God on the Gridiron

I just finished helping to coach a peewee football team for Tucker’s team. We went through various blocking and tackling drills. I got excited when the kids got it right and delivered a bone jarring tackle or a beautifully executed block. We worked hard and had fun all at the same time. I taught the fundamentals of the game and encouraged jobs well done. It was a fun night of coaching and a powerful night of ministry before all was said and done.

When practice ended I struck up a conversation with my friend whom I have been praying for and witnessing to since I met him at the start of the season. Tonight we had our best conversation. For thirty minutes I got to listen to his tragic boyhood story followed by a series of deep and thought provoking questions. I countered his questions with the glorious gospel message.

I clearly and concisely communicated the gospel message to him in faith that God was using it. He thought it was tough that God says the only way to salvation is through Jesus. He asked about other religions and about other nations where Jesus is not esteemed as the son of God. I told him the truth and my personal experience of meeting Jesus as a rebellious teenager back in 1983.

The sun set and daylight faded on the gridiron as we talked about God and the way to salvation. We discussed how people were saved in the Old Testament and we discussed Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins under the new covenant. We talked about faith and believing God even exists. He did not accept Christ but he did tell me he told his mother and sister about me. I laughed and told him I had told my wife and the church about him without using his name. I told him I would be his friend whether he ever came to church and would walk this road with him. He told me many people had told them that in his life but he was standing alone. I told him he was not alone because I was standing right next to him. I told him I would not talk but simply show him that I would be a loyal friend to him. Please pray for me to be a faithful and loyal friend both on and off the gridiron.

I pleaded with him to come to church on October 18^th for our High Attendance Sunday. I even invited his wife and his son. Toward the end I told him soberly that he was leading his son somewhere. He can either lead him to Jesus or the complete opposite direction and his son might never know about Jesus.

God has taken two of the things I am most passionate about in life; Him and football and combined them to allow me to share His love with people. I remember some men I had the same privilege of talking to about the Lord back in Paradise and today those men are saved, serving the Lord, and leading their families spiritually. I pray the Lord would do the same thing with my friend here in Seminole.

That is what motivates me to keep coaching and helping with my boy’s sports team. I want to share Christ with those God puts in my path. I am grateful that God orchestrated a relationship with my friend and has opened the door for me to talk to him about the one subject I am most passionate about in this world and that is Jesus Christ.

Jesus can take football, cheerleading, basketball, the oil field, farming, retail, banking, coaching, music, and any other subject or profession and use that to build a bridge to some person who is searching for answers. God can and is using the silly game of football for His eternal purposes.

Though my friend did not commit tonight I left supercharged. Instead of going home I had drop by the office to blog about this. Share Christ. Use whatever passions you enjoy to make a connection with people. We are under obligation and indebted to our community in our generation to point people to the life altering and transforming Savior of the world. He alone is the answer and may we never be ashamed to be let people know. [Rom 1:14-16] “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and the foolish. So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you and also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”