Today I was blessed again to give the message at our Worship Service at Mission of Hope.
“Thursday evening my husband Bill and I traveled to cheer on our son Zach and his school soccer team. As we were busy pulling out our lawn chairs and getting settled into our places on the soccer field sidelines, I heard a voice saying some very negative things toward our players, the other team’s players and the referees.
When I looked to see who it was, I believe I might have rolled my eyes and I said to Bill, “Oh, no. Not him.” (That wasn’t very Christian-like, was it?) This man was the relative of one of the players, and I’ve seen and heard his negativity from the sidelines before.
The longer I sat there and listened to this man yell and complain, the more tension I began to feel building inside of me. As I watched the game, I began to pray silently that only positive, uplifting things would come out of my mouth. I also prayed for this man.
I think another mom sitting there must have been feeling the same way, and she was cheering like I was… “Great job guys!” “Keep going!” “Nice pass!” The other guy was yelling stuff to our players like, “Why did you do that?” “What are you thinking?” “No, not that way!” He was even trying to coach our players as to where to stand, where to put the ball, who to pass to, etc. He yelled negative things to towards the refs and towards the other players.
At one point, Bill corrected him and stopped him from bantering with the opposing team’s fans.
This guy kept standing up in front of us, blocking the view of the goal. I asked him politely once to please sit down. And he did. But it wouldn’t be long and he would stand back up and continue yelling. I asked him one more time, “Could you please sit down? Others can’t see.”
He turned and looked at me and said, “Jesus!” And I couldn’t believe the next words that came out of my mouth…
“Jesus? I love him too!”
I was then met with the reality that everyone in the stands around heard what I said. There was a long silence…no one said a word. But the man sat down and never stood up again, and his yelling became a little more subdued.
I’d say that Jesus put him in his place. (Smile.)
I still can’t believe those words came out of my mouth. I pray God will use what came out of my mouth to plant a seed in this man’s heart… a seed that will affect his life here and for eternity.
Maybe I’ll share more of today’s message here later this week… it was centered on the words we say, and what God has to say about our words… including when we use His name or Jesus’ name wrongly. I’m in no way judging this man, as that’s not my place to do so. And even if I don’t misuse God’s name, not everything that comes out of my mouth is perfectly positive. And sometimes I’m not the most encouraging wife either. So, in reality, I’m no different than our friend at the soccer game. I just may not be as vocal.
God continues to teach me, refine me and grow me. I’m thankful, and I’m still smiling at the words God gave me Thursday night. 🙂
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