The Wrath of God . . . A long post

[23Psalm]

This may be a long post, but I have to say how mighty God is and that the scripture "Vengenance is Mine" is oh so real and true.

I am a youth football coach and my 10 year old son plays as well. During our second straight run for a Maryland Division I state championship, turmoil struck me and my family. My wife was the Team Mom and there were issues with another woman on the team. Emails went back and forth as my wife tried to keep our focus about the team rather than her and the other woman. People took offense to the emails and myself and my wife were immediately attacked by the other coaches, head coach included. We were labeled trouble makers, etc. After being almost physically attacked by the woman and her husband, I still forgave them and wanted peace amongst our families. The next day during our game, another member of the coaching staff literally attacked me physically over something small. My son was upset after all of this and we were forced out. I decided to remove myself from that team. My wife was accussed of stealing funds (further from the truth) and we were alienated because I didn't allow my son to play in two more playoff games. They won States again, and had that "we did it without you and your son" mentality.

Fast Forward to 2012 . . . I decided to allow my son to skip the next age and weight category and play older rather than play with that same coach and deal with those same people. Here is where God comes in. The organization decided to switch leagues which ruffled a lot of feathers because it was done at the last minute. The organization was able to find a league after two failed attempts of trying to get into another league and then once they were rejected, they tried to go back to the league where they left. That threw a major monkey wrench in the team that betrayed me. Why? Because they were no longer a team. My son was asked to play with the team being coached by the organization's VP. Myself was offered the Offensive Coordinator's position. The VP asked me if he should make phone calls for other kids from that team. I gave him the honest assessment on each kid and he said no. The Head Coach from that team was booted out of the organization and parents and other coaches now have to scramble to find a new team with practice starting in a few weeks. They are so angry and bitter that they have to find a new place to play, travel further and risk their kids not playing in a comfortable position. Meanwhile, my son rose to the top, is the captain, and has a spot.

Those individuals are experiencing the hurt and frustration that I endured last season after being mistreated for doing nothing wrong. The thing is, I was still kind to those individuals and forgave them, because I knew they would suffer some how and some way. I just didn't know when. Looking back, I'm glad what happened last season happened, because it allowed myself and my son to be elevated to our current positions. That team that he was a part of last year, crumbled and the pieces scattered. God is so good!!

Something as simple as youth football, God still has control. These individuals--eat, breathe and live football and that was stripped from them and caused chaos and turmoil.

 

[DarkHorseRising]

Sorry, I don't really understand your post. Are you saying you derive some satisfaction from watching everyone on your former team suffer as you did? Or are you suggesting that God somehow brought down Divine Judgement on the ten year olds for the actions of a few of the parents?

I played football from middle school through to freshman year of university and I've never heard of a "Team Mom" position... generally every player brings their own parents. Perhaps your wife was overstepping her boundaries?

 

[23Psalm]

Sorry, I don't really understand your post. Are you saying you derive some satisfaction from watching everyone on your former team suffer as you did? Or are you suggesting that God somehow brought down Divine Judgement on the ten year olds for the actions of a few of the parents?

I played football from middle school through to freshman year of university and I've never heard of a "Team Mom" position... generally every player brings their own parents. Perhaps your wife was overstepping her boundaries?

Your response made me chuckle. I actually had to step away from a mtg and laugh. Anyway, I couldn't put all the details in this post because it would get too wordy and would make it longer. Where I live, generally the Team Mom role is to do all of the admin stuff of the head coach, send out emails about practice, game times, etc. She also handles all of the money that we fundraised for the team to buy snacks, and extra perks for the kids. My wife is a woman that loves the Lord and would never do anything to overstep her boundaries. She had a job to do and she did it to the best of her ability. The problem was that this other women created division amongst the parents because of jealousy. Some people feel a sense of power by being on the sidelines during games and being in the know. My wife was not a glory-hound, she only gives honor to God. She simply try to difuse the problem because it was apparant that people were picking sides for which Team mom they wanted to follow. Drama I know, but it's true. She wanted to make people (adults) realize that it should be about the kids and not about her or the other woman. She could care less.

As for me, never will I ever feel satisfied knowing kids that I coached and are currently friends with my son are suffering because they can't play football. But I have to ask the question, what about my son who had to suffer and couldn't play with his friends last season? My POINT is simply that through all of that stuff that we as a family endured--name slandered, being used, etc, God allowed us to rise up now and be in a good position while those that wronged us are now suffering.

 

[for_his_glory]

Are we not to love one another and hold our enemies up in prayer! Maybe it's the way you wrote this as it does sound like you are taking pleasure and a little prideful in their downfall as whether it was God that took vengeance on those who came against you or not as being His wrath, but you need to only pray the best for them and never ever wait for Gods wrath to fall on someone you should be loving and praying for as it seems like you maybe did not fully forgive them as you wanted to see them fail. Just my thoughts.


Matthew 5:43-45
43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

 

[23Psalm]

Are we not to love one another and hold our enemies up in prayer! Maybe it's the way you wrote this as it does sound like you are taking pleasure and a little prideful in their downfall as whether it was God that took vengeance on those who came against you or not as being His wrath, but you need to only pray the best for them and never ever wait for Gods wrath to fall on someone you should be loving and praying for as it seems like you maybe did not fully forgive them as you wanted to see them fail. Just my thoughts.


Matthew 5:43-45
43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Glory,

As I stated in the first message, I forgave them, even talked to them and moved on. As much pain as they caused my son and my family, I still showed them love and compassion. That was difficult. However, it just amazed me how God moved in that situation. I don't wish bad on anybody, but it showed me the true power of God. Through that hard time, we as a family still continued to praise the Lord and to see my son and myself elevate while the others fell when 8 months ago it was the exact opposite is amazing.

 

[handy]

I think I can understand where you are coming from in all of this, 23Psalm...

When my daughter was in 8th grade she was bullied all year long and our son was subjected to racism by the bus driver... We kept going down to the principal and the superintendent (who was the high school principal and principal of the girl's bullying Viola) all to no avail... They kept acting as if Viola was causing the problem (she wasn't) and that the racism didn't exist. There was quite the gang of girl bullies on the bus that just made life terrible for the younger girls and with all the bullying and horrible things that were happening, the only one on the bus getting in trouble on a regular basis, being made to change seats and being yelled at by the bus driver was Thomas... who mainly was just sitting there by his friend, keeping quiet. (Well, and the wiccan kids as well.)

I've lost count as to how many times I went down to that school to try to resolve the issues and I also lost count on how many times I was told that the principal would go on the bus and talk to everyone and restore order...which never happened.

Everything came to a head when one of the high school girl bullies walked the length of the bus (while it was in transit) and slapped a third grade girl in the face...all while the bus driver did nothing. I was so angry when that happened that I had Steve call the parents of the little girl who was slapped to tell them that this was in no way an isolated incident. The father of the girl and I went down and met with both the principal and principal/superintendent. They still really didn't do much, but it just happened that the bus driver was going in for a surgery and was going to be out for the rest of that year anyway (this was in late April, early May)... the father of the little girl made it completely clear that my son was being subjected to racism... he had talked with most of the younger kids on the bus and it was something they all were in agreement with... the only two kids who ever got in trouble on that bus was the black kid and the wiccan kid. But, the school administrators still basically blew everything off.

Now, especially with the racism charges, Steve and I could have done all kinds of things, up to and including bringing a lawsuit against the school... also things like calling news agencies etc... Idaho is actually pretty sensitive when it comes to racism because, as a state, people have the perception that we're all a bunch of redneck racist neo-Nazi's up here anyway and nothing could be further from the truth.

But, we decided to not take any vengeance there. Partly because both the superintendent and the elementary school principal are Christians, or at least had openly witnessed that they were. (The superintendent was a pastor of a home church and openly prayed at school events.) We struggled with it, because here they were so open about being these great Christians and yet were turning a blind eye to serious problems under their authority.

Since, the school year was almost over and we just let the kids finish the year and then transfered them to a different school. Had we no choice but to remain at that school, I'm not sure what we would have done, but with the substitute bus driver, the bus situation was finally under control and we just let the year wind down and shook the dust off our feet so to speak.

Then, during the course of the summer vacation it turned out that the Superintendent/Principal was a polygamist (no he was NOT Mormon) and was living with his wives, one of whom he hired for a highly coveted position at the school...not his legally recognized wife, but the "secret" one. Now, legally, there was no way the district could fire the superintendent for living with multiple wives, but he stepped down after it was clear that he lost the respect and confidence of those under him. The fallout was huge and it led to a complete restructuring of the administration of the school and from what Viola hears from the friends that she made there, the bullying situation has been really cleared up. Apparently the new superintendent heard of how bad things were last year, made a no-tolerance of bullying policy and has actually enforced it.

I'm like you, 23Psalm... I'm not rejoicing in the downfall of the administrators that allowed my kids to be bullied, I'm not. But, I am very glad that the Lord took care of the situation without us being dragged any further through mud.

 

[Vic C.]

Now I don't know if God brings on wrath in a situation like this, but I do believe He does reward faithfulness. I'm convinced David Tyree's catch (the "Helmet Catch") in the first Super Bowl against the Pats was nothing short of Divine intervention. Just read about his life and his turn around and surrender to the Lord and you'll see what I mean.

Tyree is married to Leilah, and they have four children: two sons— Teyon and Josiah, and twin daughters— Sophia and Hannah. They reside in Wayne, New Jersey.

Tyree battled with alcohol addiction beginning in middle school, and in March 2004 was arrested by the Fort Lee Police Department for possession of marijuana. Leilah told him she was pregnant with their second child the day he was released from jail. Later that month, Leilah "presented Tyree with an ultimatum — her lifestyle or his." He began reading a Bible on her bed, and "for the first time, the words on the page made sense" to him. Tyree said from that day he never drank again. He and Leilah were married in June 2004.

He is a born-again Christian and has made appearances at the 2008 and 2009 Christian concert "BattleCry". In 2006, he and his wife started Next In Line, a project that counsels teenagers in his hometown.

In 2011, Tyree became an advocate against legalization of same-sex marriage in New York with the National Organization for Marriage.

Tyree said in an interview that the passage of the Marriage Equality Act would "be the beginning of our country sliding toward...anarchy". He said he would trade his famous catch and the team's Super Bowl title to keep marriage between a man and a woman.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Tyree

 

[23Psalm]

I think I can understand where you are coming from in all of this, 23Psalm...

When my daughter was in 8th grade she was bullied all year long and our son was subjected to racism by the bus driver... We kept going down to the principal and the superintendent (who was the high school principal and principal of the girl's bullying Viola) all to no avail... They kept acting as if Viola was causing the problem (she wasn't) and that the racism didn't exist. There was quite the gang of girl bullies on the bus that just made life terrible for the younger girls and with all the bullying and horrible things that were happening, the only one on the bus getting in trouble on a regular basis, being made to change seats and being yelled at by the bus driver was Thomas... who mainly was just sitting there by his friend, keeping quiet. (Well, and the wiccan kids as well.)

I've lost count as to how many times I went down to that school to try to resolve the issues and I also lost count on how many times I was told that the principal would go on the bus and talk to everyone and restore order...which never happened.

Everything came to a head when one of the high school girl bullies walked the length of the bus (while it was in transit) and slapped a third grade girl in the face...all while the bus driver did nothing. I was so angry when that happened that I had Steve call the parents of the little girl who was slapped to tell them that this was in no way an isolated incident. The father of the girl and I went down and met with both the principal and principal/superintendent. They still really didn't do much, but it just happened that the bus driver was going in for a surgery and was going to be out for the rest of that year anyway (this was in late April, early May)... the father of the little girl made it completely clear that my son was being subjected to racism... he had talked with most of the younger kids on the bus and it was something they all were in agreement with... the only two kids who ever got in trouble on that bus was the black kid and the wiccan kid. But, the school administrators still basically blew everything off.

Now, especially with the racism charges, Steve and I could have done all kinds of things, up to and including bringing a lawsuit against the school... also things like calling news agencies etc... Idaho is actually pretty sensitive when it comes to racism because, as a state, people have the perception that we're all a bunch of redneck racist neo-Nazi's up here anyway and nothing could be further from the truth.

But, we decided to not take any vengeance there. Partly because both the superintendent and the elementary school principal are Christians, or at least had openly witnessed that they were. (The superintendent was a pastor of a home church and openly prayed at school events.) We struggled with it, because here they were so open about being these great Christians and yet were turning a blind eye to serious problems under their authority.

Since, the school year was almost over and we just let the kids finish the year and then transfered them to a different school. Had we no choice but to remain at that school, I'm not sure what we would have done, but with the substitute bus driver, the bus situation was finally under control and we just let the year wind down and shook the dust off our feet so to speak.

Then, during the course of the summer vacation it turned out that the Superintendent/Principal was a polygamist (no he was NOT Mormon) and was living with his wives, one of whom he hired for a highly coveted position at the school...not his legally recognized wife, but the "secret" one. Now, legally, there was no way the district could fire the superintendent for living with multiple wives, but he stepped down after it was clear that he lost the respect and confidence of those under him. The fallout was huge and it led to a complete restructuring of the administration of the school and from what Viola hears from the friends that she made there, the bullying situation has been really cleared up. Apparently the new superintendent heard of how bad things were last year, made a no-tolerance of bullying policy and has actually enforced it.

I'm like you, 23Psalm... I'm not rejoicing in the downfall of the administrators that allowed my kids to be bullied, I'm not. But, I am very glad that the Lord took care of the situation without us being dragged any further through mud.

Thank you so much. I enjoyed reading your story as well. I just know that God is in the midst of it all and will take care of his children and those that openly serve and seek him. This whole ordeal really taught my 10 year old about the protection of God. He saw what I and my wife went through during this difficult time and he saw the outcome of those that wronged us. Even to this day, I still pray for those that did evil things to us. I hold no grudges because the Holy Spirit won't allow me to.

 

[DarkHorseRising]

Thank you so much. I enjoyed reading your story as well. I just know that God is in the midst of it all and will take care of his children and those that openly serve and seek him. This whole ordeal really taught my 10 year old about the protection of God. He saw what I and my wife went through during this difficult time and he saw the outcome of those that wronged us. Even to this day, I still pray for those that did evil things to us. I hold no grudges because the Holy Spirit won't allow me to.

"the outcome of those that wronged us"

Yet from your story, it was a subset of the parents who wronged you. However, the bulk of the punishment is endured by the kids who lost their league and risked losing a season of play, despite having no hand in the actions of their parents. So for this to be about the wrath of God, you're claiming that God punished an innocent third party for the actions of others?