FCA

Friday mornings are one of my favorite times of the week.  I hang out with a bunch of junior high kids at Fellowship of Christian Athletes, otherwise known as F.C.A.  We gather in the gym at 7:30 for a few minutes.

 Kids volunteer most of the time and share what the LORD has laid on their heart.  They typically pair up and lead as a team. It is quite amazing to sit there on the gym floor and listen as they minister to their peers.  Their courage impresses me to say the least.  I do sit on the floor with the students, Indian style, as we used to call it when I was in grade school.  The proper term now is “criss-cross apple sauce.”  It takes me a few minutes to get up off of the gym floor, but I usually can count on a kid or two to grab my hand and pull me up. 

Something happens in school buildings a few weeks after Spring Break…and that “something” is bad!  Nearly everyone gets lazy and starts acting like the year is over, when it is not over at all!  We as educators and students still have a lot to accomplish. 

Our F.C.A. attendance has even been down. On a particular week in late March, I went into the girl’s locker room and started pulling girls out.  The “regulars” were not even being regular!  I let them know real quickly that I was not afraid to hunt them down. 

I happened to be teaching this particular day and the Lord totally took me in a direction I had not planned.  I gave the kids and adults in the room a good, old fashioned pep talk about how we still had to come together and meet!  I pleaded with them to keep on coming, keep on working, and that every single one of them mattered to Jesus and to our group.  Teenagers often feel invisible.  I wanted them to know that without a doubt each and every one of them was significant. 

I thought of the parable in Luke 15:4 when Jesus poses the question “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them.  Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?” 

I sent one kiddo over to the corner isolated from the group.  I left the group and walked towards her, showing them how Jesus will search us out individually like the parable teaches.  I brought the young lady back with me, illustrating how Jesus will even bring us back when we go astray. 

I took it to another level and sent Michelle, my volunteer, out through the middle of the crowd, across the gym from where I was.  Again, I walked towards her.  This time, totally led by the Lord, I explained to the kids that one sheep had drifted again; however, Jesus was going to get her.  When I got to Michelle, I asked her to fall down.  She did, but I picked her up.  At this point, she had drifted, fallen down, and needed help to get back to the group.  I assumed the role of Jesus and did just what He does so often.  I picked her up and carried her back to the crowd on my back.  That sure does resonate with me.

Today, being Easter, and I woke up thinking how grateful I was that Jesus died for an unworthy person like me.  Without Him, I would be such a mess!  He came to seek and save what was lost. That includes me.  That includes you.