Jacob was something of a schmuck.
 
Grandson of Abraham, son of Isaac, and father of Joseph (as in, Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors, or Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat). Jacob had issues. He was born trying to get ahead of his older brother Esau, grasping his heel. In fact, his name, Jacob, literally means "heel grabber." It is an idiom for someone who breaks in line, someone who has a "me first" attitude. The nice way of putting it is, "Supplanter." The not-so-nice term is "Cheater."
 
Jacob the Trickster was renown throughout antiquity for the way he was always trying to get the best of someone else. This would often turn on him, and readers took great delight in wondering whether he was going to win the day or if his opponent would. One particular pattern he had was that of craving blessings. He stole both blessing and birthright from his elder brother Esau, and he wrestled with what many think was an angel for the very same thing.
 
Jacob struggles with this being all night, alone and in the dark. The being dislocates Jacob's hip, and still he doesn't let go. "Not until you bless me," he says. Nothing mattered but the blessing. Not the pain. Not the struggle. Not the darkness where it was all taking place. And in the end, Jacob's name was changed to Israel, and the Israelite nation was finally given an identity.
 
Jacob was no saint, but his story was profound to me, because I had to stop and ask myself how many times I have given up before the final win or have let go before the sun came up. It had never occurred to me, until Jacob's WWF Angel Smackdown, that surviving the night is not enough. It is not ours only to endure, but it is ours to conquer and to be blessed.
 
And this teaches me that as I wrestle, whether I know the name of the foe or not, I assert, "I'm not going to let you go until you bless me."

Prayer