But what is the point if we don’t love Jesus most of all?
Just a quick note because yet again we are heading out the door in a bit but I wanted to share another inspiration from Sunday.
I told you we had to get back from St. Louis to attend the FCA spring event being held at our church that evening.
You know I have attended a large variety of sporting endeavors with my dear husband. We have all the t-shirts for all the baseball games, football games, soccer events ranging from our own three kiddos, to major leagues and colleges and now our grands’ teams.
And yes, I have managed to attend and cheer and still have a very low knowledge base of the players (save if it’s one of our own), coaches, rules, strategy…but I do have fond recollections of the fun of being with family and the concession stands…sigh…
So when Russ said we were going to hear speakers of sports related material at this gathering, I paid little attention.
However, even I was sitting on the edge of my pew as I listened to two legends in coaching – Chan Gaily and Ron Brown.
The latter appeared on stage all in black from head to ankle but was wearing the brightest red athletic shoes imaginable. My ears perked up when it was mentioned the long history of coaching he had with Nebraska.
I even snapped a pic of him with this fellow he remembered from Nebraska’s best run in a long while.
Russ loves Nebraska and has enjoyed following them most of his life…well…not always enjoyed it as they about give him heart problems when they struggle.
Both Chan and Ron are Christian men who figured out at some point in their lives that the impact they had on the young men in their programs was more about the eternal than the temporal.
While neither professed to be perfect, they shared openly about their own struggles in faith and way FCA played a role in shaping them as men of God.
Towards the end of the Q and A time, the host asked a key question geared towards encouraging us to all support FCA with our time, money and energy. However Ron Brown went off script here, if there was meant to be a script and he said his answer would not be “politically correct” for a fundraiser event.
He said that if the FCA program we were supporting was nothing more than a social club, then no, we should not give to it. But if the young people who are coming are being fed from the Word of God, then yes, give generously.
He said our schools and kids don’t need another club to join or group to be a part of. They need Jesus.
This resonated so deeply with me on two levels.
One, when we are asked to give financial or physical support to a ministry, we do want to make sure that what they are doing is of benefit in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Second, I have found myself praying a prayer this year that I feel God led me to pray and when I heard this comment I knew I was right in hearing from God.
Our little foursome of grandchildren loves church. They love their Sunday morning gatherings and the ones who are starting in youth love participating in those events.
They love their Christian school and the fellowship they have found with kids their own age, and the care and compassion of the teachers and coaches. They love the Body of Christ as they are experiencing it right now.
But do they love Jesus? I hope so.
Because the Body of Christ at times will let them down. The people who make up the Church of Christ are flawed humans.
But the Head of the Church is not.
The gathering of believers will share the journey, grow with them, sometimes refine them with unpleasantries and disagreements. But the Body of Christ does not save us.
Christ saves us.
WE love because HE first loved US.
He is our first love, our last love, our eternal love.
Period.
The End.