By Clint Percefull - Children's Minister
When I was growing up I “played” basketball for a really good team. We were called the All Stars. We won almost every game we played, and won multiple tournaments. Some games we even beat the opposing team by a score of 45-2! Even though I was a part of the team, I really didn’t help my team succeed.
For some reason, I was very timid about going into the game. I would get very nervous before each game started and not want to go. When game time started I would sit on the bench and hope the coach forgot about me, a futile effort. One game I even refused to enter the game when my coach asked me to.
Fast forward several years and I now have a son who is playing on a basketball team. This is his 2nd season to play with this league and he is really enjoying it. He asked for a basketball goal at home to practice on, and is always outside shooting and dribbling. He enjoys watching games on TV and knows stats about lots of players.
This last week was their 3rd game of the season and something was different about my son in this game. The first 2 games he scored 1 or 2 points total and was always away from the ball. This last game he scored over half of the teams points! Other teammates were starting to point to him to bring the ball up the court. He was in the mix, scoring, blocking shots etc. He was all of the sudden playing with confidence.
I am reminded of Peter and John in Acts 4. Here we see these two proclaiming Christ in the city and they even healed a man. The local leaders came along and arrested them for this. The next day they asked Peter and John how they did what they did. Their response was “through Christ”. Verse 13 really stands out here:
“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.”
Peter and John were telling others about Christ with boldness even though they did not have “the credentials”. What is even more astounding was that the religious leaders could tell that Peter and John had been with Jesus!
I was a timid and shy basketball player and I didn’t contribute much to my team. My son has emerged as a confident player and has become an integral part of his team. As Christians we are all on the same team so to speak. Are you proclaiming the word of God with boldness and confidence?
Clint