At my high school in suburban Detroit, no one ever missed a Friday night home game--neither an October snow nor a Saturday morning SAT exam kept us home on a Friday night.

The only downside to the game for my church friends and I was the school dance. As pretty good Baptist kids, we obeyed our parents and didn't attend the dances, though we bemoaned the fun we were missing. No one went straight home after the fourth quarter ended.

Our ingenious high school pastor came up with the solution: Fifth Quarter. We no longer missed the fun. We had a place to go to after the game. At one point Fifth Quarter became more popular than the school dance among our school friends. I wish I could say it turned into a massive outreach event, but it didn't. Not that it mattered to us. We were happy that we were no longer missing the post-game fun.

That adolescent feeling of missing out still lingers after all these years. It surfaced earlier this month when I became eligible for the COVID vaccine. As a good resident of DuPage County, I registered on the DuPage Health Department website, the DuPage Medical Group’s app and the my.Walgreen’s app.

Meanwhile, my group of 1b peers kept posting, “Got dose one at Walgreen’s today.” All I got was the message, “No appointments available in your area for the next three days.” I was totally missing out of the vaccine. I upped my game and started checking emails from the health department and my.Walgreen’s app more frequently.

A good 1b friend said to try ZocDoc. It was the morning the United Center announced that it was a mass vaccination site. I clicked and clicked and clicked till I was no longer missing out. My first dose was scheduled at the United Center with the promise to cancel should I make another appointment. You would have thought I would be happy now.

Well, I was happy until I thought, The United Center? The traffic? The parking? The national guard checking me in? I want the vaccine at my Walgreen’s, the one I can walk to. I began missing out all over again.

One Saturday morning, just after six, my husband called out, "Quick. Open your Walgreen's app. It says appointments are available." I grabbed my iPad and saw those wonderful words on my screen: "appointments available in your area." In less than five minutes, I scheduled both doses. I was no longer missing out. I belonged to the insider's group.

That's the problem with missing out. We're either on the outside, complaining about what we don't have or on the inside, boasting about what we do have - and that can flip at any time. We end up a not so merry band of malcontents on our way to the kingdom, eyes fixed on each other, just in case we're missing out on anything.

It's like the disciples debating which one is the greatest. They were comparing themselves to each other, not wanting to miss out on a chance for greatness. And they were with Jesus. Stop looking at each other and look at who's with you! The all-saving, all-loving Good Shepherd.

When we look at ourselves instead of Christ, now that's missing out. When we take our eyes off ourselves to what's right in front of us, we see Jesus: image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, before all things, the one who holds all things together, head of the church. the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, preeminent, in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.

We are not and never will miss out of anything. There is no room for anything else when we are in Christ on our way to the kingdom content in him.