Sermonette

Greetings dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

This won't come as very much of a surprise to those who know me but I enjoy sports. I enjoy watching them at almost every level. One of my favorite sports is college football. When I lived in Colorado, I had season tickets to University of Colorado football. Never missed a game. If there was no home game, I watched them on television. Basketball also, although it wasn't very often, they were televised. I really enjoy watching our local students play. I enjoy going to the volleyball matches and basketball games, both girls and boys. Even though the gap in talent level between the major college game and sixth graders in New Rockford is huge, I enjoy watching both. My brother and I shared season tickets to Colorado Rockies baseball. I also try catch the local Babe Ruth and American Legion teams play whenever I can. Again, a huge difference between Major League baseball and local High School and Junior High kids here in town. Still, it is especially fun to watch the kids I know from church. In basketball and volleyball, I try to get there for the very first game of the day and I stay until the last game is over. It is fun to watch the growth of these young athletes and see the progression of the kids' abilities and talent levels as each succeeding game is the next higher level, from 5th graders up to seniors in high school. An important part of this is those children notice who is there supporting them. They truly love seeing mom and dad, grandpa and grandma, teacher or pastor or priest in the stands. Our children also learn about teamwork and sportsmanship, things that will aid them as they grow older and eventually reach adulthood.

No, you are not reading the sports pages. This is the sermonette column. But I think I can tie the two together. In our participation in sports and our relationship with God, there can be ups and downs. In Paul's letter to the Romans he wrote “..if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe with all your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”. Paul didn't write that your lives will be filled with happiness always and you will never be sad or nothing bad will ever happen to you if you accept Christ as your savior. Being the best in sports doesn't mean every day will be a great one. Sometimes you lose a game. Hank Aaron, the greatest home run hitter in the days before performance enhancing drugs became such a scourge to the game, would sometimes strike out. He would go games without even getting a hit. He would go many games in a row sometimes without hitting a home run. But he had the foundation, he took batting practice, and knew that even though there might be bumps in the road, in the end, he would be a winner. He would be valuable part of his team. Is that not part of what we experience also as Christians? We “practice” our faith by attending worship, reading our bibles, praying often and participating in “team” projects. Yes, bad things can happen. We get hit with catastrophic diseases for which there is no cure. We suffer through a death of a loved one. But in the end, we know that we will be a winner. No matter how many bad things happen to us, they pale in comparison to the absolute joy and peace we will know when our game here on earth is over. Just as in sports, as Christians we start with the beginning and as we slowly develop our faith, we get better at it. We don't start a bible reading regimen by trying to memorize the entire book of Leviticus. We don't start a daily prayer session with God by trying to pray for four hours non-stop. No, we study, we learn the fundamentals from a coach, we practice them to get better in our endeavors and before you know it, we find out we get good at it. We love it. We find that no matter what level we are at, we enjoy it and strive to get better. There is an old adage that works here. But it isn't necessarily just for sports or our relationship with God. It says that how much we get out of something depends on how much we put into it. I pray that all of us have a desire to join God's team, to participate in His league and play to the best of our ability, that we overcome the pitfalls along the way. Through his Grace, God will make us champions. Blessings to all.