Providence in the Little Things

Why I believe that God cares about football.

Greetings,

For this week’s post, I want to talk about Divine Providence. It seems like whenever people talk about it, they tend to refer to some really big events. As an Indonesian, I see it in how my country achieved independence: if it wasn’t for World War II and the Japanese occupation, Indonesia would have most likely remained a colony of the Netherlands, in some shape or form.

In addition, we tend to see Providence as an impersonal force. Take a look at the concept of the ‘invisible hand’. This is an economic term coined by Adam Smith and popularized by capitalist economists. In short, it refers to how by serving their own respective self-interest, “the butcher, the brewer, and the baker”¹ was able to provide our food.²

But what if I told that God is not an impersonal force but a personal being? If you’re a Christian, you might go, “well of course, Michael. I believe that.”

Sure, you might believe that. But have you actually internalize that? Because if you believe that God is personal and that He cares about us, then doesn’t that mean He cares not just about the big things but also the little things?

So once again, I’m gonna talk about sports.

I have seen my fair share of people dismissing sports as “bread and circuses”. They think it’s nothing more than a distraction from the more important issues like politics and culture. Not to be too blunt about it, but those people should get their heads out of their buttholes³.

Unfortunately, this kind of sentiment is the default view of leisure. Even Tom Brady, probably the greatest player in the history of professional football⁴, held it. He even brought God into this:

I find this kind of ironic, because his Super Bowl-winning teammate Adam Vinatieri, saw things differently⁵:

I don’t know if God watches football or cares. But I think He was a patriot fan.

-Adam Vinatieri

I’m not sure if Adam was being facetious about it. And I can understand if anyone was to criticize Mr. Vinatieri for being irreverent. But if I have to decide which of the two sentiments, Brady’s or Vinatieri’s, is closer to the truth, I’d choose the latter.

Obviously, I don’t think that God is a patriots fan⁶. However, I do think that God cares about football. And I can prove it with logic. Follow me here:

Premise 1: God loves us and cares about us.

Premise 2: To love someone is to will the good for that person.⁷

Premise 3: To will the good of another person, one needs to care about what he cares about.

Premise 4: We care about football.

∴ God cares about football.

Now it’s been a while since I was in high school and had to make use of those logic thingies. So I wouldn’t be surprised if there are some flaws in my reasoning. This is just one way to demonstrate my thoughts on this subject.

And since God is personal, it’s best to tell a personal story. And this brings me to another kind of football, also known soccer.

The 2022 World Cup

(Source)

Just yesterday⁸ was exactly a year since Lionel Messi and Argentina defeated France to win the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. It was the first World Cup victory for the Argentinian, and the first for his country since 1986⁹. It was a heartwarming story, almost like a Hollywood movie. Finally, after decades of disappointment, he finally got the greatest trophy in the sport. Fitting for one whom many are now calling “The Greatest of All Time”¹⁰ to have played the sport.

But remember when I said that it’s not just about the big things?

To me personally, I see the Hand of God¹¹ at play in my life with this World Cup. Allow me to explain…

The last World Cup in 2018 had been underwhelming for me for a lot of reasons. First was that the United States was not in it, having lost to Trinidad and Tobago¹² in a game that they only needed to draw to book their ticket to Russia. Then, the final was the worst for me. Not just because the team I wanted to win, Croatia, lost to the eventual winners France. But also because the game was pretty much over by the 60-minute mark.

Most importantly, I only watched the whole thing by myself. Sure, I was able to talk about this World Cup with my co-workers in my then job, but with the only close family member around being my younger brother who cared nothing for sports, the whole experience was atomized.

This was the opposite of how I had experienced World Cup finals since 2002. I remembered watching each and every one of those finals with my family members:

• 2002 - Brazil v. Germany: I watched it in Indonesia with my older brother, and possibly other family members. Honestly, I had fuzzy memories of this one since I was just nine/ten years old. Though I remembered the whole tournament fondly. It was the first World Cup to be held in the Far East and that means people who live in Indonesia (like me at the time) didn’t have to stay up late to watch the games.

• 2006 - Italy v. France: In America at the time. I watched it with my parents and my two brothers. I remember wanting France to win because I like Zidane and then this happened.

• 2010 - Spain v. Netherlands: I was in Indonesia at the time, having graduated from high school recently. My dad invited me to a watch party, which was very late at night because of the watch party. One of the ways I bond with my dad is through soccer, and I look back on this fondly. Even if the team I rooted for ended up losing.

• 2014 - Germany v. Argentina: I was visiting Indonesia after I graduated from college. Once again, my dad invited me to another watch party, though this time an older cousin was also with us. Pretty sure my dad had a picture of that.

So with this background, I didn’t care for 2018. To me, the most memorable thing about that final was that I started playing Pokemon Ultra Sun afterwards and named my starter Pokemon after Luka Modric.

Perhaps it was just adulthood. Maybe this shows the part of my life where I was the most atomized. Call it weird, but I tend to mark the events of my life by the World Cup. So when I read about the Ancient Greeks marking their calendar by the Olympic Games, I completely understand.

The funny thing is that 2022 would have been much the same for me. Except for one thing: it happened in the winter.

I still remember the controversy surrounding FIFA’s awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. Accusations of corruption, objections because of the country’s desert climate, and many other things overshadowed the whole affair. Like a lot of people, I was upset that Qatar got the World Cup over what I thought to be more deserving countries.

Little did I know back in 2010, that FIFA’s decision was what allowed me to have the best World Cup experience.

Because of Qatar’s aforementioned desert climate, the World Cup could not be held in the summer as it usually was, but rather in the winter. I remember some people objecting to this because it would inconvenience the professional leagues and the fans. But for me, the World Cup being held in the winter was the best thing that could have happened.

While I currently live in America, my parents live in Indonesia though they would visit once a year. For 2022, they decided to come over to America in the winter because my older brother had earlier visited our parents in Indonesia with his wife and two kids. This meant that I got to watch the World Cup with my dad.

In addition to all this, my aunt, a diplomat for the Indonesian government, decided to visit us while on a work trip. This meant my aunt also got to get into the fun, but I’ll get to that later.

When Qatar was awarded the World Cup back in those days, I thought that it was going to be a disaster and the “worst World Cup ever”. And while it was a disaster for the Qatar national team, it was most fun I’ve had in a World Cup. First, the US was in it unlike the last time around. And we were put in a funny group:

And it could have been Ukraine instead of Wales instead!

Perhaps it was recency bias, but I can think of a lot of memorable games, such as the geopolitically charged USA v. Iran which may or may not have taken a few years off my life.

And finally, we get to the final - Argentina v. France. Two teams seeking their third World Cup glory. Argentina was looking for their first title in over three decades, France was seeking to defend the title they had won in Russia. The GOAT of the present (Lionel Messi) going against the GOAT of the future (Kylian Mbappe, whose name my aunt kept mispronouncing as “Mappe”).

It was a mouth-watering matchup. My aunt decided to get involved by having a bet, so to speak. My dad and I rooted for Argentina, because we like Messi. Meanwhile, my aunt, having lived in Belgium as a diplomat back in the day, rooted for France.

Like a lot of soccer finals, it was a nervy affair. At first. Argentina was able to get ahead thanks to an early penalty kick from Messi. Then, they added another goal for a comfortable 2-0 halftime lead.

The second half was boring, just the way the Argentinians wanted it. At first. Argentina was holding their lead and it looked like they were going to do that until they conceded a penalty in the 80th minute. Mbappe converted to make it 2-1. Now we had a game! And not even two minutes passed before France scored again. All of a sudden, the game’s all tied up.

France came very close to scoring a third one in injury time but heroics from the Argentine goalie was enough to send the game to overtime.

Messi was able to score a third one in overtime, reclaiming the lead Argentina had lost. But France fired back with a third goal, yet another penalty, from Mbappe, scoring the first hat-trick in a World Cup final since 1966. What was supposed to be a straightforward win for one team had turned into a frenetic back-and-forth between the two sides.

And of course, with the game tied 3-3, it had to be decided to by a penalty shoot-out:

And somehow, Argentina walked out of Lusail Stadium with the World Cup Trophy after giving it away not once, but twice.

Objectively speaking, this final was the best World Cup final a neutral could have asked for. But I would have forgotten it by next month if I had watched it just by myself instead of with my family. And the only way that could have happened is if the tournament was held in a place so hot that FIFA had to hold it in the winter.

My parents’ decision to visit the US in wintertime had nothing to do with soccer. And certainly, FIFA’s bizarre decision to hold the World Cup in Qatar had nothing to do with me. Yet it all just came together like that.

This brings me to my initial claim: God cares about football. Of course He does. I’m not saying that He likes Messi more than Mbappe. But if you think that He won’t use something even as inconsequential as sports to fulfill His end, whatever that may be, then you’re mistaken.

Charles Coulombe once said that once you study history, you can’t believe in chance. Well, I’d say that once you study your own life, you can’t believe in chance. You just can’t.

I certainly can’t.

Until next time,

Michael P. Marpaung

1. As Mr. Smith had put it.

2. As a side note, I’m not a capitalist and have serious reservations about it and the invocation of the ‘invisible hand’ as an excuse to ignore poverty and other social issues. But that’s beyond the scope of this blogpost.

3. Pardon my French.

4. Nope, not having that debate with the Brits and Euros.

5. I would display the video in this post instead just linking it, but NFL copyright got in the way.

6. Fight me, Bostonians!

7. To take an idea from St. Thomas Aquinas.

8. Which would be the day I was writing this.

9. Led by the legendary Diego Maradona. May God rest his soul.

10. Known shortly as GOAT.

11. No pun intended.

12. How many readers can pinpoint that country on a world map?