Acceptance

When I was in the 8th grade, my family moved to Mexico. It was about then that my hair turned grey in a spot on the back of my head, but that's an entirely different story!! While we lived down there (some of the best years of my life, but the way!!) my dad kept his more-than-full-time job in LA. Occasionally, me, my brother, or my sister would come to LA for a week at a time with our dad, and just hang out. We did our home school lessons, and roamed the streets of LA, looking for fun!!

At some point during those years, I got the mistaken impression that I could play basketball... so I went down to the playgrounds downtown LA and waited for "next!!" When the time came, I jumped on the court, along with the local Kobe's and Shaq's, and played a version of "shooting guard". At least that's where they let me run.. and they even threw me the ball from time to time. It was heaven for a 14 year old teenager who weighed about as much as a juvenile golden retriever!! They passed me the ball, I shot and missed horribly... they passed it again!! and occasionally I'd connect the next pass, and they'd tell me I did great!! It was unbelievable how guys--who really could have played for lots of colleges--accepted me and let me play. They didn't care that I stunk, and they didn't care that they lost the game. It was more important that I got to play.

Tonight, having talked with Jackie about her rugby team for the last few weeks, I got enough of an urge that I went out and practiced with the Portland Pigs, the local semi-pro team!! Oh my goodness how I've missed rugby!! I've missed being pooped... I've missed hitting!! I've missed BEING hit!!

At the end of practice, we all got into a circle, and went around the circle and said our names. when they got to the 'new guys', they all yelled out "NEW GUY!!!" and everyone said 'good to have you' or 'welcome' or 'alright!!' and clapped... after practice, I asked where I could find some decent cleats in town, and a guy didn't even hesitate to point me to the closest joint that had good prices... Fascinating!! They didn't care if I knew how to play (I know this because the other two new guys tonight had never played before... and the veterans were STILL excited to have them!!).

I walked away feeling like part of the team (on day one!).

Why is it so easy for athletes to welcome, and so hard for Christians? Maybe it's not all Christians, and it's for sure not all athletes, but why aren't we excited when people check out Christianity like athletes are when other guys check out a new sport!!

It's a thought... I wish we'd be excited when people come in and check out God!! I wish we'd let them be BRAND new to it all!! I wish we'd be OK when they do the entirely WRONG thing, and in a friendly way, let them know it's no big deal, but this is how we do it.

What if instead of feeling like an intruder on a club event, every visitor to church felt like part of the team when they walked away after day one??