Sticky Stipulations

By: Payton M. Ishmael

We’ve heard them all before, conditional commitments. I’ll lose weight, starting Monday. I’ll donate more money, as soon as I get raise. I’ll start going to church on Sunday nights when work slows down. I’ll go back to school, after my kids are out of the house.
I know three people who lost their fathers this week. Although two were somewhat expected, one was a complete freak accident. I think about how fast times flies and how quickly life changes.
With the element of uncertainty ever present, I wonder why we continue to put things off, waiting on the right person, the perfect time, or the ideal circumstances. Rest assured, you’ll miss out on much of life waiting for the right person. Timing, you’ll learn, is often irrelevant. And the ideal circumstances, most often turn out to be opposite of what we initially expect.
And so, we must say goodbye to our stipulations, step out of our comfort zones, and quit watching life pass us by. Don’t stand around waiting for a ship that may never come in. Don’t settle. Don’t stop the forward progress. It’s quite a shame life doesn’t have men in black and white pin stripe shirts running along side us, throwing little yellow flags to indicate our penalties. Would you be guilty of a ‘delay of game’?
I consider Adrian Peterson to be one of the greatest running backs of my time. It could have something to do with his alma mater, but who’s to say? Throughout his career, I’ve never seen him take possession of the ball, stop, and look at his teammates… “Hey man, you gonna block so I can run this to the end zone?” “I don’t like my old-man Favre, so I’m gonna just hold the ball wait until these people wisen up and get Sam Bradford as my quarterback.” Oh no! Not Adrian. He’s the best because he’s focused on making forward progress. Does he make mistakes? Yes, but he doesn’t stop. He keeps going in the same way that we should. We’re gonna fumble. We’re gonna get plum laid out. If we persevere, though, there are goal posts and pretty end zone in our future.