Coach told us that instead of teaching us from a textbook that he would be sharing things from his life. While the "sharing life" language sounds very natural to me now, looking back I recognize that it was actually revolutionary for me to hear this man that seemed like a legend before I even met him, give to us out of his life experience. As he shared from his life, he directed our focus on the essentials of walking with God and warned us not to become distracted by things that wouldn't really matter in life.
Donna Bishop was one of the first agents of change that I ever had a chance to know. We met when I was a junior in high school. She was a transfer student I had never seen before, but it didn’t take long to realize that she was different. I’d often run into this beautiful young woman alone somewhere on campus, just praying and worshipping Jesus. We shared a couple classes and became friends, but she never ceased to amaze me with how serious she was about following Jesus.
destiny trap: the confusion, hurt, and betrayal that arises in the heart of a believer, usually one new to the faith, when they realize that though the progression of their individual success pre-Jesus seemed both incontrovertible and destined, the progression of their success in Christ is measured by an entirely different standard.
I shook my head as I wondered what I was about to learn. “A running homily is when you start with any scripture and spend the rest of your time pointing to Jesus.” As he talked about the importance of keeping the person of Jesus central in our preaching, I recognized that it was even more important to keep Jesus at the center of my life. All of my busy rushing around, trying to get qualified to do something great for God was actually leading me away from following after Jesus.
"It sounds like you are living a pretty integrated life." I had never really thought about that phrase before, but I knew exactly what he meant the moment that he said it. In fact, it is one of my favorite parts of following Jesus.
