the Grapevine 6/10/09

[Mark Jackson]

the Grapevine

June 10, 2009

an e-publication of NewLife Community Church

 

Just Watch the Stitches

 

Cool Summer Nights is underway - that's our bi-weekly worship/swim party/potluck thingee here at NewLife - and I'll be speaking all summer about finding God's will for your life. (The next one will be THIS Sunday night, June 14th, at 6 pm; location: Chez Marthedal, 4544 S. Walnut Ave.)

 

So, last time out, I talked about finding God's will by figuring out what you're good at. I'll let Reggie McNeal expand on that with an extended quote from his book, Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders...

 

Although most of us can easily rattle off a list of the things we don't do well, many [people] cannot identify what they are truly good at. Said another way, many of us are naive about our talent. Ted Williams, the legendary baseball hitter, was once asked to help coach a rookie who had just arrived from the minors. Williams stood at the batting cage & watched the newbie fan at a few 95 miles-per-hour fastballs.

 

"Hey, kid," the pro called out. "Just watch the stitches."

 

"Huh?" the kid replied.

 

"Just watch the stitches," Williams repeated.

 

"What stitches?" the rookie asked, bewildered.

 

"On the baseball!" Williams exclaimed, and then proceeded to give a detailed description of how the rotation of the stitches influenced how the ball behaves between the pitching mound and home plate.

 

"You can see the stitches?" the rookie asked incredulously.

 

Commenting on that story, other players say that a 95-miles-per-hour fastball coming in from the mound to the plate is a blur the first ten feet after it leaves the pitcher's hand; for the other 50'6" it is invisible! Yet Ted Williams was serious about his advice to "watch the stitches." Why would he give that young ball player such bad advice? Because he thought everyone could see the stitches. He was not even aware of his talent. Hist teammates asked him what else he could see on the baseball. He replied, "On a good day I can read the commissioner's signature."

 

Every [person] can easily & readily "see the stitches" in the area where he or she has been gifted. This truth challenges another common myth that "it only counts if it comes hard." In the area of our talent, ability comes easy. Seeing stitches didn't come hard for Ted Williams. Our culture teaches us to devalue what comes easy, so we fail to have an honest assessment of what we are good at...

 

God is not capricious. He does not give people certain talents & then send them out on a mission that doesn't fit their gifting. Because God has envisioned the... mission, he distributes talent accordingly. If more [people] understood this truth, fewer would labor under a false sense of humility. Many spiritual [people] speak often of how God has to work around them or in spite of their weaknesses. The truth is, God has not called you to your life mission in spite of who you are; he has called you precisely because of who you are.

 

If you'd like to explore the whole concept of how God uses our strengths farther, check out the book Living Your Strengths: Discover Your God-Given Talents and Inspire Your Community. The book includes a code to take the Gallup StrengthsFinder assessment online & then helps you interpret the results. (BTW, we use StrengthsFinder here at NewLife to help us as we call staff members.)

 

A Thought About Service

 

In tennis, when you serve the ball you push it downward with great force & intent. What if we treated "serving God" in the same way?

• serving with our eyes on those in need rather than looking upward for other people's approval?
• serving with great force, wholeheartedly giving ourselves to make a God-sized dent in the world?
• serving with intent, giving & doing & loving in order that people might see the love of Jesus Christ and not just a bunch of church people doing their duty?

Mazeltov!

 

There's newly married folks in our midst (congratulations, Kortni & Marcus!), a new baby (congratulations, Isaac, Lydia & baby Leila!), and two upcoming weddings in the next couple of weeks: Congratulations to Brandon & Jenna and to Morgan & Katie!

 

This Week @ NewLife

 

Sunday the 14th

• 9:45 am - Bible Study/Sunday School
• 11:00 am - Worship
• 6:00 pm - Cool Summer Nights

Monday the 15th

• 7:00 pm - Men's Basketball

Tuesday the 16th

• 11:00 am - AM Adults
• 5:15 pm - Weight Watchers
• 6:00 pm - Softball Practice
• NO Fresno Gamers

Wednesday the 17th

• 5:30 pm - Prayer Gathering

Thursday the 18th

• 6:00 am - Band of Brothers
• 5:30 pm - Junior High Youth
• 7:00 pm - Senior High Youth
• DUE DATE for Beach Rally deposits!

 Saturday the 20th

•  9:00 am - Prep Day for VBS

Sunday the 21st

• 9:45 am - Bible Study/Sunday School
• 11:00 am - Worship

Monday the 22nd

• Boomerang Express (Vacation Bible School begins!)