betting person, but if I was, I would’ve felt 100 percent confident betting on Dallas. Based on everything we’ve seen so far this season and all the available stats and information, it seemed obvious the Cowboys would win. But they didn’t. The Buccaneers won 24-16. Even in my wildest imagination, I would’ve thought that was impossible. It’s a good thing I’m not a betting person. I think it’s human nature to predict how life will unfold. We predict who will win the game. We predict how people will respond to our words and actions. We predict the outcome of tasks and processes. We predict where we’ll be in our lives next week, next month, next year and/or next decade. Sometimes we’re right. Sometimes we’re not. I often get frustrated when I predict incorrectly. I like knowing how things will work out. I like being right. I like a sense of control. I don’t like uncertainty. Then the Holy Spirit used a football game to get me to sit with and pray about uncertainty. The Holy Spirit used a football game to get me to consider the fact that uncertainty, as uncomfortable as it may be, leaves room for God and possibilities we can’t even imagine. That’s not saying we should pretend every disappointment, every time we’re wrong is secretly a blessing or that everything will turn out awesome. That’s not the point. The point is that we don’t know. And not knowing leaves room for hope and trust – hope that God’s going to take us where we should be, sometimes even to some outcome far better than we could’ve imagined, and trust that His plan is good and right even though we don’t always understand it and even when it feels far worse than what we predicted for ourselves. And hope and trust in God’s plan is the real lock of the week. |
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