I had the message all worked out to talk about the day's biblical character Joshua and how sometimes God tells us to do the craziest things and in the midst of that crazy request we are called to be obedient.
God had told Joshua, if you want to defeat the city Jericho which was encased by a tall and very thick wall, all you need to do is walk around the city seven times, blow the trumpets and then have the people shout as loud as they can and the walls will come tumbling down!
Yeah... right!
I arrived at the church and Darcie, the Children's leader showed me a bag of golf clubs and each club had a tag on it with one of the Fruit of the Spirit attached to it. She was so excited to use this illustration in talking to the children right before it would be my turn to speak. She leaned over to me and said, "I don't know if your message has anything to do with golf clubs or golf but feel free to do whatever you want." And then she was off to lead the children in a couple of songs and then I was "on."
My mind was racing... "How can I relate Joshua to golf clubs?"
Darcie ascended the stage for the last song. I started to run out of the church. I spoke to one of the volunteers, "If Darcie calls my name, I will be back" and with that I ran out of the church.
In a flash I was back with a golf club, a golf ball and a towel.
Darcie was right in the middle of introducing me and within 30 seconds I was "on."
My iWitness...
I finished my presentation with my sand wedge golf club in hand lifted high in the air. I was laughing. The kids were hooting and hollering the name of Jesus with great gusto and Darcie came over, smiling and laughing and said, "That was great! How much did you have to change course from what you had originally prepared?"
I paused, looked her straight in the eye and with a twinkle in my own eye I said, "Completely!"
We both laughed out loud.
This is one of the great gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Many times, if I am willing to listen, God has something completely different in store for me than what I think or have prepared for. Yesterday the result was tons better and much more effective than that which I had spent the morning preparing.
Where are you today?
What are you doing?
What course are you on?
Do you need to change course?
And that's my iWitness...
Laugh often and Fear not!
David!
"So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city." (Joshua 6. 20)
For the extra curious...
I jumped down off the three foot high stage with my golf club, golf ball and towel in hand.I told the children that the golf ball represented us. Our goal was to get to heaven. I grabbed a putter out of Darcie's bag. I showed the children that using a putter would never get us up on stage (heaven). I illustrated this a couple of times, putting the ball into the base of the stage.
I grabbed the Sand wedge and said to the children, "This club has an "S" on it. Do you know what the "S" stands for? I shouted, "Savior!" With that I placed the golf ball on the towel, swung the club and on the second try lofted the ball right up onto the heavenly kingdom (the stage). The kids went crazy!
Thank you Jesus for being our "Sand wedge."
Without you... we are trapped...
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