The World Cup has captured the imagination of people around the globe.

While soccer, or football as others know it, is not as big in the USA, it is certainly big in the rest of the world. These matches have been great.

Sunday’s match between the USA and Portugal was an exciting contest. How could you surpass the drama of the USA falling behind and then pulling ahead for a sure win and then having the match tied in the last seconds?

Recently, I read fascinating statistics about penalty kicks in soccer. Penalty kicks last about 15 seconds, but they are some of the most thrilling moments of the match. The kicker stands 12 yards away and gets a free kick. The goalie guards the net which measures 8 yards long and 8 feet high.

Because of the power of the kicker, the goalie has to guess which way the kicker will kick the ball. By the time the kicker’s foot strikes the ball, the goalie has to be moving.

Soccer is such a big sport that different groups have statistics for penalty kicks. Fifty-seven percent of the time, the goalie will move to his left. That means that the right side is a high percentage place to kick the ball. The goalie will move to his right forty-one percent of the time. That means that the middle is the best place to kick the ball. Only two percent of the time will the goalie protect the middle of the goal.

You would expect that every kicker would kick right down the middle, but that happens only seventeen percent of the time.

Why? Because soccer players don’t want to be ridiculed by fans and other professionals for doing something so obvious.

They are afraid of being called an idiot on national and worldwide television. They take a poorer play because of fear.

How many times do we make bad decisions because of what we fear? How many times have you been led astray by peer pressure? When has your timidity led you to miss the leading of God’s Spirit?

For these reasons, Paul exhorted Timothy to fan into the flames the spiritual gift that had been given him: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. So you must never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord” (2 Timothy 1:7-8).

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