We Did It!

Yesterday was a big day for just about everyone in the area where I live. After eleven long years, our local professional football team returned to the Super Bowl to play for what is referred to as the “world championship” of that sport. And we won! 

I’m not a die-hard sports fan, but I do enjoy watching a good football game when our team is playing well. My personal team experience is limited, as I never played sports or competed in any other scenarios on a team. My only team experience was many years of serving as a member of our church worship team, which is different than the team sports experience. 

I’ve also been starting to watch the Olympics that are currently taking place in Italy, where most of the competitions involve individuals rather than teams. But what I’ve heard repeated by numerous members of the Seahawks football team over the past couple weeks is the idea of teamwork; and it seems that this team has a special connection with each other. Nearly every member of the team that reporters have spoken to has referred to the brotherhood that exists on this team, and it is evident in how they play and how they speak about each other. There truly doesn’t seem to be any “I” in this team. 

There also doesn’t seem to be any separation based on color on this team. That’s probably because many of the players as well as the head coach often mention God and their personal relationships with him. I believe this has had a unifying effect on this team that is not always seen on other teams. 

Our church is located in the fifth most ethnically diverse city in the whole United States, and we are making a conscious effort to become a church that welcomes people of all races. Only the Spirit of God can knit all people groups together into one body of believers who aren’t focused on differences but rather on shared beliefs and common goals. So it is refreshing to see such camaraderie on a secular football team. 

And it challenges all of us to approach those around us who are different with the same acceptance and team attitude that our football team displays. Imagine all we could accomplish for God’s kingdom if we could get that right! 

Broken Vessels

It’s not the first time it’s happened, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. I was packing up the last remnants of the Christmas season when the ornament slipped out of my hand and broke in dozens of pieces on the floor. I was already reminiscing about each of the ornaments as I took them off the tree, since most of our ornaments have sentimental value for one reason or another. But now this memory would be gone forever.

Early in our son’s marriage, my new daughter-in-law and I went to a local Christmas bazaar featuring many handmade crafts and gifts. It was a fun day together, and she bought me the hand-painted ornament that now lay on the floor in pieces. She knew how much I loved pansies and gave it to me as a Christmas gift a few weeks later. I am sad to no longer have this reminder of a good memory.          

But as I cleaned up the broken mess on the floor, I couldn’t help but think about some verses in the Bible that talk about brokenness and the fragile nature of each of our lives. I used to think that only other people were broken; I have discovered in the last twenty years that everyone is broken in some way . . . even me. Thankfully, we are reminded in the Psalms that God is near to the brokenhearted (Psalm 34:18) and that he heals them and binds up their wounds (Psalm 147:3). We also discover that God most desires those who come to him with a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart (Psalm 51:17). 

Amazingly, it is this willingness to be broken that makes us the most useful for God’s kingdom and purposes. That’s because God can turn brokenness into something even better that can be used for ministry for him. Jeremiah 18:4 tells us about a field trip that God took Jeremiah on in order to teach him how to prophesy to the nation of Israel. He went to visit a potter and witnessed this: “And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.” 

God still uses broken or “spoiled” vessels by reworking them into something new that is useful for his purposes. We don’t want to be broken because we don’t always understand what’s best. But God does. And when he looks at us in our “fragile jars of clay”, he sees vessels that can be reworked by him to carry the “treasure” of the gospel message to those around us (2 Corinthians 4:7). This verse goes on to remind us that God’s work through our brokenness is what will bring the glory to him and not to us. 

I can’t bring back the beautiful ornament that was broken. But I can embrace my own brokenness by allowing God to use me “just as I am” to minister to the lives of others “as it seems good to the potter to do”. I’ll always be amazed that this is God’s plan, and I’ll always be humbled to be a part of it. May you and I be faithful whenever he calls.

A Child's Faith

We were enjoying extended family time between Christmas and New Year’s, watching a football game and playing with our grandchildren. Someone mentioned a prayer need as we often do; but I wasn’t expecting the words I heard next. My 5-year-old grandson, who had recently decided to give his heart to God, stated matter-of-factly that he prays about lots of things . . . but that “it doesn’t always work”. 

I explained to him that prayer isn’t a magic formula and that God doesn’t always answer our prayers the way we want him to. Then I told him that we still have to choose to trust God anyway, even when he doesn’t do what we want him to do. My grandson has already begun to discover that real faith can be hard work. 

As a firm believer in the doctrine of salvation through faith alone by God’s grace alone, I don’t mean that we have to work hard to be saved for eternity. But as someone who has walked for decades in a personal relationship with God, I know that trusting him on a regular basis through all of life’s ups and downs can be hard work . . . and that doubt can be part of what we experience as we try to understand God’s ways of doing things. Isaiah 55:8-9 reminds us that God’s thoughts are not like our thoughts, and his ways are not like our ways. So sometimes we will struggle to understand what God is doing and to accept what his best for us looks like from our perspective. 

I wish I could help my grandson avoid the questions that come with trusting God. I wish he could fully understand that his new decision to follow God is about a daily relationship and not the blessings or gifts he gets from God. He’s too young to fully grasp the truth of how God’s knowledge of what is best for us and His unfailing love for us work together for our good and His glory. My grandson still has a lot to learn about God’s character in order to have his hope and trust properly placed for a lifetime of following God. I can’t walk that journey for him.

But, ironically, I can do for him the one thing that started this whole conversation. I can pray for him. For as much of his life as I am blessed to be a part of before I leave for my heavenly home, I can pray for my grandson to grow in his love for God and his understanding of God and his trust of God. And I can also listen when he expresses what he’s thinking and help him to understand what I have learned from my own walk with God. I can’t imagine a greater privilege! “Grandchildren are the crown of the aged . . .“ (Proverbs 17:6a).