The Draft

Remember those days in the neighborhood, when the guys got together to play touch football. Captains were selected and they began to choose up teams. Were you ever anxious, if you were one of the last ones picked? Well, just imagine how it must have been for many college football players who waited to receive the call that they had been picked in the 2009 NFL Draft. There were 256 who received calls, the rest didn't.

One of those who didn't get a call was Graham Harrell, the 2008 recipient of the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Trophy for being the best quarterback in college football. Why wasn't he selected as one of the 256 players in the 2009 NFL Draft? Wasn't he good enough?

Harrell's outstanding career at Texas Tech University included setting NCAA records in most touchdown passes in a career, most 300 yard (32) and 400 yard (20) passing games; and surpassing 5,000 yards passing in two consecutive seasons. This year, he finished fourth in the votes for the Heisman Trophy, which is awarded to the best college football player each year. Despite all his accomplishments, he was not chosen. To his credit, his rejection was not because of moral, legal or attitude issues, he just didn't fit the profile for being an NFL quarterback.

Rejection is a very humbling experience. Not just for aspiring football players; for all of us. You apply for a job, but don't get it. You ask someone out on a date, and they turn you down. After ten years of marriage, your spouse says they want a divorce. Your parents split up, and you feel left behind. You do your very best, yet someone else beats you out. You try your very best, but your performance is never good enough. Maybe you have felt the sting of rejection.

Well, so did Christ. He came to be the Savior to the world, yet he was rejected by those he came to save. He didn't fit into their profile of a Savior. He wasn't of royal descent, nor a mighty warrior, he came into the world as a carpenter's son and teacher. Many didn't realize that He was God's Son wrapped in human flesh. Most didn't accept that He was the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament. Some did believe and accept Him.

"He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all that received Him, to those who believed in His name , He gave the right to become the children of God." John 1:11-12

He was rejected and nailed to a cross, so that you might be accepted. Because sin, you were alienated from God. But because of Jesus, you can be a child of God. Jesus died a sacrificial death, so that you could have eternal life. Haven't you realized it? God loved you so much that He made YOU: His number one pick.