Seizing the Opportunity

 

Sunny Sweeney was recently at an airport waiting for her flight.  She noticed a young military man, wearing a backpack with the name Michael written on it, who was also about to board the plane.  Sunny was standing nearby when a man went up to Michael and thanked him for his service and asked if he could pray for him and his safety.  Tearing up, Sunny shared that she wished every person in the military would know “how many people are praying for you and wishing you good thoughts and safe travels.”

As Laine Herman was on her way to get her children from school, the “low oil” light came on and the car started to lose power.  She looked for the nearest place for help and saw Total Garage in Ramsgate.  As she pulled in, Laine explained to the attendant that she and her family were new to town, she didn’t know anyone to call to help pick up her kids, her husband was at work, and she needed to be at the school and get them now.  Clement asked her if she could drive a manual.  When she replied she could, he went and drove his car and stopped next to hers.  He gave her the keys so she could use his car to pick up her children on time.  Clement then told her to take the kids home and her husband could return his car when he got off work.  By that time, he had arranged for someone to tow her car and fix it.  Laine blogged, “He was truly my knight in shining armor!  I pray God will bless him beyond measure.”

 

Jamara Jonte reported a story about an older man in his neighborhood who gets up early every morning to make sure the kids who live around him are up and ready for school.  One day he caught several of the kids who decided to skip school.  When he questioned why, they explained that the kids at school made fun of them because of their shoes. The next day, while the kids were in school, the man went shopping.  When the bus arrived that afternoon, there was a big surprise.  There were dozens of pairs of new tennis shoes lined up against the fence with a sign that said, “Free sneakers, only if your [you’re] in school.”

 

May we, too, look for opportunities to do good works, which God created and prepared for us to do. 

 

 

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:10

Bigger Than Baseball

“Winning is important.  It will never stop being important.  But how you treat people along the way will always be more important.”  ~ Kevin Vest

 

On Tuesday afternoon, August 9, 2922, the Little League Southwest Region championship game took place in Waco, Texas, with teams from Pearland, Texas and Tulsa, Oklahoma competing.  Both teams came into the game with hopes of advancing to the finals in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.  Kaiden Shelton was first to pitch for the Texas East team.  During the first inning, Kaiden let a fastball pitch get away.  The ball struck Tulsa’s batter, Isaiah Jarvis, on his helmet.  The helmet immediately flew off Jarvis’ head and the force of the ball caused him to fall to the ground at home plate.  As he clutched his head, coaches and medical personnel ran to check on Isaiah.  Shelton was quietly pacing the area between home plate and the pitcher’s mound.  The Pearland players took a knee and soon Shelton did, too.  After being checked out, Jarvis was able to get up, steady himself, and make it to first base.  Standing on the pitcher’s mound all by himself, with his head looking down and tears falling, it was obvious that Kaiden was shaken up about the play.  Noticing this, Isaiah called for a time out, tossed his helmet to the side, walked to the pitcher’s mound, hugged Kaiden, and assured him that he was OK.  He then encouraged Shelton and ended his conversation with, “Hey, you’re doing just great.  Let’s go!”  There were tears of relief as Shelton’s coach and teammates soon surrounded him on the mound.  In an interviewer after the game, Kaiden was asked what that moment meant to him when Isaiah came out to the mound.  “I felt really bad.  And so, whenever he walks up to the mound and hugged me it really helped me.  And that’s when I realized that baseball like it teaches life lessons.”

Les Strech commented:

This only happens when a player has been coached for years that who they are matters more than how they play.

Your opponent is not the enemy.  You can compete at the highest level and still honor your adversary.

Remembering that you are raising boys and girls to be men and women keeps us focused on the long game for player development.

Isaiah Jarvis’ team did not advance to compete in the Little League championship game in Williamsport, but in the game of life, Isaiah is already a champion.  And may we remember that who we are and how we respond matters, too.

 

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.  1 Timothy 4:12

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Colossians 3:12

Priorities in Action

Ms. Dottie is 95-years-young.  She loves going to Ocean Beach, Alabama.  Through the years, it has become more difficult to walk through the fine sand to the chairs along the beachfront.  So, each morning for the week that she visits, the lifeguards carry her down to her beach chair and then back up again.

Early one morning, Monet van Deventer was on her way to Cape Town and stopped at a petrol station to fill up the tank.  She looked for her credit card and soon realized she had left it at home.  In the meantime, an attendant had already started washing her windows.  Monet explained the situation and said she needed to go home for her card.  Nkosikho Mbele had noticed that the petrol light was already in the red area and it wouldn’t be safe to drive very far.  Mbele said, “Ma’am you can’t runout of petrol on the N2.  I’ll throw in R100 and then you can just bring back my R100 whenever you are near again.”  Without even waiting for her answer, he began adding the petrol to the tank, told her to drive safely and then used his card to pay for it.  Monet was surprised that Nkosikho didn’t even ask for her name or phone number.  Later, when Monet went back to return the cash, she questioned Mbele on why he helped her and trusted her to return with the money.  He answered, “Ma’am I am a believer.”

Tegan Langley was sitting in a fast-food carpark in Pimpama, a suburb of Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia.  A man named Tony approached her car window and asked if she realized the state of the tires on her car.  She responded that she knew they were in bad shape, but she wasn’t able to afford new ones at this time.  Tony asked her to follow him to Bridgestone Pimpama to see how they could help.  He explained that he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he walked away from the situation knowing that the tires were about to blow at any moment.  Tony had them replace the three bad tires and do a wheel alignment.  When the work was completed, Tony told Tegan that she didn’t owe him anything and asked that she pay it forward someday.  What a wonderful lesson for Tony’s two young sons to witness that day.

 

As we honor others above ourselves, may our love be sincere, our devotion pure, our priorities in the right place, and our hospitality expressed often.

 

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Romans 12:9-10, 13