No Guts No Glory
Some of the toughest but most rewarding times have been working with youth. My first experience was teaching Sunday school with 8and 9 year old boys. They played a greater role in my sanctification as a teenager than I ever thought they learned from my teaching. A most gratifying moment happened when 25 years later David walked into my pastoral office and introduced himself. I was caught off guard when this stranger reached into his pocket and took out a Sunday School pin and asked me if I recognized it and him. Sure enough, he was one of those nightmare kids who had absorbed more out of our time together than I could have ever imagined. David was now …show more content…
Jack gave his time and his heart to us as young boys and modeled sportsmanship with excellence. Not only did he carefully teach us the Holy Scriptures with conviction but he lived them with conviction and a faithfulness to Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. It did not matter where the Saturday night hockey game took place in the local league, Jack was in class on Sunday morning. Then one morning a new teacher, who was a close friend of “our Jack,” appeared unexpectedly. It was his task to tell us that “our Jack” had come over to the church late Saturday evening to do some last- moment preparations for us and had had a heart attack and died there alone. I do not remember a lot about what these two men taught us, but I have vivid memories of who they were and “whose they were” by the expression of their …show more content…
However, as the week went downhill, and the events surrounding Jesus life picked up speed, some of the disciples wanted to stop the ride. Others wanted to change direction, and others wanted to bail out. Their heart relationship with Jesus kept them all connected, and they held on to that rope with all their mind, all their soul, and all their strength. Some held onto the rope, others held onto others who were holding on to the rope, and others were pulled through by the momentum of the whole group. They could not make sense of the rapidly unfolding events. Some were caught denying knowing Jesus. However, their relationship with this God-Man was so real that it brought them through together, through run after run and danger after danger, even to the point of martyrdom. That three -fold cord relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit held them fast so that the world might come to know something about itself - that it was loved and
Some of the toughest but most rewarding times have been working with youth. My first experience was teaching Sunday school with 8and 9 year old boys. They played a greater role in my sanctification as a teenager than I ever thought they learned from my teaching. A most gratifying moment happened when 25 years later David walked into my pastoral office and introduced himself. I was caught off guard when this stranger reached into his pocket and took out a Sunday School pin and asked me if I recognized it and him. Sure enough, he was one of those nightmare kids who had absorbed more out of our time together than I could have ever imagined. David was now …show more content…
Jack gave his time and his heart to us as young boys and modeled sportsmanship with excellence. Not only did he carefully teach us the Holy Scriptures with conviction but he lived them with conviction and a faithfulness to Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. It did not matter where the Saturday night hockey game took place in the local league, Jack was in class on Sunday morning. Then one morning a new teacher, who was a close friend of “our Jack,” appeared unexpectedly. It was his task to tell us that “our Jack” had come over to the church late Saturday evening to do some last- moment preparations for us and had had a heart attack and died there alone. I do not remember a lot about what these two men taught us, but I have vivid memories of who they were and “whose they were” by the expression of their …show more content…
However, as the week went downhill, and the events surrounding Jesus life picked up speed, some of the disciples wanted to stop the ride. Others wanted to change direction, and others wanted to bail out. Their heart relationship with Jesus kept them all connected, and they held on to that rope with all their mind, all their soul, and all their strength. Some held onto the rope, others held onto others who were holding on to the rope, and others were pulled through by the momentum of the whole group. They could not make sense of the rapidly unfolding events. Some were caught denying knowing Jesus. However, their relationship with this God-Man was so real that it brought them through together, through run after run and danger after danger, even to the point of martyrdom. That three -fold cord relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit held them fast so that the world might come to know something about itself - that it was loved and