First!

Last night, in the rain, my daughter, Brooklyn, scored her 1st goal of the year. I was so proud and the smile on her face was priceless.

Let me give you some background: The last few years Brooklyn has led her team in scoring and has been one of the best players in her league. This year she stepped up to a new age division where she is now the youngest player on the team and in the league. It's has been an adjustment but we have encouraged her that by playing with kids who are better that will make you better.

It's working! She is improving so much.

I think the same philosophy works in life. Too often we compare ourselves to someone else to make ourselves feel better about out shortcomings.

Well I'm not as bad as he is or I'm much better than she is but that's not going to help us improve.

Paul said in I Cor. 11:1 "Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ."

Paul challenged believers in his day to follow him as he followed the best example that ever lived - Jesus Christ.

Could you make a statement like that?

Follow the example of (insert your name here) as I follow the example of Jesus Christ.

Debut

Last night I made my coaching debut! I help on my son's soccer team and last night our coach couldn't be there so he gave me the whistle!

It's different being the coach - imagine having 15, 6-8 year olds, asking, "coach can I play goalie?" over and over and over...

As I took a moment to position each player I had an ah-ha moment...these kids don't care where they play as long as they are playing. The only thing that gets them down is sitting on the bench.

They are so excited to be in the game!

I thougth about that as it relates to my church. Sometimes I feel like we as the church have the exact opposite mindset. We want to sit on the bench - it's safer. We want to only play in certain positions - they're easier. And we really do care where we are playing - we get noticed more.

How about you? If God has called you be a part of the family of God and serve in the local church jump in and serve.

As I watched these kids play I noticed one more thing: it didn't matter who scored a goal. They all celebrated as if they scored.

At C1, my main goal (pardon the pun) is that we love God and love people. And as we do that we will see people cross the line of faith and we all can celebrate!

By the way: We won 6-1!