Serving over leading

I just read an FCA Impact Play devotional thing on my email, and there was a statement by a little 13 year old kid who went to one of their camps that spoke to the heart of probably many people, but it has definitely impacted mine.

"If ya ain't serving, ya ain't leading."

This statement is one of the many things we are told by Jesus Himself in so many different ways. In Matthew Jesus says "For even the Son of Man didn't come to lead but to serve". Of course that's a bit paraphrased, but the point is, Jesus came to yes, lead us from death to life, but He also came to help us become servants of our brothers, so that they too will know the meaning of love from Christ's view. Maybe we can take this even farther?

I'm not exactly sure what your situation is right now, but I know that in my life, football is one of those things that requires a lot of service to the team. You have to GIVE the team your best. You can't tell them that they have to, because in reality, you can't tell them how hard they are going to go in what it is you're doing. The best kind of leader, is one who leads by example. School football, along with sports like Volleyball, and golf take up the last month of Summer. There is quite literally almost nothing else you can do. You're GIVING away your time so you can play these sports, instead of hanging out with friends, like I know all of us would love to do. It takes a lot of service to play fall sports for school, since they go from the end of Summer to sometimes into the early Winter. It's quite a long time.

Even in other sports too. School soccer for my area is in the Spring time. In all reality though, you have to train for things like that from the beginning of Winter almost. It goes from things like running during the Fall and Winter times, to tryouts in late Winter. Then once you're on the team, it goes from then til pretty much the end of school, and maybe after if you're going to states or something like that. You GIVE a lot of your time to do sports. That's one reason why sports represent a lot about what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

Think, in defense when you're playing football, Volleyball, Soccer, or most other things, there is a pattern you're in. Football, you have 11 guys, who each have different jobs, different holes they have to fill in order to make sure that the ball doesn't end up in the end zone. If just one person doesn't do their job right, or they don't do it to the best of their ability, it can mean the difference between a tackle for a 5 yard loss, or a 50 yard run for a touch down. In Volleyball, if one player leaves their position, to try and be a hero, the ball could hit the floor, because of the interferance with two players colliding, or if someone on the other team notices and hits the ball into that hole. Each player has that zone they must be in. In Soccer, the formation you're in has 10 different players (Keeper not included) that are in different places. In a 3-4-3, you have three strikers who can take shots from different angles, 4 midfielders, which can give you good control over that section, since you can use the whole field with less running if you had 2 or 3 midfielders. Then you've got 3 defenders, which are usually fast, and in shape so they can get the ball back up top to try and score. If one player leaves his or her position to try and help out, and no one fills in, or they don't get back, that can leave the keeper in a bad situation where it may be one-on-one with the keeper having bad odds. Zones mean a lot in sports, and if you don't SERVE your team with playing your role to the best of your ability, in can mean a TD, a goal, a point, or whatever type of scoring system your sport uses. It's based on what you GIVE to your team.

Every team has it's own set of leaders. These are the people who have given everything to the team they play for for every year they've been there. 4 years generally for high school. They are the seniors who have sacrificed 4 months or more each and every year to get better, and make sure they can be the best they can be. The people who go through the two-a-day practices, each year in order to get that W on Friday night. The people who train to run faster, jump higher, and get better each and every day they practice. The ones whose blood, sweat and tears cover the playing field. In victory or defeat, when they've lost the big game, or they've won their first state championship. They've given their lives for that time period away in order to say "I've earned something"

The same goes with Jesus, my friends. The only thing is, you don't have to give up blood, sweat or tears. You don't have to give up your time to hang out with friends. You just give Him your life, and trust that His plan will get you through. When you serve in the name of Jesus, that will lead people into wanting what you have in Him. That's how it happened for me. My friends Zack, Adam, Quentin, Eric, Jack. They served me in the most simple ways. Giving me rides to Young Life, buying me food when I didn't have many, though that's a good majority of the time, pushing me to get more out of things. All of that affected my decision in giving my life to Jesus. Their service lead me into relationship with Christ. They lead by example, because Jesus lead them by example. We love because Christ first loved us. Christ taught us how to love someone, and we love them in the way that Jesus taught us, and that brings people to see Jesus. When Jesus taught us the Lord's prayer, He prayed it with His disciples. He led them by example, in which He was serving them too. He taught them many things. He did those things first.

I can't think of the word, but I tend to be a person who learns better when I see it done first. If I am the first one to do it, chances are, I will mess it up. When it comes to a drill, I'm either second, or close to last in lines, because I want to see it before I do something. If I don't know how to do something before we go to do it, I expect that there is someone to teach me how to do it correctly. That's how it is with our relationship with Jesus, when we spend time with Christ, we learn how to do things, by the example that He has given us. We then can better put it into action.  I think this 13 year old named Larry who said the above statement, realized this, and wanted everyone to see what he had learned from Jesus.

Thanks for the inspiration, Larry.

Thanks for reading if you did.

I love you guys,

TJ


"If ya ain't serving, ya ain't leading."

How fickle my heart

This past week has been a different kind of hell that I've never really known. Having to go through each day knowing that there isn't one person on this new team that I know, or that I think I can totally trust is making each day harder and harder. There are a few guys I can talk to, and it's getting easier to talk to the guys, but I still don't think there's much of a chance of me really getting to know any of these guys. It's just something that I don't think I'm ready for.

The biggest part that makes the last week so bad is that I don't want to be where I am. I don't want the colors I'm wearing. I would much rather be at Cave Spring, where I have been welcomed in with open arms, even back when I was just starting. People there were just accepting. At this new school, that's not existent. I'm not welcomed by the people there. The coaches, the players, barely even the JVs. There are 2 people who were happy to see a new face, but now it's just like they don't care. It's really based on how good you are at playing football on how the guys on the team view you. I don't like being judged based on how well I catch the ball, or how hard I hit someone. While yes, a big hit fires everyone up, that's not what I'm playing for. I remember when I was simply playing because I loved football. Why can't that be the reason to play?

My biggest problem with the team so far is that many of them are either out of shape, or don't wanna work as hard as they can. I know that at Cave Spring, this never, NEVER would have been tolerated. People walk onto the field as if we have the whole year to get there, and then they don't want to work. Now I can understand if you just want a small break, but it's every time.

The worst part about this though, I'm NOT at all excited to play this year. I don't like that at all. It's really because a big part about being human for me is I need to be reminded a lot of the time that not everyone has the chance that I have right now. Coach Fulton STRESSED that. People every day watch football and want to be a part of it, and something about them says they can't. Be it a mental disability, a physical problem, like paralysis, or something like that. It's just something that many of us take for granted, and I'm no different in that respect. I just need that constant reminder that says "You are blessed to be able to walk onto this field today"

To sum this whole thing up into one sentence; I'm not enjoying football for Patrick Henry. I don't like it, and I'm not sure how I can make myself want football. I just want to go back to the great red and black. The team where I basically got my start at football, and the team I will hopefully get to end my go at High School football. I don't feel at home, and I don't feel like I'm supposed to be here. Only one thing has kept me going

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD. "Plans to prosper you, and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

If I didn't have Christ right now, I would have said I'm done with football at PH. The only reason I'm staying with it, is because I think there is something for me here, I just don't know where it is.

I may be hating every minute at practice, but I know there's a reason I'm here.

I love you guys.
TJ

This is how it is

Because our school system is a bunch of idiots, I won't be going to Cave Spring this year, even though they lied to me. That's a whole different story though.

I have started playing football for Patrick Henry High. I must say, these kids don't know what it's like to have to work for something. Not that many of them go as hard as they can half the time, and they think that a spot on the field on Friday night is going to be given to them. There are seniors who don't know routes, and I must say I'm rather embarrassed to say that many of them are very out of shape.

Another thing I can tell you is, I'm not looking forward to this school year as much as I thought I was anymore. I don't want to be at this school, and I really just want to go back to Cave Spring. I just have to trust that God does indeed know why I'm there, and I pray that He will let me in on His little secret.

To all of my friends at Cave Spring. I love you guys, now more than ever. As the saying goes "You never really know what you have until it's gone." Even though I will still see you all at Young Life, or other places. I still feel as if there are many things that I've left unsaid. Things left undone.

To someone who should know who they are. I would like you to know that part of me hasn't changed a bit. I still really like you. I just can't tell you how much in person. Right now anyway. I know you're not even close to thinking about it, but my heart knows what it wants. I love you.

I just want to say that should my family's plan go the right way, I'll be back at Cave Spring hopefully by the end of football season, but I don't even know if we will by then. I will miss you all terribly, and I want you to know that I intend on finding the right group of guys to hang out with.

With a heavy heart, and still wandering mind, I want to tell you guys that I love you, more than ever before.

TJ