January 31, 2022 - Afraid To Go In???

I’ll start this week with an admission/reminder that the way I think is weird… after more than 1000 consecutive weeks of using sports stories/themes to illustrate Biblical truths, it is hard for me to sit through a sermon without my mind drifting to some correlating event in my coaching or playing past…

This past Sunday it was a mix of the Sunday sermon and pictures popping up in Facebook posts. Primarily this week’s happened as I saw one of my former players (when I was coaching a 5^th/6^th grade team my daughter was on) who is now playing high school ball.

This young lady, Grace, has always had a desired commodity in basketball… that old coaching adage, “you can’t teach height!” (There my mind goes again… coach’s mind thinking about getting players to play big: https://youtu.be/WXGIf-NGsxM) I see her in current pictures grabbing rebounds… blocking shots… making shots… being an asset to her team!

Yet it wasn’t always that way… the first time I turned to put her in a game, she welled up with tears and turned me down. She was unsure of what she had to offer. I had not yet taught her that much, so she didn’t have confidence in her skill set. BUT she did have that part “you can’t teach… height!” Initially I just needed to her to go in… hands up… you get the picture… (So here’s a picture…)

Anyway, that thought of Grace welling up with tears and not wanting to go in, led to remembering the joy of watching her finally get in the game (with the coaxing of her friend Emma) and making a huge difference for our team! And now the joy of seeing her still making a difference… And it was brought on by the story of a boy with seemingly little to offer…

All four Gospels record the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 with 5 just five loaves of bread and two fish… and how when they were done there were still leftovers. The Gospel of John (in chapter 6) records that Jesus got the initial offering of food to perform the miracle, from a boy. At a time when Jesus’s disciples were worried that they didn’t have enough money to feed the mob (v 7)… at a time when the disciples questioned how much the boy had to offer (vs 9: “but what are these for so many people”) … Jesus took the willingness of that boy to “get in the game” and made a huge difference!

Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted. (v 11)

Not sure who needs to hear this, but it is time to “get in the game” and make a difference! You may be reading this with tears welling up afraid to “go in” or feeling like you simply don’t have enough… BUT GOD can and will use what you have!

Go MAD (Make A Difference) this week!