Just Get in the Chair
By Carolyn Hulliberger
“Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me [Jesus].”
John 14:21a (NIV)
By Carolyn Hulliberger
“Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me [Jesus].”
John 14:21a (NIV)
My daughter, like many of
us, does not like to have the attention of others focused on her. The idea of
being pointed out in a large group of people is mortifying. Maybe you can
relate.
Two years ago, my daughter was at a school assembly where a world-class basketball team consisting of wheelchair-bound athletes was giving a demonstration. Shannon was chosen to participate. While she was reluctant and about to decline the invitation, her friends extended a bit of peer pressure to encourage her. She got in the wheelchair, took a basketball in hand, and began to concentrate on what the instructor was saying. (Listening was important if she did not want to look foolish in front of a couple of hundred classmates.) Shannon ended up having a lot of fun, and her comment to me was, “Mom, I pretty much forgot about all the other kids watching me when I started playing the game.”
Isn’t our life the same way sometimes? There might be times when you are asked by God to come forward, and perhaps the attention of other people might be focused on you. Maybe you’ll mess up the task, lose the ball, or fall out of the chair a few times. But Christ asks for us to focus on Him…to listen to His instructions…to shut out the distractions…to forget what someone else might think…and obey anyway! And as we do that, the task He’s asked us to perform on His team becomes more important than the crowd on the sidelines.
GOING DEEPER:
1. Is God moving you reluctantly out of your comfort zone? What steps of obedience do you need to take?
2. Is a friend being moved to something new? How can you “extend a bit of peer pressure” to be an encouragement?
FURTHER READING:
2 Corinthians 4:18
Two years ago, my daughter was at a school assembly where a world-class basketball team consisting of wheelchair-bound athletes was giving a demonstration. Shannon was chosen to participate. While she was reluctant and about to decline the invitation, her friends extended a bit of peer pressure to encourage her. She got in the wheelchair, took a basketball in hand, and began to concentrate on what the instructor was saying. (Listening was important if she did not want to look foolish in front of a couple of hundred classmates.) Shannon ended up having a lot of fun, and her comment to me was, “Mom, I pretty much forgot about all the other kids watching me when I started playing the game.”
Isn’t our life the same way sometimes? There might be times when you are asked by God to come forward, and perhaps the attention of other people might be focused on you. Maybe you’ll mess up the task, lose the ball, or fall out of the chair a few times. But Christ asks for us to focus on Him…to listen to His instructions…to shut out the distractions…to forget what someone else might think…and obey anyway! And as we do that, the task He’s asked us to perform on His team becomes more important than the crowd on the sidelines.
GOING DEEPER:
1. Is God moving you reluctantly out of your comfort zone? What steps of obedience do you need to take?
2. Is a friend being moved to something new? How can you “extend a bit of peer pressure” to be an encouragement?
FURTHER READING:
2 Corinthians 4:18
Along
with caring for her husband, two children and the dog, Carolyn serves Oakwood
Church in Student Ministries with an awesome group of junior high girls, and is
the treasurer for Women’s Ministries.
