Faith Family Football Challenge #2Sampel

READ 2COR.9:11

WHO AM I?

When I first committed giving my life to Christ, it was hard. Why? Because I was used to living my life NOT following Christ!  It was pretty much all about me. The transition was like learning a new sport I knew nothing about. Reading the “playbook” (i.e., the Bible!) really started to change the way I thought about things and the way I interacted with people.  The idea of F.A.M.I.L.Y.® was not new - I mean, I could be a good person when I wanted to before, but now I felt there was real meaning behind it. God was filling a hole in me that I had tried to fill with lots of other stuff before knowing and following Christ.  I got involved with other people that had more experience and knowledge with this thing called “faith.” And while they weren’t perfect either, we walked together supporting each other in this journey.   I got involved with a community (church!) that really allowed me to grow and dig in more and more.  

There is one thing when you start this journey that can throw you for a loop. It’s the premise of wondering if what you do for a living needs to change given your  commitment to following Christ.  Pastors are awesome, but not everybody is supposed to be one.  Full time missionaries are great, but I submit that YOU can be a full time missionary in the work that you already do!  Don’t get me wrong - you might be called into something specific in serving God.  But God may have already given you a very good skill set in something, and it may be that you can walk alongside other people in that industry who know nothing about faith, and YOU might be the only example to them by living out this thing called faith in such a way that they too will want to know about it. (1 Peter 3:15)

Let me give you an example: For about 10 years I was a media trainer with the Law Enforcement SWAT Operators Immersion School that happens at the US Air Force Academy each summer.  SWAT Teams from all over the United States come to practice and improve their skills while gaining more knowledge in law enforcement techniques and tactics.  I hung out with the leaders quite a bit throughout the year, and after three years as we were watching recruits train, one of them came up to me and said, “I’ve been around you a lot, and when things go wrong, you don’t swear or anything. Why is that?” I went on to tell him that I believed in and followed Jesus and felt that my example was important all the time, not just in the good times.  I also told him that I felt we might be the only face of law enforcement that someone ever sees in that moment of sadness, fear, panic or sorrow, so our actions were important in everything that we do. He pondered that and just walked away. However, that evening, as we were doing classroom training with the teams, my friend got up to make a small speech. “We work hard here to improve ourselves. I’d like to add to that the rule that no one swears during training…” and then he went on to give my “we represent the face of law enforcement” speech to everyone, even levying fines and push-up penalties on teams that used curse words. Then he looked up at me and gave me a wink.  My actions had impacted a room full of SWAT teams from all over the nation, just because I “acted” a certain way around my friend. And he asked why, and I was ready to tell him the Truth.  

F.A.M.I.L.Y.® “Forget about me, I love you!”  Act it, breathe it, Live it!  

ASK God to show up, to join you in your time with Him today.

WRITE:  Write down ways you might be able to do things a little bit differently in your work environment that might impact others.  Is that bringing in healthy snacks once a week? Is it creating a time before work to get together with a few others and study the bible and pray for your workplace and co-workers?  Write down a few names of some people around you at work that you might like to connect with more in this way. 

MEDITATE:  Pray for the folks around you that are on your list. Pray for your work specifically allowing God to bring to your mind the things that you can impact directly or indirectly through your work, actions, efforts and prayers. 

VIDEO:

Sherman Smith, NFL Super Bowl winning coach