September 13, 2026
The Running Back
Proverbs 4:23 – “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
A running back carries the ball with both hands wrapped tightly around it the moment he takes the handoff, and that grip never loosens no matter what happens next. Defenders converge from every direction, some trying to strip the ball loose with a well-placed hand, others simply trying to bring him to the ground with as much force as possible. A good running back absorbs all of it while making sure of one thing above everything else. The ball stays covered. He can lose yards on the play, get driven backward, even get tackled short of where he wanted to go, and none of that matters nearly as much as walking away from the pile still holding what he was given to protect.
Coaches drill this into players for a reason. A fumble does not just cost a single play. It hands the ball to the other team entirely, undoing whatever progress had been made and putting the whole game at risk in a single moment of carelessness. That is why every running back is taught to protect the ball before anything else, before trying to break another tackle, before looking for extra yardage. Everything else can be sacrificed. The ball cannot.
Solomon told his son to guard his heart above everything else he guarded, because everything a person does flows out from it. That instruction carries the same urgency a coach gives a running back walking onto the field. Life will bring plenty that tries to strip something loose, bitterness working its way in during a hard season, compromise disguised as a small exception, distraction wearing you down one hit at a time. None of that has to end in a fumble. It only does when the grip loosens before the hit even lands.
Getting tackled is not the failure. Losing what you were carrying is.
Today’s Prayer: Lord, help me guard my heart the way I would guard anything precious You have given me. Amen.
Reflection Question: What has been trying to strip something precious loose from your grip lately?