ann kiemel

continued....

"hi sir, my name is ann and, well, i believe if you will honor
God, He will honor you and i was wondering -- well, you know
tomorrow night right before the game, if i could talk to the..."

"absolutely not! i'm a very superstitious man, if we need
a little help, we'll work a little harder on the field tomorrow."

everything he said was true. what business did i have marching
into his office? all i could do was sit there and say, "yes, sir. i
understand. yes, i know, sir." but on the inside i was talking
to God, "You're a big God. You can do anything. if You want
me on that football field, You'll get me out there." but on the
outside it was, "yes, sir."

suddenly the coach turned to quinn, the quarterback, and
said, "quinn, you won't believe this but, well, after talking to
ann, i guess you can present it to the football team this afternoon
and if they want her, they can have her." but he said to me,
"don't count on it."

i said, "thank you, sir, very much."

i could have walked out feeling this small, but i walked out with
my head high and my back straight because i had a great Lord
on my side.

that afternoon quinn called and said the team had voted
unanimously to have me pray with them on the field minutes
before the game. i was so excited until i got to the stadium and
saw the thousands of people, the bleachers were packed.
there were four extra rows of people standing and over the
loudspeaker system the man said, "ladies and gentlemen, i have a
special announcement to make tonight. we have the largest
crowd in the history of this stadium here tonight -- so many
thousands of people." there i was, a nobody ann in her knee
socks and clogs -- scared.

the football team ran out and dropped to their knees in a
huddle right in the middle of the field. the coach ushered me
out and just gave me a shove right into the middle of the
huddle. well, i didn't know what to do. since everyone was
kneeling, i assumed i'd better kneel too. so i dropped to my
knees in the middle of those big, rugged, huge football players.

i couldn't think of much of anything to say except, "hi, men.
you're with ann, and i have a verse i'd like to share with
you. you can pray about anything---anything--and if you
believe you can have it, it's yours. i promise you tonight you're
going to win. i know all the odds are against you. i know
you've never been number one in the league. i know God
sometimes permits us to lose to learn. but tonight you're going
to win -- but you're going to win on one condition--that you
recognize that without God you are a failure, but with Him you
can do anything. if you're runninng down the field tonight to
catch a pass, or you're headed for the goal line, or you're
headed for a tackle, i just want you to whisper one thing--"God,
it's You and me." one of the guys in the huddle raised his fist
all of a sudden and yelled, "God, it's You and me" and
another guy said, "yeah, God, it's the two of us." i prayed
with them and one of the guys in the huddle said, "let's do it
together one more time." and down on their knees in the
middle of a huge stadium in front of thousands of people this
football team that didn't know much about our Lord raised
their fists in the air and yelled, "God, it's You and us." then they
slapped me on the back, knocked me over, and ran. i picked
myself up and headed over to where they had a seat for me
with the team. i walked with my head high and my back
straight.

scared? are you kidding me? no way was i scared because, you
see, faith to me is kind of like jumping out of an airplane 10,000
feet up. if God doesn't catch you, you splatter. but how do
you know whether or not He is going to catch you unless you
jump? I had jumped out and i wasn't scared.

in the first three minutes of the game one of our guys made a
touchdown...i mean the first three minutes. we were so
excited. everyone was screaming and yelling and slapping him
on the back. he pushed his way through and reached out and said,
"ann, i just wanted to come over and tell you it was God and
me." and he ran off. five minutes later another one of our
guys made a 99-yard touchdown run. i don't know a lot about
football; i do know that a 99-yard touchdown is pretty exciting,
the place was going wild. they were crying and bouncing their
hero on their shoulders. suddenly i saw him get down off the
backs of the other football players. he came over to me, laid
his hand on my shoulder, and said, "ann, i wanted you to know it
was God and me. it was God and me all the way down the
field."

to make a long story short, we won. number one in the
league for the first time in history. i'm not sure if you've ever
been pulled across a field by a football team or not, but they
pulled me. they loaded their hot, sweaty bodies onto the bus
and dragged me with them. they began to scream and cheer
and yell. i said, "stop, stop, don't scream for me. don't yell for
me. i'm a nobody. yell for a big God who really came through
for you tonight." and with tears leaving muddy streaks
down their faces they began to scream and cheer and yell for a
big God.

suddenly, someone said, "ann, can you step off the bus a
minute?" i looked around and it was the coach. i said,
"yes," and i got off the bus. he kind of pulled me over and
grabbed my hand in his two big rough hands. i looked up into that
rugged face and i saw the gleam of a tear in each eye. he looked
down at me and said, "ann, i've played some pretty great
games in professional football and i've coached some great
teams, but i've never watched boys play ball the way my boys
played ball tonight. i know it must have been your faith in a big
God. we are wondering if you could meet us on the field
every friday night."

"i got into my little kharman ghia and headed down the
freeway laughing with God and singing at the top of
my lungs."