What have you done for me lately?

So the National Football League® is going through a bit of an identity crisis right now. It is a violent sport that, naturally, has violent consequences, yet it almost needs the violence to keep it popular. According to a 1994 study, which was referred to in this 2006 St. Petersburg Times article, NFL players are expected to live some 20 years less than the average American male. Now, I learned that life expectancy is different than life span (life span is actual years and life expectancy is based on health professionals and other expert opinions), so the results vary with different studies. Either way, it would be very hard to argue against the fact that NFL players tend to not live as long. I mean, my wife points out that their lifestyle would even lend to hearts working harder, muscles and bones getting more stress, and minds going through intense ups and downs from game to game and year to year. What drives them to do so? Allow me to use the NFL as an acronym for what I'm getting at - it is the trading the Now For Later business. Each year for at least 10 years a team has gone from worst in their division to first in their division, some even making it to the Super Bowl. More than any other sport, any team could catch fire any particular year. As a result, teams are very willing to trade the Now For Later, like trading three future high draft picks, just to move up in the draft 3 or 4 spots, or signing a proven veteran quarterback who only has 2-4 good years left with a 5-year contract. If you aren't willing, as an athlete, to do all you can to be good NOW in exchange for whatever you have planned LATER, than you may as well leave the Now For Later League. It isn't just a sports thing, I believe it's a life thing as well. We live in a NOW culture where food, entertainment, education, and even marriage demand immediate GOOD results, or we are GONE! The thing is, the best things in life take time, effort, and sacrifice. Children are a total blessing, and if you invest in them like the treasure they are, you will be rewarded greatly. On the other hand, when children are seen as a bother and a "cramping of my lifestyle" they turn into us and demand things of us. As I, and others with us, continue to water and nurture this new little church in central Minnesota, we know that it is a long haul. we also know that it's worth it, because we are promised that we work for God, and not ourselves or even the people here now. If God chooses to bless us now, great, but if He doesn't we can still come out of this looking good in His eyes because we were (are) faithful. Who do you trust in life? The things and organizations that demand immediate results or the God that sees the big picture and promises, "Seek first my Kingdom and I will take care of all your basic needs" (see Matthew 6:33)?