This fellow went by a simple title, “Coach.” In fact, few really knew his actual name. His friends, his players, the community would simply say coach and everyone knew who was being referenced. After that initial time together, we began to meet more often as he sought a more attentive connection with God.
At one such meeting, I asked him what he got out of the sermon from the previous week. He smiled, and replied with a kindness that could melt your heart, and said, ‘Rest.’ The sermon topic had nothing to do with rest. In fact, it was about enacting our spiritual gifts to bless others. I was perplexed by his response and asked how he got that out of the sermon. Again, he smiled, and said, “Rest is what I received as I slept through that sermon” and he began to laugh. How could I not laugh along with him?!
I then asked about his weekly thank you about ‘bringing the good word for the day.’ He smiled, and said that he trusted it was a good word because God is always at work in worship. As a preacher, I was both enamored with his faith while eating some humble pie of how great I thought my sermons were. Yet there is an undercurrent within these scriptures that even when we are ignoring, or inattentive to God, God is always attentive to us. As the Israelites are reminded after their 40 years in the desert, God was there the whole time! Deuteronomy 2 functions as reminder of God’s faithful attention to the people. Verse 7 states, No doubt about it: the LORD your God has blessed you in all that you have done. He watched over your journey through that vast desert. Throughout these forty years the LORD your God has been with you. You haven’t needed a thing. I wonder, if you look back on your life, do you see the faithful God within your story? Pondering this may just awaken you to a whole new perception of your life!