What Makes the Hottentot So Hot?
COURAGE!Next Sunday we are wrapping up our current series, "Sent to Serve." Each week, we've discussed the life of somebody that God called to service and we've tried to make the application to our lives today. What has struck me throughout this study is how different all these people were. Yet, even before the Son of the Lord they served had given his life for them, they were willing to do the same for God. What did they all have in common then? Unlimited faith. Undying love. Unquestionable loyalty.
And courage.
What makes a man leave everything he has and move to a foreign land?
Courage.
What makes a woman enter the king's chamber, knowing that if he doesn't lift his scepter her life is forfeit?
Courage.
What makes a person make demands of a Pharaoh? Confront an army of Philistines? Go to battle with 300 men? Deliver an unwanted message to an evil king? What makes a person follow a man who was crucified for his words? What makes a person declare that man to be God, when the penalty for blasphemy is painful death?
Courage.
I have to ask myself what I do that requires the tiniest shred of such courage. It doesn't take courage to sit in a pew and sing songs. Or to pray. Or to read a book. It would be hard for some to stand up and speak a message from God, but there is very little actual courage involved when I do it. In fact, it is an honor and a blessing.
Daniel was forced to enter a den of lions and they were hardly of the cowardly sort. Could I do it? Would I do it?
How much of our Christian lives revolve around comfort and peace? What would happen to the kingdom of God...and to the world...if Christians everywhere decided to do all of the things that scare them the most? If our faith is as real to us as it was to Abraham, to Esther, to Moses and all the rest, why is our courage not the same as theirs?
There are many among us who still show such courage. I'd like to hear their stories. I'd like to share their stories with others. I'd like to follow their example.
What makes a person preach the gospel in a country which calls that a crime? What makes a person live among disease and poverty in order to introduce people to the Great Physician? What makes people bring Light to the darkest places? What makes a person refuse to bow down to a god other than the One who made the world?
Courage.
posted by Thurman8er @ 7:50 AM
6 Comments:
Hey Steve- I just found your blog yesterday, and that is why I am so randomly relpying to your blog comment/posts! The baseball lingo intrigued me. There are so many words that you learn while playing, that it is almost a new language! Here are a couple I thought to add:
p-rod
drop a deuce
not so fine
slash
hit-n-run
yahtzee
comebacker
happy feet
creep
bush league
dinker
chinker
lay out
I'll add as I think of them, but these were on the tip of my tongue.
have a good day
Shane Mason
Proof positive that you youngsters just have to go and change everything. You lost me on a few of those: p-rod? creep?
Otherwise, good stuff. No bush leaguer you.
Busy June 10?
here's some more:
bucket catch
2 bagger, 3 bagger
spikes
pine tar
woody
sweet spot
sawed him off
pick up your thumbs
nubber
jammed
slurve=slider+curve
crowd the plate
choke up
short to the ball
A to B to C
Left/Right field, Left/Right throw
soft focus, fine focus
delay
leave early
dogging it
unhook the trailer
get dirty
gorilla grip
drag
push
palm up, palm down
front side closed
get greedy
sniper(right back at the pitcher)
p-rod(stinging the ball-hitting it hard)
10 more days of school...!
Shane Mason
Amen, Greg!
I seem to be on an Olan Hicks kick lately but courage and conviction seem to describe his life. He came to a far different conclusion on the subject of divorce and re-marriage at a time in our fellowship when stating something different other than the “party-line” meant loss of jobs, Gospel Meetings, ect.
Despite all of the above he and his sweet wife Barbara persevered, meeting with groups of people that would listen to them. It is just in the last few years that elderships and churches have discovered the truth Olan has been professing and paying a price for in the last 30 years.
I love David and Goliath, the ultimate underdog story that can be used in many baseball illustrations as well. I couldn't even go up to the counter at a fast food restraunt to ask for ketchup as a kid, let alone face a giant that scares all the warriors of my nation!
By the way, here's a couple more Sandra and Greg:
9-0 (all nine players on the field before 1 on the other team gets off-vice versa)
hole-(between short and third)
zero-(a pitch right down the middle)
5 o'clock hitter-(hits great at five in BP, but falls apart at seven in the game)
set your alarm-(when a batter is extremely late in swinging)
spaghetti move-(spin pick to second)
snap it off-(throw a curve)
something funny-(a pitch that moves-not a fastball)
creep-(defense starts moving before the pitch)
Shane Mason
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