Sisters and brothers,
My hometown has kicked out quite a few success stories. Besides the Refinery Basketball team, which McPherson is historically famous for, some other famous McPhersonites, at least in local lore include the original accountant for Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut began in Wichita, and the founding owners hired a little unknown, cheap, accountant from McPherson to watch their finances. That, i think is safe to say, was a good risk investment by Mr. Schroeder. We have had NBA players, plenty of Division I athletes, a published poet, numerous pastors, several doctors, too many teachers to count, and people who have chosen to be successful at home, and all of these stories, except for the Refinery Basketball Team, emerge from the time i was in high school until now.
And yet there is one story that, at least for me, trumps them all. My junior year, in high school, i took my year book, as all good students do, to get friends to sign it. I handed my yearbook to my good friend, at the time, who played basketball, worked with me at Kentucky Fried Chicken, and we had spent many hours just chatting. He signed it. I got it back and looked at his signature. The signing, loosely, goes you might want to keep this as an early autograph for when i end up on ESPN. Jonathon Coachman.
Yes that Jonathon Coachman. The one who was on W.W.E. and is currently a sportscenter broadcaster. We all scoffed at his arrogance so many years ago, but Jonathon believed, no he knew, that ESPN was his destination. And because he believed in himself so much, even when others doubted or outrighted mocked him, Jonathon reached his dream, and he remains the last one laughing, as we are all admiring his determination and drive from a distance.
I rehearse his story, and he is a McPherson College graduate as well, not because i am name dropping, though i am proud of him and honored to call him a fellow Mac Alum, but because his narrative proves the power of faith. If we believe, even with the faith of a mustard seed, that something miraculous, something mysterious, something beyond logic can happen, if we believe it; it will happen. We all share and know stories of individual persons doing great things, because they believed they could. The professional athlete who was too small, too slow became the all time rush leader: Emmitt Smith. The high school freshman who was cut from his freshman basketball team became the greatest basketball player, so far, to have ever played the game: Michael Jeffrey Jordan. And that kid who seems to struggle with basic subjects in school, you know the one who teachers are marking for failure because he is too slow, yeah well he is going to grow up and discovery a theory of relativity and stand as one of the greatest physicists: Albert Einstein.
People often doubt the crazy ideas and faith of those who dream dreams, but without the dreamers who believe so strongly, the world would cease to exist. So i ask you, sisters and brothers, are we dreaming dreams? Are we living in a mountain moving faith? Do others look at us and scoff at our idealism and immature beliefs that we can do amazing things in Christ? Are we being judged as unrealistic, out of touch with reality? If we arent hearing barbs against our idealism and radical faith, are we honoring the faith Jesus spoke of? If, on the other hand, people commend us for being rational, realistic, careful, are we dishonoring the faith of Jesus?
The answer lies in the Gospel of Matthew, somewhere, so read up and be ready to answer these questions on Sunday or any day when it is asked of you: how does faith in Jesus affect your life...Amen...
Shalom,
jerry
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