Ilife, Part 3

A couple of years ago Rachel and I were in New York, and many of you know Kevin Maoi (?) Kevin and Tracy, they come to our church. Kevin plays football for the New York Jets -- so because of our relationship we have a chance to go up and do chapel for the team and watch the game and to spend some time with them. So we’ve been doing this for about, I guess, 6 or 7...5, 6 or 7 years and 2 years ago we were in New York and had done chapel and watched the game and then we were taking a train out to Long Island to go spend the rest of our time with Kevin and Tracy. And so on this train we were sitting next to this couple and it was so cool. I love to hear people from the New England area talk. Isn’t that awesome? And they had this like Brooklyn --Bronx kind of accent and I was just mesmerized. So they’re talking to us and he was telling us, yeah, I’m a shop teacher and you know, she’s a 3rd grade teacher and we’ve been living here all our lives, and they said, what are ya’ll doing here? I said well a friend of mine plays for the Jets and so we came up and did chapel and spent some time... Really? Who’s your friend? I said well his name’s Kevin Maoi (?)!! Babe, he knows Kevin Maoi, the all pro center ... I mean, he’s going on and telling me all these statistics. He’s so impressed you know that I know Kevin Maoi. Wait until I tell little Johnny, he’s going to trip out to know that I’m sitting on the train next to the friend of Kevin Maoi. I’m like, hey, if you need me to sign an autograph you know...your son will really appreciate that. So he’s giving me all these statistics...and he’s just, aw you know. And so, in my mind I’m thinking that in my bag I’ve go some New York Jets stuff. I gotta tee shirt, I gotta hat, oh, I got an authentic number 68 Kevin Maoi football jersey. "Oh, no, Lord! Lord, You wouldn’t dare! You couldn’t, God, You shouldn’t." And about that time, I promise you I’m having this conversation on the inside, Rachel leans over and says, "Mike, don’t you have that jersey in your bag?" I said, "No." I’m like, "God that’s no fair! You’re double teaming me okay? I mean it’s one thing to disobey God but another thing to disobey your wife." And so I knew that God was dealing with me about giving this jersey. And so I reached into my bag (crying) hey, here give this to your son, I think he’ll really enjoy it. The guy looked at me, it was like, "Are you kidding me? No, you’ve got to be kidding." I’m like, "I wish I were." For real and so I knew if I held onto that jersey that I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. But now that I gave that jersey, somewhere in New York there’s a 17 year-old boy that couldn’t sleep that night.

Come on somebody. In spite of how I feel, God I’m going to obey You. I’m going to hear from you. I’m telling you this, if God’s telling you to give something away, or if there’s this voice, or this impulse on the inside of you and you sense you need to give something, I promise you it’s not the voice of the devil. It’s God because God is a giver, and when you give you mirror and reflect the goodness of God. The Spirit of God in your is released. Giving will confront that self-centeredness and that ever-increasing desire for stuff that sometimes will jump on us. Can you say amen? That’s why I give because it forces me to think beyond myself and beyond my stuff.