Winners and Losers

It has been said many times that the Sunday when the two NFL Conference Championship games are played is the best day of football all season. I’m not sure that is always true, but it is often true. Typically those two games are much better than the Super Bowl game. The playoffs in any sport always produce great drama. At some moment during the game or just at the last second of the game you can see it, the faces of winners and losers.
The winners are all smiles. The winners are jumping around with their arms extended and holding up their index finger shouting “We’re number one!” You see high fives, chest bumps, fists bumps, head bumps, and you even see grown men hugging and crying because of the joy of the moment. Coaches, owners, players, trainers, water boys, security personnel…. Anyone and everyone who is a part of the team or organization are in full celebration mode. They are doing exactly what comes natural for a winner. After all, they are the winners!
On the other hand, the losers are not smiling. The losers are not jumping around. There are no chest bumps, fists bumps, head bumps…. You do see plenty of grown men crying, but it is for much different reasons. Everyone connected with the team is sad and demoralized. In that one moment in time their world could not be worse. They are the losers.
You can witness this in all aspects of life. Someone wins a contract and another loser a contract. Someone gets a promotion and another loses a job. Someone aces a test and another bombs the same test. One person gets accepted into Med School and another person is rejected. Life is like that… winner and losers.
At times it is easy to get caught up in the concept of winner and losing. Sometimes it is easy to view the world as a collection of winners and losers. For both the winners and losers I have some good news… God loves you anyway!
That’s right. If you are a winner, God loves you! If you are a loser, God loves you! As a matter of fact God does not see you as a winner or a loser. God sees you as a precious part of His creation. He sees you as someone made in His image and in His likeness. God sees you as His child. You are a son or daughter of the King. You have been chosen to be a part of the Royal Priesthood. You are a citizen of the Kingdom of God.
So go ahead, hold your head up, jump around, and give someone a high five or a fist bump. Go ahead and live like someone who has won the greatest victory of all. Let the world know that they can’t put you down because God has lifted you UP! His grace truly is amazing!
Love God. Go Love Others.

City on a Hill

One of the things I enjoy doing as I run errands around town is taking a different route to the location to which I am going. I guess traveling down the same old streets just gets a bit boring for me. Plus, I love to see places that I have never seen before. I especially like to drive around in the older parts of town. The historical district and the older neighborhoods with the old craftsman style homes just seem to have more character than the homes on the west side of town.
The other day I happen to be out running an errand and somehow found myself at the corner of Kentucky and Graham. For whatever reason I had never been on that street before. On that day sitting at that intersection I found a visual treasure. As I looked off to the west, in the distance there was an old farm house on top of the next hill. It stands there all by itself not surrounded by anything except trees and sunshine. At the moment I saw the house it was just one of those picturest moments – an old farm house off in the distance with the sun shining just perfectly on the east side of the house. It was a Kodak moment, but I had no Kodak and I had my doubts has to my phones ability to take a picture of something like that being so far away.
As I saw that old house with the sun shining down on it the lesson from Jesus on the mountain side came to mind. “You are the light that gives light to the world. A city that is built on a hill cannot be hidden. And people don’t hide a light under a bowl. They put it on a lampstand so the light shines for all the people in the house. In the same way, you should be a light for other people. Live so that they will see the good things you do and will praise your Father in heaven.” In the same way that old house can be seen by all those who drive down Kentucky and Graham, the world can see what you and I do each day. We are living lives which are having an impact on those around us.
So as you choose your words and as you choose your actions remember this, everything is seen and everything is heard and everything that is seen and heard has an impact on those who are witnesses to your words and actions. As Christians our words and our deeds should show the world that we belong to God and our words and deeds should encourage the world around us to follow Jesus.
Love God. Go Love Others.