12/11/2025
HEADLESS CHICKEN
On October 25, 1964, San Francisco’s Candlestick Park rocked with the sound of thousands of 49er fans cheering as their team moved down the field against a National Football League rival, the Minnesota Vikings. But their cheers suddenly stopped when a 49er halfback fumbled the ball after a hard tackle.
A Viking defender, Jim, managed to scoop up the loose ball and race toward the goal line, sixty-six yards away.
The 49er fans began cheering again. In fact, they went wild with excitement. Their roar drowned out the shouts of dismay from Jim’s Viking teammates—who were trying to catch up with him. None of the 49er players stopped Jim’s run to the end zone. Jim was elated, thinking he’d scored a touchdown. But then a 49er player threw his arms around him and said, “Thanks, man, for the safety.” Jim, unfortunately, had run the wrong way! He’d been downed behind his own goal line and scored two points for the other team!
After recovering from his horror, Jim played hard the rest of the game, and the Vikings won 27-22. But football history will always remember Jim’s wrong-way run.
On the field of life, there are really only two ways to run. We head either toward redemption or ultimate destruction. When we run toward destruction it may seem like we’re running downhill. Nobody’s going to force us to stop. We may even enjoy the run for a while—crowds cheer, our heart races with excitement. But how awful it will be to reach the end and discover it was all for nothing. That we were running the wrong way, away from Jesus and His cross.
I PRESS TOWARD THE MARK FOR THE PRIZE OF THE HIGH CALLING OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS. (PHI 3:14)
