Hebrews 13:15

¹⁵ Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.

Wow! What a great worship service! After having missed 4 weeks in a row, due to family vacations, work meetings and an NFC championship game, any worship service promised to be great. Absence certainly makes the heart grow fonder and I was really missing worshiping with my CCC church family. Sure, listening to Christian music and doing my daily morning quiet times are always nice, but I was missing the community aspects of worship. There is not much that beats singing praises to God with all my CCC brothers and sisters. Top it off with hearing my church family share about how God’s been working in their lives … this was a Sunday service not easy to beat and was clearly a special blessing to me.

A dozen shared about God’s faithfulness, leading, protection, healing, provision, patience, forgiveness, love, support, and blessing. Many shared about how special our CCC family demonstrates God’s love through its warm, friendly, welcoming, accepting, and inclusive members. All the stories and testimonies were meaningful and heartfelt. Looking around the congregation, it was clear many were touched as much as I (anybody have some extra Kleenex?). Although all were special, two stood out for me.

Grace Fong, as she often is, was very funny. She started off by sharing how she was hoping her husband Randy would share about the many blessings experienced by the Fong family, trying to pull off a Moses and Aaron arrangement, but he insisted she do it. She then proceeded to ask our understanding with her difficulty in expressing herself. I can certainly relate as I often stumble over my tongue … and I was born here. Despite her reservations, she spoke with an amazing clarity that testified to her close and dependent relationship with God, pointing to Him for the many blessings she and her family have experienced this past year. I am always moved when I hear someone with a clear love for Jesus pouring out their heartfelt praise. Listening to Grace was one of those times … a true blessing to me.

The other person who shared that spoke to me was Tom Fong. He did an amazing job facilitating this time of sharing, often adding sentiments of praise and repeatedly pointing to the book by Richard Stearns, The Hole In Our Gospel. Tom shared about his call to be the fulltime volleyball coach at McClatchy and how he realized this was an opportunity to be a mentor and example. Perhaps because I’m currently reading Tony Dungy’s daily devotional called Uncommon Life (For those of you who don’t know, he’s the first African American NFL head coach to win a Super Bowl with the Indianapolis Colts in 2007, so he’s a respected coach; but I was drawn to him because of his strong and visible faith). Being the good leader he is, Tom put a lot of thought into what he wanted his boys to learn from their experience as players on the McClatchy volleyball team…beyond volleyball, i.e. life lessons. Tom creatively used the McClatchy LIONS as an acronym to help remind his players of these important lessons. As you can see, these are not just good for volleyball players, but they are also good for us as we seek to follow Jesus and run the race He has laid before each of us.

L = listen and learn. We all should be listening for God’s voice in all of our daily activities and allow this to influence our thoughts and our actions. We all should be learning from the Word and working to incorporate these lessons into our daily lives.

I = improve and inspire. We all should strive to improve ourselves, working to become more like Jesus everyday. We should also seek to inspire others through our words and deeds, drawing others closer to Him.

O = outstanding effort and optimum performance. We should seek to work hard and do our best for the Kingdom and in our personal growth.

N = never give up. Persevere as described in Hebrews 12:1-2, excerpted: “…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith…”

S = strive for synergy (team work). The benefits of working together as God’s community are many. We can help shoulder eachothers’ burdens (Galatians 6:2 and Pastor Louis’3/22/2009 message Boulders and Backpacks). When two or three are gathered in Jesus name, He is present (Matthew 18:20). And together, we are the body of Christ, each with different functions that work best together (I Corinthians 12:12-31).

Thank you, Grace, for being a strong and clear mouthpiece for God! Every time you share at church, I clearly hear Him speaking through you!

Thank you, Tom, for being such a good mentor and role model to the young players in your charge as well as to me and the rest of our Congregation!

Thank you to all who shared! I was moved and touched by your words and was singing God’s praises with each of you! We have an awesome God! Let’s continue to sing His praises together and share His love so others might be drawn to Him!