Tuesday, September 14, 2010

A Boy with No Name


It was a school day and he didn’t much look forward to going. After all when you’re a young boy there are a lot more things in life that are much more interesting than spending the day listening to boring teachers and the endless hours of lessons. So when he noticed the commotion outside his house he was ready to take full advantage of the opportunity to see what was going on and skip his studies.

He grabbed the lunch his mother had prepared for him and bolted outside where the crowd had been gathering. He couldn’t see much if anything and was jostled this way and that as he followed the crowd much like a fish makes its way up through the waters.

Surely he thought he’d get a glimpse of what was going on but the crowd just kept moving and he just followed along. Every now and then he’d jump up to see ahead but the crowd had grown and he could only see the mass of people moving swiftly down the street. “There must be a thousand people here”, he thought to himself as he tried to work himself in to see what was going on.

Then as suddenly as the crowd had started it stopped. A murmured silence moved over the crowd then he heard a voice talking to them. “You, this group, you sit over here.” It was only when they all sat down that he could see that there weren’t a thousand but many times that many.

As he sat down, lunch in hand a shadow passed over him. He looked up and there hovering over him was a man he had never seen before. The ominous figure looked down at him then reached out his hand and took him by the arm and grabbed his lunch in the other. “Come with me boy”, he said and pulled the young man behind him.

Was he in trouble for skipping school? Was he not supposed to be eating here? Was he not supposed to be in this crowd? All sorts of things ran through his mind as they weaved in and out of the massive group of people. He could hear murmurs as he went by several and knew the men must be talking about him. There were babies crying but also laughter here and there. For the most part people were just sitting quietly with little conversation.

Finally, as they reached the front of the crowd, the man who had been holding his arm all the way, gently pulled him in front of him and said, “Here is a lad with five loaves and two fish”. As he said this the man he had spoken to turned and looked down at him and smiled. “But what are these among so many?” the man with the boy added. The man who had looked and smiled placed his hand upon the boys head stroking his hair and with his other hand took the lunch that had been brought forward.

It was on that day that a young lad whose name we will never know, helped Jesus feed over five thousand people. He brought the lunch and Jesus brought the miracle.

It’s unfortunate that a lot of people think that it’s the most powerful speaker or the more famous individual that makes the biggest difference in what happens. The Bible shows us the fallacy of this type thinking. The Israelites were afraid of Goliath because of his size. The Israelites chose Saul as their king because he looked like a king. One of the reasons Jesus was rejected was because he didn’t look the part. But look at who God chooses to do great works. Moses was a shepherd who tried to convince God he was a nobody and not send him. Jonah ran away from God because he didn’t like what he wanted him to do. Jesus chose fishermen, tax collectors, assassins and little know men to be his apostles. A woman named Rahab was blessed for her act of saving the Israelite spies. Timothy was a young man when he started his ministry. Paul was a persecutor of Christians.

God chooses the most unlikely people to do his works. Why is that? It’s basically because the power is not in the individual but in what God can do with what we bring to Him. Whether it’s a lunch basket with five loaves and two fish or just a couple of empty hands, with God miracles can occur.

Next time you feel you’re not worthy to do something for God stop and remember this young man with no name; This young man who was a major part of one of the greatest miracles that Jesus ever performed.

Friday, September 10, 2010

If Life Had Mulligans


The guys I play golf with have an unwritten rule. We are allowed one mulligan per nine holes played. For those that don’t know, a mulligan is simply a “do over”. You can redo any shot and the first one doesn’t count against you. We don’t play for money just for fun. Now I realize that it breaks the rules of golf and many golfers are probably appalled by the adjusting of the rules, but it eases some of the tension on a bad day. In fact there are days when someone is really struggling that mulligans are handed out even more generously.

Wouldn’t it be nice if life would be that way? How would you like it if life would allow you one mulligan every decade you lived? If this were the case then I’d be owed six mulligans. I’ve been wondering, “What would my life mulligans be.” I realized as I was going over them in my mind that I really needed more in my early years than I do now. That’s kind of like golf. We make more mistakes as we’re learning the game and fewer major blunders the better we get. Surprisingly enough many of the mulligans ended up being little things and not the major events I faced. It’s like that in golf too. It’s a lot easier to recover from a bad drive than a duffed chip shot. So what are mine? Well here they are:

0-10 This one was hard, not because of what I did, but because I can’t remember what I did for the most part. The one thing that stands out is when I said something that hurt my mother’s feelings. I apologized but I can still remember that day. It’d be nice to take it back.

11-20 it’s a shame I only get one. This was one of those times I needed several. I would however go back to my high school years and treat some people a little better. I look at kids today and feel for those who are outcast.

21-30 As soon as I finished college, I’d have made sure my wife got to finish her degree. She worked to get me through then we went on with life. I regret that.

31-40 This was a time of a big mistake of a job change that I wish I hadn’t made. It caused a lot of family struggles over the years that could have been avoided.

41-50 I’d have spent more time with my youngest son. I feel we missed out on a lot of father-son stuff because I was “too busy”.

51-60 I’d have at least started thinking retirement better. At the rate I’m going it looks like I can retire at 102.

Yes, it would be nice if life would have let me take a mulligan here or there, but it’s not like the weekend game for fun. Life is more like the pros play; no mulligans, no do overs. You play the ball where it lies. Of course every so often you get a free drop when something that is not your fault gets in the way. You also get a drop when you make a mistake, but it’s not free. You can get another chance, but it’s going to cost you a stroke. So it is with life. We suffer the consequences of our mistakes, but we still continue to get other chances. We learn from what we did wrong and in most cases our second chance turns out okay.

Then on the other hand:

That’s what’s great about being a Christian. Every time we pray and ask Christ for another chance he takes the eraser, cleans off the scorecard and says “Okay, try again.” And He’ll keep doing it until we get it right. We can’t change the past, but we’re given every chance possible to change the today.