Confidence

One thing I have learned over the years is that, for most of my life, I have failed to recognize what God was capable of. I’m forever grateful for the moments in my life that have taught me different. Sometimes my lack of faith depresses me. What would it be like to just have that kind of complete confidence that God will...not that He can...that He will. 

Sometimes I feel like I walk with a tremendous amount of confidence in God. I wish I could stay in that place. I remember when I was working at Sparkman Middle. There were four of us in PE together, myself, another coach, and two aides. We had a really good team and we really enjoyed working together. Coach Gunnels was my counterpart. He called me one morning. I still remember it like it was yesterday. 

“Hey man. I want to buy Brown a car. What do you think?” I hate squashing people’s dreams. I’m a dreamer myself. I’m always thinking...what could be next? How could we be better? What if we could do this? Who cares if it has never been done before? I’m not one to say something can’t happen. But, trying to raise enough money from a staff full of teachers to buy someone a car? Seems a little far-fetched. Somehow the words came out of my mouth, “It’s done. We’ll buy that car.” And the two of us were forming a plan. 

It wasn’t a week later and we had gathered the money, found the car, and were trying to figure out a surprise to present it to her. And really, the credit goes to Coach Brown for being the type of person that people would want to give money for. Credit to Coach Gunnels for thinking about doing something huge for someone else. And, of course, credit to God...the One who makes all things happen. 

I had a flashback to that day yesterday. As I stood near the end of our line yesterday, one of our volunteers approached me. She asked if I had seen one of her friends. I made my way over to speak with her. These two had formed a special connection at House of the Harvest. Our volunteer had noticed that her new friend was in need of dentures. It was on her heart to provide them. She was so confident that it would happen that she told her friend to go ahead and make an appointment to find out what they would cost. 

She was keeping me informed through the process and when she came back to me with the cost, my reply was, “Ouch.” I had no idea how expensive they were. Shame on me. It took Mrs. Lisa one week to raise all the money that was needed. All she did was ask her closest friends through House of the Harvest and her church and more than enough money was there. Funny how that always works out just right. 

So I was standing there with her so soon after receiving her new dentures that her mouth was still sore, but she was filled with joy. It was beautiful listening to her gratitude. And then she asked, “Could you do something else for me?” I had no idea where this was going. In fact, I even thought we might have started something. I reply, “I will try. What is it that you need?” 

Her reply shocked me. “I just want my son to know Jesus. He’s not a believer. Would you pray that he would know Jesus?” It was so sincere. I could tell this had really been on her heart for quite some time. 

We stopped right there in the middle of the chaos of our grocery line because some things are more important. And everything paused and everyone waited as we stood there and prayed together for Jesus to find His lost sheep. And as I said the “Amen,” I noticed the tears in her eyes. And then she replied with an honest, genuine, soft, “Thank you.” 

I can’t imagine what it is like to be in that place as a mother. That’s a hard burden to carry. But it’s amazing to me how people recognize the credit that belongs to God. One of our volunteers did something for her. Something genuine, sincere, and completely out of love and compassion. And she immediately recognized that God was the one responsible, her friend was just the one He used. It filled her heart for Him, not for her. And she desires for her son to experience that too. 

And so I guess what I want you to hear today is that when you are moved with compassion for someone else, to do something for them, to make their life better, to help them in some way great or small, it is an opportunity for you to experience how God can meet any need. But it’s also an opportunity for the recipient to experience God’s love for them, His compassion for their need, and His desire to have intimacy with them. And no value can be placed on that. It’s life changing. It’s transformational. It’s why we are here to begin with.