The Smallest Indian

It's one of those moments that cause a dad to feel the instant freeze of concern followed by the thawing warmth of pride. My son, Tim, put a block on a kid that caused the ball carrier to advance 50 more yards. Tim, a wide receiver, ran his route and then looked back to see the quarterback scrambling past the line of scrimmage. Tim turned and ran toward number 84 on the opposing team who was about to bring down the runner. 84 is the largest player on the opposing team. He is larger than our largest. He knocked our quarterback out of the game later in the contest. 84 was coming toward him when Tim squared up to put the block on him.

Tim is the smallest player on the Newberry Junior Indians football club. He has a detestable quality for an eleven year old football player: he is really cute. So to make up for his unfortunate squeezableness, he looks mean in all of his pictures. He paces the sidelines with raging intensity. He sticks within arms reach of the coach the entire game. The smallest Indian wants to play.

Number 84 threw Tim to the ground like a rag doll. But in so doing, lost the few steps he needed to bring down the ball carrier. The five yard run turned into a fifty yard gain.

The Newberry fans were laughing and shouting out "nice block '2!" Tim never heard it. He didn't realize what he had done. In fact, he was mad because he was open for the throw.

There is a point to this story. A team can succeed in doing great things as long as the small guys play large and without fear.

Heaven in the Wilderness

…So I’ve been thinking about what I would do if I had it as “bad” as the Israelites had it while they were wandering through the wilderness for those forty years. As you know, there were some things they had going for them. They had food to sustain them provided every day. Their clothes and living quarters never wore out. They always had water, even if God had to make it come out of a rock. They had clear direction given to them about where to live. They had no enemies. Best of all, they had the Lord himself constantly in their midst. They had everything they could possibly need provided for them.

In thinking about this, it occurs to me that the people had a lot of time to do whatever they wanted to do. I’m the kind of guy who loves a worship service where the presence of God can be felt. So, I would love the daily opportunity to go to the tabernacle where I know for certain that I am going to witness the presence of the Lord. The wilderness is a beautiful place. I think that I would spend many hours studying God’s creation. I would learn to draw and to paint. I would spend time with people, studying them and learning even more about God’s creative mind. To me, that forty years seems to be a lot like heaven.

Of course, most of the Israelites didn’t see it that way. Like many children who have the same benefits from their parents as the Israelites had from God, they complained that they were bored. They failed to recognize that the time in the wilderness was the greatest opportunity a people ever had to worship God and to know His joy.

When you are able to deny the cravings of the flesh you are able to see God and to live the joyful life of worship. When you no longer need someone to entertain you, when you no longer need to consume food for the sake of pleasure, when you no longer need to dress to impress, then you truly have the ability to know God and to be in His presence.

I’m still getting to that point. Getting older and more mature does help me to see life from the perspective of longing for heaven. As I see it, God can feel free to put me in a wilderness with my people, provide for us, and allow us to spend as much time as we want at His tabernacle.

Mark's example

It was a joy to have my good friend, Mark, with us in service Sunday morning. I helped Mark coach the baseball team our sons played on this past spring. During the service, I talked about how Mark’s desire to draft boys who wanted to play ball even though they weren’t the most talented players there. Mark believed that boys who wanted to play ball would be more fun to coach than the more talented boys whose goal might be to win games. As it turned out, our team did have fun playing. And, we didn’t lose a single game.

Mark’s upbringing was difficult. But, instead of using difficulty as an excuse for failure, he grew into a responsible husband and father. Now, he adds other children into the life of his family as he coaches youth sports. He is a big guy with a big heart to match. The cool thing is, while setting his goal to inspire children to grow character and have fun doing so, he also teaches them that they can win at the same time.

just be joyful

…so today’s Bible verse for me is “be joyful always”. Frankly, there are days when I would want to slap someone up who said that to me. I don’t think I want to say that to someone who is trying to decide whether to get healthcare for a spouse or lose a home. I wonder how I would express that to someone whose son was just murdered or a son whose father was almost murdered in a city he has devoted his life to loving with the love of God.
On the white board directly in front of me as I sit at my desk is a list of issues that members of my congregation have begun to face in the last two weeks. It is an intimidating list. It is a burdensome list. But there my Bible is, opened to 1st Thessalonians and that three word admonition to decide to be joyful.
I took a walk in the woods behind the church to intercede for my congregation. I prayed in the Spirit. I meditated on God’s goodness and divine purpose. I remembered how all things work together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His will. I reflected on the challenges that I face in my life, and then decided to be joyful. My loving God is in control.

Why do I do this?

So Jim R. was asking me what the purpose was of putting myself through the torture of running races. I said something like, “because it makes me feel good when I stop.”
Often, I have to re-think why I do what I do. I started running years ago because the doctor said that I had a choice between getting physically fit or being treated for diabetes. Later, I started running races as a way of staying motivated. Again later, I was motivated to compete. Eventually, I got the competitive bug so bad that I over-trained and injured myself.
I have been thinking about why I returned to running races since Jim put the question to me. A health care worker with the prison in Kinross challenged me to beat him in the race. When the race started, he shot out past the starting line. For the next two miles I fought the twin temptations to give up trying or to run too fast too early and risk “hitting the wall” at the end of the race. When the feeling of urgency set in, I started singing (in my head) in order to distract my attention from being behind. When I wanted to give up and start walking, I started singing again. In order to run my best race, I had to run the best pace I could maintain for the whole 3.12 miles.
Two and a half miles into the race, I passed him. As I passed him, he said “there you go, you’re doing it…” When I finished the race, I had beaten my goal time by twenty seconds. I thanked the man, who finished a few seconds behind me, for the motivation.
I run for practice. I need to challenge myself not to give up or to act unwisely when feeling fear. I run not to beat others, but to beat my carnal nature. There are times when I need to trust God in the face of fear. Health issues, wealth issues, and relationship issues require me to pace myself through a crisis. When I am not going through those crisis, I like to practice for when I do have to.
Why do I run? Because I like to win. But the race I want to win isn’t rewarded with medals. It is the fruit of trusting God and living by faith.

Praying for the campers

Almost thirty years ago I was baptized in the Holy Spirit as evidenced by speaking in “other tongues” at the conclusion of an evening service while I was attending youth Bible camp in Crystal Falls, Michigan. It was a precious moment that I can remember every detail of as I think back to that evening. I can still remember the songs we sang that night. I remember who was speaking. I remember the faces of those praying with me.
I’ve been thinking about that time because my son is at camp this week. This past Sunday, he asked for prayer to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. It was wonderful to see him struggle against his own inhibitions while men from my congregation prayed with him. Whether his prayer was answered is for him to say. But, I was deeply touched by what I saw.
I believe in that good things happen at Bible camp. One week separated from electronic media and set apart to focus on God allows children to be changed by God as they spend time in His presence. I pray that all of the children are saved and filled by the Holy Spirit. Next year, I want every child in our congregation to go to camp.

Re-connecting youth

My friend expressed frustration that the youth don’t use the things that are built for them. When she made the statement, a light went on in my head. I replied that building things for young people to do was feeding the same problem. The problem isn’t there isn’t stuff to do, the problem is that there isn’t stuff to do with people who can provide guidance and care. The young people of the community aren’t looking to us for entertainment, they are looking to us for love.
The challenge for us as a church is to remember that Jesus’ command to us was to make disciples. In our congregation, our challenge is to remember that every ministry is a discipleship ministry. The worship team needs young people to mentor into worship musicians. The children’s ministry needs young people to help teach the younger children and to learn to be teachers. The pastor needs to mentor young people to be shepherds.
I occurs to me that people are born with a need for adults. Children looks to their parents. As they get older, they look for role models and mentors. The solution for disconnected youth? Those of us need to include young people in our lives. The first step? Mary Archambeau, the director of the Newberry youth center, gives us a good example. Ask young people for help doing something good. Then, do it with them.