Volume 29, No.9                           
 February 29, 2004

Heading In the Right Direction

   Roy Riegels let his good intentions run away with him.

   He was captain of the football team at the University of California at Berkeley in 1929.  During the Rose Bowl against Georgia Tech, the score was 0-0 in the second quarter.  California had the ball deep in Georgia territory but couldn’t score. Then Georgia got the ball.

   But on the first down, the Georgia quarterback fumbled.  In the confusion, Roy Reigels recovered the ball and scrambled down the field, heading for a touchdown.  But he was running in the wrong direction!  Teammate Benny Lom saw what was happening and chased Riegels, screaming and shouting all the way.  He tackled the misguided captain  after 69 yards, just three feet from their own goal line!

   In the end, the score was Georgia 8, California 7.  Riegels’ well-intentioned “Whoops!” had cost his team the game.  Overnight, the embarrassed captain was the continent’s most infamous football player.  Even today, he’s known as Wrong Way Riegels.

   Another case of misdirected zeal involves Hiroo Onada, a Japanese army lieutenant who was the last World War Two soldier to surrender on Lubang Island in the Philippines — 29 years after the war ended without his knowledge!

   When Allied forces took the island in 1945, Onada was one of a few Japanese fighters who escaped into the hills where they waited to be “liberated”, unaware Japan had surrendered.  They survived by hunting in the forests and stealing food from villagers.

   Knowing there were a few holdouts, both the American and Japanese governments tried for 25 years to coax the fighters out of hiding.    They dropped leaflets, sent out search parties and brought in relatives, but nothing worked.  Then one day in 1974, 53-year-old Onada saw a Japanese man drinking from a stream.  It was university dropout Norio Suzuki who’d gone in search of Onada.

   The young man tried to persuade the soldier to go home with him.  But Onada said he would never surrender, unless his commanding officer returned to the island and gave the order personally.  That’s exactly what happened and Onada returned to Japan, a hero.     

   Both stories are a good reminder that “Zeal without knowledge is not good;  a person who moves too quickly may go the wrong way.” (Proverbs 19:2).  That goes for life, as well as football.  In other words, you can’t judge what’s real on the basis of your zeal and what you feel. In fact, fervor and enthusiasm can be downright dangerous in the pursuit of truth if your perception’s faulty in the first place.

    Just look at the apostle Paul who tried to destroy Christianity before his conversion because he was “extremely zealous” for the traditions of his fathers (Gal. 1:14),  Perhaps looking back, he wrote, “It’s fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good...” (Gal. 4:18)

   To be godly and successful in our faith, we need the proper purpose;  not preserving tradition but glorifying God, encouraging one another and sharing the good news about forgiveness and a purpose-filled life in Christ.  We also need knowledge, which comes from God’s Word and the direction of the Holy Spirit when we pray, with the encouragement of other Christians thrown in for good measure.  Ask for wisdom and insight, even when it comes to the smallest things and, as James says, He’ll gladly tell you.  “But when you ask him,be sure you really expect him to answer...” (James 1:6)

   Just make sure you’re not fighting a war that’s already over.  When Jesus died for our sins, He qualified us for forgiveness.  We just have to ask for it and live a life of gratitude. Once we have a real relationship with Christ, He erases our guilt and gives us strength to overcome our weaknesses.  In other words, there’s victory in surrender.  We become acceptable to God by zealously following the Ruler, not the rules.

   Or think of it this way:  On Calvary, Jesus won the war over sin.  God sent his Son to tell you personally it’s time to come out of hiding.  You’re going home to a hero’s welcome.  
How’s that for heading in the right direction?!

By Rick Gamble, published in Cross Current, the weekly newsletter of the Followers of Christ congregation in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.  Reprint at will in not-for-profit publications.  To subscribe, contact sgamble@bfree.on.ca