The Mark of a Champion: Turning Disappointment into Victory

I recently wrote a post about the so called “problem of evil” and how Christians should view it.  Well, as a youth pastor I get to see this played out in varying degrees in my ministry.  Sometimes people respond to challenges well, sometimes they don’t.  Today, I thought I’d try to encourage you by telling you a quick story of a young man in my youth group who is handling some adversity remarkably well.  Now, this adversity isn’t like facing cancer or the death of a loved one or anything like that, but it is still a big deal for him at this time in his life.

This student comes from a family of VERY talented wrestlers (one cousin was a 3 time state champ and another one was 4 time state champ… His daddy was also a great wrestler and is now one of the coaches in our area).  So, safe to say, wrestling is in his blood… It’s been his long-time dream to be a 4 time state champ as well – a dream that not only seemed possible, but quite likely as at the beginning of the season the main newspaper in our state picked him as a favorite for his weight class…  All that changed one tournament at the very beginning of the season when he was severely injured by an illegal move.

Of course, his parents sought out the best medical care they could find, but he kept getting mixed messages from the doctors – the reality was they couldn’t be sure how quick he could recover from the injury and as the season progressed it became more and more doubtful that he would be able to get in enough mat time to seriously challenge for state (if he got to wrestle this season at all). 

Did God want him to suffer this injury?  Was He using the evil of the blatantly illegal move and the injury that resulted to produce some greater good in this young man’s life? As we’ve seen from previous discussions, God does not cause evil in our lives to serve His purposes (God is Holy and thus wholly innocent of all evil)… However, He is also sovereign and thus any random and pointless evil/adversity that affects our lives is ultimately allowed by Him… James 1 and Romans 5 both tell us to rejoice or glory in suffering and trials – Why??? Because trials offer us an opportunity to “test our faith.”  They reveal what we really believe about God and ourselves… There are 2 basic choices every time we face difficulties: Become Better OR Become Bitter. 

We Become Better when we rely upon God to sustain and comfort us – He then can take the lemon-ness of the bad circumstances and help us turn it into something resembling lemonade (though the lemonade may still be fairly sour) – He does this by helping us grow in our perseverance (James 1), by giving us an opportunity to know and trust Him more and increase our Hope (Romans 5), and by opening the door to be a comfort and witness to those around us (2 Corinthians 1).

We Become Bitter when we allow ourselves to wallow in self-pity… when we let a natural sense of anger against the situation (and maybe even God) cause us to hold a grudge against Him… when we focus on the circumstance and/or its adverse affects and try to lay blame on everyone and everything else because of them.

Though there was much discouraging news and times of deep disappointment this freshman strove to keep pressing on and, even more so, to keep his mind focused on the right perspective:  Through the encouragement of his mom, he kept asking, “What can I learn from all this? What do I NEED to learn?”  He petitioned the elders of our church to pray over him (cf. James 5:13-16) – but not just for healing, but that he would maintain a righteous example for those around him – It was a very powerful time and no one left the room untouched by the Spirit of God.

Well, the healing didn’t come as quick as anyone would have hoped for… He still struggled through therapy and rehab and wasn’t released for even light work-outs until just a couple of weeks ago… Then, he was allowed to wrestle with the JV and took 2^nd in his only JV tournament just last week – which is a major disappointment for someone who was previously picked to win state, especially since it was so close to the tournament he has to place in to qualify for state… Still, though, he has been relying upon God and striving to keep a positive outlook and a live as a solid example of faith.

Tomorrow this upstanding teenager is going to wrestle in regionals (the qualifying tournament for state) in his first varsity action since the injury… and He is going into it hoping to display aspects of Zechariah 4:6-7:  To compete – Not by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of the LORD Almighty… He will attempt to level a very large mountain for the Glory of God.

In my humble opinion it doesn’t matter if he loses every match tomorrow… This is because in light of how he continues to handle himself, he is already a champ in God’s eyes… and mine!

2011 Challenge

Another new year is here.  And like every New Year I began thinking about goals for the upcoming year.  Most call this New Year’s resolutions.  Some would balk at the idea of using that phrase because of the lackadaisical approach that it might apply.  I however look at it as simply goals for next year.  2010 will be the year of incredible spiritual growth for me.   I want this process to continue. This challenge will be a stretch for Christian’s of all ages and growth levels.  Without furtherer due…

1.       Read a non-fiction Christian book(s)

It can only help to get another view.  When I read books like this, I immediately think of the movie Dead Poet’s Society – Specifically the scene where Robin Williams tells his students to stand on their desks to get a different perspective on things.  The room just looks different when you see it from a different angle.  Another person’s perspective may help change yours.  A quick word of caution, be careful of the book you choose.  For obvious reasons, we would not recommend books written by certain pastors that may have been mentioned previously in the “Are you a God” series.  We would, however, recommend any of the following books:

1. Servant Leadership
2. More than a Carpenter
3. Victory over the Darkness
4. Families Where Grace is in Place
5. The Unexpected Journey
6. Dare2Share

We’d be happy to recommend other books/authors… just drop us a line!

2.       Deeply study three books of the Bible.

Have you ever read something in the Bible, looked over at someone and said…”HAVE YOU READ THIS!  IT IS INCREADIBLE!”, only to have them say “I have read the whole Bible”.  There is a huge difference between reading, and digesting the Word of God.  I would suggest that of the group of people that have read the Bible, that probably only 25% – 50% of the Bible was actually digested.  By digested I mean, knowing the context of the books, why they were written, historicity behind them, spiritual impact of certain passages, etc…  The point here is to understand and internalize these books. 

3.       Have a 90% attendance rate at church.

This should be probably number 1.  If you are of the thought that you can have an effective relationship with God without attending a church you are wrong.  The truth of the matter is that the church is critical for your personal development.  Imagine learning how to become a computer programmer without going to school or doing programming work.  The exact same thing applies here.  You limit your growth potential in the body of Christ, by not attending church.

4.       Volunteer for an event/function/job at church.

Now that you are attending church on a regular basis, it is time to volunteer.  Serving is critical to our spiritual growth as well.  Remember James 2:14-26.  Faith without works is dead.  This is the works part of the challenge. 

5.       Invite at least 12 people to your church.

Inviting people to church can open the door to being able to share your testimony.  Your invite can include other functions such as church picnic’s, or small group.  See number 3.

6.       Have spiritual conversations that lead to you sharing your testimony and/or the Gospel with at least 6 people

Evangelism is a central part to being a Christian.  There are a number of biblical passages that demonstrate that evangelism is asked but is required of all Christians…REQUIRED.  That doesn’t mean maybe, or I’ll get to it later or it’s not my temperament.  REQUIRED.

7.       Sacrificially give to your local church.

We know that the economy is tough – it has been for your church too!  Needless to say there is a biblical foundation for tithing (giving at least 10% of your gross income).  God’s got a plan for your church that takes money to implement, and you should be a part of it.  If you’ve never tithed before start small and grow throughout the year – Dave Ramsey calls it a giving snowball.

8.       Pray for at least 2 minutes a day.

What do you do when you have problems?  Pray.  Anxiety? Pray. Need Help? Pray.  Need guidance, wisdom, truth, or WHATEVER?  PRAY!  2 minutes a day seems small in the amount of time you should devote to speaking with the Lord.  I make it a point to talk to him as I would my father or wife.  While he is God, he is still my Father.  If you think that you shouldn’t talk to him in a normal way…read Psalms.  That was the point of that book.

This is a yearlong challenge.  And it should be just that…a challenge.  No Apologizing will have your back though with posts about various biblical books, commentary on the books we have read, commentary on the spiritual conversations we’ve had, etc.  If you have feedback that you want to share regarding the challenge you will be able to.  A new page will be created on the blog specifically for this challenge.  In the mean time, get those books ready.  Have a great year.  Be focused.  Make no excuses!  Remember only one person is in charge of their relationship with God…YOU!  No one else can do it for you.