A Child's Prayer

Last night in our youth soccer (Which has been going great! I love indoor soccer in July!), I asked the K-1 grade players if any of them wanted to pray for us before we played the game. A couple of hands went up, and I chose a young girl to step up and pray while I held the microphone.

"Dear God, thank you for letting us be able to play soccer today. Help everyone have fun. Please don't let my mom and dad be separated anymore. Let us have fun. Amen."

I have to admit...I was at a loss for words. I don't know that child's particular situation...and if I did I would not write about it here.

All I know is that there is some situation that caused this young girl to pray for her family.

Coming from a home that was rocked by divorce, I understand that child's prayer. It just served to remind me that in our sports we are "more than just a game." We are a community that can come together and pray for and with one another.

Will you say a prayer for that child today? God knows exactly who she is and what her situation needs.

This One Is Tough

Last week I posted a blog about the conversation I had with Brad Meester. I asked him how we, as fans, could be praying for him and the team as they entered training camp. One of the things he said was for them to be safe and have no injuries.

That is why this morning was difficult.

I got my camera and went to the Jags training camp this morning. My number one goal was to get some nice action shots of Brad. When I arrived I just looked around for the big guys. I quickly realized they are ALL big guys!

I stuck around for about 30 minutes and never once saw Brad. I figured he had to miss the morning session for some reason. On the way back to the church I realized why.

"A breaking story from Jags training camp," the sport's radio show host said. "Brad Meester, the center for the Jags cracked the bone in his ankle in practice last night and will have surgery this Wednesday to repair it. He will be out 8-10 weeks."

How do you reconcile someone asking prayer for safety for him and his team and the, three days into camp, he breaks his ankle?

Be it praying for health and safety or any other issue, we all will go through times when what we pray for and what we get are two different things. Think about times in your life when that is the case. How did you feel? Did your trust in God waiver at all? How did you explain it to other people...both Christians and non-Christians?

Check back Wednesday for my response and a story that may make the point a little better.

"It's like any other job."

I had a good conversation this morning with Brad Meester, the center for the Jacksonville Jaguars. He is an active member of our church and a great guy.

This morning's conversation centered around a "Special Edition" of our church sports e-newsletter I am working on for next week. With the Jaguars on their way back to training camp, I wanted to know from him, and a few other players, what it is like being a Christian in the world of professional sports and how can we, as fans, pray for them as the season starts up.

I asked Brad if it was difficult being a Christian in the NFL. He said, "Yes and no. It's like any other job. It definitely has hard moments like anywhere else."

One thing that has helped Brad out is getting involved in small groups. When he came to the Jaguars in 2000 he got plugged in with the team chapel services on Saturday nights and small group Bible studies with teammates Mark Brunnell and Tony Boselli.

In 2001 he started going to Christ's Church and got plugged in with our small groups ministry. He and his wife, Jamie, have been involved in a small group ever since. He told me these small groups have helped him open up about his faith.

I will share more in the e-sports page next week (to sign up to receive it each week go to http://www.sports.ccontheweb.info/). I do want to let you know how you can be praying for Brad as he starts training camp on Friday.

He mentioned to things.

1. The health and safety of all the players...that it will be an injury free season.


2. For ways to reach out to the players who are not Christians and that God will use him during the season. They have a lot of new players. That means more opportunities to build relationships and influence people for Christ.

I'll let you know in the e-sports page what he thinks about he Jaguars upcoming season.

Haunted by Pink Flamingos!

So...I was standing in line for lunch today when a couple of kids came up behind me and started singing this "Pink Flamingo" chant/song/cheer/thingy.

If you were at Bible Boot Camp last month, or had kids go, you have probably heard about the 'pink flamingo' cheer. One of the cabins called themselves that and came up with the cheer. By the end of the camp everyone else was singing the cheer.

I was a bit surprised to have the kids standing behind me today singing it. They saw me come in, got up from their table, and came over and started singing it.

After going to my table, I had another boy walk up to me with his Christ's Church flag football shirt on. We talked for a few minutes about the season.

This lunch served as a reminder that we are to be authentic and real everywhere we go. You never know who is watching and what they will learn from your actions.

Milestones

This week I hit a couple milestones in golf...well, I didn't really 'hit' them. I just acheived something. I will admit these may not seem like much, but to me they represent growth.

On Thursday I beat our senior pastor, Dennis, on one hole. I made par and he made a bogey. Don't get me wrong...he beat me in the round, but I did something I have never done.

This is one of those small moments in life (especially my golfing life) that I needed to celebrate. Don't get me wrong...I didn't come close to beating him in the round. Actually no one on staff has ever beat him in a round of golf.

Well, today (Saturday) I beat my friend Bob Pan (you've been blogged!) on one hole. Again, he did much better than me on the round, but I beat him on that one par 5.

Why are these milestones big to me? They show that I have the potential to play golf at the level of people like Dennis and Bob. They show that I have improved in golf over the last couple of years. And they show that I still have a long way to go.

I believe it is important to find people who are better than I am in areas and spend as much time with them as possible in that area. Having the opportunity to 'measure up' against individuals like that is even more valuable to me. Those are the 'milestones' like I experienced in golf this week.

Milestones are only as good as what you do with them. They may be big things or small. The key is to use them as a measuring tool that motivates you to further action.

Check out this story about a waitress in Indiana who recieved a $10,000 tip to go to college on. Talking about a huge milestone!!

My Prayer Life Challenged

I read this passage today in Colossians.

Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Don't forget to pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to preach about his secret plan - that Christ is also for you Gentiles. That is why I am here in chains. Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should. Colossians 4:2-4 (New Living Translation)

When I first read this I started asking myself if I prayed with an alert mind and thankful heart. I quickly decided that I did, for the most part, and started moving on to the next verses...and then it hit me! I am very greedy when I pray!

Did you catch what Paul said here. "...I am here in chains." He was literally chained up! Paul wrote this from jail in Rome, yet his request was not to pray for his quick release. Instead he asks the church in Colosse to pray that God "will give us many opportunities to preach...".

If I was in jail writing a letter to a church, I would probably make it about me and what all I have gone through and blah, blah, blah. But Paul said to pray for him that he has a chance to minister to others. Actually, in the next 2 verses he says,

Live wisely among those who are not Christians, and make the most of every opportunity. Let you conversation be gracious and effective so that you will have the right answer for everyone.

This whole passage has really challenged my self-centered nature when I pray. I have always struggled with the "God, expand my territories" prayers, but in other ways I put the emphasis on me and not on praying "Father, not my will, but yours be done."

Belief without Practice...

I have been reading a book I was given a long time ago called Next Door and Down The Freeway, edited by Neil Wiseman.

In one of the chapters, written by Bill Sullivan, is a quote by George Gallup. He says "Belief without practice is producing an indifferent population." That is a phrase that should challenge each of us.

Think about this.

When I did financial counseling I would use the phrase "Putting principles into practice for a purpose." If you know the principles you want to live by and you know what your purpose is, that defines your practices. If you choose not to act in a way that is in align with those principles and your purpose, then you are lying to yourself.

When you have 3 variables in a formula, you can only choose what 2 of those are. Once those are chosen, the third variable will automatically be calculated. If you choose the principles (God is love) and the purpose (My purpose is to be like God) then the practice is determined for you (I must be love). If I am not love then I either don't really have that purpose or that principle.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is the hypocritical notion that one can say they believe in God and say their purpose is to be like Him, yet they do not put that into action.

Consider these verses from Jame 2.

So you see, it isn't enough just to have faith. Faith that doesn't show itself by good deeds is no faith at all - it is dead and useless.

...Do you still think it's enough just to believe that there is one God? Well, even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror! Fool! When will you ever learn that faith that does not result in good deeds is useless?

...So you see, we are made right with God by what we do, not by faith alone.

...Just as the body is dead without a spirit, so also faith is dead without good deeds.

Never Say Never

Last Friday night I did something I said I would never do.

Carrie and I took a ball room dance lesson.

It was "Dancing With The Stiff" (for Carrie, anyway)

Actually...this is hard to say...I had fun. It was a private lesson with us and two other couples who are great friends or ours. One of the couples have dancing experience (they have won competitions together) and the other was a beginning couple like me and Carrie.

We learned the basics of the Cha Cha and the Fox Trot.

Several people have asked me if I would do it again...and I think I would. I grew up being told that dancing is bad. While I certainly agree that it can lead to improper behavior...and dress as far as that goes...what Carrie and I did was a great couples time. We learned something new together. We laughed together. We moved around a floor to music while staring into each other's eyes with smiles on our faces.

It was a great time.

So...what have you said you would never do? You may be missing out on something fun!