And Elway called it 'good'

All this worry over Peyton Manning and complaints on how the Denver Broncos - our 4-0 Denver Broncos, mind you - won on Sunday reminds me of a story.

It's about a man, a woman, an apple and a snake.

Perhaps you've heard this one?

So God had created a world full of life - the sun, moon, plants, fish, birds and animals. And he called it good.

Then God asked Manning to take - sorry, wrong story - Man to take care of his world.

He told him to watch out for the soil and make sure it gets water and nutrients so the plants could grow and flourish. He warned Man to be considerate of conservation because the plants would ultimately protect him from the atmosphere. He advised utilizing natural resources to help the world sustain itself because a good defense is always a good offense and keeps the world from getting out of whack.

God also advised Man to keep the world in perspective in times of uncertainty and new growth and allow for some imbalance while maturation and natural forces helped hold it together.

Man quickly realized what a big challenge this was and asked God for some support and love while he took care of something so precious. God answered with Woman, who loved Man and helped give him strength while taking care of the world.

But one day in this Garden of Dove Valley, a snake visited Woman and told her he had an apple that would provide her all the knowledge and statistics she would need to better help Man take care of the earth.

With good intentions, Woman took a little bite of that apple and suddenly had clarity on the world and all its problems. She saw Man exposed for the mortal being he was, and she instantly knew she needed more of that apple.

In fact, her insatiable desire for more statistical knowledge grew exponentially and she had to share it with Man. He needed to know what she knew and needed to listen to her and the sports med, er...the snake, if he were going to be successful.

And suddenly she no longer felt like supporting Man in his quest to oversee the beautiful earth. He was clearly incapable of such a task, and God had picked the wrong being. She must give him the apple so he could realize his inferiority.

But despite Man‘s faults, God had no intention of taking this task away from him. Instead, he emboldened Man with an even greater burden - taking care of the world in spite of knowledge, scorn, pain and lack of faith.

And so when God looked across his world and saw his fallible but future Hall-of-Famer taking care of his world week in and week out, he knew Man was the right choice for this burden. 

Sure he is getting older and weaker, but he has the wisdom and skill required to fulfill God's assigned task. So finally God asked Woman to be patient and supportive in spite of the blemishes. After all, it was part of his plan.

Story sound familiar?

When John Elway looks at the team he has built - full of energy, dazzle, imperfection, anger ... and at the quarterback he has entrusted it to - he calls it good.

Because it is.