The Super Bowl was a snoozer, but 2014 was a history-making campaign for the NFL. The Seattle Seahawks captured their first Super Bowl title. Peyton Manning won a record 5th MVP award. And a punter was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
A punter went to the Hall? Will wonders ever cease! Ray Guy, who played 14 seasons for the Oakland Raiders, may have opened the door for other unsung special team heroes. Today, I would like to turn back the clock and set our sights on another Hall of Famer that was not so famous, this one a "lowly lineman."
Russ Grimm played left guard for the Washington Redskins from 1981-1991. Left guard is ordinary, it's vanilla, it's the blue collar job in this professional sport. But Grimm was very good at his job. For several years he anchored the Hogs, the famed Redskins' offensive line. He played in four Super Bowls and four Pro Bowls. He capped an amazing career by being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio in 2010.
Grimm made it to Canton, but it might not have happened had someone not changed his plans.
Russ played college football for the University of Pittsburgh. He went there as a linebacker. In his sophomore year, Jackie Sherrill, his college coach, called him into his office. Coach Sherrill told Grimm that he wanted to move him to the offensive line.
Grimm thought for a moment and told the coach he would rather stay at linebacker, thank you. "I'll never forget," Grimm said. "He raised his head, looked at me and says, 'I wasn't asking you.' "1
It amazes me how this "change of plans" ultimately resulted in Grimm's trip to the Hall of Fame.
Do you ever feel like God makes a "change of plans" with your life, and like Russ Grimm, you're not real crazy about it? You may even think it is a bad move. At times like these you must remember that your good God is working out every facet of your life for your good (Romans 8:28).
Knowing this, it should not surprise you that God says to hold your plans lightly, always submitting them for God's ultimate approval.
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit"— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." James 4:13-15 ESV
If you are experiencing a "change of plans," trust God. Your next stop may not be the Hall of Fame, but you can count on it -- God is always working . . . and he is working everything together for your good.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 ESV
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to read more about Russ Grimm.