Could Jesus Find a Disciple part 1 The offer

Matthew 4:18-21 -  "As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him."

Now picture yourself at work. Imagine that you are the billing specialist for your family's business. It has been in the family for several generations You get to work with your dad, several uncles and your brother. You are at your desk, typing away on your computer one day. There are some forms that you have to get done if you want to get paid for the work that has been done in front of you. As you are typing, some guy who you have never seen walks up to your desk and peers down at you. He has long, curlyl hair and a full beard. He looks to be of middle Eastern descent, if you were to guess. He looks quite dirty and sweaty, as if he has been walking for several hours in the heat.

As you look up at him, he calmly speaks to you with a voice that you can tell is used to being listened to, "Get up from your computer, leave your source of livelihood and follow me. You are used to billing others. I will have you helping others."

He then turns around and begins to walk away in a manner that makes you realize that he expects you to follow. If you are most, if not all of us, you would simply sit there at your desk. You will not walk out of your job without some guarantee that you will get paid at least as well if not better than you already are. Plus, you do not know this man's company, or if he is even employed. He sure didn't look employed, he looked transient. Come to think of it, you may have wondered if he is even sane. Now the questions begin to swirl around in your head.

Is he crazy? Where did he come from? Why did he talk to me? How did he know me? Why me and not someone with a college education? What does he mean "help others"?  What business is he with? How much does it pay? What are the benefits offered, the job perks?

He could just have walked in and spoke to the first person that he saw. After all, you don't know him.  You are pretty good at your job, but it is a small family owned business. You are by no means anyone special. You only have a 10th grade education, because you didn't need any more than that to work for your dad. You have not even put out any applications or resumes with anyone.

It does not take you too long to form your action, which is none. I am going to stay right here behind this desk like I have for the past 10 years. I have a mortage, car payment and utilities to pay and I am comfortable where I am. I even have a paid vacation coming up. I have health and dental insurance and a job that I am already trained for and good at. I am happy, working in the family business. Why would I ever leave?

He turns back around and looks at you one last time, "Let's go" he says. You just look at him and laugh. "I am going no where today, brother. I am happy where I am. I have great benefits, I work with people who appreciate me and our customers love us. You have not even told me what I will make if I go to work for you."

He chuckles, "Follow me and you will see." With that, he is gone out the door, leaving you to stare after him. You look around at your uncle, who is also in the office. He shrugs his shoulders, "That was crazy," he says as he turns back to his computer.

For most of us, that is where the story would end. You now have a story to tell your friends and family the next time that you see them. You would never know what is offered, because you would never go out the door and ask. Or would you? Would you at least go out the door and see what the job description is? Would you find out the salary and the benefits of the job?  Did his assured manner pique your interest?

If so, part 2 of this blog will look at the job description and what following that man actually pays.

Sometimes When You Lose You Win

When I hear "Sometimes when you lose you win" the sound of Rosie Perez's accented voice resonates in my head. I really like sports movies, and White Men Can't Jump is one of those movies I watched a lot when I was younger. It is fitting that the movie would come to my mind, as it is a sports movie, when I think of playing softball last Friday. I got several reminders that I, in hindsight, needed to hear on Friday.

I am not making any excuses, but it was hot outside and we had a triple header! We had the 6:20-7:20-8:20 games for our triple header on Friday, and our two big hitters where gone. Oh yeah, and the sun was in my eyes, the team dressed in shorts, long sleeve shirts and ties to set us off and they heckled us the entire time. I have tons of excuses for our day, but I will stop making them now.

To be honest, our team beat ourselves. We did not hit well, and we had a lot of errors over the course of the game. Before this game our team was undefeated. I think we where 14-0. We were used to walking over teams, and would come into each game pretty lackadaisical. We had gotten cocky somewhere along the way, and I had not even noticed it. I guess that we needed a reminder that we were just like every other team.

We got our butts kicked at the 6:20 game. All I could do was be frustrated, mostly with myself. I want my son to play in a league that keeps score so that he can learn to win and lose, but I found Friday that I need to learn how to lose too. I beat myself up about the loss. I let it affect me. I even was at bat and got the last out of the game. It was in my head when the game ended.

As I walked away disgruntled to the second game of the night, I heard my team captain's wife say, "You guys needed to lose. You were getting pretty cocky. You had rolled over everyone and expected it to happen every game. You guys had stopped playing your best and were just playing good enough to win the last few weeks. This loss is good for you." This instantly resonated with me. She was absolutely right, and I knew better then to be cocky and to get angry. As a competitor and as a Christian.

Proverbs 3:34 says, "He mocks proud mockers but shows favor to the humble and oppressed." I had become prideful. There was a definite lack of humility in my life on Fridays. I had not even noticed it. It took a loss and my friend's wife to remind me. Galatians 6:3 says, "If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves." For starters, I am not that great of a softball player. I am one of the weaker links on my team. I was getting a big head, and I needed the reminder that I was not that big of a deal. God is deserving of all praise, not me.

Obadiah 1:3 states that, "The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’" Who brought us to the ground? It was God by using a team that we had already beat 2 or three times this season. It was a lesson that I needed to learn, but it was not my last lesson of the night.

The team that we met for our 7:20 make up game was the same team that we played at 8:20. We beat them soundly the first game, but their shortstop made a couple of really good plays on hard hit balls and I got two outs the first game due to his glove work. I was still frustrated from losing to a team that we had beat several times, and he had an error in the second game. My mouth reacted before I could stop it! 

"You can't get lucky every play," I yelled from the dugout. My friend Kelly was sitting next to me, and he turned and said, "That doesn't sound like something you would say in your blog, David."  All I could do was look to the ground, partly in shame and partly because he was right and there was just nothing I could say.  

2 Corinthians 5:18-20 says this, "All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us."

That scripture states that we are to be ambassadors for God. He makes his appeal to people through us. Reconcile means to reestablish a close relationship between us and someone else. How am I to establish a relationship with someone when I am not showing good sportsmanship? One way that God makes a relationship with other people is through us, and here I am throwing a temper tantrum over losing and taking it out on someone on the other team? How is that beneficial to God or to me? The Bible also lets us know that what we have done to the least of man, it is like doing it to God Himself. When I mocked and ridiculed the shortstop out of frustration, that was the same as me ridiculing God.

As I thought on the night and the reminders that I had gotten from my friends, one of my favorite scriptures popped into my head. James 4:10 says, "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up." I needed to regain my composure and remember that all that I am and all that I do is due to God, period. I am merely an instrument for Him to reach others through.

So once again, I was taught a valuable lesson. The thing that I need to remember is that I seldom learn life lessons from my victories. Most of the most important lessons that I have ever learned have come from my defeats and set-backs. Why get mad when I can get wisdom?

In closing I need to thank God, Felicia and Kelly not only for the inspiration for this blog, but for a much needed reminder of things that I already know. Be a good sport. Be gracious in victory and defeat. Do not ever get cocky, for all things are from God and God alone. The higher I sit, the further the fall. I needed to be knocked back down to Earth. Hopefully I will not need to be reminded of this again..................but I am sure that I will!