Tag Archives: Ted Lasso

Devotional

Moving Towards Better

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Read James 4:5-10

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom” (Proverbs 11:2 NLT).

Ted Lasso (screen grab) Season 2, Episode 5 “Rainbow” Brett Goldstein as Roy Kent in “Ted Lasso” season two, now streaming on Apple TV+. CR: Apple TV+

Asking for help can be such a hard thing to do. I mean, there’s pride, right? We all want to look our best, to put our best foot forward so-to-speak, and to act like we have some sort of concrete knowledge in our “area of expertise”. Thus, to ask for help, just on that level alone, can be so very hard because it often feels like we are betray a weakness to others, exposing our own doubts and lack of competency. In fact, pride may be the largest reason why people do not ask for help; though, there are other reasons for sure.

Let it be said that every good leader knows that leadership requires other people. One cannot be adequately called a leader if they are merely leading themselves. No, a leader must be someone who leads others for a common cause and toward a common goal. A leader must be willing to engage with and challenge others to move toward what is good for the whole. In order to do this, the leader must also envision what the future could be and what pitfalls to possibly avoid to reach said future.

This reminds me of a character named Roy Kent on the Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso. Roy, since retired from playing football (aka soccer), has become an assistant manager on the AFC Richmond team, alongside his former coach Ted Lasso. Roy is a great football player, one of the greatest strikers of all time, and he has such potential as a manager. The guys, despite his gruff persona, love and look up to him. They respect him and they know he knows what he is talking about.

Yet, Roy often times proverbially shoots himself in the foot because of his propensity toward perfectionism. He not only holds himself to that incredibly high standard and often finds himself disgruntled at failing, but he also has those high expectations of others, making it hard for him to relate to and get along with some of the people on the show, such as the somewhat arrogant but totally talented striker Jamie Tartt, which whom he has a major personality conflict. Still, Roy needed to learn the importance of relying on and seeking help from others, regardless of personality differences.

At one point, the Director of Operations, Leslie Higgins, is in a conversation with Roy about the importance of seeking help from others. In the midst of great change and uncertainty, he told him this tidbit of very wise advice, “Human beings are never going to be perfect…The best we can do is keep asking for help and accepting it when you can. If you keep doing that, you will always be moving towards better.”

What truth that is! HUMAN BEINGS ARE NEVER GOING TO BE PERFECT! AMEN! #truth We are all destined to botch things up, get stuff wrong, do things that disappoint others, and generally to just not always get the big picture. Yet, being truly human is NOT about being perfect on our own, but relying on God who can PEFECT US in LOVE! The best we can do, as humans and as Christians, is to turn our trust over to Christ who has saved us! To do that, we also need to trust those Christ has put in our lives, collectively known as the Church! We need the help of others to be moving towards better.

We need the help of others to make a difference in this world. We need the help of others to truly represent JESUS CHRIST and HIS KINGDOM. Let us, rather than sticking it out on our own, turn to Christ and to Christians for support in helping us move towards better.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.” – Thomas Merton

PRAYER
Lord, give me the humility to recognize my need of help from others and, most importantly, my dependency on you. Amen.

Devotional

Do You Believe in Miracles?

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Read Romans 12:9-18

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17 NLT).

One of my more favorite shows as of late is a show my the name of Ted Lasso. Jason Sudekis plays the titular role, an American Football Coach who is hired by Rebecca Welton to coach her Premier Association Football Club (AFC) Richmond. Of course, this is silly because NFL Football is not at all like AFC Football. The two are totally different sports. In the U.S.A., to the chagrin of the rest of the world, we differentiate between the two by calling the former “Football” and the latter “Soccer”.

The show, which just ended it’s third and final season, is a treasure trove of positivity and theological/philosophical musings that really give this series a different feel from most others. There’s something wholesome (despite some adult content), pure, and inspirational about it. It hits us at our most human and vulnerable levels. It makes one laugh, cry, and reflect. It is a great show.

In one of the episodes, AFC Richmond has a chance to defeat a team and regain premier status after it had become relegated, meaning (for those not accustomed to U.K. Football) the team had lost its status in the premier league and was relegated to  the English Football League (EFL) Championship. Having done well throughout the season, this was their opportunity to really shine; however, none of the team members really believed they could win.

In fact, Ted had come to hear a phrase circling around the locker room as well as the offices and pub: “It’s the hope that kills you.” In other words, people seem to hold on to hope that they can defeat the odds. They hold on to hope that they can be David against their proverbial Goliaths; however, in reality, we all know that most Davids end up dead. That’s the way of the world. If one holds on to hope long enough, or so the cynics say, one will fall victim to defeat and the realization that all is hopeless.

That is a terrible way to think, but in this world it is the way things seem to work a majority of the time. Of course, that perception is really baseless because we really don’t know how things work a majority of the time; yet, we believe that all is hopeless because we cannot see the way that hope provides. In other words, it is due to our own blindness and an inability to see ways forward that we fail, not due to hope. Yes, we can fail in trying to attain things we hopefore; however, the real failure lies in not hoping at all.

That is exactly how Ted Lasso saw it. Sure, they could end up playing against their opponent and losing yet, if they played their hearts out, they could at least live with the fact that they tried. They could LIVE with that fact and try again the next time. If, however, they lost all hope they would not put in a 100% because what’s the point? Why try if you KNOW you are going to lose and all is hopeless?

It was then, in that realization, that Ted called them back to hope. He told them he didn’t like their phrase, “It’s the hope that kills you” very much because he believed it was hope that led you to salvation…to strive to be your very best…to attain things otherwise improbable. Ted told them that back where he’s from (Kansas) they also had a phrase or, more like, a question: “Do you believe in miracles?”

If you have hope in miracle, if you have hope that the improbable and even the impossible can happen because there is a Guiding Force above you, working in and through you to bring about the miracle you were created to be. Whether that is in athletics such as football or it is in mission and ministry within the church, each of us are called to be miracles. From the moment we were conceived we ARE miracles as life is never guaranteed to anyone. What’s more, since we are LVIING MIRACLES in this world, we are called to NOT ONLY believe, but live out our FAITH!

So, like Ted Lasso, I ask you this question: Do you believe in miracles? Do you believe that LIFE is a miracle and that, as such, you are a LIVING MIRACLE? If so, let me clue you into this: miracles exist to bring glory to God! That is our purpose and we can do that through whatever gifts and/or means God has given us! Let us not only believe in miracles, but BE MIRACLES in the world.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“I believe in hope. I believe in belief…Do you believe in miracles?” – Ted Lasso

PRAYER
Lord, help me to never lose my faith. Help my unbelief and give me the hope and faith that I need to move mountains in your name and for your glory. Amen.

Devotional

Fighting Forward

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Read Lamentations 3:27-36

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too” (Matthew 5:38-40 NLT).

Sam Obisanya was having a bad day, and extremely bad day. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Sam, he is one of the footballers on the fictional English Premier Football team, AFC Richmond, on the Apple TV+ original show, Ted Lasso. This show has become one of my favorite shows and is now on it’s third season. I highly recommend it, though not for children as it does have language and mature themes throughout. Also, while I am not spoiling the whole episode, I will be discussing one scene in it, so if you are watching the show and haven’t seen Episode 7 of Season 3, I would recommend watching it first so as not to spoil this moment for you.

Back to Sam Obisanya. He is a soccer player from Nigeria and comes from a family that is very socially conscious. Why? Because in Nigeria people feel the weight of colonialism and the footprint of the West on them. As such, Sam is not afraid to speak out on social issues in order to do what he believes is right. Enter into the story fictional U.K. Home Security Minister, Brinda Barot. She is standing front and center on the television telling migrant refugees in a boat that they should go home and that she won’t permit them in England. Or at least that’s the gist of it.

Sam believed that he could at least appeal to her “better angels” through a tweet mildly and lovingly callinger her to have a little more compassion to people in need. Well, as is almost always the case with politicians on Twitter, she shot back and tweeted: “Footballers should leave the politics to us and just shut up and dribble.” This quote is actually a real quote from a host on an American conservative news channel who said that people like LeBron James and others should stay out of politics and “shut up and dribble.” So Ted Lasso is pulling from real-life situations, which is what makes this show so relevant and important.

Again, back to Sam. As these things often do on social media, the tweets escalated back and forth. That’s where the tragedy occurs. This is what makes Sam’s day so bad. He went at night, after his football game, to the Nigerian Restaurant he opened up to share Nigerian cuisine with the U.K. and give the British Nigerians a little taste of home. He named the restaurant, Ola’s, after is father. When got to the door, Sam found it smashed in. The restaurant inside completely destroyed, with the words, “Shut up and dribble”, spray painted across one of the walls. Sam was shattered.

The next day, as he was gearing up to practice, he had an angry outburst because he feels unwelcome in the U.K. and he knows people like Brinda Barot want to ship him and other immigrants right back to where they came from. His team members were confused because they didn’t at first know about his restaurant, but they all were there to listen and comfort him. Also, at the same time, his dad showed up for his planned visit to see his son, watch him play, and eat a meal at Ola’s, which obviously was no longer going to be able to happen.

His father gave him a big hug and sat down with him. Sam was sharing with him that he didn’t think he was going to reopen the restaurant just to see it destroyed again. His father countered him and told him he NEEDED to reopen it, not just for himself, but for his staff and for other Nigerian immigrants who would like a taste of home. Then his father told him this, “If you really want to piss them off, forgive them. No big deal. Just forgive them, like it’s no big deal. Don’t fight back Sam, fight forward.”

Now, I won’t share what happens from there; however, those words really stuck with me and they reminded me of the same thing Jesus taught his disciples in Matthew 5:38-40 NLT), “If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too”. Believe it or not, Jesus was talking not about fighting back, but fighting forward. This takes forgiveness and fortitude and faith, but it is the only way in which we end the cycle of destruction that we humans are so hellbent on carrying out against each other.

Turning the other cheek and giving people more than they want to sue from you is not giving up or taking the cowards way out. It is not a sign of weakness, either. It is quite the opposite. Walter Wink, in his book Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination, interprets the passage as a way to be subversive to the power structures of the time. In ancient Judea, one asserted their authority and dominance by backhand striking a person on their right cheek with their right hand. If that person then turned their left cheek to be struck, the person with the higher social status had a problem. The left hand couldn’t be used to strike because it was used for unclean purposes; however, if one open-palm slapped someone on the opposite cheek, it would be seen as a challenge to a fight placing the other person at equal status.

Jesus, in calling people to turn the other cheek, was directing them to FIGHT FORWARD, publicly calling out the injustice by turning the other cheek rather than fighting back in retaliation. The same thing is true regarding giving one’s shirt too when one is being sued for their coat. Going over and above publicly displays that what is being done is an injustice.

Friends, we are called to fighting forward, not fighting back. It is so easy to get up in arms when we feel threatened or attacked; however, that does nothing to change the world. Let us be a people who follow Christ’s way, not the world’s, so that we can be public displays of justice, peace, and love as well as agents of hope, healing, and wholeness. This is the Christian way.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“Sweet mercy is nobility’s true badge.” – William Shakespeare

PRAYER
Lord, help me to have the strength and courage to fight forward and forgive. Amen.