Renee Andrews's Blog - Posts Tagged "god"
High School Football...and God
Mondays with Jesus 2015
“The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” James 5:16 (NLT)
The local football team has a former attorney for a coach. Not your typical criteria for a high school coach’s resume. He was also a collegiate player at the University of Alabama, so he has the athletic merits as well, but when I learned that he’d given up practicing law to coach high school football, I had to ask why. It turns out that this man wanted to touch the lives of teens, to be a Godly example and help them be successful, and he chose to do that with the best way he knew to relate to them, football.
I’ve seen a change in this team since they’ve gained Coach Ozmint. He is their supporter both on and off the field, but he is also their guide, steering them in the right direction and admonishing accordingly when they head down the wrong path, both on and off the field. Coach Ozmint also allowed and encouraged a group of parents and local citizens who also wanted to have a spiritual impact in the athletes’ lives to start a “Praying Moms” group. This group gathers each Thursday morning at 7:00 a.m. at the football field to pray over the team and the opposing team, to ask God to grant good sportsmanship and to keep the athletes safe. They put Bible verses on each athlete’s locker. They remind the boys on the team that the “game” most important in life is the one that involves living for their Lord.
Has the spiritual coach and the praying moms caused the team to automatically win every game on the field? No, though they have won every game this season. But we aren’t promised that we will always receive a “yes” to our requests. We are promised, however, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us (1 John 5:14).
Those athletes step on the field each night knowing that their coach has prayed for them, knowing that the community is praying for them and ready to face whatever obstacle is ahead, both on that field and off. How awesome is that power of prayer!
Faith Step: Form a “Praying Moms”, “Praying Dads” or “Praying Fans” group in your local community. Watch the bond form in athletes and community with the awesome power of prayer.
Author Renee Andrews
This devotion is from Mornings with Jesus 2014. Next year's devotional, Mondays with Jesus 2015, is available now online wherever books are sold (Amazon, BN, Kobo, iTunes, etc.), and autographed copies are available at www.MondayswithJesus.com ($3.99 ebook, $9.99 print)
We love because He first loved us...
“We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19
(Written by our youngest son, Kaleb Zeringue.)
Thursdays are my weekly marathon. I wake up, drive to Birmingham, spend a few hours there, drive straight back to Gadsden (an hour one way) to eat lunch and then head to the gym and coach until it's dark outside. Then I head home and rest.
The past two weeks I have had new motivation and anticipation for arriving back home. It's this little guy, Konrad Asher Zeringue, born June 8th.
What has he done to warrant such affection? To capture my thoughts and imagination all day on my busiest of days?
He has pooped on himself, every day since I met him, peed on me countless times, grunted so loudly in his sleep that he wakes me and his mom up. He really likes to grunt. He also throws both of his arms up when he sleeps, cries for me and his mom when we are right next to him, stares at me blankly as I desperately try to be the first one to make him laugh, makes hilarious faces when he sees sunlight and, most importantly, he's MY SON.
Such is the way with God, I think. We try so hard to impress God and earn his love and affection, but all the while, we are pooping everywhere, grunting in our sleep, crying when we don't feel Him or hear His voice (even when He is right next to us), and looking at Him blankly when we don't understand Him.
Konrad has not earned my affection, yet he has all of my affection and favor and love because he is my son. In the same way, you and I have not earned God’s love, but we have ALL of His affection and ALL of His Favor and ALL of His love…because we are His Sons and Daughters through the holy adoption that took place when Christ went to the cross and died for us.
This Week: If you have a baby in your home, pay attention to how many times he or she needs you on a daily basis. If you don’t, offer to babysit for a friend, so you can be reminded of how needy that little person is. Then imagine yourself as God sees you…as a child needing our heavenly Father. Praise God that He loves us even when we’re as needy and as messy as that precious (and sometimes needy and messy) bundle of joy!
Renee Andrews
(Written by our youngest son, Kaleb Zeringue.)
Thursdays are my weekly marathon. I wake up, drive to Birmingham, spend a few hours there, drive straight back to Gadsden (an hour one way) to eat lunch and then head to the gym and coach until it's dark outside. Then I head home and rest.
The past two weeks I have had new motivation and anticipation for arriving back home. It's this little guy, Konrad Asher Zeringue, born June 8th.
What has he done to warrant such affection? To capture my thoughts and imagination all day on my busiest of days?
He has pooped on himself, every day since I met him, peed on me countless times, grunted so loudly in his sleep that he wakes me and his mom up. He really likes to grunt. He also throws both of his arms up when he sleeps, cries for me and his mom when we are right next to him, stares at me blankly as I desperately try to be the first one to make him laugh, makes hilarious faces when he sees sunlight and, most importantly, he's MY SON.
Such is the way with God, I think. We try so hard to impress God and earn his love and affection, but all the while, we are pooping everywhere, grunting in our sleep, crying when we don't feel Him or hear His voice (even when He is right next to us), and looking at Him blankly when we don't understand Him.
Konrad has not earned my affection, yet he has all of my affection and favor and love because he is my son. In the same way, you and I have not earned God’s love, but we have ALL of His affection and ALL of His Favor and ALL of His love…because we are His Sons and Daughters through the holy adoption that took place when Christ went to the cross and died for us.
This Week: If you have a baby in your home, pay attention to how many times he or she needs you on a daily basis. If you don’t, offer to babysit for a friend, so you can be reminded of how needy that little person is. Then imagine yourself as God sees you…as a child needing our heavenly Father. Praise God that He loves us even when we’re as needy and as messy as that precious (and sometimes needy and messy) bundle of joy!
Renee Andrews
