the SOCKLESS prophet

Our daughter decided that she wanted to play basketball when she was six years-old. She had a great coach, but no assistant coach. So I filled in where I could. Basketball has never really been my sport. I‘m short, I can‘t jump and could never seem to get by my tendency to tackle the man with the ball . So coaching basketball was a leap for me. I was okay as an assistant. I could help manage the kids and even follow up on the coaches instructions, but I couldn‘t and wouldn‘t even try to coach basketball alone.

One day the head coach approached me after practice. He was going to be out of town during their next game and wanted me to coach in his place. I had all kinds of excuses why I couldn‘t. Finally, I simply said…”I’m just not qualified. I‘ve never done it before.” At that, my six year-old daughter looked up and said…”That‘s only because you‘ve never tried Daddy!”

In the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark, Jesus calls four fishermen to follow him as his disciples (vs. 16-20). I have always found it interesting that none of these men were teachers or religious leaders. They were common, hard working men. They were completely unqualified for the job. It was their inadequacies that helped them lean on Jesus more than themselves. Eventually they became strong, and effective disciples for Jesus…something they had never done before.

Often times we hesitate to jump in because we don‘t feel prepared. There are times that we may even avoid doing the things that God has called us to do in life for no other reason than we feel unqualified. Each of us has been called to follow Christ and get involved. What we need to remember is that God doesn‘t call the qualified, but God qualifies the called. Anything God asks us to do…God will prepare us to do…but we have to try.